Lunar's Curse

Wind rushed past my face as I did a free-fall through the air. I wanted to open my mouth to scream, but I didn't seem to find the energy for it. All I could think was: I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die—

I knew I was close to the ground, the cliff wasn't that high up. I squeezed my eyes tighter, expecting to be like a smashed watermelon with all my guts hanging out—

Something caught me. It was a strong hold. Something cold was pressing against me and my face was buried against something. I opened my eyes. Xavier's hands were holding me. My face was buried in his cold chest where his heart laid—no beats. I wasn't smashed against the ground. I was alive in a Vampire's arms.

In a Vampire's arms. I quickly jerked away from Xavier's cold body. He let go of me and my feet was firmly on the ground again. I was breathing hard. I put my hand on my chest while I took breaths in and out. Xavier stared at me unabashedly. I coughed and looked away from him. His unnervingly stare had gotten on my nerves.

“It's not too far from here,” Xavier said, staring off in the distance to where the pens were. I shivered as I thought about those tortured humans and Djamphirs.

I could almost hear Eternal in my head again—telling me that I was a Djamphir. I shook that out of my thoughts. I knew Xavier would have no second thoughts about sticking me in that horrible pen to die in a pool of my own blood if he even suspected that I was Djamphir. He may think that I have some enhanced abilities, but I doubted that (right now) that he even thought I was a Djamphir.

Xavier said, “I apologize that I have to drag you with me. Honestly, it would be a lot faster without you. Since you don't seem to want me to carry you, we'll have to walk. Or run.”

I didn't like running. I went out of breath quickly but I thought about what Xavier had said about Djamphirs. They had the powers of a Vampire and no horrible side effects. I hadn't entirely believed Eternal when she told me I wasn't human, but now—when I concentrated, I could... I just...felt stronger. It was like I was tapping into my strengths. It felt thrilling to think of it that way, but I hated it because it meant I wasn't entirely human.

I thought about Justine. Captured Justine. I thought about what she would say about Vampires. They were cool, sexy, and immortal. Who wouldn't want that? But looking at Xavier... It was so...wrong. It was ridiculous to see why anyone would willingly want to turn themselves into Vampires. They were soulless—damned, cursed.

“We'll run,” I said. “It's not far, right?”

Xavier squinted at the pens. “I suppose not... But that's to me. Maybe it's far for you. Try not to fall too behind,” he said, “I'm going to go slowly.”

“Alright,” I said. Before he could move, I closed my eyes and concentrated hard. I imagined the power and energy flowing through me. Like earlier, I felt something snap. My vision was sharper again and I felt stronger. I felt like I could run for miles and miles and never stop. I looked at Xavier and saw him clearly as inhuman again. I took deep breaths in and out and tried to get use to his freakish appearance.

Xavier's fangs slid out, giving me a nasty jolt. He caught my expression and his fangs slid in again. “Accident,” he muttered. “I thought I smelled Djamphir.” I held my breath, hoping he wouldn't catch on. I would have to run a little slower than what I felt like I could do or else he would suspect me.

“Whatever,” I said, trying to sound careless about that. “What are you waiting for?”

“Now you're enthusiastic about going to the pens. How strange,” he said, his eyes narrowing at me. I pretended that I didn't notice that.

“I need exercise,” I said. And then I added: “Like normal humans do.”

Xavier seemed to accept this excuse. He nodded. “Alright. Follow after me, Like I said earlier, try not to fall behind. I would hate to have you hunted by other Vampires in which you will stumble across.”

He turned, his back to me, and was off. I was startled by his speed for a moment. I couldn't possibly lose his trail—he was so...pale in contrast with the environment that it made it nearly impossible to lose him with my sight.

I started running after him, a normal human speed. He seemed further away by each second. I forced myself to go faster than I had ever went before. I usually never pushed myself because I had very low stamina and I had to keep my energy up.

