Chapter 8

------Emma's PoV------

It's quarter to seven and I am decorating Aliza for the dinner date. 

"Now quickly come here." I say as she is still admiring herself looking at the mirror. 

She immediately sits on the chair. I take a close look at her face, her flawless skin doesn't need any primer or foundation. 'One of the advantages of being a vampire.' 

So I did the required eye makeup, applied mascara and blush and tied her hair into a clean ponytail. 

I eye her warily before getting up. She looks stunning. 

"Royal Aliza, Mr. Steve Knights is here." One of my servants speaks after a knock.

Well, Knights are a powerful known family. They are the owners of numerous MNCs all around the world. He is the perfect match for her. He's good-looking, Ali showed me their picture and has a kind nature as per her.

I quickly eye her the final time. And ohh, I can be a makeup artist and a fashion designer as well.

I got up and moved aside so she could see herself. 

"I love it." She says in zeal as she looks in the mirror.

"Thanks, Emma." She says. I mouthed welcome in response. 

We chose the perfect heels and earrings to match her look.

She takes her purse and we move down, where her boyfriend is already waiting. 

"Stevy!" Aliza says with so much love in her voice. 

She walks to his direction and they embrace each other in their arms. They hugged for almost a long minute before pulling apart and smiling at each other. 'How sweet, and look at you.' 

It's the first time I'm seeing Steve live and it would be a shame if I won't say that he's handsome and incredibly hot. He looks hotter than he was in that picture. 'Not anywhere near King Xavier.' Stop injecting that crazy vampire everywhere, mind.

Aliza turns to my direction and waves with a smile. She turns to Steve and says something, he looks at me and smiles. 

I return the smile before they walk out of the Palace with each other's arms on their waists.

And I move to the kitchen. I wash my hands before speaking,

"Any help needed?" Not particularising anyone. 

"Yes, please strain these vegetables." Miranda speaks from the corner and I quickly walk to her.

Miranda is like the godmother of this Palace. She takes care of everything here. She checks upon every Royal, she checks upon the servants and she checks upon me. I bet the Palace won't stand without her.

I always wonder how she became a vampire. I've asked her so many times but she always skips that topic, maybe she doesn't want to talk about it. 'Maybe she doesn't want to tell you.' 

"I TOLD YOU THAT I WANTED THREE ICE CUBES IN IT."

I turn around and see a very flaming King standing at the entrance, looking at all of us.

"WHO? WHO GAVE ME THE BLOOD?!" He yells again, damn he's too loud. 

"TELL ME!" 

"I a-am so-orry-y, Ki-ing." I immediately turn to my right as I hear a male voice. Stefen! 

He's eyes are fixed to the ground and I can feel his fear. His hands are trembling, so his legs.

I instinctively look forward as King storms inside and stops in front of him. All the servants move far aside and look down.

"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN HOW TO WORK!?" He shouts down at him. I look at my servant, he is literally shaking like a mixer. Even my heart is starting to beat fast looking at him, he is outrageous today… probably still hasn't found a translator.

Only if he could be more polite at that time, he would have had his work done till now. 

But I can't let him shout at my servant like this, I'm afraid he will pee in his pants.

"King I-"

"YOU. YOU ARE THE MANAGER AND THIS IS HOW YOU'RE MANAGING??" He cuts me off before turning to me. 

"THE SERVANTS HAVE BECAME MUCH LENIENT SINCE YOU CAME." He shouts again and I lean back a little. If I'll go deaf, he would be the reason.

"AND YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THIS!" He yells, turning to my already crying-in-fear servant.

"No, King." I immediately speak, gaining everyone's attention.

"What did you just say?" King asks, challenging me to say it again.

"I'm their Manager. If someone should be punished, it's me." 

"After all, it's my fault that they have become lenient." I speak, looking down, ready to accept whatever punishment he'll give me.

I hear gasps around me. As much as I want to keep myself from him, there's no way I'm letting him punish my servants.

Seconds passed and I didn't hear anything from him. My gaze is fixed at his shoes, which are still at their place. 

