The Jealous Prince
For the first time in forever, Jaden awakened with a body full of energy. He sat up in his bed and stretched, not feeling a sense of drowsiness at all. He looked out the window and saw that the sun was starting to set to make room for the moon in the sky, showing to him that it was almost nighttime. But from the way he felt, it was like the moon was the morning sun. When he was back at the Academy, he followed the school's regular schedule and attended classes during the day, but he was starting to realize that maybe the reason he was so tired all the time was because he had his natural sleeping schedule all flip flopped. His new vampire body demanded him to sleep during the day so that he could be active more at night. And now that he finally slept like he was supposed to, he felt ready to take on the day.
He walked to the bathroom and saw that it was just as fancy as the rest of his bedroom was. Everything was made of black marble and had real gold trimming on every piece of furniture inside as well as a high ceiling with glowing stars and a fake moon painted on it; and as if by magic, he felt as if he was looking at the real night sky. The tub was more like a giant pool with a fountain sitting in the middle of the room with powerful jets that helped to stir the water. He took a quick bath, enjoying the pools perfect temperature and stayed in for a while until he was finished. After Jaden was done grooming himself, he slipped on a robe that he found already nicely folded for him on the sink. When he exited the bathroom, he heard a knock on the door and before he could answer it, two maids had let themselves in with Lilith following them inside his chambers.
Jaden blushed as he quickly tightened his robe as to not accidentally reveal his modesty to them. "Good evening my lord. Did you have a good day's rest?" Lilith said with a smile on her face. "Yeah I did. I feel like I can do anything right now, actually. Normally when I wake up in the morning my friend Syrus has to try to shake me awake at least five times before I can force myself out of my bed." Jaden said as he started to laugh while rubbing the back of his neck. But the mention of his best friend made him frown as he started to feel sad about the absence of his friends. He hadn't seen them in a while and it was starting to sink in how bad he actually missed them. "I wish he was here with me… He would have loved seeing this place." Lilith's delicate lips curled down, sensing Jaden's unease as she took a step closer to him. "I know. It must be hard to be in a brand new place without a familiar face. But rest assured, I have sent some of my best military to Duel Academy to offer the Vatican some more support to protect the students. He will be waiting for you whenever you return."
The young vampire smiled at her, thankful for her attempts to try and comfort him. "Yeah I know. And the thought makes me feel better. And I have to ask but, what are you doing here? I know you said you were going to come and get me but I haven't even gotten dressed yet." Lilith perked up as she nearly forgot the reason for her visit until Jaden reminded her. "Ah yes! I have come to deliver you your outfit for the day. There is nothing wrong with the clothes you brought with you of course, but I plan to take you into the city to meet the people. So I would prefer if you wore something more befitting of a king. Ladies?" She said as she snapped her fingers. The maids bowed to her and walked to Jaden as they started to strip him down, which made him blush a deep shade of red as he tried to resist. "Th-There's no need for that! I can dress myself!" He sighed of relief as the maids backed off but handed him his new clothes.
Lilith chuckled seeing how flustered her king had become and ordered for the maids to leave the room. "You are going to have to get used to the servants trying to do their jobs. As royalty, they will help bathe you, dress and even feed you if you asked them too. But I understand your reluctancy. When you have finished dressing, please come meet me in the dining hall for breakfast. One of the servants will show you the way." She curtsied at him before she too left him alone to finish his business. Jaden walked over to his vanity and removed his robe and put on his new clothes. It wasn't his style but the quality of the clothes was the nicest thing he had ever put on his body before. He wore black dress pants with a velvet coat jacket that had silver buttons on it, and a dark scarlet red button up shirt underneath with a long collar that flared out around his neck. He also had a white ascot tired around his neck which he had tucked underneath his shirt. And to finish off the outfit he had real fancy leather black dress shoes.
