"You will have 3 types of classes with us," Blake starts, "Your first class of the day is combat with me. Second is vampiric history with Ishan and last is strategy with Amara." 'Seems like even princesses have to work. I nod to let Blake know that I understood.
"Great, let's begin. Today, we will work on starting the process of releasing your vampire side."
"But I'm not a vampire." I say, confused.
"No," Amara says, this time from beside Blake, "You're half but because Queen Rosalie is your mother, you have vampiric blood running through your veins. Until you need to use it or, in other words, die, you won't be able to access it. But there are ways to bypass that and use your powers without becoming a full vampire."
"The only way to understand is to do it, so lets get started. Every second spent not working means one of your competitors getting a leg up on us." Blake said.
"This method of unlocking your powers has only been used once when the 4th vampire king came into power, he was a full vampire, but needed an extra push to be able to use them. We can't be sure it will work though."
"Why not just use another method, then, if you aren't sure if it will work?"
"There is no other way, so we don't have a choice. Get in the tub" Amara said.
"Uhm, could they leave then?" I whispered while repeatedly looking between the boys and Amara.
"With your clothes on." She huffed.
"Oh, Okay." I stepped into the large white tub and rested my head on the north edge of it. I watched Amara and Blake lit small white candles on candleholders of all heights and colours.
Blake grabbed my hand, "Don't move for a sec." He made a small but deep enough-to-bleed cut on each of my wrists. I put my hands on either side of me and felt my body release all its tension. My eyelids felt like lead, I could barely hold them open.
Amara knelt down and spoke softly, "You'll be in a state of near death, but stay calm. If you don't, you really could end up dying." Wow, a great way to get me to calm down, Amara. Just tell me that I'm dying and I'll go right to sleep.
Despite the stress, I relaxed and watched
as my
vision
faded to
black.
Wet drops dripped down onto my body in a barrage, welcoming me to the world once again. My eyes peeled open seeing the angry, cloudy sky. I slowly got up, slightly sluggish from the pounding headache was feeling. Must be because of all the blood I lost. Imagine that, an anemic vampire.
As I got to my feet, I almost tripped on... a ballgown. It was a crisp, clean white and I was instantly nervous to taint the pure white with the mud below my feet. I don't remember wearing a dress today, especially not one this fancy but then again, I can't remember much of anything. My memories feel foggy, like they had been plucked out and sorted through.
"Yea, sorry about that. I just wanted the game to be fair." A voice says. I look around, trying to find where it's coming from until I realize... It's my own? My mouth is moving and I hear my voice but I never thought that.
"Who are you? Why are you pretending to be me? How are you speaking through my mouth?" I rush out, scared.
"So many questions." The other me sighed, "one at a time, please."
"Who are you?" I decide.
"I'm Valerie, you. You brought us here, remember?"
"No I didn't. Why would I want to be in this situation?"
"Oh, yes." It says, as if it had thought of the final answer in a trivia competition. "I took some of your memories."
"Why?" I ask, utterly perplexed. This horrible situation isn't one I believe I would ever put myself in.
"You wanted to gain control of your vampire side. But we have put this off far too long, the rules are, there are none. You have an hour to find my heart while hiding your own, if I find it...you die."
"What if no one finds a heart in the hour."
"Then you'll die and turn into a full-fledged vampire that will be controlled by me. I will no longer be the other Valerie." She spat out the word other as if it was dirty. Something tells me she has quite a bit of built-up resentment at being sedentary in our body's life.
"Now, run to live, treasured daughter."
"Daughter? Do you know Rosalie?" A memory of my mother flashed through my mind.
She never responded.
_______________________
I looked up at the huge castle. It's the same one as in my world but much older and abandoned, seems like I am getting my memory back if I remember that.
I ran inside, I don't remember anything about the inside of the palace but I run around looking for the best hiding spot. No matter all the levels I go through, none look safe enough to hold my heart. I decide to go to the bedroom at the absolute top of the castle. I find myself in front of large dark brown doors. It's such an obvious place that it becomes inconspicuous, although the more I think it through, the less I believe in either idea.
I walked into the room, I don't have my memories back but I feel deep in my bones that I have never gone in here before. The walls were white with a red, 4-poster bed in the middle of the room. There was a large dark brown wood desk in front of the window. On the left side wall was a row of bookcases and 1 portrait of a woman with pale skin, red eyes and pitch-black hair. She had a crown with rubies embedded in it resting on her head and crossed arms. It showed a ruby red ring on her finger, the same one that I had on chain around my neck.
This was Rosalie's room.
I was about to look closer at the image before I heard the click of her–my–heels. I started frantically looking for a place to hide my heart. It would be nice if it could go in the image. Suddenly, I rememberedd I could probably do that do that. I started mumbling the possible spells.
The footsteps started getting undeniably closer. Click, Click, Click. At that moment I mumbled the spell and the ring disappeared from my necklace. I was sure that my heart was not meant literally.