But my lungs weren't burning and my sides weren't hurting. In fact, I felt so...alive. I forgot where I even was and all I was focused on was running. My feet pounding against the ground and the wind whistling past me. My hair was flowing behind me in a trail of red and I let out a laugh.

I had so much energy running through me. I made myself go faster and faster. I felt like I had no limits to the speed. It was almost like I was floating—

Xavier stopped abruptly and I was forced to stop too so I would crash into him. My concentration loosened and my vision went back to how it had been for sixteen years of my life. My legs felt heavy and I was breathing hard. My lungs were burning like they usually did when I ran too much.

Xavier turned and looked at me. He seemed surprised to see me right behind him instead of miles and miles away. He might have thought I was Djamphir if I wasn't panting so hard so I supposed that it was good that my concentration had snapped before he looked at me.

“You caught up,” he said. It wasn't a question. It was a plain statement that I wasn't suppose to reply to or answer to. I didn't want to answer anyways. I was too busy trying to gulp air into my lungs.

“We're here,” he said. “I'm afraid you'll have to follow me inside. It will be more horrible to see things up close, but I'm sure the Djamphirs will be in their quarters. You'll just see plenty of blood. Don't be squeamish around that, though. Being squeamish is almost like a challenge to the other Vampires. They'll want to suck you dry.”

Like Rina? I wanted to ask that but I kept my mouth shut. With every gulp of air, I felt better and my lungs didn't burn as much anymore.

“Come on,” Xavier said, leading me towards the barn. It was right in front of us now and looked like what any typical barn would look like. Until you added the fact that animals didn't live there—humans did. Or at least, half-humans. The pens were still stained with blood but it looked like someone was cleaning it now.

I followed Xavier to the door on the side. It was the only thing that clashed with the barn other than the colour. He knocked twice with his knuckles. We stood there for less than ten second before someone opened the door for us. The person who had opened the door looked like they were starting their early twenties—a young adult. She had black hair and brown eyes. She reminded me of Rina. But a nicer version, if you could say that about Rina look-a-likes.

“Oh!” She said, sounding shocked to see him. She did a curtsy. “Welcome, Prince Xavier.” She gave me a short glance but didn't ask about me. One of the perks of being royalty, I guess. Hearing her call Xavier as a prince almost made me laugh.

“You seemed surprised,” he said. Then he frowned. “The human boy that Lactus had brought in—is he here or have I come too early? Or have you already disposed of him?”

“O-oh! No! I mean, no, sir.” She was stuttering and slurring her words together. Did Xavier really make people in the Realm this nervous? What could he do to them anyways? Have them killed? They were undead anyway. But they were soulless. Once they died, they would cease to exist. No wonder Xavier had told me that other Vampires may not take it nicely if I said that they had no souls. “He's here. I-is that your...donation...?” she asked, looking at me. Our eyes met and she quickly dropped them like even she was unworthy too. I frowned. It felt odd when she did that. I shifted my weight on my feet and looked at the ground. I hated how she had called me a 'donation'.

“No,” Xavier said. “She's a pet.” Being a pet sounded worse than being a donation. I felt like I was just a dumb dog—which I probably was. I bit my lip to keep from speaking. Luckily, I didn't draw any blood. I was sure that a Vampire could smell blood from miles away. The last thing I needed was Vampires jumping on me.

“Oh,” she said. “Sorry to have bothered you, your highness.” Hearing Xavier being called 'your highness' felt wrong. I could only see him as a popular guy in a typical high school—not part of a monarch. “I'll take you in to see the boy. He is...” she hesitated, “quite difficult...”

“I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle,” Xavier said. He gave me a look when he said that and I swallowed. I hoped that he wasn't expecting me to handle someone.

The Rina look-a-like led us in the barn. From inside, it was anything but a barn. It looked very...lavish—modern. The walls were pure white and there was a glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling that was quite far up. There was a counter and some chairs placed in an organized way you would see in a waiting area. There was a glass table in the middle of the chairs and there were a few magazines there. I squinted at them and I realized that the cover of a magazine was a vial of blood. I diverted my eyes immediately.

