Kyla

The vampire formerly named as Darius, drags me behind him. Not loosening his grip on my arm at all. At least it wasn't a stone tight grip anymore, he was being surprisingly gentle. Just holding on enough to where I couldn't fight to get away.

Looking at my surroundings as we walk our way to the castle, I can see many of the buildings and old houses are decomposing. I can tell most of the wood is rotting away. My uncle once told me that humans used to live in those. Building a home with one another. I wonder what it was like to live in one.

All I've ever lived in is caves and among the trees of the forest upon the mountain. Washing ourselves in the river or lakes around the areas we camp at for a few nights. Hunting for our food, instead of going to what humans used to call markets to purchase things they needed every week.

Life must have been much simpler so long ago. Before the vampires decided to come into our world for good, making themselves known. To take over our world and make it their own.

"I wouldn't be worrying little human. You will have a pleasant stay in the castle. Diedrek will do everything in his power to make sure you're having a pleasurable experience." He looks back at me with mischief in his eyes. The way he is saying pleasurable make goosebumps rise along my arms again. What is he implying?

"I don't know what you're trying to get at, but it means nothing. I will get out of this soon. Mark my words." Gritting the words out of my lips, I look into his similar green eyes to mine, with a glare all my own.

The asshole has the audacity to put his head back and give a loud laugh. Drawing all attention to us. The looks the other vampires give me tell me they are hungry.

Visibly swallowing, I take a slight step closer to Darius. Although he is my enemy just as well, something tells me he wouldn't let the others touch me in any way. You know stick with the enemy you know and all that.

"You're funny," shooting me a smirk that makes him look like a young innocent man instead of the monster he is "I have a feeling I'm going to really like you. Well for a human anyway." He tugs me further along.

The rest of the walk towards the castle entrance is in silence. Which is good. I find I don't have much else to say, being in my own head with thoughts of what to expect now. Until Darius makes a sudden stop. Making me bump right into his back.

A low growl emanates from his chest, and his eyes turn a blood red. Looking in the direction his eyes are set I see one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen.

She has a slim frame with a large chest. Her raven black hair goes well past her bottom. The most piercing blue eyes I've ever seen. They sparkle with mischief. She stands before us with her arms over her chest, and I watch as she sniffs the air in front of her.

"What is that awful smell?" Her nose is scrunched up as her eyes land on me.

"That human smells rotten," looking at Darius, she shoots him a sly smile "Your taste is dwindling their Dare." Hmm... a nickname for him, these two must know each other well.

"It isn't your concern who she is Satine. How about you move out of the way so I can make our way into the castle, and you can go about your business." He points his finger from his free hand her way.

The woman, Satine, gives a fake frown, sticking her lower lip out, "Oh the castle huh, that must mean she isn't your new toy."

Licking her canine tooth with a thoughtful look on her face, what she says next makes me fight the feeling of acid making its way up my throat, "Could it mean my older cousin actually bought himself a new toy at one of the auctions he claims to hate so much." She gives a devilish smile my way.

"That's none of your concern. Now step aside and continue to wherever you were going. Keep your nose out of his business, and your teeth retracted. As well as to yourself if you know what's good for you." Taking a few steps closer, invading her space, he crowds her.

Taking a step back so she can look up at him, she looks over at me. Trying to keep my face impartial instead of showing just how much pain I'm feeling with my arm being pulled tight. Feeling like it'll be coming out of the socket. With my effort to keep space between the two vampires and myself isn't easy since he refuses to let go of me in any way.

"Well, I was just wondering if he stooped down to his brothers and fathers' level and bought himself a toy. Just as they do every month." She walks around us. Being sure not to touch Darius in any way.

Looking back after she's a slight distance away I hear her whisper "I hope he hasn't, there's still good in him is all I was trying to get at. Sorry I was having a bit of fun." Then she turns and runs off. So fast she looks like a blur through the crowd.

"Don't mind her, she is harmless. Just aggravating as Hell." He continues to a massive door.

