Vamp Guards ✔️

S E V E N T Y-O N E

No matter where Iris went, the stench of rotting flesh trailed him like a dark cloud. He could walk yards away from one body to just come across another. It made him sick.

It wasn't necessarily the smell or the sight, it was the gut-wrenching guilt that flipped his stomach and made him nauseous.

Iris Dion was only the Prince of Vridora. Taking care of his kingdom, his home, was not his responsibility; it was the king's. However, he was apart of this whole ordeal, so Iris knew he had to briefly claim his dad's position, and help his kingdom. To him, he was simply a prince. Vridora would not be affected if he were to die compared to if his dad died.

He never thought he was a good prince, let alone a good son. He was standoffish, grumpy, and unsociable. He cherished his people but didn't necessarily like being around them. He hated working, which only gave Arlo more to do. He broke many rules and got mad for getting lectured about them. He made dicey decisions and hated himself when he got upset about the outcomes.

This whole battle was a great example of that.

To Iris, he was just a prince. Sure, he'd be missed by a few, but the world wouldn't end if by some chance he didn't stand back up. That was where his thoughts went, how they circulated his mind; because of that, he was going to do everything in his power, as a human and as the prince of his kingdom, to put an end to the Vamps and their revolution.

At least then I'd do some good, he thought.

Iris looked up to his dad. He wasn't a man with clean hands, but he worked his way up to put his crazy past behind him. He opened his arms to vampires in need and in exchange for his hospitality, he gave them a reasonable job.

Help fight for me and I'll fight with you. What more could a vampire want than to hear someone say they'll fight with them? Fight the discrimination and hate they got. Vridora wasn't nearly a sanctuary for vampires, but Arlo wanted it to be. He wanted them to feel safe in his kingdom. Whether they were his guards or not. But of course, there were those who disrespected his wishes.

Uniting vampires and humans wasn't an easy task, and it certainly didn't happen over the course of a few years. In fact, it may never happen. The closest thing to uniting the two would be an international agreement of mutual respect. The humans don't bother the vampires and vise versa; however, even that would take decades, if not centuries, to achieve.

But....it wasn't farfetched, which fanned that encouraging flame in those who wanted to maintain the peace.

Iris fell in love with his dad's idea. He liked vampires ever since a young age despite his dad telling him to stay away from them until he was older, or his mother spitting rumors about how vicious they were. Her tales never scared him. They excited him.

He was rebellious and disobeyed his dad's wishes. He snuck away from his nurse to watch the vampires train. They fascinated him. The guards weren't the monsters his mother claimed them to be. They laughed at cheesy and inappropriate jokes as any human would. They got hurt and bled like a human would, they bruised and ached and shed tears as a human would. They just had unique characteristics that made them different from humans; take away the oddness of them, and they weren't that different at all.

Arlo's idea of uniting the two species blossomed in Iris's head the second he saw his first vampire. As he grew up the idea strengthened, and though his actions might've lacked, he never gave up on the idea. 

Iris only hoped he did something before he died–not that he specifically planned on dying. He didn't want to die and leave all the things he loved behind, and he wasn't prepared to, he just made peace with the fact that he might.