A Shade of Vampire

by Bella Forrest

  “She isn’t yours to feast on.”

  “I found her!”

  “You found her for Derek.”

  I was already busy musing over what these words implied. Great. Save me from one vampire so that another can sup on me instead. I wasn’t too preoccupied, however, to ignore the change of expression on Lucas’s face at the mention of this Derek person.

  “She’s one girl, Vivienne. What harm would it do to take one girl for myself? I always get to keep the lovelies I find on these hunts. Always.”

  “You already have plenty of beautiful women in your quarters. You need not keep this one. Corrine made it clear that the young women found tonight are to be reserved for when Derek wakes up.”

  Lucas eyed me intently. He was looking at me so closely that I was sure he was already well-acquainted with every single mole and freckle on my face.

  I could see his Adam’s apple move as he gulped, deprived of the morsel he was so desperate to have – me. I wasn’t sure what to feel. I was relieved to escape Lucas, but was also filled with dread over who Derek was. There was no guarantee that he would be any better than my current captor.

  Lucas once again took my face in his hands and traced his thumb over my lips.

  “This fragile little twig couldn’t possibly be the one. I don’t understand why everyone seems to worship the ground Corrine walks on. No matter what that witch says, Sleeping Beauty has shown no signs of waking up any time soon.”

  “Derek will wake up soon. The sooner you accept that, the better off we’ll all be.”

  “I’m your brother too. Why do you constantly choose him over me?”

  “Despite what you think, it has nothing to do with the fact that he’s my twin. It has everything to do with who you are and who he is. I love you, brother, but you must accept that you weren’t meant to rule.” Her words were spoken gently, but firmly, an unmistakable hint of affection coming with every utterance.

  I could see the pain in Lucas’s eyes at the bold statements coming from his own sister. At that point, I knew I must have truly gone mad, because I actually felt sorry for him. I knew what he felt, what it was like to have no one on your side. I didn’t think anyone deserved to feel that way.

  He quickly reminded me, however, that he was my tormentor and made me completely reconsider my stand in the matter. Whatever anger or sadness he felt, he took out on me. He clamped one hand over my neck, constricting my breathing. A claw protruded from the thumb he had over my lips and he began pressing the end of it over my mouth. I couldn’t help but whimper as his sharp nail drew a small line of blood over my sensitive lower lip.

  “Lucas! Stop it!” Vivienne once again raised her voice in reprimand.

  He let go of me, allowing me to gasp for breath. He backed away and stared down at me like I was the most disgusting thing he’d ever seen in his life.

  “I’m just trying to help you wake your beloved Derek up, Vivienne. Take this little minx to him and make her kiss the Sleeping Beauty. The taste of her blood just might wake the prince up.”

  He began to head for the door, but stopped to glare at his sister before completely heading off.

  “Isn’t that how you think all this is going to play out when he wakes up? Just like a fairy tale?”

  I can’t express how relieved I felt when he finally left the room. The words exchanged by the siblings remained in my head, but I was too overcome by emotion to even attempt to make sense out of them. My knees were shaking so I gave in and sank to the ground before finally looking up to see what exactly Vivienne looked like.

  If I thought Lucas could be beautiful, Vivienne was even more stunning to behold. She was a couple of inches shorter than her brother, but had the same dark hair and pale complexion. Her eyes, however, were different. Against the light in the room, her eyes almost looked violet, with hints of deep purple.

  She was eyeing me warily, as if I was a heavy burden that she had to bear.

  “Thank you,” I told her, genuinely meaning it even though I had no idea what she had in store for me.

  There was a deadpan expression on her face as she looked at me.

  “Understand, girl, that you are nothing here. You’re nothing but a pawn, a piece used to make the board move. Your best chance at survival and proving your significance is to win Derek’s affections. Considering everything I know about my brother, I’m not sure that’s even possible.”

  Her words dealt my hope a final crushing blow. She made it perfectly clear that wherever this place called the Blood Shade was, I had no allies. No friends. I had only myself to rely on. That, I thought, was the most frightening aspect of my predicament. After all, how could I rely on someone whom I couldn’t trust?

