Aleksander’s head hurt so bad that it almost felt like it was about to burst open. There was a kind of pressure that seemed to be trying to get out, banging its way until it can see the light of day.
His senses were in shambles, his sense of hearing the first to slowly come back to him. His sense of smell wasn’t that great yet, but he could still somewhat get a ’taste’ of the air if he chose to stuck his tongue out.
The prince might have looked a bit awkward with it, but he didn’t have much of a choice during this time where he was slowly recovering from the effects of his father’s magic.
’But wait,’ Aleksander’s thoughts suddenly came to a halt. ’How did I come out of the spell my father casted on the scroll I just read? Have I succeeded in killing everyone?’
He couldn’t remember much of what happened, but he did recall the last thing he did after reading the scroll.
Prince Aleksander warned his wife to run away.
He didn’t understand himself why he did that too. Perhaps it was the fact that he had been slowly enamored by the strength that she was hiding from him? Surely there was some other more plausible explanation.
"Prince Aleksander?" a voice called out to him. "Can you get up?"
When the throbbing in his temples faded, the bastard prince started to realize it wasn’t just his head that hurt. His whole body felt like they had been crushed by a boulder. He swore there must be some bones broken too – but hopefully they were just sprained.
"Fuck, this is crazy," the same voice that called out to him said.
Who was this person? The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that it was someone he knew. A woman’s voice to be exact.
’Wait, could it be the slave princess?’ he asked himself.
Although his consciousness was slowly returning, Prince Aleksander’s eyes remained shut. Elys was trying to wake him up, but it was clearly to no avail in her perspective.
The prince felt his body being pulled up from lying on the cold and hard ground. His sense of smell returned with the scent of fresh human blood, with a mix of something a bit less appetizing.
The scent of blood made his mouth water, but the stench of that other source wasn’t at all. It destroyed the moment for him, and now instead of wishing he could feed, he ultimately lost appetite.
There were many things that the vampire palette doesn’t appreciate. But the worst of all would be races that had monster blood in them. Recounting back to the throne room that was filled with humans and animals, Aleksander couldn’t think what it must be.
’Werewolf?’ he thought.
The Eastern Kingdom did have them protecting the borders, but that smug alpha werewolf said it himself that they were only allowed until the border gates. No werewolf has ever set foot within the Eastern walls ever since they started to live by their forests.
The prince suddenly felt himself hoisted into an upright position, a strong hand grabbing him where it was efficient to keep both of them balanced and moving.
Light started to permeate inside the vampire prince’s closed eyelids. He could somehow see movement of shadows in front of him, but still couldn’t get himself to fully open his eyes to see clearly what it was.
His hearing had finally returned to full functionality as well. Funny thing was that the first thing he heard clearly was someone threatening the person he was with now.
And as if by some miracle, Aleksander finally was able to open his eyes for the first time since he lost control of himself. Light flooded in his eyes, and Aleksander was forced to squint until his eyes could adjust. He could make out a silhouette in front of him, but couldn’t tell who it exactly was.
"You chose wrong, princess," a menacing voice came out of the silhouette, "now suffer the consequences."
Aleksander’s heightened vampire senses kicked start, and his eyes focused on the situation around him. The prince couldn’t help but scowl at the thing that was in front of him, as Prince Aleksander didn’t appreciate nor like Teo in the first place.
Why was he in front of him with his special spear in hand, calling him a princess?
’Wait,’ he hesitated, eyes shocked in disbelief, ’Teo disappeared on our way to the border gates. How come he is here right now?’
There was one last thing from Teo’s words that was difficult to grasp for Aleksander as well. Slowly, Aleksander turned his head towards the person supporting him, and he saw the bloodied face of the slave princess, her eyebrows furrowed in a scowl.
In a fraction of several quick seconds, Teo raised his spear and positioned to swing at them with full force.
Things immediately clicked inside the prince’s head – Teo was about to attack the two of them, potentially ending their lives if the threat he said earlier was to be taken into account.
The prince’s eyes switched into a piercing golden hue, and without uttering a single word, held out his hand towards the vampire knight about to pounce on them.
"Stop," Prince Aleksander spoke, his voice a bit strained but still had an authoritative and commanding tone into it.
Elys watched as Teo suddenly froze, his hands clutching the spear raised above his head. His eyes were wide open, bloodshot and a bit crazy with the veins that popped everywhere on his forehead.
"What did you do?" the princess asked, her heart beating loudly as the fear of death made her contemplate for a second to counter with magic.
In that short span of a second, Prince Elys had felt the familiar tingle of magic begging to be released from her body. She almost had used her powers against Teo since she had her hands full with carrying the six-footer vampire.
Elys’ voice came out shaky, something Aleksander hasn’t heard from her ever since.
It confused the vampire – what seemed to have spooked her?