Chapter 4 - Missing Princess!

"Pen..." Kael jumped out of bed. "Something's wrong, something's really wrong." He paced back and forth before grabbing his jacket and dashing downstairs, passing portraits of ancestors.

"Where are you going?" Zan asked, dropping the book he was reading.

"Penelope's in trouble," Kael said, breathing heavily.

"Calm down, Kael. Stop jumping to assumptions. And if this is your way of getting my permission to see Penelope, no."

"Dad, I swear she's in danger. I can sense it."

"Then your senses are completely off, son. She's always locked up in that old castle, surrounded by armed guards. How could she possibly be in danger?"

"I DON'T KNOW, DAD!" Kael yelled, enraged.

Zan was shocked; it had been a long time since he'd seen his son so angry. Kael's anger meant destruction, and Zan knew he had to intervene or Penelope would really be in danger.

"Go to your room," Zan said calmly, walking towards his desk.

"DAD—"

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" This time, Zan was furious, his eyes turning pure black. Kael marched up to his room, slamming the door hard and causing cracks in the walls that immediately recovered.

Kael flung the artifacts on his table to the floor, enraged. He started pulling at his hair, pacing around his room. He stopped in front of his bedroom window, the frame made from solid oak adorned with delicate patterns of leaves and vines.

Looking back at his door, he smirked softly. He was going to jump out of his window. He walked closer and closer, the patterns becoming more visible. He rolled up his window and jumped, landing on his knees. Chuckling slightly, he ran, but his anger returned when he realized Penelope might be in danger and his father didn't care.

AT THE CASTLE

Alarm blared everywhere. Guards marched up and down the stairs as Julius shouted at the top of his voice. Tracy cried, Penelope's letter clutched in her hands. The king and queen would be furious and sad about this news, but at that moment, no one cared. The top priority was finding Penelope.

" HOW DID THIS HAPPEN, YOU FOOLS?" Julius yelled, standing in front of Penelope's chamber and pointing at a guard. "Search her room for clues, for the seventh time! She can't just leave the castle!" He ran down the stairs to the lobby room, where Tracy sat.

"Why didn't you tell me she was planning this? Where is she?" Julius's eyes blazed with rage. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Tracy sobbed, covering her puffy eyes with her hands. Julius's expression softened. "It's okay, it's not your fault. I'll find her and bring her back safely." Tracy hugged him tightly, nodding her head in tears.

Upon the arrival of the king and queen, the castle fell silent. Katherine, who had insisted on coming along, begged her parents to let her join them. They had no choice but to bring her. She cried, worried about Penelope's safety and whereabouts. Unlike her sister, Katherine had shoulder-length silky black hair, light green, doe-like eyes, broad shoulders, a generic nose, and pointed ears. She was the carbon copy of her mother.

Walking up to Julius, tears rolling down her cheeks, Katherine asked, "Where is Penelope?" She tugged lightly at his sleeve.

"We will find her." He kneeled to her level and placed a hand on his chest. "I promise." He stood up and turned to Tracy. "Please take her to the garden or somewhere fun for kids. I need to talk to her parents." Tracy nodded understandingly, taking Katherine's hand, and off they went.

"What if she's been kidnapped?" Queen Celine couldn't hold it in anymore; she was worried sick about her daughter.

"It can't be; they don't know her location," the king, Festus, whispered, scanning the lobby to ensure they were alone.

Julius handed the king Penelope's letter to read. "It doesn't seem so."

"What's that?" The queen came over to read it. "She would never do this to us; she's a good girl."

"Well, she has done it, okay?" The king was furious, roughly handing the letter back to Julius. He sat back down, resting his hands under his chin. "What do we do?" He spoke slowly, his wife sitting beside him, facing the fireplace opposite them.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take." The queen struggled to hold back tears. "But how could she? How was she able to leave? There's no way out of here."

"Except—" Queen Celine stood up, her face lit up. "Except what?" King Festus's patience was wearing thin.

"The escape route," Queen Celine sighed sadly. "That's another way she could sneak out without being noticed."

"We should have told her the reason why she's locked up here," King Festus said, confusion etched on his face.

"Your Highness, no one knows about the escape route except Cedric, whom I 100% trust. Telling her would have made her live in fear for the rest of her life. I like her adventurous spirit and determination; I don't want that gone," Julius explained, sitting on a one-seater couch beside the three-seater couch where the king and queen sat.

"Cedric, Cedric, Cedric... what makes you think he can be trusted?" the king asked, straightening himself.

