Lunar's Curse

The images started to fade and my head started to spin. Like I was flying, once again. My eyes were forced to close as a blinding flash of light hit me. When they opened again, I was lying on the bed in that room again.

“W-what...?”

There was a delirious laugh. Lamia, Lamia, Lamia, that voice repeated.

“Who are you?” I demanded, getting up from the bed. I already knew who it was, though I had to ask again.

Eternal Lamia. The eternal Lamia, child. Don't you find it fitting?

“W-what...” I trailed off. I started again. “What are you?” I took a breath. “What am I? A beast? A monster? A...Vampire...?”

I, child, am a Lamia. Half-woman, half-beast. All Vampiress. Not a filthy half-breed. And you... You are a special case... for you are not entirely so... But not complete either...

“I'm human,” I said, fear clutching my chest. I didn't want to be that...monster... A Lamia... Half-snake... “I'm human,” I repeated. “Completely, fully human. Nothing else.”

That's what they all want... Every generation seem to think the Lamia is a curse... I think not. It is a gift. A gift to be cherished. But...your gift is...limited...

I didn't want this 'gift'. There was no point in denying that the Lamia existed. Xavier was a Vampire for God's sake. What else wasn't there? The scientific part of me wanted to disagree with everything. There were no Vampires. There was no Lamia. This was all my crazy imagination.

I conjured up an image of my grandma... What had she told me the last time she saw me?

Don't fall.

Don't fall to what? Don't...succumb to my...Vampiress instincts? I shivered. It could mean that.

No. Impossible. I was human...human, human, human... I couldn't be a half-breed or a Vampiress like Eternal and Alex. I couldn't. I was human Myra Eva Lamia and I would always be her.

Denial, denial, Eternal taunted, that's what they all do, especially your mother.

My mother. I never knew her... She...she died, along with my father. My dreams... The one I had when we were being chased through the forest... Was that my mother and father? Was that 'them'?

“What happened to my mother?” I demanded. I had to know.

Oh, the Catlin family hunted her down. She wasn't fulfilling her duties as Queen. Ran away with a puny little human boy. They tracked her and killed her. Fairly simple, really. But they didn't know that she had a child...you.

My mother...she was the Lamia/Vampiress? I had thought the Vampire part in me would be from my father...wasn't that how it typically went? But no... I remembered when my grandmother first pretended to be crazy. When she started yelling at someone named Lynton...

The Lamia is only passed down through the female line, Eternal told me, never male.

My mother...was a monster...? So...my father, according to Eternal was a human. Then what was I? Half Lamia? A half-breed...just like Alex? That thought was so revolting I almost got sick over the bed sheets. I thought back to when I was home, so long ago, when Justine had enthused about me being a Vampire. It was just a joke, but I didn't know it would actually be true.

You are a Djamphir, Eternal told me. A puny little half-breed. But you are still Lamia, so you are still powerful in ways.

“Djamphir...?”

There was almost no denying it now. I was right. As crazy as it was, I was right.

I knew Justine would never understand this as something horrible. Speaking of Justine, I had no idea where in the world she was.

“What...what are you?” I whispered, dread filling me. I couldn't be like her. I couldn't. I couldn't.

But a darker part of me, the cynical Vampiress part of me said, yes, Myra, you could. Don't you find it all too fitting?

Because why would my grandmother pretend to be crazy to keep me safe from 'them', whoever they were? Why else would Eternal single me out? Why else would my surname also be a name for a legendary monster?

Eternal gave a guttural laugh. I am the first Lamia. And you are my bloodline. The heir to the throne.

Just as she finished, the door burst open. A towering girl with long black hair entered the room. Her eyes were brown and her face was very pale. Her face looked almost exactly like what Eternal had looked like, minus the serpentine eyes. Her nails were painted blood red and a soulless black.

She caught sight of me and the corner of her mouth lifted up.

“Um...” I trailed off. What was she? Was she...human like me? No...I wasn't human. But I had to be. I refused to listen to Eternal's voicing about me being a monster just like her.

Eternal's voice whispered into my ear. Oh her. The royalty's bride. She thinks she has all. If only she could hear me, she would be a wonderful weapon. But she's can't hear me, just like everyone else. Except for you...and your family line.

I didn't want to know anymore about my family line. I ignored Eternal and focused on the girl. She had left the door wide open.

“You,” she said. Her voice was musical and lovely. But I could hear...some kind of...thirst...in her voice...

Blood thirst.

“You,” she repeated, “the stupid human girl that Xavier chased around—I absolutely cannot believe that he would go around chasing for you!” She began to laugh in a high-pitched kind of laughter. It made me shiver. Danger—that was what the air around her cried out. Danger and death.

“A foul little girl,” she whispered. She sniffed the air—almost like a dog. Then she wrinkled her nose. “Stinks of a filthy human,” she said. She looked straight at me. “Stinks of...you.”

Stinks of Lamia, Eternal whispered in my ear, she's a half-breed. Wolfen. Part wolfen... Worse than that. More half than you can think of, Eternal told me. But still a useful little girl.

I didn't say anything to Eternal. Wolfen? Like Alex? Was she just like him? A half-breed? I wanted to ask her if she knew Alex but I had a feeling that I would regret it if I did so I didn't speak.

Xavier came into the room. “No, Rina, she's not going to be used for the Cattle Farm.” The Cattle Farm? Hadn't Alex mentioned this to me? Was it somewhere that the Vampires went to...suck blood? If so, I would rather die than be stuck in there as something for Vampires to feed on.

“Where the hell am I? Let me out of here! Where's Justine?” I asked him, knowing that he wouldn't bother to answer questions like that. But I still had to try. Where in the world had he taken Justine? Was she in the Cattle Farm, wherever that was?

Rina, the girl, gave me a cruel smile. “We do not,” she began, “take orders from a puny little human like you.”

