Til Death

2. Daniel

DANIEL

"We'll have to reschedule the meeting with the Cordova Coven. I'm not cancelling on a Children's Home charity- Shit- Fuck-" Daniel accidentally texted his cousin what he just told his assistant Michael. In theory, having two phones was helpful. In practice, Daniel looked ridiculous and his giant dumb fingers loved making mistakes. Daniel hated mistakes. He made too many lists, came up with too many plans and detailed schedules to make a mistake. 

He planned so much, even life never surprised him.

"Your highness," Michael said warningly, but the way he usually spoke, which was void of emotions, but also somehow judgmental. The Christmas season guaranteed Daniel to be around more children than usual, so all the typical swearing needed to become a thing of the past.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Fine, fiddlesticks. My apologies, Michael. I'm all turned around," Daniel grunted as he fumbled with his keys. Usually, everyone left their doors open and wide at the Bellerose Estate. It struck Daniel as odd that his parents would lock the doors to their small separate apartment inside the castle, but his curiosity didn't linger long. He was going through the list of tasks he still needed accomplished before he even considered going to bed.

Daniel was the crown prince to the Sagewick coven. Their family has ruled for almost 500 years and Daniel had every intention to keep that tradition going. Usually vampire kings and queens only ruled over patches of cities and countries. This was the only Coven in the world to rule across an entire island, an entire country.

Daniel struggled opening the door with his hands full of packages. He sent Michael home already, but Daniel noticed too many discrepancies on the calendar to be ignored, so he called.

Daniel didn't know much about his assistant, but Michael always answered.

No matter what he was doing, whatever it may be. Daniel didn't even have a guess. For all he knew, Michael went to the bowls of this huge castle and plugged himself in at night.

"Yes, to the Charity," Daniel started from the top. He spent too much time coming up with new responses off the cuff. "If we have time, I'll make an appearance at Aunt Mary's party and we might be able to grab a drink at the La Bella opening-"

Daniel stumbled into the dark room, tripping over something rubbery and strange. Even in the pitch black, Daniel could see well enough, but what he saw didn't quite make sense. Something or someone moved as if trying to shuffle out of view and all of Daniel's body hair stood on edge. Suddenly, the room's wrongness overwhelmed him. He let everything fall and clatter to the floor, lashing out at the shape.

His claws extended as the adrenaline kicked into his veins. His body fizzled with the rush of these feelings. "What are you doing here?" He roared, fumbling and striking his hands through something less solid than he anticipated and tripped over his own feet.

The lights flickered on and Daniel's mother appeared from the corner. "Darling? What's going on?' She asked, her impossibly dark eyes looking up at the high ceiling. Daniel followed the look to see a cluster of silver, gold, and white balloons floating. They lightly tapped the antique coffered ceiling. At Daniel's feet were the remnants of the golden strings that originally kept them on the ground.

His mother realized the scene and laughed behind her hand. "What a fearsome vampire."

Daniel let out a tired sigh.

Even his skin felt tired. His eyes itched to close.

"You're home late," his mother commented, her voice crisp and accented like a lovely London bird. She had the voice of a sweet older woman reading her favorite passage out of a children's book.