As the wind died, my hair fell feathery and silky soft against my shoulders.
The glass door opened ahead of me and I stumbled out of the machine, spotting a row of fluffy white gowns hanging on a railing. I snatched one and wrapped myself in it, my cheeks still flooding hot from the strange grooming I'd just experienced.
I bent forward, sliding a hand over the smoothness of my calf with a breath of confusion. Why on earth were they doing this to us?
One by one, all of the girls stepped into the chamber and went through the same process. I took it upon myself to hand out gowns as they entered the room, looking wide-eyed and afraid.
The blonde girl I'd tried to talk to was the last to arrive and I held up a dressing gown for her so she could quickly slip into it.
“Thanks,” she breathed and I nodded, a pathetic excuse for a smile tugging at my lips. “I'm Paige.”
“Montana,” I breathed.
“Quiet,” one of the vampires snapped as he marched through the chamber followed by the others. “Keep moving.” He pointed at the way ahead; a white corridor leading out of sight.
My gut prickled with nerves. What if we were being herded to the slaughter? Were they having us wash so our bodies were clean when it came to the butcher's axe?
No, they won't kill us. Vampires don't kill, they drain.
My stomach roiled and I fought for my courage as I hurried along with the other girls into the corridor.
We were escorted into another room where racks of dresses sat across from a wall of mirrors, all lit by bright bulbs. I scoured the place, confused as a female vampire appeared beyond the dresses. She was clad in a black jumpsuit that showed off her toned arms. A set of shiny heels peeked beneath it, clicking across the tiled floor as she moved.
“Hello, my name's Felicia. I'm here to look after you,” she said in a disarmingly soft tone that I refused to let fool me. “Please pick out some underwear and an outfit then come to me when you're dressed. You will need to look your absolute best so be sure to choose something that suits your body shape. If you need some advice, just let me know.” She waved her hands at the vampires behind us and they reluctantly left us to it, shutting the door behind them.
Some of the girls floated toward the dresses but I remained in place, scowling at the vampire.
“What's this for?” I asked and she gave me a sweet smile.
“You're going to see the royal family.” She beamed as if that was a wonderful treat for all of us.
My breathing hitched. The Elites thought so much of themselves that they actually had a royal family? It was a joke. What did they want with us anyway? Weren't we just a food supply? I didn't want to parade in front of them in a stupid dress.
The girls continued to tug on the slinky dresses, some knee-length and others long but low-cut. I'd never seen anything like the clothes. And it was obvious our hair-free skin was meant to be shown off in them.
I approached a stack of underwear, pulling on the most simple black pairing I could find amongst the lace and silk.
When I was done, I wrapped my fluffy gown back around me, gazing at the girls in dresses designed to belittle us further. With a breath of decision, I turned to the vampire. “I'm not wearing one.”
Felicia’s eyes practically popped out of her head. “Oh my dear, but you must! Come over here, perhaps you'll feel better once your face is done.”
“What?” I had no idea what that meant, but approached her all the same, eyeing an array of dark and light powders before her on a table next to some coloured sticks.
“What is this?” I asked, cringing away from it.
“Just hold still,” Felicia encouraged, dabbing a brush in a dish of pale liquid. I stiffened as she brushed it against my cheeks, the sensation strangely affectionate as she continued to paint my face.
Weird weird weird.
She used powders next, then picked up a brush dipped in black liquid that she carefully pushed against my lashes. When she ran a red gloss over my lips, I'd had enough, drawing away to the nearest mirror as one of the other girls took my place.
I could count on one hand the amount of times I'd seen my full reflection. Mirrors were a luxury in the Realm and the tiny cracked one my family owned had hardly shown anything of our bodies. And why would I care about looking at myself anyway?
Now...staring at my face painted to hide blemishes and enhance my features, I grew angry.
My blood boiled, my face itched to remove the stuff plastered to it. I brought up the sleeve of my robe and started rubbing. It didn't come off easily and left me with two streaks of the black stuff from my eyes bleeding down my cheeks.
