Enchanted World: Elves and Vampires

Part 1: Deceptive Ties - 1: Power Structure

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Beans… Beans… Beans…

The word kept repeating in her mind to keep it occupied because no matter how many times she had done it before, Nora still could not get used to the amount of paranoia she felt in the moment. It still made her hands shake and heart leap into her throat. She always had the image of herself getting caught, arrested or worse: beat up and possibly killed in the back of her mind because this particular store was elf-owned. Despite the worry, she gave a discreet glance around before lifting a trembling hand to the shelf to take the can of food and shove it into her puffer jacket, immediately looking around again to make sure no one had seen the movement but the rest of the aisle was still empty and no one could see into it from the other aisles. She took another can deciding that it was all the jacket could hold without looking too obvious before glancing down at her watch to note that it was time to leave and quickly headed towards the exit.

Relief washed over her like it was part of the wind as she made it outside into the cool early-evening without any hassle and was finally able to breathe but she paused when her eyes lifted to the road and landed on a passing fleet of cars.

One car in particular caught her attention as it was the only one with a window slightly rolled down. The clearly expensive vehicles looked completely out of place in the run-down area of town they were currently driving through, their mirror-cleanness contrasting with the graffitied buildings and litter-covered, cracked and worn street they were driving on. Nora quickly brushed it off figuring it was none of her business who drove through town and it was time to head home, but her body seemed to freeze in place as her eyes met a dark pair through the gap in the window. It was immediately clear that the person was an elf given the point of his ears and striking beauty of the little bit of his face that could be seen through the opening. She should not have been looking at him. The elves – as breathtakingly beautiful as they were – hated being stared at by those considered less than them, but she could not seem to move her body or eyes, did not really want to either. It was like his gaze physically held hers.

A sudden cold grip around her wrist caused Nora to let out a surprised gasp that made her realise that the air seemed to have disappeared from her lungs, but before she could even think to begin breathing properly again she was being dragged down the road, stumbling to keep up as the person only picked up their speed.

“Run.”

Immediately recognising the voice, she did not question it and instantly set off sprinting to match the person's pace while trying to keep the food from falling. Despite her mind desperately wanting to take a look back towards the cars, Nora kept looking ahead because the last thing they needed was for her to trip when they were probably being chased by store security or police. They ran through a few dirty alleyways and broken, abandoned buildings that were filled with dirt accompanied by the strong smell of urine making as many turns as possible until slowing their running when Kevin announced that it was okay to do so. Nora finally looked around as they tried to catch their breaths after stumbling to a stop, but of course there was no one behind them anymore as they seemed to have lost whoever had been chasing them in one of the buildings. It was very useful that they knew the city and its abandoned buildings better than anyone and had made it to a familiar alleyway near their home.

“I’m so sorry.” Gianna covered her eyes with her hands. Nora bit her lip lifting a hand to pat the older girl on the shoulder comfortingly. She knew what it felt like to come back empty-handed.

Their group consisted of fourteen orphans and ex-orphans between the ages of seven and twenty-four. All of them had grown up on the streets with only each other to depend on and that meant everyone had to play their part. When someone could not, they felt like they had failed their family or were being a burden.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure the others got something,” Kevin was the eldest of the group, only two years older than Gianna and Nora’s older brother Zachary. The pair of boys and Gianna were basically the leaders of their group. They took care of the youngest when they got sick, planned the meals and made sure each person got enough food and was safe when out looking for food. The trio made sure everyone was as healthy as possible and protected from other, older homeless people.

“Right.” Gianna straightened up and smiled, though Nora could still tell how upset the older girl was as she took hold of the hand on her shoulder to squeeze it. “What were you waiting for outside the store?” she asked as they began walking home. Usually, they would leave the store and rendezvous somewhere further away so they were not seen gathering together suspiciously before heading home.

“Oh… um…” Nora drifted, thinking back to the cars that had caught her attention. She could not remember any of what happened in the moments after catching his eyes, it was like looking into them had made everything else disappear, “Just waiting for the cars to pass,” she finished with a shrug.

“Oh yeah, those cars. Seemed like it was someone important. They must have just been passing through,” Kevin said.

Right. It was a weird place for cars like that to pass through though, given that within their world’s hierarchy, this place was pretty low. The city they lived in was overrun with poverty; if houses and buildings weren’t empty or destroyed, they were inhabited by poor human families just barely making it by and stores that catered to those families’ basic needs. Elves and vampires were rarely seen near that part of Weldenbrug. Sometimes well-off humans would get lost and dwell through, but they usually ended up in danger of being robbed or worse so they avoided the area too. Nora figured the fleet of cars must have been a wealthy family of travelling elves, perhaps they got lost and, of course, even desperately impoverished humans would never confront elves unless they intended to die. They were too powerful. Elves and vampires ruled the world while humans just occupied it and, if they were lucky enough, worked for a good elf or vampire. Though, vampires were not known for their graciousness or generosity, especially when it came to humans so working for one was much less likely than working for an elf.

