"WHAT THE LUMP? You butt! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get that bonding agent and all this set up?" The pink girl screamed at me motioning to a table with several tools on it as well as the spilled flask.

"Whoa, calm down girl," I said, pushing my hands in between us and backing away, "I don't really know what is going on here or what just happened." Her pink skin darkened to a light red as she looked at me exasperated stumbling for words.

"Calm down? You just ruined my experiment! I was going to create a new type of flying squirrel before you showed up and ruined everything! What are you doing here anyway?"

"Look I was just on my way to the candy kingdom when I heard you screaming at that thing so calm down. Besides, did you ever stop to think of the implications of your experiment and whether or not it was a good idea?" Her jaw dropped at this as her rage shifted more towards confusion, I had her. "Think about it, all it takes is one modified squirrel to start breeding and produce a super race and threaten the ecosystem. Their normal predators can't get to them and they will live and reproduce without anything holding them back."

"So? How much harm could a few squirrels do?" she retorted, clearly still in shock by me going into this subject, yet it seemed to be calming her down.

"Their population would rise exponentially with fewer predators and they would start to consume a lot, normal squirrels would have a hard time getting food and would die out. Ground based predators wouldn't be able to hunt them so they would die out as well, and then there are the seeds that would be eaten by the rapidly growing population, so trees would stop growing as much."

"Ok I get it, I didn't think it through." She threw up her hands in defeat, "How do you even know these things?"

"When you've been around as long as I have, you learn a lot of things, including how easy it is to throw everything out of whack. Weather that is people or an ecosystem, the principle is the same".

"As long as you have been around? You're what twenty?" she retorted, clearly not noticing the fact that I'm floating. It's getting way too fun to mess with this girl.

"No, I'm over one thousand," I stated while kicking my feet up in front of her to float as if I was in an invisible hammock and flashing my fangs, "in case you couldn't tell, I'm a vampire."

Her face went completely blank for a second until she processed what I just told her. "Wait, so vampires are real? I've never seen one before." The look of shock I expected was missing, in its place stood a look of pure fascination. "You simply must tell me all about your kind!"

I looked up at the sky to check the time, "while I would love to stay and talk about myself, I have to get going before I'm late. Maybe I'll see you later some time?" I said as I quickly floated away waiving. I hear her call out to me, but I ignore her, I really am running late.

It's strange though, when I said that I would love to stay and talk with her, I actually meant it. I actually enjoyed talking to her. Maybe sometime after the funeral we could hang? No, that won't happen, I don't even know her name, much less if I would see her again. Though I have to admit, she was kind of cute. "Well, I'll talk to her if I see her again." I whisper to myself as I enter the candy gates.

I enter the candy castle through one of the windows; I've never been one for big entrances, so I snuck in to the throne room where the service was being held through the back. They are still setting up the room for the guests, "Good, I'm early." I say as I look around the room, the casket was set up closed for the moment directly in front of the throne, flower arrangements were hung between the candy cane pillars with black ribbons and white bows that covered the red stripes of the pillars. The candy queen was overseeing a few servants who were setting up chairs. "Hey Queeny, you alright?" She jumped and turned to me.

"Oh, Marceline, you made it." She sighed and hugged me, "It's so good to see you, if only it was under better circumstances." When she let me go I gave her a look over, her golden crown of power sat on her poofy gray hair, her face was starting to show its age, wrinkles appearing under her eyes and her cheeks were beginning to sag. "I will never get used to your looks, it's been forty years and you haven't aged a day, it's unnerving, especially when I know my age is catching up to me."

"It's not as good as it seems Queeny; we've talked about that before. Now, I never actually heard, how did it happen?"

"Age and sickness mainly, but the final blow was a fall in the basement. He was going to check on one of our daughter's experiments and ended up slipping down the stairs, if he hadn't been so weak this month then he would have made it. He ended up in the hospital for a week until he died the other day."

"Wow, so when is the service supposed to be?" I ask, hoping to get Queeny to stop thinking about how he died.

"We still have a few hours until it starts, and then we will put him in the royal crypt right outside the wall." At that moment, peppermint butler came in and pulled on Queeny's skirt.

"M'lady, the princess has just come in. She will be ready for the service shortly." He said with a short little bow before turning to me. "Why hello Madam Abadeer, it's good to see you again."

"Ugh, peppermint, how many times do I have to tell you to not call me that? It makes me really uncomfortable."

"Very well M'lady."