There were no windows here. I could see a doorway beside the counter than probably led to that human pen. I noticed some blood stains on the door itself. I turned my attention away and focused on Xavier.

“Where is the boy?” Xavier asked. “He's not in the living quarters with the others, is he?”

“N-no,” she said. “He's... He's gotten a guest suite.” Her eyes widened at this. “Oh no,” she said to herself, “I haven't told him not to destroy anything!” She gave us an apologetic look. “I'm sorry, Prince Xavier. He's very destructive. He's not the cooperate type...”

Xavier glanced at me when she said that and the corner of his mouth lifted up. “I have experience with that,” he said. I felt blood rise to my cheeks. I quickly looked away because I knew they would probably be able to see the redness in my cheeks—and realize that I had fresh blood in me...

The woman grabbed a key from the counter (which was occupied by a slightly older looking Vampiress) and headed down the hallway from the right of where the counter was. It was a narrow hallway and it was quite dark. There were no lights and there were just rows of doors that must have led into rooms. It looked kind of like a hotel hallway if you forgot that you were in the Realm.

She stopped at the door near the very back of the hallway. “Here it is,” she said, sounding nervous. Behind the white door, it was completely silent. I looked at the bronze plaque beside the door—Room 48. The woman took a deep breath as she took out the key. She accidentally dropped it on the ground and she gave us a nervous smile. Xavier sighed like he was getting frustrated. The woman quickly picked the keys up and unlocked the door.

The door swung open. There was one four-poster bed with white sheets. The wallpaper was beige with a pink tinge. There were no windows. The room just consisted of a bed and some drawers...and a boy.

He had curly brown hair and his eyes flashed brightly over to where we were. He was wearing a worn-out brown shirt and black pants. He skin wasn't freakishly pale—in fact, it had a caramel-tone quality to it. But most strikingly...

I swallowed the word I had been about to say. I realized that I was gaping at him and I quickly closed my mouth and tried to draw as less attention as possible.

“This is him,” the woman said, sounding slightly more confident in what she was doing. “Number three-oh-five.” I realized with a jolt that the Vampires didn't name the humans and Djamphirs—they numbered them. That thought sent a shudder through me.

“I have a name, you know,” the boy in the room said, looking clearly frustrated at them. “I'm not a damn animal that you feed on.” He looked like he wanted to run out the room and try to escape but knew better. He was human and nearly everyone here was a Vampire.

“Here,” Xavier began, “you are an animal.” I could sense something powerful in the air—I don't how I could sense it—just...the air waves were different. I concentrated a little bit and heard some whispers like it was coming from the air change.

You will be cattle. You are something to be fed on. Do no argue.

I realized that Xavier was trying to use his 'little enchantments' and mess with his mind. I opened my mouth to shout some kind of warning to the boy but he let out a loud snort before I could.

“I'm not stupid,” he called. “And I'm telling you—I'm a damn hard egg to crack. So try your best,” he said, grinning, looking self-satisfied. I had no idea how he was resisting the waves. It had felt so powerful. I saw Xavier frown and I knew that this wasn't natural for normal humans. I probed a little deeper and I felt tiny resistance waves pushing against Xavier's persuasion.

“Y-you see,” the woman said tentatively, “he's...not responding like normal humans... Everything we tried is ineffective.” She looked at Xavier hopelessly as if he could help her. “I was hoping, your highness, that you could...”

“No worries,” Xavier said. “I'll leave my pet to deal with it. I'll come back to collect my pet not long from now.”

It took me five seconds to realize that Xavier meant me when he said pet. And it took me a little longer for me to realize that when he had said 'it', he had meant the boy.

