The Crown's Obsession

No one had expected for the glass in Madeline's hand to shatter suddenly. Calhoun, who was seated, got up to where Madeline was pulling out his handkerchief to wrap around her hand where lines of blood started to seep out of her skin.

When Senior Mr. and Mrs. Harris recovered from the small shock, Senior Mr. Harris said, "Martha, take Madeline inside and clean her wounds."

Madeline's grandmother said, "You must have pressed the glass too tight, dear. Come with me," she urged her granddaughter. Madeline gave Calhoun a look for him to nod, "Careful with your footsteps," and Madeline followed her grandmother inside.

Madeline knew she hadn't held the glass hard enough for it to break, but she didn't go to refuse her grandmother's words. She was made to sit on the bed, and her grandmother came with a box. Opening it, she pulled out cotton before removing the handkerchief which Calhoun had wrapped around her hand.

Madeline flinched when the cotton touched the cuts on her hand, "Bear with it, dearie," she heard her grandmother say to her as she continued to dab the cotton on her skin, "Do you always break glass like this?" she asked looking up to meet Madeline's eyes.

"Just sometimes," answered Madeline, "I will help you to clean with the glass pieces on the floor." It was her fault that the glass had broken and there were shards lying on the floor of the living room.

"Don't worry about that," replied the old woman. Madeline didn't want her old grandparents bending and picking up things at their age. In the past, her parents had many times asked her grandparents to come to live with them, in the village of East Carswell. Even her aunt had asked her parents to leave this place and live with her, but Madeline's grandparents were stubborn.

Her grandparents wanted to live here, in this village. And her parents had let them be. Also, another reason being, there were no vampires in this village, unlike the villages and towns that were near to the castle where the King of Devon lived.

"There, all better," her grandmother smiled when she was done tending to Madeline's hand, "It looks like you have some scratches. Is Elizabeth clumsy too?"

"No, it's just me. Thank you for this, grandma," Madeline thanked, and her grandmother placed her hand on Madeline's cheek to find it to be cold.

"You don't have to thank me. It's my duty to take care of my granddaughter," her grandmother smiled before dropping her hand back to her side. Madeline then heard her grandmother lowered her voice and asked, "How did you two meet?"

"The King?" asked Madeline, "Um, it was at the ball. We met there."

"Hm," came the short response from her grandmother, "Try to break off from the marriage."

"What?"

"I don't know how your parents agreed to it. Maybe it is because he is the King but do not marry a creature who is a vampire, Madeline. We disapprove of it," said her grandmother. Madeline looked at the door, wondering if her grandmother knew that Calhoun was listening to their conversation now, "He cannot hear it. This room is special."

Madeline knew something like this would happen. But her grandparents were sure wishing for harm to occur on them by thinking they could go against the King, "Why?" she asked her grandmother.

Her grandmother frowned, "What do you mean why? People like us don't mix with the night creatures. We have never given our children to vampires. What happened to that man you liked. That tailorman."

This time, Madeline's eyes widened. How did she know about James? Her parents were unaware about her past feelings of how she felt, and she never mentioned about James to her grandparents. Blinking, Madeline answered, "He's getting married to another person."

"Well, get him back! Don't you love him?" asked her grandmother. Madeline couldn't help but chuckle over her grandmother's words, but the elderly woman didn't find it to be funny. Seeing her grandmother's serious expression, Madeline cleared her throat.

"I don't," replied Madeline, and her grandmother looked upset.

"You love him?!" questioned her grandmother, referring to Calhoun and Madeline shook her head.

"Mr. Heathcliff is getting married to Lady Catherine. Their wedding is in less than ten days," Madeline didn't know how to put it, but her thoughts had stopped to linger towards James and had instead started to reside with the thoughts of the King. It took her some time, but she had decided to go with the marriage, "It's okay, grandma."

But grandma Harris was not excited to hear it. She noticed how her granddaughter was defending the vampire.

Madeline wondered what her grandmother was thinking. After a while, her grandmother sighed and said, "Okay. If that is what you want." She patted Madeline's back, "We will come before your wedding day."

"Yes, grandma," Madeline smiled and was glad that her grandmother wouldn't upset Calhoun. This way, everyone could continue to keep their heads between their shoulders, intact. Though her grandmother told that this was a room where Calhoun wouldn't be able to hear, she wondered how far it was true.

When they returned, Madeline heard her grandfather speaking to Calhoun, "You don't think you would mind us bringing some more relatives of ours, do you?"

"Madeline's family is always welcome," Calhoun chimed in, and his eyes snapped quickly on seeing Madeline return to the living room.

"Does your hand hurt, dear?" asked Madeline's grandfather.

"I am sure you must have broken a ton of them this year. When Madeline was small, we had to keep the glasses away from her because she kept breaking them-" her grandmother started only to stop when her husband subtly shook his head, "You should be careful with them, dearie."

"I will," said Madeline.

Calhoun picked the pause in the older woman's words as if it wasn't a surprise that she was breaking glasses right now. Senior Mr. and Mrs. Harris didn't know that Calhoun was aware of Madeline's little slip-ups with the glasses. Like he guessed, there was something going on that was being hidden in the family, which Madeline was not aware about.

The way the couple behaved, there was something very odd about it. He had met many humans, humans who belonged below the poverty line as well as who belonged to the high status but these people, they looked at him differently. And the look in their eyes said it was not a good one.

"How are you going back? The local carriage leaves in the next two hours," stated Senior Mr. Harris, "You can stay here for the night and can leave tomorrow morning," he proposed, "I must say... it's strange to see the King travel in the local carriage when he could make use of his royal carriage."

"I rented the whole carriage," Calhoun replied with a polite smile on his face, "We would love to stay, but I need to drink blood which I doubt you get here freely?"

Senior Mr. Harris' eyes turned to glare, and he said, "No, we don't. Vampires don't enter the village," which was why it was strange that people had let this vampire walk freely up to the house with his granddaughter.

Noticing the atmosphere turn tense, Madeline said, "Thank you, grandpa, but I think we should leave. I thought of visiting Jeannine before we leave. It has been some time." Jeannine was Madeline's friend, who had passed away a few years ago after being attacked by a vampire.

Hearing this, Madeline's grandmother said, "You will need to go to the second cemetery that is in the West side of the village."

When it came to the time to leave, her grandmother hugged her and said, "I wish you could have stayed longer, but I know you have a lot of things to do. We'll be there soon," and she patted Madeline's back. Pulling away, Senior Mrs. Harris looked at Calhoun, "You didn't drink anything." It was because Calhoun had held the glass in his hand for the entire time, but he didn't take a sip from it.

The polite smile that was on Calhoun's lips broadened, "You never know who will put what in the liquid," Madeline's grandfather's eyes twitched at this, "It was good meeting you Senior Mr. and Mrs. Harris. We'll be delighted to have you at our wedding."

Once they saw the vampire and their granddaughter leave after exchanging pleasantries, the woman asked,

"He appears to be different compared to the rest of them. Do you think he knows?"

The old man who saw the retreating figures of the couple said, "I doubt it. Vampires are creatures who are cautious, but he does appear to be different than the others."

"She's breaking the glass," reminded the woman and her husband who had a blank look on his face said,

"We'll need to put her to rest."