It was 12:03 AM, Brandon noticed as he peeked at his clock. Usually, at night, he'd go for a run or go hunting in his wolf form; hunting, running, and meditating were ways Brandon used to connect to his wolf. His wolf enjoyed the feel of the wind on its coat. The wolf also kept Brandon company as it spoke to him, occasionally, in its growls and howls; it was like his subconscious mind but unique because it didn't judge or criticize or relate to his innermost thoughts. Brandon's wolf was alive, and Brandon could feel him whenever and wherever. The subconscious wasn't consciously perceived and that was what made it different from his wolf.
Brandon needed to take a shower, he wasn't running tonight, and his wolf wasn't angry about it; his wolf seemed happy for some reason. Brandon liked that it was happy unlike some people that were sad and depressed — Him; he was some people, he was a sad boy. Getting up from his bed with a groan, he heard a knock on his door and a voice following it saying,
"Heyyo, Bran! Open up!"
Brandon knew who it was. It was Connor. Brandon wondered what he was doing here. Did they plan to have a movie night? No, Brandon didn't think so because Ray, Kara, and Rico would've been in his room if they did plan to have a movie night. He opened his door to behold the slender vampire. Brandon had just noticed they were the same height.
"What?" Brandon asked. He needed to have a shower and go to bed. Connor sighed.
"Can I come in?" Connor asked. More like, 'Can I hide in here? Brandon believed Connor just needed to hide from Arthur.
"Okay…" Brandon muttered. He just did the opposite of what he wanted by letting Connor in. Brandon liked Connor, but Connor was annoying and very energetic; Brandon couldn't keep up with his extrovert qualities. He was an introvert and, plus, he couldn't say 'no' to someone.' Curse my lil sentimental ass', Brandon said inwardly, closing the door.
"…Thanks, man," Connor said, locking his door with hasty movement. Brandon stared at Connor quizzically and something that he believed was called a blush consumed Connor's boyish face. Why was he blushing? Brandon thought seeing Connor blush for no reason was the third weirdest thing he had witnessed today; the first was seeing a pregnant skeleton, and the second was seeing the husband of the pregnant skeleton; he wondered how that was even possible. And, now, standing in front of him was a good-looking, jovial, overly energetic vampire blushing; Connor's cheeks were literally red. Brandon felt it was funny. Who knew vampires could feel embarrassed?
"I— It's Arthur," Connor told Brandon, but Brandon already knew that. Connor was often hiding from his oldest brother. Brandon felt a string sesh coming up; Arthur always strung Connor upside down whenever he misbehaved, but Connor never learned his lessons — he was a masochist; Arthur the sadist, and Connor the masochist. The string sesh wasn't a new thing so Brandon wasn't surprised, anyway, Arthur would still catch him, and hiding only increased Connor's punishment. Brandon had asked Connor one time why he liked to be mischievous and Connor said, 'You gotta live in the moment! Life's too short to be boring.' Brandon gave up on the conversation; it wasn't as if Connor was going to die anytime soon, he was immortal.
"Oh," Brandon mumbled, moving toward his bed. "You know hiding only intensifies your punishment." He pulled his shirt off. For some reason, Brandon felt shy about uncovering his skin, perhaps it was because Connor was staring at him right now. He wondered why. Brandon turned to look at Connor and Connor's eyes darted to somewhere else. Brandon wanted to laugh but he held it in. Connor was cute.
"Pfft, whatever," Brando heard Connor say before entering the bathroom and he chuckled. Connor loved to show toughness even when he knew he was done for. Poor Connor. Brandon often felt bad for him whenever he got strung upside down, even though Connor was always the cause of his inconvenience. Brandon appreciated water and the feel of it on the skin as he turned on the shower.
Brandon came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and he didn't fail to notice Connor's gaze on him. 'Sheesh, does he want to drink my blood or something?', Brandon wondered. Brandon thought Connor had been acting weird since he came inside his room; Brandon wondered what Connor's problem was. Usually, Connor would come out and say whatever he felt like saying whether it was necessary or not, but now he was just strange. Did Brandon make Connor uncomfortable? Or Connor just didn't have anything to say? Brandon put on a new shirt as he thought deeply. However, 'not having anything to say' was Brandon's thing because he was usually quiet.
