{King Austin's POV}
Francine and Mark both watched as I circled them while they sat huddled together on a love seat in the middle of the room. A mixture of fear and confusion adorned their faces... maybe because they were in my basement and they were tied to the loveseat... and gagged, but they didn't need to be scared. It was dark and dingy, and the only light right now that entered the room was from a single tiny window in the corner. Aside from that, it was spacious, they just couldn't see very well in the low light. That was their fault, not mine.
I wasn't going to hurt them. I didn't want to hurt them.
But if I had to, then I guess-
"What's funny!?" Francine screamed the best she could through her mouth gag. She blinked furiously, very clearly trying not to cry.
I didn't know I was laughing externally. Whoops.
"Nothing, my apologies."
I continued pacing thinking what to do with the pair. I brought them here, boasted about it, even before I'd actually taken them, but didn't have a clue what to do.
I sighed.
This would bother Arianne, which would bother Alexander which would bother the King. However, it wouldn't bother them enough to give in to my demands. They didn't give in even when I had Alexander.
Selfish assholes.
"I'm hungry. Are you guys hungry?" I stopped in front of the pair, they both glowered and I could help but grin, were they really going to stubborn in this situation? "I'm offering you free food and you don't want to eat? It's probably better than what you were fed before, and you'll get to feed yourselves."
Mark hissed something but I couldn't quite understand it. Poor him. He was probably trying to appear calm in front of his wife, but she couldn't hear that his heart rate was drastically higher than hers, she couldn't smell the amount of adrenaline rushing through his body. He was terrified.
"Okay, how about this: I untie you both and let you out of my basement and we can go eat together," I suggested. Maybe they'd then accept my offer.
They glanced at each other before nodding slowly and hesitantly, which was a very good answer.
They'd been here for about two days. I didn't see them after I dropped them off down in the basement because I was busy being a King, but I had some free time. I made sure they were fed a little and were given bathroom breaks of course. It was only decent, and better treatment than Alexander got.
They were easy enough targets. I drove straight up to their house and told them me and Arianne had made up, and I was going to take them to her. They were a very, very gullible couple. You never get too close to the enemy- and they got straight into my chauffeur-driven limousine and even accepted my drinks! I mean, they didn't know I was technically the enemy, and they didn't know their drinks were laced but still. They made it way too easy.
I untied them both as I promised, and they hugged each other tightly almost immediately. They were like two damn magnets.
I scoffed, "cut that shit out. You've been beside each other this whole time." I started walking ahead of them, leading them out of the basement.
Above surface was much brighter than I expected and even I had to squint to let my eyes adjust to the blinding afternoon light.
I turned and narrowed my eyes at the couple, just to scare them a little more, "you guys can roam free around the castle from now on. Any funny business and I'll feed you to one another." Then I grinned, no need to frighten them anymore, any longer and Mark probably would have pissed his pants. They were fun, much better than Alexander and that ginger girl I had to kill.
She was very pretty, I'd never really found myself attracted to ginger girls before, but she had an aura surrounding her that I just couldn't fight. We grew very close, very fast. I thought she shared my views on the war and everything that was happening and had happened. I almost could've fallen for her, if I didn't catch her in my dungeon talking to Alexander.
I'd just finished beating him after he annoyed me, I stood to the side in the dark, ready to wash away any blood from my hands when I heard it:
The door opened and closed slowly, and quietly. I remained in the shadows and caught Alexander eyeing me after staring down whoever had just entered. I didn't say anything, and he couldn't- his mouth was practically swollen shut. I put on some sunglasses to stop the glow of my eyes illuminating the room and I was hidden and waiting.
Then I saw her, Willow, or so she said her name was.
She rushed over to Alexander, checking him over and whispering, not very quietly, and still not detecting I was in the room. "My name is Cornelia, I'm a friend of Princess Arianne. I was sent from Nox Aterrima to help save you. You'll be okay now, Prince Alexander."
I saw the horror flash through Alexander's eyes as he flickered them from her to me, hidden away in the corner, and I had to cover my mouth. I wanted to laugh. I wanted to laugh at how stupid she was, at how stupid they were. They sent her here to take Alexander back- they sent one girl. I should've been offended, but I was more amused by Alexander's wide eyes and incoherent murmurs. She began frantically searching around for a key or something, and stopped right in front of me, slowly looking up, a gasp escaping her small lips.
I'd been seen.
The fear in her eyes only ignited anger within me, she had no right to act all innocent, as if she didn't know what was bound to happen. It was inevitable! I don't know what I grabbed off the counter, but it was cold and hard. Perfect. I swung it in a fit of rage and felt it collide with her skull.
