The Tyrant's Pet

"My best friend, come!"

Out of instinct, Joaquin raised his head weakly to see the person entering the scene. As soon as he did, his heart stopped momentarily. The emperor was growling like a dog, his eyes brooding on him.

"No... arf! Arf! Arf! Arf!" Joaquin barked in defense, regaining his strength to crawl back. He shook his head the closer the emperor was, but then stopped when he felt Abel's gaze on his back.

"Why are you so scared, Joaquin?" Abel tilted his head to the side, a misplaced genuine wonder in his eyes. "You won't die. I specifically made sure you won't die so easily."

"Arf!" Joaquin ground his teeth at Abel, still on his knees with his palms on the floor. "How dare you...!"

Abel snorted, walking towards the previous emperor. He hooked his arms across the previous emperor's shoulder as if they were close friends, standing before Joaquin.

"Come on now. I didn't cage you just like how you heartlessly cage my best buddy for years." He shot the mindless monster a look and grinned. "Do you hate him?"

Grr...

"How touching." Abel heaved a dramatic sigh and then faced Joaquin.

"He said he doesn't hate you, but only came here to shower you with the fatherly love you had sought. It seemed he truly cherished you, huh? Come, give your father a hug!" He tapped the previous emperor's back lightly before retracting his arm. "Don't kill him."

Joaquin's eyes dilated as his jaw fell in horror, watching his father approach him with those bloody fangs.

"No, no..." His fear shot up. No matter how many times he told himself to get up and fight, Joaquin was frozen on the spot. All he could see was his father, whom he had been looking down for years, was now looking down at him the same way he did. Although the emperor was tamed than when he was hungry, there was no sense of life in those bloodshot eyes.

Time seemed to stop for Joaquin as his heart stopped beating briefly. His breath hitched and all the noises around were muted.

'No...' Joaquin whispered helplessly, watching his father open his watery mouth.

Abel smirked when Joaquin's squeal erupted, echoing across every corner of the chapel. While the previous emperor ravage his own damned son, Abel raised his chin and scanned every single one of the royal knights. His people already left the chapel with Ismael, Climaco, and Curtis.

"You stayed?" he quirked a brow, catching Roman leaning against the jamb of the shut doors. Abel looked at the seventh prince from head to toe before clicking his tongue continuously.

"I told you, Prince." He sighed. "The only time you will maintain your humanity is to live for as long as you can. But it seemed you didn't listen to my advice."

Roman lowered his eyes, swallowing down the tension building up in his throat.

Several days ago, when Dexter fed the injured seventh prince's blood to recover, it nearly killed Roman. The seventh prince was supposed to rest for a day or two and recover, so the healing and the vampire blood in his system wouldn't kill him. But alas, their plan moved up because of Joaquin's impatience.

And thus, the seventh prince's chances of conquering the vampire blood in his system crashed significantly.

It almost killed him, turned him like his father. If not for the fact that Roman had a strong willpower and Abel was watching him all day to kill some time. Roman wouldn't be standing here after dying twice; first from the failed healing, and second in Joaquin's hands.

"Why didn't you kill me that time?" asked Roman under his breath, slowly raising his eyes at the man standing at the altar. He didn't even bother with the two people wrestling behind Abel, nor was he bothered by the blood splashing.

"You and I knew very well... I will not survive," he continued, raising his voice slightly. "So why... why give me a blood contract, Your Majesty?!"

His entire body trembled with the right mix of fear and anger. The only reason Roman stayed human before Joaquin snapped his neck was that Abel saved him from dying several days ago. But now that Joaquin killed him, which took Roman's humanity, allowing Abel's blood ran through his veins freely.

In other words, Roman's life was now tied to Abel. If the latter died, he would, and his words would be absolute over Roman's.

The seventh prince's life... was not his own anymore. And he knew for a fact he could no longer turn back to how he was before. He could only ignore the loud voices from a mile away, the sound of pulsating veins, and barely fighting the desire to sink his teeth into someone's neck.

The thirst, the hunger, the heightened senses, and everything that Joaquin wanted, were the things so dreadful and Roman knew it very well. It was unlike being humans who had control over their own emotions and life.

Being <strong>Turned</strong>... was a nightmare everyone just didn't know about.

The very reason Joaquin lost was that he didn't fathom that aside from the everlasting life, strength, speed, and everything that vampires carried in their blood, there were others that come along with it. For example, opening the awareness that morphing from human to vampire doesn't make them invincible. If anything, they were just as vulnerable as a newborn child before those who were born vampires.

Roman looked at Abel, and he knew deep in his bones that Abel was no ordinary vampire. He smelled different from Conan and Dexter. And their difference in strength was immeasurable.

"Why?" Abel hummed as he looked up to ponder for an answer. "Because... I feel like it?"

"Hah..." the seventh prince scoffed in disbelief. People might deem him ungrateful, but who would want to have their lives bound to another? If Abel told him to kill, Roman would, without questions asked. That was the least thing Roman wanted, knowing what sort of devil Abel could be.

Abel shrugged nonchalantly. "My wife is fond of that Princess, and she'll be very sad if you die so pathetically. You should've beheaded him, you know?" he glanced at Joaquin, who was crawling while his own father feasted on him.

"If only you decapitated him, he wouldn't suffer this way," he continued, smirking in amusement. When he looked back at Roman, his eyelids drooped until they were partially closed. "Or... did you deliberately keep him alive, knowing he'll die a much more miserable death without sullying your hands?"

An amused chuckle slipped past Abel's closed lips while shaking his head. Roman didn't answer, but Abel wasn't born yesterday to think Roman was as pure and kind as what he showed in front of Violet.

"This is the last time I will allow you to use me, Prince." Abel kept his smile and drew a breath, smiling. "Very well… enough with the unnecessary talk."

Abel looked around at the knights and smiled. "Time to play a game."

He clapped and thought of something that was fun. "Whoever survives until my wife wakes up will live." His lips stretched even broader until his pearly teeth were showing.

"Come… show me who is the person worthy of my blood."