See it from my Side

Put On A Show

I was led into the ballroom by my father, with Julietta and Julian by my side, they both dressed smartly. They both looked the part, as did I, my mother was with us as well, staring straight ahead, she probably didn't even remember the moment of being herself earlier. The ballroom, as usual was filled with vampires, with the odd human servant being scared out of their minds.

The doorman announced us, first my father, then my mother, Julian, myself and finally, Julietta- Full titles of course. Unlike the other vampire families, myself and my siblings hadn't chosen our 'vampire titles' we were still simply known as Prince Julian, Princess Julianna and Princess Julietta. The other teenage vampires had titles like Prince Kane the Cruel (A Cassidy of course.) My father hadn't yet decided on our names and I was glad of that. Nobody ever paid attention to them anyway, they just stuck to our real names but in the history books and texts that we had locked in basements all over the island, they mattered. Your title was what future generations remembered you for and I didn't want my descendants to be ashamed, nor did I want them to be afraid. After an hour of socialising with people that I had no interest in talking to, my father made his way onto the stage to make a speech.

" Now, everyone, if I could have your attention please. It is a pleasure to have you all here again. I do not wish to keep you for long, but I have an announcement to make. It is time for my children to receive their official titles. They were unaware of this until now, but I feel that now is the moment...among friends." My shocked expression was broken by my innapropriate outburst of laughter. 'Friends' that was definitely not the word I would use to describe the other families, or even my own family.

I covered my outburst with a cough and if Julian wasn't convinced he certainly made it seem like he was, he patted my back and asked if I was alright, to which I answered with a nod and an apologetic look towards my father.

" Now, I shall start with my son. I thought long and hard about his best attributes and qualities. His obedience, his...formality, the way he carries himself in public. All good qualities. Eventually, I arrived at the name 'Prince Julian the Sensible.'" I saw Julian cringe out of the corner of my eye and bumped my shoulder into his lightly, he through me a glare and I smiled back. " My youngest daughter, Julietta, was the easiest choice to make. She embodies everything that a vampire Princess should be. She will therefore be known as ' Princess Julietta the Lamia.'" He had used the Latin for vampire. Julietta wasn't very far into her language studies. She couldn't grasp language as well as myself, she had a scientific mind.

" It means vampire." I whispered in her ear. She didn't seem to know what think so I added, " Smile, it's better than a lot of peoples." She smiled and as they had with Julian, everyone applauded.

" And finally, my daughter, Julianna. She was by far the most difficult to...describe. She is defiant, confident, strong-willed and yet...politically minded. Julianna is difficult to handle and can be one of the most infuriating people I have ever had the pleasure to meet, but she is kind. Julianna is one of the strongest vampires I know. For these reasons I name her 'Julianna the Tenacious.'" I was...pleasantly surprised, I didn't think he'd be that nice about me. I use the term nice loosely. " My children, Prince Julian the Sensible; Princess Julianna the Tenacious and Princess Julietta the Lamia." Everyone applauded, for the fourth time and turned to look at the three of us.

" I can't believe you got the best name!" Julietta hissed, jokingly.

" That was unexpected." Julian added. " Sensible...there was nothing better than sensible?" I didn't answer. I needed to talk to my father. I pushed my way through the crowd of vampires who all of a sudden wanted to be my best friends until I reached my father, who was deep in conversation with King Cassidy, neither of them even noticed I was there.

" Then we are agreed. Our kingdoms will link again, through marriage. The only question left to ask is which of your children you would like to...use, your son? Your beautiful daughter, Julietta or... your problem child, Julianna." King Cassidy sneered, he sounded polite enough, but when you looked into his eyes, you could see the pure ambition hidden there.

" Don't answer that. If you want to join our kingdoms through marriage, I believe it's customary to ask the people that you wish to...use as you so eloquently put it. There's no guarantee that myself or one of my siblings will even agree." King Cassidy's victorious expression contorted into one of shock while my father looked rageful.

" Julianna. Do not speak to our guests in this way. Of course I was planning on speaking to the three of you abou..." I couldn't let him finish, a sickening thought crossed my mind.

" You were including Julietta in this?" I hissed. In my eyes she was still a child and already my father was using her as a tool to strengthen the thrown.

" She is old enough to be involved in political matters." My father answered, no emotion could be heard in his voice.

" She's a kid, not a political bargaining chip!" I had to restrain myself from yelling, instead I turned around to find Julian. I couldn't. I was constantly being taken to the side to speak to someone and not once did I even catch a glimpse of my brother. Julietta was an entirely different story.

 While trying to get out of an excruciatingly boring conversation with Kat ( She was really nice but there is such a thing as too much optimism,) I saw Julietta dancing with Tommy. Tommy Cassidy, that was just what my father and King Cassidy needed to make a wedding happen. " Kat, I'm so sorry, but I really do need to go and talk to my sister. It's...urgent." I apologised, gesturing towards my sister and Tommy.

" Oh...right..yeah I get it, she looks pretty comfortable with Tommy." Maybe Kat wasn't as stupid as I thought, at least she understood some aspects of our surprisingly similar lives.

" Thank you for understanding...hey, could you tell Julian I'm looking for him if you see him?" Kat simply nodded and I offered her a smile before turning away. I pushed my way through dancing teenagers and their stern parents, until I found Julietta and Tommy. " Julietta, can I speak to you for a second please?" I asked her, sounding as polite as I could.

" Oh come on Miss Tenacious, at least let us finish our dance, your daddy looks very happy." Tommy mocked me.

" That's Princess Tenacious to you and there's no way that I'm letting any marriage between our families happen. I'd rather die!" I answered as calmly as I could, though my hands were itching to punch him.

" That can be arranged!" He hissed, bearing his fangs at me. flashed my fangs and pushed Julietta behind me. " Aww is little Julietta protecting her sissy?" He was trying to rile me and it was working. Well.

" I think you should brush your fangs before you threaten people, Tommy." I hissed back. Slowly, his fangs retracted, I had won. At least for now. The Cassidy family had been embarrassed. Mine had gained new pride.

I turned on my heal and dragged Julietta away from Tommy and the rest of the crowd, once we were in a corner, out of earshot of anyone I else I warned her. " Father and the Cassidy barbarian are planning on 'joining our kingdoms' through marriage. If they catch onto the fact that you get on with Tommy they'll choose you two." Julietta looked shocked, then angry and then just...defeated.

" I...I'm only thirteen! You're only sixteen!" She exclaimed looking appalled.

" I know that and I've told Father that it's wrong but he just doesn't care, Julietta."

My father wanted to marry one of us off. My sister had just made herself the easy solution. I had a lot of work and pain ahead of me.

Looking back, I could have handled things better that night, I could have saved myself, my brother and especially my sister a lot of heartache and pain...