Alexander screamed something out as Cornelia, Willow, whoever she was, was sent spiralling to the floor. I stood above her, glowering, and she groaned in pain, trying to crawl away from me.
"Y-you tricked me? You tricked me in my own home?"
"F-fuck you," she spluttered.
I closed my eyes and took deep breaths, the corners of my mouth pulling in to a smile. If I wasn't going to dismember Alex, I was going to dismember her. She knew Arianne, and Arianne knew her. It was perfect. Quite a blessing in disguise to be honest.
I called for some guards to haul her up. She struggled, and fought and wriggled but all to no avail. She wouldn't get away so easily. Only one part of her would leave Drecott, and that was her head.
I was tired of these games. I was tired of those people trying to undermine me!
Even on the table while being restrained she didn't give up, she was definitely from Nox Aterrima.
I smiled as I bought a blade up to her line of sight and she froze briefly. The blade caught the grey light emitted from her eyes. I turned to Alexander and pointed the blade at him.
"See what happens when you guys try to act like heroes: you die like losers," I snarled.
His eyes widened as he started murmuring again, sounded like he was begging, but I couldn't hear, and I didn't care. I made sure he could see everything as I began getting to work on her throat. Alexander soon fell silent, and so did she once she stopped choking up blood and convulsing.
When I was done, I ordered one of the guards to get me a lead-lined box, some colourful paper and send it to my room once it was sorted.
I was going to send it to the castle, and they were going to receive a gift like never before.
*
"Chace, what's happening? Why are you being like this?" Francine croaked out, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"My name is Austin," I gritted, "and I'm being like this because this is your fault. I gave you guys one job and you messed it up so bad you're not allowed back at the castle! Now I'm here, shit out of luck. So I'm pissed. Is that good enough for you, Francine?"
"It's not our fault, we-"
"Shut up, Mark, I wasn't talking to you," I snapped.
He shut up pretty quick, his heartbeat picking up again.
I didn't like that I didn't have a plan as of yet. I didn't like that my people were over there dying. We were losing this war. Everything had completely flipped over and if I didn't come up with something soon, I'd lose everything. Alexander was the key to everything and they took him from right under my nose. Arianne deceived me, she played me for a fool in my own home- in my own country! She did that for him. I should've followed my guts and sent him back piece by piece. Now here I was, stuck with two humans who those snobs in Nox Aterrima couldn't give a rats ass about.
I called for a servant to tell the chef to make a meal for three and bring it to the dining room once we were all sat comfortably.
"How do you guys feel about vampires being real?" I asked as a way to distract myself from my own thoughts.
"How are we supposed to feel?" Answered Mark.
"I don't know. Confused, scared, amazed, intrigued, indifferent. The brain is capable of many emotions, very useful for when someone asks how you feel about something." I responded as sarcastically as I could.
"Don't worry honey, we'll get out of this. I'll think of something," Mark whispered to Francine.
Probably thought I wouldn't hear him from the other end of the twelve-seater dining table, thought I wouldn't hear his lips brush past her ear as he whispered reassuring words to his wife.
He. Was. Dead. Wrong.
He would be dead if he tried anything.
I wished I could care for them, they were the parents of Arianne's best friend, but I didn't like Selena. Not really. I just knew how to play nice when necessary. To me, they were just two humans, worthless ones at that. If this didn't all work out then they'd die, they didn't need to know that though. It would be a big surprise for everyone, a huge finale.
*
As we ate, I thought it would only polite to inform my hostages-turned-guests about everything that had happened since the last time they were here. It was a lot. It also seemed to unsettle them even more.
They stopped looking at me after that, instead, choosing to look at the walls, the ceiling, the paintings, everything but me. I didn't blame them though, it was an attractive room. Almost as attractive as myself.
This was my favourite room to be in. The royal blue drapes matched with the wallpaper and the flowers lined down the dinner table. The brown wooden floors and all the wooden furnishing were perfect for calming my mood. This was the only room Father had sense when it came to decorating, it was the only room that stayed the same after his death. I resented him the day he died. He didn't tell me he was ill, and he didn't prepare me to be King.
He was selfish.
Everyone is so selfish in this world.
Everyone is selfish and ungrateful.
Alexander. His father. Henrietta. Arianne. Jayden. Leyton. Charlotte. Leandra. Nox Aterrima. I wanted them all gathered in a metal bin, I wanted to pour gasoline on them, light a match, and watch them all burn. It would give me nothing but pleasure to watch them crash and burn while my people prospered for once. Just once. I was so close. But they ruined it, and they'd pay.
I wasn't finished. Not yet.
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Hopefully, you get to understand Austin a little more, and more of what happened on his side. I'm also going to do Alexander's point of view in the future.