He lay motionless on his throne, hearing her footsteps fade as she drifted farther and farther away from him. He could no longer see her but his sensitive hearing was able to detect her faint heartbeat resonating through his castle. It calmed him. Just like the night she first stepped foot inside in there.

Last couple of centuries weren't easy on him. Even though his body had long since changed into stone, he still tried desperately to save his heart from the same fate. Vampires were notorious for being ruthless creatures. He didn't want to be a part of their sick games. He believed in kindness. He believed in treating others equally. Whether it be a commoner or a... human being. He was exiled from Romania because of this mindset. Because of the open display of his emotions. He was despised in his own country. The Weakling Prince, this is what they called him.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips. 'Maybe they were right. Look where it got me.'

He was taught since his childhood to treat human beings as food. Nothing but a species present at the end of the food chain. His young mind couldn't grasp this concept. The slave that took care of him since his birth was a sweet human woman, Deborah. She loved him like her own son. How could he think so lowly of the woman who he regarded as his own mother. Apparently, this wasn't appreciated by the king's officials. They requested for the public execution of the slave woman. The worst part about it was that they made him watch it. Little Ares witnessed his mother figure dying right in front of him. He watched as her sparkling eyes lost the light they once held.

A little pieace of him died with her that day. He didn't take another human slave after that. He took care of himself on his own. He was afraid to get attached to someone. He was afraid of their death.

His unconventional ways ignited the king's wrath day by day. According to his father, As the future king of vampires, Ares wasn't allowed to have any weaknesses.

The court's officals had their eyes on the throne. They were continuously scheming behind his back to make him fall into disfavour with the king. Their attempts only got more and more extreme after Deborah's execution. Ares was forced into seclusion. His only companions were his loyal books. So he spent his days and nights drowning himself into those crumbling pages living lives he could only dream of having.

He placed his dangling legs on the floor, sitting upright. Dusk was approaching fast. He could see a big halo of orange and red sinking in the depth of a blue sea. His mind wandered to the day he was exiled from his homeland.

The sun was being swallowed by the voracious dark night. He stood in his balcony overlooking his father's great empire. At times like these, he yearned for a companion to stand by his side. Share these lonely times with him.

A child's scream ripped him away from his dark thoughts. There was something about children that called out to him. He couldn't stand to see them suffering. Probably because of his own distorted past. He tried ignoring them but he they only got louder, tearing away at his conscience.

He couldn't hold himself anymore. He jumped out of his balcony, following the direction of the screams. The loud cries led him to a small hut. He could sense a strong metallic smell coming from the hut. Did a vampire attack a human family? That's against the rules.

He darted inside to meet with a horrible scene. Two dead bodies of a man and woman were lying on the floor covered in a puddle of their own blood. A small child clutched to the woman's dead body crying at the top of his lungs. "Mother! Wake up, Mother!"

Ares' heart clenched at the sight of the helpless child. A vampire approached the child with a sinister smile on his face. It was his cousin, Felix.

"Stop!" He ordered Felix in a booming voice.

Felix turned to look at him with a frown. His frown soon turned into an amused grin to find the 'weakling prince' staring at him with rage burning in his eyes.

"Oh, look who decided to grace us with his presence. It's our young, "His Highness, Prince Ares King" or should I say the "$issy Prince?" He smirked at Ares with his eyes filled with contempt.

Ares rarely fought with anyone. No one had any knowledge about his true abilities. No one, except for the king.

Because he trained his son, himself.

"May I ask you the cause of this brutal killing spree?" He didn't care about Felix's insult. He had heard this word too much to care about it anymore.

"What? Now, you care about the empire's affairs?" Felix was behind the crying child in a heartbeat. He gripped the child's hair tightly exposing his neck. "Just the usual. Didn't pay their taxes on time. They needed to be taught a lesson."

Ares clutched his fist tightly. "I assume that's the King's responsibility to deal with such cases. Not yours."

"And I am the King's nephew." Felix trailed a finger down the child throbbing pulse.

Ares looked at the small child, shivering in Felix's clutches. "And I am the King's son." His voice held great authority. "Leave the child out of this. He has nothing to do with it."

"I'm hereby sorry to inform you that I cannot, Your Highness." Felix smiled sarcastically. "I like my desserts more than the meal itself." He gripped the child's neck tightly, cutting his oxygen supply.

