Dracula's Groom

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Power is Everything

Dracul

Seven hours had passed by the time the pale blue moon started to disappear. Nathan was fast asleep beside me in bed as I made the decision to leave him and retire for the morning. Shifting my body forward, the bed springs squeaked and I froze as I glanced over my shoulder at Nathan who barely moved a muscle.

My clothes that I discarded earlier in the evening were thrown around the room as I moved quickly to retrieve them and put them back on again. The final piece was the jacket that I placed on a chair next to an antique desk. A thin layer of dust covered the seat so there was no point in sitting down and getting my rental suit dirty.

One by one I slowly opened the drawers and found an old monogrammed stationery with a pen still attached. I pulled out the objects and set pen to parchment as words formed in the shape of a handwritten note for Nathan. Once finalized, I tore off the single sheet and placed it on my pillow beside him before making my way towards the bedroom door and grabbing my sword.

The weight of it felt good in my hand as I took one last look at my precious human and stepped out into the hallway. I made the mental reminder to hire a dozen workers to come in and start work right away before dawn. I would pay them good money of course, but their silly little minds would need work in the process.

Persuasion was never really my strong suit mind you. Normally, I would just kill anyone and everyone in order to get what I wanted. But nowadays, times have changed. Thanks to centuries of being locked away in a stone coffin the world I had once knew changed in a fortnight with no recollection of how much time had passed.

Perhaps one day my memories of that horrible night will return to me. Perhaps not. Either way, I will uncover the truth or die trying. I was once human if you can believe that. My parents were royal; my father, whose bloodline went back centuries was once ruler of these lands until his death. My mother married young, while her beauty knew no bounds when it came to the men in the nearby villages.

Together they created me. Therefore, I was the only heir to the rightful throne of Romania. After my father's death, my mother took it upon herself to guide me in the ways of royalty and what it truly meant to be king. Then when she died, it was my duty to rule an entire kingdom as I saw fit. Sure I may have not always been the brightest king that there ever was, but I did what I could. I just hope it was enough.

Except now, times have changed. A new era is upon us. It's two thousand-seventeen, as the humans say. Immortality is a blessing as well as a curse. The world keeps on changing while I remain the same forever. Old streets become new roads, villages become sprawling cities, and fire becomes electricity.

They say that power is what you make of it. Power resides in the heart of man. Power is ruled greatly by the men and women who as politicians are now more commonly known as politics. Their governments span generations between two fractions that constantly battle for the one thing that everybody lives and dreams about and that is power.

It is with this in mind, that I must make it my mission to regain what is rightfully mine and sit upon my family's royal throne once again. Since my eternal slumber, a new heir has taken over. One that is not of royal blood. But by a family that had once worked its way through generations of politics in order to gain victory for the highest seat in the entire country.

My quest brings me to the city of Bucharest. Located in southern Romania, it is the country's capital and commercial center. Its landmark is the Palatul Parlamentului government building that houses the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Security alone consists of armed guards patrolling the entrance and rooftops while a dozen rent-a-cops patrol its corridors and council chambers.