Chapter 1

As the light of the early morning sunrise broke through the tattered moth-eaten curtains, Seraphina’s eyes slowly started to flutter open. The hour may be early but, it was time for Seraphina to start preparations for the day. 

Seraphina stretched her arms above her head and let out a long yawn, she had been working into the late hours yesterday for her Master, Lady Persephone, once again restoring her to her former youth and beauty. She had no idea how old her Human Master truly was but, she didn’t look a day over 25. She had looked the exact same as she did when Seraphina was enslaved by her 18 years ago, Seraphina wasn’t Lady Persephone’s first Dhampir so, one could only guess how old she truly was. 

Seraphina slowly sat up from the wooden crates that she had fashioned into a bed and stepped up to draw the curtains. She took a moment to lose herself in the beauty of the sunrise, her Masters were quite wealthy and so their manor was sat quite high above the city of Matera. 

The view from her window was breath taking. 18 years and Seraphina still hadn’t grown tired of watching the ambers, reds and blues dance across the morning sky as the city slowly awoke. 

Seraphina’s life was not a life filled with joy so, she took solace in the little things. After a moment, she made her way over to the small basin in her room, she quickly splashed her face with the cold water and took a sponge to the rest of her body trying her best to clean herself, she shivered as the cold water dripped down her body and quickly dried off with an old stiff towel and stepped into her rust coloured servants dress. In recent years, Seraphina’s body had matured and her once tall slender body was now curvaceous. 

Her breasts spilled out of the scooped neckline and the fabric was bunched and gathered around her small waste and strained around her hips and behind. The dress was also far too short and exposed most of her calves. She hadn’t received a new dress since she was 13, new dresses were only handed out when another servant died. 

Because Seraphina’s dress was so indecent, Lady Persephone’s husband and sons were often caught gawping at her and would even try and grope her as she served them, whenever her Lady saw this, she would strip Seraphina naked in the courtyard and she would be whipped mercilessly. 

Seraphina looked in the cracked and dulled mirror hanging above her basin and combed her fingers through her long thick chocolate curls. It was a difficult task as her hair was very long falling to her waist but she wouldn’t dare to cut it. She arranged her curls to cover her breasts and simultaneously cover her large silver dragon shaped birthmark that covered the left side of her chest. She couldn’t quite get her hair to sit to cover the Dhampir markings that sat in the center of her décolletage, also the same silver colour of her birthmark. 

All Dhampir’s were born with the 4 elemental markings somewhere on their body only, Seraphina had a fifth symbol nestled in the middle of the diamond shape markings. When she was 11, her childish curiosity had her ask her Master why she had the birth mark and the extra symbol with her Dhampir markings, she was stripped and beaten and left in the courtyard for 3 days and nights for thinking her ‘disfiguration’ made her special. 

She never dared ask anyone else again. Seraphina sighed as she recalled the memory and wiped a lone tear from her eye. She had always been curious about her Bi-Coloured eyes, one a striking blue and the other purple however, she wouldn’t make the mistake of asking about them though.

 All of the puffiness had gone from her face thanks to the cold water but, her olive skin was still slightly flushed from the cold. Seraphina gave herself one last glance in the mirror before leaving her room to begin preparations for the breakfast buffet. 

As she arrived in the kitchen, she saw she was the first servant there and immediately began washing and chopping fruits. A few minutes later, Bethel the head servant walked in and gave her a warm smile. Bethel had been like a mother to Seraphina over the years, despite only looking around 30 herself. She once let slip that she had been working for the De-Vander house for almost 60 years. One of the good things about being a Dhampir was, once they reached maturity at 18, the aging process slowed significantly. Dhampirs could live well into the 300’s, longer even than some vampires thanks to their ability to wield the 4 elements, Earth, Wind, Fire and Air. 

Bethel moved to Seraphina’s side and began artistically plating the fruits Seraphina was delicately cutting. Bethel glanced at Seraphina and kissed her teeth “Our Master should really give you another dress, the fabric is barely clinging on! It is far too indecent for a young lady to wear! No wonder those pigs are constantly ogling you”, she ended with a tutt. 

Seraphina chuckled and in a soft voice said “Madam Bethel, you know well I am no Lady besides, our Master only gifts new dresses when one of us dies or leaves servitude and that won't be happening any time soon. I think Master likes having a reason to beat me anyhow”. Bethel gave her a knowing glance and grumbled “you’re more of a lady than that wretch could ever wish to be”. The two continued preparing the fruit in a comfortable silence while more servants poured in and soon, the kitchen was a buzz with the bustling of servants. 

The De-Vander house was a small house with only Lady Persephone, Lord Isiah and their 7 sons though they had over 40 servants, Bethel and Seraphina were the only Dhampirs among them. Dhampir servants were practically unheard of, Dhampirs were often employed as Alchemists to rich noble families as their ability to wield the 4 elements meant they could heal and restore youth and beauty but, to keep not 1 but 2 Dhampirs as servants? Seraphina thought it was just another way to show off how ostentatious the family were. Both Bethel and Seraphina had been trained as alchemists and their Lady took full advantage of utilising them almost daily. 

The De-Vander house often hosted tea parties, dinners and balls inviting all the Noble Human houses as well of some of the Noble Vampires. Lady Persephone always invited the royal family but, they never attended much to her displeasure. She often took this out on Seraphina by beating, starving or stripping her and leaving her outside. 

This morning, they were to host a breakfast banquet to welcome the first day of Spring. 

As guests started arriving, Seraphina and the other servants began pouring tea and coffee as the splendid breakfast was brought out and placed on the long grand table that had been set up in the centre of the courtyard. The area had been decorated beautifully with flowers and candles, despite it being late morning and light outside, it gave the shaded courtyard an enchanting glow. 

Seraphina was sure to keep her eyes lowered as she served the guests so as not to draw too much attention to herself and made sure that her long tresses kept her chest covered. As the last of the guests arrived, the De-Vander family made their descent down the steps to the courtyard. Lady Persephone was the picture of purity will her long blonde tresses flowing softly around her and wearing a delicate white gown that hugged her curves with a neckline that plunged all the way to her belly button. Thanks to Seraphina’s work last night, Lady Persephone had no need for make-up and only wore a slightly tinted lip balm. Seraphina stared wondering how someone could be so undeniably beautiful but have such an ugly heart. 

Lady Persephone locked eyes with Seraphina staring and her expression immediately hardened. Seraphina’s head snapped down as she averted her eyes, she felt her heart begin to race and a knot formed in her stomach; she knew she would later be punished for daring to look at her. As Seraphina was lost in her own thoughts, she hadn't noticed a few of the Noble guests had seen her looking at Lady Persephone and had inevitably saw her eyes and her Dhampir markings.