King Of Monsters

chapter 4

Amaras POV

Mother came rushing through the door, she scooped me up in her arms like a pup and held me while I cried, I wrapped my arms around her and sobbed into her neck. While she rocked me back and forth holding me close to her. This was the first real attempt on my life, and I don’t think I’m the only one that’s shocked or traumatized. When I had no more tears to cry I just sort of sat there in shock, hearing a knock at the door I jumped, reminding me again of what just happened, Mom stroked my hair to calm me” Its ok love” was all she said. I looked at the door to see Sarah and Sally come in slowly, they had mind linked mom to let her know they were coming.

Seeing the scene Infront of them they rushed over, and group hugged us. We stayed that way until one of them pulled away “uh, mom, we came in to let you know that the party starts soon.” Looking over at the clock I saw that it was four o’clock “oh crap” I said before turning back to them.” We should start getting ready”. “Well, we are ready” Sally replied and looking at her I realized she was, they both were. Sally had her dark blonde hair curled and put into a nice intricate bun, she was wearing a deep pink mermaid strapless dress with a sweetheart neckline and wore subtle diamond earrings and a necklace. Sarah had a light pink princess ballgown that was also sweetheart neckline but had off shoulder sleeves, her dark blonde hair was curled and pulled into half- up do with gold earrings and necklace. They both looked like royalty, well they were but they were still gorgeous. “Wow you guys look great” I said in awe.

Getting up to look at myself, I saw that my whole face was puffy and swollen red from crying so hard. I had tear streaks down my cheeks, my makeup had run, and my hair was all knotty again. “oh” was all I could say taking in my disappointing appearance. I turned back around to look at the girls again “we got ready early so we could help you get ready and walk with you down to the party, if you want” Sally said to me “that’d be really nice, thank you” I said smiling at her and hugging her again. “Alright!” Sarah shouted clapping her hands and rubbing them together” mom, you go and get ready, we’ve got this” she helped mom up and pushed her out of the door before turning back around to look at me. “Right, you” she pointed at me “go get in the shower, we’ve got to de-stink and depuff you”. “you” She pointed at Sally, “we’ve got to find shoes that will go with her dress”, pointing at herself she said, “My job is jewelry” and she clapped signaling everyone to start. Sally beelined for the wardrobe and started sorting through my shoes throwing possibilities across the room onto the bed, Sarah was in my jewelry box in front of the vanity sorting through and detangling earrings, she didn’t bother with necklaces because she knew I’d be wearing my locket like usual.

Walking into the bathroom, I ignored my reflection, stripped, and turned the shower as hot as it could go before stepping in. it was painful, but I needed to wash off the attack, I needed to feel anything but numb. The bathroom quickly turned into a sauna, but I didn’t care. “Mara! You’ve been in there for almost 20 minutes! I said depuff not turn yourself into a prune!” Sarah shouted through the door, shaking me out of my thoughts. Quickly shutting off the water I stepped out and wrapped myself in a towel before making my way into the bedroom. The girls were sitting on the bed talking quietly waiting for me. As I stepped into the room they turned to look at me, Sally came over and guided me to sit at the vanity “lets get you ready and gorgeous” she said pulling a piece of wet hair off my face. I looked at her in the reflection and smiled “yeah, hot as hell. Make the assholes that tried to kill me regret it” Sarah and Sally exchanged a concerned look before getting to work on my appearance.

This time it took longer than 10 minutes to get ready but by the end I barely recognized myself. I had black eyeliner with brown and green eyeshadow that made my eyes look magical. My lips had a nude lipstick and gloss to compliment and add plump. On my cheeks I had a soft blush to add a bit of color because I was still pale from the attack and my contour made my already prominent cheekbones look like they could cut glass. My hair was curled again and placed in a half up do with beautiful red gemmed pins that matched perfectly with my dress and locket. Sarah had chosen beautiful gold teardrop earrings that hung delicately from my ears, and Sally had chosen gold strappy gladiator heels to finish off the look. They left the room briefly for me to dress but made sure I knew they were just outside the door if I needed them. I got out of the towel and grabbed the dress from the wardrobe. As I slid it on, I noticed a long slit up the right leg, almost to my hip that I hadn’t noticed before. Zipping the dress up I also noticed it fit perfectly, like a glove, it hugged every curve, clung to every asset you wanted it to and the red highlighted my olive skin and black hair, it was like it was made for me. I put on my heels and my locket and turned to look in the mirror.

I was stunned. That isn’t me I thought to myself. I was so enthralled with this beautiful fierce looking creature in my reflection that it wasn’t until I heard mom holding back sobs that I realized she, the twins and Nico had come into the room. I turned towards them “what do you think?” I asked giving a little twirl. “Thank you so much for this dress mom, I feel so beautiful” I looked at her, she hugged me tightly “oh my darling girl you are beautiful, always” she squeezed me tightly before letting me go and stepping back. “Are Ben and the King at the party already?” I asked noticing their absence. “Yes. they went ahead to try and find any clues as to who was behind today. We discovered the man was a vampire, but we couldn’t figure out whether he was acting on his own or whether he was in organization with someone. He was a low rank, so we suspect it was the latter.” Mom grabbed my shoulder and looked me in the eyes “We’ll catch whoever it was Mara, and they will pay” she said strongly. “Until then, someone from the family will have to be with you at all times especially tonight, so don’t worry, you won’t be alone” she smiled comfortingly at me before checking the time. “Ok, lets head down”

