I bolted my door shut and rested my back behind it. My mind seemed to be in shambles as it tried to wrap around the things that had happened. I sat down on the floor of my room and tucked my knees in front of me. Screams and cries echoed throughout the castle and in response, I placed my hands over my ears to try and silence them. The things William said to me were not merely scary stories that mothers told their children— they are real. This is the reason my father is scared of them. They are not like us— they are the blood drinkers.
I stood up as I thought of my father as I have known that one of these creatures is with him. I need to find him and be with him. The more I stay here, the higher the chance one of them will stumble upon me. My head went back to the way Lord Victor reacted to his drink and how it had killed some of their soldiers.
I ran to the windows of my room and gazed upon the garden of my mother. My eyes scanned the place as they fell upon differen
I took the flight of stairs to the hall. The screams still echoed throughout the castle and the sound of swords and armors hitting the floor was enough for me to tell that we lost the war. I took a left turn but the soldiers of the clan were there, they feasted on a knight that writhed on the floor. They left the moment the knight took his last breath and decided to terrorize somewhere else. I grabbed the chance and ran down the hall towards the combat room where William and I went yesterday. I turned left towards the chamber but quickly went back in the shadows and backed myself against the wall. A soldier of the Northerners outside the door that had cornered a young woman in an emerald dress— a young woman from the Eastern Sea Kingdom. She begged and cried, she asked him to spare her life. But the vampire did not heed her and proceeded to pin her against the wall and bite her neck. She screamed and clawed his back, tears streamed down her face. She tried to push hi
I hurriedly took the King down the stairs and we soon reached a small chamber. I closed the door behind us and laid him down on the small bench. He tried to catch his breath as he winced in pain because of his wide wound. I ripped the curtain from the wall and tied it around his side to stop his bleeding. “Father, we need to go,” I said to him as his eyes were fixed on the ceiling, “I need to take you to the mausoleum…we are safe there.” I wiped the blood that had caked on his cheek. He did not respond. “Father…please, we need to go,” I reiterated. He shook his head from side to side. He took my hand in his palm and held it tight. “Where’s your crown?” He asked and I quickly reached for my crown and it wasn’t there, it must have fallen on my way to rescue him. He took his crown and placed it on my head, he secured it in place. “No…” I told him as tears streamed down my face, “I can’t let you do this,” I argued. He smiled at me and wipe
The rest of the Clan and the soldiers chased me as I made my way through the halls of the castle. I took the stairs towards the garden and went inside my mother’s mausoleum. I watched the Clan and the soldier stopped at the entrance of the garden. They looked at the vervain that covered the whole structure and I could see how their eyes burned in rage. I quickly locked the door and ran to the tomb of my mother. I kneeled beside her tomb and cried as the crown and sword fell to the ground. The sound of metal as it hit the floor echoed throughout the chamber. I cried loudly and called out to my mother. I laid on the floor and folded in a fetal position as I hugged my knees in fear. My mother died and now my father and possibly William. Sooner or later, they will find a way to get me. I need to get out of here. I tried to open the tomb of my mother. I struggled as I tried to push the heavy marble covers to pry it open. My palms pressed sharply against the marble and it
The sky was a burst of blue.The clouds and sun seemed like a dismantled sunny-side-up egg that swam in the ocean up above. I laid on the meadow with my head placed on my mother’s lap as she combed through my hair. My mother was a queen who knew how to straighten a crowd when she was in the room yet she sang the softest lullaby to her child. She was fierce yet gentle; in command but understanding. It was a perfect day. My mother’s song dropped and her hand stopped from combing through my hair. I looked at her and I saw how frantic she looked with her eyes that darted throughout the meadow. A strong wind gusted and I could see how the branches of the trees waved to it as if they were giving off a dance before a turmoil. There was silence after it— the calm before the storm. The horses on the carriage neighed loudly and started to stomp against the soil. Their cries were like calls to remind us to leave— there is danger. “Let’s go, Victoria,” my mother hurri
I woke up to a pail of water thrown on me which soaked my gown. I jolted up and scampered backward in shock, only to be backed against a wooden wall. My hands were shackled and I felt the cold tight embrace of the iron as it bit my skin. My eyes squinted as they recovered from the sleep, it slowly made out eyes and faces that were glued on me. “Where am I?” I asked them and they all blankly stared at me. A cold wind brushed my face and my eyes widened to see tall trees that twisted and curled in wicked ways; moss has covered the land and climbed up the blackened bark of the barren trees; the sun failed to permeate their thick foliage which caused a permanent night under its shades— we are in a large prison wagon in the midst of the Dark Woods. I scanned my eyes on the pile of people pressed against each other on the other side of the wagon. There are a couple of men but most of them are girls, all huddled together. They all dared not to get close to me. “Your
My body was nothing but a mere pulp that was pushed against a tree. I felt the searing pain on my legs from the scratches of the hard soil. My head throbbed from the pain of being beaten repeatedly. My left eye was almost shut closed from the inflammation that it had gotten from the direct punch the dark brown-haired man gave to me. His hand wrapped around my throat which restricted my breaths. I clawed on his arm and tried to kick at him, I resisted his restraints but my actions felt like nothing but a weak effort to set myself free. I stared at the foliage of the trees up above us and tried to reach out to the dim glimmer of sunlight with my losing eyes. I thought of the trees around the castle and the way I would lay beneath them with my mother when I was still a child. I thought of the green leaves that are similar to the shade of my mother’s eyes and how it reminded me of spring. If I was asked years before if I have envisioned myself to be in this position, I would say
Ezekiel started to wrap my wounds by the use of his remaining bandages. He cut up several of them to make sure that he has enough left for emergencies. I gritted my teeth as soon as the mixture of herbs he had formulated touched my lacerations. My body pressed against the cold bars of the prison wagon as I flinched from the pain by the time he dressed my injuries. I breathed deeply as I tried to regain strength from the beating I had endured from Matthias. “You are lucky you haven’t broken any bones, Princess,” he said as he tucked the medicines inside his bag. My rib was not broken but it sure does felt like it. “How do you know my mother?” I asked him as I stared at the trees that moved swiftly with the movement of the wagon, “aside from her being the Queen.” I have never encountered anyone who had a connection with my mother aside from the royal courts and the royal constituents of the kingdom. The people of my kingdom only knew her as the Queen of Fardoja
The fire crackled as it sent tiny sparks to linger in the air like fireflies in a summer evening. Its bright light was big enough to show the man splayed on the ground, not even moving. Blood dripped from his head and into the dark soil of the earth beneath him, the rest of the people who had joined him a while ago surrounded him and tried to give him aid. I stood in front of them completely frozen. Ezekiel threw the rock towards the man and I don’t even know if he is still alive. I hope he is not dead. I brought my hands to cover my mouth as I started to cry for everyone, for everything, for the mess that we are in, and for every pain that there is. I wanted to disappear. The servant held my hand tightly. “Go,” Matthias unshackled the hands of Ezekiel, “Go kill him…that’s what you want right?” he yelled as he grabbed the collar of Ezekiel’s shirt and pushed him towards the man on the ground, “Finish him.” Ezekiel walked towards the man with his head down and