"Who needs cocaine when human emotions can fuck you up just the same?"

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Past King and Queen's bedroom,

Crystalline Castle.

**

"Miss," someone was calling me, "miss wake up."

Trying to block out the voice, I rolled over to my left side. But suddenly, more sunlight hit my face, making me pull up the covers over my head.

Covers? I don't remember my body being covered with any blankets last night, because there weren't any--

Memories of what happened last night rushed through my mind. The music, Damien and I following it. Us opening the locked door, only to be met by the biggest surprise of our life. The portrait of the King and Queen, who looked just like us. Us being locked in.

Me falling asleep in his arms...

The last thought was enough to make my eyes snap wide open, as I sat up abruptly on the bed. The covers fell around me in a tangled mess. I looked around only to find that I was still in that room. My eyes discovered the maid standing by the bed, who had her hand stretched out as if she was just about to shake me. I noticed the door was wide open behind her, making me wonder who unlocked it.

And where was Damien?

"The king left for the meeting as soon as the sun came up, he'll be back by tomorrow. He ordered us to wake you up at nine and lock this room again once you're out of here." she informed me. Even though she was talking to me, her eyes were looking around the room, almost frightened. By the way her hands were clasped together to prevent them from shaking, I could tell the room gave her an edgy feeling.

While I experienced a sense of curiosity and belonging here, she was left with an eerie feeling.

"How did Damien open the door?" I asked her. She looked surprised, maybe because I called the king by his first name. But I don't think it really mattered what I call him anymore, not even to him because he lets it slid everytime.

"The door?" she seemed confused.

"Yes, when we were in here last night, we got locked in. So how did Damien manage to escape this morning?"

"I don't know anything about that, Miss. I was just told to wake you up."

Her brown eyes looked at the door. The young girl looked like she was ready to blast out of the room, so I felt bad to making her even more scared.

Pushing the covers off me, I got out of bed.

"Hey, did she-" the same guard from last night appeared in the doorway with the key to lock this door once again, "okay, good. Now both of you humans, out you go."

As I made my way over to the door, I suddenly felt upset. With each step I took closer to the door, the desire to stay increased. Something was pulling me back, as if the silence was begging me to stay.

And that's when I knew I was going crazy.

Mentally shaking my head, I started to walk faster. But something else caught my eye.

A sharp light hit my eyes, which I discovered was the small vase reflecting the sunlight. It was placed on a small round table by the wall, with only a stem inside it, no flower in sight. As I looked closer, I noticed the glass vase was placed on top of a piece of paper, as if to keep it from flying away. I ignored the guard for a moment as I rushed over to the table, taking a closer look. How did I not see this paper yesterday? But then again it was so dark in here that I couldn't make out every single detail of the room.

"What are you doing? Come on, or I'll just lock you in, I have much more important tasks waiting for me." the guard huffed.

I quickly lifted up the vase and grabbed the piece of paper. Hiding it from the guard and the maid's eyes, I almost ran out of the room.

I heard the lock being placed back on the door as I walked away from the room that only bloomed so many questions in my mind, but no answers.

**

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Somehow, I managed to find my way back to the guest bedroom I had been occupying for the last few days. The door was open so I simply walked in, closing it behind me so I would have some privacy.

Some privacy to read the price of paper I stole from the room. I cringed at the word stole.

It wasn't really stealing when I'll just put it back after reading it right? I was simply borrowing it to find answers I deserved to know.

Soothing out the wrinkles caused by me clutching it, I started at the coffee colered paper in my hands. The writer used a blank ink which was fading away to the point where I could barely read the words. They were holding on to the paper for their dear life.

The writing was cursive and artistic as if whoever wrote this, poured out so much emotions in each and every word.

Ezekiel,

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I know such a simple word would never be enough to erase this stain on my character. It will never be enough to make you forgive me.

