The Better Twin

Holding her wrist against her body, stopping the bleeding with the fabric previously torn from Ellias’ shirt, Milena was glaring at his twin, a bit annoyed. How could he find time and strength for a joke when he had come that close to dying! She was truly too annoyed at him, keeping herself away. 

The Vampire Prince was still lying down, though, visibly exhausted. Most of his injuries had been healed by her blood, but he was still a mess to look at. The deepest injuries were barely closed up, and he was still a b****y mess. The previous scene had been so violent… Milena clicked her tongue at him while Ellias came over, shaking his brother’s state.

“Rayan, how are you?”

“Great, of course…”

“You’re pale… Paler than usual. Stay still while we wait for the Royal Guard. They should be here soon.”

His brother nodded. Truth was, Rayan probably didn’t have much strength left. The young vampire was already fighting to stay awake, as his eyes kept trying to close themselves. Ellias sighed and took off his cloak, covering Rayan with it, before walking over to Milena’s side.

“Are you alright?”

“A bit drowsy,” she admitted.

The Prince had drunk more of her blood than she thought, and she had never fed anyone, to begin with… Milena remained seated, but the human prince, the only one with energy left, couldn’t hold still. He got to the bodies, where Blanche was still sniffing and growling. This was very bad. A piece of very bad news. They couldn’t afford to let the population know about this. If word got out, things would possibly get crazy. The fear against vampires would worsen, and in the worst case, both species could turn against each other…

That is unless they could identify that unfathomable creature. What could it be? Just like Milena, Ellias had read many, many books. None described anything close to that creature…

“Milena, this thing… It was created, right?”

The young duchess slowly nodded, fighting to not faint.

“I… We need to inspect it… The bodies. Interrogate the neighbors, too. And… and…”

Before she ended her sentence, Milena slowly collapsed to Rayan’s side. Immediately, her bodyguard appeared by her side, holding her. Ruby glanced the Prince’s way.

“Help is in the way, your Highness…”

Ellias simply nodded, not even looking at Ruby. He wasn’t surprised to see an assassin by the young Duchess’ side. Most noble families had their own guards and little armies. It wasn’t much of a secret, to begin with. Moreover, Ruby’s absolute priority was her mistress. She had to appear in that situation, just in case.

After a couple more minutes, the Royal Guards were heard outside. Milena’s maids, too, were following closely. Ruby disappeared as soon as they all ran in. Ellias shook his head and got up again.

“Your Highnesses! Prince Ellias! Prince Rayan!”

The soldiers and their captain came in in a hurry, almost bumping between themselves as they hurried in. Ellias started giving orders right away, though.

“Captain, make sure to position men outside to not allow at outsiders in, and tell your men to keep quiet about anything inside this room.”

It took a few seconds for the man to, indeed, understand what the hell was going on there. The Prince’s twin brother was lying, half unconscious in a pool of blood, the young Duchess De Crescent passed out next to him. Behind Prince Ellias, there were three things that looked like… Bodies. Horrible, disgusting and sickening sight. The Captain was a man of experience, though. He knew how to put his emotions behind and act first. He turned to the dozen men behind him, yelling orders.

“You and your men, outside, watch out as our Prince said! You heard him! And… Your Highness, what should we do about th… those?”

Ellias couldn’t carry his brother, who was about the same weight as him, but he carried Milena, who was still completely passed out.

“Grab the bodies and hide them under sheets… And take my brother back to the Palace, he needs to be check by the Royal Doctors and so does the Lady de Crescent.”

Right at that moment, Olivia and Dinah barged it, pushing the soldiers aside to force their way to their mistress.

“Oh, lord, my Lady!”

“She’s fine,” said Ellias. “But please, send word to warn the Duke.”

“We already did,” said Olivia. “As soon as we heard…”

“Then make sure they join us back at the Royal Palace. We can’t stay here. Captain, make sure to search that house thoroughly. I want every room, every corner, every tiniest space checked. Report everything and don’t let any detail out. No one goes in or out without my permission, either.”

“Yes, your Highness!”

Leaving the soldiers to their duty, Ellias carried Milena outside, followed closely by the two worried maids. Two Royal guards followed, carrying Rayan as well. The couldn’t wait for a carriage, so Ellias jumped on his horse and let the soldiers use Rayan’s horse to follow. Olivia and Dinah mounted Black Bella, but the horse would have followed her owner anyway.

