Natalia

Chapter 2 - Arika

NATALIA’S POV

'After your death, you will be what you were before your birth. - Arthur Schopenhauer'

I guess I was a vampire before I was born huh? This book is quite fascinating. It provides me with a lot of information about vampires. When I finally close the book, I noticed the time is almost 1 am. Because I haven’t fully adjusted with my new self yet, instinctively I desired to get some shut eye. I know. Vampires aren't supposed to sleep during the night.

But before I could, a loud sound of EBM music suddenly reaches my ear. So much for my beauty sleep. I got up to a sitting position and looked around the room they had to prepare for me. It is small but I’m already used to it. It reminds me of my room back in my own house. I can’t simply expect them to give me a luxurious room just because Ivy seems friendly with me. With that in mind, I sigh and stood up from the single bed towards the door. 

The music echoes all over the castle hallways. I wonder if the creature who makes such noise would be in trouble? Videric looks like someone who lives his undead life with a protocol. And I'm pretty sure he's like an old grandpa who hates to be bothered with this kind of disturbance. 

I tried to trace the origin of the music comes from. I’m not supposed to wander too far from the safety of my room but my curiosity drives me crazy. Besides, this is a perfect time to explore the castle. I immediately stop on my track when the sound leads me to menacing stairs.

“Natalia, you shouldn’t wander too far. It won’t end pretty if bloodthirsty vampire caught you sneaking around like this,” I said to myself as my legs betrayed me. I looked around and shrugged my shoulder as I walk down the stairs. At least the music getting louder further in I go.

I remembered this hall.

It's where I first met Videric and Ivy. It sends shivers down my spine thinking of what Videric was doing with my limbless body. He fixed it alright. But thinking back to it now, why did he go to such extend to bring me back to life? That question remained unanswered. I walk past the dreadful dungeon door and towards a door located next to it.

I feel slightly guilty for snooping around but was too late when my hands pushing the heavy doors forward. I cursed myself for getting myself into trouble. I looked around the dimly lit room and pray that no one would notice me.

"Who are you and why are you in my private quarters?" A female voice startled me. I didn't see anyone but that voice... it's there.

"Are you mute, girl." Again, that voice echoes inside the room. 

"I am Natalia." 

"Natalia? Are you new here?" The voice asked.

"I am." 

When the person who owns the voice came out from the shadows, I was speechless. Her melodic voice matched her astonishing appearances. Ivy was beautiful but she's a goddess. Her golden hair mesmerized me as if its made of real gold. Her red orbs telling me she means business. 

Everything about her was majestic.

"Take a picture. It lasts longer." She said when she noticed I've been staring for a while.

"Well, if the camera can capture my perfect figure. Another reason why we vampires stick to being a statue for hours and let the artist carve us in a piece of canvas." I have no idea how to respond to that.

"What are you doing in my private quarters. You are forbidden to be in here,” She said. I was about to respond when Ivy saunters in the room, clearly baffled to see me here.

"Natalia? What are you doing here?" Ivy placed a tray of raw meat on the table and turned to me. She raised both eyebrows.

"Natalia?" Ivy asked again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. I heard the music. And it brought me here." Ivy smiled. 

"It's okay. You're new here. But let me introduce you to the princess of this castle." She went next to the golden hair woman and smile.

"This is princess Arika, Videric's daughter, and my wife." 

So, this is the woman who manages to trigger Ivy's interest. Well. Understandable. I placed one of my hands on my chest and bow to the princess. Like what Alfonso said, never forget to do so or the royalty will have our head. 

"You don't have to bow, silly!" Ivy chuckled. 

"So this is the new girl the king told me about?" Arika asked her wife while sliding her arms around Ivy’s waist.

"Yup. This is her. The one and only." Ivy said to her wife. Arika looks at me from top to bottom.

"Hmmm. Okay then. Meet me tomorrow at the indoor fighting arena. I'll teach you a couple of moves so you won't be killed." She smiled. Ivy chuckled.

"Really? You'll do that?" Ivy turned to me.

"Meet us tomorrow. I'll ask one of the maids to wake you up and lead you to the arena." I nod and excuse myself when they both seem to be busy with each other. I closed the door behind me and went back to my room.

But before I could even get a glimpse of my door, I was pulled away and my back slammed the walls behind me with great force. I could feel of my bones breaking from the impact. Gretchen told me to not worry because I can heal myself. I came face to face with my attacker. It didn’t take him much to scared the s**t out of me. I was frozen when he filled the white of his eyes and showed me his protruding fangs.

His sharp nails embedding my flesh when he grabbed me by the neck.

"You... have... 10 seconds to tell me... what are you doing inside Arika and Ivy's ROOM!" He sneered in front of my face, hissing. I shake my head vigorously.

"USE YOUR VOICE!" He hissed louder. 

"I didn't do anything!" my voice trembled. I was afraid he might eat me. He released his hands off of me and greeted me with his fist on my face repeatedly. I don't know what to do. I have no idea why I’m suddenly being attacked. What did I do wrong?

