Chapter 4

The week was a nightmare. If Sammy could even rest thinking it had only been seven days. Every singular time he stared at Claudia or Ronan wrong he'd get beat. The first still lingered in his mind. Cemented firmly as the worst of his sorrows and suffering. After cutting the ropes he was quickly discovered. And so the pair saw fit to completely immobilize him. With their combined magic, formidable and domineering on its own, they'd set him on fire.

Only completely absent of flames and even whence they released him, residual sparks raked up his skin and into his blood.

Besides the screams he'd forlornly cried.

___________

Tyler saw the palace as stars started to dim. He rushed to find shade. The storefront he was under had posters of Sammy. Rays of sun creeped through the roads as the town began to wake up. If he stepped out he'd burn.

"What are you doing here?" the owner asked. He was a thin man whose red hair was starting to lose its luster.

"Do you sell hats? I feel I might faint," Tyler asked, pretending to wipe his brow. The owner led him inside without inquiry.

He left the shop with a slightly silly but shady top hat. The guarded walls of the castle came into view. Though Tyler did his utmost to remain invisible. With a leap Tyler scaled over the wall and began to fly.

The castle grounds were vast and obviously well kept. Skimming by long, arduous vines of ivy, the leaves or burrs would come free and cascade downward or cling to his breast. Gardens bloomed in a rainbow of sweet flowers, a training ground had gleaming white marble tables and faux turrets. Tyler then heard a voice in a vert bad temper.

"I do not want *excuses* if you enter these chambers let it only be with my son!" the king in the peaks of a vicious tirade toward several armed soldiers. The man was red in the face.

He waited until the extra men were dismissed. Tyler now saw the Queen calm her husband.

Her gentle hand graced the back of his own. Nestling just a little closer from the confines of their thrones. "Dear we are both suffering but giving in to our emotions won't bring Sammy back," she reasoned.

"I know, I know you are right Lucy," he sighed. "I-- I've failed haven't I?"

"Darling no, no. Neither of us have failed," Lucy implored.

A plea that went on deaf ears to such a shattered man.

"You know as well as I Sammy would say the same. Louder, more earnest, and often than I ever could."

"No matter how scared or full of anguish he himself is," the King agreed, now gazing to the long, red silk carpet leading to their dais. "Sixteen, sixteen years ago he was only a baby, meandering through wherever he pleased.

"I never cared what somewhat important advisor I'd had to meet that day or appointments with foreign dignitaries at my ear."

A strange feeling came over Tyler; watching them, selectively zeroed in to the heavy loss, the longing in their voices. A very similar, just as sickly, musing inside himself. He put the feeling aside. 'Why would he want to be a spineless pretty boy,' he told himself.

The young vampire nimbly entered the throne room. "Greetings your majesty," he said with a bow.

"Who are you? How did you get in here?" Claremont asked. There was a wary look in his dark eyes.

"That does not matter right now. What does is my proposal," he said keeping himself impassive, his voice succinctly vague.

Claremont was stroking his chin. "What kind of proposal?" he said, not a subtle hint of acid to the comment. However, no less interested and no better at holding back, dare he'd say hope.

"For a small price, I'll be able to save the Prince," he said.

"Are you certain about this? Many have tried and all of them have failed, and, you look no older than my son," it was the Queen who spoke up. She was actually concerned for him.

"I appreciate the concern Madam, truly but appearances aren't everything," he pointed out. Much as he would have liked to bare his fangs then.

Until there was a deal made, set and bound... From his sights Tyler just caught the King's hand trailing lightly upon his thigh.

"What is this price?" the King asked. This was it. From this moment it was do or die.

"You see your highness," Tyler began confidently, "I am... not quite human." Without the top hat both royals could see his pale face. It was easy to smile with those expressions. The regal Queen Lucy now gaped like a fish and her husband struggled to find words.

"Guards! Guards!" He'd found his voice. In seconds soldiers swarmed in surrounding Tyler. As their hands went for the guns at their belts he leaped over their heads to the thrones.

"If I wanted to harm you I would've. Now, will you listen to me," Tyler said insistently.

Toward the monarch with his own throwing knives drawn.

"Very well but one wrong move and you will have a long stay in the dungeons boy," the King threatened.

"I'll traverse the Dark Zone, risk life and limb and bring Sammy back safely," Tyler pledged, palm to his chest as the wandering fingers of his left found the gold-leafed steel armrests. "What I ask in return is my full, official citizenship." Tyler waited for the King to respond. Besides what better appeal to use than his child.

"Your Majesty--" a soldier began.

"Stand down. My son's safety, his return that is paramount. I accept on one condition," he said facing his bold intruder. "If you do rescue my son you will be on a probation period as his bodyguard. You will be monitored each second of each day whether you are in his presence or not without exception and should my trust not be abused, I will grant you citizenship," he proposed.

Tyler respected the man's apprehension even admired it. He lived by the phrase 'trust us earned, not given.' A lesson many back home learned is not a proverb but a means of survival. Often coming to fatal consequences.

"Deal." And the King did willfully shake his hand.