Getting to the unwrapping of his towel to put on some pants, Brandon peeked at Connor; Connor was flustered, Brandon was flustered. Brandon thought the mood they were in right now was worse than taking a shot on the butt in front of a female nurse, or maybe it wasn't worse than that but, still, it was very, very, uncomfortable for him. Was this kind of thing supposed to be embarrassing? Was it how boys felt when they changed in locker rooms? Brandon didn't think so. But why was it so awkward? Brandon recognized this was the first time he and Connor were alone together. They've never hung out together, the two of them and maybe that was why this was weird.
"…I'll l— look away…" Connor said and turned his back to Brandon. Connor doing this wouldn't have been necessary from the perspective of some people but the moment was way too awkward for both of them, especially for Brandon. He had never dressed in front of anyone before. Brandon wore his pants quickly and went to hang his towel in the bathroom.
"…So, where did you go?" Brandon asked to lessen the awkwardness in the room. Connor turned to face him.
"The human world," Connor said. "Just to get a couple of Grimms." Grimms was the word Brandon thought sounded funny coming from Connor.
"Oh. How much did you gather at the casino?" Brandon guessed Connor might have gone to someplace like that.
"…I didn't win anything. Those jerks cheated!" Connor's face was pink now.
"You didn't use your powers? I thought you always did."
"I enjoy the unforeseen. If I used my powers, it wouldn't be any fun because I'd know what's coming before it happens." Brandon went to sit next to Connor on the bed. He liked that Connor was adventurous and lived in the moment.
"Interesting," said Brandon. "How's this, whenever you're about to lose a bet, you pull off a trump card," Brandon smirked and Connor's eyes glinted with what he was unsure of.
"That's…that's awesome!" Conor beamed. "Those assholes wouldn't know what hit them next time! Haha." Brandon chuckled. Why did this kind of thing excite Connor? Brandon believed everyone had things that fascinated them and that could also get them animated. Brandon didn't think anything excited him or made him liven up, sometimes he lost interest in what he enjoyed and slept most of the time. He loved sleeping, it was refreshing. Although, Brandon attended the Academy which was the only reason he left the castle during the daytime.
"Thanks, man," Connor said. Brandon nodded and yawned at the same time. He wondered when Connor was going to leave; it was 12: 40 AM, and he craved some shut-eye. Unlike Brandon, Connor was a vampire and could stay up all night, every day, if he wanted to and wouldn't even show signs of sleepiness and exhaustion; that was the thing about vampires, they never got drained of energy; they weren't humans. Although, Connor and his brothers were half-human.
"Are you gonna…sleep in my room?" Brandon asked. His eyes could close any second now. Connor flushed and said,
"Uh-huh. Just to be safe from, you know who, for a while."
"Yeah, he's probably gonna check your room or something."
"Exactly. And he never checks your room so…" Brandon smiled.
Of course, Arthur never checked Brandon's room. How old was he? Nine? What could Arthur be checking for anyway? Monsters in his closet or under his bed? How ironic, when Arthur was a monster himself. The only person's room that got checked was Connor's and it was amusing to Brandon. Occasionally, Arthur would barge into Connor's room at night and find Connor sprawled naked on the bed and snoring. That's right, Connor slept in bareness. Ray had seen Arthur one time, at midnight, going into Connor's room and he was inquisitive to know what was happening. Ray tends to poke his nose in things that didn't concern him at times and the outcome was always hilarious. When Ray entered the room, he saw Connor in the nude; they both, Arthur and Ray, stared in amusement; and, of course, Ray took a pic of Connor. Brandon didn't think Connor knew about that, but at least Connor covered his sensitive parts. Who needed to see that? Knowing Ray, Brandon believed he'd make Connor do something crazy with that pic one day.
Brandon got up from where he sat to fix his bed, Connor was standing next to him. Brandon finished and said,
"Okay, then. Goodnight." Connor smiled slightly and dropped his backpack on the couch. "And if you're gonna sleep," he added, "don't sleep in the nude." Connor giggled and Brandon chuckled.
Shortly, they both laid down, settling in the silence of the room. Brandon heard Connor's snores soon after. Connor slept fast. Brandon closed his eyes after a while of thinking and imagining and drifted off to the land of dreams; the land where anything happened pertaining to real life or imagination.