  Chapter 4: Derek

  The moment my eyes shot open, I could hear everything, smell everything, feel everything within at least a quarter mile radius around me. I was sure that the sensation alone would bring my body into complete shock, until my vision settled on a familiar face. The woman I had trusted enough to provide my escape from everything.

  “Cora?”

  It was strange. The last thing I remembered was Cora’s face as I’d faded off into slumber. It felt like I had only slept for a few moments before being jolted awake. I wondered if something had gone wrong with the spell. Looking at the witch, I couldn’t help but wonder how it was possible that she looked younger. I found my answer when the buxom beauty with light brown skin and long, cascading locks of chestnut hair shook her head.

  “I’m not Cora. I’m Corrine.”

  I lifted myself up from the slab of stone that served as my resting place…for how long, I could only muse. I took in my surroundings - I was in a candlelit hall with marble floors and giant pillars. The first word that came to mind when I surveyed the place was sanctuary.

  I eyed the young woman I was alone in the room with, wary of her intentions. It took a moment for her strange clothes to register. I became aware of how I was dressed and realized that perhaps more time had passed than I initially thought. At that point, it didn’t really matter.

  The bottom line was that I wasn’t supposed to wake up. Ever.

  Contemptuous that I would wake when I so explicitly asked to be given an escape from which I would never wake, I shouted a command as prince of the Blood Shade.

  “I want to see Cora. Bring her to me.”

  I hated the authoritative tone my voice naturally took on. Who was I to issue commands? I was no prince – much less the savior Vivienne painted me to be.

  The prophecy she spoke soon after we were turned into vampires immediately haunted me as I recalled it.

  The younger will rule above father and brother and his reign alone can provide his kind true sanctuary.

  I still remember the look on Vivienne’s face when she uttered those words. More than that, I saw the expressions of my father and brother. Resentment.

  I snapped myself out of the bout of nostalgia I was sinking into and raised a brow at the woman before me. Why isn’t she moving? I was surprised by my own indignation at the idea of her not immediately jumping on my order.

  Despite my misgivings about ruling, I wasn’t used to others not obeying me. After a hundred years of fighting for survival and leading my coven to the Blood Shade, I’d grown accustomed to being revered and followed. I wasn’t sure I liked that about myself, but it was what it was.

  “Would you like us to dig her grave up, your highness? I doubt her corpse will do much good to clarify whatever questions you have in mind.”

  I grimaced. Your highness. A reminder of the day my father took to heart the coven’s silly notion to establish himself as king of the Blood Shade. However, the title did not bother me as much as the news of Cora’s demise and this young woman’s manner of addressing me. I swallowed hard as I grabbed the edges of the stone slab I was then sitting on.

  The sensations coursing through my veins made it clear exactly what my body was crying for at the moment. Blood. I was famished for blood. Another
bitter reminder of the past I meant to escape when I gave the witch permission to put a sleeping curse on me.

  Desperate to divert my thoughts to other matters, I shifted my gaze toward Corrine.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m the witch of the Blood Shade, descendant of the great witch, Cora.”

  I paused, keeping my eyes on her. That information alone commanded my respect. No wonder she speaks to me as she does. If she was Cora’s descendent, it was better to keep her as ally rather than foe. I heaved a sigh, not quite sure I wanted to hear the answer to my next question.

  “What century is it?”

  “The twenty-first.”

  I removed my gaze from her as I let that information register. Four hundred years. I escaped for four hundred years.

  Corrine began circling me like a damned vulture. I could sense her distrust. She was scrutinizing me, perhaps wondering what my awakening meant for the Blood Shade.

  I wanted to tell her that it meant nothing, because I fully intended to escape from it all over again. But there were so many questions running through my mind, although I was uncertain if I really wanted to hear the answers to them.

  “Why am I awake?”

  “It’s simply time.”

  I clenched my fists. “Time for what?”

