Bloody Freak (A Bloody Series Book #1) (14 page)

    "What is it Ethan? You've been standing there for ten minutes."
He looked up after jotting down some notes.

    "I have something I need to get off my chest, John."

    "Oh, this must be serious. You never call me John anymore without pliers and a blowtorch.”
He laughed.

    "Just let me have my say before you decid
e what you want to do, alright?" He took a deep breath.

    "Go ahead, Ethan."

    "Alright. Remember when I told you that I had been looking out for Alexandria, and that I loved her?" The King nodded. "Well, of course I do. I love her more than anything.
I just need to explain to you the real depth and the vast..."

    "Ethan…
"

    "Let me finish, John. I love her more than life, I would die for her. I think I would let her drive the Porsche if she asked. She's my whole world you see…”

    "Ethan..."

    "
Damn it John, you don't seem to understand what I
’
m trying to say. I want to marry her!"

    "I know. She told me three days ago." He just stared at Ethan.

    "What?" Ethan didn't hear that right.

    "I said, Alex already told me. She told me that you lo
ve each other and if I didn't like it I could take a flying leap off my balcony. I think it
’
s wonderful Ethan. How could I not? You
’
re the best man I know. I couldn't ask for a greater son in law. Sort of. You are so much older than me.”

    "Four hundred
and thirty-two years." He still didn't get it. He
wanted
Ethan to marry Alex?

    "Yeah, that is a little odd isn't it?" He laughed. "But I wish you two the best of course. I don't know why you waited so long to tell me."

    "I'm a servant. Servants don't
marry Princesses," he said bewildered. He had to sit down. He wasn
’
t just a servant now. He had always been. Over five hundred years hadn
’
t changed his status. Hell, becoming a vampire hadn
’
t changed it. The only reason he even existed at all was a Count
e
ss had spotted him at a function he was serving, and took him for herself. She turned out to be a Vamp and he spent the next two hundred years serving her every whim. He managed to escape her clutches when her husband finally called her back to France and
wouldn
’
t allow Ethan to join. He was brought to King Niles as payment for some dept the Countess owed. He served the King in different capacities, and was then given to John in the 1930
’
s. His whole life had been lived in servitude, no matter the leeway g
i
ven recently.  He never thought the conversation would have turned out this way.

    "Yes, and lowly patent clerks don't become vampire Kings and bonny Irish lasses don't become vampire Queens. We evolve Ethan. We move on to bigger and better things. I tho
ught I had given you that when I made you my Advisor, but you still see yourself as a servant. You
’
re a great man. You deserve happiness. And my blessing. If marrying a vampire Princess doesn't pull you out of serfdom I don't know what will. Of course if
y
ou hurt her I won
’
t hesitate to pull out Fathers guillotine.”
He said sternly. It didn
’
t even penetrate Ethans fog.  “
Go on, get out of here, and tell my daughter the happy news." 

Ethan wandered out of the lab, and down to the pool where he knew Alex was
swimming. She was diving off the board into the clear water below. When she floated up to the surface she smiled at him.

    "How was that? I've been practicing." She swam over to him.

    "Perfect. As always. I've just come from the lab. I had a strange conversation with your father." He watched her bob in the water. She didn
’
t say anything. "He says that he gave you his blessing to wed three days ago." She sank down under the water a
b
it, hiding a smile. "Why is it that you didn't tell me, my love?" He ground out the endearment.

    She swam over to the ladder and pulled herself out of the water. Even though he was a bit irritated with her, he still had to admire her beauty. Her silver
bikini sparkled against her skin, drawing the eye to certain parts of her body.
Concentrate fool!
She had grabbed a towel and was drying off a bit before answering.

    "I think I wanted to see how long it would take before you got up the nerve to ask him
yourself. I might have been feeling wounded by your lack of commitment." She said.

    "My
lack
of
commitment
?”
He paused, staring. “
Did you know I scared a little boy so badly he wet himself, because he said you were going to hell for being a demon? That
’
s not commitment?"

She sputtered. "You what?"

    "When you were six years old, I had come to visit you, and witnessed a boy at the orphanage make you cry. I couldn
’
t abide that, so I went inside later that night and told him I was the devil, and if he d
idn't leave my angel alone I was going to drag him to Hell. I'm not proud of that, you know? I walked past your bed that night and kissed your forehead. It was the first time I had permitted myself to touch you." He admitted.

    She didn't say anything f
or a full minute. Just studied his face. He was afraid maybe he shouldn
’
t have told her that. Maybe she was reminded of their age difference. Or she thought he was a monster. She grabbed his arm and started pulling him out of the pool room.

    "What are y
ou doing?" He asked.

    "I'm looking for a priest." She walked him to the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby.

    "Last rights"? He asked, only half joking. She stopped and turned to him.

    "No, you ass. I'm marrying you." He stared in wonder
as the elevator doors opened. "Have them pull the Porsche around; I'll get the information on the nearest church."

    "Are you serious? You
’
re wearing a silver bikini and a towel. Don
’
t you want to tell your parents and friends and such? Don't girls love
planning weddings?" Why was he talking her out of this? Was he mad? He should be striking while the anvil was hot.

    "Nobody, with the exception of Brena has loved me as much as you love me Ethan. I have never loved anyone as much as I love you. If I wa
nt to get married right now in a silver bikini or nothing at all, I will. Now do what your Princess tells you and go get the car." She swatted him in the ass. She was taking to being a Princess very well.

    "I should tell you, Stellan, Adams brother, was
ordained in the 1700s. He's upstairs in the board room."  He was grinning ear to ear.

    "Oh! Let
’
s go." She pulled him back into the elevator and they went upstairs to the board room. There was a quickie on the way up, but right after they barged into
the meeting that was being held for some small business venture.

    "Anyone who wants to attend a royal wedding, stick around. Adam could you page my parents and have them meet us?" Alex marched into the room as if she owned it. Which she sort of did. Sh
e approached Stellan. "Are you still a priest?"

    "I think so. I haven't performed any marriages in two hundred years at least." He looked nervous.

    "Good enough for me. Baby, get over here. Stellan, you stand at the podium. It looks official." She pu
shed everyone around all while holding her slipping towel. If it fell he would pull the eyes out of all the men in the room.

    "You should know, I was ordained as a joke at a party, I don't..."

    "Shut up Stellan!" Alex obviously wanted a storybook pr
incess wedding. Ethan couldn't stop grinning.

    As soon as the King and Brena arrived, Alex pointed to Stellan to begin. He looked dumbfounded. She cleared her throat. "Make something up."

    "Dearly beloved..."

    Ethan tuned the rest out because it w
as sure to be painful. He just looked into the eyes of the woman he loved, his miracle, his angel, his Princess.

    "I do"

    "I do"

    "Then by the power vested in me by that drunken cardinal in Prague, I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss th
e bride."

He did. He swore he would every day for the rest of their lives.

Distantly he heard, “
If Ethan is a Prince now, does that mean I can retire and make him King?”

                                                       About the Author

Emily Barker got her idea for The Bloody Series while she was supposed to be working. Day dreams turned into notes, turned into drafts, turned into all night
writing
sessions, until finally she got it all out on digital paper. Though her greatest fear is
that one day print will go the way of VHS tapes, she still decided to go with digital distr
i
bution as it was cheaper. Does that make her a bad person? Let her
know here a
t EmilyBloodyBarker
@yahoo.com.