What I can see past the two guards that stand in front, it has an intricate design. It looks like a story of some sort with a powerful man in the center of a war sight. There are dead bodies in piles among him, he has his back turned the opposite direction, looking at a woman, with a light shining bright all around her.

As you look along the design, he comes to stand in front of her, on the opposite door, holding her face with a smile upon his own, the light shining brighter than before the first design. Wonder what it means?

"Step aside men, I have strict orders to get this human woman into Lord Diedrek's wing of the castle and settled in for him." When the two guards look down my way, I find myself taking a step back with just a slight feeling of fear. These guards are huge. Looking more like brick walls then men. I know with just a flick of their wrists they could easily break my neck.

To my shock they step aside without Darius having to say another word. Not that Darius isn't strong in any way, but I was sure he couldn't take them on by himself. Of course, I could be wrong all together with my thoughts. As the doors open, he loosens his grip slowly, before pulling away. As though he's making sure he can trust me not to run.

"Ladies first," he gives a bow of his head, with one hand tucked behind his back, the other gesturing for me to walk in first.

He eyes me, "Don't give me that look, I may be a vampire, but I have manners." He gives a genuine smile in my direction.

I'm sure he is trying to joke around to make me feel more comfortable. Who the hell is this guy? He is unlike any vampire I have ever come across before. To be honest with myself I don't really know what to think of him.

Lifting my mouth, that I'm sure had fallen open and hit the ground. I straighten my shoulders and walk inside. I'm not certain what I was expecting, but I know in my heart that my life is about to change irrevocably. I can feel it deep in my soul as I walk across the threshold.

Taking my first step further inside I hold my breath. Not knowing what to expect, my heart has picked up its pace. I can't help but feel like something is bound to jump out at me and try to eat me for dinner. Being in this place you never truly know what is right around the corner.

The view in front of me isn't anything I would have expected. Beautiful moldings along the walls, a wraparound staircase in the center of the room. The ceilings must be around ten feet up and the room is covered in distinct colors. From red, to silver, blue, and gold. This one room is beautiful to the naked eye.

"Come, I'll show you where you'll be staying." Darius walks past me. Making his way to the bottom of the staircase. He stays there, leaning against the railing, waiting for me to join him. When I do, we stride up the stairs, finding myself in utter shock at how big this place truly is. I have heard of places like this through the elders in the Rebel Community, but I have never seen such places.

Sometimes when things were quiet for a day or so, the elders would make a fire, and tell the youngsters of the stories they themselves heard while growing up. Of the houses their elders grew up in. The castles and what they refer to as mansions they had once visited.

How humans used to be able to take moving inanimate objects known as vehicles around instead of just walking and running. To see a beautiful place in the flesh, instead of just imagining it from a story was something entirely different.

"You don't have to worry, no one will bother you in the East Wing of the castle. No one is allowed in the East Wing unless they have Diedrek's permission." Darius has his face turned to the side to look at me.

Once we reach the top we begin our journey down a long hallway, I study the beautiful pictures and paintings that align with the wall. I find myself wondering if they were already here when the Royal Vampires took control of the world, or if they had brought them with them? I hate to admit it, but I really don't know too much about their kind. The vampires have always been a mystery I cannot figure out. Although my uncle used to ward me away from such things.

I, of course, know the basics about the vampires. My uncle and older cousins have trained me since I was at a youthful age of four. They told me stories of how the vampires came to be, how they were created, and of course how they had taken over our world, but I don't know anything else about them. The most important thing my uncle taught me are the few ways to truly kill them.

How I must stab them with a wooden stake through the heart. However, it's not that simple, that will only immobilize them for a while. If I was to just leave their bodies, there like that they would wake up in a matter of hours.

Once I have staked them, I must cut off their head and burn the bodies. That is the only way to truly be sure they will not return. What I found to be interesting since I was a child is knowing how the sun does not kill them as one would think but weakens them. Hence, why they don't come out often during the day.

They have many differences from human beings. They are much faster than any human. So fast when they take off, they can look like a blur, or you may not see them coming for you at all.

