3. Vesper
Vampires. Once, a millennia ago, thought to be cursed, they had somehow changed society in a way that left them at the top and all those weaker than them beneath them.
They looked down on humans like me. Saw us as blood bags with no use other than food and fucking. The time I spent preparing for this mission at Prince Icas’s house only made me resent them more.
I had seen too many of them. Especially the spoiled and rich ones. Seen them as they tore apart their victim’s neck as others watched for sport and then laughed when their limp body fell to the ground. Seen them as they forced themselves onto humans while they were in that lustful haze the venom left on them.
That’s why people employed families like mine. Hate ran deep throughout this world. Humans hated vampires. Vampires took them down a peg whenever they thought they’d gotten too cocky. Humans fought back through people like me.
It was a cycle, repeated over and over again. Job after job. There was never an end.
The prince was merely a stepping stone for my bigger plans, but a necessary one that would open a door for me. But once the door was open, I would be on my own.
“I heard the princess gets her pick of us,” one of the guards seated next to me whispered to his companion. He had been relatively quiet the entire ride until that moment. I remember him vaguely from the time at the prince’s palace. In one of the training groups.
Before they even allowed us to apply for jobs as the prince’s guards, they had us go through rigorous training. Over half the people who applied didn’t make it through the three required rounds.
And even if you did, a person was not guaranteed a good position. Though it wouldn’t do me any good to gain too much attention. I had to strike the right balance—high enough in the ranks to save me a spot near the princess without making them suspicious.
The travel van they had packed us into had looked large from the outside, but when all of the princess’s new hand-picked guards had been forced into it, there wasn’t even enough room to breathe without brushing against someone.
The covered tattoo on my neck itched, but the magic was surprisingly quite strong. Not a vampire or human had noticed its presence…yet.
“Do you think she’ll feed on us?” another asked, his voice sounding a bit too excited. “I heard she’s pretty feisty, and you know how those feedings get.”
There were a few jeers and laughter throughout, none of the words appropriate for a lady of her status.
“Settle!” came the head guard’s voice as he opened the metal window that separated us from those in the driver’s cabin. “Keep it up, and I’ll personally deliver your tongues to her feet.”
His threat shut them up really quick, and the rest of the ride was relatively silent.
It was a gift I didn’t take for granted. I leaned back against the cold metal, my hands gripping the vest of my all-black uniform.
Calm down. They can hear your heart. Most of the humans were nervous. Sweat dripping down their forehead, their hands shaking. That’s all the jokes were. An attempt to put them back on equal footing with those who awaited us inside the walls of the Castle family palace.
We were being used as fodder disguised as a well-meaning gift from one rich family to another. Even if any of us got close to the princess, chances were they would end up drained before my mission was completed.
I closed my eyes and walked through the layout of the palace for the hundredth time since becoming a guard for the Solei family. My whole life had been spent prepping. Months of grueling training to fit into these ranks for the chance of being handed off to the Castle family.
All of it leading up to the very moment where he would hand us over to her.
You will carry this family’s legacy, Vesper. My father’s words played through my head during the times when hatred started to seep into the cracks. When my body started to feel like it was on fire and my jaw clenched so hard, my teeth threatened to crack. When only thoughts of murder and pain brought me comfort.
They centered me. Reminded me of what my job was. My last job.
One that would forever change the fabric of this society, or so the seer had foretold. It was what I was born to do. What I existed for. My family had given up so much to ensure that I was the one who would be able to bring honor to the family’s contracting business.
Not my brother. Not my father. Me. The seer had chosen me.
The truck stopped abruptly, causing many of the men to jostle into each other. Their grumbled complaints were muted underneath the sound of footsteps exiting from other vans around us. The double doors were pulled open, and we were forced out with shouts from our superior.
I was the first due to being near the exit. It was strategic. It forced me to the front of the line as they positioned us behind the prince and his personal staff.
The gravel crushed underneath our booted feet, the guards choosing not to let us on the brick patch before the prince. He looked at the palace without even trying to conceal his glee. His stance oozed a cocky confidence that I’m sure vampires of his status loved.
My eyes wandered over the trunks of gold and jewels as they were carried out of his car. There wasn’t much stacks of cash could do for a family like the Castles. They were rich, old, and powerful. The prince would need something more concrete to make him look good in their eyes.
After all, what else could they even think to ask for?
Though I’m sure in their world, this would cause any vampire princess to swoon. To be lavished and handed more money than she could ever need.