He looked at himself once more and spun around in front of the mirror doing a full body take. He was now starting to actually look the part of a monarch. Haou materialized next to him while leaning against the wall and nodded his head in approval. "It seems she picked out one of my favorite outfits from my collection. You look good Jaden. I never said it before, but your fashion sense was subpar at best. I always hated wearing commoners clothing whenever I controlled our body." Jaden sweat dropped however as he disagreed. "I look like the guy on the Monopoly box… All I'm missing is a top hat and a monocle." Haou visibly started to get annoyed as a vein popped out on his forehead. "Well hurry up and go meet up with Lilith already. I'm starving for a descent meal." On que, Jaden's stomach growled loudly as he chuckled nervously. "You're right about that."
After brushing his still dripping wet hair, he finally left his bedroom and found a butler standing outside waiting for him. "This way, my lord." The butler said as he started to lead the way. Jaden followed behind him starting to remember the layout of the castle. They were walking back down the way towards the main hall which was the opposite direction of where his bedroom was, and after making it to the entrance, they walked up a grand staircase that lead to a higher part in the castle. As they walked down the new hall, Jaden saw a glimpse of the throne room with the door open and as soon as his eyes fell on the throne, he could feel his heartbeat starting to quicken. He stopped in front of the door and looked around a little and noticed it looked exactly like the throne room in Haou's domain whenever he talked to his other half within his mind.
The butler stopped walking after noticing that Jaden had stopped and turned to face him. "I see you have discovered the throne room. Some other servants are doing a thorough cleaning in there right now, and we have some party planners prepping it as well as the ball room to get ready for you coronation." Said the Butler as he pushed the door open more for Jaden to get a better look. "Would you like a quick tour, my lord?" Jaden smiled at him and shook his head. "No thank you. I just had a sense of familiarity when I saw it. I can wait until the coronation to go in, I just don't think I'm ready yet. Becoming a king is kind of scary, you know?" But the butler could in fact not relate to Jaden's concerns as he was of a much lower class than him. "I think becoming a king is a great honor. Someone such as myself could not properly give you advice, but I have no doubt that you will make an excellent ruler. Now then, shall we move on?" The butler asked him to which Jaden agreed and they continued on their path towards the dining hall.
Jaden's jaw dropped as he saw how big the dining room was. The ceiling was even taller than the one in his bathroom and there was so much space inside that your voice could easily echo inside from just the smallest uttered word. He saw the long table that was decorated with candles and roses and had at least twelve plates set out on it for someone to seat themselves at. He didn't know how big Anastasia's family actually was but he wondered if him and Lilith weren't going to be eating alone. At the head of the table sat Lilith who sat with her back straight and smiled at Jaden approvingly of his appearance. "I knew I chose the right outfit after all. Now you look just how a king should." Jaden forced a laugh as he picked a place for him to sit. He didn't want to sit down too far from her at the table as it would be pretty hard to conversate, so he chose to sit two seats down from her. "I noticed there's a lot of plates here. Are other people going to be joining us?" He asked the current queen.
Lilith kept up her smile as she grabbed a bell that was sitting on the table in arms reach. "Why, yes actually. But don't let the number of plates fool you. It's just presentable to set the whole table. But to answer your question, one of my son's will actually be joining us for breakfast. He is currently the only one at the castle right now as I have sent my three other son's to the mainland for a reconnaissance mission. In total, I have four sons and only one daughter. The one joining us is just slightly older than Anastasia, making him the second youngest. But I will warn you now, he is a bit of a troublemaker." She sighed as she thought about her youngest son and all the headaches he's given her in the past. Jaden's head turned towards the door as he heard the sound of footsteps and he blushed as he saw the beautiful man that walked in.
