I sat in my room, wearing the pure silver chains around my wrists, they burned like fire, but there was nothing I could do. I had embarrassed my father, this was my punishment. The chains made me weak, I felt sick and dizzy almost constantly and I couldn't help but hate him.
I looked up sharply from my place on the floor when the door slowly creaked open. Julietta's head peaked around the door. " Hey, Anna, are you OK?" she asked me, what a stupid question! I was tied up with silver how on earth could I be OK?
" Yes I'm just wonderful I just love being tied up like a goddamn prisoner!" I spat sarcastically.
" They said you'd say something like that. I'm here to cut the chain anyway so if you'd like my help I suggest you be a little nicer to me, sister." she spat back viciously, I turned my head slightly to the side and raised my eyebrows, staring at her pointedly. " OK fine but it was worth a try, Julianna," as she walked over and began to cut away at the chains that bound me (wearing gloves of course) she added, " Wolfy called, so did that Stephan guy actually, he seemed nice, he wasn't at all like those others father has paired you with, he even spoke to me like I was your age! Treated me like a real grown up, he was shocked to find out I was your sister though, said we were very different kinds of beautiful. I thought that was sweet. I hope father pairs me with someone like that. I think you two would make a great couple. Wolfy's cute and everything and he likes you but father would never-"
I cut her off then, " I am not interested in Wolfy. He's a friend and everything but like you said, even if I did like him father would never let me and him happen, he's not exactly someone that father gets along with is he." We never 'talked boys' never.
" Well, obviously not, I mean who is but I refuse to believe that you've never even considered him, you never go more than three days without speaking." She said flipantly. She had a point really, even if I refused to admit it.
" OK, I'm out, you can go now." I spat, bearing my fangs at her. She wouldn't get her adult fangs for around a year. Most vampires get their fangs at around the age of fourteen or fifteen, I got mine early, at the age of twelve, it was an excrutiating time, about three months, it's the one thing that has ever made my father proud of me, my brother, however, was a rather late bloomer, his fangs came in at about age sixteen. Until we get out fangs, we eat human food only, but we do tend to prefer our meat a little rare.
" No need to go all fangy on me." She muttered as she turned to leave.
" No need to be a brat either." I hissed back. Being the youngest child, father had always showered her in affection, then there was the fact that she was the only one of us to be born with black hair, my father had always been very fixated on how we looked. Julietta's hair was ebony and cut into a short pixie style, the perfect little vampire princess. Unlike me.
She was almost out of my bedroom when a blinding flash of pain ripped through my head, I sank to my knees and screamed through gritted teeth, holding my head between my hands in a vain attempt at reducing the pain. " Julianna?" Julietta screamed, " One second I'll go and get help." Within a few minutes our family physician was in the room along with my brother, father, sister and mother. They surrounded me, concerned expressions taking over their faces.
" Sir," The old physician addressed my father, family physician was a...family job, the physician was an old human woman, who's father was our previous physician and his father before him and so on, " I believe it was the silver, she was in contact with the chains for far too long, I believe that I can help her, but I do not think that it is wise for her to remain in the castle. I would like your permission for her to be taken to the human infirmary."
" The human infirmary?" My father spat, before thinking about his actions, " Very well, but she takes two guards with her. My daughter is very unpredictable." My mother just stood by and let him make the decisions, my mother was a beautiful woman, her straight blonde hair had been dyed various colours since she was just eleven, but she never let it be it's natural colour, my father would never have allowed that. Her eyes shone blue, like mine and her cheekbones were set high in her face. Somehow, she managed to look both stern and oddly sweet.
Within minutes I was loaded into a car and taken to the local hospital, with two guards sat on either side of me. I felt more like a prisoner than a princess.
After two hours of tests and scans and medicine, I was left alone to sleep. I didn't sleep. I just stared up at the ceiling from the lumpy mattress, covered in scratchy black sheets. I thought of Wolfy, I thought of Stephan, I thought of the countless suitors my father had forced me to meet, but only briefly, I didn't care to think of all of the old vampires I had been forced to encounter, not that any had looked their age, but something about them always gave away the time period in which they were raised. A top hat; a bow tie, a cloak, there was always something.