"Stay away from them if you wish to live here long!" He sneered before fleeing. I curl up like a ball on the floor to ease the pain. I cough out some of the blood out before getting to a sitting position, resting my back on the wall. 

I wiped the blood off of my mouth and looked around the hallways. All those movies lied about vampires that don’t feel pain. I am feeling a major amount of pain right now and I could feel my bones rearranging themselves inside my body.

"I thought it will be better when I'm dead..." I sigh. Nothing has changed even in death.

***

The maid pushed the double door for me to enter. This room filled with women in their sports bra and tights, shirtless man and their sweatpants doing either hand to hand combat or punching the punching bag. Some throwing knives on their targets and some practicing with the spears. 

The maid touched my shoulder and asked me to followed her. Everyone busy with their training stopped whatever they're doing as they turned to me with their dagger eyes. I ignored them all and made my way towards Arika and Ivy. 

When we arrived at a fighting ring, Arika was inside with a tired-looking man. When the man turned, I instantly touched my bruised mouth. He gave me a sly smirk and focus his attention on Arika who's wrapping her hands with bandages. 

"Natalia,” Ivy called for me and dismiss the maid. I walk towards her and she immediately lifted my chin, looking at my bruise. She rubbed it in a circular motion with her thumb.

"What happened?" She asked. I didn't say anything but turned to the ring and watched them fight. 

The first person to attack was the man who beat me up. Arika easily avoided his fist and counter-attack by jabbed his face hard. The man tried to defend himself by covering his face but the princess saw this as a chance to use her legs to hit his side. 

The man manages to grab the princess's leg and gave her a sly smirk before lifted her, slamming her body on the other side of the ring. Arika gasps for air when her back hits the floor.  The man chuckled and walks in circular around Arika's body.

"Is that all you got the princess? Man. That Transylvania trip made you weak." I watched this with my fingers fidgeting. What if she lost? I want her to punch the living daylights of that guy.

Make him pay. My cheek hurt so bad because of him.

When Arika opened her eyes, it's glowing redder than usual.

"Shut up Sylvester!" Arika got up and get to her fighting stance

"Hit me with yah best shoot," Sylvester smirk and lunged towards Arika who easily grabbed him by the left arm. I heard Arika's creepy laughter and slammed his back to the floor ring hard. Arika took a deep breath and stepped on Sylvester's stomach before straddling him. 

Her left hand on his neck, squeezing hard as her right-hand ball up to a fist and repeatedly hitting his face non-stop.

"Arika. That’s enough," Ivy soft voice echoing. Arika stopped hitting the guys and looked up to her wife. 

"He has such a foul mouth. He needs more lessons about immortality pain." Ivy shakes her head and Arika released Sylvester's neck. Arika stood up and went towards us. She tilted her head when she looked at me.

"What happened to your face?" She asked. I looked down. I want to avoid answering questions regarding my face or my bruise.

"When a princess talks to you, look up and answers her," Arika said before lifting my chin. 

 "Hmmm... he did this huh?" I shake my head no. 

"You're such a terrible liar, Natalia." Arika turned to Ivy.

"You have my permission to punish him." Ivy smiles. I watch as Ivy let down her jacket that she was wearing and went inside the ring. 

"GET UP!" Ivy demanded. Sylvester does as told and they both looked at each other while walking in a circular.

"What have you done to her?" Ivy asked. My heart leaped in joy. As if Arika could sense my excitement she instantly turned to me.

"Having fun there, Natalia." She said and smiled. I could felt my cheek turned red.

"Ivy. Do it now," Arika commanded. 

Before I could even see what is going on, I heard Sylvester scream. My eyes widen when he was no longer inside the ring. When I take a look at him even closer, I noticed blood coming out of his mouth, his eyes gouged out of its socket, and his limbs were gone.

I turned to Ivy who was licking her fingers as if she's having a delicious meal. 

"Hmmm... his blood is expired. Not delicious." Arika laughed and went to her wife.

"Someday Natalia, you'll be able to do what Ivy just did to your enemy. Daddy told me you're special. And your history is interesting. I would like to see how you end everyone's life who made yours terrible." 

"Me? Doing that?" I chuckled.

"I don't think I can even eat raw meat." Arika shakes her head.

"You have Ivy's blood in your veins from the transformation. You'll do better than her if you want to. All you need is practice and lots of training." Arika turned to her wife.

"Ivy... it's time for Natalia to learn how to do her job." Ivy agreed by nodding her head.

"I agree with you on that part, Arika." How to do my job?  

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"We want to explain to you about the task. The seven deadly sins. Everything. And where is your target? You need to adapt to their environment before taking their life." I don't know what to say except nodded my head at them. 

***

"Where are we?" I asked them both. 

Arika took a seat behind a table followed by Ivy.

"We're in one of my many libraries,” Arika answered my question. I noticed Ivy reaching for something that was placed on top of the table. 

"I have a question, Natalia." I stopped Ivy from continuing.

