The Lonely Vampire Prince

Chapter 11:  

“Royal Tour”

Part 1 of 3

Septembern 17th, 2014…10:25am  

Today’s finally the day. The day where I’ll get the answers to everything. Well hopefully everything.

We were going to the place where the answers will be bestowed upon us.

‘Avalon Castle’

The place that used to be a former king’s castle which now belongs to ‘you know who’, aka his ‘undead’ grandson who mysteriously wanders the streets of Paris at night looking for who knows what.  

But today will finally be it.

I was in the bathroom quickly brushing out my hair. Since it was going to be a nice day, I decided to leave it down, but pinning it back with my black/multicoloured hair clip so it still hangs freely. I just hope it doesn’t get windy later, cause I find it real annoying when all my hair blows in my face.

To match, I decided to wear my black strapless maxi dress with a white flower pattern in the middle since Adeline was already wearing her long sleeved flower patterned dress. I didn’t know what the others wear wearing but I’ll see when we head out.

I then heard my phone buzz next to me. It was group text from Vanessa:

‘My Uncle just got here, are you guys almost ready?’

I replied back.

‘Almost, just doing my hair now’

My hair was slightly wet and knotted from my shower last night, so it took me a little bit to brush it out with some knots tangled in my hair.

Once I got all my hair brushed out, I then attached the clip behind my head and smoothed my hair out with my hand.

“There”

I then rushed to got put on my black gladiator sandals, and then go grab my small pink cross-body purse.

Good thing I put my necessities inside the night before.

I then grabbed my phone and key card then headed out the door. The girls were already waiting outside.

Adeline looked pretty in her flower dress, along with her hair in a messy bun. Vanessa, hair down as always naturally, wearing a cutout back strapless dress that was blue on top, black on bottom. Alice on the other hand, her hair was tied into a ponytail and wore something similar to me except it was all light blue.

“Well, I guess all of us had the same idea” Vanessa said, seeing that we’re all wearing dresses.

Adeline scoffed. “Pfft, well we are going to a royal castle today aren’t we? Plus it’s nice out so why not”  

“Well I don’t blame you, so” I said

“She’s right” Alice said. “I mean, who doesn’t want to take advantage of this nice weather we’ve been having so far?”

“Pretty much everyone” Vanessa said.

A bunch of “Yeah your right”, “True” or “Agreed” were said between all of us.

“Well, let’s go and keep taking advantage of this nice weather then shall we?”

