14. Tristan

**Tristan**

I walk slowly down the dark hallways of the Vampire Palace—Palace that I used to love with all my black heart when I was a child when my father was still alive. It used to be a beautiful place. But then he was killed in a mysterious way leaving my mother to rule the vampire all alone.
Soon after my father's death, my mother, Queen Crimson started changing. It started with little things like she would harm humans during a feeding, humans she swore to protect. And from there it kept getting worse.
I was still a child back then, around ten years old, five months after my father's death, but I remember that on the night of the Winter Equinox, my mother, dressed in a long red dress, rose from her throne, looked at the vampires, and said, "From this night on a new era starts for the vampires. One day we will rule everyone." She looked at the humans who were seated at the tables, eating and celebrating with the vampires. "We will start with you. Starting right from this moment we, the vampires, are your new masters. We will do whatever we want you."
All the humans that used to live in the Palace at the time when my father was still alive were there because they wanted. Yes, we would feed on them, but we did it with their permission and always made sure not to harm the human in the process. But during that Winter Equinox, many humans have been harmed or killed. Those humans that have survived had been transformed into slaves.
Behind me, I hear the soft steps of Zeke and Xenos. They are the only ones I trust in this damned Palace.
"What do you think the Queen wants?" Zeke asks me.
I don't stop walking as I reply to him, "I have a feeling she will want to know about the blood slave. You know what to say."
"We don't know anything about him," Xenos says. "Don't worry. We know."
"What about Oana?" Zeke asks. "Won't she say anything? Up until a month ago, she was one of the most loyal vampires of the Queen."
"She is now loyal to me. You don't have to have to worry about her," I say simply.
"I still don't understand what made her become loyal to you," Xenos says in an insistent tone.
I know my knights better than they think and I know they are curious, but for now, I choose to not tell them why Oana decided to become loyal to me. Not because I don't trust them, but because I don't want anyone to know about Oana and what she said to me and what I had to promise to her.
As we approach the throne room I already can hear moans of pain coming from blood slaves or sex slaves. I straighten my back and force my face to become expressionless, as I walk inside the hell that my mother created fifteen years ago. Usually is not this bad, but when my mother decided to have a 'celebration night' in the name of our Goddess its hell for the slaves. My knights and I don't participate in these so called celebrations, but when Oana told me earlier that if I don't show up in Court today my mother will punish me.
New slaves, that my mother bought days ago from a Clan of panthers are chained to the walls and they watch in horror how a group of three vampires is assaulting a sex slave.
The vampires that are sitting around the tables have blood slaves sitting in their lap, feeding on them. The food on the plates was long forgotten as the vampires let the blood-lust overtake them.
Oana sits at one of the tables, the only vampire that is eating food. Apart from blood, vampires also need normal food to survive.
A goblet with blood is in front of Oana. My gaze lingers on her face for a second before looking away. No one has to know that she is now my spy.
I advance slowly towards the throne where my mother sits. My older brother, Sinn, and next in line to the Vampire throne, sits on a smaller throne next to Queen Crimson. He has on his lap a female sex slave and he is viciously moving his fingers in and out of her body. Her long black hair is covering her face. My brother smirks at me as he sinks his fangs in her arm and sucks while he looks at me with red eyes full of poison.
His two knights sit behind his throne and look at me with amusement.
My heart beats furiously inside my chest when I smell her sweet flowery scent, and I know who she is without the need of seeing her face—Emma. She is half-human and half-panther.
I try to not let anger overtake me as I swear to Nyx, the Night Goddess and the Goddess of vampires that one day I will get Emma out of the claws and fangs of my brother. He only took interest in her because once I smiled at her and he saw me.
My mother, who up until now was looking with a boring face at her Vampire Court, shift her graze so she could stare at me. Behind her throne stand her three knights.
"Mother," I say. "You have summoned me."