"Don't call me that either. I know I'm old but you don't have to act like I am. Just call me Marceline"

"Alright Marceline," he turned back to Queeny, "now the preparations are complete and the guests should be arriving any minute now M'lady"

"Good, I just want this day to be over with." She sighed. I floated over to her and wrapped my arm around her shoulder for comfort. She turned her head towards me and rested it on my shoulder in a display of weakness and longing that I had never seen before. It was going to be a long night.

I had missed most of the actual service. As soon as the princess arrived I couldn't focus on any of the words being said. I couldn't believe it when she walked in, wearing a long black dress with a black liquorice bow tying it around her waist. But most striking about her was her face. Her hair was tied into a ponytail, helping to convey the look of pure sadness she wore. All of this made her absolutely stunning, the only thing I could think about was how she made me want to comfort her, to wipe the frown off of her face, and no one makes me want to get that sappy. It definitely didn't help that I already met her in the woods. I watch her intently as she sat down in front of me for the service, I saw her step up to the podium to give her speech, but I didn't actually notice until half way through.

Oh glob, I need to get it together. She's going to ask how her speech was and I won't be able to remember any of it, I'm sure of it! I shake my head slightly to try to gather my thoughts. Maybe I can steer the conversation away from that. I'll just give a vague complement and leave it at that. Then I can try to apologize for the woods incident, wait why would I apologize for that? Ugh, I'll just try to talk to her some more, she did say she wants to know about vampires. But what if she's too emotional to deal with that right now? She'll start going on about her dad's death and how she blames herself, I'll just silence her with a kiss and. Wait NO, she's a princess and she's in mourning, I can't be thinking like that!

Everyone stands and begins to leave, ah gob it, I missed the rest of the service! I float out to follow everyone when someone taps me on the shoulder. I turn around to see the princess standing just a few feet from me. "Hey, you're that vampire from the woods aren't you? You never did tell me your name."

"Oh, yeah, I'm Marceline." I float away from her, slowly, trying to put space between us while not offending her.

"Hmm, well once the funeral is over, I would still like to ask you some questions about vampires." She smiled at me, somehow hiding the pain that was on her face just moments ago. "Though I would still like to know why you're here. I take it you know my parents somehow?" she looked at me with inquisitive eyes, probing me for as much information as they could get, making me feel like I can't refuse her.

"Yeah I know them; it's been forty years since I've seen them though. I guess you could say I'm here for diplomacy."

"So you're royal? Or are you just a friend of royalty?"

"I'm the vampire queen." She looks at me in shock at this, "Eh, it's not that big of a deal. Vampire laws are pretty common sense and I'm not really needed for much unless things start to get out of whack. Other than that, vampires govern themselves. It's kinda a ceremony thing." Her eyes widen as I say this and we walk out of the city walls. We're forced to quiet down as we approach the crypt. The building looks like any other crypt except for the fact that it, like everything else here, is made of candy. The rooms are dimly lit with torches that peppermint butler lights as we pass. We descend two floors before we come to a room with several coffins set into the walls and one wall that has yet to be filled. The coffin is set into the lowest slot, it slowly sinks into it as soon as it is set, it must be gum.

After the burial, I decide to attempt to get away from the candy kingdom. Mainly to get away from the princess who won't stop following me around, barraging me with questions. Normally I wouldn't have a problem answering them, she's nice enough, the problem is that I can hardly think straight around her. I just don't get it, just looking at her sets my mind ablaze. I get along with her, but I know I want more than that, what I don't get is why and what to do about it. I've felt this way before, most recently with Ash, but never before with another royal, much less a princess.

"I'm going to have to go Queeny," I wave, making sure that the princess can hear me, "I just got here and got my stuff together so I'm really tired." I could see both of them start to voice complaints "Don't worry, I will be back tomorrow. I just need to rest a bit." I float out towards the exit of the candy castle.

"You promise you will be back?" the princess calls out to me, I hope the worry I hear is more than that of someone who's test subject just left.

"Yes, I promise I will be back." I wave her off. "Oh, before I go, what is your name by the way?"

"It's Bonnibel Bubblegum." She calls out, waving. I swear she blushes at the mention of her name. "I'll see you tomorrow night Marceline." I wave as I fly out of the kingdom and head towards the tree house. I need to figure out what I'm going to do with her. Whatever it is I hope Queeny doesn't mind.

This chapter gave me some issues towards the beginning with PB and marceline's intorduction to each other. But it started to flow better once i got past that.

as always, please leave some reviews.