We nodded and head for the elevators to the main floor.

~~~

Pierre was waiting outside for us at the front, looking out at his front window.

‘Well tomorrow’s the big night, and it’ll sure be something’

His thoughts got interrupted when he heard familiar voices out side, he looked to see the girls coming up ahead.

‘I’ll let this go for now’ He unlocked the car doors for them to get in.

“Morning girls, beautiful day isn’t it?” He said when they got in.

A bunch of ‘yeahs’ and ‘yups’ were exchanged.

“You picked a perfect day for this Vanessa” He said, putting the car in drive.

“Well I kept checking and yes, yes I did”

He started to head down the road, towards Avalon Village where our destination rested.

10:42am

Traffic was good on the road, we arrived early with plenty of time to spare.

We all got out of the car and I was the first to see what was in front of me.

A small but beautiful white and blue castle with a big opening yard at the front.

“You girls be careful now alright?” Pierre said.

“Yes, Uncle we know, we know” Vanessa said.

“Alright, I have errands to run, l’ll be back in about an hour, have fun!”

“You bet we will” She said, getting out of the car.

Pierre looked towards the castle and sighed.

’Sonic, wherever your hiding, please be careful your self too.’

He then drove off seconds later.

….

*whistles* Adeline did, while admiring the view of the area.

At the front entrance, all of us were admired by what our eyes were set on.  

“This place is pretty cool so far, I gotta say” Alice said.

“You guys go have a look around, I’m gonna go us registered.” Vanessa said, walking off towards the front doors of the castle where the registration table lied.

I have to admit, they’re right. For something that’s just only 20 minutes from the main town, and not to mention for a ‘certain someone’ to be living in this kind of place…

This castle was actually really astounding, not to mention the outside, there were flowers and mini plants just outside, and they looked fairly new. Maybe people from the city came and put them in for the day I guess. But either way, they were really pretty, and I’m sure they smelt nice too.

I can’t imagine what the inside would look like.

There were other people hear as well, quite a few actually. Most of them were in groups, already taking the tour of the place.

Adeline and Alice wandered off together while I was on my own.

“Well, guess I should look around for a bit until our tour starts” I started walking towards where the flowers and plants were. There were some sections that were blocked off with some police officers around, so better stay away from those.

I took a quick smell of the various flowers, they smelt sweet.

Viewing from one of the castle windows was a certain blue vampire hedgehog who was slightly peering through the glass at the young girl. He smiled gladly knowing she was already admiring his home that quickly.

“She really is one pretty girl, very pretty. Reminds of…”

He stopped before he could say anything else.

“No, no, don’t say it Sonic, your here today for her and only her.’

He then saw her moving around and doing some weird hand gestures.

’F***ing bees man!’ He heard her say, shooing them with her hands.

‘Mhm, that word? I’ve heard it before. Oh right! It’s one of those swear words I keep hearing about, and I already know that they aren’t very nice words.’

But I couldn’t help but snicker a little when she said it though.

He then saw her coming towards his direction.

‘I better watch myself before I get spotted, even for a second’

I hid behind the window before looking out again.

She was directly below him, but looking at the structure of the castle itself and not him.

‘Phew’

Man, for a place like this, just by looking at it, it looks pretty big to me, considering how small it is. But it was really beautiful though. Also, it was making me dizzy just by looking up and around it. I put my hand to my forehead.

“Oh god this is making me dizzy”

I then caught something moving at the corner of my eye at one of the windows above me.

‘Shoot’ Panic struck at Sonic for a brief moment before ducking back behind the window again.

He sighed. ’I knew she’d spot me eventually’

“What the?”

I walked over to the window to get a better look. I stood on my tippy toes and squinted my eyes, while  covering them with my hand, whilst the sun was starting to peak out a little.

Even Sonic had noticed the sun’s rays were starting to peak through the window beside where he was standing.

He frowned. ’Well, that’s just great’ He knows what would happen if he even went in the slightest light of the sun. But if he wanted to see her, then…

“Huh, guess no one’s there, maybe just the air in the room I guess”

I turned around, about to walk and see where the others were at, when…

‘Nice to see that you came today, I’m glad.’

My pupils dilated as I heard that strange voice coming from my head, sounding all to familiar. ‘Oh god, not again. Why does that sound so familiar though? That voice…’

...Wait.

I looked back at the window again. I slightly gasped then jumped as my eyes widened as I stepped back at what I was seeing.

“…Oh, my god…”

A fully exposed Sonic was standing right there in full view, looking at her with a glad but smug smile, knowing the sun’s rays were making his skin glow but sting, making him flinch a little bit.

I was too speechless right now as too what my eyes were showing me. My heart was beating so fast that I couldn’t move.

…

But, just by looking at him, something was off.

From what I was seeing, a look of hurt and sympathy was seen on him, just by the way he’s dropping to his knees.

My face dropped as I actually felt kinda sorry for him.

Sonic, trying to cling onto the window for support, as the pain was starting to get to him even more.

I-I don’t even know what’s going on right now…why’s he even there to begin with…what’s he even trying to do?

But, just seeing him though, sent me a somewhat familiar feeling…

…

No, I-it couldn’t be…

“Kris!”

A voice then suddenly snapped me out of my trance, making me slightly jump. It was Vanessa when I turned to look.

“There you are, I was looking for you.”

“Well, I..um…” I looked back towards the window, my eyes widened…nothing was there.

’W-What? I swear he or it was just right there! Where’d it go?’

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong? Did you-“ She asked, looking in the same direction as me.

I put a hand behind my neck. “Yeah yeah, I’m fine…it’s just, I-I thought something was there.”

“Eh, don’t worry, I get those feelings too. Most people do. Just because your at somewhere nice, doesn’t mean it could be friendly.”

I took a heavy breath. “You, have a good point.”

“Look, I’m sure it was just the sun reflecting off its rays through the inside and made you think something was there.”

…

She sighed, but gave a small smile. “Look, the girls are waiting us and so is our tour guide, so let’s not keep them waiting.”

“Yeah, let’s, just go before anything else weird happens” I started walking as she lightly pushed me towards the front entrance.

~~~

Vanessa then looked back with a slight curious but suspicious look.

‘I hope too god he’s not in there trying to get himself into trouble. If he is then, why is even out? It’s daytime, he knows that…’

She sighed ‘Whatever it is that your doing, it’s pretty crazy, please be careful.’

~~~

‘I swear to god, ’he’ or whatever it was, was literally right there in front of me! I saw it with my own eyes! I…’

…

‘Am I slowly going crazy? Is my mind going nuts too or just playing tricks with me?’

I’ve been feeling like this pretty much the entire trip almost…

Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on anymore, but I will get to the bottom of things, and will get the answers I need…

Well, hopefully all of them.
~~~
From above, Sonic watched from the corner of the window as the two girls walked off in another direction.