"Queen Crimson," my knights say and I don't need to look at them to knew they have already kneeled on one knee in front of her. My mother loves to have the others at her feet. Literally.
"Tristan," Queen Crimson, says looking at me with red eyes full of displeasure. "You finally decided to answer my call and to join our festivity," she says in an angry tone.
"I would have come earlier," I say, "but I had to do other things."
"Like what?" my mother asks.
"I had to visit the Nature Witches," I say in a neutral tone.
She lifts an eyebrow, leans on her throne, puts her right leg on top of her left one, and looks at me for a long while. Then she looks at the Court and says, "My son, prince Tristan, thinks that the Druids are more important than the festivity we are having tonight to honor our Goddess."
I can feel how the vampires stop whatever they are doing so that they can look at me and my knights.
"I don't think that the Nature Witches are more important than Nyx, but ever since shapeshifters and humans have started disappearing the Light Witches are pointing at us. I had to visit the Druid Queen to—"
"I told you many times, Tristan, that I am not the one behind the disappearings," my mother says and Goddess, I want to believe her, but one glance at her Hell Court and I know my mother is behind it. "I buy the slave we need. For example, the Omega that disappeared two nights ago," my mother says and I don't react in any way, "his mother sold him to me. His blood tasted like sweet wine and he was supposed to be introduced this night, during our festivity, as a sex slave. But with him gone, I had to buy four panthers to use for our festivity. It is not the same but our people will have to make do without an Omega. And I hope you are not the one behind his mysterious disappearance, Tristan because if you are I will punish you in front of all the court."
I clench my teeth as I think how Omegas are used by vampires, especially if they are in heat. I am glad I got Elton out of this hell, but it never crossed my mind that my mother will buy more shapeshifters to use in what she calls festivities. Our Goddess does not ask this of us.
"I don't know anything about his disappearance," I force myself to say in a calm tone.
She looks at me with cold red eyes for a long time before saying, "Very well, I shall believe you since you are my son." Then she looks at her Court and says, "Let the festivity begin."
I turn on my heels to leave and before Zeke and Xenos have time to stand I hear my mother asking me, "Where do you think you are going, Tristan?"
"To my apartment. I have work to do," I say turning to look at my mother. I try not to glare at my brother who finally stopped his assault on Emma and just looked at me with a bored expression.
"Too many times you have walked away from our festivities. But not tonight Tristan. Tonight you will sit down and look," my mother says and she snaps her fingers. "I hope that one night you will also choose to participate."
A human slave rushed to bring a chair for me and puts it close to the Queen's throne. I sit on it, and Zeke and Xenos move behind the chair.
I force myself to watch as vampires use the slaves in the most despicable ways. Even if my eyes see I let my mind wander, and think on the times my father was alive and we had festivities for Nyx. No one was abused and the humans that wanted to participate were treated with respect.
When everything is over I stand and walk away while I wonder what made my mother change so much. And to think that Sinn is the future King. He is as bad as she is.
I go to my apartment, Zeke and Xenos follow me.
While I sit on the sofa, in my living room, Zeke goes to the mini-fridge, opens it, takes a bag of blood, sinks his fangs in it, while he closes the door to the mini-fridge.
"That was awful," Xenos says while he goes to the mini-bar and put whiskey in a glass. "Do you want one as well?" he asks looking at me.
"Not even all the alcohol I have in that mini-bar wouldn't be able to erase what I just saw tonight," I say and close my eyes. "I will have to wash my eyes with holy water for weeks."
"Tell me about it," I hear Zeke saying.
"We have to do something. Anything," I say.
"Do you think Caleb will help us?" Zeke says and I open my eyes and look at him.
"I don't know. After everything that had happened to him... It was a miracle he did not kill me," I say.
"You should explain to him. Tell him the truth," Xenos says.
"Explain what?" I ask.
"That you never betrayed him," Xenos replies.
"It does not matter anymore. Even if I explain to him I will never get my best friend back. Not after all that happened to him."