The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Music Recommendation: Beth's story by Carlos Rafael Rivera

.

The sky had turned dark, and the weather colder than any other day, which one had come to experience in the last few months. But the weather didn't deter the old vampire who had been sleeping for ages and had woken up only recently.

They walked to the village where everyone was fast asleep in their houses. With the servant who closely followed the older vampire, they headed in the direction of the graveyard that was in the forest which was isolated and away from the village.

"Is this where she is, Odin?" demanded the older vampire, his eyes glaring at every little thing around him. "This looks like a fucking forest with tombs. This is no graveyard."

Even though Odin was a vampire, he shivered due to fright on what his Master might say or do. It felt like more than five to six decades had passed since his Master had gone to hibernate in his coffin and now that he was awake, nothing but fear-filled Odin's body.

Odin walked towards one of the graves, and he stood at the side, giving his master space to look at the tombstone.

"This is where her name has been engraved, Sire," Odin bowed his head deeply. His Master Vladimir Lazarus was the first-ever vampire to come into existence with the demon blood. He was the one who had fallen from heaven.

'Constance Leigh.'

"Who is this Leigh?" Vladimir's eyes narrowed. The last time he remembered his daughter's last name was still Lazarus. "Did you pick the wrong grave, Odin?" he cracked both his knuckles to get a quick response from his servant.

"Master, this is her grave. I went looking for more information and found out she was the same person when it came to description," even though some details were something Odin didn't expect to hear.

"Open the coffin," ordered Vladimir and Odin quickly stepped closer to the cemented coffin, and he pushed the lid away so that one could take a look at her body that laid inside.

He saw a skeleton inside the coffin, along with another body and Odin who had not dared to open Lady Constance's coffin before looked alarmed. His Master held a sever and stern look on his face, both his hands placed behind his back, holding each other as he took himself to stand in front of the coffin.

Moving closer, Vladimir's hand shot out to reach one of the skeleton's hand, running his thumb over it before he dropped it and did the same with another body's bone that was in the coffin. "Did your brain damage or catch rust, Odin?" asked Vladimir. With a scrutinizing gaze, he looked at the servant who looked confused, "This is not Constance. I told you she could not be dead."

Odin knew that his Master was not happy to hear the news as he cherished and treasured his daughter more than anything, which was also possibly the reason why the lady was dead. Vladimir Lazarus had lost his wife but had been gifted with a daughter. Like his wife, his daughter had turned out to be a human with traces of demon blood in her. He had brought her up himself. Shielding her away from other creatures who could bring harm to her. Odin knew his Master loved his daughter so much and he had seen the lady had grown curious to see the outside world.

It had been only a year after his Master went to sleep when Lady Constance left the cave of tower without anyone's notice. Some of the servants had gone in search of the lady, but to no avail, as she seemed to have disappeared from sight. They couldn't disturb their Master and had to wait for him to wake up from his sleep.

Vladimir raised his hand out of impatience, and his servant who had been thinking to himself suddenly lifted in the air, "Explain, Odin unless you want to turn as a compost to the useless plants in here."

Odin's eyes grew wide because he knew what his Master was capable of. Even though Vladimir, who once held another name when he was in heaven, now a demon turned vampire he hadn't lost his abilities. The servant vampire had stayed next to his Master, serving him for many years to know one snap of his master's fingers could turn him to liquid.

"Master Vladimir, I swear that this is where she was resting! It is what the villagers said. The lady's name is not common! Why would I lie?!" Odin pleaded.

"Because you know how much she wanted to get out of the cave. You must have let her free," the older vampire's eyes narrowed, he saw his loyal servant shake his head vigorously.

"Never, Master! Odin would never betray you!" and Vladimir knew that. He gritted his teeth and dropped the vampire down on the ground. He leaned forward towards the inside of the coffin, taking a sniff and his eyes hardened. He could smell the faint smell of his kin in here. The only family he had was his deceased wife and his daughter. It wasn't the first time he had taken a nap. He had done it before, which was why he had hoped to see his daughter after waking up.

Vladimir couldn't believe that his daughter was dead. His precious and naive daughter. Something terrible must have happened to her when he was sleeping.

"If she's not here, where has she been buried!" Vladimir's voice came out thunderous, shaking the feeble leaves that were hanging on the trees to fall to the ground. Some of the bats that were sitting in the trees quickly flew away at his voice.

Odin wished he knew, but he didn't. "I will ask villagers again, and quickly find her," he bowed his head again without meeting his Master's eyes.

Hearing the word village, Vladimir's head turned in the direction they had come. "She must have been living there," murmured the old vampire. At the same time, one of the coffins started to make a noise like bats were living inside it, "Odin," he called the servant's name to open the lid, to see who was in there.