You are the Lamia! Eternal hissed at me. Tell her that! She will fall to her knees and bow before you! You will take your rightful place as heir to the crown—no, you will be Queen! The Catlins are unworthy! Make them bow before you! You are the rightful Queen! Not that half-breed!

The Catlins...? They still existed? I didn't say what Eternal had told me to say. Like she had said earlier—no one heard her at all. I didn't want to say that I wasn't human. I couldn't possibly be a Lamia, a monster.

“Let me kill it,” Rina said to Xavier, a hungry glow in her eyes. “Let me put that thing out of its' misery.”

It. Now I was being referred to as 'it'. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be frighten or furious. Furious because I wasn't just an 'it' and frightened because that meant that I was probably...lunch.

“No,” Xavier said, “we can't kill her.” He looked at me, his expression almost pleading. Pleading for...what? I've almost never seen him that way and it made me laugh. That expression looked so off on his face. “She knows too much. I tried to erase her memory. The chains around her mind is coming loose.” Erasing my memory...?

Rina laughed. It sounded almost like Eternal's laugh. I shuddered and she noticed. “Oh look,” she said, “our poor guest is feeling a bit frightened.”

“Rina,” Xavier said with a touch of warning in his voice. “The chains are coming loose. Any more memories we give her of us and it will be impossible to erase her memory.” He was still trying to erase my memory? No way was I going to let that happen. It was impossible to let that happen. I couldn't forget.

You couldn't forget if you tried, Eternal whispered, no one but yourself can erase your memories. That is Lunar's gift.

“The chains are coming loose,” Rina imitated Xavier. “The chains of sanity. Ooh! I'd love to drive another puny little human to insanity!” I stared at her with wide eyes.

“Where's Justine?” I asked Xavier immediately. To my disappointment, he looked confused—but maybe he was acting. But I watched as he sucked the blood out of her! Did he... Did he...? Did he kill her? Anger boiled through me and I finally found my voice again.

“Where is she?” I hissed. “You bast—”

“Now, now,” Rina told me, as if scolding a disobedient puppy. “You have no right to speak, filthy human.”

Look who's talking, Eternal whispered to me, cackling.

“No,” Xavier said rather calmly. “Let her speak. I went through so much trouble to get her—”

Rage filled Rina's eyes. “Trouble? Why the hell did you go anyways?”

Xavier flinched and I found it quite entertaining to watch. Xavier—flinching over what a girl said. But this girl was...well...insane. But she acted like Amanda.

Speaking of Amanda... I shuddered. Was he going to try and do the same thing to me? Did he do the exact same to Justine...?

“It was the age to enter the human world,” Xavier said as calmly as he could. “Her scent was unusual. Her blood was unusual.”

She's a Djamphir, Eternal said, a pretty petty Djamphir.

What's a Djamphir? I thought. Eternal heard my question and answered for me. Of course I had no knowledge of what a Djamphir was but I had a feeling...

A half-breed, Eternal told me. A filthy half-breed. But the Djamphir race is more respected than the wolfen. But...Djamphir are always used for blood. They are cattle. They have been when I was alive and they still are.

So I was...cattle... Right. In this twisted world, Seul Âme, Only Soul, I was cattle. God, I needed to get the hell out of here. After I find Justine...and where was Claire?

Thinking of Claire, a sick feeling went through my stomach. Where was she? Was she...attacked by the 'rabid animal' at my door the last time I was home? Why didn't she jump into the basement with me? Where was she now? Was she...dead?

“Scent!” Rina yelled. “Scent and taste! Who cares? From what I can smell—all she is just human! Nothing more!”

I thought about what Eternal told me... The Lamia... I wished that I was human. I wish.

You will be Queen! What more can you want? Just tell them that you are the Lamia of this generation. They think the bloodline of the Lamia is depleted after they killed your mother. But it wasn't and I have to respect her for it... Destroy the reign of the Catlins... They are unworthy. Let the Lamia rule again! The Era of the Lamia will come!

Eternal was completely power hungry. But...I had to ask... About the Catlins... About the boy she once loved and sacrificed for power.

Quatan Catlin.

Quatan Catlin—whatever happened to that boy you loved...and killed? I asked her. Rina and Xavier weren't paying much attention to me. Rina was just screaming at Xavier and I didn't want to listen to their argument.

Oh Quatan...yes...Quatan...her tone was dreary, as if repeating a history text book. What a handsome boy he was. He's dead now.

Why did you kill him? Didn't you love him?

Love, Eternal whispered. She let out a shivery laugh. A pathetic emotion for pathetic animals. I feel no love. The weak human girl I was is dead.

But... Wasn't she half-human...?

I am a Lamia. I do not have empathy for anyone. I am a Vampiress. I...am a monster, as you may say. A beautiful monster...really... Love is nothing but a sickness—a weakness.

She told me this without a hint of bitterness. She sounded...proud... I felt sick to my stomach hearing that.

I simply do not care about Quatan Catlin anymore. He is...nothing. He is dead. Though I was merciful enough to my one love to spare him his soul. I'm afraid it wasn't the same for his bastard of a father. Quatan is a Catlin...and if I must say—if the Catlin bloodline is to rule, it would only be Quatan...

“You little bitch!” Rina shouted at me so suddenly that I almost jumped. Her eyes had a hungry look to them and she lunged at me. Time seem to slow and I quickly leapt off the bed.

Time sped up again and Rina landed on the bed like a wild animal in the area where I once was. Her fingernails were digging into the sheets. She hissed and turned to face me. I could see her muscles tensing, ready to leap again. I flinched and she grinned, sharp canines showing with two extending longer than the others on each side.

Then, she stopped and stared at me with wide eyes. Her muscles relaxed slightly and a lupine smile spread up her face.

“You were right,” Rina said, a bit reluctant but proud at the same time. “She is odd.”