  “For Derek Novak to stop acting like a coward and face what he was meant to do. Rule.”

  My jaw tightened, my teeth gritted. “I didn’t ask for this.”

  “Neither did any of us, but if his highness is entertaining any notions of going back to his dreamy reprieve, then I suggest you forget them now, Prince. Until you’ve played your part, there’s no means of escape. Cora made certain of that.”

  “What do you mean…”

  Before I could finish my question, the double doors made of fine acacia swung open and my older brother, Lucas, and my twin sister, Vivienne, strode into the chamber.

  Lucas gave me a curt nod. I nodded back. That was the closest we ever got to showing each other brotherly affection.

  Vivienne, on the other hand, threw her arms around my neck, whispering how glad she was that I was finally awake.

  I couldn’t keep myself from telling her exactly what I felt. “That makes one of us.”

  And then it happened. I could feel my gut clench in an excruciating twist. The smell was overwhelming – practically intoxicating. When I saw them, I couldn’t help but wonder whose idea it was to bring about this sort of cruelty upon my wake.

  As my sister stepped aside to allow me full view, I remembered everything. I remembered why it was so important for me to stay asleep.

  Five beautiful young women – innocents – no older than I was when I became a vampire, stood before me. I could sense their fear and the predator in me was desperate for release. I hated myself for it, but I wanted nothing more than to suck every last drop of blood out of every single one of them.

  Chapter 5: Sofia

  My eyes were glued to the young man Vivienne was embracing only moments ago. There was no question in my mind that it was him. He was the one Vivienne told Lucas that I was here for. He was the one the guards and servants were whispering about. He was Derek Novak.

  Soon after Vivienne left me inside the dungeon, guards arrived to bring me to another area of the place they called the Blood Shade. I and several other women around my age were brought out of a network of underground caves they called The Cells. I assumed it was the Shade’s prison system of sorts. My first instinct was to try to figure out where we were.

  All I saw were the tallest trees I ever laid my eyes on – I assumed they were giant redwoods that I’d read about in books. They surrounded us on all sides except for one – our side – which from what I saw, consisted of a huge mountain range, whose ragged cliffs spelled danger. It was in the intricate cave system of this mountain range that they managed to carve out dungeons that they kept us all in. I was impressed by how they were able to pull it off, but I couldn’t help but wonder if human blood was shed in turning the Cells into a reality.

  From the Cells, the guards ordered us girls to form a single line and follow them as they guided us onto a well-traveled dirt pathway right into the dark, murky wood. My teeth were chattering as they herded us beneath the shadows of the wiry tree branches. It wasn’t really the cold that was making me shudder, though the howling wind really wasn’t helping – especially taking into consideration the outfit I had on. It was just that everything about the forest we were in, reminded me of those I read about in fairy tales – home to big bad wolves and nocturnal creatures waiting to devour any unfortunate passerby. At that point, I regretted ever watching horror movies, because I was pretty much certain that we were being led to some sort of awful, grisly death. Under the mercy of vampires. I shut my eyes and shook the thought away. It really wasn’t helping my predicament.

  It had probably been less than ten minutes, but it felt as though we’d been walking for hours by the time an exit from that haunted wood came into view. We stepped into a large clearing, which from a quick perusal of what was around, seemed to be situated right at the very center of a massive forest.

  “This, lovelies,” one of the guards spoke up, without bothering to hide how he was leering at every single one of us, “is the Vale.”

  I wondered what fate awaited us there. Still keenly aware of the dread I felt, I found myself making way for a new feeling inside: awe. The dirt path we were trekking along eventually led us to a cobblestone street that was teeming with life. It was obviously some sort of hub for trade based on the people milling about the place, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to go to market at this unholy hour of the night.

  I almost forgot my fear for a moment as my eyes widened with fascination. Parts of the Vale looked like a town that had popped right out of the medieval era. The streets were lit by burning lanterns. Thatched roofs, clay exteriors, tents housing a variety of wares. Some buildings, on the other hand, made me tilt my head to the side, wondering what exactly they were for, considering their unique geometric and angular architectural designs. It was almost as if we were in a town that managed to mix the past and the future in one place and I began wondering how long it had been since the Vale first came into existence.