“Um...” I didn't get to say anything else because Xavier gave me a shove in the room. I turned around to protest but the door was shut tightly behind me. “Hey!” I yelled and I pounded a fist on the door. I was about to turn the doorknob, but I heard a click and I knew it was locked. Locked from the outside... I was stuck in here.

“Stupid Xavier!” I said out loud. I cursed a little more before I realized that the human boy was in the room. I turned around slowly to face him. He was still sitting on the bed and he was eyeing me with curiosity.

“So,” he said in a lazy drawl like he had thought I was no threat—and maybe that was true, “a Vampire who's skin isn't as pale as white. That's something new.” He looked...oddly familiar.

I wasn't a Vampire, but I didn't want to admit that to him. I felt like he was going to use me to try and escape this horrid place.

“Nah,” he said as he got up. He approached me and I suddenly felt my heart beat faster. I didn't know why...but there was something else about him... We were about one feet apart. He took another step closer so that I could feel his breath on my skin. I closed my eyes—he was human. That was so relieving to realize. “I know a human when I see one,” he said. I opened my eyes to gaze into his blue ones. He cocked his head slightly to the left and studied my green eyes. His eyes narrowed. “Unless...”

Without warning, he placed two fingers on my neck where my heartbeat was. I held my breath, feeling an odd sort of euphoria at his touch. His fingers were warm too. He was human—everything about him was human. That was so relieving that I wanted to cry. It reminded me of Justine and Claire, the people who were still stuck here and how I was basically doing nothing to help them.

But I didn't cry. His warmth was so wondrous that I threw my arms around him, trying to hold onto all that humanity—to all that warmth. I buried my face in his chest. He was so human that it actually hurt. I let out a sob at last.

“Huh. I guess you are human after all. Unless this is a ruse. Tell me it isn't. That would really suck.” His voice was soft though and I felt his arms slide around my waist. “Nope. You're warm. Take that as a good thing. Wouldn't want to be sucking blood to live, would you?”

After a while I let go of him. I finally brought myself to say the words I had wanted to say to him. “Q-Quatan...?” He looked exactly like Quatan Catlin—Eternal's dead lover. He looked like that dying boy that had appeared in my dreams. I didn't know exactly what I wanted—for him to say that I was right or to prove me wrong about his name. That might sever all the ties he had to them.

His eyes widened a bit. But then a goofy smile appeared on his face. “Wow, stalker much? Well, yep, that's me—Quatan Loy at your service. How do you know my name? And adding to that, who are you?”

I almost stopped breathing at this point. The pounding from my heart was loud. I was almost sure the other Vampires could hear it. It wasn't the freaky coincidence that made my heart beat fast. He was handsome. He was extremely handsome.

I managed to get the words out. “You...I don't know how I know your name. And I-I'm Myra. Myra Eva...Lamia. Myra Eva Lamia,” I said at last. I looked at his face, checking for some kind of reaction to my name.

His eyes narrowed. “I swear...” he murmured to himself, trailing off. “I know that name...” I swallowed. How would my name be familiar? “Have we met before?” he asked. “Like...did we ever go to the same school? No—I'd notice your face...”

My face? Did he mean that he would really remember me somehow instead of just a stranger on the street? And from what would he remember me from? This was the first time I had ever met him, but I swore that he looked exactly identical to Quatan Catlin (except that his last name was Loy)...and that dying boy that had appeared in my dream. And someone else... “M-my face?” I stammered. Why was I stuttering? My heart was racing. I didn't understand why it was doing that. How could I feel such a strong attraction to him after the first few minutes that we've met? It felt like when I was attracted to Dean. Dean...that felt so long ago. I was sure that my emotions towards Quatan wasn't a sudden fabrication like Xavier had done. Quatan was human for sure. There was no way he would be able to do that. I didn't feel...lust for him... It was hard to describe exactly what was stirring inside my chest. His hands were still loosely around my waist and I swallowed. His touch—he was giving me butterflies. It was completely different from Xavier because when he fabricated my feelings for him—I could snap out of it if I concentrated hard enough. I couldn't snap out of this with Quatan. I didn't think I could just snap out of it so easily anyways.

