I was always fascinated with fables. We had an old book back home entitled "Fables" which was written by Aesop. One of the fables that stood out to me was called; "The wolf in sheep's clothing". It was about this wolf who disguised himself as a sheep in order to get food easier. The plan worked I guess. One night though the shepherd came and mistook the wolf for a sheep. He caught him and killed him and cooked him to eat. The lesson to be taught is that if you seek to do harm, harm will be done to you instead.
I looked at myself in the mirror. I wore no shirt and had a tunic on at the bottom. It reminded me of the clothes the Egyptians wore in the paintings that hung in Estelle's bedroom. She was fascinated with Egyptian history.
There were many slaves around me in the same room, only males though. The girls were in a different room in a separate part of the mansion. They would be dressed in those weird Grecian type dresses that revealed almost everything and left little to the imagination. This was the formal wear for this years' annual Blood Feast.
How I loathed the Blood Feast.
"Traitor"
I heard one of the other slaves whisper. Usually the Vampire Sympathizers would at least have the brand of the black diamond hidden somewhere on their body under their clothes; I did not have that option though. All of the other slaves in the house detested me. I looked like a traitor the way I followed Estelle around like a puppy.
Lucian and Estelle's wedding took place less than a month after I had been sent to the Harvesting Farm. It was more of a business arrangement than anything else. Even though he also lived in the same mansion they hardly spoke to each other and they slept in separate rooms. They would sit next to each other at events. If we went out in public they would walk together and I would trail behind them. It appears as if Lucian had gotten what he wanted in gaining more influence over the vampire world and that is why he tolerated me. He was after all now a vampire prince. His tolerance was growing thin though. He never wasted a second to make sure that I knew that he did not like to have me around and many times these reminders would end in me being physically harmed or humiliated.
I devised my own plan while I was here; the only one that I could think that could possibly free me and get rid of Estelle forever. I could not wait around until she grew tired of me. I was planning on killing her and the only way to do that was to get extremely close to her. To everyone else, all the other slaves, probably everyone to the Resistance, like my father and Ami; it would appear like I had been broken in.
According to everyone else I was the traitor that they branded me to be.
That was the worst part of all of this. I was scared that one day I would start to believe my own lie.
She forced me to appear in public events with her, as her father, the General, addressed the people. I would stand there next to her as an example that anyone could be broken.
It had taken in excess five months since my recapturing but according to Estelle I was completely submissive. When the truth was that even though I may appear that way, in my mind, I was anything but. She was obsessed with me; some might even call it a sadistic sort of love. Toxic really.
She did not leave me alone for longer than a few minutes.
"The blood feast has begun. Enter the dining room."
The last time I attended a Blood Feast I was the center piece. This time I was to be next to Estelle the whole time. I walked in and I stood behind the chair where she sat. She was doing the introductions while the other humans were being led in to the room. They were tied to the tables. I glanced as five of them were strung up in the center just like I had been. Lucian was stoic as he glanced at Estelle. I had heard them arguing a few hours ago. He was growing fed up at playing second fiddle to a slave. Apparently the power he gained was not enough. He wanted her to himself.
My time was running out.
He suggested that I become a gift to his sister. Anamalia ran a business that specialized in the mutilating of humans. She had a modern day Freak Show with all of her creations. I cringed at the thought. One of the slaves in the kitchen named Igor used to be in one of her shows. His ears were systematically cut off. He could no longer hear and he walked limp because she also cut off his right leg and replaced it with one made of animal bones. He was also mute as Anamalia had cut out his tongue. He was sometimes brought to parties dressed as a clown.
It was a terrible fate.
I swallowed and tried to look indifferent. Estelle told everyone to begin and immediately one of the vampires advanced towards me. Estelle noticed. She stood up and smiled; most likely beaming with pride.
"So this is the rebel's son?"
"Yes. Indeed it is." He held onto my face and looked at the black diamond.
"Interesting...He sort of looks like the rebel." He sounded disgusted.
"I assure you he is nothing like his father. He is fully submissive. Show him." I nodded and held my wrist out towards the vampire.
"Drink if you wish." Estelle smiled. The vampire looked at me and instead of drinking my blood he moved towards the table. He cut open a piece of flesh from the girl's arm and the blood poured into one of the cups. The poor girl looked scared out of her mind.
"Drink this." He handed me the glass and I looked at Estelle and she nodded. The taste was horrible as it went down my throat. Lucian had made me drink human blood at the last Blood Feast. I still hated the taste. The girl looked at me in horror. I refused to look at her as I drank all of it.
"How about vampire blood?"
"You know that is against the law Richard." She gave an innocent smile. She was good at playing innocent; meanwhile she had been feeding me her blood in private for months now.
"Yes I know. I guess he must be an interesting pet to have around. How much will it cost to buy him?"
"He is not for sale. He is mine."
"Possessive much?"
Estelle laughed with a shimmer in her eyes.
