The Vampire Prince

Chapter 8: The Meeting

I awoke to the sound of someone knocking on my door, but it was so loud it sounded more like banging. "Open the door, you little moron!" I heard a voice say. It was Axel. I could tell from the Russian accent and from how loud he spoke. I jumped up from my bed and hurried to my wardrobe. I quickly got changed as the banging on my door wouldn't stop. When I finally opened it, Axel was there, and he looked more angry than ever before.
"You're late." He said.
"For what?" I asked.
"The meeting, you—" He sighed, obviously not wanting to finish his sentence. "You're late for the meeting." He added in a more calm manner.
"But I thought it was supposed to be in a week?" I whispered.
It was July 5th, but the meeting was set to be on July 10th.
"They've changed it." Axel whispered back, taking my hand aggressively. He began to walk us to my mother and father's thrones. As we walked, I looked straight at a dagger that was held in a scabbard on his armor. I couldn't see the dagger itself, but it looked extremely sharp.  The sound of his armor clanking was loud in the hallway, and I was sure it could be heard from a mile away. When we arrived to the throne room, there were many people. Queen Lola was standing by my father's throne, Charlotte was standing by my mother's throne, Jack and Mary stood in front of the thrones, and a few knights and guards stood in front of the thrones as well. Axel and I stood in the front.

I looked over at Jack and gave him a very anxious look. When he saw my concern, he mouthed, "It'll be okay, Your Highness."
I looked back at my parents and my father opened his mouth to speak, but instead let out a loud sigh.
"We are sure you are aware as to why you're here, Prince Vincent?" My mother loudly said.
I nodded in response.
Queen Lola began to speak after my mother, "And Princess Charlotte, are you aware as well?"
"Yes." Said Charlotte. She was now wearing a bright green dress that went all the way down to her feet, so I couldn't see her shoes.
"Vincent and Charlotte have been seeing each other, and it has come to my attention that they love one another." My mother explained.
My father continued for her, "And it is absolutely unacceptable. We shan't let this happen."
"What is your argument for this, Your Highness?" He asked me.
I didn't even know what to say. What could I say? How would I argue against it? I couldn't just confess my love for Charlotte, I couldn't just say everything I had done and felt for her. "Don't hurt Jack." Is all I could manage to say. Axel, with his hand on my shoulder, gave me an irritated look that I could see from the corner of my eye.

I looked over at Jack, who had his hands behind his back, and he smiled at me slightly. Queen Lola looked at me very angrily. I already knew she despised me.
"Yesterday," My father began, "Mary informed me that Princess Charlotte had sneaked into Prince Vincent's room, and showed her love for him."
I sighed and looked down. "She did."
"Well, Charlotte, do you have anything to say?" Queen Lola asked.
"I... wish I could say I didn't feel guilty. But Vincent and I love each other. Tell me what's so bad about a vampire loving a human, King Ethan." Charlotte explained, looking at my father.
"Vampires drink blood, we are immortal, we are the devil's work. You humans are what we feed off of, you are mortals, and you are weak. We are strong creatures with heightened senses." My father explained.
Axel raised his hand, saying, "I must add to that."
"Go ahead." Said my father.
"When I was younger, I read a book on vampires. It stated that for centuries, it has been forbidden for a vampire to love a human." Axel explained.
I closed my eyes in hopes that the meeting was all just a dream, and that I had never met Charlotte. That she wasn't real. That the Royal Dance never took place. A part of me wished I wasn't born at all so I didn't have to be going through this stress.
"He's right." My mother whispered to my father.

"Your Majesty, Queen Lola, you have plans for Charlotte and Axel to be married, correct?" My mother asked Queen Lola. My eyes widened. Axel and Charlotte were planned to get married? Why didn't Charlotte tell me? Queen Lola nodded slowly. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I tried to blink them away. At that point, I wanted to run over to Jack and wrap my arms around him and feel safe in his warmth. After all, he raised me, he made me feel loved when no one else did, and he treated me the way a father should treat his son. But I still wasn't his actual son. He called me his son, I called him my father, but nothing could change the fact that we were not related in any way. And it nearly killed me to think about it.
"Your Highness, do you understand that it is wrong for a vampire to love a human?" My father asked me. I shook my head and a single tear trickled down my cheek. I could tell he was getting impatient with me. "What can I do to make you understand it?" He hissed.
"Nothing, Your Majesty," I whispered in anger.
He bit his lip in frustration and looked at my mother.
"What should we do?" She whispered to him.
"Just wait, my dear. I know what I'll do." He whispered back, blowing her a kiss. It made me feel sick whenever they flirted with each other in front of me. I couldn't imagine two horrible people like them being so in love, I just didn't know how they could stand each other. She grinned and they both looked back at me. "Jack Thomas," My father said, slightly raising his voice while looking towards Jack.
"Yes, Your Majesty?" Jack replied, taking a small step forward.

"How would you like to punish Prince Vincent?" My father asked him. He frowned, and I saw the hurt in his eyes. He truly didn't want to punish me at all, as he cared about me more than anyone else he'd ever known.
"Well..." He murmured, looking at me. I shook my head at him, mouthing, "Don't let them hurt me."
Axel tightened his grip on my shoulder and put his other hand on the end of the dagger he had.
"I think you should just.. keep him away from Charlotte at all costs." Jack said to my father. There was silence for a few seconds as everyone looked at each other in thought.
"At all costs you say?" My father finally whispered.
Jack nodded. "That's right, Your Majesty."
"Even if it costed... someone's life?" Said my father, a very wide grin growing on his face.
"What do you mean exactly?" Jack asked.
Axel was grinning as well. And it didn't take me long to realize that they knew something that no one else knew.
"What are you going to do?" I frantically asked. My stomach twisted horribly, maybe even the worst it had ever twisted.
"Axel, take Jack to the dungeon." My father said to Axel with an ever wider grin. I began to panic as Axel took his hand off my shoulder and began walking over to Jack. Jack and I looked at each other with worry in each of our eyes. I shook my head, wanting to reach out and stop Axel, but I didn't feel brave enough.

"What are you doing!?" Jack asked, backing away from Axel. Two guards came up behind me and held my arms so I couldn't jump and stop Axel. I really began to panic then. I tried to wrestle them off of me, but their grip on me was so tight that I could barely even move them. Axel grabbed Jack aggressively, and he tried to fight back just like me. "Stop!" I screamed.
"Kill him, Axel." My father demanded proudly.
"No!" I yelled.
Jack tried to bite Axel, but failed miserably. Axel began to drag Jack out of the castle.
"Let go of me!" Jack shouted, "Stop this at once!"
"Jack!" I cried, trying my hardest to get the guards off me. Jack screamed and tried to fight off Axel. He struggled to keep him off.
"Vincent! Help me!" He cried.
"Oh, would you shut up?" Axel argued. They soon left the castle, the doors slamming loudly, and the sound of Jack's screams were faint yet so loud they could still be heard.
The guards eventually let go of me, and I fell to my knees, tears streaming down my cheeks. "How could you do this!?" I shouted at my father.
"It's only fair. After all, he did say at all costs." My father replied.
I immediately started sobbing, quietly screaming to myself.

About 30 minutes later, Axel returned, and a bit of blood had gotten on his armor. The dagger he had was no longer in the scabbard. He had a smile on his face. He looked proud.
I stood up finally and looked at my father. "The meeting is over, Vincent. If you'd like to, go get Jack. I highly doubt he's alive though." He said to me, still grinning.
I immediately ran out of the castle doors and out into the street, where I made my way to the dungeon...