Bride of the moonlight

CHAPTER 6 ✓

The maid walked back the way I and the prince had come and stopped at one

of the off limited hallways. She took a flashlight from a nearby cupboard and

handed it to me. I gave her a confused look, "If you're leading the way, don't

do you need this?" I asked.

"I'm a vampire. I can see in the dark. Trust me, you need it. If the things in this hallway know you can't see where you're going, they'll get you. That's why humans aren't allowed down here without a vampire guide and flashlight. So try not to fall behind." She forewarned.

Vampire?

Everyone here was insane, they really thought they were vampires... The whole way I was walking down the hallway, I felt like a nervous wreck, was clutching onto the flashlight for dear life and I was constantly looking around me. I was feeling ridiculously paranoid. I tried to calm myself down a little, "So-so what's Prince Phoveous like?"

"Well, we're not supposed to talk about our masters behind their backs," answered the maid obediently

"Well, he's not here right now and I'm gonna be his 'wife' soon. I'll back you

up if he questions you. Don't worry." I smiled at her and in the dim lighting,

saw a glimpse of hers too. She nodded.

"He's nice most of the time, but of course, he doesn't interact with us much. He's down to earth and although he gets everything he wants he's a humble man who you will be able to trust. He can be a bit controlling and restrictive, but that's what happens when you're a prince with plenty of slav- maids." She shook her head.

"In my opinion it doesn't matter. If you want to know more about him then just ask. He opens up easily."

Did she just say, slave? Did she mean that? Phoveous didn't seem like the kind of guy to have slaves. But I shouldn't have made assumptions already, knew close to nothing about him. He did have me kidnapped after all, I had no business making thinking he was a decent, normal guy. Nothing here was normal.

My brow quivered and the mention of slave' and 'master! It'd not been that long since my arrival, but this place didn't seem like the kind of place to almost mirror the actions of 1800s America. As a black woman, it definitely had me side-eyeing the whole family. But then again, it didn't seem racially charged, this "slave" was white.

She didn't seem like a slave, none of the maids or servants I saw did, maybe they were just treated well. Even so, the title was degrading for anyone to be given, man or woman, regardless of their race.

"We're here," she announced. We stopped outside of some large wooden double doors, they squeaked painfully as they were opened. A bunch of candles around the room ignited chronologically. It took me by storm and so did the clusters of bats in the corners of the room.

They were watching us creepily, their eyes all seem to illuminate, some with bright green, purple, yellow, pink, blue or red eyes. It reminded me of the twins back at the park, the way they had stalked us that

evening. But it is actually beautiful than I thought. But no beautiful eyes can't hide the reality that one of them kill my friend.

"Don't mind them. The Prince loves his bats. They're harmless." I nodded.

"Take a seat here please." She pulled a chair from under a wooden table in front of me and then sat on the one beside me, "alright then, hold your wrist

here for me please."

I put my arm onto the area of the table the maid pointed to and a pair of leather straps appeared from nowhere and held my arm down firmly. Eventually, my veins began to show.

"Wh-what are you doing?" I stuttered,

beginning to panic again.

"Sorry, this might just hurt a little." She made a weird squeaking noise and one of the bats with purple eyes, just like Phoveous's, came down and eyed at my arm. It then stuck its fangs into my forearm and began to suck blood from it. I held my breath, trying my best not to scream.

It hurt. A lot. The maid took out a glass, a piece of paper, a small brown notebook, and a weird test-tube looking thing with a thick dark-red content, and placed each

of them on the table before me. The bat released my blood into the test tube

and flew back to its original place in the ceiling.

The maid then mixed my blood with the red stuff in the test tube, she poured half into the glass and the rest onto the small sheet of paper, then attached the paper to the brown book labelling it 'Princess Herae Rosalina, March 27 2013.

The paper seemed to strangely attach to the book as if it was already there. This place was like nothing I could've imagined. Not even on one of my craziest days. After a while of being mixed, the glass of my blood and the other red content solution was handed to me in a small glass...

There was no way that I was going to drink that gross stuff! That was dangerous! You don't just drink other people's blood, it could be infected and I damn sure wasn't about to drink my own. I wasn't a vampire like these people claimed to be.

"Miss, you have to drink it. Prince Phoveous will explain what just happened

as soon as we're finished. He'll be very mad at me if I let you go without

drinking it." It sounded as if she was pleading, I felt really bad for her and did

as she said. It tasted gross, just as I thought. I gagged and nearly threw up. During the process, my arm that was tied down to the table began to itch, when I

looked, there was a tiny inscription: Property of Prince Phoveous I of Nox

Aterrimal traced my hand along the strange Italic inscription, it stung a little.

"What does this mean?" I asked in disgust, pointing at it. Property? Again, I was getting real s*****y vibes from these people.

"It means Prince Phoveous now owns you. You are his property. If anyone harms you, they'll be in great trouble."

"He doesn't own me. No one owns me! Who does he think he is?" I snapped.

"The prince of Nox Aterrima, perhaps?" I heard him mutter behind me. How did he get in so silently, those doors were so loud earlier? I shivered.

"It has to be done and booked. It also helps with tracking," he pointed at the inscription.

"You don't think referring to me as property is a bit too on the nose?" questioned slowly, waiting for whatever defence he could come up with.