“Yeah,” Quatan said, looking away sheepishly. “Not that I'm a stalker or anything, but I wouldn't forget your face.” He looked back at me and his eyes went serious. “You know that one liner? 'You don't forget the person who was your last hope'? That's how it feels like when I look at you.” He hesitated and met my eyes again. The blueness of his eyes took my breath away. “Except... It doesn't feel as if you've ditched me... I feel like you had...helped me. A lot, really.” I thought about my dream—the dying boy who was probably Quatan Catlin and Myra Eva, a Soul Reaper.

“Anyways,” Quatan said, his eyes losing seriousness. He let go of me and got a playful wolfish look in his eyes that made him look handsome. Vaguely, I noticed that if Xavier did the same expression, he would just look plain creepy and hungry for prey. With Quatan... God, was he handsome. Stop it, Myra, I told myself firmly, you're not here to ogle at boys. Luckily, Quatan wasn't a Vampire and he couldn't hear my thoughts, which was quite relieving. “What are you doing here in the Realm, Seul Âme?” So he knew the name of this place. “Wait—did that creepy Prince bribe you and say that you two are going to live happily ever after as soulless monstrous Vampires. I mean, no offence if you think that Vampires are sexy. Seriously, I've seen the ugly side here. And please don't tell me that you think that those Vampires are nice. Don't tell me that all those Vampire movies and books have gotten you brainwashed.” He searched my face for any signs of emotions.

“No!” I said quickly. “I mean,” I quickly revised, “I didn't come here because I wanted to turn into a Vampire and live happily ever after.” Besides, how can anyone live happily ever after as a soulless monstrous Vampire?

“Good,” Quatan said. He looked thoroughly relieved. “Thank goodness. You know what they'll do to you? To us humans? All those girls back at school wouldn't stop obsessing over Vampires.” By the way he said it, I suppose he was still in high school. Maybe in his last year. “They think their Vampire race is so high and mighty. Honestly—what would I give to punch one of them in the face...”

“Well,” I said, “they are quite strong...”

“Being strong is nothing,” Quatan said dismissively. I wondered how he could be so...crass about these things. Maybe he hadn't seem them as I had. “Can they do this?” He flicked his hand over so that his palm was facing the ceiling. I didn't understand what was so great about that when I realized that...his hand was burning.

“Oh my gosh!” I said, looking around frantically for water. “You're going to get burned!”

“Nah,” Quatan said. The wolfish smile appeared on his face again. “I'm...gifted, as they say.” I now realized that he wasn't burning—he was the one hosting the flames. He closed his fingers around the fire and it was out like a light.

I didn't know what to say. I had thought Quatan was thoroughly human. Was he a Djamphir too? No—he looked slightly older than 17.

“Well,” Quatan said at my surprised expression. “If you haven't noticed by now, I'm not all normal as you think.”

“What are you?” I asked, backing away from him. I was wrong, after all. He wasn't human. He wasn't Vampire, of course. Maybe he was wolfen. If Vampires weren't the sexy human-loving saviours here, I doubted that the Werewolves—I mean wolfen were 'hot' guys that ran around shirtless. I could almost imagine the disgusting transformation into a wolf...the cracking of the bones...

“Um...” Quatan hesitated and scratched his head. “Magical? No... That's a little sissy, don't you think? I'm human and gifted. That's what I usually stick with.” He smiled at me.

“You're not human,” I whispered. “Not the way you...are...”

“I'm going to chose to not take offence to that,” Quatan said, smiling slightly at me. “I'm just...supernatural. That word sums it all up.”

I took a step away from him. “But you just produced a flame from the palm of your hand!” I countered. I didn't know what to say to that. Was he almost like a male version of the Lamia? No, Eternal said it wasn't possible. Maybe Quatan was an exception... He looked like Quatan Catlin after all...