It was morning, Claudia woke up. She wondered if it was morning in the human world. Arthur had brought Claudia to this big bedroom after suggesting that she get some shut-eye. Claudia didn't want to sleep, but her eyes had betrayed her with a yawn accompanying it, she was flustered. They walked out of the library room up to the second floor, the library was on the third floor, and they walked past multiple rooms in the hallways before getting to this room, her room. Claudia's room at home, in Connecticut, wasn't as huge as this; the room was fit for more than five people, plus the castle had a lot of rooms; most of them were locked.
Claudia didn't get up from the bed and just laid sideways with her arms propped up on the bed supporting her head. She stared at the open window, a bird was sitting at her window. The pretty bird reminded her of a rhyme about two little birds sitting on a tree, one named Peter and one named Paul; she thought they were twins. Sitting up, she glanced at the room once more; there was a wardrobe, a reading table, a sofa, the huge bed she was sitting on. Claudia giggled as she bounced on the bed. The room was pretty much complete, the only thing missing was clothes, her clothes. Was she going to stay here? Would they let her stay here? How would she go back? She didn't even remember how she got here, but she could recall her home in Connecticut. How was that even possible? Claudia thought it didn't make any sense. She was supposed to remember but she didn't. Did she just wake up here? Was she brought here by some person? Or was she just dreaming? Claudia believed she was dreaming and that she was probably lying in her bed at home right now having lucid dreams, that was why everything felt so real. 'Haha! I'm lucid dreaming,' she said inwardly and laughed out loud.
Creak. The door of the room opened and Arthur walked in. 'Pfft, fake!' Claudia thought.
"You are awake. Good. Did you have a good sleep?" he asked. Claudia squinted her eyes at him, got up from the bed, and walked towards him. Standing in front of him, she poked with my index finger his left cheek, right cheek, nose, forehead, and Arthur creased his eyebrows. 'That's right, I know you're fake!' Claudia screamed inwardly. She pinched his cheeks with her hands, his face was soft. She ruffled his well-gelled black hair, it was soft too. Claudia wondered the type of shampoo he used. 'Pfft, probably fake shampoo,' she thought. Claudia circled him, observing everything he had on; he was as still as a huge rock on a beach. She raised his red cloak and he threw a death glare at her from over his shoulder, she didn't look fazed. The only thing on her mind was why he was wearing a cloak.
Claudia stopped circling him and stood in front of him, cracking her fingers; Arthur just kept on watching her. He was amazed. Had he let a crazy person into the kingdom? No. Arthur didn't tolerate such imbecilic behaviors. He understood Claudia was confused and hadn't quite come to terms with the fact that she was in another world and everything she was seeing was real. But Arthur was ready to show Claudia the ropes like their father had asked him to if she was willing to stay in Astoria.
Why hadn't he said anything since? Claudia thought it was because she was now in control of her lucid dreams. Arthur rolled his eyes. Claudia raised her right hand, her fist curled up tightly to punch him. 'Let's see what happens if I do this!' she thought. She struck her punch but Arthur stopped her hand at mid-air before it landed on his face; she felt like an anime character right now with tiny sweat rolling down her face and her eyes only a dot. Arthur snorted.
"This is why kids should not stay up late at night," he sneered and cast Claudia's hand to the side, her face turned ruddy. 'That was so stupid,' she thought.
"What's…going on?" Ray asked as he walked into the room. Arthur and Claudia turned to look at him. Ray glanced at Arthur, smiling, and took a pic of him with his phone; he looked at the phone and frowns.
"Nice try," Arthur said. He had used his super-speed to move to the side so the boy took a pic of the wall instead.
"I'll get you next time," Ray said, putting the phone into his pocket.
"Why are you here?" Arthur asked.
"The King demands your presence." He glimpsed at Claudia. She noticed his grey eyes before turning away.
"Claudia," Arthur called. "See me in the library room in ten minutes." Claudia nodded like a child. "And," he added, "make sure you are less crazy before then." Claudia was flustered by his comment. He walked out of the room with his disheveled hair, leaving Claudia with Ray. Ray's gaze on Claudia was inquisitive, Claudia wondered what he might be thinking. Should she say something? Claudia figured she should.