"Please. Natalia is so formal. Just call me Nat." Ivy nodded.

"Nat. I have a question. Are you a church person? If so, do you know what is the seven deadly sins?" I shake my head no. 

"So before hearing it from us, you don't know the seven deadly sins even existed." I slowly nodded. Ivy turned to Arika.

"Our father, Videric, wants you to take these 7 people's soul based on the seven sins. Liana, Ramsey, Freya, Quinn, Valentina, Zariah and Joslyn. Do these names remind you of someone?" Arika asked. 

“Yes,” I  replied. Who can forget the names that broke my head to a million pieces?

"Before you could get to them, you will have to adapt to their environment. Get their trust, then take the chances to lure them to their death. Understand?" I nodded. 

"The person who holds the lust would be Liana. She's one lustful woman huh." Arika chuckled. I remembered Liana. The hottest girl I ever encounter in high school. The person was responsible for breaking my heart. Who embarrassed in front of the whole school. 

"Seems like she's working in the state capital. Lusting for money and power." Arika laughed.

"We will have fun," Arika said.

"We? You will be there? With me?" Ivy nodded.

"We will be acting as your supervisors. We observe everything and will not be tempered with your work." She smiled. Arika closed the file.

"We will know the next target after we're done with Liana. Agree?" I nodded.

"Good. Now, stand up in the middle of the room." I was confused by her request but I obliged. 

Arika walked in circular around me, looking at my attire from head to toe.

"You need a makeover. Do you agree, honey?" Ivy went to her wife's side and nodded. What does she mean by makeover? No way! 

"The hair, the clothes. Geez." Arika whistled before we all heard a knock on the door.

"Scrub her. She needs a proper bath." My eyes widen when the maids dragged me out of the room with force. I tried to say something but seems like the maids were too strong for me. 

They lead me to a luxurious bathroom. Even luxurious than the bathroom in my room. The maids began to lift my shirt off as I tried to forbid them. When they tried to took off my pants I jumped away from them. They gave me a sigh and stood up. 

"We don't want any trouble with her highness. She instructed me to bath you and bath shall you have. Now please come back here and get down from the ceiling." Ceiling?! That's when I realized I was hanging upside down like a bat.

"Don't make us come up there!" One of the maids said and showed me a cane with a sly smirk plastered on her face. I walk down the walls to the floor. Damn... I feel like a spiderman. But cooler!

"Good girl. Now please remove your clothes and undergarment and get into the tub." I obliged and went into the tub. I feel like I was being violated when they scrub my body, my privates and wash my hair. What's wrong with bathing myself?! These vampires are weird!

When they washed my scars, one of them looked at me with sad eyes. 

"It must be hard. Going through all that." I shake my head while they wash my ear.

"To be honest, I can’t seem to remember it all. All I can remember was, being kidnapped and tortured repeatedly." I said with my little voice. 

When they saw the mark Ivy gave me, they all stunned. They both looked at each other and looks at me again.

"Who.. turned you?" One of them asked.

"Ivy did. Why?" Their eyes widen and suddenly kneel in front of me. 

"We're sorry your highness. We didn't know. We shouldn't be that rude to you earlier." They hastily said. Now I'm all confused. What the hell is happening? And did they just called me ‘your highness’?! What's that all about? 

"We heard that princess Ivy killed prince Sylvester for hurting you. We all thought you’re the mistress. We're sorry for spread rumors about you among the maids." Now they placed their head on the dirty floor, sobbing. 

What should I do now? Well, since they call me your highness, I should be one right?

"Get up." They both look up and do as I said.

"I have no idea what you both blabbering about. Can we just continue with this bath." I smiled. They smile back and continue to scrub me clean. 

This time, gently. 

When they're done, they asked me to use a bathrobe and lead me to one of the grandest hallways I have ever seen in the castle. They knock on a golden door and opened it, letting me in. When I was inside, I was mesmerized by the beauty of this bedroom. It's huge! 

I turned to the corner to see a figure sitting by the television, drinking the red liquid from a champagne glass.

 "Ivy will help you. Just go to the black door." Arika pointed to the black door and I went inside. 

"I've been looking around and I think I found the perfect clothes for you," Ivy said and I can't seem to find her anywhere. I was looking around at all the expensive clothing when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, showing the jacket she had to choose for me. 

"I'll ask the seamstress to prepare your clothes. A whole new wardrobe. You're one of us now." I tilted my head, confused about what she means by that.

"You mean your new servant? I thought in movies a servant shouldn't have new clothes but rags and sack like the others." We both heard chuckling behind us. 

"Didn't Ivy explained to you?" I turned and shake my head no. Arika saunters in and faces me rather closely. I could smell the iron from the recent liquid she consumed.

"Since Ivy marked you, you are my bride." Arika smiled and removed the strands of hair from my neck, rubbing the mark.

"Hmmm... Ivy dear, I'm beginning to love her. Look at how to confuse she looks." She laughs and leaning into my neck. 

"She is a keeper,” was the only thing I heard before passing out.