Lilith's son was a fare skinned boy with a very handsome face, unlike Jaden who one would describe as childish looking. He had crimson colored red hair which fell roughly above his shoulders that contrasted well with his pale skin that seemed as white as paper. He too wore a black suit but unlike Jaden who wore an ascot, he had unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt to reveal a part of his chest and wore no tie. He also has a bunch of piercings on his ears which gave Jaden a bad boy vibe about him. He too had beautiful narrowed looking red slitted eyes just like he did. Jaden wasn't gay by any means but in his perspective, he would be lying if he said that the man in front of him wasn't drop dead gorgeous. Was everyone in Anastasia's family incredibly good looking like this? Jaden gulped as the man chose to sit right next to him and he could feel as the other boy's cold looking gaze glossed over him.
The red haired man kicked his feet up on the table and playfully leaned back in his chair, which prompted a growl to emanate from Lilith's throat. "Ahem… Let's get some introduction's in order. Jaden, meet my youngest son Friedrich. He is only two years older than you so you are both very close in age." Friedrich continued to stare at Jaden without saying a word and smirked when he saw Jaden's eyes meet his own. "This is the guy that's going to take your place, mother? He doesn't look like much to me. In fact, he seems kind of scrawny and weak." Jaden glared at him as his demonic aura started to increase, but rather than becoming afraid like many of his adversaries have in the past, Friedrich just laughed. "What was that? Did you piss your pants or something?" He said as he continued to laugh which caused Jaden to grind his teeth. He didn't think it was possible, but he finally met someone more pompous and obnoxious than Chazz was. And that was saying something.
Jaden rose up from his seat and slammed his hands on the table which created a loud thud which vibrated throughout the room. "I don't know what your problem is but if you want a fight, I would be more than happy to kick your ass!" Jaden said as he gritted his teeth, his eyes glowing with anger. Friedrich continued to smirk as he also stood up with his arms crossed and put his face right in front of Jaden's, the two so close that the tips of their noses were touching. "I just wanted to see if you had any spunk, but now I'm liking what I'm seeing. I like your moxie kid; you got some balls challenging me to a fight. I'm nothing like my sister if you think you can even compare our power levels. She is a weakling in our family. But if you really want, let's go to the training room right now and we can see who is really the strongest one out of the two of us." Friedrich said with a cocky smile on his face.
"ENOUGH!" Yelled Lilith with power booming in her voice, which caused both of the feuding teenagers to flinch and immediately stopped their fighting. Lilith's eyes widened as she shocked herself by losing her temper and she cleared her throat again as she reclaimed her composure. "Sorry, my lord. I didn't mean to raise my voice. I hope you know that you are not the one my anger is directed at. But you Friedrich, I have no problem in disciplining. You will be on your best behavior in the presence of the Supreme King, do I make myself clear? Or shall I take away your mainland privileges and ground you here in Manescula? I know how much you oh so enjoy your little night escapades with your human women." She said as she glared coldly at her son. Friedrich felt himself starting to sweat as even though he was a bad boy, his mother's rage always seemed to put him in check whenever he started acting out.
"Ch… Whatever. It won't happen again, Mother." He said as he sat back down in his chair with his arms crossed as he propped his legs back on the table, while looking in the opposite direction of Jaden and his mom. Jaden couldn't help but laugh slightly seeing how quickly Lilith was able to subdue her son's attitude and put him back in his place. He might talk a big game but it looked like even he had someone to fear. Lilith finally rang the bell she held in her hands and instantly, the servants came out from the kitchen holding bountiful trays of food which made Jaden's mouth water. He was expecting something small like a goblet of blood, but not a full blown feast!
The servants put the trays down in front of them and removed the lids, revealing an assortment of gourmet cuisines. There was a roasted duck surrounded by rosemary, an entire pig with an apple in its mouth, pecan pie with ice cream and some cookies, plus plenty more foods that Jaden didn't even knew existed. He had no name for them as the food was a luxury he had never experienced in his life of poverty before. But he couldn't help but wonder how they were going to eat any of this stuff. From what he knew about noble vampires tastebuds, they couldn't enjoy food the way humans did and had to survive on blood alone. "Call me ignorant, but is this okay for us to eat? When I first transitioned into a vampire, everything and anything I ate tasted like how spoiled garbage smelled." Jaden said out loud, shivering from just remembering the taste.
