Rejected And Forsaken
Chapter 14

Carol pov

I ran as fast as I could. I couldn’t afford to let my daddy replace out that I’ve been sneaking out of the palace. I gasped and panted as I ran as fast as my legs could carry me and halted right in front of the thick vines that grew against the palace wall, carefully hiding from the palace guards. The bedroom window which I had left open when I sneaked out in the evening was still left as I left it. As I climbed up, I held on to the thick vines, careful not to get hurt and jumped in to my room through the open window. I huffed and let out a huge sigh of relief as I closed the window, trying to calm my racing heart.

It was not like that I liked to sneak around. I certainly didn’t enjoy running and climbing up the vines, but my father wouldn’t let me out of the palace walls and I longed to explore and discover our surroundings. I want to meet new people and perhaps have a couple of friends. I don’t want to be locked up all the time. But that is exactly what my father do to me. I have to be inside the palace walls all the time and my schedule for the whole night will be packed with classes and training sessions. Life was boring and tiring at the same time. I didn’t have any complaints about being expected to be in non stop training, but is it wrong to want to have some fun?

I sighed. My life was so monotonous. How I wish I had some freedom. How I wish I was allowed to roam around the forest and learn new things like David. I smiled at the thought of the handsome human I had met. David was human but he was enchanting. His beautiful blue eyes was worth getting lost in. I could stare in to it for the whole day, but the most special thing I liked about him was, he listened to me and trusted me enough to share his life experiences with me. After listening to his life story, I kind of feel that I am lucky to be surrounded by a supportive family, despite of not having my mother around. I should be grateful for my cousins and other family members who constantly support me.

I never truly had any friends besides my cousins who live in the palace with us. I was only allowed to interact with my family – all because of a stupid prophecy. Some seer predicted that I wouldn’t be the one to lead the clan despite of being the heir to the throne. He said that I will be taken away by a great power. That I will have to leave the clan when time comes and no force in the universe could stop it. I was ‘destined’ to do something great. This scared my father. He loved me to the moon and back he didn’t want me to leave the clan. He cherished me and loved me to no end. He said that he didn’t want to live in a place where I no longer was in.

I still remember the night I turned ten years old. The seer told our father about the prophecy and he threw a huge tantrum. He destroyed all the decorations that was made to celebrate my tenth birthday. He forbade the seer from seeing me in the future. What broke my heart was how he cried. He cried that he didn’t want to loose me. He cried that I was the only memory of his beloved he had left. I closed the window and locked it from in side when someone cleared his throat.

“Back from your adventure?” dad’s voice startled me. I turned around and stared at my dad, wide eyed, who had his arms crossed across his chest. A scowl and gritted teeth meant he was really upset with me. He may love me to no end, but going against his wishes only meant that I was in danger.

“Carolina, don’t you understand that this is for your own safety? Who knows what is out there to get you? Who knows what is out there waiting to take you away from me?” his eyes softened as he said that. He took small steps towards me until he reached where I was standing. He took in a shaky breath and took my hands in his.

“Carol. You are all I have. I…… have already lost a lot Carol. I don’t want to loose you as well.” He whispered. I gazed in to his tear filled eyes. Those green orbs contained so much emotion in it, it made me feel guilty for leaving the palace.

“Dad….” I whispered my heart kept pounding in my chest. What have I done? I have made the feared vampire king come close to tears. I tried to hug him, but he shook his head.

“Carol. You are old enough to understand about our beloved. You see, your mother was my beloved other half. Our lives were perfect except that we had a hard time trying to conceive. We couldn’t get pregnant for a whole century, but when we finally did we were over the moon. You brought the missing happiness to our lives but it was short lived. She fell ill and died when you were just one year old. You wouldn’t remember any of this but that day, I promised her that will take care of you and give the best life. But how am I supposed to do that if some power is going to take you away from me?” he said emotionally.

I listened to him in utter shock. “Dad… “ I started to really regret disobeying him. I always knew that my mom was no more and that loosing his beloved was hard on my dad, but this was the first time he had ever spoken about it. I looked at my shoes and gulped. “I am sorry dad.” I said, feeling immensely bad about leaving.

“But tell me why did you leave? I have already told you about the half eaten carcasses our guards have been replaceing recently. You should have known that it is not safe out there.” He asked.

I took a deep breath and looked straight in his deep green eyes. “I was lonely dad. I wanted to make new friends. I also wanted to explore the forest. I was so bored being locked up in the palace all the time.” I told him honestly. I had never lied to him, even if I did something that he had clearly forbidden. Because I knew he will never get angry with me if I was honest.

“Ok. But then you could have told me. Then I would allow you to go out with some guards……”

“Dad. I don’t want to be around guards all the time. I want real friends. And actually I have met someone in the forest……” I trailed off when his demeanour suddenly changed. His eyes widened and the jaws muscles clenched. He balled his fists as he glared at me with angry eyes.

“What?” he hissed.

My heart skipped a beat. Did I make him mad? “Dad….. I think he is a human who got lost in the forest.” I said quickly before he lost his control. The last time he lost control to his vampire, he completely destroyed everything in the room. The whole place looked like it was hit by a catastrophe. He even almost killed his own brother and advisor. But thankfully, he was fine after spending weeks in the hospital.

He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He was clearly trying to control himself. When he opened his eyes his breathing had returned back to normal.

“I thought…..” he sighed. “Never mind. At least he is a human. Does he need help to go back to his world?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t think so dad. He was forced to leave his home.” I said and told him everything David told me. When I finished narrating his story, dad was gaping at me in astonishment.

“I never thought humans could be so heartless.” He muttered. I looked at him and bit my lips. I hope he agrees to letting him stay with us.

“Dad? Can we let him stay with us?” I asked hopefully. His gaped at me as if I had just grown two heads. “Have you gone mad?” he asked me. I giggled. “Daddy. It would be better if we let him live here. It would be hard for a human to survive all alone in the forest.” I reasoned.

“But… he is a human! And we are vampires!” he exclaimed.

“Pretty please” I pleaded and looked at him with pouted lips and held my hands up. “He is my friend. And he will be under me. I will look after him. Please daddy. Then I will be happy. I will have a friend and he can have a shelter.” I maintained eye contact with him until he g*****d and covered his face with his heavy hands.

“Fine! But if he ever proves to be a threat to us, I will put him in the dungeon and torture him the worst possible way.” He warned.

I grinned and wrapped my thin hands around his torso. “Thank you daddy. I love you. You are the best.” I giggled. If David could stay in the palace, I would never leave the palace like that ever again. His warning didn’t mean much to me. How could a human be a threat to us anyway?

He rolled his eyes and grunted. “Better get ready for tonight’s classes young lady.” He said.

“Yes dad.” I replied and got ready for my first session for the night.

The rest of the night was rather exciting to me. I had never enjoyed attending classes and training like I did tonight. Perhaps, it is because of the excitement I felt. Daddy agreed to let David stay with me! Now I can have a real friend! What could be more exciting than that?

I had asked the maids to clean and prepare the room next to mine for him to stay. Life just got a lot more interesting.