Chapter 27 Drunken Magic

For some reason I started laughing the moment Nate and I parted. His face got all wiggly and weird that I laughed even more. I saw his brow creased as he stared at me.

"What did I do? What did I do?" I laughed.

"Damn it." Nate sighed. My vision morphed making his lips bigger as he talked. "You're too drained of magic."

"So what?" I said in a slur. "Not your problem." I snickered and threw my head back and wheezed.

"Yes it is. Everyone has a different side effect when they are drained with magic. I guess you're just...a drunken mess."

I gasped and my head immediately bounced back up. "What will I tell my mom?" I could feel my face getting paled in nervousness at the sudden realization. "It's my first time to drink and I am underaged!" I grabbed the vampire prince's collar and started to shake him. "HIDE ME!" I screamed.

"No." Nate pried my fingers from his collar. "Your mother isn't here, Rose."

Another gasped escaping from my lips. My eyes started to water. "Y-you don't mean...-"

"No! No....your mom is alive, Rose. She's alive." He said. I could feel him pulling us both back up to our feet and positioned me beside him for us to walk. "Custard, I assume you can walk?" I heard him say, but I was staring at a pretty blue rose that I didn't see my familiar. But I did hear him bark. "Good. Let's get out of this place." The moment we walked, I reached out and picked the flower to place it behind Nate's ear. I chuckled.

"You're a pretty little thiiing." I dragged the words out. Nate did not speak or even try to remove the flower from his head, but I did see his teeth flash in annoyance though. I tried to poke his fangs, but he moved his head away. "Cut it out, Rose." He said.

I pouted and decided to stay put and leaned on him as he guided us through the castle. I could vaguely remember Nate cursing and pulling me away whenever I tried to touch the armor statues in the hallway. The stingy vampire kept on scolding and nagging me to behave. I rolled my head back to block out his voice because my hands felt like jelly and were very sloppy. I felt Nate suddenly stop and the hand he had on my waist was shaking. I brought my head back to see blur images of three people in front of us.

"What are you doing here, Nathaniel?!" Someone scolded him. I did not appreciate the tone of voice so I pushed Nate back and puffed up my chest and even pulled my tube up because it was slipping a bit. "He lives here!" I yelled to the unknown person. "Who are you to yell at him if he goes home or not? YOU LEAVE!!"

Nate immediately pulled me back and whispered in my ears. "That's the king, Rose. My fath - I mean - uncle." I could vaguely see Nate directing those words to the people in front of us. I turned my head and squinted enough to make out their imagination. In front of us stood Crown Prince Adam, Queen Anya, and King Rafael. They all shared the same look of surprise on their faces.

"Nate..." Queen Anya whispered painfully. "How did you..-"

"Does it matter to you?" Nate cut her off. "I didn't come for you anyway. I came here to congratulate the only family I have. Congratulations, Adam." I saw him not one of the figures in front of us.

I grabbed the blue rose that I put on Nate's head before and crushed the petals in my hands. Then I approached the figure that I assume was Adam's. "Congrats!" I cheered and made the petals rain around us. I felt Nate pulling me back beside him. I guess he was probably not happy about me littering.

"Are those my blue roses?" I heard the queen wonder. "Did you..-"

Nate grunted beside me. "Yes I have. When were you going to tell me that my real father is Terrence? Or were you even gonna tell me at all?" I could hear the hurt in his voice as he said it.

"How dare a bastard like you raised your voice against your mother!" King Rafael's voice made me flinch.

"And how dare a lazy guy like you become the king!?" It wasn't Nate who spoke. It was me. I pointed a finger at him. "You're so lazy and stupid. Prince Terrence would have been a better king! You simply got rid of your competition. You don't even post pictures of your brother. Why? Are you guilty for killing him? Or are you just too insecure to even see his face knowing that he is that man that you will never be?"

I heard a slap and squinted my eyes to see that King Rafael's hand was raised in the air like he was about to slap me, but Nate grabbed his hand. "King Rafael." Nate hissed. "I would advise you not to raise your hand on Princess Rose. That is, if you still want to keep this hand of yours." There was a snap and I could only guess that Nate did something to his father's hand because I heard King Rafael cry out in pain. And then there was a slap. Nate's cheek reddened after the queen had slapped him. "Nathaniel, enough!" The queen ordered. There were tears in her eyes as she looked at Nate. Adam quickly pulled his mother back to give Nate his space.

When Nate looked back at his mother, his eyes were emotionless. "You may be my mother but you lost that role the moment you sided with this man." He said and his face was stiff and emotionless as he released the king's hand. "I am done with this family. I am done being the bastard and the unwanted son. Brother, I will have the servants deliver my gift to you from the carriage. Rose and I will be leaving."

"Nate, wait." Adam grabbed Nate's shoulder. His face etched with pain when he saw the determination in Nate's gaze. "Don't leave this family in a turmoil. You can't leave like this."

"I agree." I nodded and pointed at the king. "APOLOGIZE TO ME!"

Once again, Nate pulled me back to his side the moment I strayed away. "Rose, that's a statue!" He hissed.

"I know!" I whispered back. "The statue tried to slap me earlier. So ruuude!" I wrinkled my nose and glared at the statue.

"Brother, please." Adam pleaded. "You were going to be my best man."

"Can I be the flower girl?" I said dreamily as my head lolled to the side. Adam gave me a look.

"Is she...?"

"She's power drained." Nate confirmed and smiled sadly at his brother. "Sure. I'll be your best man. But until that day arrives, I don't want to step foot on this house."