"He's been working for me for 16 years now; I trust him wholeheartedly," Julius said confidently.

"How are we really sure she wasn't kidnapped by them?" the king asked, unsure about the castle's secrecy.

"Because the letter says otherwise, Your Highness," Julius stood up and bowed lightly to the king and queen. "I must return to my duty, sir. I will do everything within my power to bring her back safely and alive."

"Okay, I trust you, Julius," the king nodded, and Julius left.

"We should maybe ask for help from them," the queen suggested.

"No! If we do, they'll know we're hiding her from them, and I don't trust those things," the king stormed out, leaving the queen to her thoughts.

"God, please keep her safe."

Meanwhile, Kael had already arrived at the castle before the king and queen. He was furious that his suspicions had been correct. As a pure-blood vampire, he possessed special abilities, including stealth mode. His mother, the former queen of the vampire kingdom, Vampdom, had been a pure-blood vampire. She was killed by a wicked vampire who sought to overthrow the kingdom, but he failed because Kael's mother had already named his father as the next in line to the throne.

Kael's father, Zan, had banished the wicked vampire after searching for him for years. To this day, the vampire remained at large. Kael was an only child due to this vampire's actions.

He walked into the castle and went straight to Penelope's chamber, searching high and low for clues about her whereabouts. One of the maids informed him that Penelope had left a letter with Julius. Kael ran at incredible speed and found Julius with the king and queen, reading the letter. Kael snuck up behind them and read the letter, shocked by its contents.

He thought to himself, "I love her even more; what a rebellious girl." He was about to leave when he heard the queen ask, "What if Penelope was kidnapped?"

The king responded that they couldn't find her. Kael was shocked by this. They didn't trust his kind, so he decided to stick around a little longer to overhear their conversations. He became furious when he heard what the king told the queen when they were alone. Enraged, he stormed out, releasing a dangerous aura that sent shivers down the queen's spine. She looked around in fear and stood up, running after her husband.

Kael went deep into the forest after deactivating his stealth mode to vent out his anger by hunting down anything that crossed his path. After cooling down, he went in search of Penelope, trying hard to sniff her out. However, it seemed like she didn't exist. At some point, he almost came into contact with Julius, who was searching for her with some guards. They were all yelling her name, which irritated Kael, so he left that area for them to search. Instead, he went to search the back of the castle.

As he approached, he caught a whiff of her scent. Vampires were able to differentiate people's scents because each person had a unique blood scent. Penelope's scent was special, and Kael's heart skipped a beat as he followed it. However, to his dismay, he saw nothing but bushes and shrubs. He punched the wall, which was covered in leaves, and heard an iron sound, which was odd considering the walls were made of concrete. He pushed aside the leaves and beheld an old, rusty door.

He tried opening it, but it wouldn't budge. He figured out that the door could only be opened from the inside. "This must be the escape route," he thought, returning the leaves to their original position. The leaves had helped the rusty door blend in with nature, making it almost invisible. As he stepped backward slowly, he heard a crunch sound and looked down to see a hairpin – Penelope's hairpin.

He bent down to pick it up, excitement coursing through his veins. "Her favorite and lucky charm," he thought, brushing off the sand that had accumulated on it. He gave it a little peck. "It must have fallen from her hair." He turned back to the forest, walking further into it, following her scent until he came to a stop at a place not too far from the castle.

"Something's off," he thought, noticing a scent he couldn't distinguish intertwined with hers. "Maybe it's her perfume," he shrugged. "Where are you? And why can't I smell your scent anymore?" He gave the hairpin a little stroke. "I need to tell the king and queen. Maybe if we join hands, we'll find her."

He was still seething with anger over the king's words, but he couldn't afford to let his emotions get the better of him now. Not with Penelope missing. "I'm doing this for Penelope, because I love her," he reminded himself, steeling his resolve. He headed back to the castle, arriving at the castle gate, where he was stopped by eight guards who pointed their guns at him.

"Whoa," Kael said, raising his hands in the air. "I come in peace. I think I know how the princess escaped."

The guards were surprised. "How did he know the princess is missing?" they whispered among themselves. One of them gathered the courage to ask, "Who are you, and which princess are you talking about?"

"The princess is fine, thank you," one of the guards replied, his voice shaking.

Kael smiled to himself. "Bad actors," he thought.

"I'm Kael, and I know Princess Penelope is missing," he declared. The guards gasped, their hands and legs shaking with fear. Some of them thought, "Should I run? He could kill us."

The same guard spoke up again, "Who's Penelope?"