I will always be the girl who made the first Vampire fall in love with her, just to rip apart his world. It was my fault your own people turned against you. They didn't want a human as their Queen, a race they thought wasn't capable of running a kingdom, a race which wasn't even considered a class.

But it never mattered to you, your strong love for me was reaching the sky that even these bat turning Vampires couldn't stop it from growing. You treated my like a princess when you first met me. You treated by like a queen when you fell in love with me.

You use to say "Queen, because Queens deserve only the best,". But this queen doesn't.

This queen doesn't deserve anything but death.

Some say that the life is a beautiful lie and death is a painful truth.

But now my life has become a painful lie and death... Death suddenly sounds like such a sweet truth.

But that is something I don't deserve either.

I wish... I wish I could experience the pain you went through.

Maybe that will take away some of this guilt.

I wish I could feel it all. The betrayal, the suffering you felt when you were killed by

I had to stop reading as a loud knock came from the door. Hiding the paper in the top drawer next to me, I quickly opened the door to reveal the same maid who woke me up.

"Princess Emma is calling you for breakfast," she said while her eyes were glued to the floor.

"I'll be down in a minute," I politely dismissed her so I could go to the bathroom and do the daily routine.

**

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As I made my way down the stairs towards the dining hall, I wanted nothing more than just to go upstairs and finish reading that letter. I thought it would give me some answers as to why I look like Queen Aaliyah but that paper made me question more things.

She was saying sorry over and over again. She was extremely guilty about something, that was for sure.

But why? Is it because of King Ezekiel's death? Did she feel like it was her fault he was killed?

I believed that might be true because people disliked Aaliyah, while Ezekiel was in love with her. He was willing to give up the throne for her. I remembered Emma telling me there was an uprising against the king. It got so worse that people started burning down the front part of the castle. Ezekiel was murdered while he was confronting his subjects.

If it wasn't for Aaliyah, his subjects would never have hated him.

I was brought out of my thoughts as I bumped into someone, I looked up to realize I'm in the hallways close to the kitchen, and standing in front of me, was none other than Damien.

He was dressed in a navy blue colored shirt, a black tie, black pants, and a pair of dress shoes. His usual formal wear, but something was different.

Didn't the maid say he already left for the meeting?

He said nothing and just stared at me, so I decided to ask him, "Damien, I thought --"

Suddenly he looked behind me as if I wasn't even there, and started to walk past me but I grabbed his wrist.

Something didn't feel right. I was missing something. But no matter how hard I tried to search my mind, I couldn't find anything that would make these red flags of suspicion go up.

Damien twisted his wrist out of my hand, quickly walking away. All I could do was stand there in confusion.

What was wrong with him?

I shook my head, realizing Emma was waiting for me.

When I got to the dining hall, the first thing I noticed was the large amount of people occupying this place today. The loud chit chatter filled the room. The hall was big enough to have two long table placed on either side of it. On one of the tables, all the children sat eating breakfast, while their mother stood next to them, scolding them to stop talking.

The other table was where Emma was sitting with a group of people, but the seat next to her was empty. I walked closer to the table and it didn't take her long to notice my presence.

"Alexis, finally! Come on, sit," she said and I sat down next to her, "how good are you at multitasking? Because while you're eating breakfast, I need you tell me all about your adventure in that spooky locked room."

She placed two pancakes on my plate as the girl sitting across from me said, "hellooo, aren't you going to introduce us, Emma Knight?"

"Oh! Yes, Alexis this is Eileen, and this is Tanya, my crazy friends," she shook her head.

I said hey to both girls while they shook my hand.

Eileen was the girl sitting across from me. Her blond hair was in a messy bun with loose curls falling around her face. While Tanya had pin straight black hair and light brown eyes.

Eileen's hazel eyes sparked with curiosity as she smiled at me, "so tell us, what's behind that door? When Damien left, he ordered everyone to stay away from the room and only a maid was allowed to go in to wake you up. What is it that he so bad wants to hide? Wait, how did you even manage to get in? We all know how strict Emma's brother is with the rules."

