CHAPTER 4
Aimee
Ipush open the backdoor to the courtyard, and my little feet slap the wooden planks of the porch as I take off in a sprint towards the big shed in the back.
It’s the middle of the summer in Vroni, and the air is already warm and sweet in the early hours of the morning.
The grass tickles my toes, and I’m so giddy to see my new best friend.
My only friend, with chocolate brown fur, the shade almost as my hair.
The puppy was a gift from grandma for my birthday a few weeks ago.
Well, actually, I found him near our townhouse and brought him in, and grandma said I could keep him, although daddy disagreed.
But grandma said yes, and daddy isn’t around that much either, always being held in Ibrok for court dealings.
I named him Chip, like the chocolate chip cookies I love to devour, when I can get my hands on one.
Not that it happens often, but sometimes I sneak into the kitchen at night and steal one cookie from the fresh batch the servants left to cool down.
Not more, so nobody would find out. My sister would get so mad at me for eating her cookies, and I try to stay on her good side, although I’m thinking she doesn’t really have one.
Chip is such a cute pup, small and fluffy, and we play all day long. I’m allowed to stay with him during the daytime, but he has to sleep in the shed, as doggies have no business sleeping in the house, according to the adults. Silly rules.
Today, I’ll take him to the lake, so we can chase some birds and play fetch with sticks we find along the road.
My steps falter as I get closer to the shed. The air around me feels thicker somehow, and through the slightly ajar door I can hear little whimpers. My heart slams against my chest as I push the heavy door with my chubby hands.
Where is Chip? Why is he not greeting me with joyful barks, jumping on his back legs and giving me sloppy kisses, like he usually does?
Where is that whimpering coming from?
That’s when I see him in a corner, his little body slumped on the ground, blood gushing from several wounds. He senses me, his big eyes sagging in relief.
No. No. NO! What happened?
“Chip!” I break into a run towards his slouched form, but just before I reach him, my twin steps out from the shadows, pure malice on her face.
“What’s wrong, sister of mine? Something wrong with your mutt?” She steps on his front paw, making his little body jerk in pain.
“Aurora, noooo! Please, no. He’s just a puppy…” My tears are streaming down my face, and I try to scoop him in my arms.
“Stay where you are, filth, or I’ll break his neck.”
My movement freezes, and I stare at her in horror. She wouldn’t, would she? My sister is always mean to me, pulling on my hair, tripping me any chance she gets, calling me nasty names, but she wouldn’t kill a poor defenseless soul.
“Look at you two. Such a pair. A broken dog for a broken girl.” She twists her foot, and Chip releases another whimper, his big, doe eyes begging me for help.
“Aurora, please. Don’t hurt him. Hurt me, but not him. He has done nothing bad; he’s just a puppy,” I sob. My tears mingle with snot on my face, and I use the sleeve of my dress to clean them. “Why are you doing this?”
“Why? WHY?” She laughs, her voice grating on my ears.
“You are nothing and deserve nothing, filth. You thought you could bring this mutt home and that you finally had someone to love you? Ha! Nobody loves you, broken girl. I will always make sure nobody loves you!” she says and moves her foot from his paw to his neck.
I’m paralyzed, my body heavy as lead, watching Aurora push her foot harder and twisting until there’s a loud crunching sound and Chip’s body goes rigid, his eyes going glassy immediately.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
I wake up with a jolt, my heart hammering and sweat trickling down my neck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I quickly assess my whereabouts, Khain sleeping soundly in the bed next to me. I press a clammy hand against my chest, willing my heart to slow down and forcing my breath to even out.
My fight-or-flight response kicks in, and I’m desperate to get away from here. To safety. The walls are closing in on me, and I might just die if I don’t scramble out of this bed now.
I can’t go back to sleep.
I can’t stay here any longer.
Careful not to wake up the beautiful Fae next to me, I slide from the sheets and grab my discarded clothes from the floor, pulling them on haphazardly.
Fucking hell, that specific memory has not haunted me in a while. I grab my heels in one hand and tiptoe to the door, throwing him one last glance before I exit the room.
I was almost nine years old when that particular shitshow occurred. It was the first time, and the last time, that I tried to have something meaningful of my own.
A friend.
An innocent soul to love me unconditionally.
A beautiful soul, dead because of me.
Because I was young and stupid and selfish, thinking that maybe I deserved more than the blaring neglect I was getting from everyone around me.