He then looked at himself, smoke emerging from his body, he put his head back and sighed. ‘I’m sorry if I’m making you nuts, but what else am I suppose to do. I just have to wait a little longer…that’s all…’

‘Ugh! I wish tomorrow would just hurry up already so I don’t have to keep doing this. It feels like I’m torturing her somehow, making her go crazy for real’

Well luckily it was only one more day until he would officially met her once and for all. But…

‘It would only be a matter of time before she finds out about me, and that I’m not something that pops up into her dreams at night while she sleeps’

He then thought of the gift he had for her. It was stored  and kept in a safe place for now until tomorrow night.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll make this something she won’t ever forget’
~~~

We were just approaching the front entrance where the other girls and our tour guide were at.

“Ah, glad you found your friend” The tour guide said. She was a white and grey cat. She looked quite young to be a tour guide, at least out age. She wore a grey blouse with black dress pants, and black and

“Heh, sorry about that, guess I got distracted and lost track of time.”

“That’s alright, as long as you got a reason to remember”

My eyes shifted to Vanessa giving her a ‘thanks for the heads up’ look. She winked at me.

The tour guide clasped her. “Alright, now that everyone is here, we can begin the tour. My name’s Bianca, and I’ll be your tour guide for today. If there’s any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.”  

We nodded.

“Well, if there’s nothing else to cover, then we can finally get started, if you could just follow me.” Bianca motioned for us to follow her inside the castle.

When we got in, it smelt kinda weird. Damp and musty to be precise, but I’ve been in similar places like this were it had similar to smells to this so.

Well, besides the disgustingly odd smell, the room we were in was quite big, and spacious.

Big open hallway, grand staircase in the middle, big chandelier hanging above, two side entrances leading to who knows where, along with 2 wall lanterns nailed to each side of the entrances of the hallways.  

But as soon as I walked in though, I could tell that something was definitely off here, I felt a strange presence coming from here, as if it was right here in this very room watching us, watching me somehow in particular.

...

‘Relax Kristina. It’s only a castle. Nothing else is in here, except for, well, you know, that was in the window before just staring at me while seemingly cringing in pain, right?’

…

I shook my head and took a breath. ’Alright, relax, just breathe, just breather and pretend like you didn’t see anything and just move on for now.’

“So, this room where standing right now is the main hallway of the castle, and don’t mind the smell, it gets pretty dusty and musky in here most of the time…”

“Heh, like we haven’t noticed it already” Adeline said, making a cringed face, disgusted by the smell.

“Anyway, as you can see, we have to separate hallways on each side. One leading to the ball room and dining area, and the other leading to the backyard and throne room.”

Amused, all of us nodded. Bianca looked around and sees a couple groups coming out of the other rooms from the main floor, but saw some people come down from the upstairs. “Mhm, since there’s some groups down here already, let’s head on upstairs first.” She said as we followed her up the stairs.

Once we got fully to the top floor and entered the upstairs part, right when we walked in, hung above in the centre was a huge portrait of none other than Jules himself standing next to his wife Aleena, who was sitting down next to him.

I saw a picture like this in the book I was reading about him this past weekend, they looked young into photo. The one I’m looking at now, was similar except that, in this one, they looked quite older, this was most likely done at a later point in their life. They did look quite stunning and exquisite I have to admit.

“So before I get to the painting here, this the main upstairs of the castle. As you can obviously see that there are again two hallways. One leading to the master bedroom, and the other leading to the guest bedroom and study/library which we will be heading too in a few minutes.”

“These are pretty long always I gotta say” Adeline commented.

“Not to mention there’s quite a bit of windows too.” Alice said.

“A lot of castles in general were built with good architect and the finest material, so they try to build and craft places like this with extra care and attention, and specialize in their expertise.”

This was getting interesting so far.

“Now, some brief information on this painting. It was done by a local artist in their village and both royals wanted to get it done and brought back for their upcoming 30th wedding anniversary.”

“Wow, they look really powerful and well made together” Alice said.

“They were, and also the most generous people there were to be” Bianca said.

I was admiring the photo myself, but saddening thoughts came to mind. ‘Poor Sonic, I can’t imagine what was worse for him, that his great ruler of a grandfather was sick and passed on so quickly or the fact that he gotten bitten and sucked on by a vampire and is now stuck like this forever…

‘…If only I knew that you were actually real, then I could see for myself the pain that your really in…’

…

At that moment, I felt a cold front sweep against me…

This made me snap out of my thoughts, for a moment.

…

There’s definitely something in here, and something tells me that this is his way of giving me a warm welcome into his humble home…  

I shook it off for now and continued on with the rest of the tour.

15 minutes later…

We headed back downstairs from the last room we visited, the master bedroom. Very big, spacious and a walk in closet…

Ugh! I’m so jealous, I so need that in my life right now!

“Well, now that were done with that, we can head on over to the other rooms.” Bianca motioned for us to follow her once again.