A brilliant idea suddenly popped into my mind and I gasped as I fixed my gaze on Adam. "I have an idea. Why don't we burn their invitation?" I whispered and pointed at the king and queen. "They seem very rude. Like a couple of K*rens."

"Rose, they're Adam's parents. Of course they will be invited."

"You know where they're not invited? This place!" I glared at the king and Queen and pointed at the door below the flight of stairs to their left. "Get off of my property!"

"How dare a peasant-"

"PRINCESS!"

"-like you order me around!? In my own home!?"

"Is it really their home?" I whispered to Nate and saw him nod tiredly at me. I looked at the grumpy old vampire in front of me again and crossed my arms over my chest. "I wanna see the receipt! I want the deed that you own this place. Show me the lawyer and the seller. If not then we will take this to court!"

"Come on, Rose. Let's go home." Nate started to pull me past them, but I planted my heel on the ground. Nate sighed and bridal carried me instead while I was still glaring at the two lunatics in front of me. We started to head down stairs and towards the door.

"I will post this in social media! You better get ready when the reporters come knocking at your door. I will also file child abuse on your part! Along with murder and homicide. WE WILL MEET AT COURT AND I WILL BE THE JUDGE!!" I screamed the last part just as Nate and I reached the bottom of the stairs. "Except for you, brother Adam! I will pardon you. I am sure you will be welcomed back to Eden for all your good deeds and right conduct!" I gave him a thumbs up for assurance.

Adam looked confused but he smiled anyway. "Thanks...?"

Nate finally set me down so he could talk to Edward the vampire butler. "Sir Edward, can you get some servants to collect the boxes from the carriage? Those are my gifts for my brother and his fiancé."

I looked up at Nate. My eyes widened as my lips pouted. "What about my gifts!?"

"Rose, it's -" He immediately stopped himself and wiped a hand over his face tiredly. "You know what? Later I will give you some sweets. If you behave."

"Yes, sir. I will definitely behave." I nodded eagerly and folded the back of my dress and sat on the ground. My hands folded on my lap like I used to do back in elementary school.

"Rose, get up." He ordered. Without a word, I got up.

"As you wish, Prince Nathaniel." Edward bowed to Nate. I sniffed and placed a hand on Edward the vampire's shoulder. "You may not be THE Edward the vampire who sparkles, but in a way, I just became a fan of yours. Keep up the good work!" Then I felt Nate dragging me out of the door and towards the carriage. But before I entered, I ran for the people wearing some shiny armors that I really want to touch for some reason. Unfortunately, some stingy vampire prince carried me and forced me to go inside the carriage. I remembered screaming for help about being kidnapped. I even ordered my familiar to attack, but he was sleeping on the seat opposite of mine.

Useless wolf...

Nate got in and sat beside me during the car ride because I opened the carriage door while he wasn't looking and laughed when he panicked to close it back. My eyes were starting to close because I could not do anything exciting at the moment. Not while there's a killjoy sitting beside me. I guess it might be because of fatigue or boredom that I finally went to sleep.

***

I woke up to see that my head was resting on Nate's shoulder. He was poking me awake gently. "Rose? We have returned." He says while I rubbed sleep from my eyes. "Are you...yourself again?"

I looked up at Nate to see him giving me a dubious look. I grinned and started laughing when his face started to morph into funny shapes again. "Nevermind." He muttered and got off of the carriage to help me down. As soon as I was out I saw Ace and Ren waiting for us outside. The sky was turning orange and I could only guess that it was getting late. I saw both of the princes with sullen looks as they waited for us to arrive. Once we were near, I ran towards Ren and grabbed his collar. "Have you found the treasure?" I whispered and glanced around us to see if anyone heard.

"What's...wrong with her?" Ren said as he carefully pried my fingers from his collar. I saw Ace appearing beside Ren. He stared down at me with a raised eyebrow. "You used magic, didn't you? What did you do now?" He asked. The tone of his voice was accusing.

"You know what kind of magic your parents didn't use? Protection. No wonder you were born." I laughed and Ren had to move me away from Ace so I wouldn't melt under his glare.

"It's a long story." I heard Nate saying behind me. "What about your search? Did you find the Nymphs?"

"No." Ren shook his head. "We didn't. Even with PRINCE Ace's magic."

"It appears that the Nymphs would only appear when they want to." Ace replied. "I don't even know if it is a good thing or a bad thing. If the Nymphs are keeping it safe then maybe it is best that we leave it alone."

"Oh oh!" I raised my hands excitedly. "I have an idea!"

"Hey, mutt." Ace barked at Ren. "Care to take the princess back to get her some rest? She's more annoying right now than she usually is."

"Come on, Rose. Time to get some sleep." Ren says as he starts pulling me. I planted my heel on the ground because I didn't want to move until they heard my idea.

"I am trying to help!" I screamed.

"Yes yes. You have been really helpful today, Rose. I mean it." Nate said with a genuine smile. I have to admit that I was happy that he was feeling well, but I am still pissed that they are ignoring me. Again.

"Fine!" I snapped and pouted. I drew my hand back from Ren and wobbled a little from the action. "If you won't hear my idea then ask him instead." I said and used a portion of what was recovered from my magic to make the ghost of Terrence, who followed us all the way back from Vertez, appear. The princes followed my gaze and I could hear a collective gasp of fear and surprise when the ghostly image of Terrence solidified a bit before it was gone because I ran out of magic. I clapped and laughed my hands like a seal at their reaction before I blacked out.