Her King, His Slave

4- It's My Father

Merylle's POV

"You know... I will be glad to turn you,” Livda shrugs.

I don’t bother giving her a glance. This is a usual scenario during this specific day of the month.

Today is the 15th day of the month. This means all humans are required to go to the palace and donate a bag of blood. This is what we called, Grateful Act Day.

Decades before, vampires saved humans against the attack of the rouges, which is also known as the Great Rouge War. It happened on the 15th day of December and it is also the time when Darwick Bathory—the eldest son of Valzarus and Elizabeth Bathory—died.

A lot of theories rose behind his death. Some are saying it is because he mated with both vampires and humans. Some are saying he was bewitched by a female rogue vampire. But none of these were proven. Even on the assignment that Professor Vali gave us, all I researched was about him getting killed in a war. Other studies were only speculations.

It is not a secret that even though he is the eldest son of the Royal family, Darwick Bathory is a black sheep and a playboy. And everyone knew the law of the vampire's nature: Whenever royal vampire mates with a low-rank vampire or a human, his power will weaken.

“I don’t like drinking blood,” I say and continue brushing my hair. Through the reflection in the mirror, I see Livda’s expression. One of her lips twitches in disgust.

I want to roll my eyes. I should be the one doing that. The thought of eating with them while they are drinking the blood from the cup makes me want to puke.

“So you prefer giving to receiving?” She then shakes her head. “You are only saying you don’t like blood because you are still a human,” she adds.

To reciprocate the 'kindness' of vampires, humans will donate a bag of their blood to the Kingdom for the vampires to consume.

I don't understand it tho. It is the nature of their species. They are blood-sucker creatures that almost made humans extinct. It is their responsibility to stop the uncontrollable rouges. So why we, humans, should be grateful to them for taking responsibility? Is the bar of humanity really too low?

"No, thank you. I am more than willing to donate my blood to your species," I sarcastically reply.

The brush suddenly flies out of my hand. I shut my eyes tightly and bite my tongue to avoid yelping in pain when Livda pulls a handful of my hair.

"Disrespect me once again and I will turn you into our species... even if it is against your will!" she whispers in my ear.

I did not respond and clenches my teeth. I'm already used to this, and I exactly know what to do in this kind of situation: Do not fight back.

It does not take long for her to let go of my hair when we hear the footsteps of my father approaching.

Livda plasters her soft facade and smiled widely at my father. There is a bow and arrow hook on his shoulder and I notice a knife in into his trousers.

"Are you going to hunt, Hon?" Livda asks softly, completely opposite of how she talks to me just a moment ago.

My father smiles back and nods his head to his wife.

I turn my back to them and went to pick up the brush a few feet away from me.

I do not want to watch them act like lovers right in front of me. I still do not understand how people can love others after losing the greatest love of their life. If I were in my father’s position, I won’t be able to love again after my mother.

"Didn't you already buy two deer last night? I thought it was already enough for the both of you?" I asked and brushed the tangled strands of my hair.

“Well, your father and I need to stock more blood and meat for us to eat so he won’t hunt every night for it.”

Tss. If only she helps hunting. She does nothing here in our house. It has always been me and father who hunts and prepares the food here. Even the household chores were passed to me!

We live here for years now but I couldn't deny the fact that forests are dangerous. I don't take it seriously before, not until I saw it with my own eyes last three weeks ago.

I'm glad that the Princes showed up. I can't imagine how I can manage to go home after stumbling into a dead human.

I silently sigh. The picture of the two Princes enters my brain along with how my first direct meeting with the new King ended up that night.

"S-See you t-too... Prince—King Venz," I immediately corrected myself.

I bowed to the two men in front of me and turned my back. Earlier, I'm too eager to be with my friends. But now, all I want is to go home.

"Have you noticed anything unusual?"

I was about to walk out of their sight when I heard Prince Enzo ask. I faced the Prince with a curious expression. I point a finger at myself, clarifying if I am the one he is talking to.

He did not answer nor nod, but the way his eyes pierced into me speaks volumes. I clear my throat before replying and straighten my back.

"What do you mean, my Prince?" I ask.