~~~

We were just entering the ballroom after getting back from the dining area, was very fancy looking, with the fake table decorations and various paintings of different foods to make it stand out, also the wooden table table was very long considering there only 6 dining chairs in total. I was excepting more to be there since majority of castles have so many chairs. Maybe back then the royals didn’t have that much company over often. They’d probably just invite family only I guess, but who knows.

The ballroom was very big and echoey. Bianca didn’t say much about it, except for that they’d obviously held many occasions here from time to time. Mostly balls and masquerades to be exact.

Though just by looking around at the place, I felt a familiar vibe coming from it.

‘This place, have I, been here before?’

I then spotted a doorless room on my left, but there was a velvet rope blocking it for some reason. I decided to check it but not with out checking around for the others first, they were with Bianca, talking asking and her some questions. Ok, now’s my chance, better make this quick though.

I headed in the other direction towards it, once I reached it, I leaned in and peeped in as much as I can. From squinting my eyes, all I can make out is a painting of the moon, painted in blue casting off its reflection on the still dark blue water with mountains and trees surrounding the background, making it more appealing and elegant, a navy blue love seat and a blue marble fireplace.

I raised an eyebrow. ’Why do I get the sudden feeling that I’ve seen those before? And this room too?’

…

A thought then came to me. ‘Wait a second, I remember having a dream about being in a room similar to this one…’

My eyes slightly widened as I remembered something else…

‘…and I also do remember that I wasn’t alone either.’

My pupils shrunk as another thought came to mind.

’N-no. There’s no way that this could be the same room from my dream I had on the plane. And there’s definitely no way that it was…

I gulped. ’…’Him’ who was with me…’

‘…but it all rings a bell…’

Wait, so, if that’s the same room I was in before, then that means that, this is the exact same ballroom that was in the dream too…

…and I was also there…in that ballgown…

‘That’s where ‘he’ showed up…that’s where I encountered and met him…’

...

I think I know what’s going on now, it’s starting to make some sense now…

“Excuse me?”

I got startled by a voice behind me. It was Bianca.

“Oh, sorry. I was just, um, I just wanted to see what was in there.”

“It’s alright to take a peak, but remember that rope’s there for a reason. We can’t show every room that’s in this place, especially the one room in the dining room leading to the kitchen too.”

“Oh, that’s, blocked off too, I forgot.”

“It’s alright, as long as you obey or know the signs around here. Now, let’s get a move on now, your friends are waiting.”

“Alright” Bianca motioned for the girls to come follow as we headed back towards the way we came from.