Lilith giggled as she completely understood his reaction. "This isn't normal food you would find on the mainland. This is food raised and cultivated here in the capital. They were grown using the assistance of dark magic, so it is safe for us to consume. It is true that we still need blood to survive, but to curve our ravenous hunger, we rely on regular meals to moderate our blood lust. You have the purest blood out of any vampire alive today, and I've noticed you need a regular consumption of human blood to fuel your dark energy, less you risk losing control. But with the food we have set out on the table, you'll find it much easier to satiate your hunger. Give it try! I know you will most appreciate it." Jaden grabbed a hefty serving on his plate and dug his spoon into the food before he quickly shoveled it into his mouth, anticipating the disgusting flavor. But his face settled in bliss as he smiled while sucking on the spoon as it was the first time in what felt like forever that he was eating really honest to god delicious food.
"Oh man have I missed this! I used to be such a big foody back when I was a human so you can imagine how grateful I am that this is actually edible!" He said as he started eating incredibly fast. It's like he didn't even take his time to truly savor the meal as he shoveled the food in his mouth and didn't chew before he swallowed with large gulps. Friedrich sat next to him in disgust by how Jaden was eating like a pig. This guy had no class at all and yet he was supposed to be their king. "Geez… were you raised by wolves or something? You need to attend some etiquette classes. Show some restraint will you?" He said as he gracefully spooned soup into his mouth. But Jaden wasn't listening to him and before long, the tower of food that he had put on his plate was gone within mere minutes.
He sat back in his chair and rubbed his belly as he burped happily, feeling full. "That hits the spot! Thank you Lilith for the wonderful meal!" He said as he smiled at the queen who smiled back at him. "No need to thank me, my lord. It's not like this is some sort of special occasion. But I am glad that you enjoyed the food the servants prepared for us. Every day from now on you will have meals just like this. Such is a luxury of being a royal." She said as she brought a napkin to her face to dab her mouth. Jaden sat in silence for the rest of breakfast while he waited patiently for the other two to finish eating, and only feeling slightly embarrassed about how he didn't hesitate to suck down his food like a vacuum cleaner. Maybe Friedrich had a point, it was urgent that he needed to take some kind of etiquette class, because he would hate to embarrass himself like this when he officially became king.
They finally finished eating and Friedrich stood up from his chair to exit the dining hall but was stopped by Lilith as he could feel her cold glare on the back of his head which made him gulp as he turned around. "I don't know where you think you're going, but I haven't dismissed you yet." Friedrich grumbled something underneath his breath as he retook his seat much to his dismay. "I want you to take Jaden here around the capital so he can interact with the people and learn more about our history." The queen told her youngest son. But this prompted Friedrich's eyes to grow wide as he stood up in protest. "What the hell! Why do I have to be the one to take this little weakling?! Can't you do it mother? Or maybe send one of the servants to go with him!" But that only caused Lilith's demonic aura to deepen even more as she was starting to lose patience with her son. "I would go with him, but I have more important business right now. I have to meet with the shaman and check in on your sister's condition. She's still very sick. And you have your duties as a prince you still must uphold! You need this trip just as much as our king does. So go! And do not argue with me anymore. Do I make myself clear?" She said as her eyes narrowed further into a piercing gaze that looked sharp enough to cut diamonds.
Friedrich felt a vein pop up on his forehead as he sighed deeply into his hand. "Fine… But don't expect me to enjoy this one bit. You." He said while pointing a finger at Jaden. "You're coming with me. Don't fall behind because I'm not going to wait for you." He said as he placed his hands in his pockets before he started to walk away. Jaden quickly stood up from his chair and bowed to Lilith and thanked her one more time before he hurried after Friedrich who was already quite a ways ahead of him. Eventually, both boys were back outside of the castle where a carriage was pulled up, waiting for them to take them back to town. Friedrich stepped inside the gothic looking carriage, followed by Jaden who sat across from him. The carriage started to pull out and Friedrich had his arm against the window with his head resting in his hand as he stared out the window, refusing to acknowledge Jaden who sat only a couple of feet away from him.