And blood.
His personal staff showed the wealth, and the guards?
They showed the blood. We were here to be of use to the princess. Protect her as an extension of the Solei family. But those men had been right. The princess’s family could protect her, we were here for her bloodlust. As a show that the Solei family was willing to give fresh humans. But not any humans. Strong and healthy humans that would drop in a moment’s notice and offer her their neck.
And I would be just that.
It was why I was first. Why I had freshly washed and styled my hair. Why I had soaked my uniform in a lavender wash two days before. It was why I had a witch enchant the tattoo of my family’s crest on my neck.
So maybe I would entice the monster just enough that she would be willing to have me on her staff.
I let my gaze wander to the palace beyond. A power show. Something that looked to come straight out of a dark fairytale rather than vampire royalty. It spanned stories with shimmering windows, but the blackness of the bricks and the shadows the forest around us cast showed its true nature, no matter how many shiny embellishments the family made to it.
“Follow the prince,” one of our leaders said as they motioned us forward. “Step out of line, and your first job is as a blood bag.”
The already silent guards had nothing to say about this threat. Their nerves were palpable, filling the air and causing a tenseness to run through the crowd.
The prince led us up the long brick entrance and between the hundreds of rows of red roses. Their overpowering smell tickled my nose. The pounding footsteps of the guards walking in sync echoed throughout the courtyard but softened when we reached the expensive marble steps.
The doors were open for us. There were people already waiting with their heads bowed and lined up to lead us down the long outdoor hallway to the throne room.
A welcoming show that none of us would have gotten to experience if we had not given our bodies to these families.
I tried not to be amazed by the inside. Tried not to let the awe rise in my chest as I took in the carefully crafted space. The inner courtyard was filled with black roses, trimmed bushes, and marble pathways. Columns carved with images of the vampire goddess Krae were everywhere, all in different renditions but beautiful nonetheless.
The walls surrounding the inner court were tall enough to cast wide shadows over the palace.
Making it an easy place to hide.
I caught a few glowing red eyes in the dark corners, watching me exactly like I had been watching them. They were in all-black uniforms, much like we were, but there was something about them that made me believe they probably weren’t the normal guards the family employed.
The prince was the first to walk into the throne room. We followed him shortly, filing into the room that barely had enough space to fit us all.
Just like the Solei family, the throne room was for show more than anything else. Stairs led up to the single throne. Stained glass with more depictions of Krae stood behind them. And right in the very middle, there they were. Poised, well-groomed, and ready for political matchmaking.
The vampire obsession with royalty was nothing I ever understood.
In modern day, they held the wealthy, and even some countries, in a chokehold. But the crowns? The thrones? The extravagant ball gowns?
It was all too much.
The prince dropped into a low bow, placing one arm behind his back and another at his stomach. We followed his show of submission. Instead of copying his stance, though, we picked something much more fitting for our stature.
We kneeled to the ground and placed our foreheads against the cool marble. No simple bow would do. Some struggled to contort their bodies as fast as the others, their mistakes already determining their fate even before we were offered to the princess.
“I, Icas Solei, come to propose marriage to Princess Aurelia Castle,” he said, his voice ringing out loud and clear. “I have brought jewels and gifts, as well as fifty guards, at your disposal if you accept. On our wedding day, I plan to triple anything you receive from me today.”
Seconds ticked by. Five, ten, twenty. What were they waiting for? The silence pulled my gaze up, even if my mind told me not to look.
There was a single throne where the king sat while his daughter, and who I assumed were his wife and child, stood by his side.
Even the princess didn’t get a throne.
Another show of who actually held the power in the family.
She was beautiful. Long, soft brown locks flowed down her back, her head topped with a simple yet elegant diamond and ruby tiara. She wore a deep bloodred dress that was accentuated with real gold throughout and hugged her shape before flowing out behind her. To top it off, she had a huge ruby placed in the hollow of her throat, the contrast between the jewel and her skin striking. It twinkled with each breath she took.
But her beauty wasn’t what shocked me.
It was her striking blue eyes…that were staring right at me.
My breath caught in my throat, and my heart began to pound in my chest. I had come here with a simple goal, but never did I imagine that I would garner her attention so fast.
I almost couldn’t believe it. Suspicion rose in my belly.
Had I done it?
What would happen because of it, I did not know. But what I did know is that it was the first step in enacting the carefully laid-out path that had been determined for me at my birth.
I was going to kill Princess Aurelia.