My face was a mess, but I didn't give a damn. I threw a look over at Felicia whose eyes widened in alarm.
“For the love of the gods!” she gasped. “What have you done? Come, let me fix it.” She ushered me toward her and I cringed away.
“No,” I snarled. “What's this all for? Why are you dressing us up and trying to make us look like- like-” I struggled to find the end of that sentence but then it hit me like a heart attack. “Like you.” Like vampires with their glossy hair and perfect skin.
Paige finally spoke up. “She's right, what's this about?” Her tone was strong and it gave me hope. Maybe I'd find an ally in her yet.
More murmured questions sounded from the girls until Felicia slammed her hand down on the table to shut us up.
“Enough,” she hissed. “You are to be presented to the royals! They will not be pleased if you haven't made an appropriate amount of effort.”
Fear tempted me toward the dresses, but rebelliousness kept me rooted to the spot. These vampires had ripped me from my home, taken me from my family and now they expected me to please them? Well I sure as hell wasn't going to play along.
A persistent drumming noise sounded beyond the room and Felicia looked at me in alarm. “There's no more time. You'll have to go as you are.”
“Fine by me,” I muttered, falling into line behind the other girls as she led the way through a door.
Another corridor. More white walls.
The drumming grew louder and the sound of a crowd gathered in my ears. Nerves scraped at my veins as a door was thrust open and daylight spilled over us.
I was the last to step out and Felicia snatched the dressing gown from my shoulders as I passed her. My cheeks flamed as she slammed the door behind me.
A thousand eyes stared down at me from a huge stand, rising high up above the stone courtyard we'd been ejected into.
Upon a podium opposite the crowd were four vampires dressed in regal clothes. Three male and one female, all sitting on chalk-white thrones. The youthful-looking woman sat between the painfully handsome men; her head was crowned, her skin glitteringly pale and her hair like sunshine itself. Her dress was cream and flowing, the folds and swathes of silk pooling at her feet.
The men were somehow even more captivating than her. All were dressed in a deep navy uniform with heavy cloaks hanging from their shoulders the colour of the night sky. Swords were hitched to their waists and medals glinted on their chests. Despite their unified clothes, they were all so different, equally beautiful but in their own unique way. Upon their heads were crowns, but none so lavish as the female’s, just simple rings of black metal.
The vampire on the far left had dark blonde hair which was pushed back in a boyish quaff, his jaw square and his eyes two deep pools of a summer sky. Beside him was a vampire with a mane of hazel hair pulled into a tight ponytail at the base of his neck. His cheeks were hollowed out and his nose was a chiselled rectangle. His eyes were two dark pits, but were fair in comparison to the final vampire whose eyes were iron itself.
He stood on the far right of the line-up, his constricted jaw looking as powerful as a weapon. His raven hair was pushed back from a brow smoothed in boredom and stubble clung to cheeks cut from glass. I'd never seen an unshaven vampire and the gritty look it gave him was more punishing than beautiful.
I
trained my eyes on all four of them as they gave us their attention.
What is this about?
A door opened on the opposite side of the courtyard and men stepped out to join us in the courtyard. Humans, all clean-shaven with close-cut hair that was rarely seen in the Realms. Their clothes were the biggest joke of all. Suits, almost as fine as the vampires’. With a spark of recognition, I spotted Frank amongst them, his long mane now cropped short. As his gaze locked with mine, his brows drew together. His mouth turned down at the corner and he gave me a small nod of acknowledgement. Something about his expression planted a seed of courage in my heart.
Felicia appeared on the podium several steps away from the so-called royals, lifting her chin to speak. “Countess Clarice of the New Empire, and Counts Miles, Fabian and Erik I present to you this year's finest human stock of the Realms.” Each of the Counts nodded to their name, marking them in the order they stood from left to right.
Applause broke out from the crowd behind us. I refused to turn, refused to cower like some of the girls did, or even bow low like one girl who was in a dress of rose-gold.