I look above after waiting for another long second. And I see his anger filled eyes are much brighter now.

"I won't dine in the hall today. Emma will deliver the meal in my bedroom." He says looking directly into my eyes and disappears the other second. 

I stay still for a few seconds before rubbing my head. It's one of the common things I do when I'm frustrated. At least, my servant is fine.

I see around, everyone is looking at me with their eyes full of shock and pity.

"Everyone, go back to your work." I speak walking towards my previous place.

I strain the vegetables and hand it back to Miranda. What does happen in the punishments anyway?!

I turn around to go to the other corner but Miranda holds my hand.

"Emma," I look at her as she speaks.

"No Manager has ever taken the blame on their shoulders like you did today,"

"Aren't you afraid of King?" Her voice is full of concern and confusion. 

I see everyone is looking at me, probably waiting for my reply. 

I take a deep breath before speaking. 

"No one will be punished for petty reasons under my watch,"

"I'll protect you all as long as I can. And talking about me being afraid of him…" 

Well, I am. I'm afraid of what he might do with me. Thinking of the worst scenarios, he'll probably drink from me, or throw me to the wall, or kill me. What else? 

"I am afraid but I'm ready for it." I look at everyone, their eyes are holding a different emotion which I've never seen in them. Shocked maybe!

"And now, we don't want to despair him anymore so let's finish our work." I speak again.

Everyone does what I said without uttering a single word.

After around thirty minutes, the dinner was ready. 

The servants move to set the table as Jack and Jacob will be eating there. Aliza is gone at Steve's and I don't expect her to come back before morning. I hope she's doing great.

I walk to the dining hall and stand at the corner. Miranda approaches me and stands beside. No one speaks a word.

Usually when we are here, one of us is ranting all the time but right now things are different. I'm quiet because I can't think beyond what King will do with me and I don't know why Miranda is quiet, probably she's worried as well.

"Emma, you've always asked me how I became a vampire." I turn to her as she speaks. She is looking nervous. 

"My ex-husband was a maniac. He used to beat me and rape me!" 

"He even, twice, tried to rape his own daughter."

What!??

"My beautiful girl was just eight years old when he tried to bury her alive. I would've tolerated anything on me but when he started to torture my daughter, I couldn't take it." She says, tears start to pour out of her eyes.

Oh my God! My eyes widened in shock.

"So I took my child and ran away from that man and moved here, at Blackburn street."

"Before working in the Palace, I used to work at a small restaurant and there I met Adam." She says as she whips off her tears.

I know Adam, he is her husband, with whom she's deeply in love. She is always talking about him.

"At first, I couldn't trust him, I was so afraid to trust anyone. But he stayed persistent. He took care of me." 

A dry smile forms on her face.

"And just when I thought I could live happily, my ex-husband came back to ruin everything." 

"He couldn't handle seeing me with someone else and he…" 

She inhales deeply before continuing. 

"He stabbed me and threw me in the forest to die." 

The hair of my skin jumps up in shock. I feel my eyes wet. How can someone be so ferocious!?

"I died that day. And on the same day someone gave me life," 

She turns to me, her eyes are red because of crying.

"King Xavier." She speaks looking at me.

Huh!?

"King gave me the life I've always dreamt of. He turned me into a vampire."

"He asked me what happened and I spilled the truth." 

"The next moment King drained that crazy man to death." 

This is shocking, very shocking.

King saved her!? This is how she became a vampire and I was so stupid to think that some vampire would've hurted her and then turned into a vampire. 

"Since then I'm working here. In my 367 years of life I've ne-" 

"You told me you've been working here for the past 7 years." I cut her off. She looks at me and sighs. 

"That's what I used to tell everyone. I've been working here for the past 330 years." She speaks, leaving me in another absolute shock. I didn't know artificial vampires can live this long.

 But I'm so glad that the king killed her ex-husband. Mad men like him should not exist at all.

 And I'm happy that she's living the life she has always craved for. 

But one thing I don't understand...

"Why are you telling me everything now?" I ask.

"Because you're different from the rest." She says.