"Eileen. Let her breathe first! Her eyes are getting bigger and bigger with each question you're hitting her with," Tanya laughed.

"No, it's alright. You remind me of me," I said to Eileen, "and I guess my curiousity and rambling just got so annoyed at one point that Damien thought it was better to just let me see what was inside the room."

"And to answer your question, we didn't really find anything interesting. It was just this beautiful bedroom that looked old but surprisingly it never lost its shine. There's a portrait of the king and queen. Oh and one of the walls is covered with huge windows, so at night when the moon is up, the light gives the room a glorious look."

When I gave them a brief explanation, I decided to leave out the part that the King and Queen looked exactly like Damien and me. I'll just tell Emma privately later.

"That sounds.... Pretty boring," Tanya sighed.

Emma laughed, "tell me about it. I thought there would be piles of bodies lying around while their ghosts played hide and seek in the dark."

Eileen shushed them,"But guys, I'm sure it wasn't so boring for Alexis over here," she winked at Emma, "I heard they both spent the night in there."

I almost spit out the orange juice. I coughed as Emma started to rub my back.

My defensive side kicked in, "but that was just because --"

"'Cause they were playing hide and seek or something to pass time, Eileen. Come on, give her a break." Tanya let out a laugh but I didn't know what was so funny.

"Yeahhhh, " Emma said, carrying out the h,"hide and seek..."

"Under the sheets..."

I was so busy being embarrassed while looking at my food that I didn't even care who said that.

"Hiding in each other's arms..."

"Hey now don't mess with my best friend," Emma laughed while placing an arm around my shoulders.

"I've got some good news for you, Alexis," Eileen smirked," that Katrina witch got kicked out of this place for good this morning!"

I gasped as I registered her words. When Damien told me he was going to kick her out, I didn't think he would actually do it since he... You know, somewhat still had feelings for her. But Eileen's words gave me so much relief that I couldn't believe it.

I tried to hide how bright my day had just become.

"We got locked in last night." I said, making them gasp as their expression turned serious.

"Really? Then how did Damien manage to get out this morning?" Emma asked.

"I would like to know that, too. I saw him while I was walking here but he shrugged me off and walked away before I could ask him," I told her.

She stared at me confused while Tanya said, "Damien? He left hours ago, and he won't be back until late at night. Are you sure it was him you saw?"

I nodded.

"Maybe he forgot something," Eileen suggested.

"Maybe," I said and then turned to Emma, "how come there's so many people here today?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. Well you see it's Damien's birthday tomorrow... Every year we throw a big party for him, people volunteer to help set everything up. So everyone is here early this morning to eat breakfast and get to work as soon as possible."

It's Damien's birthday tomorrow? Why didn't he tell me? Now I knew why he wanted me to stay for just two more days. So I would get to see his birthday.

"It's only gonna take them one day to decorate?"

"Yup, Vampires work fast," she winked, "and not just decorating. The food is going to be prepared today as well, so that tomorrow everyone is having a good time and nobody is stuck cooking. We don't want anyone to miss out on this biggest celebration of the year."

It sounded like tomorrow would bring so many good things. Maybe by the time I leave this castle, at least some good memories will be fresh on my mind.

"I want to help," I declared.

"Of course, you didn't think we would let you just sit here and do nothing while we worked our asses off, now did you? You're gonna help us manage everything." Eileen laughed.

A maid came over to pick up our dirty dishes, but I stopped her before she grabbed mine, "I got it."

"So let's start then," I said as I picked up my plate and made my way into the kitchen.

**

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"6 ft tall?!"

It wasn't a person we were talking about, but a cake!

"Yes , miss. There would be about a couple hundred people attending this event." The lady who was in charge of making the cake, Janice, said as she placed the final touches on the top of the cake. I was holding onto the stool she stood on so that she wouldn't fall down and bring the cake down with her.