Vanessa on the other hand looked at her friend with worry on her face. ‘She’s been acting weird since we got here’ She sighed. ‘I’m getting the slightest the feeling that ‘he’s’ doing this to her somehow, if he is then, why?’

~~~

Just down the hallway the opposite side, we then started to enter the throne room.

It was pretty big none other than a big hallway with the long red carpet dragged along all the way to the red throne in the middle, and some stained glass windows.

But what really caught my attention was the painting, above the throne, in the middle of the two windows.

What I was saw sent another chill down on my spine.

‘…You can’t be serious…’

…

The painting was of a young blue hedgehog resembling a very familiar figure to her.

A sudden wave of thoughts flooded in my head.

…

‘…N-no, it couldn’t be…’

“Woah…”

I got startled by a voice coming up from behind me, it was Adeline.

“Now, who, is that?…” She pointed to the painting, intrigued at what she was seeing.

“Ah! Yes how can I forget about him” Bianca said, gesturing to the painting.

“Who is he anyway?” Alice asked.

“Yeah? He is pretty cute. I mean ‘was’ back then at the time when he was around.”

“And alive” Vanessa said.

I felt my heart leap out of my chest for a moment. ‘Uh, how come my heart just did that?’ Am I feeling jealous right? Pfft, no way. It’s only a painting after all. But looking at it, gave me a familiar feeling somehow…

I looked slightly down. ‘If he is real, then this painting shows just how happy and ‘normal’ he was. And by that I mean, living as a mortal, before becoming, ‘undead’.

“This is Sonic, Jules grandson…”

Everyone was listening in on this, seeming interested on this one. And so was I.

“…His was born almost prematurely, around 6 months…”

Everyone including me was amused at this so far.

“..His originally name was going to be Maurice, after Jules father himself, but thought it wouldn’t be a good fit for him, so, since he came earlier than expected, they instead put Maurice as his middle name instead, and then decided on a name that would suit him just fine…”

“Sonic?” Alice said.

Bianca nodded.

“Wow, even his name’s cute too.” Adeline said, clasping her hands.

My heart leaped again. ‘Ugh!, why does it keep doing that?’ …Maybe I am jealous.’

“…Anyways, this painting though was done by a local artist in their village. Jules wanted something to give him meaning, motivate him, and make him feel positive and confident everyday, or just to put a smile on his face, so the idea of having Sonic up there above the throne came up.”

“Oh! So, even if Sonic wasn’t there physically, then it’d give him a reason to always act confident and give him pride.” Alice said.

“Of course, a King has to stay alert and proud, no matter the situation, even if it’s tough to solve or handle.”

‘Mhm’ My eyes narrowed back to the painting. ‘The thought of it was, actually quite touching.’
This made me smile on the inside. ‘But just the thought of losing the most important thing to you…’

‘I actually felt really sympathized, not just for Sonic, but Jules too.’

“Alright, I think we’ve been her long enough, there’s one more room that I have to show you.” Bianca said, motioning for us to follow her again.

We followed.

I followed as well, but then stopped for a brief moment and turned back to look at the painting one more time before leaving.

’You poor thing, I can imagine what you through really, that must’ve been real hard for you. Well, either way, they were both pretty bad for you huh? Don’t worry, you weren’t the only one going through grief…’

I looked down.

‘If I was there myself, I would’ve grieved with you too.’

I turned back and rushed back towards the others.

A figure then emerged from behind the throne and walked towards the middle of the room.

‘If you were with me, then we could grieve together…’

The figure then left to go another room as he heard people coming from the hallway outside.

’Tomorrow…’ He said, then left hurriedly.

~~~

The next room we went too was the last one on the tour, the backyard.

When we entered, sunshine fell onto my face and saw how magnificent it was.  

Open, Spacious, Luscious green grass with topiaries on 4 corners of each side, pathways cut out from the middle, left and right sides. Lastly in the middle was a huge stone fountain spraying water from its spout on top. I could also see something floating on the water too but I couldn’t make it out what it was.

“Wow, it’s so pretty out here” Alice said.

“Yeah it is” Vanessa said. She herself hadn’t seen the scenery before since the last time she came was last winter, when everything outside was covered in snow, including the fountain, and this was also before her school semester ended too.

I was amazed at this myself. It was quite stunning.

“Well, there’s not really much to say about this but to enjoy the scenery right now.” Bianca said.

‘Well at least the backyard’s nice, and getting my mind off ’some things’ for now I said.

“Well with that, I’d say we end it here, that’s all for today. Thank you ladies for coming today” Bianca said.

Exchanges of ‘thank you’s’ were said.

“Wait, there’s one thing I’ve been wanting to know, well actually two things” Adeline asked.

“Ok”

“The other Jules, where’s his actually castle located at? Cause I keep forgetting he was a king too himself.”

“Oh, that’s right. Well his castle is not that far, about half hour I’d say.” Bianca said.

‘I keep forgetting that they were two Jules back then’

“Mhm, interesting” Alice said.

“And the other one, well, I’m sure we’d all love to hear this one…how did Sonic get the name ‘The Lonely Vampire Prince’ in the first place?”

‘Oh yeah, this I definitely gotta hear myself’

“Mhm…well…” Bianca checked her watch.

11:45am.

“Oh, look a that, it seems that were done early, and since my next tour isn’t until 1pm, I could tell you a little story just to kill some time…”

“Oh, goodie” Adeline said.

“I can’t wait to hear this” Alice said.

“Alright since there’s really nothing else to do, I’m up for a story” Vanessa said.

“And so am I” I said.

“Alright then, let’s head to the front yard for a more quieter spot”

~~~

We were all the front, sitting in different positions on the grass outside.

“Alright, this is going to take a little while so, I’d suggest you get as comfortable as you can” Bianca said.

Once we got comfortable, she looked around to see that we got settled.

“Everyone comfortable?”

We nodded.

“Alright…”

‘This better be good’ I said.

“It all started just a few days before Sonic’s 16th birthday…”