  We took about half a dozen turns through the maze of streets until we were led to the front door of a two-storey building, whose exteriors were painted with a variety of cool pastel colors. I couldn’t help but notice how out-of-place it was compared to the overall dark vibe I was getting from the rest of Blood Shade. We were ushered through the double glass doors and I found myself utterly confused. I was expecting to be brought to some sort of dungeon or interrogation room – some place dark and foreboding. Instead, we were brought to a… spa. The smell of jasmine and lavender, the sound of gushing fountains, the cool, rhythmic music… I had no idea what to make of the whole thing. It almost felt as if I were in the spa Ben often dragged me to for massages on vacation.

  I soon learned that they called the place “The Baths”. Upon entering the building’s lobby, the guards immediately handed us over to the care of several women, whom I assumed were in their mid-twenties. From there on, each of us were ushered into a series of beauty regimens – including a warm bath, massages, manicures, pedicures and facials. We were perfumed with scents that I found absolutely intoxicating. Finally, wearing white silken robes, we were led into a dressing room where a dark-haired young woman handed us parcels that contained what we were to wear. I felt my gut clench when I saw the lacy lingerie and the pearl white gown I had been given. It dawned on me suddenly what all these beauty treatments were for. They were preparing us for him. I found myself shaking as I put on the clothes, the gown hugging my curves at just the right places. I checked the way I looked in front a full-length mirror and drew a breath. I couldn’t remember ever feeling more beautiful than I did at that moment, and yet, I felt nothing but absolute dread. I had a sinister feeling that it was likely not to a young girl’s advantag
e to look stunning at the Shade.

  “You look gorgeous,” the dark-haired woman who handed us our clothes told me, as she helped zip up my dress from the back.

  “What’s all this for?” I asked in a hoarse whisper. “Why are we being dolled up like this?”

  Seeing her through the reflection on the mirror, the sadness that traced her pretty, round face didn’t escape my notice.

  “Rumors are that you girls are to be part of the prince’s harem. All of the Blood Keep’s Elite have harems of their own. You girls are lucky enough to be chosen to serve the legendary Derek Novak himself. That’s all I can reveal to you, but one thing I do know for sure is that you can’t afford to displease the prince.”

  She brushed a gentle hand over my auburn hair, arranging it so that it fell perfectly in place. “But don’t worry… considering how stunning you look, I doubt it will difficult for you to please him.” She then walked away, making it clear that she wasn’t willing to say anything more.

  Please him. Shivers ran through my bones as questions about my fate began flooding my mind. Being a member of anyone’s “harem” sounded terrifying to me, but I knew that prying for more answers would most likely lead someone – most likely, myself – into trouble. So, I had to make do with keeping my ears open to the hushed whispers being exchanged around me. All I gathered was that the prince had been asleep for hundreds of years and that “the vampires” see him as some sort of “savior”.

  I also realized that the women dolling us up were all humans. I wondered if they too were kidnapped like I was.

  Once we were ready, the guards who had escorted us to “The Baths” came for us. I’ll never forget the look on the face of one of the guards when he saw us.

  “The prince is one lucky bastard,” he muttered beneath his breath, before instructing us to stand up and follow them.

  We were led back along the Vale’s cobblestone streets. This time, however, I was too overcome by anxiety to bother admiring the town’s breath-taking structures. I kept my eyes downcast, mulling over what fate lay in store for us. It wasn’t long before we were led to an exit on a different side of the town. We once again found ourselves being herded through the forest. Thankfully, it only took about a couple of minutes walking through the murky woods before we reached another clearing. There was only one structure that presented itself to us – a temple of sorts, with white exterior and a cavern-like roof. Under the moonlight, the whiteness of the building almost looked like it was shining amidst the black of night surrounding it.