The Lamia, Eternal whispered. Tell her... You are a Lamia.

No. I wasn't a Lamia. I was human. I had to be. I had lived sixteen years of normalcy. I didn't want to think of it that way. I couldn't be a freaky monster like the pictures on the internet. It didn't even look remotely desirable. But my mother had apparently been a monster just like me. But if she was a monster that felt so love, then where did my father come in? According to my grandmother's ramblings when she was 'crazy', they loved each other. Was it just a lie that my mother fabricated?

It couldn't be. It couldn't. I refused to think of my mother as someone as heartless as that. She couldn't be.

“I'm always right,” Xavier said solemnly. There was no arrogance in his voice. It was odd to hear him like that. I still remembered him with all the girls in my class...so presumptuous and full of hidden pretence. He wasn't the arrogant boy that most would take him to be. He was the Prince.

I made a sound at the back of my throat, like a scared animal. And I was. I was scared, and here, wherever I was—I was cattle. I was an animal. I didn't have any rights here like Rina had said.

Rina narrowed her eyes at me. “I'm Rina,” she said. It wasn't a friendly introduction. “You better remember my name, filthy human.” Her eyes glowed. “Rina Burke. And I'll be the one to suck your blood dry.”



Mel. Mel. Mel.

It was completely dark around me. I couldn't see anything, couldn't even feel my limbs. “Hello?” I called into the silence.

And there it was again. The voice, so tiny that it was almost inaudible. I called out again. “Hello?” My voice was shaky, raspy even. I sounded...almost like Eternal.

Eternal. That reminded me... The Lamia... Mel...Quatan Catlin...

There was a sudden bright light. But then...it wasn't. It was just a line of light...that was moving?

It was almost like a glow-stick. The neon red light seemed to trace words in the air slowly like a pen writing out the words.

XAVIER CATLIN.

Xavier's surname was Catlin? It shouldn't have come as a surprise. The Catlins were ruling after the Lamia bloodline had somehow disappeared. Xavier was the Prince, after all. It shouldn't have been a surprise.

The blood red words faded to be replaced with something else, written in brilliant shining gold.

M-Y-R-A

E-V-A

The colours changed into a shade of emerald green. The colour was so deep and lively that I didn't even know if the shade existed. Mesmerized by the colour itself, I stared, not seeing the last word before the light had stopped moving.

L-A-M-I-A

Lamia. Like I expected. Was it so tainted that it had to be written in another colour? The words started to fade and I squinted, thinking it was my vision failing me but it wasn't. The words really were fading...except for the first letter of each word.

The rest of the words faded until only my initials remained. I didn't understand it until the words began to move closer together to form a single word:

M-E-L

Mel.

The girl from my grim reaper vision. Whoever she was and if she even existed. I had never noticed but my initials spelled out...Mel...

Was I her? Could I be her?

While I was lost in my thoughts, the letters faded away and someone came into view. It was the same kind of clothes from my vision. A tall, slim person stood in front of me. They were wearing a black hood and there were red strands sticking out from the hood. I knew it was Mel, that girl.

This time, she wasn't holding a scythe.

“That is who you are to be reborn,” a thundering voice said. I looked around for the source of the sound but to no avail. I couldn't see them, I could only see Mel.

“What?” Mel's voice was bordering hysterics. “I helped save someone!”

“No.” The voice was cool and amused. “You did not. You gave him rebirth and I will do the same to you.” Wasn't rebirth supposed to be a good thing? But one look at Mel's trembling figure, I could tell it was not.

“Not the Lamia,” Mel protested rather weakly. “No. Never into her bloodline. You can't do this!”

“You won't be reborn now, of all times,” the voice said, “but you will eventually. I can promise that much. And while the millennium flies by...you can rot in your inner Hell.”

Mel shrieked and fell to the ground. Her hood fell off and she covered her ears with her pale hands. The screaming stopped abruptly and she looked down at her hands, staring, seeming to hardly believe what was happening.

Little snakes were wringing their way out of her skin and blood was streaming from the open wounds they left. Underneath her cloak, her legs started to change into a snake's bottom half, just like that of Eternal's.

“No!” Mel screamed. “Have mercy! Have mercy!”

“Mercy is what has gotten you here in the first place,” the voice said. “You must never, ever have mercy as one of us.”

Mel continued to scream and scream. The sound was so horrible that I could barely hear to listen to the agonized sounds.

“You will suffer,” the voice said, “for the millennium until your time of rebirth.” There was a pause. “Be grateful that these memories will be erased once you are reborn.”

With that, Mel's body slowly faded into the darkness. Before I had any more time to decipher anything, light filled my eyelids.

I sat up, gasping. I was still in the room of Xavier's... This time, he was sitting by a chair near the door, as far as possible from me.

I looked at him, wondering where I had got here. The last thing I remembered was Rina leaving the room after she gave me her ultimatum. When had I fallen asleep? “What did you do?” I growled at Xavier. He looked a little too calm for my liking.

“Little enchantments,” I heard Xavier mutter, more to himself than to me. Then he looked me in the eyes and said, “I twisted your mind to my will. Your whining was getting on my nerves.”

“What?” I asked. I didn't really understand what he was trying to tell me. Messing with my mind? What in the world was he on about? Was this part of his...Vampire skill?

“I bended your mind to my will,” Xavier explained simply, as if it was the most common thing in the world. And maybe it was—in this world. Seul Âme. “It was simple,” Xavier continued. “All I had to do was...”

“Do what?” I demanded. “You bended my mind to your will?” Xavier nodded like it was nothing. Like it was just an everyday thing that was so easy it didn't even need to be explained and that I was the stupid one.

“You're kidding me,” I said blankly, even though I knew he clearly wasn't.

“Look,” Xavier said. “You're not in...”

