Broken Beauty and the Beastly Vampire Prince

Enacting A Plan

Third Person POV

They sat, Damon, staring into the fire, pensive, none of them sure what to do, quiet, sipping from their wine glasses, the moon shining brightly out the window. The tension was thick in the air, all of them feeling on edge.

“He’s getting worse” Queen Isabelle spoke, breaking the silence, her blue eyes anxious as she looked at her husband, her voice strained “Today he had a servant girl run from the library in tears. Apparently, all she did was ask him if he was finished with his glass and he turned on her so viciously that she was afraid to go back in the room.”

She gave a long-suffering sigh and shook her head regretfully. Her son had become a monster, she thought sadly, her chest hurting at the realization.

“He has told them not to speak to him,” King Julian said heavily “but there has to be certain times when even he realizes that’s not possible.”

“Damon, what do you think we should do? What are your thoughts? You know him so well, is it possible to get him to stop being, well, such a beast?” spluttered Queen Isabelle with a tinge of desperation in her voice.

She was willing to try anything if it meant fixing Lucian's despicable behavior.

Damon sighed and turned to his Queen, a wry smile on his face. “I’ve been trying, but he resists everything I attempt. He’s full of resentment at what he perceives as Everly taking her revenge on him and he ruminates on it, rather than just moving on. His heart is full of rage and anger, bitterness. I doubt whatever I try to do for him is going to make any difference. Being trapped in the castle does not help, for it makes him feel like a prisoner who is trapped. If only he could leave, it might make a world of difference."

“Everly may be responsible for this” Queen Isabelle said sadly “but we are all to blame for Lucian’s actions. We all knew or at least suspected he wasn’t being faithful in his marriage and yet we chose to do nothing. We should have put our foot down and been more harsh with him. Let him know in no uncertain terms that his behavior wouldn't be tolerated."

“He would have just rebelled,” King Julian said with a scowl “That boy didn’t care about anything back then but partying and f*****g any girl he could get his hands on. Pardon my language,” he said to an incensed Queen Isabelle, patting her hand gently.

“I had hoped that marriage would have changed his ways,” Queen Isabelle said with grief in her voice “allowed him to mature and settle down. Have children and take over the throne as King one day. Instead, he threw it in our face.”

She gave a small sob, leaning into her husband who placed a hand over her shoulder, comforting her.

Damon slowly sipped at his wine, feeling guilty. He too had been a party boy back then, joining Lucian on his escapades and even on occasion covering for him when he’d been cheating on Everly. He was as much to blame as anyone for this curse. He avoided the King and Queen’s gaze. All he wanted to do was help his friend. He could tell that Lucian was hurting but there was no reaching the stubborn man. He was determined to self-destruct and nobody could persuade him otherwise. He was hell-bent on ruining his life and the more that Damon tried to persuade him to change, the more he dug his heels in.

“The curse can only be broken if he finds someone to fall in love with him” Damon pointed out “What if we could persuade someone to? Surely the right price could be had to another vampire woman?” he asked, mulling it over.

Queen Isabelle looked thoughtful “I don’t imagine that’s what the sorceress meant when she said it. Besides, most of the vampire women despise him or fear him. I don’t think any price is going to be big enough for them to venture near him. I’m having a hard enough time convincing the servant girls to serve him as it is. At the rate he’s going, I’m going to have to advertise for yet another new servant and the human girls are afraid of us so who knows how that would work out.” She gave a scowl, sipping at her wine. Lucian was causing her all sorts of problems.

“But maybe a human girl would fall for him?” Damon said unexpectedly, his eyes twinkling as he fixed his eyes on the King and Queen who appeared to be stunned at the mere suggestion.

Queen Isabelle snorted. “Have you seen the way he treats human women? He’s crueler to them than he is to the vampire servants. He seems to hate them more for some strange reason. I have yet to see him show any tenderness or kindness towards a single one of them. He seems to thrive off their fear of him. There is no way that he would fall in love with any of them, let alone a human girl wanting to love him. You might as well give up on that idea" she said bluntly.

“What if he was forced to deal with one on a daily basis, whether he liked it or not?” Damon said slowly, inspiration striking him.

“What do you mean son?” asked King Julian gruffly, curiosity sparking in his eyes.

“Well, so far Lucian has been given a lot of leeway in how he acts and in regard to his behavior. What if he was forced to have just one personal servant and that was it? One that would be in close quarters all the time. It would mean he would have to adjust his behaviour or it might shock him into at least changing a little bit. He’s never had to interact with them for longer than a few minutes at a time. What would having to be with one trailing him all hours of the day do?”