"You live in the forest. Anything unusual?" He repeated. To be honest, I do not understand what he is saying but I also do not like him repeating himself.

I slowly shook my head. Aside from what happened last week in the forest, I haven't seen anything bothersome by then.

"What about your father?" King Venz asked.

I straightened my back when I faced him. He mirrored his cousin's expression—cold and emotionless—completely unusual to his usual smirking lips. Their expressions made me more confused.

“My father is a hunter. He usually hunts during the night since they have to stock blood for their food.”

What's so interesting about my parents which made them talk to someone like me?

Whenever I see Venz in school, he is always smirking like Blade. He was never been this serious unlike his other cousin, Prince Enzo.

This is why from the very start, I want Enzo to be the King. The way he moves talks, and socializes with others screams royalty and authority. Venz, on the other hand, always has this playful aura to him. Blade and he has little to no difference when it comes to their personality.

“What does he usually hunt?” King Venz asked.

"My father hunts for their food every day in the forest. He often brought rabbit and deer."

King Venz nods his head at me. his expression remained cold. Prince Enzo did not say a word. His eyes are glued to me—scrutinizing my whole being.

"I—I have to g-go, King... Prince." I bowed my head and hurriedly rush out. I don't care if Livda will choke me to death if she'll know I talked to the Prince and the King but didn't try my luck to dance with them.

Vampires creeped me out. But what I felt about the two of them are beyond frightening. They have this intimidating aura that will make you shiver in your place without them trying.

"I have to go," I announced and tossed the brush back to its place.

I hear Livda hisses. "Talk to your daughter... this would be easier if she's like us..."

My father fixes the bow and arrow on his shoulder and looks at me.

“Why don’t you consider it, Merylle?”

I stop myself from rolling my eyes. Before I can hear more of my father's sentiments, I force myself to walk out of the house. I know my father. He never disagrees with Livda. The day he married her is also the time I lost both of my parents. He is not my father anymore. He is Livda's possession. A slave to his lover.

“Hey, your father is talking to you!” I hear Livda calling me. She can’t hurt me since my father is still here. I guess I will take it as an opportunity to leave.

It will take half an hour's walk from our house to reach the palace. I passed through the house of Arnia and Luther. I did not bother calling them. I am not in the right state to socialize. I still haven't told them about what happened on the coronation night.

From this distance, I can already see the palace filled with humans lining up. Before, I am always with Kriza. Unlike me, she attends this mandatory blood donation willingly. I really think her boyfriend hypnotized her.

But her boyfriend is no royal. Only royal-blooded vampires can hypnotize both humans and vampires. In short, only the Bathory family can.

It took me an hour to finally have my chance to offer my blood.

"Name?" The woman asked while organizing the needle and the bag that will be used for me.

"Merylle Ovia."

The woman checks my name on the list. She looks up at me and asks, "Are you a hybrid? Only humans can donate their blood."

"No, I'm not a hybrid. I'm human," I clarify.

I always tend to receive this kind of question. She once again checks the list and her brows furrow. I sigh before throwing out my explanation. This is not new to me and I know why.

"Both of my parents were humans. My mother died and my father married a vampire."

"Oh! Alright. Lie down here." She folds the folder and motions me to the bed. She tosses the list to the side. She then asks for my arm. I lend it to her. She dabs a soft piece of cloth to the part where she'll insert the needle.

My insides suddenly quiver. I took a deep breath with the hope to calm myself. I do this every month since I was eighteen but I'm still not used to a needle inserting into my arm.

It does not hurt, but the view of a needle slowly getting inside of me makes me overthink.

‘What if the needle will be stuck inside?’

‘What if something wrong is going to happen?’

I face the opposite direction when I saw the needle in the hand of the woman—ready to get inside of me. I shut my eyes as I feel the tip of the needle slowly going in.

"This will take an hour and a half." I sighs in relief when the needle got in without any complications.

I gave my nod to the woman. I spent the time staring at the ceiling, waiting for the bag to be full. I feel a little drowsy. I remember that I slept a bit late last night because I reviewed for my upcoming exam.

Definitely not a good move before donating a bag of blood but I don't really care. I can take care of myself.