"I do not intend on letting go of him any time soon despite what other people may believe." I focused on the face of the girl on the table. She lay still and closed her eyes tightly. I wished so much that I could free her.
"I am bored Hunter. Go up to my room and wait for me. I will be there in a while after I think of some excuse as to why I do not need to be here."
I nodded and went straight to her bedroom. I sat on her bed and sighed.
I had to do it tonight while Estelle was distracted on some level. I could not carry on living like her broken toy. Even if it failed at least they would execute me. I would be dead. In a way that would be freedom.
I suddenly remembered her blood in my veins. What if being dead was not the worst kind of punishment? What if I ended up becoming like her?
I could not fail.
I managed to strategically place a weapon in her bedroom. It was a difficult task, but after months I finally acquired what I needed; now I just needed to be brave. No one knew about this except the one who gave me the weapons. I promised to keep his identity a secret ; while the other person did the same in return.
When I first came here five months ago I kept looking for a Human Sympathizer, it turns out there was more than one. After observing this particular one I found that I could trust him and I made him promise not to tell my father of my possible plan. If everyone believed that I was completely broken it would be easier for Estelle to believe the lie.
I lay on my back on the bed. I looked at the decorated ceiling and sighed again. The ceiling looked like someone had crafted it by hand. It was a wide range of flowers and fruits.
It all comes down to tonight. If I failed tonight I had a feeling that I would only leave this place in a body bag or worse.
I knelt down next to the bed and shoved my hand under the mattress. It is actually amusing that Estelle had literally slept on the weapon that could kill her all this time.
"What are you doing?" I stopped fidgeting and my posture stiffened.
Arya
"Estelle said that I should meet her here." I stood up and looked at Arya.
"Well Estelle is pre-occupied with her husband. I guess that means that you and I are alone for the time being." She locked the door and I felt my throat close up. The two of us had never been on good terms.
"Est..." I started to yell but Arya punched me in the face. I fell backwards on to the bed. I held my lip where the blood had started to pour.
"You may have Estelle fooled but I do not trust you at all. I know you are up to something."
"I am not Arya. I promise."
"A lie...You are nothing but a lying filthy human and I will stop at nothing until you tell me the truth and admit that you are up to something. "
I squirmed off of the bed and ran towards the door.
Arya appeared in front of me and pushed me back. She laughed as I fell on the floor.
I did not have time for this. I needed to be prepared for when Estelle came.
"You honestly think that you can get away from me." She gave a menacing laugh.
"What do you want from me Arya?" I stood up and Arya grabbed me from behind and pulled me neck to the side. I had no chance against her. She was too fast. When Arya was extremely focused there was no way that I could catch her off guard.
"If that is what you want I will give it to you if Estelle wishes."
"If Estelle wishes" Arya said in a mocking voice. "What Estelle wants Estelle always gets. I am so sick of her always getting her way. If I want something you will give it to me!" She yelled and sunk her teeth into my neck. I gasped but did not scream. Maybe if she got what she wanted she would leave me alone.
She drank until my feet gave out under me. She dragged me towards the bed and lay me down on it.
I reached under the bed. It took all the strength I had to clutch unto the wooden knife coated in holy water. As Arya walked closer and leaned over me I took the knife and I lunged towards her.
The knife sliced her arm.
She hissed and twisted my arm. I screamed and she placed her hand on my mouth. She bared her fangs and sunk them into the same spot as before in my neck. The knife fell under the bed and I fell limp on the bed. I felt my breathing slow down and I struggled to breathe.
"Estelle always got everything. Even when we were younger..." I gasped and reached my hand towards where the knife had fallen. She let go of me and walked towards the knife. She picked it up and laughed.
" Is this what you are reaching for? What on earth did you think you could do with this puny little thing?" She threw it away and stalked towards me.
" For once in her life Estelle is not going to get what she wants. You probably cannot even tell that we are actually sisters. Can you? She was always the beautiful petite one, while I was the robust one who took after my great uncle Lestat. No one ever looked at me the way they looked at her. Except once..." She sat down next to me and pressed her hand against the wound on my neck. I whimpered as more and more blood fell out of the now gaping wound.
" A few years ago I fell in love with a human. A stable boy not much older than you. He saw in me what no one else saw. I confided in my sister and told her the truth. She promised that she would not tell anyone. Do you know what she did? That lying wench told my father and he practically disowned me. I was banished to becoming a Vendurian. Never again to be touched by another man. They whipped Anthony to death in front of me. Once he was dead they burned him and made me eat his ashes..." I cringed. That was the most cruel thing I had ever heard of. No wonder she was so cold.
