Human Sacrifice

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

“Brix!” Katya whispered. “Are you ready yet?” she whispered again from the door. I sighed and let her into the room, feeling déjà vu from Halloween. This time however, I was in a short dress and not dressed as a vampire; my aim wasn’t to look scary, but to shock the royals so much that they would finally let me go. Merry Christmas to me. This must’ve been my best Christmas ever! I laughed at myself for many reasons: my mother had died a month ago, my best friend was basically engaged to a Prince, I had no idea how long my life would last, four of us were going to die (the nicer four at that), Katya and Lyle were risking their own lives to help me escape etc.

Scott had been talking to me more. Actually, both of the Princes had begun to talk to me more as if it was some cruel game between them both. I put my large red hoop earrings in and smiled; Katya had found them and improved them by putting blood in them. I could provoke the vampires with the scent of the blood as well as get them angry by my choice of outfit.

Today was the day when I ran for my life.

I clipped the red necklace around my neck and sighed, realising I couldn’t wear the necklace that mum gave me because I had given it to Zach. What if they caught me when I tried to run? I shook my head, now isn’t the time to worry about these things when my freedom was so close that I could almost taste it. The taste of freedom inspired me.

Gwen pushed the door open and laughed. “So first you act like a slut, now you dress like one?” she laughed at me. I narrowed my eyes at her.

“At least I’m not having to get married to a vampire” I replied, sending a smirk in her direction as I fixed my makeup. She gasped and pretended to be offended.

“At least I’ll get married. You’re going to get killed, and that’s if they get to you before I do. Patrique likes me and he hates you. You may have kissed him but that all means nothing now. Plus I heard Scott talking about Monica and how much he likes her, so you’re completely out of the picture” she spat back at me. I sighed.

“Just get out of my room, get ready and go to dinner to sit by your stupid Prince” I looked down. Katya got the hint and pushed her out of the room before shutting the door and standing in front of it.

“You ok?” she asked, looking at me. I shrugged and finished my makeup. I could hide behind my painted smile because it was my mask of a false emotion. I grabbed the tiny red shawl I had to cover my shoulders and pulled it on. “Ready?” she asked. I replied with a nod.

“Merry Christmas Katya” I smiled as I walked out. The other girls were dressed casually as instructed but I decided that I could show my...individuality. Gwen scowled and walked off down the corridor with Monica as they went to find their respective Princes. I looked at Janice, Elwyn and Mae and shrugged. “We’re better than those two, remember that” I smiled. It made me happy to see them smile.

We walked to dinner one behind the other, and I was last. We walked into the now decorated dinner hall and I smiled as we stood in a line. Scott gawped as he looked at me and nudged his brother; I found it flattering if anything, and I blushed a little. The King however did not see it how his sons did. He clenched his fists as people began to whisper and look over at me.

Lyle didn’t believe his sister when she said that I planned to turn up as inappropriately as possible. He thought I didn’t have the confidence to. Me? Lack of confidence? I nearly laughed but I decided not to rub it in any further. I watched as Lyle looked over at Scott as he linked his arm with Monica’s. Scott looked hurt and confused and I tilted my head as I thought about it. He looked at me for a while before Patrique broke his gaze. Lyle looked down and sighed.

We all sat down for dinner. Gwen surgically attached to Patrique. He looked slightly annoyed but grinned at the fact his mate liked him, whereas Monica was scared to death of Scott. She was too weak and fragile for a vampire; her emotions were all over the place. That’s why I didn’t tell her about what had happened to my mom – even though best friends tell each other everything – I knew she’d probably break down. Mom was like her mom too.

We all waited for dinner. The guests exchanged gifts and talked, laughing and sharing stories. Mae, Elwyn, Janice and I were lucky to be given the gift of surviving another day. I looked at Monica but she avoided any form of eye contact with me. I’d definitely lost my best friend now, so that makes Mae my best friend.

Maybe Zach would rescue me, I thought. He knows I’m being held by vampires and he’s a vampire himself. I doubted it though because a rumour had been spread that the two girls being drained had less than a month before they were drained. That meant we would be sacrificed that same week. There are around 1,000 vampire families in our area alone, and it would take him months to find me.

Sierra sat down beside me in the spare chair. I smiled softly at her, but to everyone else it looked like I was smiling at thin air. She only appeared to those destined the same fate as herself, so only Elwyn and I would see her. Elwyn wasn’t scared of her though, so we were fine. Sierra just sat there silent; I figured she was probably reminiscing about her time here. Katya and Lyle could also see Sierra because they tried to help her while she was alive, so Lyle just smiled at her. She avoided his glance though and continued to stare down at the table.

The King made a speech and death-glared at me whilst he talked about the girls of drainage and sacrifice. He seemed to enjoy the fact that we were going to die for entertainment and through a lifelong ritual. Scott had explained to me how from birth we were all given this fate. It would’ve been nice if Zach told me, because then I could’ve ran away. Sierra had told me how after she’d died, all she did was hide in the shadows. I wouldn’t want that.

Rich smells filled the room as the food was brought out by waitresses and waiters and our portions were significantly smaller than the vampire’s. I pushed the food around on my plate with my fork and sighed. It was Christmas, and I was away from all of my family, and now I happened to be waiting to die. My fighting spirit had disappeared.

“I’d eat your food, you don’t know what day it might be before you eat again” Scott sighed and looked over at me. Monica sat shaking and I frowned, she wouldn’t be able to cope with Scott and his bad attitude. The King however was very fond of Monica and Gwen. “EAT YOUR FOOD!” he yelled at me, kind of stressed. The King nudged him and shook his head. No shouting at the table.

I still looked at the food unsure; it didn’t look or smell right. Maybe they’d put something different into my food. I shrugged and with a lot of consideration, began to eat. I felt my eyes begin to drift shut and looked up slightly as Scott smirked in my direction. Katya gasped but Scott held his hand over her mouth before she could scream. I hit the table with a thud and everything went dark.