Their system was built with the most powerful at the top. The royal elves and vampires were kings, the royal families known to be the world’s strongest of their kind. Beneath them were the wealthy elves and vampires, those who could use their money to align themselves with royalty in exchange for status, then came the average elves and vampires who made enough of a living to get by quite nicely. From what was seen, there were rarely elves or vampires below that average line. Wealthy humans were still not strong enough to challenge elves and vampires that were less well-off than they were, so they aligned themselves with these average supernaturals in order to protect their money, their families and keep a clear distance between themselves and the average humans. Beneath the average humans were poor humans who still had their families and could band together to protect each other, and right at the bottom of all of that were humans without families.

It did not matter what happened to humans without families. They were a liability to other humans, just another mouth to feed, another school fee to pay, another body taking up space that could be used for biological family and to vampires they were an easy meal. No one would fight and risk their lives to keep a stranger or lone human alive, no one would miss them or even notice that they were gone if they were completely drained of their blood. Elves did not really associate with humans apart from when the lower race approached them with money as they could not gain much from the weaker beings. The only time elves interacted with humans for something other than monetary purposes was to use them, possibly to deal with a vampire.

Nora and her siblings were lucky to be part of their group because they all looked out for each other and there was usually safety in numbers. Most vampires did not attack groups of people.

“Nora!” They had barely made it into the room when the yell came. Nora smiled as she knelt down to hug her nine-year-old sister but the little girl pulled back to question her hard stomach. It made Nora laugh as she took the cans and macaroni she had stolen from her jacket and handed them to Gianna before pulling Zia back into another tight hug.

Though Nora loved all of their friends who were basically family, she had a special bond with her siblings. They had always been together and had each other. When they lost their parents, Zachary – being just four years older at the time when Nora was nine – did not hesitate to completely take over, calming them down and making sure they stayed safe while she tried to take care of Zia when he was out finding food and it did not take him long to find the safe family they had now. Back then they only had six members. Zia was just a couple of months from her first birthday when they were orphaned and it was hardest to take care of her but they had done a pretty good job of keeping her alive and mostly happy, though that was mostly owed to Kevin who somehow knew how to handle the baby best.

Nora stood beside her best friend Natalie and another girl around their age as Zia joined the younger kids in the group. She watched the others settle into their usual daily routine after making sure that everyone was back. Zachary, Kevin and Gianna were going through what had been brought and discussing what they could make that would fill everyone up while saving food for later. The seven teenagers, including herself, talked about what happened that day while the four youngest kids played around.

Since it was already quite late when the food was ready, everyone ate and then immediately got ready for bed. Their beds were made up of a bunch of old mattresses that were all in one corner of the large room. Nora sat up in bed, her back against the wall and watched as Gianna blew out most of the candles, Kevin brought in the charcoal stove from outside to pack it away and her brother made sure every door and window was securely locked before he smiled over at her silently asking if she was okay. She nodded grinning back at him as he walked over to the beds.

“Who wants a story?” he asked.

“You got a book?!” Zia jumped up. Nora laughed at the excitement from the younger kids as her brother grabbed the book he had probably stolen when they went searching for food and climbed into bed beside the kids.

He read to them as one of the teenagers or leaders usually did, effectively putting the kids to sleep and then made sure they were tucked in properly. It was late autumn and beginning to get chilly. Not cold enough to make them need to huddle around a fire, but the kids were still piled under more blankets than the rest of the group.

“I saw a lot of cars today, someone said they belonged to a Royal Elvish family,” Aisha whispered from Nora’s side. She was two years younger than Natalie and Nora were.

“Really? Which one?” Natalie asked.

“None. No royal family would ever drive through this place. They would never even come near here,” one of the younger teenage boys frowned.

“You’re right, Jaxton. But if they did, which one do you think?” Gianna asked. She always indulged everyone’s stories, she was the most motherly figure in the group and a very sweet and talkative person. Nora, on the other hand, was quite quiet and usually just observed everyone’s conversations unless she really had something to say.

“Prince Arwin’s. His family’s badge was on the side of some of the cars. The blue and gold emblem. I saw it, you know. I know what it looks like… I’m sure it was them. Why else would there be so many expensive cars that all look alike?” Nora looked at Aisha. She had seen the same cars? Nora had not even noticed that they had the badges plastered on the sides, really all she remembered were those dark almond-shaped eyes, pointy ears and strong, dark eyebrows. She bit her lip realising that if those cars were carrying the royal family it must have been a guard looking out of the window. Elves really were breathtakingly beautiful… “What do you think he looks like? The prince, I mean.” Aisha asked.

“An elf.” another of the boys replied earning some laughter from the others.

