• Chapter Two

    Felix and Ian brought me down to the ballroom where every vampire princess, prince, duke, earl, duchess, every “royal” vampire glared at me. But I was behind Felix and Ian, so none of them could hurt me. As I passed them by, I heard faint whispers of rumors and gossip about me.

    “I hear that she doesn’t like to drink blood,” one said.

    “I know!” hissed another. “And she’s supposed to able to summon the blood moon tonight.”

    “She’s not even royal blood. She’s a Mortuus blood heirloom. Or better yet, she was a hunter,” spoke another.

    There were more gossipers as I tailed behind my bodyguards down the royal red pathway to the slight flight of stairs that led up to the dais Mircea was standing on. He noted my arrival and clasped his hands happily; as if he were both amused and surprised that I came. I reached his side and stood facing him. He smiled menacingly, a smile of pleasure and evil, unclouded by failure at the same time. Out of his pocket, he took out my mother’s necklace and clasped it around my neck. Gasps and gagging noises were made behind my back from the others.

    “Very amazing that you behaved,” he said with total approval in his tone. “But you must behave throughout the whole process,” he added. Then, he went to speak to the crowd of hungry-looking blood sucking cockroaches. “Everyone. All bloodlines,” his voice projected across the ballroom, the whole way. “Incorruptus cruor, vulgaris sanguis; nocturnum epulum” His Latin was acknowledged by all the vampires in the crowd. “The blood moon with be with us tonight, as I’ve told to you many times now. When the sacrifice is over and the moon has gone o’er the ends of the earth, we will have drunk from the pool of blood and gained supreme rule over the lands. Then, I will rid this world of the pollution of humans! Our lives as vampires will start anew. If we drink the sacred blood, we will become daylighters and walk among the sun. It will no longer burn us at sight.” He looked over to me.
    “Time has come parvus filia Alice,” he said. “Everyone! The time has come!” And with that all the beasts looked up at the moon that was directly in the center of the sky and cheered and screamed. High pitches filled up the room and Mircea stood there laughing. “All hail Lord Mircea!” shouted the crowd. “All hail Lord Mircea!”

    I felt dizzy. My head was spinning. There was so much cheering and screaming from the audience that I didn’t remember what was happening, or what was going to happen. I felt someone grab my wrists and drag me. I remembered what Mircea said, about me behaving. But I didn’t. I thrashed around and kicked at the hands holding me. My vision was being blurred. I screamed a scream that I had been holding back this whole time. The dragging had stopped, but underneath me, I felt a cold floor. Maybe it was cold marble. I tried blinking a few times, but nothing seemed to stop the blurs. The hands released me, only to be replaced by more hands. The hands took my arms and raised them high. I kicked and whipped around, successfully kicking someone away in my haste. I would’ve guessed that they were fighting with me as well, because Mircea sounded disappointed. Not that I cared.

    “I thought I had told you to behave. I’ve cared for you and only asked of you for this small task. And you dare to refuse?” Mircea paused for a brief moment. “I also had mentioned to you that you shouldn’t disobey me. Now, I’m afraid I’ll have to make the process a little hurtful for you to learn.”

    Something hit my head, hard, and I fell to the side, my vision returning, however, my head was throbbing. I was lying in a little pool thing. It kind of looked like a shell, but it didn’t smell of the sea. Felix and Ian had my arms. The person, the vampire that I kicked away was Train. He was strong, but I probably caught him off guard with my screaming.

    I managed to look up at Mircea. In his hands he had a dagger. “We must hurry. The moon is overhead now,” he said as he came closer to me. As soon as he reached where I was being held captive he stuck out the dagger to my right wrist. He spoke to his horde. “We will have the blood!” and he plunged the dagger across my wrist. Blood splattered down my arm and onto the floor. I fought a scream and only managed to cover it halfway up with a moan of pain. My other wrist was cut. I wailed in horror and Felix bent my head back to stare at the sky.

    “Your neck is next,” said Felix and Ian contentedly. The moon was overhead. The silver had begun to turn red. ‘That’s the blood moon,’ I thought to myself. ‘He wants me to die for my blood.’ This next part went by slowly. Mircea was about to plunge the dagger into my throat and end it all. In my moment of slow motion, I glanced sideways, away from the dagger and the moon, and by one of the huge windows I saw the owl. The snow white owl flew in a circle to land on the column nearby. It just stared at me. The part where I was slashed from my neck didn’t happen, I realized. I heard a loud crash of glass and I began to blur again. The hands on me let go now, for good, with speed and I fell and hit my head on the floor, which was now covered in blood; my blood. There were screams and hisses. There was also shouting. Human sounding. I swear I heard gunshots, but I couldn’t raise my head to check. The owl swooped from its perch and landed on the ground next to me. I couldn’t quite place the look in its eyes. Its stare comforted me and told me to sleep; to close my eyes and rest. I gave in. I closed my eyes and drifted to a place of darkness. . .