Luckily, it only took them a few minutes to reach the Royal Palace and call the Royal Doctors to their bedside. Ellias left Milena and Rayan between their capable hands, exhausted. He was a strong young man, but that night’s events were a bit too much for him. Moreover, he had to explain the situation several times, to both his parents, the Prime Minister and a handful of other people time and time again without even being able to change his clothes.

“Where is she!”

He sighed when seeing all the male members of the De Crescent Family running up to him. This wasn’t going to be easy… 

Anton De Crescent’s face was torn between worries and fury. His sons were all worried, especially Raphael. They had obviously hurried out, the younger brother’s hair was a mess and Valentin was still wearing his nightshirt.

“How is my sister?” He yelled. “Is she injured? Does she need blood?”

“She’s okay,” said Ellias, shaking his head. “The Royal Doctors are taking care of her for now, but…”

“What happened?” Growled the Duke.

Before the Duke De Crescent imploded, Ellias went on to explain what had happened, from the moment he had spotted his brother’s horse outside till now. He tried not to give away to many details of the horror scene he had stumbled upon, but Milena’s family knew, from their expressions, how bad it really had been. 

He had just finished talking when Dinah and Olivia ran to the De Crescent Family, tears in their eyes.

“Master, we are so sorry! We really tried to stop the Lady… We’re so sorry!”

“The Lady insisted to go and we couldn’t do anything! Punish us, please, it is our…”

Before Olivia could finish her sentence, Valentin slapped both of them. 

It was loud, and obviously, without any restraint. Olivia and Dinah immediately went silent, crying silently and looking down, pitiful.

“You two have no excuse. No matter Milena’s whims you should have never left her alone!” Yelled Valentin, furious.

“You two are dismissed.”

Raphael’s cold tune was even scarier than Valentin’s anger. His blood-red eyes were glaring at both of them, contrasting with his apparent calm.

“You’re going home now, and grandmother will deal with you. Get out of my sight!”

The two maids knew how bad it was to be punished by the archduchess herself, but that wasn’t the reason for their tears. They had wished to stay by Milena’s side until she woke up, but her brother’s order was definitely not to be discussed.

Still looking down, the two maids left promptly.

“Where is my daughter?” Asked the Duke.

“In the Infirmary. I promise she is safe and…”

“Last time I heard someone from the Royal Family say my daughter would be safe, it took me years to see her again.”

Ellias was a Prince, but he definitely couldn’t say anything back at the Duke after that sentence. He stepped aside, letting the Duke and his sons walk into the infirmary, feeling guilty himself.

He had been late to help Milena and Rayan. He had let his brother go outside alone, as he always did. Despite being twins, there had always been that invisible wall between them. If Rayan wandered outside of the Castle, Ellias would never follow him and pretended not to know. It was like a silent agreement between them. They both knew about each other’s clandestine activities, but neither would betray the other. 

Each had their own secrets and pretended not to know about the others. They had been raised to be each other’s rivals. They knew it would come to who would sit on the throne one day, no matter how much they loved or hated each other. Everyone around them had always reflected that odd tension. They had been compared in absolutely everything since their birth, always. Who studied the most. Who was better in History, Calculus, Geography, Politics. Who was the better swordsman? Who was the most popular among the people or the nobles? ...Ellias had always thought he was better at all those. Either Rayan let him think so, or was truly lazy to bother, he had always been comforted to think he was the better twin. He even, secretly had started to think he was the favorite son.

Yet, tonight, for the first time, he had lost.

Rayan had been there first. The one to protect Milena against the danger. The one to come out with severe injuries, while Ellias was safe and unharmed. 

He couldn’t even tell if he was angry or relieved about that. He had tried not to put it into words until then. Ellias had just taken the lead, given the orders and acted as was expected from a Prince. But why did he have that bitter taste in his tongue now? Was it because Rayan had been the hero? Saving the woman they both loved? While all he had done was shoot it down with a gun… He had never imagined his brother to be so brave. Had it been a one-time movement, in the fire of action? Or did Rayan carry more secrets than he thought? 

And the way he had interacted with Milena…

Since childhood, he was the one who had connected with her. Through books, small talking, and many, many letters. So what was that thing he had felt between the two?

Ellias shook his head and walked away. 

He shouldn’t make things too personal, not now. He needed to solve this first. He was just being paranoid, surely. Everything would come clear, and back to normal once those two were healed...