Those Three Kings - Chapter Four (Part One)

Hello, all Those Three Kings readers~! <3 Kortez here, and I just want for you guys to know that this chapter has two parts to it. I split the chapter in half just because it would have been around 4,000- 5,000 words, and I know that that's pretty long. ^^; And thanks for reading~! <3 Anywho, onto the chapter!

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Four

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Xzalliff exhaled, tightly squeezing her eyes shut. “I’m so nervous, Bianca,” she said. Her friend gently took her hand. “What if someone purchases me?”

“They won’t,” Bianca replied, petting his master’s shiny hair. “Don’t worry, Xzalliff. The price is far too high. No one can even think about affording you.”

Bianca always told Xzalliff what she wanted to hear all of her life. He always wanted to please the girl, or else her parents would personally get rid of him. He stroked his mistress's skeletal hand with an uneasy feeling in his gut. What if she was bought for some reason? He would lose his best friend, his job, his home…

Bianca shook his head and returned his gaze on his mistress. He shifted in the carriage seat, trying to not stare at her, though he just couldn’t stop. She was attractive to him, but he always made himself keep a distance from her. Even though she was an awkward person, he still thought that she was beautiful.

She was awkwardly tall- as tall as her older brothers and just a few inches shorter than him, had such weird proportions- her legs took most of her body’s height, lacked curves, and had such a flat chest compared to others, but he still thought that she was beautiful in her own way. Her hair went down to her waist, which was rare for female Shadows, and was always softly curled like her mother’s. No one really knew where her purple hair came from, but her parents always suspected that she got it from her older brother, Charm. Her cheekbones were high, though it always made her look horribly ill, and her ghostly white skin contributed to it. She took the high cheekbones from her father, definitely, but her mother gave her most of her features.

Her whole entire body was boney, and Bianca knew it for a fact since he bathed her every day of her life. Also, her hands were just bones, like her tail. Her hands were skeletal hands, exactly like her father’s. Only her father and Xzalliff had the trait, so Bianca always suspected it had something to do with their development inside of their mothers. Her wings were a soft black color, and she could pull and push them into and out of her back at any given time. They were feathery but silky, and during a molt they were a pain. Her eyes always stayed a deep burgundy most of the time, though she could change them occasionally. She would always change them to either blue or yellow, whatever she felt like when she could.

Xzalliff never got to leave her home because people would try to steal her or kill her, so she always sat next to the window of the carriage and savored the sights she took in when she went into and out of the city to go to the auction house. Her father, Ellehctileavious, sat right in front of her in the other carriage seat, along with two of her brothers. The family had to take many carriages just to go places since they were such a large family.

“No holding hands,” Ellehctileavious snapped. “You can only hold my hand.”

Xzalliff grinned and let go of her butler’s hand as the carriage bumped and shook. “Alright,” she said. She looked out of the window with awe and amazement. The sights were new and beautiful to her.

“Xzalliff?” Jak, her brother, asked, his empty eye sockets big and wide.

His sister snapped out of her awe and answered her little brother. “Yes, Jak?”

“Will you come home tonight?” he asked with a significant innocence.

“Yes,” Ellehctileavious quickly interrupted, nodding. “She will be coming home.”

Xzalliff grinded her teeth and dug her claws into her palms. She tried to smile and nod at her little brother, though an empty feeling washed her senses. The girl laid her head on her butler’s shoulder as he patted her knee. He whispered into her ear, “You look gorgeous today.”

“Thanks,” Xzalliff muttered. She glanced at her little brother, then at her father. Jak was leaning on their father, all snuggled up, and was asleep. Even though he was thirteen, Jak could still pull off the little kid act and be adorable.

His soft green hair was always in low pigtails, and he always had a red scarf and mittens on. Always. Even if he wore a blue suit, he always had to wear his red scarf and mittens. Xzalliff had always loved Jak more than anything in her lifetime. Still, she was just one year older than him, but she felt like he was more than her little brother. He was one of her only true friends.

“Xzalliff,” her father said, trying to be quiet to not wake Jak up.“Remember to be respectful and kind to everyone. If you mess up once, then you could hurt yourself and maybe even ruin me.”

“How could I ruin you, father? I’m my own person,” replied Xzalliff, sitting up a bit straighter in her seat. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Xzalliff looked out of the window once more and smiled at the black trees, but frowned when the horses stopped at the auction house, which was more like a mansion.

“My reputation, dear. You could ruin my reputation,” her father sighed. He gently shook Jak and smiled. “Wake up, son. We’re here.”

Xzalliff’s stomach curled into tense, tight knots as Bianca hopped out of the carriage and took her hand. “Ladies first, Mr. Indigo,” Bianca said to Xzalliff’s father with a wink. Xzalliff’s boney palms got sweaty as she stepped out of the carriage. It soon became hard to breathe through all of the worry and anxiousness she was carrying with her.

She accidentally took the wrong step and tripped, her face smashing against the pavement. She howled in pain, though soon regained her sanity and wiped the blood off of her nose. Her father rushed over to her and scooped her up from the ground.

