Princess of Blood

I still remember the very moment my life changed, the scene was stuck in my mind, playing on repeat every night. It had been a snowy night, father was out in the battlefield fighting those ruthless creatures who wanted us as livestock. I was down there in the cold corridors as usual, humming and waiting for the maids to bring me dinner.

It was a really cold day, especially cold in the dungeons and with the usual set of royal clothes it felt even colder. The fact that I was really hungry just added to it. I didn't mean to do it, I really didn't but I could help myself. I always liked the feeling of that thick red substance flowing around me and before that day I really wanted to feel it, before I knew it there was a body lying in front of me and while I was holding the wrought iron ball in my hand. I have always been a strong kid, breaking everything I touch, I tried so hard to not break the iron ball and chain anklet tied on my feet. However, I did it again , I went and broke a rule my parents laid. I tried to connect the chain back to the anklet but it didn't work. Then I decided to break more rules and go out of my room, the sticky red substance clutching to my hands and feet.

Luckily for me there was no one outside my room that day.

The soldiers did not like to stay near my room,so I climbed the stairs slowly, the iron necklace weighing me down. After a few minutes I reached this really bright place with weird things hanging on the walls, the light almost blinding me out.

That didn't bother me much then, because I will be seeing mother and Alliyah soon. I could hear their voices from the other side of the big shiny door. With excitement coursing through my veins I had pushed the brown door and rushed to see my mother. But mother and Alliyah had started screaming as soon as they saw me. I don't know why but they always reacted like this when they saw me and reacted like that when they saw me. The soldiers rushed in and tried to pull me away. I didn't want to go back to my room. I wanted to spend time with my mother and sister, maybe my father too when he comes home.

I never got to spend time with them, they always left me alone in my room. I just wanted to be with them, make them proud of me and make them accept me. They never understood that though, even my sister didn't understand me. Why? What wrong did I do? Is it my fault that I am strong? Is it my fat fault that I like blood? No! It wasn't, it was just the way I was born, I liked to drink blood, I get really hungry if I don't. That was the only way I could satisfy my hunger. Why couldn't they understand? I would never hurt them, I love my family I just wanted to be loved.

But then the urge came back, I had thought it was satisfied with all the blood I got from the maid but no it wasn't. So I did the very thing my mother and father hated the most I attacked. the soldiers who were trying to take me away from my family. It was over in the blink of an eye, blood was splattered all around me and on me, but mother and sister were safe, that's all that mattered to me. I had started approaching them with a smile when I felt a searing pain in my stomach, I looked down to see the silver sword father uses to kill wamp those disgusting vampires. "Get away from my family you disgusting vampire". It was father's voice, the awas back but why did he call me a vampire I didn't know. Not then I didn't.

It has been ten years since then, I traveled on my own then, searching for answers about my past, about how I became the very monster I despised. It was hard when I was just a child , I had to steal clothes to replace my "royal outfit" after removing the iron collar and anklets I had tried so hard to resist my urges, hunting for animals’ blood instead of humans. It took years of practice and patience to control my urges. I never hurt humans, I tried my best to control myself from turning into a monster. However, the mystery. still needed to be solved, so I travelled while hunting monsters or vampires I saw in my way.

Just because I was a vampire myself didn't mean I didn't despise them anymore. Winter came through, filling the city streets and forests with piles of snow.

Just as I had a feeling that something was about to go wrong, something terrible happened. A vampire had attacked the city I was currently resting in and it wasn't just any vampire, it was the vampire army's general Raphael Delacroix himself and of course like the other times, I had fought him and his small army, annihilating half of them in one move, making sure the civilians weren’t near us at that time.

It wasn’t long before Raphael and I had come face to face, attacks coming from both sides.One of his blood sword

aimed right at me but before I could dodge I heard a small boy whimper just a few metres away fit from I had to take a chance decision, it I dodged the sword would directly hit the boy, bulling him if I didn't I use It would pierce the me. I didn't regret the decision I made that time as the blood sword hit me right at the abdomen, but what I failed to notice was it was imbued with a mana draining magic and when a person’s or a monster’s mana is drained completely it's game over. Luckily for a vampire like me, it only drained me enough to make me unconscious.

The next time I opened my eyes, it was in a dark castle, cold despite the strong brick walls that made up the castle, that's when I noticed none of the windows were closed. Overdramatic was my first thought. Everyone knew this was the castle of the vampire king, Silvan Trueblood. They didn't have to keep it cold enough to freeze people and show off their insane endurance to cold weather and before I knew it, I was standing in front of Silvan Trueblood, Raphael kicked me from behind making me fall face first to the floor.

“Alora Ryder, we meet again”, I lifted my face up so fast I hurt my neck, straining it. “You know me”, it was more of statement than a question but that didn't bother me “Of course I do, had lo, you are my flesh and blood afterall”, my brain was frozen for a moment trying to process what I just heard "No", it was barely a whisper but Silwan had heard it loud and clear. He smiled, showing me his two fangs and tried to lift me up but I jerked away from him, “don't touch me”,he lifted up his hands in mock surrender. Raphael came up and lifted me up, making me sit despite the way I had growled at him “ Answers,now”, Silvan smiled again at my demand. "It is very like my daughter to throw a demand at anyone without caring about their status", I growled at him" I am not your daughter!!" “Oh yes you are, Alora Ryder or Alora Trueblood, you will get all of the answers you need, once you see my memories” as he said that, he gave a look at Raphael and he immediately left having us alone.

I had been really drained out that day both emotionally and physically, so I refrained from using anymore violence, besides It wasn't like I could harmed him, at at Ikat time I couldn't have Raphael had come back agam carrying a clear goblet of what looked like blood "Drink it, you'll get all the answers you need," and so I drank had drank it with a single gulp.

The images came flooding, images of the so-called hero Enyan Ryder kidnapping a baby and Silvan desperately trying to get the baby back, years of longing and desperation for the lost child. It didn't take me long to realise the child was me. At the end of it, I found. the answers for all the questions I had, the reason why my family didn't love me, why they neglected me and abused me, it all became clear But, I couldn't accept it and so I had done the stupidest thing ever. I ran.

I didn't know how or when I broke free of my restraints. or regamed my mana but that wasn't of my concern. I had reached the town somehow, just when I stopped to take a breath and process the new information I got , I heard someone yell " A vampire!" and then all hell broke loose.

The villages had surrounded me with fire posting at me with any weapon they found. Suddenly, I had felt a pain a slight pam on my forehead and save someone that the very little boy I had saved had stood against me, the city I fought to fo protect had forsaken me. Everything blurred at that moment, I didn't know what happened or how I was sitting on a bed in the vampire king's castle. Thoughts clouding my mind ‘I had just wanted to save them I just wanted to be loved. I tried so hard to control my instincts and blend in but that's how they repay me? Why? What wrong did I do? Why did Eryan kidnap me? What did I do? And Silvan, he waited so long for me to return but I came and rebelled against him’. I didn't know I was crying but when I turned and looked at the mirror standing there I saw tears trailing down my eyes.

That moment I decided, if people saw me as a monster despite the fact that I protected them then why should I play hero? I will be the villain. I will show Eryan Ryder how ruthless this can be. I will rule the world with my father and nothing will stop me from doing so.