Jaden could tell that Friedrich didn't like him one bit. But honestly, it was kind of nice having someone that wasn't doting on him all the time like every other vampire he's met so far. In a way, it made Jaden like him, even though the dude seemed like a total jackass with a major dominance complex. "Hey, can I ask you something?" Jaden asked the slightly older vampire, who took a deep annoyed sigh just from hearing Jaden trying to talk to him. "If you must. What is it?" He said while he continued to stare out of the window. "Since I've been here, I noticed that everything here has been kind of old timey. Why is that? I mean, your mother had a car come to pick us up when we got here, but everyone seems to be wearing like super old looking clothing and I don't think I've seen one person use a smartphone or anything like that." Jaden said as he tilted his head.
"That's because we don't need technology when we have magic to help us live our daily lives. After we were cut off from the rest of the world, we didn't progress as fast in the terms of technological advances. Why would we need a phone when we can magically send a letter to our neighbors? Only noble vampires are allowed off the island anyways so the citizens that live here don't even know much about the outside world. Why would they care about a cellphone or a tv if they've never seen one? They can't want something they never heard of." Said Friedrich as he rolled his eyes, wondering why Jaden was asking such stupid questions. It was all common knowledge to him, and it honestly pissed him off that their soon to be king didn't even know something as small as that. Jaden listened closely as the older boy talked to him. Honestly, that made a lot of sense to him. They probably wore clothes like that because that was around the era when they set up the barrier and locked themselves up tight on the island. Since they couldn't keep up with the trends as the world around them continued to evolve, there was no point in fixing something that wasn't broken, so they still dress and live as if it was still the Victorian Era.
"So, how does the vampire nobility work anyways? You mean to tell me not every person on this island is a noble? I just assumed a noble meant that it was a vampire who was naturally born as one. Correct me if I'm wrong." Jaden didn't mean to make Friedrich so annoyed but no matter what he said, it caused a negative reaction to come out of the other. "Yeah, you're definitely not correct. Geez, you really are dumb." He said as he sighed which caused Jaden to grit his teeth. Yup, this guy was definitely worse than Chazz.
"The nobility works like this. The more pure your blood is, the better off you are in the hierarchy. My family are direct descendants to the Supreme King, having our lineage start thousands of years ago. There are other noble families out there, but nobles tend to marry other nobles so that we can keep the blood line as pure as possible. But occasionally in our history, a noble will turn a human and end up marrying that human. And because of that, their bloodline grows weaker. And then that vampire makes a new vampire and so on and so forth. Because of this form of breeding we have vampires who are born with only a limited amount of the Supreme King's blood in their systems, which makes them incredibly weaker than us nobles. Do you get it now?" Said Friedrich as he tried to break it down for Jaden who was actually able to understand. He normally had a hard time paying attention in class, but he found this subject incredibly intriguing. This was the history of his entire life after all, how could he not listen with open ears?
"Yeah, I think I'm starting to get it now. Sorry for all the questions. I'm just really curious. It's weird having someone talk about me in such detail when I don't even remember any of this stuff." Said Jaden as he smiled sheepishly. "Well don't worry about not remembering. They'll come back to you eventually. I can't wait for you to remember so that those memories can swallow up this terrible personality of yours. I can't wait to meet the actual king, because so far I'm not impressed." This caused Jaden to frown as he tilted his head in confusion even more. "My memories will swallow me up? What do you mean by that?" Jaden asked kind of worriedly. This caused Friedrich to chuckle because this was yet another thing that Jaden was oblivious too. "Oops. It seems I said to much. Don't worry about it. You'll understand what I mean soon enough. But forget about that for now, we're here."