"My apologies for staring," Ray spoke before she could. "I'm Ray Ven Blue, but just call me Ray." He smiled. His smile was warm which almost made Claudia forget that she could be lucid dreaming. 'Shit,' she cursed, realizing how she behaved like an imbecile in front of Arthur. Funny, Arthur had thought the same thing.
"Nice to meet you, Blue. You already know my name so…" Claudia uttered shyly. She also noted that she called him Blue instead of Ray but he didn't seem bothered by it, plus, she liked Blue because it sounded unique, and she had never heard a name like Blue before. Maybe people answered his name but she didn't know, moreover, there were three names so she could call him any. Claudia wondered why his parents didn't just join two of the names together or something. She guessed it was probably to make the name rare or something like that.
"Yeah. Claudia," said Ray "Great name. I've never heard that name before, but I've seen a Claudine."
"Likewise, Ray Ven Blue, but I've seen a Ray," said Claudia and he grinned.
"So, um, I'll leave you to whatever…"
"Okay, bye." She waved as he turned toward the door. 'This is awkward,' she thought.
"Okay." He departed. Claudia closed the door and leaned against it, inhaling and exhaling. It was a weird morning. She shivered thinking of how she acted in front of Arthur. What was she thinking? Oh, yeah, she was thinking that she was lucid dreaming. Claudia guessed she wasn't dreaming after all. She was actually in a place, a world called Astoria that was full of mythical creatures, humans — that still amazed her, had a vampire as its king, and was surprisingly civilized! Alright, maybe Claudia might not be dreaming but just to be sure…
She walked toward the window and climbed on it to stand on the window sill but she sat instead. If this was all a dream, she wouldn't die; jumping from this window that she wasn't sure how many feet up was the best way to test the theory. Claudia imagined a voice in her head saying, 'Subject: 203 Claudia Barclay. Test: To see if she's dreaming. The result to expect: Death or perhaps waking up and breathing heavily in her room back home in Connecticut.' She took a deep, sharp, long breath and prepared for testing. 'I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming,' she recited in her mind.
"Uhh…I wouldn't do that if I were you." Claudia heard a voice and she paused. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a woman dressed in a chef suit; her face looked serious. Claudia thought she was the type of woman to function as a commander at a military school. What was she doing here? Claudia believed the woman was a chef, and then wondered why vampires needed chefs which gave her more reason why she should test out her theory. The woman looked at Claudia quizzically, and she reddened under the woman's scrutiny because she was probably doing something foolish.
"Prince Arthur is in the library room, and he's asking for you," the woman told Claudia, shaking her head as she turned to leave. Claudia thought she heard the woman murmur before she shut the door loudly. The woman had believed Claudia was crazy and she certainly didn't care whether Claudia was going to jump or not; her only job was to cook and not interfere with matters that didn't concern her, and she was doing quite well with the job.
Later having a bath, Claudia headed out of the room. She walked through the hallways, passing by rooms that were closed and some opened, till she got to the stairs that led to the third floor where the library was. On reaching the library that was wide open as Claudia expected, she didn't go in, rather, she paused at the entrance and peeked inside; Arthur's eyes were staring down at something; A book? Paperwork? Magazine? Newspaper? Electricity bill? Claudia wondered whether they paid electricity bills but she reached the conclusion that they didn't because she thought it was dumb.
"You have been standing there for a while, and your thinkings are all over the place," Arthur spoke looking up at Claudia, she turned ruddy.
"I— Sorry," Claudia said, entering inside. "I didn't wanna interrupt you."
"But you did. And like I said before, your thinkings were all over the place." 'Help me gather them,' Claudia said inwardly. Arthur raised a brow at her and she coughed. She didn't want to do something stupid in front of Arthur anymore; she also noticed he had fixed his hair.
"Sit," Arthur ordered and she sat. Claudia was such an obedient puppy, wasn't she? Claudia glanced at the table and saw a gold cup. She peeked at Arthur, knowing fully well what was inside the cup was orange juice; the smug grin on Arthur's good-looking face was a confirmation that her recognition was right. 'This bit—,' she cursed inwardly but didn't finish the sentence.