Their strength is something to fear because they can kill even the biggest human with just a twist of their wrist. They can only survive on human blood, its human's life source, what keeps us alive by flowing in our veins. With vampires it keeps them alive by being their main food source.

However, throughout the years humans have found there to be some similarities between our kind and the vampire species. For instance, they look like any human, and can be hard to track if you are not trained properly to look for them in a large crowd.

Over the years the elders have come to find they are highly intelligent. In some ways they may even know more about the world then myself. They've been around for so long and seen as well as used all the things I never have. Standing beside this powerful vampire now, I find myself thinking the same things I have since I was four years old.

"Here we are." Stopping in front of a large door, he turns to me, giving me a knowing look.

"Can you hear what I'm thinking?" I have heard some vampires have that ability, and from the looks of the vampire standing in front of me it's a definite possibility.

"If I could little human, what would you do about it?" His right eyebrow shoots up to his forehead.

Giving him the evil eye, once I realize he's enjoying goading me. Not enjoying it myself, I look past him and to the door. There's a long moment of silence between the two of us.

As I worry my lip with my teeth. The knowledge that when I walk through this door there will be no way to escape. My life will forever change, and not knowing how terrifies me more than death. I hear him sigh with boredom.

"No, little human, I do not have that ability," at my release of breath, I hadn't realized I had been holding, I feel like I can relax for a little while. That is until his next words leave his mouth, "I do have other abilities however," he smirks as my eyes grow so wide there is a real possibility they will shoot out of their sockets.

"That story is for another time though. Perhaps when Diedrek gives permission for us to speak more freely."

He turns away from me to open the door, as it opens slightly, I look inside. There is a large living area right in front of me. A large leather couch is sitting in the middle of the room, two chairs across from it with a small table in the center of the room.

To the farthest wall is a beautiful fireplace with intricate stones along the sides. To the left is a room with the door ajar. All I can make out is a shelf along the wall with many books. I can't be sure if that could be a library or perhaps the vampire's office.

There were two other rooms, guessing where Diedrek sleeps, and a spare room, I hope. Another room I will be sleeping in and not with him. I've never slept with a man before, vampire nor human, and I'm not certain how to feel about a man, a vampire none-the-less, sleeping beside me every night.

There looks to be another hallway leading further into the wing, but I find myself too afraid to move from the spot in front of the door. I don't know what is to come, and if I move from my spot then this becomes real. "What could he find so interesting about me that he gives the order for me to be brought into the place he resides?"

"Diedrek will be here shortly. Are you hungry?" Looking over my shoulder at the vampire I've grown to tolerate in our short time together, I find it confusing with how cordial he is towards me.

Apparently, my face has a weird look on it with my confusion because he gives off a slight laugh. My confusion I feel only grows that he would care about my well-being at all.

"Well, I'll leave you be for now. There will be guards outside of the door. So don't get any ideas." He goes to turn, but before he can make his way out the door, I stop his movements with my arm out between the two of us.

It remains frozen between our bodies, as I stop myself just before I touch this being in front of me. Remembering who I am and who he is I place my arm back at my side. Holding my stomach with the other arm, by wrapping it around my center. I don't usually feel this afraid, I've been trained from an early age not to fear anything, even death. But here I am acting like a child.

He doesn't seem to judge my actions; in fact, I can see understanding held in his eyes. "Don't worry little human, no one will harm you here. Diedrek will be here soon to explain more to you. If you stay in this wing of the castle no one will dare touch, let alone talk with you." With a nod of my head, I watch him walk out of the room, closing the door behind him. With a finality of my new life, with the click of the door.

Listening I can hear the low rumble of him talking with someone. Something about watching the door until Diedrek returns. Being left alone, I decide to walk around to learn more about my surroundings.

Perhaps I can find a way to escape or even find something to make a weapon of some sort to defend myself. Something with the way the look I see in Diedrek's eyes as he looks at me, makes me feel like I need something to protect myself from him. Otherwise, he may just eat me alive.