Slave to Destiny

Something was wrong. The thought had been engraved into my mind for weeks upon weeks. When I walked through the streets of our city adorning my black cloak, I was met my silence. For an area on the brink of war, silence was an odd thing to hear. How could the bloodsuckers have penetrated our defenses?
Naturally my father didn’t see it that way. He saw it as the fast approaching peace. He just didn’t understand. As hard as I tried to reason with him and explain the circumstances. It was like talking to a wall. So here I was plopped down on my bed staring at the dress I’d picked out weeks ago.
The dress was gorgeous. It was purple and strapless, with a skirt full of ruffles. Real diamonds lined the top. Something inside of me told me not to put on the dress. It was my eighteenth birthday, and I didn’t want to walk down the grand staircase. I didn’t want to see the smiling faces of the vampire royal Stewards as I like to call them. For the vampire king was much to young to rule at the meek age of five.
I wanted to force them to explain why my people, my pack was disappearing at an alarming rate. I wanted them to explain where they were getting their excessive amounts of enslaved werewolf people. They were abusing their power, and I wasn’t going to stand for it.
“Miss Gabriella,” a soft voice called out from behind my door. Immediately I recognized the voice of being my servant Maddie. She was dear to me. We’d been together sense we were children.
Sighing I called out to her, “Come in.”
Without hesitation Maddie barged inside. Her thick chocolate colored hair was thrown up in a messy bun, and she was wearing a less than flattering maid’s uniform. Only during grand parties would I force her into something such as that. “Your father says you need to be ready and downstairs in twenty minutes,” she told me.
“Maddie something is wrong,” I told her my fears, “Something is going to happen tonight. I don’t think I should go. I don’t think anyone should go. I have that feeling.”
Maddie’s face curled up in fear. She trusted my instinctual feelings more than anyone. For whatever reason living in luxury has caused some werewolves to become soft, and let their guard down. Not I. I remained in tune to my wolf. It had no reason to be neglected.
“What are you going to do?” she asked me.
What was I going to do? I had to make an appearance. It was my birthday party after all. Or did I? What if I sent someone else in my place? None of the vampire guest would notice because they’ve never met me before. The werewolves would probably catch on not to say anything. As I sat there on my bed a plan formulated in my mind.
“Do you want to go to a party? I think you’ll make a wonderful princess,” I asked Maddie. To be perfectly honest I was probably being ridiculous. No harm would come to her, right? No one would actually consider killing a royal family in one night? As much as I tried to convince myself otherwise, I still found myself fearing for Maddie’s life.
Like any good servant or friend she replied, “Yes, of course I will.”
So just like that I wrapped Maddie up in the purple dress I’d been dying to wear for ages. She looked lovely. I curled her chocolate colored hair. Only people who truly knew me would notice that my hair had more gold than hers. I pinned the hair up, and placed a diamond tiara on top of her head. She looked stunning and regal.
“Maddie I love you for this,” I told her smiling. She was the kind of friend you could trust with anything. “I’m getting you something spectacular for Christmas this year.”
Maddie laughed one of her angelic laughs. Yes, anyone who saw her dolled up could easily mistake her as a princess.
I sent her off to the party minutes later leaving myself with the monumental task of dressing down. I changed into the maid’s uniform, and I attempted to frizz my hair up a bit. The hardest part about this plan was getting the servants not to gawk at me. It would be a shock to see their princess helping out in the kitchen.
The thought nearly made me giggle as I ambled down the hallway towards the kitchen. Perhaps tonight would be amusing in it’s own way. I was never really one for parties anyway.
I never did get to have my fun night of servitude, because as I passed the ballroom doors I heard the screams. They were chilling to the bone. They were the screams of women and children that were absolutely terrified. The lights went out, and all hell broke loose. Fighting started all around me.
Glass was being smashed. The entire palace was being destroyed as the werewolves now in full-fledged wolf form fought their opposition to the death. It was pure chaos. No one knew what was going on. I could see everything collapsing around me, but no one was paying attention to the maid standing in horror.
It sickened me as I turned my back on the people inside the ballroom and ran. It was so wrong of me to evacuate the castle, and run into the woods like a coward, but it had to be done. This was a war. Things were ugly. I let the animal out of the cage as I ran, ripping the clothing right off my body. I was in my full wolf form by the time I left the castle grounds, and entered the woods outside the city.
I was going to take back my Kingdom from the bloodsuckers if it was the last thing I did. It wasn't just words. It was a promise.