"The Moon Children, they are coming!" I heard a gruff voice yell in my ear, I jumped out of the bed I was in, it took a moment to realize I was in the Prince's chambers and the voice was that of Garrett. I moved swiftly opening a trunk, knowing already what was perfectly placed inside. I put on the shirt of light armour, the chest had harder steel that didn't flex as the tiny chain mail did. I preceded to whip on leather gloves to help prevent scratches and grabbed one of my swords. I turned into a fighting stance toward the door.
Laughter ensued, I turned to Viktor and Garrett who were doubled over in laughter. Obviously there was no attack. Just a prank, and I was the punch line. "Ass holes" I grumbled placing my sword back in it's sheath and pulling off the gloves.
"Just making sure you are in practice, damn your fast... for a human," Garrett said sounding slightly breathless from laughter.
I pulled the chain mail off and dumped it back in the trunk that was decorated with a sun emblem, as all trunks of the Daylight Guardians were. They were located in various places around the castle, and in the homes of humans. I looked at the crest, that crest had been my life since before I was born. No option for me, my father did what he had to, to ensure the survival of my mother, himself, and me. I didn't hate him for it, felt no bitterness, no resentment, but I didn't want to live my entire life as a boy either. I didn't want to live my life as a soldier, as a Daylight Guardian. My parents always told me one day I'd get to be a girl, get to be myself, though more and more time has gone by, I've grown older, wiser; I've seen no sign that it would ever happen. No glimmer of hope.
Garrett and Viktor seemed bored now that I could not be tormented any longer. The windows were sealed so I knew that daylight had come once more. I wondered how long I had slept, was it early morning, noon? My stomach grumbled; what ever time it was I was hungry. Viktor seemed to have heard my stomach's complaint, "I'm hungry too," he stated looking at me. I swallowed sometimes when people looked at me I feared that they knew. Feared they had figured out my secret. "Can you get me something to eat while your out, O'Connell's treats are still good," he said with a smile.
What do you say to that? I frowned for I knew what they did to humans, yet I could do nothing to stop it. I had grown up thinking sucking from someone's neck was normal. Still my parents raised me very human, but I couldn't say no. Viktor was important to me. He was the prince, my best friend, occasionally the most annoying person on the planet, callous and cruel; but I grew up doing as he said, protecting him, and caring for him. Night Child or not. I nodded Garrett grew tense probably because he was now one down during the daytime.
I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. Silvia, a friend of my mothers, was working on a big steaming bowl of soup. My mouth watered, Silvia's cooking was the best; I recognized a few of the young Daylight Guards that I trained with and sat down with them. "There you go darlin' geeze look at you, we got to put some meat on your bones!" Silvia said her eyes squinting as she smiled, she placed in front of me a chicken leg, a bowl of her soup, and a hunk of bread.
I grinned up at her "thank you very much Silvia," she left me to eat. The other men at the table were silent pushing back food like they thought they would never get another meal, but I was eating it slowly as my thoughts were eating its way through my conscience. I was in no rush to pick out a girl to her death. I had never had to do anything like it before. In a fight once with a werewolf that was captured for our training; I had been the one to deliver it the final blow. I had been applauded, awarded, moved up in the ranks. It was what I had trained to do, what was necessary for survival. This was... horrible. I stopped eating, my stomach wanted to heave.
I left my tray and exited quickly not wanting Silvia to think I had found something repulsive with her food. I went to the dungeon, a member of the Blood Brigade was guarding, I tried to place his name, but it eluded me. Not like I cared, I had nothing to do with the Blood Brigade. He nodded at me, obviously knowing who I was. I stared through the cages, the girls were sitting on the floor at the back wall a few were huddled together. Most were crying.
I looked at them, a pretty fair skinned girl with long blonde hair caught my eye, her voice was high pitched, annoying as she sobbed. There was a dark skinned beauty, raven hair looking straight at me with a stone face. Probably a fighter. I had seen enough of that. A girl wasn't looking at me, she looked at the ground, her arms wrapped around herself as if trying to protect herself from what was to come, submissive. A good meal for a prince. My stomach threatened to heave again but I did my best to ignore it. "That one," I said to the man quietly, my voice quite feminine; I wanted to cry.
