Blood & Honey #1

VG~Chapter One

Year 573 on the Valderan Calendar ~ The Dark Prince and his Mate have been ruling for the past 1500 years over the humans who infest the Earth.

Fallen leaves have turned the forest floor into a painting splattered with reds and yellows of all different shades. There is a hint of winter tangled in the breeze that swirls the treetops, sending more of fall's butterflies soaring into the air before they land silently on the ground and become a part of nature's canvas.

"Are you sure we should be out here?" I ask, struggling to keep up with Narran and Vera.

"You humans are all such scaredy-cats," Narran rolls her eyes at me as she and Vera continue toward the natural spring they say lies beyond the edge of the castle grounds several yards past the thicket that surrounds Valderanna.

"I'm not scared. It's just—" The rest of my sentence gets cut off as I get yank backward. I tug at the bottom of my dress to free it from the sapling that ensnared it.

"We know. You aren't supposed to go outside alone. But you aren't alone, you're with us." Vera flashes her fanged smile at me.

Neither Narran nor Vera are really my friends. Vampires don't make friends with bleeders like me. Still, my longing for companionship with those around my own age is why I came. I'm tired of being ostracized because I'm different. I've lived in the castle since the day I was born yet I am still treated as an outsider.

The Prince of Darkness says it is because I am special and precious to him, but he won't tell me how I'm special.  He is the only vampire who is nice to me besides my caretakers. He makes sure I live comfortably. It's why so many of the vampires around my age don't like me. They call me his pet. I hate when they call me that.

"Tell me again why we are going all this way to some watering hole?"

Bushes claw at me as I fight to squeeze through them. Broken twigs and thorns are stuck in my hair by the time I make it to the other side, meanwhile, Narran and Vera completely foliage-free.

I glance down to assess what is causing the sting I feel in my side. Gingerly, I touch the thin red line that is carved into my skin.

If I had known the only way to get to this supposed spring is to battle your way through thick thorn bushes that are as tall as trees with razor-sharp three inch thorns, I may not have come. However, Narran and Vera left out the part and now I have a torn dress.

I've only had this dress for a week too. Marianna, my main caretaker, isn't going to be happy with me as she just had it made for me.

"I thought you said you told her," Vera whispers to Narran as they press on, not even giving me a moment to remove the thorns and twigs that are tangled in with the curls of my hair.

Another thing Marianna is going to be upset about. She spent two hours fixing my hair this morning and now it looks like I went rolling in the horse stables like I used to when I was younger.

Marianna is really going to be displeased with me when I get back.

"Tell me what?" I pick up the pace so I can catch up to them, removing the debris as I go.

"It's a surprise." Narran turns to face me, a mischievous grin gracing her features.

Most vampires are beautiful, but Narran is absolutely gorgeous. All the male vampires fawn over her. She has long golden locks and these eyes that are a metallic purple. It's unfair. All I have are green-bluish eyes and they don't glow or have metallic qualities like all those who live around me.

When I was nine, I thought maybe it was the blood diet that gave them such beautiful and entrancing eyes. I threw up before I could even get myself to swallow the blood I poured from the Prince's private stash.