05 - Old Fashioned

Javier

Didn’t expect my new bride to accept her position as the wife of the Dark Prince. After knowing her reasons for unstaking me, her reluctance was predictable. These qualities were what she exhibited— hesitancy and rebellious streaks.

“The King summons for you, my Prince.”

At the sound of the servant’s voice, I snapped out of my daze. Still felt apprehensive for not bringing my bride to my room. “Ah, Vladmir…what does he want from me?”

I bared my fangs; my eyes contained a hateful glare.

The servant trembled on his spot. “The King intends to converse with you, Prince Javier. He intends to plan the banquet with his lost son. He also asked about your bride.”

I let out a devious cackle, at his last words. My fist balled, in disappointment and withheld fury with anger.

“My bride, huh?”

“Run.Off.” I seethed. The servant immediately did as I rushed away, closing the door behind him.

I stood up from my seat, looking around my room, in a raw and throbbing glare at what I had to face in his hands. I searched through everything and saw the whole shebang I had 200 years ago.

However, while I was away, someone made changes putting bright colors in my room. It made it look like fairytale and it pissed me even more.

Thinking of who dared do that, ate me up.

“Javier?! Holy fuck, Javier!!”

I could recognize that voice from anywhere. As he barged into my room, he made use of his vampire speed to brother hug me. My Adam’s apple bulged, knowing he was one of those people I thought of the minute I was staked. “Ambroz, that’s enough. Chill out.”

He withdrew from the tight hug, and I sized him up. Ambroz is my best friend and vampire. A little tall, with a bit of ‘c’ back shape, he had wide lips, strawberry blonde and a pretty handsome face. He was one of the Elder’s son, he didn’t participate in politics though.

“Whoa, I missed you, dude.” he said, taking my hands in his. “We all thought you’ll never be back, dammit.”

As Ambroz continued his words, I could see flickers of tears and hurt in his eyes. The instant they began to redden, I let out,

“Aish… quit that would you? Let’s go grab a drink like those days.” I said, patting his back. His hands came around my neck, like we did in the past.

“So much to talk about, man.” Ambroz told me. “I got married.”

My eyes widened. “Huh? You?”

“Surprised?” he chuckled out, as I growled that. King Vladmir definitely knew I wouldn’t turn up. He was shameless to summon a son he crossed lengths to get rid of.

“Obviously. You swore you’d never tie the knot.” I seethed at him, opening the room’s door.

“People change,” he said, with a wink.

As soon as we got outside the passageways, Ambroz brought some keys from his pockets. It was strange how he said it was to power a certain car, contrary to how we moved around 200 years ago.

“Do vampires even need that?”

I asked him, after his description of how fast it was.

Some swarm of maids passed, giggling at how handsome we looked. We both smiled, and they even blushed more intensely.

“Need what?” Ambroz replied me, scratching his chin.

“The cars. Saw a fleet of them on my way in, I mean we have personal acceleration, right?”

“We do, but we have to make things easier, trend like those days, and move with the world. And what is that you’re wearing?” My best friend asked me, cocking his brows in disbelief.

“Are those breeches paired with doublet cape? Even Shakespeare doesn’t wear that anymore.”

“These are the finest clothing, Ambroz.” I seethed, acknowledging the servants who bowed down at us as we carried on walking outside.

“Yeah, from two centuries ago. Forget the drink, we’re going to the mall.” he said.

“What’s a mall?” I asked him, flaring my nose. “Isn’t there no designer in town?”

“The mall is where you have varieties of clothes, Javier...” he said.

“We’re taking that one.” he said, pointing to one of the cars. I immediately moved to climb it, wondering how it was supposed to be convenient. After much thought, I started from the back…

“How do they get on this?” I growled, succeeding after trying twice. I used my vampire acceleration for the rest, sitting down on the upper part, which was raised more than the others. “This is uncomfortable. Where are the carriage men?!”

Ambroz began laughing seriously. I looked around, wondering what was funny. “Tha-“

He commenced with his chuckle, “That’s not how it’s ridden! Hahaha,”

“Huh?!” I stared at him, looking around unbelievably. Even the guards gave me an amused look. I came down from the car, straightening my breeches with doublet cape, watching as Ambroz opened the car. I imitated his movements, widening my eyes as the flashy car opened.

…

This could be a danger to the vampire clan. The Death Goddess would be furious.

There were surprising changes than I ever imagined. Moving stairs, motioning doors, humans even carried animals around with them.

“Stop, Ambroz!” I yelled at him, as we highlighted from the car.

“Why, Javier?”

“We are not to interact with humans in anyway, remember? That’s what rule 70 of the vampire law tenet says—"

“It has been scrapped.” he replied. My nose flared, twitching in anger at the disorder that had just been done.

“The vampires found out it’s easier when you blend in, not isolate yourself. No one suspects us, this way. Let’s go in.” he said, with a grin. Ambroz pulled me along while I bore a scowl on my face.

There were lots of flashy clothes around. It was almost like we were in a heaven of clothes. The buildings were tall, large and the floor… My shoes tapped it, and my eyes widened. They used concrete to build it? Concrete was a precious and rare substance.

“Are you shooting a movie?”

One of the cloth attendants asked, disrupting my thoughts.

“No—”

“He means it’s not just any movie, but a really fascinating and mind-blowing movie.” Ambrose cut him off, with a wide smirk at her. She blushed, bringing the clothes we asked for.

“Why did you do that?” I asked in Ambrose’s thoughts.

“Tell her you’re a vampire who just woke up and see if the psychiatric ward won’t turn up here, in seconds.”

“Here you go, sir.” she said, handing some clothes to my best friend. The attendant smiled at him, holding on to his hands seductively but he let her hand go without much thought.

“Okay, Prince Javier. Change into this, this, also this, with this… Try on everything. You need a new change in wardrobe.” Ambroz uttered.

I caught the amount of clothes he threw at me, scanning through them in disbelief. I opened my mouth to refer to each clothes he gave me.

“These looks too fitted. A true noble man’s clothing should be--”

“That’s enough. Don’t bore me, with your old style. Go in, go now.” Ambroz muttered, pushing me into the changing room which had bright lights that flashed offensively.

“Aish…Everything seems changed.” I sneered. “This looks like a fucking dream.”

Just had to wait for things to settle a bit, so they didn’t suspect me. Was so gonna murder the fucker that staked me in that box for 200 years.