“Oh, sweetheart,” he pet her hair and patted her head. “We’ll get you all cleaned up. Don’t worry… Just don’t ruin your dress, please.”

Yeah, my nose is pouring blood and all you care about is the dress, Xzalliff thought with a roll of her eyes. She stood up as her father dabbed a handkerchief on her nose. As she was in her father’s arms, she glanced around the lot congested with carriages and horses. She could only imagine the number of people and creatures inside, which only made her anxiety levels double.

A frigidly cold, spine chilling wind tore through the air. “Let’s get you inside. Don’t worry one thing about your nose. Mother and I will get you nice and ready for the auction, alright?”

Xzalliff merely nodded as she hopped out of her father’s arms and shook her head. “Father, must I do this? Do I really have to? Because I think that I am going to vomit. Not even the pain of my nose occupies my thoughts long enough to get my mind off of being nervous.”

“The anxiety will subside soon enough.” The man grabbed his daughter’s arm and yanked. He led her up the ivory and marble stairs and into the diamond-studded doors.

When the two walked inside, Xzalliff gasped and held her hands over her mouth. Inside of the auction house was gorgeous, just as she remembered it…but better. High ceilings, a fabulous diamond chandelier, polished ivory flooring, a velvet red carpet, and portraits of various people on the wall, including Xzalliff’s mother and her. The hallway was lit nice and bright, courtesy of the candles mounted on the beige walls. A handful of people were at the entrance playing harps and violins quite gracefully. There were people going every direction, crowding up the hallway, and some even stopped to take pictures of the family with their vintage cameras.

The rest of the family, a few maids, and Bianca followed Xzalliff’s father and her to the powder room where she would be absurdly fixed up. Down a few hallways they went, and only her father entered the powder room with her, since it would be packed with stylists and assistants. The power room was small and cramped, though had a few large corners where the workers could lounge and converse. Once the two were inside, Xzalliff was quickly put in a chair as a stylist with four arms and three legs applied dark makeup to her face and cleaned up her nose.

“You’re going to look fabulous, dear,” he beamed as he brushed her cheekbones with some shade of blush. “Oh, I bet that you’re a proud father, Ellehctileavious.” Still putting makeup on the adolescent, the stylist tried to converse with her father.

In a whisper, he replied, “The proudest.”

Xzalliff looked at her father with a gulp, remembering what he told her that morning. She and her father exchanged awkward glances. She looked down, though the stylist placed two fingers underneath her chin and tilted it up. “Chin up, sweetheart,” the stylist said, occupied with her face.

After half an hour of nervousness for Xzalliff, the stylist finally finished both her makeup and hair. He placed a black headband that looked like weeds and tangles studded with three red jewels on her head. He ran a hand on her face and smiled. “You look great, dear. Remember: keep your chin up. And smile for everyone,” the stylist reminded Xzalliff.

Ellehctileavious stepped out of the powder room as Xzalliff got out of her seat. As she put her hand on the doorknob to leave, she felt a finger poke her shoulder. She turned around. “Yes?”

What she saw scared her a bit. There was a very tall man in a hooded black cloak behind her, and he just stood there with a wine glass in his hand. He looked around before splashing the dark mahogany liquid onto her dress. Xzalliff gasped, “My parents are going to kill me! What was that for?”

He forcefully grabbed her wrist and took her to a dark corner in the surprisingly large powder room, which became less and less crowded. “Looks like you’re going to need to change, darling.” And with that, he took his hood off.

Xzalliff gasped and turned away, but the man pulled the girl back to him. He snickered and twirled a piece of her hair around one of his fingers, all of his razor sharp teeth exposed in a wide smile.

His hair was practically the same color as Xzalliff’s; purple, but a few shades darker. He had high cheekbones on his slim face, and his skin was completely white, maybe even transparent. He was gigantic; not wide, but he was so very tall. Xzalliff estimated that he was probably around seven feet tall. His lips were thin and pale. But the feature that stood out most to her was his empty eye sockets. Though it didn’t really surprise her since Jak and her mother had no eyes, this man was....different. The thick black cloak covered the rest of his body, so Xzalliff couldn’t really see the rest of his body, but she could just imagine…

“Do you like me?” he grinned with an eerie giggle as he started to rub the girl’s shoulders. Xzalliff frowned and jerked the man’s hands off of her. The man just laughed in reply and continued to pet her. His fingers were long and ice cold on her bare shoulders, which gave her chills.

“Please, just let me go,” Xzalliff said, irritated and scared. She started to tremble in fear, balling her hands into fists.

“Well, get used to me, darling,” the man purred, putting his lips to her ear. “Because there’s more to me than you think.”

Before Xzalliff pushed the man away, she asked, “What is your name?” She stared into his gaping eye sockets and shuddered yet again.

“Just call me the Soul Keeper,” he smirked. “That’s all that you need to know for now.” He suddenly let go of her before winking as the girl hastily ran away from the man, not even bothering to look back.