Chapter One
The Beginning
Cantrell wasn’t your average vampire, actually to be brutally honest he wasn’t really a vampire at all. He was the sole bloodline of his species between a demon countess and the lord of vampires. His veins ran black with pure evil, and he was the prince of darkness. Yet he couldn’t bare being heartless, and cruel without reasonable mercy.
His parents weren’t about to raise anyone, not even a prince. Like any sensible parent would do, they ditched him when he was able to walk. Luckily as an infant, he was able to wander into the purest kingdom in the land. King K, a man who had only heroes, and heroines in his bloodline, ruled the land. King or not he was a little conceited, at times he called himself a pure heir to an unforgiving dark land.
The head guard of the castle, Anibis, found Cantrell just lying in the rain. Despite his instincts, and everyone around him Anibis raised Cantrell. The guard who was graying in his old age taught the young half-breed to be a decent man. Still Anibis was on the very edge of the cliff, and he was teetering back, and forth. King K didn’t want a dangerous being even close to the walls of his city.
In one last effort when Cantrell turned seventeen, Anibis struck a deal with King K. Cantrell would be given the job of watering the plants in the courtyard, and he could live in the shack that harbored the supplies to the garden. If Cantrell exhibited any violence towards anyone passing through, he would be beheaded. The deal was struck, and it sealed Cantrell’s fate.
Cantrell found solace in clipping flowers and watering flowers. It was as good a job as any. It didn’t pay in money, but it did feed him twice a day, which was pretty good treatment for anyone of his nature. The real payment was that every other day Princess Lunia would walk by caring her blue parasol. It cast a delicate black outline on her porcelain looking skin. Cantrell had a crush on her, but he knew he could never be with her.
He was pushing his luck just by glancing at her. Every guard that wasn’t Anibis would take any excuse to kill him without hesitation with any excuse. Regardless he couldn’t look at her long. Well he could, but only if he would have liked his head floating in some random basket.
The job that he had to do wasn’t very tedious. All that had to be done, could be done in a few short hours. He would take the tin canister from the shack, run down to the creek, fill the tin, and hustle back without spilling a drop. It took only seven trips to water every flower without discrimination.
The most important of the flowers were the three bushes at the very back of the garden. There were two pure white bushes, and an impure one that stood between them. It had one black rose, a rose of incredibly raw dark power. It was said that once it was plucked it would infect its host, and turn them into the evilest creature to ever walk on Earth. That bush was only there to remind commoners how insignificant they were compared to King K.
On his best day Cantrell was trimming flowers. High noon rolled around, and the gates to the kingdom dropped down, and Princess Lunia walked out. She walked by without making eye contact, and she had rain falling from under her face. Cantrell had no remorse, or tear ducts so he couldn’t comprehend sadness or tears. He did know that something was wrong though.
Minutes passed by, and then Cantrell heard a scream. It was a voice that sounded familiar, one that he knew very well. It was indeed the voice of Princess Lunia. He rushed to her aide, he ran faster than any man had ever ran.
He appeared from the bushes, and saw the princess with a thorn in her hand lying on the ground. The thorn was from the black rose. Her veins were already beginning to turn to a shadow of her life with a tree of death painted on her arm. There were no guards within a close distance. Could he risk losing his head to save her? If he got caught he would most certainly die on the spot.
He pulled the thorn from her hand, and dragged his fingernail across his wrist creating a deep gash. His evil blood began to ooze out like a balloon full of tar. He held his hand above her mouth, and he dripped a single drop into her mouth. In a matter of seconds her other delicate white arm began to turn black only this time with his evil. His more dominant evil would fight the other lesser evil off, even if it were destroyed in the process. All he could do now was wait patiently, and hope his heritage was that of a fighter.
Only minutes later one of the guards appeared. At first he drew his sword to kill Cantrell for meddling with royal affairs, but then the guard settled down when he saw that she had plucked the rose. They both watched as Princess Lunia’s arms went back to their marble appearance. The guard tipped his hat to Cantrell.
“Regardless of your intentions, or your blood, I owe you a debt. You have saved the princess. I’m willing to bet that the king will be very happy to hear this. Maybe he’ll even grant you permission to enter the kingdom.” He paused to smile, and thank his dead grandfather for warning Cantrell of the danger. “You can take the day off if you so desire.” The guard carried the princess away, but she wasn’t completely healed. Neither of them noticed, but the tip of her pinkie finger was a solid shade of black.
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