As we made our way out of the door I noticed where the man had kicked the box left a dent in the wall “what was in the box?” I asked. Mom paused before turning to me. “I’m not quite sure, we couldn’t identify the item, it was too broken” “but I have contacted Lucille and she will be here tomorrow to help us” she added before starting back down the stairs. Well, if they had to contact the witch that put the protection spell on my room I am in trouble I thought to myself as I followed behind her. Making our way to the ballroom I noticed all the last-minute decorations that had been put up. The house was beautiful, with bouquets of elaborate and expensive looking flowers in crystal vases on almost every surface, but the ballroom was truly magnificent. Blue and white silk and pink and purple flowers of all kinds hung from the ceiling, there were large circle tables with gold and silver sequined table clothes, crystal glasses with more bouquets of flowers in crystal vases at the center, and silver cutlery shinning in the lights of the chandeliers that hung in the room, not actual silver, they were stainless steel, wolves and Lycans cant touch silver without it burning them. In the centre of the room was the wooden dance floor and above that the stage where Benjamin would have his ceremony in just a few minutes and where the band would play afterwards.

Mom, the twins, Nico, and I made our way over to our table beside the stage to wait. The servers delivered some champagne to the table and water for Nico, who looked very disappointed and sulked in his chair because he wasn’t allowed to drink. Giggling and waggling my eyebrows at him to tease him while I took a sip of my drink, I looked around the room and noticed it was beginning to fill up as people were escorted to their tables and given drinks. You could tell who the vampires were because they were served a sick looking red liquid instead of the champagne. Shivering to myself I thought about what that man would have don’t to me if he could have caught me. He probably would have drained me dry after doing goddess knows what else. As if mom knew what I was thinking, she cleared her throat to get my attention and looked towards the stage where the king was standing ready to present Benjamin.

The family and I all walked up on stage to stand beside him as the room hushed for the King started to speak “Good evening, everyone” he started. “Welcome and thank you to everyone who was able to make it tonight.” He smiled at the crowd. “Unfortunately, tonight’s ceremony will have to wait a moment as there is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed.” ” His smile disappeared and you could feel his dominant aura engulfing the room. “This morning after everyone arrived there was an attempt on our adopted daughter, Amara's life.” He paused to look around the room as hushed whispers filled the air “ we have identified the assassin as a low rank vampire. He appeared to be working alone and he was dealt with the full extent of the law” he continued. There was a cry of outrage “how dare you kill one your own to protect that thing!” someone shouted from the crowd, this was followed by murmurs and shouts of agreement by others around the room. I looked down to escape the infuriated glares coming my way. “Enough!” he growled to silence the room. “Let me be clear. Amara is not some, thing. She is a member of my family. She is under my protection, she is my adopted daughter, human or otherwise and I expect her to remain safe and respected”. His normally grey eyes were black now indicating his wolf was present and speaking. He growled so intensely the room shook pushing out his full dominant aura to everyone in the room. “If anyone tries to harm my pup again, in my house, or anywhere else, no matter who they are. They will be dealt with”. With that the kings wolf, Hadrian, retreated giving the king back control, . He looked at me and nodded, I was shocked by how protective the king and his wolf were. Staring at him I didn't know how else to respond so I smiled at him in return. Then I looked to mom, she was smiling at me with knowing eyes, she knew I didn’t think he liked me.

He looked back towards the crowd “Now that has been dealt with let’s move onto the reason we're all here tonight” “I happily present my oldest Son Benjamin” he said as he stepped aside for Ben. There was a polite round of applause as Benjamin made his way out from behind the curtains and across the stage. “Hello everyone, thank you all for being here" Benjamin greeted everyone before allowing the King to speak again. "As you all know " he began "there is a long held tradition that a prince will not take over as king until he finds his mate. I find this rule outdated. Therefore, I'm officially announcing my retirement, beginning tonight" everyone of us but mom gasped and looked at each other in shock at the news, there were murmurs of surprise and some outrage amongst the crowd as well. "This ceremony is actually my sons coronation. and as the night progresses we will see if the moon goddess has blessed him with any gifts." after he finished speaking, a man carrying a gold bowl and gold ceremonial knife walked onto the stage and handed them to the king before turning around and leaving. The King cut his hand dripping blood into the bowl, turning to the Queen and then Benjamin, he did the same thing. Placing the knife on a table next to the microphone, he turned to Benjamin bowl in hand "Benjamin, do you swear by the moon goddess to protect this kingdom and ALL of its people with your life?" The king asked. "Yes, I do" Ben replied "do you swear by the moon goddess to guide and rule this kingdom and ALL its people fairly and justly?" he asked "Yes, I do" Ben replied again the king smiled at him "Then drink this and let your vows be witnessed and sealed in blood by the moon goddess" and the king handed Benjamin the bowl of blood to drink. The crowd was silent watching this. you could feel the power and authority transferring to Benjamin. when he was finished with the bowl, he placed it on the table next to the knife and turned to face the crowd. "Long live the King!" Father shouted, the room replied with the same. they did this three times before father turned and hugged Ben and we turned and walked off the stage leaving Ben on his own. He walked to the microphone "The formalities are done with now, let's all have some fun" he said, the crowd cheered and raised a glass to him in toast. Then Ben walked off the stage and joined us at the table.