“My world anymore?” I interrupted. In truth, I knew exactly where I was but maybe I should have been playing stupid so he would think me stupid. That would be an easier way to escape than anything else. If I looked stupid, he might loosen whatever security around me just because he thought I would be too dumb to escape.

“Right,” Xavier said, sounding surprised that I would actually guess it right. “You are in...my Realm.” He was hesitant when he said 'my'.

“Your Realm?” I asked, pretending to be completely confused. “So it's yours? What are you talking about?”

“I'm...a Catlin,” he said quickly, as if that would explain everything. I suddenly thought back to what Eternal had said about the Lamia and Catlin bloodline. He was the heir to the throne. He had power. Duh. I already knew that but now, coming from Xavier's mouth, it sounded much more serious...and dire.

“Oh,” I said in a small voice. All of a sudden, all I wanted to do was curl up in a small ball and disappear. I waited for Eternal's voice to fill my head, telling me how to act or what to do. But all I could hear from her was soft laughter like she was amused at what she was hearing (or seeing). “I didn't know that.”

Xavier shrugged. “You're not from this world...but you're...odd.”

I was odd. No duh. I was supposed to be from the Lamia bloodline, I just had a dream about a girl named Mel that looked exactly like me and may be my earlier incarnation (if such things existed). And I was just odd? He was off by miles but I didn't bother to correct him. “Right,” I said, “I've always been odd.”

“I don't mean...your stupid human high school definition of odd,” Xavier said without humour, “I mean...you're odd. You're...different from other humans. You're...stronger than them. Your mind is stronger from the usual human mind. You're still weak, in my terms,” Xavier said, “but you're stronger than the majority of humans.”

Lamia. I was a...half-Lamia. A snake-woman...thing. I didn't tell Xavier this. Why should he know?

“And,” Xavier added, “your blood, smells...different.” His lips curled, as if remembering the smell of my blood on his lips. I flinched, thinking of Justine. My stomach heaved and I tried not to get sick over the room. “It's more...scrumptious.” I swallowed and my eyes darted around the room, looking for some sort of easy escape in which Xavier wouldn't be able to follow me. He wanted to...suck my blood out. Or at least, he sounded like it. I thought back to Justine's (and other teenage girl's) obsession with Vampires and whatever abnormal inhuman creature. There was nothing sexy about a guy sucking your blood out. There was nothing cool about that. There was nothing attractive about that. Though I had a feeling that many of those girls would want to be in my place.

I just wanted to be normal. I just wanted to have a normal (sane) grandmother that didn't pretend to be crazy and do freaky magic with other old ladies and I wanted to have alive parents. I didn't want this horrible life of mine. But nothing was normal now.

Speaking of normal...

“Justine,” I said suddenly, feeling anger course through me. “What have you done with her?” There was a horrible churning in my stomach when I said her name out loud. I could still remember the look on her face as Xavier sucked the blood out of her.

“Her?” Xavier asked me, seeming amused. He looked out the window. “Well...she's not very important, is she?” It was said so absentmindedly that my vision was red for a moment.

“Not important?” I almost yelled. “Not important? You're saying she's not important! She's a human being, for God's sake!”

Xavier nodded slowly. “And that is why she's not important.” He said this so...simply. It was like it was so obvious and I was completely blind. His answer shocked the rage out of me.

“So,” I said softly. “She's not important. So where is she?”

“With Alex,” Xavier said. Then he quickly added, “In the dungeons with your other friend. The other redhead.” Claire. He meant Claire. But then I realized...I wasn't supposed to know that Alex was a half-breed so I played stupid again.

“So did you know Alex? Is he just another human? Unimportant?” I asked, my voice slightly mocking. I couldn't let in that I knew Alex for who he really was.

Xavier looked annoyed with my questions. “Look,” he said, “I'll show you around the...place...” Realm. Seul Âme

“You haven't answered my question,” I said persistently. I was going to be obstinate on this subject. Stupidity and ignorance also requires commitment. “What is Alex? Just another human? Or one of your kind?”

“Alex is... I'm not supposed to be telling you, but I'm tired of you. He's a half-breed.”

“A half-breed what? Half-Vampire?” I asked, satisfied that my voice came out slightly curious.

“No...there's nothing close to human in him. Calling Alex human is like calling me human.” Xavier gave a laugh. His words had been a reminder of how very inhuman he was. A chill went through me.

“He's half. Half wolfen, half Vampire.”

Wolfen. Werewolf. I already knew that because he told me what felt like ages ago. I thought back to Alex, who seemed completely normal and nice at school. I never knew he was marquis and I never knew he had a legion of half-souled crazies. He was nothing like a monster—Vampire.

“But...you said that Justine might be with Alex,” I said, fear gripping my heart. Did Xavier sell her out back to the camp? I didn't want to drag Justine into this mess of monsters. Why had she fallen heads-over-heels with Alex in the first place? Was she ever going to completely see the truth? Would she ever give up on her sick fantasy with Vampires and Werewolves?

“She's in the dungeons. And if you don't follow my orders, now, I'll kill her.”

Blackmail. Of course.

Justine was too brave to be destroyed like that. She had to find a way to escape...unless she didn't want to escape.

“Justine would be killed.” Xavier repeated as if it wasn't clear in the first place. “You will listen to my orders and do as I say or Justine and that other girl will be killed.”

“Claire?” I challenged. “Why did you even bring her here in the first place? She was innocent! Just because she was associated with me? Just because of that?”

Xavier gave me a grim smile. “Yes, that is one of the reasons.” He ignored the seething look that I was giving him at the moment. “But another reason is that she was clear-sighted. She saw too much. The Seers are the ones you can never control.”

“Seers? Clear-sighted?” Maybe it meant that Witches and Sorcerers were going to pop out of here any moment.

“She has the gift or the curse of clear-sight. In the mortal world, you are not supposed to see us for who we are. The Seers can see. They see walking corpse and whatever else is true to their sight. They do not see Vampires of wolfen as human beings like we tend to be labelled as. They can see the truth and the truth and what drives them insane.”