"Isn't it going to melt?"

She laughed, "that's why we will put it in the fridge now so that doesn't happen."

"Is there a fridge that big to fit this thing in?"

"You ask too many questions," she shook her head lightly, "but yes. We have a fridge as big as the King's bedroom."

Why didn't I know of this important piece of information before? I could have been spending the majority of my time there instead of taking a nap or two when I was finished with my chores. But then I realized I probably would have froze to death so that's not a good idea.

I helped Janice get down by holding onto her hand.

"Woah," A little boy around six years old appeared out of nowhere and started to run towards the cake, "Is this what heaven looks li--"

"Hey!" Janice took a hold of his shirt before he almost collided with the cake, "Didn't your mother teach you any manners? What are you doing here, anyways? No children allowed in the kitchen. Shoo."

Suddenly the boy's smile turned upside down,"I can't find my momma. She said she was going to the ball room to help out when I was eating breakfast. But I don't know where that is."

"It's okay, Janice. I'll take him to the ball room so he wouldn't run around here anymore. Come on... What's your name?"

I watched as his chocolate brown eyes widened excitingly at the mention of me taking him to his mom, "Axel, and what's your name?"

"Alexis," I took a hold of his hand and began walking out of the kitchen to the ball room. Suddenly he snatched his hand out of mine.

"You're Alexis!" he explained, looking rather angry.

"Yes ..."

"You're the girl who punched the king!"

My eyes widened, "What? What are you talking about?"

"This morning when I saw the black spots under King Damien's eyes, I asked him what happened to him. He told me a girl named Alexis punched him! You're evil, I don't want to go anywhere with you."

He crossed his arms, turning away from me. Why that little King of... He will never let me live in peace, will he?

"I didn't punch him. You're king is lying --"

"Don't call him a liar! You're the liar,"

"Do you want to see your mom or not? Come on," but he wouldn't budge when I pulled him. So I had no choice but to pick him up while he continued to struggle in my arms.

"Let me go!"

If this is how kids act, then I'm definitely not having any. That thought surprised me, since when did I start thinking about having my own children? I mentally shook my head.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the ball room was its size. It was a square shaped hall that seemed bigger than any of the other rooms at this castle. The ceiling was so high that I couldn't even make out the blurry patterns on it. A huge chandelier hung from it, above the center of the room. The Kingdom of Snowvale's ball room seemed nothing compared to this one, and it wasn't even fully decorated yet.

I felt the heavy stressful atmosphere as I looked around to find people focused on their work. Some were running around with baskets of decorations. There were numerous stools and stair ladders being occupied by people to put up the decorations.

So far I couldn't discover the theme of the party, because there were different kinds of things being passed around.

Poker chips and cards... Green wallpaper... Some ropes... Magazines that had half naked men and women on them... Pillows and huge blankets... Mirrors

There were also some fences set up to form these mini stations inside the ball room.

"Momma!" I bent down so Axel could stand up on his feet. It didn't take very long for him to run to his mom.

"Axel, what are you doing here? I told told you to stay in the dining hall." His mother dropped the lights she had in her hands to pick up her son.

I told her how he almost knocked down the birthday cake, so I had to bring him out of there. She quickly apologized on her son's behalf, glaring at Axel.

"Thank you for bringing him here, I got so lost in the work that I almost forgot about him," she turned towards Axel, "but you kids aren't allowed in here, this is going to be an adult party. Let me drop you off in the movie room where all your friends are."

"Mommy, I can't be in the kitchen, I can't be in here, then where do I go? I don't feel special at all."

They started to walk away as his mom told him to stop complaining.

"Alexis, over here!" I turned around to find Eileen sitting at a table, facing an old woman sitting across from her while Emma stood next to them.

"Selena, what about her?" Eileen gestured towards me as I stood next to Emma.

"What about me?" I asked her, confused.