Queen Isabelle sucked in a breath, thinking about it. She ran a hand through her hair considering Damon’s proposal while King Julian fell silent, looking at his wife with a raised eyebrow. It was a novel concept. A different approach. Something they had not considered. But would it really be fair to do it to a human girl and attempt to manipulate it into something more?

“I doubt it would break the curse” Queen Isabelle admitted wryly, though a tiny part of her was hopeful it could work.

“No, but maybe it would make him a little kinder, more responsible” Damon argued with a shrug “And it would make the other servants a bit more happier knowing they wouldn’t have to serve him” he pointed out wisely “How many have left because of him?” he asked knowingly.

He was willing to bet an awful lot of servants had left in the last year alone because of Lucian's behavior towards them.

“Too many to count,” King Julian said with annoyance “All due to him, I might add,” he said as Queen Isabelle nodded her agreement, looking chagrined.

“Well, then what harm could it do? At the very least it helps the servant women out” Damon said with a sigh and then with a mischievous grin he added, "Who knows maybe there will be one brave enough to tame the beastly vampire prince."

“I agree,” Queen Isabelle said unexpectedly “It would come as a great relief to the other girls, I’m sure if there was one primarily assigned to our son. The only thing is, finding someone willing to undertake the work and who is stubborn enough to stick with it, despite all of his cruelness and attempts to rid himself of them. How do you propose we find someone like that?” she asked Damon a bit helplessly.

Such girls weren't exactly clamoring to come to the castle that was for sure.

Damon stroked the stubble on his chin, a glint in his eyes. “Leave that to me” he murmured “We’ll advertise in town but something tells me when we least expect it, someone will come to us. I shall of course, keep a close eye out for the perfect girl. Don’t you worry about that” he said cryptically.

He turned and bowed to King Julian and Queen Isabelle. “With your permission, I shall take my leave,” he said cordially “and bid you goodnight. I wish to check on Lucian before I go for a walk on the grounds.”

“A walk on the grounds, is that what you’re calling it these days?” grunted King Julian amused “Why don’t you just say you’re seeking entertainment for the night?” he guffawed.

Damon gaped, Queen Isabelle smacked her husband on the arm, blushing.

“I uh” stammered Damon, at a loss for words, something that didn’t happen often.

“Leave the poor boy alone” Queen Isabelle chided her husband “Damon of course you may take your leave. We thank you for your assistance and for your guidance with Lucian. Have a good night,” she said sweetly.

“Goodnight Queen, Isabelle, King Julian,” Damon said hastily, quickly turning and striding off.

Queen Isabelle sighed, watching the young man or young vampire leave, leaning into her husband. “Where did we go wrong?” she murmured sorrowfully.

King Julian stroked her hair. “Go wrong with what?” he asked her gently.

“With Lucian” she sighed “We loved him so much, gave him so much affection and everything we thought he needed but it wasn’t enough, was it?”

“We didn’t do anything wrong. He just has a lot of growing up to do. Maybe we pushed him too hard when it came to the arranged marriage, but the partying, the other stuff, all that was him rebelling against us. He never lacked for love from us both. Please don’t start doubting what we did as parents. I strongly suspect it would have made no difference” King Julian stated firmly.

She sniffled. “Do you think Everly made the curse so that it would never be broken? Do you think she knew it was impossible for Lucian to ever properly love someone?”

“I believe that true love exists and that there is someone out there for everyone. There’s someone out there for Lucian too, you just need to have faith” King Julian kissed his wife on the forehead as she closed her eyes and snuggled against him on the couch in the living room.

“Well, I hope whoever she is, she is as stubborn as he is or she is going to have no chance of breaking down his walls” Queen Isabelle commented.

“Well maybe he’ll be as lucky as me and find someone like I did, a gorgeous, beautiful, kind, compassionate woman with a heart of gold” King Julian murmured into her ear as she giggled.

“Such a charmer” she laughed and swatted at him playfully.

He kissed her in response, leaving her panting, pushing her down onto the sofa as her legs spread out, his eyes beginning to go a dark red with passion.

“Woman” he growled as she looked up at him with anticipation flooding through her veins “You haven’t seen anything yet. Why don’t I show you just how much I love you” he suggested and began to unbutton her blouse as she arched her back, reminded once more of the love she had for her husband, all her worries and doubts for the moment fading away into the background.