Insanity. That word reminded me so much of my grandmother's false insanity.

Before I could say anything, he changed the topic and said, “Why don't we go for a walk, Myra?” He attempted to smile at me to look less menacing but it wasn't convincing. I had already seen him suck Justine's blood so why was he pretending to be all charming now?

And no. I didn't want to go for a walk. I wanted to find Justine and Claire, set them free and get the hell out of this place, Seul Âme.

And Xavier is a freaking Vampire. Good luck with that, Myra, a voice inside my head scolded me. It wasn't Eternal this time. It was just me. Eternal wouldn't have used such crude modern language.

“Alright,” I said slowly, wondering if it was the right choice. It had to be. It was a simple question but it was also a command.

I followed Xavier out of the room and into the corridors. I could tell that this was a mansion. Xavier's mansion, probably. He was...royalty. The Prince. The royal Catlin Prince.

I thought back to Eternal and the vision she had shown me. The one with Quatan. I shivered. Eternal hadn't even thought twice about giving up her love. All she wanted was power. But she had said that she had been merciful and let Quatan die with a soul. So that meant...

“Xavier... Do...your kind have...souls...?” I asked, my voice small. I thought of the name of this place again, Seul Âme. Only Soul, as Justine had pointed out.

Xavier hesitated. “Souls...are a theory. There is no proof that souls exist,” he said, as if repeating something he learned from class. “No proof at all. It's best you not ask the others about this. They won't take it as kindly as I will.”

So they were in denial. I didn't say it though because I was half afraid that Xavier would 'not take it kindly'. I didn't want my throat to meet those fangs.

The corridors were a dark beige colour. There were no windows and there were a few paintings hung on the walls. They were the kind of paintings that looked slightly creepy. Unsmiling people, and most of them had odd coloured eyes. Mostly a deep red like Xavier's eyes. They looked like paintings that I found in my local library. But they had a...almost vampiric touch to them. Xavier caught me looking at them.

“Those,” he began, with a touch of pride in his voice, “are the paintings of the Catlin bloodline. They're posted almost everywhere here. We've been the top for around...fifty years, maybe. Of course, I'm a mere child in Vampire years so I haven't been around to see the rise of the Catlins. I heard that the older generation had died out.”

I thought about what Eternal had said about the royalty bloodline. The Lamia and then the Catlin. The Lamia was the top because...their descendant had been the one to turn the Catlins...

Since then, Quatan had been the only Catlin to die of a human death—with his soul intact.

As we ventured further down the corridors (they seemed to never end because they always branched off into other areas), I spotted a familiar painting on the wall. I almost stopped to stare at it. It was the only painting in which the subject was smiling. His eyes were blood red like all the others. He had raven black hair and the perfection on his face made him look handsome.

Xavier himself.

He saw the painting I was staring at. “Oh that,” he said, arrogance creeping into his voice. He sounded like he was back in high school again—when he was so sure of everything. “I'm next in line for the crown. What do you expect?” He gave me a cocky grin.

I reminded myself that we weren't in my world at high school anymore. We were in Seul Âme, his Realm. I couldn't say anything that could set him off.

“So, Myra,” Xavier began as we continued along. I was caught off guard. Why would he want to have a conversation now? Unless it was about his painting, of course. “How are you?”

Horrible. I want to go home. I wish you were dead. I wish this was all a dream. I could have said all that. But instead, I said, “I'm just tired.” I didn't really want to start small talk with him but I felt as if I didn't have a choice.

Xavier seemed to believe me. I got the feeling that he wasn't too bright when he was dealing with humans (or half-humans) like me.

We finally reached the doors. They rose almost two feet over my head. They were wooden and the doorknobs were those you would see in drawings. They had cravings of something like looked like a monster with the ring through their nose.

Xavier put a hand on the ring and pushed it open. I expected sunlight to stream through.

Instead, moonlight fell on my face. I looked up at the dark sky. It was a half moon. Something in me relaxed, just a bit. If there were Vampires running around, there were Werewolves. Or what Xavier called them—wolfen. According to legend, they would be out in full moon.

“Ah,” Xavier said, noticing my surprised expression at the moonlight instead of sun. “Well...you know the Vampire drill,” he said a little absentmindedly. “When sunlight touches our skin...we burn.” He shrugged, as it was no big deal. But I had a feeling that he was slightly envious that sunlight could touch my skin with no horrible side effects. “We don't sparkle, of course. Though that seems to be the main thing tied with the Vampire lore in your world.”

Sparkling Vampires. Right. That would make him about a hundred times less vicious and more Disney fairy than anything else.

But no—Xavier sucked blood for food and killed whenever he wanted. And he had no soul. There was nothing sparkly or attractive about this guy. I shuddered as I thought about those fangs on Justine's neck. I had to find a way to set her and Claire free.

As we stepped out, I noticed that there was grass. But the grass was dead and yellow and made a crunching sound under our foot as we stepped onto the grounds.

There were trees around us, but very few. Most of them were leafless dead trees. There were some odd trees that were in full bloom just like the ones Justine and I saw. I had no name for these trees. They were almost obviously foreign. There was nothing like these trees back at home. Especially if they attacked us.

Home, I thought, feeling despair creep through me. How do I find a way out of this place? I don't want to die here.

I'd want to die in any place other than here.

For a strange moment, a wave of emotions rushed through me. They were overwhelming...but...different. Almost like I was feeling someone's emotions. These weren't mine.

A feeling of hopelessness filled me, though it didn't feel like my own emotions. It was like one of the moments when I was too empathetic and almost forgot my say in things. Fear took over me and my heart started to beat faster than it's regular beat. I started taking in more breaths, like I was hyperventilating. In that wave of emotion, the name Lynton seemed so clear.