Kael took two steps forward. "Stay back!" another guard yelled, his gun shaking in his hand.

The commotion attracted nearby guards, including Julius. "What's going on here?" Julius asked, stepping forward and staring intensely at Kael.

"I'm Kael, and I can help with the princess," Kael replied, waving Penelope's hairpin in the air.

Julius's eyes widened as he recognized the hairpin. He also recalled the king and queen's conversation about the vampires, specifically the king's son, Kael. "Watch out for someone named Kael," they had warned.

"Let him in," Julius ordered. "If there's anyone who can help us find the princess, it's him." The guards lowered their weapons and ushered Kael inside to follow Julius.

As they walked through the corridor to the lobby room, Kael spoke up, "You know who I am"

"I'm not supposed to let you in. The king will be furious." Julius's voice was cold.

"Furious?" Kael repeated. "Is he furious about the fact that I can help him find his daughter, or that I'm the vampire he's been hiding her from?" Julius's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, I know everything," Kael whispered before walking ahead to the lobby room.

Julius thought to himself, "He knows the way to the lobby room." Julius entered the lobby room to find Kael sitting on a two-seater seat in front of the fireplace, crossing his legs.

Julius cleared his throat. "I'll go get the king and queen." Julius headed to the stairs.

"Okay," Kael said, adjusting his jacket and looking back at the stairs to see Julius talking to a girl.

"Tracy," Kael thought, recognizing her.

Tracy looked at him, avoiding eye contact, before nodding at Julius and holding his gaze at Kael.

While Julius went to get the king and queen, Tracy sat on the vacant couch beside Kael.

"Don't take your eyes off him," Julius's words kept echoing in her ear, growing her fear.

"Hi," Tracy spoke up, trying to sound calm.

"Hi, you're Tracy," Kael said, his words not sounding like a question. He was sure she was Tracy.

"Yes, I am," Tracy replied, chuckling nervously.

Kael held out a hand to shake Tracy's, but Tracy only stared at him.

"Okay," Kael said, taking back his hand. "You're not the handshaking type of girl."

Tracy just nodded, lost in her thoughts.

"I can help you find Penelope." Those words brought Tracy back to life. "Really", she said, joy filling her heart. "That's why I'm here," Kael added.

He reached for his pocket, and Tracy's eyes widened, her mouth falling open as if she was about to scream. "It's okay, it's a hairpin," Kael reassured her, bringing out the hairpin and handing it to her.

Tracy took it, her eyes sparkling. "You're right," she said, a smile spreading across her face. "She loves it and can't take a risk without it."

Tracy smiled, making Kael smile too. "You know, I really love her," Kael said, his words surprising Tracy.

"I know it's odd," Kael continued. "Someone I haven't talked to... I feel empty, like a piece of me is missing. And yes, it is missing – Penelope is missing."

Just then, a crash sound came from upstairs, followed by a loud yell. "Get him out!" Tracy understood what was happening and ran upstairs, leaving Kael dumbfounded.

Before Tracy could run up the stairs, the king appeared, looking furious, with the queen and Julius behind him, signaling Kael to leave.

Kael knew the king hated his kind, but now wasn't the time. Penelope was first.

Kael approached the king, saying, "Your Highness, I—"

But the king interrupted him. "Oh, I know who you are. The monster my daughter is supposed to marry. And now, you might have kidnapped her."

The queen tried to calm him down, but this only made him more furious. He turned to his wife and said, "I never wanted to sign the treaty , with those monsters. But you made me, saying it was for the kingdom. Now, tell me, who is more important: your daughter or the kingdom?"

The queen cried, "Love, my lord—"

But the king cut her off. "He only sees her as a source of food. And now she's missing."

Everyone around them stared in horror as the king yelled, "I hate you!", "She's missing because of you" The queen gasped, and the room fell silent.

Kael's eyes darkened. "You selfish king," he spat. "Your daughter is missing, and you're here arguing with your wife. What do you want her to think? That you're fighting because of her?"

The king's face twisted in anger. "Just leave, or you'll die."

"We didn't kidnap her," Kael said. "She escaped through a path at the back of the castle. I saw her hairpin there."

Kael tried to reason with the king. "Leave, at once!" the king ordered, pointing at the entrance.

Kael took one last glance at everyone and saw Katherine arriving with a maid. "Mommy, Daddy!" Katherine exclaimed.

The queen quickly wiped away her tears and ran to hug her daughter, dragging her away from the scene.

Kael left, his face etched with no emotions. "I'm going to find you, Pene."