I stared up at the royals, glowering and embracing the semi-nakedness of my body. I wouldn't let them see me cringe from their scouring gazes, or bend my back in any semblance of submission.
Countess Clarice lifted a single finger, winding it through the air. “Spin for us.”
I scowled as some of the men and women complied, turning on their heels in a slow circle. The rest followed. Even Frank did a kind of half-pivot. But not me. I pressed my bare feet to the icy stone and when the entire royal family turned their gaze on me, I fought the flash of fear that struck my heart.
“Turn,” Clarice asked me, softer this time.
I considered obeying, I really did. But as I drank in their opulence, I thought of the cutbacks on our rations. I thought of the vampire jamming a cattle prod into my back. I thought of Callie and Dad and the worn eyes of the people in the Realm. So instead of doing what this Countess said, I hacked up saliva and spat it on the stone floor before me.
Silence stretched so far and wide I feared I'd gone deaf. My heartbeat ticked like a timer in my head, counting down to the inevitable backlash I was surely about to receive.
Erik, the bored looking Count with the penetrating eyes lifted his head, amusement flickering through his gaze. “This is what you call the finest in the Realms, Felicia?” he laughed.
My eyes whipped to Felicia, her composure draining from her head to her spine as she sagged in apology.
Fabian tutted at Erik then turned his back on him. “Make your choice, Miles,” he instructed the blonde Count.
The line of girls shifted uneasily as Miles’ bright blue eyes trailed across us. Some of them dipped their heads or clasped hands with those beside them. I ground my jaw, willing away my fear as I tried to work out what being picked might mean.
Surely nothing good...
“What’s your name?” Miles called down to the group, pointing at a raven-haired girl with ebony skin and large eyes.
She stepped forward, lifting her chin and I noted the defiance in her stance. “Brianna,” she replied, smoothing down her short mauve dress.
“Nice to meet you, Brianna,” Miles said with a sideways grin. He turned to Felicia with a nod, but Brianna spoke up again.
“What’s this about?” she asked and chatter sounded from the crowd behind us.
I threw a glance over my shoulder, taking in the stands filled with vampires. They didn’t look anything like those who patrolled the Realm. They were smiling, leaning in close to one another, seeming enthralled by this whole event.
“We’ll explain everything soon,” Miles replied, his eyes shining with kindness. But I wasn’t fooled. There was something terrifying hiding behind his amiable expression. There had to be.
“I choose Brianna,” Miles called to Felicia and my heart thundered as a guard stepped forward from the edge of the courtyard, taking her arm and guiding her toward a door. As she stepped through it, she glanced back at us with a glimmer of fear in her eyes.
“Countess, are you ready?” Felicia asked Clarice.
The golden-haired vampire beamed as her eyes dragged over the group of men in the courtyard.
“Those two,” Clarice pointed at a tall man with fierce eyes and another with broad shoulders and a shaved head. “Oh and throw in that one.” She pointed to Frank and my heart squeezed. The small moment of unity we’d shared on the aeroplane still seemed important to me. And seeing him chosen made my bones turn to ice.
Two guards escorted the men away, taking them through the same door as Brianna.
Was being chosen better than not being chosen? I had no idea, but the way my skin prickled all over told me I didn’t want to be picked.
“Count Fabian, have you decided?” Felicia asked him and the royal vampire with the long hair stepped forward, his dark eyes whipping across us. As his gaze fell on me, a fire started in my belly.
My shoulders trembled with anger and I prayed he didn’t take it as a sign of weakness.
A small smile tugged at the corner of Fabian’s mouth, twisting his unnaturally stunning face. My gut squirmed and I looked toward the other girls, my eyes falling on Paige. She was biting her lip, gazing back at me with concern.
Fabian followed my gaze to her and his brows arched.
“Name?” he asked, pointing at her.
Paige’s cheeks turned ghostly white as she stepped forward. Sickness gripped my stomach. Had I drawn attention to her?