" I vowed that day that I would get my sister back. I am telling you all of this because you cannot stop me. No one can. If you try I will just kill you and as I know for a fact that she is making you drink her blood; you will end up turning into one of us. Not that you are in any position to do anything. Maybe I should do that. Turn you into one of us. Then I could watch as they burn both of you. First they would burn you in front of her and then she would be burnt after you....No... That is not my plan. I am not going to do that, unless you manage to make me really angry...No... I am going to keep half of my promise to your father in any way. See I told him about my plan which is why he let me go. You just happened to be collateral damage. At the wrong time at the wrong place. You just had to come and see me. How does it feel to know that your own father was inadvertently to blame for you becoming Estelle's lapdog?" She gave a hysterical laugh. I could tell that she was slowly loosing her mind. The seams that held everything together was coming undone.
" I have been in league with your father for months. He knows exactly where you are, but instead chose to not come and rescue you. Off course no one else knows that he knows. That is what makes it so genius. He waited until I sent word. I may have slipped something into all of the drinks of the slaves. A little something called Vervain. The thing about Vervain is that, yes it does weaken us, but it is also highly addictive. Once you take a sip you cannot stop. You slowly drink yourself into oblivion. All of the strongest players dead in one room in less than an hour. Estelle will remain untouched though. As well as my father. They both have their own personal blood slaves. That is why we have blood slaves. To make sure that no one contaminates our food source. I am going to kill Estelle and then I am going to kill my father. Then I will be next in line to be the ruler, next in line to the throne, so to speak. I told your father that I would let him take over as ruler. I do not really want to be a ruler in any way. I just want things to go back to the way they were before everyone knew what we were."
I felt the soft liquid run down my neck. Arya stood up and unlocked the door. I did not know whether I should be excited, happy or horrified. Merely seconds ago I planned to kill Estelle and the General myself and now Arya was going to do it for me. Not only that she was going to kill all of their supporters. The leaders of all of the clans.
I could not move or speak as I just lay there the blood still flowing.
"I bet she will be coming any second now." She shrugged and looked at the tattoo on my chest over my heart of Estelle's name.
"She is in love with you, you know that? She is too daft to realize it herself. A vampire's love is more of an obsession. We were never meant to love. Estelle taught me that. You are probably starting to feel cold about now; that is your heart giving in. You are losing a lot of blood. Just hold on a little longer. Just long enough to see the show. Here she comes...Shhhh." She put a finger on her lips and hid in a dark corner.
Even if I wanted to say something I could not. Estelle opened the door and loosened her hair. She walked over to the mirror without looking at the bed.
"It took forever to get away, but now we can finally be alone." She turned around and it took a few seconds for her to register what had happened. She ran to me and touched my neck where the blood was still flowing from.
"What? Who did this to you? Hunter...Tell me...Who did this?" I opened my mouth, but only more blood came out of my mouth.
I was surprised to see that she actually seemed to care.
"I did it..." Arya stepped out of the shadows. She smirked and licked her lips that were still covered in my blood.
"What is the meaning of this? He is mine!"
"Is it not obvious?"
"Seriously? Is this still about that stupid stable boy! That was over a century ago! I will get you punished for this." Arya just laughed.
"At least Anthony chose me out of his own free will, you had to torture someone. You had to manipulate them so that they would even come close to you!"
Estelle jumped at Arya. She slammed her sister against the wall.
"How dare you? You are the one who fell for a human in the first place. You know the law! Father showed you mercy! He should have killed you!" She bared her fangs.
"Mercy! Mercy?"
I started to lose focus as the two of them started to fight. Things were flung around the room as they yelled at each other. I felt someone pick me up and I felt pressure against my neck.
"Your preoccupation with this boy has blinded you! You have fallen for him Estelle and he could not care less. He was planning to kill you all this time. He never loved you! He may have told you that he was falling for you, but it was a lie!"
"You know nothing Arya!"
"I know that you care for him and I know that he is yours. I also know that you are going to die tonight and so is father, because I am going to kill you both. I also know that everyone downstairs, all of those up-tight elders who think that they are better than everyone else, will also die. This whole family empire will fall apart. Another thing sister; the rebels are on their way and they will be blamed for the murders and I will be the grieving sister who stands up and picks up all the pieces when we have to go back into hiding. They will all love me! I will be the powerful one. I will be the one everyone looks up to and you; you will be nothing!"
"You have been planning this the whole time! You are not making any sense! You have lost your mind. You should know better..." Estelle's anger fumed. She looked at me then at Arya. I could see her head spinning.
"Fine. Kill the boy I do not care..." Estelle bluffed. I could see her plan to take out Arya before she could kill me. If she pretended not to care, then maybe Arya would let me go. It was too late.
Arya used her hands and she snapped my neck.
♦
I should have seen it coming.
I should have realized that there was a reason that it was so easy for Arya to escape.
I should never have gone to visit her in that cell.
I knew that this would happen from that first day in the forest, but to be honest, I still did not see it coming.
I thought foolishly that I could kill Estelle and General Furlong and go back to the sanctuary as a hero, like my father had been labelled, but that was never meant for me.
I guess my father was right.
I am no one's hero.