The Prince, His Brother, and the Fae pt.1

Misa crouched behind a small wall over a steep stairwell which led down to someplace dark and secluded. It was far outside the city, as far as she could tell. The last house she had passed was at least twelve minutes back and from then on, it had been poorly kept stone roads, sometimes breaking into patches of dirt road.

She had followed the prince and his brother over a twenty-five-minute walking period, trying hard not to get too close on account of her apparently poignant scent. Luckily, more than half the kingdom is at the center of town. She thought. No jump scares, fangs, and claws waiting for me.

"Now. If only I can get down there and see what's happening without Ran finding out." Misa murmured her thoughts out loud and was subsequently jump scared out of her wits by a voice seemingly millimeters from her right ear.

"You mean 'Prince' Ran, do you not?"

"Ahh!!" Misa cried, scurrying backwards several steps and then smacking a hand over her agape mouth. She glanced around wildly, hoping that no one was nearby to have heard her.

Except this mysterious, purple haired woman standing right before her. She had matching purple eyes which gleamed in the moonlight, much like everyone else's. Yet, the particular twinkle in her eyes suggested she was a bit different from the others.

Misa narrowed her own chartreuse-colored eyes and crouched defensively. She hadn't learned much about self-defense since she'd been in this world, but she understood the importance of lowering her stance to a more stable position.

Ida had stressed the urgency of learning self-protection. Since Misa was, "the human princess to a kingdom of bloodthirsty vampires neighboring a land of Fae enemies who could use their prowess in human manipulation to control her like a stringed puppet. Until you die."

Misa understood that fundamentally.

It was just that her body did not understand it physically.

"Who are you?" Misa demanded, baring her fangs at the woman.

"I am Tana. This is not my home, but I seek the Crown Prince of this kingdom." She answered. Misa was both surprised to hear the sweet, melodic sound of this woman's speaking voice and to find out that she was here to meet Prince Ran. She continued, "You must be Lady Misa, princess of prophecy. I am very honored to make your acquaintance."

The woman, Tana, curtsied deeply, properly bending her knees and dipping her head in Misa's direction.

Unfortunately, Misa could not say, 'Likewise,' because she hadn't wanted to make anyone's acquaintance at all. Especially this one, an outsider, who claimed she wished to see the prince and had followed him this far outside the city on, of all nights, the night of an execution.

Misa frowned as she acquiesced to the woman's assumption. "Yes, I am she. Though, I must ask: Why do you wish to see the prince?" She questioned, getting right to the point.

Tana tipped her head to the side, a cute little gesture that made her purple-heavy appearance seem doll-like. "I am here to collect on the conditions of our deal."

"Which are...?"

"A life. Or what it is in essence for his kind, one's immortality. His own or one member of his royal bloodline. As a direct consequence of slaying a member of my own family."

Misa's mouth dropped open. "Wait, no! You can't do that!"

"You know nothing, human." Tana said, shocking Misa once again.

"H-How?! You know I'm--"

"Of course, these brain-numbed night walkers might be unable to detect your true self instantly, fooled as they are by this blood potion you use to masquerade as one of them. However, detecting you is no task for a Fae."

Behind a gasp of surprise, Misa exclaimed, "You're a Fae?!"

"Your blood is steeped in the Old History, the Oracle's ancient passage of time." Tana continued as if Misa had simply sneezed in the middle of her speech. "You have long been foretold; thus, your blood, far more ancient than your mortal vessel, smells more sharply than that of all other humans around. Even a sea creature could sniff your scent on the wind from miles away."

Stunned into silence, Misa fought for words to speak. It made sense, now, why the vampires reacted so fiercely to her smell, and why she smelled so strongly in the first place. 

Instead, the Fae, Tana, continued yet again. "Come if you desire, Lady Misa. I expect things will go my way. As such, you may wish to exchange final words with your prince."

Misa felt chills trickle down her spine as Tana moved past her and rounded the short corner to the stone stairs. She headed down without a backwards glance, not interested in whether Misa had made up her mind to follow her or not.

Meanwhile, Misa felt overwhelmed by the information she'd just learned about herself, by her curiosity over Prince Ran's history with this resolute female Fae, and with worry over the prince's future.

Not to mention he's down there with the brother who's most likely out to kill him, Misa thought warily as she moved to follow Tana down the steps. Her tapping feet on the stone echoed against the narrow walls that grew higher the deeper she traveled downward.

With no concrete answers, she asked herself, What has this prince really gotten himself into?

At the bottom of the staircase, Misa found Tana with her hand pressed against a heavy-looking wooden door. Before Misa could even wonder what the Fae planned to do, Tana magically broke the door open, a blue ring of energy pulsing against the wood.

The door splintered into a fan of wooden beams, revealing a basic-sized, practically deserted room on the inside. The floors, walls, and ceiling were all made with the same dull gray stone that had led Misa and Tana inside. The place pretty much looked like the steeping stone steps outside. A meager square table was placed near the far-right side of the room, and in the chair settled behind it sat Ryusei, one leg crossed languidly over the other as he sipped from a large wine glass. 

Beside him on similar chairs were three other vampires--two to his left and one to his right--whom Misa automatically assumed were central figures of Ryusei's crop of revolutionaries. They were a rough-looking trio with tattered clothing and ringed jewelry puncturing their face skin in various places.

Ryusei himself, though, looked just as princely as his younger brother. Clean and well-groomed in this place of squalor, confident and notably dominant despite his demoted status. He wore a white button-down dress shirt with the first three buttons left undone. Suspenders were pulled up around his shoulders, connecting to abyss-black dress pants. 

Dude, even his shoes... Misa thought to herself. They were probably wiped cleaner than a surgeon's operation table, and more expensive than a rare pearl. 

Finally, she met his eyes as she crossed the threshold of the broken front door with Tana. His eyes were a shining light blue that pierced Misa through the soul. Shaken, she pretended to take inventory of the situation to keep his eyes off her.

The 'situation' being that Prince Ran sat kneeling on the dirty stone floor across the room from his brother and the three goons. Misa's heart spiked in her chest, surprised at his rather humiliating and defenseless position, and all eyes in the room immediately flew to her.

The breath she took in that moment was one of fear, and it came from the depths of her soul.