She cleared her throat and the sound echoed off of the stone walls. “Paige West.”
Fabian tilted his head, giving her a hungry grin before turning his eyes to Felicia. “I’ve made my choice.” At his words, a guard jogged to Paige’s side, taking hold of her arm.
She released a squeak of fright as he led her away and I took a step in her direction, my heart drawing me after her.
Please don’t hurt her.
“Back in line!” a guard snapped at me and I balled my fists as I complied.
Felicia wrung her hands as her eyes wheeled to Erik. “Um, Count Erik, will you be making a choice this year?”
Erik looked up from a device in his hand, having been completely ignoring the world around him in favour of it. “Hm?”
Fabian bared his fangs at him. “She said, are you going to choose this year or will you play your usual games, brother?” he growled and Erik straightened, his cold eyes flaring with irritation.
“I rarely play games, Fabian,” Erik said with a glower. “But when I do, I always win.”
Tension snared the air between them, their rivalry obvious.
Slowly, Erik’s gaze dropped to the line-up of girls and cast briefly over us. When his eyes landed on me, I ground my teeth, glaring calmly back at him.
Pick me and you’ll regret it, vampire.
Erik shrugged, making no choice and a flicker of relief darted through me.
Fabian looked to Felicia with a polite smile. “I think we’re done here-”
“That one,” Erik announced loudly and it took me several long seconds to realise he was pointing at me.
My heart thundered in my ears as his gaze locked with mine and his mouth hooked up into a smirk. “Name?” he demanded without any farce of sweetness.
I didn’t want to give him my name. Doing so felt like offering him a piece of myself. But there was one thing I could give him and that was a reason not to choose me. Because anything had to be better than being picked by this formidable creature. “I’m the girl who will make your life a living hell if you choose her.”
Erik’s eyes glittered with malice. He looked to Felicia with a nod and terror strummed a painful tune in my heart.
“She is clearly disobedient,” Fabian said quickly, seeming concerned. “Choose appropriately, Erik, or do not choose at all.”
My heart rate spiked as I waited for my fate to be decided for me.
Don’t pick me, don’t pick me, don
’t pick me.
“I've made my choice.” Erik gave a half-shrug. “This is the offering and I've chosen a girl from it.”
My breath snagged in my lungs. Why me? Why would he choose me?
Clarice moved between the two brothers, placing a hand on their chests. “She's lovely, she just needs a little TLC.”
Erik smirked and Fabian snarled at him, baring sharp canines. My stomach knotted at the sight.
“Fine,” Fabian snarled, throwing a nod to the guards. One of them approached me at a swift pace and I backed up, shaking my head.
A wild fear took hold of me.
I didn't like the way Erik's metallic eyes followed me, or the way he sneered in my general direction. And as the guard’s hand curled around my wrist, I started fighting, too afraid of what would happen if I let him take me.
I scratched his steely skin, trying to claw his hand off of me and some of the crowd started booing. Panic seized my bones and made my muscles tense.
No no no no.
I dug my heels in as the guard hauled me across the courtyard and shoved me through the door. I stumbled into a white room, finding the chosen ones waiting inside it.
Paige ran to me, sliding her arms around my shoulders. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, but I wasn’t. Not even slightly.
“What do they want with us?” Brianna asked but no one had an answer.
My eyes locked on Frank whose face was taut with despair.
As the sound of the crowd died down beyond the walls, silence trickled over us. No one wanted to voice their concerns. Everyone was tense with worry.
Eventually a door opened on the other side of the room and a woodland became visible beyond the heads of two male guards. “Follow us,” they commanded and Frank led the way as we filed out of the room.
I kept close to Paige and Brianna, moving after them onto a stone pathway that disappeared into the trees. We marched on in silence and I gazed around at the expansive garden, wondering if it was worth trying to run. But the vampires were faster. I’d never outpace them.
Eternal Reign (Age of Vampires Book 1) Page 9