"I said, LEAVE HIM!" Ares was in front of Felix in the blink of an eye, shocking him with his speed. He clasped Felix's neck, slamming him against the wall. Felix's clawed at Ares' hand to free himself somehow. Ares didn't ease his hold. Felix kept struggling in Ares' hold till he lost consciousness. He threw Felix away. He couldn't be bothered to kill him.

'Who's the weakling now?' He thought to himself as he walked towards the child.

"Are you okay?" He crouched down to the child's level, touching his cheek softly. The child opened his mouth to say something before his eyes turned big, "Sir!"

Ares sensed a presence behind him but it was too late to react. He pushed the child out of the way as a dagger pierced his left shoulder. He fell on the floor with a loud thud. The dagger was coated with silver. It was spreading around in his system burning his insides. He was too young to bear the pain. 'Sh!t. I was too careless.'

He gingerly turned around to find Felix grinning at him like a mad man. "Once a weakling, always a weakling." He crouched next to Ares' body, holding another silver dagger in his hand. "Emotional fool." His words were laced with sheer disgust for Ares. "But that's completely fine. Because your foolishness will serve me the king's title in a silver platter. I was out here for a usual hunt. Who knew I'd land myself a big fis-"

He stopped midsentence. The knife in his hand fell to the floor with a clatter. His eyes turned blank as his body fell limp on the floor. The handle of a sharp wooden sword was sticking out of his back. Ares saw the child frozen behind Felix's limp body.

He was the one who stabbed Felix in the heart. He had killed Felix.

The sun had completely set by now. The darkness embraced the room just as it embraced his heart. He thought about the night that followed his cousin's murder.

"Ares. Did you murder your cousin Felix?" The king's emotionless voice rang inside the court.

"I did. It was in self defense." The child looked at Ares with his big chocolate eyes. 'Father always said vampires were bad people. Why is this man helping me?'

"It's a huge crime to kill the royals." The king told him with a deadly calm voice.

"He should've thought that before attacking me with silver. Attempting to kill the future king is a great offence, too. " His shirt fell to floor as he removed it to show the healing wound on his back. "I couldn't inflict this on myself. Now could I?"

"Understandable. But this all happened because of this doomed child. Hand him over to Cyrus so he can avenge his dead son." A court's official suggested. Cyrus, Felix's father was one of the ministers of the king. He was unnaturally calm during all this commotion happening in the court.

"I bought him from his father a few days ago as a slave. Felix tried damaging my property. I killed him. Do you want me to give you a demonstration of it, too?" Ares was never this brave in front of his father and his officials. But he had to. He would never hand over the innocent child to these beasts.

"You ungratefu-" The official's sentence got cut off by the king's loud voice.

"STOP!" Everyone looked up at the king.

"Ares, Either you hand over the child to Cyrus or you'd be exiled from this empire. Decide what you want. A mere slave or your throne." The king looked at him sternly.

Ares stared back at his father with empty eyes. He didn't want a throne laced with the blood of the innocent.

"Prince Ares King bids farewell to his.. father." Ares took the child's hand as he started walking out of the court. The king's eyes hardened. He raised his hand to stop his only son from leaving, but after looking at his officials, he lowered it down. No weaknesses.

"Live well, my son." He whispered it, knowing Ares would be able to hear it due to his sensitive hearing. His son was a prince after all.

Hearing the sincerity in the King's words, Ares realised that his father was actually doing him a favour. His father knew that if he stayed there any longer, Cyrus would kill him one way or another. That was the first and last gift of a father to his young son.

The child clung to his leg as Ares walked out of his father's court. He crouched down to the child's eye level asking him, "Would you like to go on your own way or do you want to stay with me?"

The child replied immediately, "I'll serve you, Sir."

Ares' heart warmed at seeing the respect shinning in the child's bright eyes. "What's your name?"

"Henricus Christensen, Sir."

He smiled slightly at the bitter sweet memory. That was the last time he saw his father's face. The last time he called Ares his son. He always thought he'd go back to meet his father once his father handed over the throne to someone else. He'd go talk to his father like a normal son. Not as a disappointing prince. But that day never came.

A single tear rolled down the corner of his eye. He remained trapped for centuries because of that.. Abbot. He woke up too late, only to find two things he never wanted to hear.

His father was dead.

And he had handed over the throne to Ares before dying.

Ares was the King now. The King of Vampires.