My eyelids become heavy. Slowly, I feel my body being pulled into a deep sleep. I fight for it and luckily, I manage to stay awake after half an hour lying in bed.

If Kriza is here, I'm sure I won't be able to feel sleepy. That girl wouldn't shut up about how honored she is to give her blood. That is why I'm not even surprised when I saw her turn. She dreamed of becoming like them since we were a kid.

Kriza and I are childhood friends. Whenever we play with other vampire kids, we were often bullied. She swore that when she turned eighteen, she will let herself turn into a vampire.

I despise vampires. They are the reason why humans live in fear. I once thought her childhood dream would vanish as we grow and I thought I will never befriend vampires. Yet, here are we... Kriza is already a vampire, and I am friends with Luther and Arnia.

"Have you heard? The palace already caught the rogue vampire that is lurking in the Kingdom!" I hear the old man who approached the woman assisting me earlier.

They caught my attention. I shift in my bed and acted as if I'm not interested in what they are talking about.

"Really? That's great! Rogues are the pest that brings nothing but trouble in our peaceful Kingdom!"

“Indeed. I hope he’s the first and the last one to be seen. They don’t deserve to be in here. I never thought there were still rouges these days.”

I silently agreed to the first part of her sentence but not to the last. Rogues are bloodsucker pests but this is not a peaceful kingdom.

If humans are still frightened by the mere existence of vampires; if there is still rampant bullying and discrimination towards us, we can't consider it as peaceful.

"But I heard he is not rogue. He was a human and turned into a vampire after he mated."

"If he kills humans for blood, then he's a rogue."

I found myself nodding. Vampires can control their blood cravings. If a vampire found himself craving blood, he can easily divert his attention to other food.

"Most of the dead humans were found in the forest, right? That is because the said rogue lives there. The palace guards already stormed into his house and planned to capture him."

I stare at the old man. A thought entered my mind. I tried to brush it off but I can't disregard his statements. There are two forests in this kingdom. One in the front part, and the other near the river.

What forest is this old man talking about? I remember the talk that most bodies of humans were found in the forest where we live. And as far as I know, we are the only family living in that forest. Most are in the town and in the smaller forest near the river.

I immediately sat up on the bed. I caught the attention of the woman. She turns to me and checks the bag.

"It's already full. Sorry if I haven't checked it earlier," she genuinely apologizes but my mind is somewhere else.

When she pulls out the needle and covered it with a cloth, I immediately run out.

"Miss, wait!" she called, but I ignore her. "You haven't signed yet!"

I don't care about that piece of paper. I need to go home! My heart is beating fast. I do not know why I am feeling this way.

We just live in the forest, but we are not rouge. The forest is huge. Maybe some family is also living there? Maybe the rogues hide there.

I ran the place up to my house. I did not stop until I reach the mouth of the forest to catch my breath.

'I shouldn't stop!'

After regaining my strength, I ran again to reach our house. That was the longest and fastest run I had in my years of existence.

My eyes widens and my feet were glued to the ground. I was frozen in place.

From the distance, I saw a number of palace guards holding torches surrounding our house.

My jaw drops and my legs tremble in fear. They tied my father and drag him out of our house. His body is brushing harshly against the rough ground while his arms are helplessly tied from the back.

“Enough, please! What are you doing to my husband?!” Livda is on the side, crying her eyes out while two of the palace guards are holding her still.

I ran towards them. Tears are forming on the sides of my eyes just by watching the scene in front of me.

"No! Stop... Please!" I scream.

One of the palace guards kicks my father’s foot. The hot fluid of tears blurs my vision. I harshly wipe them away, afraid that I might lose sight of my father.

I'm still far from them. An ordinary vampire wouldn't hear me even with their extraordinary skills.

My father's knee was on the ground. The pain is evident on his face. He tries to fight back but his hands are tied, and he is obviously outnumbered.

"Father!" I cry when one of a guard pressed a knife into his chest after dipping it in the fire.

The only way for a vampire to be killed is when a blazing torch or a knife is struck right into his heart. Seeing my father being tied up and slowly being killed at this distance feels so helpless... pure torture.

-----

Unedited. English is not the author's first language so expect grammatical errors.

-----

Her King, His Slave

by: Joanne Cristel

©2021