{𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔪𝔦𝔩𝔩𝔞 𝔵 𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔯}
You were born in a kingdom of supernatural creatures. As a child you were taken from your parents and raised in a private school for young human girls. Since a very young age you became aware that for humans this...
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The dining room was packed with chuckling teenage girls all over the giant dining table, and you were trying to find a place to sit where nobody bothered you and you could eat your breakfast in silence. You passed a group of five sixteen-year-olds who were discussing something exciting, considering the way they were wrapped close to one another. You greeted them, and some raised their hands to say their hellos, too, then went back to talk about whatever they were talking about.
Your two roommates still didn't get down for breakfast because you all went to sleep too late – you were talking; those nightly conversations were the best. But now you decided to start without them because you didn't want to be late for your first class. It was already ten a.m.
This is what Brighton Academy for Young Human Women was like. The whole point of classes that lasted from ten a.m. to six p.m. was to prepare human girls for life outside these walls, in the world of supernatural creatures. The lessons where you learned about history, literature, art, philosophy, alchemy, and mechanics were meant to not only broaden your horizons but also to make you an intelligent, more well-rounded and well-mannered companion for your future "familiar." Your teachers and headmistress used the term "familiar," and most students saw nothing wrong with that. Still, you knew it would be more accurate to call your future possessor a master, slaver – there would be no equality in that relationship.
There were other more practical classes where you learned how to sew, cook, clean around, and basic survival things, like how to satisfy a witch or how not to panic when your vampire familiar drinks your blood without asking because, of course, that happens a lot. You despised those classes where, essentially, you had to learn how to survive and not be killed by the one who decided to own you. But you still attended every single one of them because you knew there was no other way around it.
One shady thing about the academy's relation to the paranormal outside was that in order for this school to survive, they needed money. Since new girls flooded this doorstep practically every month, the capital would soon become stale. Fortunately, there was a resort – supernatural creatures, especially vampires, were ready to pay ridiculous amounts of money for one of these girls, whom you still found a hard time identifying with. It wasn't a humans-for-sale thing, and you knew it was the best you could get. The idea that death was just around the corner if nobody cared for you was a daily fright, like a black cloud hovering over your head. You learned how to live with it, despite it. Everybody learned. It was better to believe that what awaits is a bright future with an intense and scary vampire that would love you and take care of you rather than be scared you'd get killed as soon as you leave the headmaster's care.
You didn't want to leave the school. It was your safe haven. You knew everything here. The outside world was a scary and unknown place. Every time some creature came over to see all of you and pick one to take with them, you prayed to God it wasn't you.
