The Clan of The Blood Moon

The crowd was hushed and the silence lingered, it was so quiet to a deafening point. The music faded in the background, not even murmurs and whispers were dared to be done by the crowd. Everyone’s eyes were glued on the flock of the Far Northerners. I could see the muscles in William’s arms and the veins on his hand as he gripped tightly around the handle of his sword. His eyes locked towards them with his body ready to swing his sword if they made the wrong move. The woman with blonde hair and striking eyes smirked at him, almost amused with William’s readied defense.

“I see you got a really warm welcome waiting for us here,” Lord Zakariah stated in a delighted voice as he took a glance at William and the rest of the knights with their hands on their swords. My father gave William a look and waved off the other knights to which they responded by bringing down their defenses.

“King Regan Coventry of Fardojar, The Northwestern Kingdom,” my father introduced himself as he gazed upon them one by one.

“Oh, we know who you are,” the woman who looked like Lord Zakariah with long pitched black hair stated. The man in a long black coat gave off a small laugh in which he quickly cleared his throat and proceeded to whistle.

“Damian.” Lord Zakariah sharply glanced at him which caused him to drop his whistling and stared away from the King. I glanced at the young man and his eyes were fixed on me. I felt the way his greyish-light blue eyes pierced through me like darts of icicles that plunged through my chest.

“Happiest birthday, Princess,” Lord Zakariah talked to me which I quickly responded with a faint thank you. He smiled and went back into a conversation with my father. The eyes of the youngest in the Far Northerners were still glued on me which caused the icicles to turn into a blizzard.

“Very well,” Lord Zakariah said in a voice loud enough to echo throughout the room, “I guess we should drop the formalities and proceed to the real reason why we are here.”

“Of course.” My father then led them towards the stairs. As the group proceeded to follow the King, Lord Zakariah waved his hand at them and they stopped in their tracks.

“I am in no need of your presence…I prefer to be left alone with Regan and his men,” he said as he continued to walk up the stairs behind my father and William. The group hesitated for a moment but then decided to follow his orders.

“Might as well keep them company, my child,” the King said to me which made William looked at me with concern. I stared back at him and smiled to reassure him that everything was okay. “I hope you will accommodate our valuable guests,” he added.

“As you wish, father.” They proceeded to walk and faded into the halls of the left-wing of the castle.

The group of the Far Northerners seemed to be not interested to be with me as they all went about with their business. As the music and the royal guests went back to life, they dispersed to join the crowd and immersed themselves in the celebration. They all left except for the youngest one with piercing cold eyes. He sauntered his way towards me in such a manner that spoke of regal and nobility. He reached his hand in front of me and introduced himself.

“Lord Victor, your Highness,” his deep voice stated in a thick and heavy accent, one that I have not heard before, “Lord Victor Luciano Dashkovari, youngest in the Clan of The Blood Moon.”

“It is my pleasure to be in your presence.” I took his hand and gave him an awkward handshake. He bowed his head and I could see the rest of his group stared at me with the same piercing cold eyes.

“I have not heard of your kingdom before, my Lord,” I decided to start a conversation to get rid of the awkwardness. It was my duty to accommodate my guests, even if it was just one of them who seemed to be interested in my company.

“We prefer to not meddle in the affairs of the Lowland kingdoms,” he replied as we both paced the room. Two knights followed behind us, kept an eye on both of us. I waved them off and they both went back to their places.

“I find it absurd that you would find interest in us when you seemed to enjoy your own world up there in the Dark Mountains…let alone have the possibility to wage a war against us,” I told him as I smiled towards the other guests.

“It would take me the whole night to discuss to you the affairs that are in between our kingdoms,” Lord Victor answered and the center of the room started to be filled up by men and women dancing to the music.

“I have all night to listen to you,” I said as I halted in my steps and faced him. He smiled at me in a way that his ice-cold eyes were thawed and revealed warmth.

“Sadly, I don’t have time.” He pulled me towards the people that danced and placed his hands on my waist.

“Shall we dance, Princess?” he said in a playful tone that contrasted his cold demeanor.

“I think it is too late for that.” He gave off a small laugh at my response as our bodies swayed and our feet moved to the music.

He started to talk about my dress and asked about the royal seamstress. Every time I tried to ask him regarding their intention he would dodge it and cut me off to ask about another thing. He had been escaping my questions in a way that he thought I would not notice, but I did.

“It seems like you are deeply enjoying yourself, Lord Victor,” I told him as I stopped from following his footsteps as he led me on, “Unfortunately, I am not interested in these mind games that you seem to play.” I detached myself from his hands and headed towards the side of the room. He quickly followed me.

I stood at the table where the servants were serving dishes and goblets of wine and mead. He stood in front of me back to his cold demeanor. The servants approached to serve me a goblet of wine which I politely turned down.

“You seemed to be persistent with your questions, your Highness,” He told me as he accepted a goblet of wine from the servants. I remained calm and gave off silence as a response.

“To put it plainly…our kingdoms go way back,” he said as he slowly lifted his goblet to his lips, “and your father owes us a deal that he had broken.”

“What do you m—“ His eyes grew wide as the goblet was only inches away from his lips. I saw the anger burned within his eyes to the point that it melted away its icy appearance— it turned fiery red. Lord Victor held the chalice tightly and it broke in his hand, pieces fell down the marble floors. The liquid sizzled in his touch.

“Vervain,” he hissed.

He looked back and I followed his gaze towards the rest of the Clan. Loud gasps went out of the crowd as they stopped dancing and they stared at a handful of soldiers of the Far Northerners on the floor. They writhed and convulsed, they gasped for air— they were dying. A scream broke out as the rest of the Clan started to attack everyone.

The knights were nothing against them as they are thrown to the walls, their necks slashed, and effortlessly murdered. The blonde woman from the Clan stared at me and licked the blood off of her hands from someone she had killed. I took a step back only to have the table pressed behind me. The woman walked towards me.

“What’s happening?” I screamed with my voice drenched in shock and fear, “Victor, what’s hap—“

“Run,” he yelled as he faced me and I saw his burning eyes and sharp fangs. I stumbled backward as I moved away from him.

“Now,” he shouted as he lunged towards the blonde woman.

I ran.