Vampire Prince's Hybrid Princess

The Curse

Eli woke up feeling someone caressing his head softly. But he didn’t dare to open his eyes. What if the touch vanished as soon as he opened his eyes? The corners of his lips went up as he let himself lose in that moment.

“Hey, sleepyhead, get up,” a soft, melodious whisper reached his ears. This voice was enough to make his heart beat faster. Wait a second! He heard this voice. It’s too familiar for him to forget this sweet voice.

He snapped his eyes open and found her beautiful face beaming at him. “Wh-what are you doing here?” he gulped down as she gave him a heart-melting smile.

“To wake you up, of course,” Veronica shrugged. “Now, get out of bed and get ready,” she said, pushing Eli out of bed.

“But Wh-why?” he asked confusingly.

“Stop questioning and go.”

***

Eli was being pulled by Veronica along the corridor. He was still unaware of what was going on. Soon the playroom of the castle came into his view. The memories of the past flashed in his eyes. It’s the place where he used to play with... he swallowed hard as his chest tightened, remembering the past.

“Cupcake, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he told Veronica as she pulled him toward the door.

“I think. It’s the best idea,” she shrugged him off, saying that. Eli sighed, shaking his head. She was too clueless to understand what was going to happen next.

Veronica opened the door and spotted them. “Hey, Sam, Jace,” she waved at them. They also waved back, smiling. But their smiles faded as they saw Eli behind Veronica.

Sam came towards them and stopped right in front of Veronica. He was so angry that his eyes almost turned red. “What’s he doing here?” he asked in a voice that she almost couldn’t recognize.

“To play with us,” Veronica answered, ignoring his anger.

“I warn you to stay away from him,” Veronica’s eyes widened at the intensity of his voice, but Sam was nowhere to care. He stormed out of the room, pushing Eli aside. “You shouldn’t have brought him here,” Jason stated sternly before following Sam. Veronica stared at the person who was standing there watching them the whole time with glazed eyes.

‘Did I do something wrong?’ she asked Edwin through their mind link.

‘No. They are just upset about something. Don’t worry, they will be alright,’ he assured her, giving her a small smile.

Edwin stepped forward and caressed her face as she sniffed. “I am going to look for them,” Edwin told her, placing his lips on her forehead before leaving Veronica and Eli alone in that room.

“Told you it was a bad idea,” Veronica heard Eli whisper. She found him staring at the ground when she looked at him.

“Why do they dislike you so much?” Eli snickered at her words.

“They don’t dislike me. They hate me. In fact, they want me to be dead,” he scoffed.

“Why?”

“Long story,” Eli shrugged, exhaling deeply.

“I don’t have training today,” a small smile crept on Eli’s face upon hearing her.

“You wanna listen?” he asked, looking at her with hopeful eyes. She nodded, smiling, and took him to the couch, holding his hand. They sat there in silence for a moment before Eli took a few deep breaths before speaking.

“We weren’t the same before. We were best friends—me, Edd, Jace, and Sam. We were like brothers from another mother. But everything was ruined after Jenny’s death,” he hitched as if it were the most painful memory for him.

“Who is Jenny?” Veronica asked with a frown on her face.

At the mention of Jenny, he went back to the memories of centuries ago...

A cute little 6-year-old girl with blue hair and dark eyes was running around the garden full of roses. She loves playing with the flowers and has always sneaked there. And the boys searched for her everywhere in the castle. It was always Eli who found her.

“Jenny, stop running and come here!” Eli shouted. Jenny ran towards him as Eli crouched down to her height. “You know Jace was looking for you everywhere. He was so worried,” Eli said, pinching her nose. Jenny giggled.

“He was always worried,” she shrugged. Eli shook his head at this child.

“Fine. Now let’s get you to your brother,” Eli said, taking her in his arms and going towards the game room.

--------

“Thank God, you found her,” Jason rushed to them as soon as Eli opened the door. “And you, when will you stop your mischief?” Jason scolded Jenny, glaring at her. Jenny gave the cutest smile, which always melts everyone’s heart. “Let’s go. It's time for you to take a shower. Look how much dirt you have on you,” Jason said, taking her from Eli and going out of the room.

Edwin was also in the room, sitting beside Sam. Eli went towards them.

“I was looking for you. Dad summoned me. So, I need to go. Can you look after him for a few hours?” Edwin asked him, looking at Sam. They felt so bad for him. He didn’t deserve all the things he went through. Eli nodded, glancing at the broken boy sitting in front of them. Edwin breathed in relief, giving Sam’s responsibility to Eli, and patted Eli’s shoulder before leaving.

