the King of Edinburgh

"I didn't hear you. Do you understand what I mean?" He asked frowning when he didn't receive a response from the maids.

"Yes." They all murmured keeping their gaze on the floor.

They seemed to be scared even to look at him straight in the eye. Roselyn was confused wondering what he did to be feared that way by his servants and hated by his family.

Maybe he had a secret past she didn't know about.

"Your highness, you have some visitors." The servant said and four men entered right after him.

Some of them walked in with their hands inside their pocket curving their shoulders ahead and gazing at the floor, others emanated a pride personality as they walked with their chin lifted and with a slight smirk on their face. The kind of facial expression that seems that person was not scared by anyone.

However, they had a disheveled look, long hair, and dirty, dressed in clothes spattered on and with some holes on their knees. The appearances made Roselyn figure out they were from middle-low classes. So she wondered, what were they doing there visiting the King? Were they some servants or whitewashers?

When they all one by one hugged John tightly or high-fived with him, Roselyn understood that the relationship they share with John must be close.

The maids, recognizing them, existed from the room.

They looked at Roselyn from upside down, "who is she?" Jake asked, meeting her gaze she understood they were vampires just like him.

Another one walked toward her and leaned close to her neck.

He smirked looking at the pale smoothy flawless skin.

She immediately covered it with her hand jolting on the chair.

"Don't touch her." John's voice thundered in the room.

"She is my future wife." He said when they all looked at him confused.

Hearing his declaration they joined in a common laugh.

"What's wrong with her? I can't smell her." Jake, the guy who was worshipping her neck said while he tried to smell her hair.

"Get off of me!" Roselyn complained walking away from them, reaching John who looked like a safe place in that situation.

They all laughed seeing her scared. John smiled at her, once the silence fell in the room he introduced his group. "He is Jake." He pointed at one guy who gestured to pretend to doff his hat, as a sign of respect.

Then he continued introducing each one of his group.

They all gave a nod as they were introduced,

"They are my closest friends," John explained a friendly smile escaped from his lips, a smile that Roselyn had never seen before. It seemed to be a gratitude smile.

Closest friends? Did he lose his mind? They didn't seem to be good people. Roselyn was barely learning not to be scared by him being a vampire when new vampires just showed up.

She didn't have any guarantee they wouldn't hurt her and she was very scared to be the only woman in that room now.

"I know you care about your privacy so I will leave you guys alone," Roselyn said showing a plastic smile to obfuscate her lie and quickly finding her way out the dining room.

"Yeah, very appreciated. thank you." John replied but she was already on her way out.

They all bite into the food like if they were starving for days.

"Did Jake told you all about the plan?" John asked. Just by pronunciation the word plan the pupils of his eyes dilated. They finished half of the food that was on the table and finally lifted their gaze to look at him. After cleaning his mouth with his sleeve, the tallest of them replied: "We all owe you our life. So we accept no matter what."

That was true, if it wasn't for John either they would be dead or they would end up being lost unable to live a normal life.

He found each one of them during a risky situation in which they risked being discovered or being killed by the humans. Decades ago humans suspected the existence of supernatural creatures after finding corps left dead in the woods with suspected wounds on their necks.

Therefore, to prevent any death the police sent a group of people to investigate and they put traps around the forest. Millions of vampires and werewolves were caught. John saved many vampires by helping them get free from traps and referring them to the locations of every trap and how to get free in case they got caught. He also taught them how to survive by being vampires and although some of them didn't share his ideology of not wanting to kill people just to steal their blood, others still applied that rule in their life that justifies the strongest who gets the better of the weakest ones. Besides their 'meat preferences', they all were pleasuring people and John cared about every single one of them as if they were the family he never had.

"The problem is that he has hundreds of men at his disposition and we are just six. Half of them are vampires and werewolves." Another one said as he tapped his long claws onto the table while he nervously tried to find a solution.

"And there are not many vampires in our zones who aren't allied with him." Jake addressed wrathfully. Then he took another bite of the food.

"Maybe I can visit Brusley and search them some vampires asking them if they can join us." He continued chewing with his mouth while he spoke. Jake was considered like a boss, when John wasn't present. The King nodded no vigorously with his head, "when they will find out that we are concocting a strategy against him, they will expose us. We need trusted people." He reasoned.

The desperation felt in the room accompanied with silence when the more they tried to come up with a conclusion the more they were left disappointed.

"You all seem to forget about something important." John finally took the floor breaking the silence.

They gazed at him and he showed a smirk, "I am the King of Edinburgh now."

His eyebrow drew together while his teeth clenched, "and I am going to use it at my pleasure."

he clicked his tongue.