Eventually, my brother visited me, on what seemed like my thousandth day in the hospital but what was, in reality my third. " How're you doing, sister?" He asked me, genuine concern showing on his face, an odd look on a boy with blue hair and a vampire's complexion.
" What is it you and Etti and the stupid questions?" I grunted, concealing a smile. He just shrugged, a smile working its way onto his face. After a moment we both burst into fits of laughter. For the next few hours we just talked, normal bother-sister chat, until he mentioned Wolfy.
" Wolfy called for you again by the way." He smirked, watching me closely for any sign of a reaction.
" What did he want? And do me a favour, wipe that stupid smile off of your stupid face." I replied, a little more defensively than I had planned.
" He wanted me to ask you to meet him, tomorrow, when you're out of this place. At the edge of the cliffe, the one that hangs over the west side of the beach, he wants to meet at midday." I was shocked by this, it was highly unusual for me to even see Wolfy without Julian being there, it was down right strange for him to arrange to meet only me.
" Why? Did he say why?" I asked, worrying now. Why on earth would Wolfy want to meet me? Why would he want to meet at midday? That's just plain stupid. In context it's like a human boy arranging to meet a human girl at midnight, meaning neither of their parent's are likely to know and the chances are it's not exactly within the rules.
" He just said he wanted to talk to you, I don't have a single clue why, sorry, sis." He shrugged, such a useful person, my brother.
" Great. Anyway, how's everyone been? And by everyone I mean Etti." I asked him, hoping to steer the conversation onto safer ground. He clearly saw right through me but decided to ignore it and answer me regardless.
" She's fine, she just wants you home truth be told. Dad's been getting on her case though, funnily enough it seems like he misses you as well."
" I think you mean he misses torturing someone. So now he's decided to turn his attention to Etti. He's such a heartless, cruel, vindictive-" I replied, angrily.
" Vampire?" Julian interrupted, a sad smile crossing his face before he added, " Listen, Julianna, you aren't going to change our father, but you might be able to change some others though. Anna, you've single handedly changed how a lot of our father's followers think, you raised the age of legal hunting, you're sixteen, you can't change our father, you can change many others though. Think about it." With that he stood up from his chair and...left. Just like that. Well that was just random. Where did that come from?
At least I had some time to think before I had to go home.
A few hours after my brother left I was visited by a human nurse, who on seeing who I was turned visibly pale. " I've got you a drink, miss." She paused by the door until I held out my hand to take the glass she was holding out to me. It was filled with a thick red liquid that instantly made any vampire's pupils dialate and made my mouth water.
" I-sorry-I don't...drink in front of people." I said awkwardly to the nurse.
" Oh...oh yes, of course, I'm so sorry." She stammered and left the room hurriedly. Then I was left to drink the blood of some nameless, faceless donor, someone who had a normal life, they probably thought their blood was going to save someone, a child perhaps, not me, not a vampire, not one of the only real predators that preyed on humans.
They'd saved someone that was born to kill them.
The next day I was told to get dressed and as soon as I was decent, wearing a black tanktop and red jeans that Etti had brought for me, I was bundled into the car and driven home to the castle that felt like a prison to me.
" I'm so glad you're OK, Anna, I thought you were going to die! Even Father was worried and I never thought I'd see the day he worried about you, did you? I mean I know he loves you in his own way but you two don't exactly show affection towards each other do you, you don't even talk most of the time!"
" Etti, as much as I love you can you please be quiet, it's six AM and I should be asleep in my room and the tinting on this car is not exactly amazing either." I told her, frustrated. I was right though, the tinting on the windows was less than standard, honestly I think my father sent that one to annoy me, or put me back into the hospital. The sun that filtered into the car burned my eyes and made my skin hot and itchy. Julietta, of course, was fine, her fangs hadn't come in yet, until she did she'd pretty much work like a human completely, although, she chose not to go out in the sun most of the time.
When we arrived, Julietta handed me black umbrella that would completely sheild me from the sun. I still entered the castle at a run, despite the umbrella.
As soon as I arrived I ran upstairs and into my room, clambering into bed. To be at the beach by midday, I'd have to be ready by half past eleven, which gave me around four hours sleep before I would have to get ready.