Lynton. Why did it sound so familiar?

“Myra?” Xavier asked, looking at me annoyance. He didn't seem to understand what I was going through at all and I was fine with that. “You alright?”

No, I wanted to say. But I lied and shook myself out of that delirious wave of emotions and said, “Yes.” Anything to make him take his attention off me.

“Okay,” Xavier said, seeming not to care anymore. “But I just have to say... I just wanted to show you the lands of my Realm. Or at least, the important lands close to my mansion.”

“Why?” I asked. I just wanted to be in that room, planning my escape. And maybe with some help from Eternal. How did I even get in this stupid Realm, Seul Âme, in the first place? All I remembered was hitting my head and blacking out...

“To show that you can't escape,” Xavier said simply, as if responding to my thoughts. I shrank back from him, fearing that he actually could read my thoughts. He raised an eyebrow at me.

“Human minds are easy to manipulate,” Xavier said. “Especially when they are fearful or angry. Anything with strong emotions really.” He leaned down a bit so that our faces were inches apart. “Especially when they are in a foolish thing called love.”

I swallowed, but I didn't say anything. I held my breath, not wanting to smell any remnants of tangy and metallic smell of blood in his breath.

He pulled away. “Almost every human falls for a Vampire, right when they meet them. They all strive for perfection. Being inhuman has perks. Many, many perks.” He grinned at me. A nasty grin.

“One is immortality. And the other? Perfection. No human can resist perfection.”

He pointed up at the top of the hill. “That's where the cliff is,” Xavier told me. “I would prefer if you don't hurt yourself on the way up.” He said this like he had thought I was a klutz and would kill myself in process. It was not out of sheer kindness or even care. I was like something of a weapon to him. Easy at his disposal. But it would have been very inconvenient for me to get injured on him. He didn't care for me at all and that was fine with me. Until it got the point where he would suck my blood...

A feeling of fury boiled in me but I managed to squash it down. We hadn't been speaking at all (until now) since his thoughts about human perfection. “Unless you push me off the cliff,” I muttered in answer to his statement earlier. I knew Xavier heard me, but he completely ignored me.

As we made out way up the hill (that no sensible human could manage to kill themselves on), I thought more about what Xavier had told me. There was no sunlight here. The vegetation was different. The human grass and trees were all dead. I had a strange feeling that this 'Realm' was the forest that Eternal had showed me in my visions. Except that it was completely...vampiric now.

“Xavier...” I began. He looked slightly annoyed but looked at me anyways to show that I had his attention. “If...Vampires can't go out in the sunlight...” I trailed off, squinting at him. “Then... I remember you standing in brood daylight.” Seeing his confused look, I quickly added, “back at...my home.”

“Funny thing,” Xavier said, “I came to the human world for the first taste of blood.”

And that's why, I thought, hoping that Xavier wasn't listening to my thoughts, crazy Vampires should never be let loose, especially in the human world.

“All Vampires and Vampiress do. We also get our first and last taste of sunlight. When a Vampire turns the human age of seventeen, we are sent to the human world for one month. This is usually around the warmest time of the year.”

“June?” I asked, thinking about the approximate time when Xavier had appeared in my high school class.

“Precisely,” he said, “but the Medice—a...Healer or a Witch in your terms, they brew a potion for the generation leaving. It makes them immune to sunlight only for a few months. It only works the first time on Vampires and it's quite hard to brew. I don't know how they get so many every year.” Witches. Of course.

“So you're really just seventeen?” I asked, feeling a bit odd. He was very close to my age. I had originally thought (when I first found out that he was a Vampire) that he was over a hundred years old. Maybe even thousands. But it felt odd to hear that he was slightly older than me.

“Yes,” he said, “I'm young, as I've said earlier.” He cast me a sideways glance. “If you were ever paying attention to what I was telling you. But enough question, we're here.” I hadn't noticed that we reached the top of the hill. From the bottom view, it looked like just a normal curving hill that you usually saw in some rural areas. But from here, I could see that the hill had been abruptly cut off like a giant had slashed through the hill with a chainsaw.

I looked down. It was just an empty open space that went on for a little bit. There was a gigantic white barn-looking house to my right. There were something like metal fences to keep in whatever thing it was made for keeping in. Animals, maybe. Some kind of big animal they may use for blood supply.

I caught Xavier raising an eyebrow at me. “Not for animals,” he said, and I knew he had read my mind again. God—he had to stop doing that. I had to learn to block him out. The thought of him having access to my every thought made me shiver. “These pens aren't for animals. We don't drink animal blood. That's ridiculous.”

I thought about one of Justine's phases she had a while ago. A Twilight phase. She had told me almost everything about the book/movies. I didn't even care about Vampires back then. If only I had known that one day, I would be captured by an insane Vampire by the name of Xavier...

“Can't you be vegetarians?” I asked. As soon as I said that, I wanted to take it back. It sounded ridiculous. I suddenly wondered why Justine was ever obsessed with that book/movie.

“Vegetarians,” Xavier repeated. He grinned at me. “Great idea, I've never heard of it.” From the tone of his voice, I knew he was mocking me. I instantly flew at my own defence.

“Look! I didn't come up with Twilight!”

Xavier shook his head at me like I was an idiot. “Oh yes, that human novel. It makes things so much easier for us Vampires. Now all we have to do is look pretty, brood often, and tell hormonal teenage girls that we love them oh-so-much and we have an instant cattle. Do you ever wonder why Vampires chose to invade high schools now and not just pick random strangers?”

I shuddered. “It...didn't work on me,” I said rather quietly.

Xavier smiled a bit. “I have no feelings,” he said solemnly. “I mean, I do. But I don't care much about romance. I don't care about silly love. Love is something to do with humans.” He looked at me, red eyes boring me. “And I am clearly not human.”

You aren't either, Lamia, a voice inside my head mocked me. For one moment, I thought it was Eternal.

