After his fun meeting with King Tomlinson, Harry spent the rest of his day planning his outfit to the charity ball. He rarely attended highly publicized events, but this time it was different. His maid was certainly excited for the chance for Harry to meet a possible suitor. She griped at him as she was taking his measurements, trying to teach Harry how to be friendly. The vampire certainly had a large ego that was made quite know to everyone else.
"We all know you're the most powerful man in the world, Your Majesty. Everyone there will probably bow to you as soon as you walk in." Mirabelle lectured as she was measured his waist. "I know you are a very kind and caring man underneath this proud exterior, but you need to let a little bit of it out."
A worried look crossed Harry's face. He preferred his cold exterior. Being nice got him no where when he first started, and had to instill fear in the world leaders in order for them to respect him as a person. They all made fun of him for only being a child, and accused him of hiring a team to terminate his father. They learned quickly that this was untrue. Harry flashed a few of his powers off, which took many by surprise.
The meeting was held at the Styles castle. Everyone was in the large dining room, drinking whiskey and munching on the charcuterie board Harry's staff had laid out for the men. Everyone was laughing heartily, making jokes about Harry's age and how they didn't believe for a minute the young boy was capable of killing his ruthless father. The maids straightened up as the doors opened and bowed as their new king entered the room.
Everyone became silent, taking in the sight of young Harry before snickers and whispers took over the silence. Harry tried to be nice as he walked over to his place at the dinner table. He sat down, quickly realizing the royalty surrounding him were treating this as a social gathering rather than an important meeting. Harry made eye contact with Oliver, who shrugged his shoulders and mouthed the words 'do what you need to do'.
Harry stood before slamming his fist down on the table, which resulted in it splitting practically in half. All of the men were certainly stunned as the food and drinks slammed to the ground. Harry sat back down, unfazed by the stares he was receiving.
"I didn't want to have to resort to this sort of thing but you have left me no choice." Harry started off, wiping a drop of wine from his pants. "I thought it would reasonable for men of your class to be respectful, but I'll never make that mistake again."
One man jumped from his seat, his chubby cheeks red with embarrassment. "I don't know who you think you are, boy. I could have you killed in less than an hour!"
The surrounding men grumbled in agreement. Some men chuckled as they talked eagerly about how powerful they were. A hearty laugh escaped Harry's lips as he stood and walked towards the balding man. The man still looked smug as his friends seemed to cheer him on. Standing up to the supposed vampire king was definitely brave.
"You are in my home, and you will respect me." Harry snarled. He was eerily calm in demeanor, compared to the man who had still not broken from his confidence.
The man stood, using his large hands to push Harry backwards. Harry didn't move an inch but all of the men still cheered him on. Harry remembered even Mark had a small smirk upon his lips as he watched the men with crossed arms. Everyone was whispering to one another, predicting how this would go. Would Harry attack the man, proving their beliefs that Vampires are low-life creatures who always resort to violence?
Without thinking, the man went to push Harry again, his confidence at an all time high. Harry again, didn't move despite the man putting his whole body into the shove. An awkward laugh escaped his mouth. "Come on, kid. Don't take yourself so seriously. You aren't ready for this, you're just a kid. You've got a long life ahead of you, so don't give me a reason to end it."
Harry's eyebrows furrowed. Was his father this weak? Did all of the men know how easy it was to put Des to death? Harry scoffed, relaxing his shoulders as he made eye contact with the man. The familiar glowing, emerald eyes locked into his. The man stuttered as he fought his minds sudden urge to spill all of his secrets. Harry tilted his head with a smirk.
"Don't be shy. I can hear what your silly brain is thinking. Secrets don't make friends and you sure have a lot compiled into that thick head of yours." Harry smirked. All of the men were suddenly silent. Harry blinked, breaking the contact between them as the man fell to his seat, shaking and sweaty.
The man swore he could feel and hear Harry inside of his mind. It felt like every little nook and cranny inside of his mind was thoroughly searched within the few seconds Harry entranced him with. Harry turned the to man a few seats down, who had encouraged him by yelling and clapping.
"This is your friend over here? Some friend he is to you. Looking through his mind and I see images of your daughter in many compromising positions. But you knew that, right? I can see it in your thoughts. You knew but everyone else didn't know your little secret." Harry laughed at. The King had paled and was now sweating just as much as his friend.
Despite this being a strong show of Harry's power, he felt compelled to show more. He ordered the man next to him to pull out his knife, which had been designed to specifically injure vampires. The man's shaking hand pulled it from the pouch in his suit pocket. He was surprised Harry knew, considering it was supposed to be a secret. Harry smiled at the man, his charms going in full effect as he asked the man to stab him anywhere.
Terrified, the man apologized profusely as he stabbed Harry in the shoulder. As soon as he let go, he felt to his chair, cowering. Sighing, Harry quickly removed the blood-stained knife, licking it a bit before handing it back to the royal. He held out his hand an inch above his wound. A light matching his eye color shone, before the wound healed and the blood disappeared. Gasps filled the room as they realized Harry didn't have just one extremely powerful ability, but he had two.