My sleep, unfortunately was not peaceful, I was tormented by dreams and nightmares about what Wolfy might possibly want to talk to me about.
At ten O'clock AM, I rolled out of bed and dragged myself sleepily towards my bathroom. I undressed and stepped carefully into the shower, letting the hot water cascade around me. Normally, this would have woken my parents, but being in such a big castle meant that everyones rooms were a long way apart, preventing any need to try and be quiet. Once I was clean, I stepped out of the shower and brushed my teeth, before beginning the arduous task of picking out an outfit.
Eventually, I decided on black, skinny jeans and a deep blue t'shirt that clung to my body and the the round neck plunged far enough down that I am sure my father would have never allowed me to be seen wearing it. I threw on a black hoody to cover my skin against the sun and set to work taming my long hair into a ponytail, letting some of the shorter pieces fall down and frame my face. I didn't need foundation so I applied heavy eyeliner and mascara before leaving my room at exactly half past eleven after tying the laces on my healed boots tightly.
I picked up my black umbrella on my way out of the castle, thanking my sister,silently, for putting it back where I should have, rather than leaving it in the middle of the hall as I had done. Pushing the heavy door open was difficult, it took a lot of strength. Once I had finally pushed it open I unfolded my umbrella and stepped out into the sun. It burned my eyes even with my hood and umbrella so I slipped sunglasses on as well.
I had to walked down what was pravtically a small moutain to get to the village that lead to the beach, once there I noticed, for the first time, just how many humans there were, I had never been out in the day by myself before, when I'd been out with my family my father had always reprimanded any and all interest I had shown in how the humans lived, but now, on my own, I could really take notice.
There were men, women and children everywhere, all enjoying the summer sunshine, they were shopping and laughing, playing and riding bikes, they were alive. Everyone here had a purpose, they all had to live. Yet my people so regularly slayed them, but still, they went on living. I saw them, as I walked, they all watched me with guarded expressions, some of the children openly showing their fear. It's not as though I was well disguised, a pale strnager walking casually through town wearing black from head to toe and covered against the sun, was hardly going to blend in was I? Even though they knew that I was, at least partly, on their side, they were still scared of me, they all knew that I never killed humans, I had no need to.
I walked with my head held high against their stares, I didn't care. The humans could get on with their lives, she could get on with her...existance, because that's what vampires did, they existed.
Eventully she was climbing the steep slope to the cliffe's edge, the odd patch of sand littered her path. When she finally reached the edge, she saw Wolfy's large frame, sitting with his back to her, feet dangling over the edge, a black umbrella sheilding him from the sun.
" Hey, erm Wolfy?" I said, nerves creeping into my voice, as i sat down beside him, letting my own feet hang over the edge.
" Oh, hey, Julianna, here we'll just share my umbrella." He replied, taking my umbrella off of me and pulling me closer gently.
" Why did you want to see me Wolfy?" I asked softly, looking up at him through my glasses. His eyes seemed to shine even brighter out here, his eyes clearly weren't as sensitive to the sun as mine.
" I was worried. After the silver and the hospital, I tried to visit but your father just wouldn't let up and allow me." He replied.
" So you arranged a secret meeting in the middle of the day, on a cliffe, in almost direct sunlight, because you were concerned for my health?" I said raising my eyebrows, not entirely sure that he could tell because of my oversized sunglasses.
" OK OK, you got me, I wanted to see you for another reason, Julianna, I...I really like you, you're so beautiful and smart and funny and strong and until I thought I might lose you I didn't realise how much I needed you." A sight blush crept onto his cheeks and I smiled.
" You were never going to lose me, Wolfy. It wasn't that bad." I replied flippantly.
" You nearly died, Julianna!" Wolfy pratically yelled. It caught me off guard and i flinched sightly, out of the cover the umbrella offered and winced before ducking back into the shade. " I'm sorry, Anna, I didn't mean to-"
" You didn't scare me." I spat.
Then he did something I didn't expect at all.
He kissed me.
On a cliffe, feet hanging over the edge, under a black umbrella, Wolfy kissed me.