The Princess Guard

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Humans

The rest of the car ride was dead silent, I even rolled down the privacy screen so Amelia could speak to me. I hoped this would keep Salem at bay with his stupid interactions. When we arrived Amelia jumped out excitedly, hugging her folder to her small body. She was going to go off on her own and make reports for me, and she had the freedom to visit anyone she wanted to.

"I forgot my crown" I whispered, my heart sinking. I hated wearing that damn thing, but I had to. Every time I left the castle for occasions such as this I was supposed to wear my crown. The human sanctions didn't get to have all of the news stations we had, so it wasn't far off to say that some of them may not know what I look like.

"I have it" Salem spoke quietly, pulling out the satin box. I sighed a breath of relief and we got out of the car. The other annoying thing about the crown....the guard had to put it on me. It was supposed to symbolize their duty to always be there for me, to help me carry the responsibilities that came with the crown. Vampires were a little too intricate when it came to their love of symbolism. I stepped up to him awkwardly and he pulled it out, looking at it carefully. He hadn't seen it before. It was gold with a silver carving of flower designs. It only had 4 stones on it. It represented my parents, myself and my sister birth stone. I quickly tore my mind away from the thought of my sister, shoving it to the back of my mind.

Front and center was my birthstone. Black onyx for August, then emerald for my mother, sapphire for my father and a diamond for my sister.

I adjusted my hair and Salem slowly placed it on my head, taking a step back and examining me.

"Great thanks" I grumbled quickly before he could say anything and walked towards the entrance.

I examined the outside walls of the sanction carefully, checking it over. I had never been to this one and I wanted to be thorough in making sure the living conditions were good. Amelia bounced on her feet excitedly next to me, Salem stood a few feet behind us completely detached.

The head of the town, Josh, greeted us happily and bowed many many times before finally inviting us in.

I stared in awe at the state of this place. It was good, very good actually. They weren't aware of my visit until yesterday so there was no way they could fix this place up in time to fake it.

"What do you think?" Josh spoke nervously and I nodded, examining the surrounding buildings.

"It's good" I stated plainly and his shoulders dropped in relief. Humans were always terrible at hiding their emotions.

He started the tour and we wandered, many people in the streets saw us and stared. They whispered amongst themselves as if we couldn't hear them loud and clear. This town was relatively small. A population of 4 thousand. They had public transport..check. They had a good amount of stores, office buildings and things of that sort.

The buildings were all close together so traveling by foot was the norm. The apartment buildings seemed to touch the sky.

I felt nervous about Amelia navigating these bustling streets, but she could hold her own.

We ended in the town square, city hall sat beautifully at the top of an enormous stair case. There was a fountain and park out front where a lot of humans were doing their human things.

I felt so many eyes hit me as we walked up the staircase, Josh explaining the history of the building as he did with almost every business we passed.

"I've noticed something" I spoke gently as we entered, he looked back at me with his eyebrows furrowed.