“Supernatural,” he repeated. “But I'm, well, not a Vampire. No bloodsucking fangs. Perfectly normal teeth. You're a human, aren't you?”

I thought about Eternal Lamia. I didn't want to admit that I was a monster. I didn't want to admit that I was a Lamia. Not to Quatan—he was my only hope of holding onto some sort of normalcy. Though he wasn't completely normal and he claimed he was 'supernatural', he had a pulse. I didn't want to spoil everything and say that I was a Djamphir. I didn't want to spoil it by saying I was a Lamia.

“Yes,” I lied. “I'm pure human.”

Quatan's face lit up in a smile. “Great!” he said while heading over to the bed. He leant down beside his bed and brought a thick brown worn book up. “You're not here for the 'hot and charming' Vampires, are you?” he asked. I shook my head. “Good,” he said, nodding. “The Prince may have his looks but you haven't seen their ugliness when feeding.” Quatan gave a visible shudder. “Anyways,” he said, sitting on the bed. He opened up the book. “No offence, but I doubt that the Prince will be keeping human toys around for long. He's pretty young, so I don't think he'll know anything about torturing his toys like his parents usually do. You don't know too much about Vampires, do you?” he asked.

I wasn't sure whether to say yes or no to that. It wasn't like I didn't know what Vampires were. But the only thing I really knew about it was the information that Justine would give me.

Justine, I thought, feeling horribly bad. Justine was going to die, according to Xavier, if I didn't follow his orders. But I had to find a way to get her out of this. I couldn't leave her here to die just because of any defiance I showed to Xavier. Justine was my friend. She would always be my friend.

As if her being your friend would help save her, a voice inside my head reasoned. The world doesn't revolve around you or Justine. Everyone dies eventually.

To keep myself from thinking more negative thoughts, I replied to Quatan. “Not that much. Unless television shows and books count.”

Quatan let out a soft laugh. “Oh the media,” he murmured. He patted the spot beside him. “If you want to survive, I suggest you see this. I've been carrying this around when I first found out the existence of Vampires. Of course, everyone thought I was crazy. Except for those fan-girls that were even more crazy. They told me not to hurt their future husbands.” Quatan's lips pulled up a little as he thought about that.

I hesitatingly headed over to him and sat down. The pages of the book were yellow and the edges of the paper was eaten away. I realized as I looked closer at the page that the words were not the printed type you would usually see in books. They were written in neat handwriting that was slightly hard to read. The few pictures on the margins were hand-drawn and there were a few notes on the side which I assumed was Quatan's writing.

He shifted closer to me and I instantly felt self-conscious. He pushed half the book onto my lap so I could see it better. “Top advice,” Quatan read, “get out of this Realm as soon as possible.” I knew better than to ask why.

“So...” I began, “where did you even get this?”

“Well,” Quatan said, a tinge of red appearing on his cheeks. “A rogue Vampiress wrote a half of it,” he said. “She wrote all the things about the Vampires. And the other half...the beginning days... Well, I'm supernatural, right?”

I nodded slowly, wondering what he was getting at.

“So,” Quatan said, “you can say I was possessed, but it didn't really feel that way. I just had a strange urge and my hand wrote the rest on its own. I wasn't even thinking about it when I wrote it,” he said.

Feeling curious, I asked, “Can I see where you wrote it?”

“Yeah,” Quatan said, flipping to the next page. On the top centre of the page, it said 'The Lamia'. My heart nearly stopped when I saw the words. I forced myself to exhale the breath I hadn't notice I had been holding. Luckily, Quatan wasn't looking at me and he didn't catch anything odd. “Here,” he said, “is where it all began. Like I said, I didn't know what I was doing and I had no control on what words I was writing.”

I read the section on the Lamia.

The Lamia was a feared creature back before the Vampires came into existence. The Lamia was often described as a charming woman. Though she would transform into a half-Vampiress half-snake—a Lamia. The Lamia has vampiric attributes. They are rumoured to eat young children.