Phoveous appeared confused for a brief moment, his purple eyes narrowing

at me. Then in a second, what I was implying seemed to hit him with immeasurable force as his eyes lit up the room.

"We aren't racist like you humans like to be, skin colour means nothing to us and we do not share your history. Referring to you as 'property' is a legal and royal safety device for you, it grants you immunity. It is also part of our culture as vampires, not

because we're white. The same with 'slave' and 'master', it's used in a similar

way to employee' and 'boss!" I had to fight back my scoff and comparing slaves to employees. Even though what he said made sense... sort of, it still sounded culturally insensitive.

The pain in my arms was still lingering and I didn't feel like fighting back just

yet, so instead, I rolled my eyes, "you told me I could do whatever I want, so

why do you need to track me?"

He sighed, and released my arm from the table, "come on. I don't want to

argue with you."

He muttered while taking my hand and leading me back down the hallway, "do you want to go anywhere?" I shrugged.

"Are you sulking at me?" I didn't answer. But I was sulking, he just contradicted what he said earlier.

How could he say I can go wherever I want, and then say you're my property

and I can track wherever you go?'That didn't make any sense to me. The next day, Phoveous decided that we should go out into the town, so I could see my new home, and get to find out what the people were like.

He was staring up at a huge stone statue of a woman with a long dress and curly hair. I didn't know who she was but Phoveous was gazing intently at it. As he

was doing that, an inscription on what looked like a town hall or perhaps a

museum caught my attention and as I was about to take a closer look, something, or someone, however, prevented me from doing so. Alex's pale hand was wrapped around my wrist, he wasn't being forceful.

His expression, on the other hand, suggested he was being cautious.

"Don't wander too far from me. It's not that safe here for you... humans. Not yet anyway."

"Whatever you say," I retorted and stuffed my hands in my pockets. Immunity my ass...

A guy not much older than us approached us with a knowing smile once we were in the town square, "your father said you managed to exhaust your list."

He stared at me even though he was talking to Phoveous, "So you chose a

human? Even though they only live for about 80 years?"

Phoveous shot him a warning look.

"Special procedures will be made."

"You've always got to be the first, haven't you? Now, you're the first member

of royalty to be in a relationship with a human. You better hope your instincts

don't kick in." He smirked at me.

"Or you're screwed." and that was aimed at

me.

"Shut up Joseph. What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh you know, shopping around for new slaves. I'm bored with my current ones," he replied nonchalantly. He said slaves again.

Why did they need them? I always thought vampires were superior to the human race. And he was "bored" of them, what was that supposed to mean?

I detested the way that guy said it so smugly as if they were toys: something

you could use and dispose of as you pleased. The slave's families, why would

they allow a member of their family to become a slave? The thought of it enraged me, however on the outside, I was probably glaring at the floor while clenching my fists.

"Don't you have enough of them?" Asked Phoveous in an annoyed tone.

"You can never have enough. I mean look how many you have!" His eyes sparkled deviously as he grinned once again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't get your name," he said to me, holding out his hand for me to shake.

I hesitated for a few seconds before putting my hand in his, "Hera."

"Full name," he kept his grip on my hand and I couldn't pull away. He had insane strength and barely looked like he was exerting any energy.

Phoveous leaned in to whisper, "whenever someone here asks for your name, you give them your full name."

"Why do I need to tell you huh?"

"Just do what Prince sai—" one of the slave said but. He nodded in approval, released my hand, and carried on his conversation with Phoveous.

I went over to a shop ahead of us that sold clothing and shoes and looked through the window. A pair of cool-looking Creepers caught my eye as I leaned in closer at the glass. I could just picture myself in them... if I had the money.

I shook the thought out of my head. I couldn't be thinking about buying new

shoes. They wouldn't help me cope with my loss at all.

"You know if you want them. Just ask," Phoveous said casually, sounding if he was right behind me. I slunk away from him, he felt way too close for comfort.

"I can't ask you to buy me stuff. I barely know you!" I stated. Still staring at

the shoes.

I did want them. But I didn't just want the prince to buy me them I that was his way of trying to bond with me or get me to ignore the fact he'd kidnapped me, or that my friend was still dead.

"Then let's get to know each other some more." He said, dragging me away

from the shop. He took us to a cafe, ordered us some iced teas, somehow knowing I loved them and asked me a bunch of questions. I was vague with him, of course.

I didn't know him, or what his plan really was- it couldn't be marriage. I was going to get away from here, and the less he knew about me the better. But where would I go? Would I return home, back to my neglective arents? They probably wouldn't have noticed I was gone yet and so far... this "prince or anyone (aside from Hanz) had not tried to do me harm in this place.

They were all nice. Maybe I was just sceptical because of what happened. But

Celine was before me on the list, she should've been here instead of me.

"Can I buy you those shoes now?"

"Why do you want to buy me them so bad?" I queried suspiciously.

"I want to show you that I'm not a bad guy. I know you're annoyed at me, Herae. It's pretty obvious."

I didn't care, to be honest, I was glad he knew, and I had every right to be even more than annoyed. It was his fault Celine was dead.

"Buy them if you want..."I shrugged, turning my head to take in the bustling street just past the window. Everyone looked so carefree going about their daily business...