Sure, my grandma loved me, but she also loved Aurora, and she believed she couldn’t hurt a fly, just like everybody else. We reminded her so much of mom, her daughter who died in childbirth. We reminded dad of her too, but he never showed us love, not really.
He was mostly absent, and when he was there, he was strict and rigid with Aurora, drilling into her since she could barely walk her future purpose in life, to defeat the Vampire King.
His attention, although hard and unyielding on her, was something I craved desperately and was deprived of.
I didn’t exist for him. I was just the magicless child that caused mother’s death.
Another guilt I carry around with me through this pathetic life.
And then there was my twin, the one person who was supposed to be by my side for as long as we lived.
She was supposed to be my confidante, my rock, my shoulder to cry on.
Instead, she was the sole reason I would cry at night soundlessly under the blankets.
I can’t even remember a time when Aurora didn’t hate me with a scary ferocity.
I used to wonder what I had done to deserve such unspeakable cruelty, but as I grew older, I gave up trying to understand.
I accepted the reality that some people are born evil, just as others are born weak.
My grandmother died the following year of faemonia, a terrible disease that eats you from the inside out, and things took a turn for the worse.
While grandma was alive, my sister would find ways to torment me that were, well, child-play.
And she would sweet-talk her way out of anything.
My bruises? Oh, poor Aimee, she’s just clumsy.
She has two left feet and a frail body. The puppy incident?
Oh, some predator must have entered the shed at night and killed the helpless animal.
But after grandma died, there was nobody left to care for me, to offer me a warm smile or a kind word. Just torment after torment, each abuse more soul-wrenching than the last, until I ran away as far as I could, and never looked back.
The frigid air hits me all at once as soon as I step out of the Twinkling Meadow.
I should have stopped long enough to grab a cloak from the changing room, but it’s too late now.
I’m not going back. I’m vaguely aware that I’ve also left my trusted dagger behind, and it feels wrong to walk out in the open unprotected.
But there is no way in hell I can turn around now.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” I say to myself. “Just make a run for it. You can get your dagger back tomorrow.”
I start running through the empty streets, the night still thick and menacing.
The clouds cover the sky, not letting the moonlight cast its shine on the cobbled roads.
At least this way, nobody still up at this ungodly hour will see me in the darkness, running only in my bejeweled bra and thong.
Just a few more turns and I will reach home, where I can barricade myself in the safety of my room, and focus on banishing the nightmare.
I’m so lost in my thoughts, in the thudding of my heart, and in the sour taste in my mouth, that I don’t realize right away that something is off. The silence is eerie, as if the entire world is holding its breath in the presence of a mighty predator.
Two outlines seem to peel themselves off from the shadows on the buildings in front, and come to stand in the middle of the road, bringing my feet to an abrupt stop.
Two sets of bloody red eyes watch me in unison, the vampires’ faces not betraying anything. Shit, I recognize the one on the left. It’s the same damned creature that bumped into me in the crowd yesterday. The same arrogant smirk, standoffish posture, and coffee-brown long braids.
My blood freezes in my veins. That was no coincidence then.
I try to assess my whereabouts, taking one step, two steps behind me, but I bump into a hard chest. They grab my hands, forcing them to my back, and cold stone bands clasp unforgivingly to my wrists.
I thrash in my captor’s hold, kicking my feet backwards, trying to hit him in his shins, but it’s no use.
I’m overpowered in two moves, another reminder that I am just a powerless girl with no magic.
“Let me go, you fucking bloodsuckers! You can have your fill of blood from anyone willing in this town. I am not your dinner.” Seething, I stare at the vampires dead in their soulless eyes. I will not show them fucking fear, even though I feel it consuming my insides.
“Well, of course you’re not, pretty princess,” the creature on the left says, smirking at me, showing off just the tip of his fangs.
“We haven’t been scouring the lands for you for so long, just for a quick bite.
Although your neck does look tempting.” His laugh is full of malice, and he gestures to the one behind me.
“Lukha, secure our asset for transportation.”
What the fuck do they want then? Before I can gather my wits about me, they shove a cloth against my nose and mouth. A pungent, acrid smell fills my nostrils. The world tilts on its axis, my body swaying, and my knees hit hard on the pavement, before darkness swallows me whole.
“He’s going to be pleased,” is the last thing I hear before I lose consciousness.