"Don't give yourself too much credit, you old fools. My father was a sick and twisted man. He was prepared for an attack. None of you understand how many lives of very powerful vampires I had to take to reach my father." Harry walked calmly to his spot at the head of the table.
Despite his best attempts to hide it, Harry was shaking slightly as he glared at the group surrounding him. Everyone was dead silent, barely daring to breath fully. The Vampire was seething, eyes darting between all of the men, reading them like they were books.
"I've had to rebuild this kingdom back to its strengths and above, and I will not stand for your blatant disrespect. I am not Desmond. I will do whatever it takes to accomplish the right thing. Everything is about to change, gentlemen, so either get with the program or choose death."
A shudder escaped Harry's mouth as the maid stopped scribbling in her notes. She gave him a pitiful smile before measuring other parts of his body as she continued to give unsolicited advice. But Harry loved the kind woman, so he put up with it. She was like his fill-in mother.
"My dear friend Victor will be stopping by to give you some lessons. Your father never took them, he was just rude to the humans. So please, go to the classes and prove you're better than him." Mirabelle quipped as she closed her notebook.
Harry felt slightly offended. "Everyone knows I'm a better person than Des, Mirabelle. I don't appreciate that comment."
Mirabelle pulled Harry in for a hug. "They're still terrified of you and your power. Now you need to show that you want to use it for a good cause." The older woman pulled away and left the room.
With a heavy sigh, Harry went to his study, where Victor was patiently waiting for him. He greeted the man by shaking his hand before sitting at his fancy chair that he specifically designed. Victor began pulling out a notebook, which he handed to Harry. A confused look took over Harry's face as he observed the human in front of him. Victor was definitely old, seemingly in his 70s. He had a pair of glasses on that seemed to deflect Harry's vision as he struggled to read the man's mind.
"If you are so obvious about your attempt to read minds, they won't like you, Your Majesty." Victor softly chuckled. Harry sat back in his chair with a roll of his eyes.
The room was silent as Victor slowly got himself together to teach this lesson. Harry wanted to stomp out of the room and do something better with his time, but he didn't want to disappoint Mirabelle or give the humans a good excuse to make him seem like an evil man. Sighing again, Harry pulled the empty notebook closer, playing with the light brown leather. He grabbed a pen, starting to scribble on it as the old man moved slower than a snail.
After what seemed like forever, Victor was ready. He cleared his throat and motioned for Harry to start paying better attention. Harry looked up, surprised to see his white board filled with information. "I have been preparing a long time for this, Your Majesty. I wanted to start by thanking you for the opportunity to work in your presence, and to put the faith in me that I can help you."
"I appreciate it, Victor. Mirabelle suggested that I take this class in order to prepare myself for my first human social event." Harry admitted. He felt oddly comfortable with Victor, who seemed to remind him of Mirabelle.
"In today's society, humans are doing much better accepting vampires for who they are. It is still widely controversial to choose to become a vampire, but there are groups of people who are choosing to do this." Harry's face scrunched up in disgust.
"I don't understand why humans are so desperate to live forever. How could the same, mundane life be so appealing?" Harry spat, scribbling in his notebooks that humans were ungrateful for their mortality. It was a true statement, but Victor shook his head at the young king.
"The only humans allowed to make this decision are ones that would be beneficial to keeping around. Doctors and scientists are the highest group of people going through the Transition."
Harry accepted that answer. Those people were so passionate that they wanted to live forever to continue to help others, so that was much more acceptable than what he had originally thought. It still bothered him that these good people would be stuck killing for food, but maybe their lives dedicated to being a good person and doing good things for the world would excuse it. Either way, Harry still didn't know how to feel.
"Civilian humans love you, Sir. They admire your efforts to unite the vampire race with the human race and respect the efforts you have put in place to ensure safety for both sides. On the other hand, human politicians fear you and therefore dislike you. They only see their fear, so you must work on teaching them that you are not a villian." Victor pointed to the board, which showed the first step.
"Making a public appearance will help the public eye love you. That is definitely a good step, but now you need to make the politicians appreciate you as well. It might mean being overly polite and potentially apologizing for how your last interaction went." Victor pointed to another section.
Harry was scribbling quickly in his notebook, trying his best to keep quiet and let Victor talk. Around an hour later, Victor finally decided he'd stop lecturing and roleplay with Harry to better their interactions.
Despite Harry's reluctance at first, he ended up doing very well and showing a large amount of humanity. Harry felt pretty confident in himself, especially since Victor forced him to practice for almost an hour.
Unfortunately, Victor decided it wasn't enough. "We need to be as prepared as possible. Tomorrow a few friends will be coming in and you'll work with them. We have less than a week before the charity ball. You're doing very well, but we need to be prepared for reluctance and rudeness. Everyone coming in tomorrow will be either rude or reluctant."
"They should just be respectful. I am above them in every way." Harry grumped, tired of hearing about how the humans hate him.
Shaking his head, Victor closed his briefcase and erased the whiteboard he was using. "Your Majesty, you are a very powerful and kind man. All they see or hear is the power aspect. You need to show them who you really are."
Before Harry could respond, Victor excused himself.