The carriage finally made it to town where a crowd of adoring citizens were walking around in the town square, and after noticing the carriage, were all standing around them and cheering. A guard that was sitting at the front of the carriage helped to open the door for the two nobles as Friedrich stepped out first, which caused the crowd to cheer even louder. In the audience, some young vampire girls swooned as they saw their handsome prince make his appearance as they chanted his name like he was some kind of idol. Which is something Jaden noticed Friedrich and Anastasia had in common. They were both very attractive and couldn't help that the public seemed to be automatically drawn to them. Jaden could tell that Friedrich was very popular with the people which shocked him, because he thought that the youngest prince seemed like a pretty bad guy. But he must have had some good to him if the public was giving him a reaction like this.
"Are you coming out or not? I don't think the people can take anymore suspense." Friedrich said as he hollered at Jaden who was still inside of the carriage. Jaden gulped as he started to sweat from his nerves and tugged at his collar to try and cool himself off. He held his breath as he finally stepped out of the carriage, but instead of cheers like Friedrich, he received dead silence as the crowd whispered amongst themselves. "Uh… I don't think they like me very much." Jaden said as he felt his heart start to ache a little from the rejection. This was not the reaction he was expecting at all. "It's not that they don't like you. They just don't know what to do in the presence of their god. Because that's what you are to them. Most of them were born after your last reincarnation, so it's a dream come true for them to meet the famous Supreme King they only heard about through legends." Said Friedrich who was signing off autographs to the girls who continued to swoon over him. Jaden thought back on it and remembered that Anastasia had said something similar to him and that she was glad he was reborn during her lifetime or something along those lines.
In the crowd, an elderly looking man with a bald head, a long white beard and a hunched back came to walk up to Jaden as he grabbed his hand and caressed it in his own, having a tight grasp on him which made the soon to be king feel slightly awkward as he didn't know how to handle the situation. Jaden knew that vampires could live for a very long time, so for this man to appear so decrepit means that he must have been very old indeed. The man who took his hand fell to his knees with his head hung low as he started to cry tears of joy. "It's been so long since the great Supreme King has graced us with his presence! It's so shocking to see how you haven't aged a second! You still look just as young and full of vigor as you did back then. I was only a mere boy the last time you lived in this world, and I will never forget the day you saved me and my family when the angels came to attack our home. I have waited a very long time to show my respect and appreciation for you, my one true king!" Said the old man who continued to cry.
Jaden stood there kind of shocked for a moment because he was at a loss for words. He felt kind of bad because he had no recollection as to what the old man was talking about, but he knew that it was very important to his memories, and he just had to try and say something to appease him. Jaden knelt down and helped the old man stand back up on his feet as he was now holding both of this hands in his own and smiled warmly at him. "There's no need to bow your head like that to me! If I'm honest, my memories are still a little fuzzy. So I apologize that I can't remember exactly what it is you're talking about. But I'm glad that I could save you and that you've lived a full life. I might not remember, but I'm so happy that I was able to do some good for somebody else. So please, don't cry!" Jaden said as he continued to smile. As the older man stared into his face, he could feel his soul rejoice as he looked at the young king.
The old man stopped his tears and smiled as he patted Jaden on the top of his head, which caused the young boy to blush. "It's alright, my lord. I am only but a small insignificant part of your large history, so I can't hold it against you if you do not remember me. But I remember you very well, and all I can say is, welcome home my king. I hope you can continue to protect these young whipper snappers like you did for me all of those years ago!" After watching Jaden and the old man converse, the crowd started to warm up to him as they surrounded him and praised him as Jaden tried his best to keep up his smile as he greeted every person that came his way. Friedrich watched on the sidelines as Jaden was showered with love and respect, and he didn't even have to do anything to get it. It was like his personality was infectious and people threw themselves at him like he was an old time friend that everyone just couldn't help but love. It made Friedrich slightly jealous as it took him a long time to gain praise from the public, but he was impressed as well. Maybe Jaden was a salvageable ruler after all.