Eli sat beside Sam, placing a hand on his shoulder. It brought him back out of his trance. Sam looked at Eli with unshaded tears and asked, “Am I too bad to love?” Eli's chest tightened upon hearing his best friend’s broken voice. He shook his head. “She must have some reason to leave me alone, right?” he asked again, and Eli nodded, giving a sad smile. Sam suddenly hugged Eli and let out everything he had buried inside him for the past two days.

--------

Eli got up suddenly in the middle of the night. And decided to take a look at Sam. But he heard some noise coming from the basement while he was going to Sam’s room. He decided to follow the sound. But what he saw when he reached the basement froze his already-cold blood.

Jenny was tied up with a rope and lying in a formation on the floor that was drawn with blood. He hadn’t any difficulty finding out whose blood it was. He had seen the formation before, when he used to live with his mother. The formation was used to sacrifice someone. His or her life-source was being drained in this process.

Jenny was lying in the middle of the formation, which means someone wants to sacrifice her. He looked around the room and spotted her. He knew her so well, but he didn’t know that she could perform witchcraft. There was another guy in the room, but he had a mask on his face. That woman started to spell, and Jenny started to wriggle in pain.

Eli needed to save her from them. So, without thinking anything, he ran to save her, but that masked man caught him before he could reach Jenny.

“Leave me! I need to save her,” Eli wailed, squirming in his arms, but the man was too strong for a ten-year-old prince. “Why are you doing this? You used to love her,” he shouted to that witch.

She snickered, “Love! That little b***h is the reason my mate rejected me. She is the reason I had to leave the kingdom. So why should I keep her alive? Instead, I will benefit if she dies. I will be more powerful,” she said with a sinister laugh.

“It’s not her fault. You won’t be rejected or exiled if you haven't cheated,” Eli tried to reason with that crazy witch so that he could save Jenny. But nothing was reasonable for a greedy witch.

Eli tried to save her but couldn’t. Jenny’s life-source was being drained from her little by little, but he couldn’t do anything. He saw her lifeless body lying on the floor before darkness clouded his vision.

He felt a soft touch wipe away the tears that were streaming down his face. He found her tears when he looked up. He gave her a small smile and looked down at his hand again.

“You know, Cupcake, she even put a spell on me— a curse, actually,” Veronica gasped upon hearing Eli.

“The blood curse?” she asked, and Eli gave her a slight nod.

“It was so painful because it was the first time. I wasn’t habituated to it. I couldn’t even move. Only if I were a bit stronger, I could have saved her,” his voice was broken. He was breathing hard, and his whole body was shaking. Veronica hugged him, watching his condition. Eli pulled her closer and put his face on her neck as he tried to calm himself down.

He pulled back after a while when he calmed down and continued, “The next day, when I woke up, Edd, Jace, and Sam had already found me and Jenny in the basement. They thought I killed her because of blood-thirst, as I was always thirsty at full moons.

But Jenny was like my own little sister. They didn’t even think about how could I kill my sister with my own hand,” he whispered, looking at his hand.

“Why didn’t you explain to them?” Veronica asked softly.

“Why should I? They had already believed that I was guilty. So, I pretend that I forgot what happened that night. You know, they could have defended me, but they didn’t. They let others blame me. They didn’t even talk to me after that day. They started hating me. They left me all alone. If Jenny was there, she would never have let them do that... So, why should I explain to them?” he stated, looking at Veronica with a pout. He was looking exactly like a baby who was trying to prove what he said was right.

“Are you nuts?” Veronica smacked him on the head for not explaining himself back then and sighed afterward, seeing his cute baby face.

“You knew that witch?” Eli gave a nod at her question. “Then why didn’t you take revenge?”

“Sam would hate me more if I did that,” Veronica didn’t understand the meaning of his words.

“Why?”

“Cause she was...” Eli’s eyes went to the door, where three figures were listening to them.

They were standing there the whole time. Sam stepped forward. His eyes were still red. When he was close enough to Eli, he grabbed his shirt and punched him in the jaw.

“Sam,” Veronica snapped at him, but he was unfazed by everything. Punching Eli, Sam stormed out of the room without saying anything. Jason got closer to Eli, but this time Veronica stood in front of them.

“Vicky, move,” Jason said in a blank voice, just like his eyes. Veronica shook her head. If she had moved away, Jason could have hit him too. “Vicky, I said, move,” Veronica was still adamant, but this time Eli pulled her behind him.

“Are you going to punch me too?” he asked Jason with amusement-filled eyes. Jason scrawled and punched Eli hard in the stomach.

“Damn man! That hurts,” Eli yelped.

“You, stupid,” Jason hugged him, smacking his head. “You know how hard it was for me? I lost a brother and a sister just in one day!” Tears moistened both of their eyes as they held each other in an embrace.