But it seemed that my luck was running out because at that moment, she entered the room. It was like looking at a completely different person. Her hair like spiderwebs coiling around me. Bright red eyes that matched the red of her dress, covered in intricate black lace. She looked like a being more threatening than I could ever be. Other me looked ready to kill and I wasn't above doing the same if needed. Peace and Reconciliation was more my thing, but I wasn't into self-sacrifice either.
"Valerie, please. You are me and I am you. We can coexist, no one needs to be suppressed."
"Treasured daughter, we will never work as equals. That was made apparent the day mother chose you over me."
"What do you mean?" She ignored my question in favour of lunging at my neck. I dropped down, touching my hands to the floor and erecting a wall of wood to block her attack.
(A/N: a good song for now is Nothing breaks like a heart by Miley Cyrus)
While the wall was disintegrating, I decided to escape through the window to find her heart. Hopefully, she followed because I wouldn't know what to do if she kept sniffing around the room and found my heart. I pulled up the window sill and scaled the wall.
I looked up and saw the other Valerie getting ready to follow me. There was a tall tree a few meters away, I thanked my track and field experience, and I jumped to it. I barely made it, with my hand just grasping the thick branch. As my hand started sweating, the branch was slipping out of my grasp.
I looked back at the window and other Valerie looked ready to join me on the tree and hit me down. I could stay and try to regain my footing but she'd get to me and kill me before I could run away. If I let myself fall, I may hurt my ankle but it would be more probable that I could outrun her.
Reluctantly, I let myself plummet to the ground. As expected, the fall caused my foot excruciating pain, but a jammed foot is much nicer than being mauled. I immediately took off running–more realistically, limping, over my mud-sullied dress.
Where would she put her heart? It's most likely where she feels most vulnerable. What did she say that would indicate that?
Then I realized, the nursery. It's likely Rosalie gave birth to me in the Castle nursery and she seems pretty hung up about my birth. Suddenly, I feel a hand grasp my hurt ankle and pull me down. I cry out in pain as she sinks her fangs into my ankle. Hot white, searing pain shoots up my leg. I try to kick her face but I can barely find it in me to fight.
Would it be so bad to give up? I'm tired of everything, the fighting, the responsibility. It never appealed to me, let's just sleep. As my eyes began to close, I heard a voice.
"Valerie...Valerie, wake up." Father whispers.
"Father? I thought you were still at work." 7-year-old me says groggily.
"I came home a little earlier, Happy birthday!" He gave me an awkward smile as he handed me a music player. It was pink with flowers and fairies on it.
"I know you're mature, so I thought I would get this. Here, play it." He clicked on a button and his horrible singing voice filtered through.
Father only got me maybe one or two non-essential gifts a year and although it wasn't a cool toy anyone in my class had, I shot him a wide grin.
My father could be suffering, how could I abandon him by giving up? My eyes flew open and, with all my strength, I clubbed Valerie over the head with my hands and it seems I hit true. Other Valerie fell over, knocked out.
I'm not missing this chance. I ran into the castle and passed through the many hallways to get to the nursery, swinging open the door. Sadly, I knew the room her heart was in, but had no inkling of what object it was. I destroyed everything in the room but I knew none of it was her heart.
I was freaking out, there were only 10 minutes left on the timer and if I failed, it would be me who died. My teeth gnawed on my cheek as I concentrated. I kept searching until the familiar sound of her clicking heels could be heard.
Click.
Click.
Click.
"This is great, just great." I said.
"You made this game a lot funner than I expected, Val, thank you for that but I need to cut it short. After everything you put me through, I would like some time to torture you before our time together is up." Her face said the exact opposite of her words.
I need to think of something quick. What do we both treasure that has to do with the nursery? I grasped the desk behind me to try and create distance as much between me and Other Valerie as possible. I felt something in the drawer under my hand and pulled out a picture of me, Rosalie, and father in the nursery. This is her heart!
"Seems it's checkmate." I flashed her the family picture. Her face contorted into a furious expression, one that I was surprised that I could even make.
"Give it back, mortal! You have everything, you had our body for 17 years, it's my turn now!" Is she some kind of petulant child? I got my turn? "Mother wanted you, but locked me up. I was the worst parts of her that she embedded in you. And father, he took you back with him. He never argued with mother when she got rid of me." Other Valerie started weeping.
I felt bad for her, but not bad enough to give up my life. If it's me or her, for everyone's sake, it should be me.
"We can still share it, we are the sam-"
She cut me off, "Never."
"Goodbye then, Valerie." Just before Valerie could grab the picture, I ripped it up.
Everything began to melt into black.
_____________________________________
Hey everyone,
What do you think of Valerie's vampire side? Do understand where she comes from? Do you feel bad for her? I personally do but let me know your thoughts. Also, isn't her memory of her birthday sweet? Anyway, please vote, comment, and add this book to your lists if you like it.
Thank you for reading,
Kaylee :)