I dragged her trying to be callous, didn't know her, didn't care about her. I knew the prince, I cared for Viktor. He needed blood to survive, tough luck for this woman, she stumbled and sobbed silently, she fell a few times on the stairs and I had to lift her back to her feet. I opened the door and Garrett was standing here, "my turn to get something," he said all to happily. He left me there with the sobbing girl and Viktor who smiled at my choice.
"Come to me," he said in his outrageously seductive voice, the girl seemed mesmerised by it and followed it. My heart pulled me toward him, like his calling was for me. Male Night Children; their voices work best on females. I had to grab a pillar to keep myself from walking to him, that and years of training. My heart beat faster I took a few steps back. She sat in his lap and I couldn't help but frown. He moved her hair from her face, light hair, beautiful faced, he tilted her head back and I turned around. I heard her shout from pain, Viktor gurgling as the blood flowed into him, she moaned. In under two minutes she was drained. I turned around as I heard the body hit the floor, I looked at the corpse on the floor frowning. Viktor laid on his bed, "she was delicious," he stated with a more than content smile upon his face.
Garrett walked back in, "had fun Viktor?"
"Of course," Viktor said with a grin, propping himself up on his elbows, "she was absolutely fantastic."
"I'll get her out of here," I said, grabbing a sheet from the closet.
"Nonsense, it can wait, someone else can do it." Viktor said with a wave of his hand.
"You don't like the scent of dead bodies." I said, "besides it's daylight, not many can go out at a time like this, do you really want to smell her start to rot," my insides flipped at the way I was speaking.
"You are right," Viktor said, "take her away!"
I picked her up, bundled in a white sheet and left his room with out another word. Once outside, I grabbed a shovel, I sent the girl to her death, besides I didn't have the heart to put someone's loved one into a mass grave. I walked out to the same field as I had before, the flowers on the last grave were still... more or less alive looking.
I started digging, from the look of the sun when I started it was around noon. I climbed out of the hole tired, my muscles while trained and strong were aching badly. I took another look a the girls face, her eyes frozen open with a blank expression. Her eyes. Her eyes caught the air in my throat. Cataracts, the girl I had sent to her death had been blind.
Her stumbling, her eyes down, her calmness at hearing such a calm voice. She hadn't seen what was going on, she didn't see Viktor, she hadn't seen me, she hadn't seen. But she felt the Brigade take her from her home. She heard the screams, the whimpers, the cries of the others. She felt my hand on her. She felt Viktor's fangs burry themself in her neck.
I vomited in a near by bush, I untied my hair and pulled through the knots with my fingers before putting it back up again. I looked at the girl in a sheet, they deserved proper burials. That was after all the least I could do... I couldn't do the most, I couldn't... wouldn't fight. Not for these beautiful strangers. I wouldn't risk my family, nor could I ever intend harm on Viktor. When I finished burying the blind beauty I made her a small cross and put it at her head. I picked her flowers too and put them at the head.
I was considerably cleaner about the grave digging than that of the previous day. I was sweaty but went back to the castle, I still had duty to protect Viktor.
"Look what the dog dragged in," Garrett said, "where the hell were you, disposing a body takes like ten minutes, twenty if your are one slow ass human, but you were hours!"
"I was doing human stuff," I replied exhausted, to exhausted to come up with a decent or even minutely believable story.
Garrett huffed in annoyance, "human stuff" he repeated in a poor mockery of my voice.
A pillow hit Garrett in his head, "shut up maybe he was finally getting laid." Viktor found his comment hilarious and so did Garrett. For the joke I was both insulted and relieved. Neither cared after that. A few hours in their life time was seconds to them.
The night went by flawlessly, no more treats for either of them. This made me happy. Garrett sent me home at twilight so I could spend a hour with my mom, have a bath, then I came back. The two were studying war strategies with Lucid. Lucid smiled as I entered. He drilled me and Viktor more than Garrett, who had been alive longer than Viktor and I together as a human much less as a Night Child. He left as I kept dosing in the chair, I ended up sleeping for the rest of the night, when I woke up there was only four days till Viktor's birthday.
King Vincent's worries were also mine. This was the time for the all to quiet wolves to strike. It wasn't an opportunity they would miss. I feared for the king, for the prince. For my family. I had a really bad feeling.