“I almost got you,” Xavier said, sounding proud. “All you have to do is tell them that you love them. I should have kissed you and you would have been all over me.” He was speaking as if he had forgotten that I was a human being myself. I felt myself go red at the kiss comment and then felt like I was going to puke all over the dead grass. I hated this place.

“Anyways, we are never vegetarians. We are undead, if your teenage mind has forgotten.” He thought I was one of those girls pinning after a Vampire boyfriend. I didn't bother to correct him. I would get no gain from that anyways. “Undead human. We don't produce blood so we take blood. Kind of like parasite, if you think about it.”

I instantly thought about tapeworms. So that's what Vampires really were in the lowest form. Tapeworms.

“There is no such thing as a vegetarian Vampire. In fact, that would be like a human just trying to solely survive on dirt from the ground. Animal blood to Vampires is like dirt if humans. Just making it clear.” He looked away from me and back to the field. “Now, feeding time is almost here.”

I didn't understand what he meant by 'feeding time'. It didn't sound too great after his words about vegetarian Vampires. I didn't ask him about it. I didn't want to hear the words come from his mouth.

I could see a few people down there, waiting by the barn door. I hadn't noticed them earlier, but some of them looked like they were standing there for a while. The person at the front was make big hand gestures that made him look like they were clearly frustrated and angry though I couldn't see their face or hear their words.

A bell chimed suddenly. It was loud and clear. It was high-pitched and sounded like the sound the triangle would make—slightly musical.

The barn doors inside the pens opened and figures came stumbling out. I squinted down at them. They looked like animals from down here. They were clearly shorter than the human-like figures. They were on all fours and crawling into the pens, bumping into each other.

The human-like figures (probably Vampires) entered the barn one by one and they came out on the pens side. I couldn't see too clearly, but it looked like the Vampire was just walking through the pen and examining the things like a farmer would to a cow.

Xavier looked vaguely amused. “You can't see from here.” It wasn't a question.

“No everyone has freaking super human powers,” I muttered, craning my neck as if it would get me a better look.

“I don't think you want to see this,” Xavier said. “It can be a bit traumatizing.”

I wanted to see it anyways. I wanted to see why it was so traumatizing. I wanted to know. Curiosity kills the cat, as the saying goes.

Come on Myra! Focus! I shut my eyes and concentrated like I had when I was at Alex's camp. When the half-souled crazies tried to attack me and when Alex called all his guards to stop me from running away.

I felt something in me snap and I almost gasped out loud. My eyes flew open and everything seem so...clear. It was insane. It was almost like my eyes was a camera. I could just pinpoint a location and almost...zoom in. I could see every curve of the branch from the dead tree. I could see...so much.

Xavier hadn't seemed to notice me. I looked at him and I could see him—finally. No, I didn't see him as freakishly pale human. I saw him—the Vampire part of him. It shone out as clear as daylight. His pale skin had just looked odd before this. Now I could see—it was almost white. Almost translucent—I could even see his borrowed blood attempting to bring colour into his dead skin. For the first time since I met him, I could see so clearly that there was nothing human about him, despite all outward appearances. He was undead. He was a Vampire, through and through. I couldn't see the beat of his heart on his neck. I shuddered and recoiled from him.

I looked down at my own hands. My skin looked perfectly normal—and most of all, alive. There was no borrowed blood pumping through me. I could hear my heartbeat as clear as ever. I thought about what Eternal had told me—that I was a Djamphir and that I had some sort of monster in me. I was half the monster that Xavier was. I felt bile rise to my mouth and I spat it out. I shivered—I wasn't undead. I was alive. I couldn't be a monster.

Xavier looked at me curiously, his red eyes boring into me. There, I saw that his eyes were practically dead too. Except something had been able to keep it working and keep his sight. I made a small whimper at the back of my throat. I backed away from him and I stumbled. He reached out to try and steady me but I jerked myself back immediately. I remembered how his skin had felt warm on the first day I met him. It was either the borrowed blood or the potion. Most likely the potion. I didn't want to know what his skin felt like now that we were in the Realm. Cold, icy, freezing. Something completely inhuman.

“I told you it would be traumatizing,” he said, thinking I had been looking at the barn and not him. He didn't even know where my traumatizing began. I forced myself to look away from his undead body and on the pens. I could see more clearly now. It was obvious that those human-like figures were Vampires. I could see their white skin from almost a mile away. It stuck out like a sore thumb. But those animals in the pen...

They weren't animals. They were humans crouched on all fours like they didn't have enough strength to stand. I could see the Vampires on them. I could even hear the Vampire's yips of glee sometimes. It was an inhuman sound that rang through my ears. It hurt and I covered my ears. They were doing horrible things to those broken humans. They were...cattle. They were being...raped and sucked dry. I could see blood start to stain the grounds from the leftover blood. I could hear a clear human cry of pain that reached me and I felt tears prick my eyes. It was horrifying.

Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my face and I had my hands covered over my mouth. “Oh my God...” I whispered. I felt the concentration snap and I couldn't see as clear anymore. The scenery softened and I couldn't see much going on in the pens down except for the red stain of blood and the human-like Vampires and the animal-like humans. Xavier didn't look as disgusting anymore, but the images was seared into my mind.

“Oh Myra,” he said, sounding completely exasperated. “I didn't know you would take it so harshly. This is the Realm. If you're thinking of stopping this, you can't. Trust me. You'll end up like them.”

“The humans?” I asked softly. “The humans that are being abused in every way, treated like dirt and cattle? You mean like that? That's what I'll be if I even try and rebel against your undead disgusting ways?” Fury was building in me. They were suffering and here was Xavier, telling me to give up before I've even started. This was the Cattle Farm. This was the place that Alex had first told me about. And I knew that I definitely would not want to stay there at all. I wanted to cry just by looking at them.