“Shut up, Chad.” Nora smiled as Aisha shot a glare at him in the dim light that managed to make it through the windows before staring back at the roof dreamily. She found it amusing watching her friend daydream about the prince. “I bet he has white hair, very long white hair and… blue eyes. He’s definitely a light elf too.”

“Being a light elf does not automatically mean white hair and blue eyes,” Kevin smiled.

“I know. I just mean that in addition to looking good, he’s good.” Aisha said making the room awkwardly quiet before Chad sighed.

None of them really thought about elves as 'good', especially given the hierarchy. Perhaps in elvish terms, dark elves were just much more evil. Nora did not know much about the difference between elves other than what she had heard and had not heard much at all. She was not someone who judged people harshly and figured Aisha could possibly be right since none of them knew the royal elf – or any elf for that matter. Nora did not care much about elves, vampires or royalty though, she just focused on staying safe with her family. There was really no point thinking about people, creatures and life so far away from their reality. All it usually did was remind her about their parents' deaths and how weak humans were.

“Stop dreaming, Aisha. Elves aren’t good people just because they’re good looking. They’re not good if they’re light elves. Well, except by their own standards and God knows what those are,” Jaxton leaned back in bed tucking his hands under his head as he stared at the roof, “I bet they’re just richer than dark elves… or royal.”

The discussion died down there because everyone silently agreed but Nora noticed that what Jaxton said did not take the dreamy look out of Aisha’s eyes. Aisha was a dreamer, she avoided reality as much as she could and Nora figured it was not that bad of a thing considering that Aisha brought quite a bit of positivity and optimism to their group and it was usually needed.

As the candles were completely blown out, everyone settled into bed and the room went quiet.

Though she tried, Nora ended up tossing and turning unable to fall asleep. After a couple of hours, when she finally fell asleep it was only for a few minutes which led to her giving up and sitting up in bed with a light, tired sigh. Running her eyes along the beds and silhouettes that could barely be seen in bits of moonlight that lit the dark room, Nora was surprised to find that her brother, Kevin and Gianna’s beds were empty. After glancing around her to make sure everyone else was still there and asleep, she quietly got out of bed making sure not to disturb Natalie and Aisha on either side of her and began to head towards the door. It was unlocked, so Nora opened it slowly to avoid making it creek before stepping outside into the alleyway.

The night had become a little colder and mist hung from above. Beside the street, there were three figures near the dark lamppost that were familiar to her and she closed the door before quietly, carefully heading closer to them.

“We’re not going to get this place back if we move, Kevin,” Zachary spoke as she advanced.

“I know, but you have to trust me. The place across town is much higher, there are less windows, and it has a separate kitchen. We might even be able to connect to an electrical supply. It is smaller but it’s much safer and it will be warmer than this, which we’re going to need soon.” Kevin replied.

“True… but we can’t just up and le – Nora?” Nora was not happy that her brother had somehow sensed her behind him, causing him to turn towards the alley. It was not something new, it had always been impossible to sneak up on him, even when they were children, which was why she had actively avoided playing hide and seek back then. He always won, it wasn’t fun. “Shouldn’t you be asleep?”

She bit her lip stepping up to them, “Shouldn’t you?”

“Touché,” Gianna replied with a grin.

“You guys… didn’t eat.” They had gone outside while everyone was eating, using the excuse of getting water since there was no running water in the building.

“We weren’t hungry.” Zachary smiled, his features barely visible in the shadow created by the lamp post.

“You didn’t eat last night either,” she pointed out before shaking her head when he opened his mouth again, “don’t tell me you’re not hungry.” Nora frowned. He chuckled lifting his hand to her shoulder.

“We’re fine, Nora. Drop it, okay?” she did not want to but could hear the annoyance in her brother’s voice and that made her nod in defeat before he sighed, “Sorry, I’m just worried about Mike. He’s been feeling off lately.”

Mike was the youngest at just seven years old. They had found him wandering the city alone in rags a few months back. At the time he had been too traumatised to speak, he was covered in scratches and had blood dripping from his neck and when they asked about his parents he would just start screaming and crying. Later they found that, like Nora’s parents, his parents had been killed by a vampire. The wound on his neck was a cut and not a bite so they figured he had somehow managed to run away without being seen. He was very lucky, if the vampire had seen him he would not have been able to get away. Mike had begun to speak a little a couple of months ago but was still very quiet and constantly petrified.

“You’re always worried, Zac. He’s fine.” Kevin chuckled.

Nora watched as Zachary nodded before he gave her a shoulder hug, pulling her against his side. “Let’s get to bed. You and I can check out that building first thing in the morning, Kev.”

“Alright.”

Nora frowned knowing that there were things they thought it would be better to keep between the three of them and this was their way of ending their conversation but she let it slide and began to follow her brother and the others back into the house. There was no one outside but them, their dark part of the city completely silent. For no reason, she felt like stopping at the door and glanced back over to the street remembering the cars earlier. She had a strange feeling about those cars… about the black-eyed elf.

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