“Yes,” Xavier said unnervingly. “But the majority of them aren't humans. They were raised as cattle and don't know of the world beyond. All they know is that every day, there is a feeding time in which they have to suffer. They don't mind though. They're perfectly happy.”

“How can anyone be happy with such horrible conditions?” I was going to hyperventilate. This whole thing was making me almost breathless in a bad way. “Are you saying that they like it here? That they want this?”

“I told you,” Xavier began, “humans cannot resist perfection. Vampires don't feel love. The outcome of their relationship equals Djamphir.” That word almost made my heart stop. I could almost hear Eternal mocking me with her words. “Djamphirs are used as cattle. Their blood is more precious than anything. If they are fed on and drained too much before the age of seventeen, they will never grow their own powers. This is because the Djamphir race is almost human. Except, they have all the advantages of a Vampire and no side effects. If we allow even one to live to the age of seventeen, the whole Vampire and wolfen race is in jeopardy.”

Eternal told me that I was a Djamphir. I was nearly seventeen. Xavier had said that not a single Djamphir was to be allowed to live past seventeen. They had to be drained before the age. Or maybe even killed.

I didn't know whether or not to believe Eternal. She was a liar, of course. She killed her lover. She was the one who made the whole Vampire race. It was all her. But...if I was a Djamphir, I had to keep this all quiet.

“Djamphir, to be more clear, is a mixed race. A Vampire and human hybrid—if you haven't already figured out. We breed them for blood.” Xavier shot me an almost evil look. “Maybe I'll breed one from you.” I backed away quickly and his expression turned neutral. So humans were cattle and breeding machines.

“Get away from me,” I whispered, shutting my eyes. Justine was wrong about her whole concept on Vampires. There were no vegetarians. They weren't nice. They didn't even feel love—not even unconditional love for God's sake. They were cursed creatures with no souls and were doomed to walk as undead forever. They almost had no moral, seeing the pens.

“There are some humans there, though,” Xavier said, giving me a warning look. “I suggest that you not bother any other Vampires. I might not send you there, but if you ever annoy me, I will.” Xavier didn't seem like he was bluffing.

“So you were there,” I stated blandly. “You were there.”

Xavier was thrown off for a moment. “I was where?”

“At my house,” I said, remembering that night. “You took Claire. You were there. You would have taken me to the Cattle Farms...right? Why were you there anyways? And why did you change your mind?”

“Because it was Alex,” he said, looking to see if my expression was surprised. I quickly rearranged my face to that of his guess. “Yes, it was Alex. I'm still a little surprised in how you made your way here. Alex Burke didn't even enter the house...”

“Burke...?” I asked, thinking about Alex. Why did his last name suddenly sound so familiar. Wait— “That's the same last name as—”

“Rina, I know. They're siblings,” he said. “And they have a deep hatred for each other. So we don't have to worry about them.” A deep hatred between siblings were usually something you should worry about. Not something you should just ignore.

“Anyway, I thought you were useful,” he said, looking at me. “I hope you don't prove me wrong. I didn't even want to lift a finger to fight him anyway. We're headed to the pens now.”

“W-what?” I asked, shocked. “No! You're not taking me there!” As soon as I said that, the bell chimed again. Xavier gave me an amused look.

“Feeding time is short,” he said. “Most just go to the human world and lurk at night. Others come to the pens and buy their cattle. There on, they could do anything with their cattle.”

“But why are we going there?” I asked as I watched the Vampires leave the pens. The humans were still lying on the bloodstained grounds. Some seemed to be feebly trying to make their way back into the barn. It was disgusting. I didn't want to smell all the blood too.

“It's actually quite delicious smelling,” Xavier said, seeming to have heard my thoughts on the smell of blood. “Not that you would know,” he added, “you're just human. With a few added abilities.”

“I don't want to go,” I said. I didn't want to see anything there more magnified than I had to see here.

“It's not very far,” Xavier said, convinced that I was talking about the distance. “I can carry you if you want.” I stepped back again and wrinkled my nose. I still remembered what he looked like when he was undead.

“No,” I said, “It's not the distance. It's everything in the pens. I don't want to see it closer. I don't want to smell it. I don't want to see any of it ever again. I don't know how you bear this! But of course, you're a monster along with everyone.” As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I regretted it. Xavier had said that he would throw me in there if I annoyed him. But fortunately, Xavier didn't seem offended by my monster statement.

“In your human world,” he said, “royalty just sits around and tries to look nice. They are the figurehead. They sign treaties and whatnot.” I wondered why he knew so much about my world. “Here, in the Realm, it doesn't work that way. Royalty does errands sometimes. We patrol and we fight. We don't just sit around all day. And today, I have to go to the pens and restrain a puny human boy that one of the Vampires had brought in.”

“Then take me back to the mansion! I rather stay there!”

“I'm afraid I can't,” Xavier said. “Mainly because Rina will try to kill you before the hour passes. And this boy in the pens is strangely vicious. I thought it might comfort him to see another human unscathed. We can trick him.”

I hated the idea of tricking someone into that horrible blood service in the pens. But before I could protest, Xavier was off again. He didn't head down the hill, he just jumped off the cliff. A scream caught in my throat but I didn't hear a horrible smashing sound when he landed. I peered down to see him on his feet, looking perfectly fine.

“You expect me to jump after you?” I called, feeling incredulous. Xavier nodded at me. “What?” I squeaked. “I'll kill myself!”

“I'll catch you!” he called. But it didn’t feel appealing at all. I had no doubts about his Vampire strength. I just wasn't sure if he was being honest. And I didn't want his undead arms to catch me.

But what choice did I really have? I could ignore him and walk back to the mansion. But I might get lost on the way and attacked by a Vampire. Even if I did make it back, Xavier was right—Rina would try and murder me somehow and Eternal couldn't even save me from that.

I looked down at Xavier. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and I jumped.