Before the Dark Ages, the underworld had a peaceful town. Before the Vampires took over, the underworld was simply just another Realm. It did not symbolize Hell or Heaven or anything negative or positive. The underworld was just another Realm. Usually the underworld is associated with death. It is half true. While people from the other realms come into the underworld for afterlife, people of the underworld go into the other realms for afterlife. The dead and the alive are kept separated.

This town was ruled by a royal family by the surname of Catlin. They lived many generations in peace. Until the first Lamia came. The first Lamia, Eternal Lamia, was not always a Lamia. She was born from a bordering town and was abandoned with the Catlins. Little did the Catlins know, she was no human.

Eternal Lamia had been cursed by the Witch of the bordering town because of a wrong doing that her ancestors had done. Eternal would carry out the curse of the Lamia. The curse would last forever. It would only be broken when Eternal's bloodline died out. The Witch wanted to destroy their bloodline. When a woman with the curse of the Lamia turned twenty-one, they would transform under the blood moon into a full Lamia. They would lose all sense of humanity and just remain as half-snake half-Vampiress.

Eternal Lamia was a promising child when growing up. She attracted the attention of the youngest son of the King. In no time, they became almost one. No one doubted Eternal. Not until she reached the age of twenty, was when the King realized there was something wrong with her. An odd green jewel embedded in her left arm...the sly and slightly malicious smile she wore... Slowly, the King's elder sons perished and left the youngest son as heir to the crown. The King was suspicious—Eternal had been found near the death scene every time. Though the young Prince—blinded by his affections for her, insisted that it was just a coincidence.

But the King, being paranoid, had thought she was wolfen. Wolfen had been a race among the humans for a very long time. The King saw the half-human half-wolves as barbaric animals that should be hunted down and killed. The Prince heard of this and warned his love. Together, they escaped the King and left for the bordering town.

There, Eternal was greeted by the Witch. Ever since she had reached the age of nineteen, Eternal had been feeling an odd affection towards snakes and strange urges. Urges to torture humans. Urges to suck blood. Urges to kill. The Witch told Eternal everything. Eternal—feeling horribly furious with the Witch, killed the Witch. But before the Witch had died, she had told the Prince that he had gifts of the gods.

Not knowing what it meant, the Prince shook it off as nothing. But Eternal grew fearful as she thought about what would happen if the Prince ever stopped loving her. The day that marked her twenty-first year was approaching and Eternal held out until then. She planned to turn the King into something of the servant of the Lamia and kill the Prince. The Prince would be too powerful if he turned against her.

So late at night, when Eternal knew that the King's guards weren't close by, she would go into the woods and practise killing. She was the one who had killed the King's older sons, but she hadn't been fully aware of her actions then. When she killed the King's sons, she had been acting on instinct and didn't mean to kill. Though in the end, she never felt guilty about the dead body lying before her. When she went out hunting, she meant to kill. It began with simple woodland animals first. Then that grew into the stronger animals. And finally—humans wandering around at night. Eternal loved the taste of blood. She craved it. With each passing night, the desire for more blood grew stronger and stronger. She would be content with one pint of blood one day, but the next, she would need more.

The day of her twenty-first birthday was the day the Prince died. Eternal had a burning sensation by her left arm with the emerald jewel all day. She declared that she was going to face the King and overthrow him. The Prince did not see her evil intentions and followed her. Though he strongly went against overthrowing the King because he had thought that the King was stronger.

Night fell by the time that Eternal and the Prince had reached the woods that separated the two towns. In the moonlight clearing, Eternal summoned the blood moon and transformed into a full Lamia. Though the Prince had attempted to stop the transformation, he had failed. Sealing the transformation was the mark of the snake on her right arm. After the mark, no Lamia could go back to being human.

The King arrived shortly after she had changed, still thinking she was wolfen. They brought silver with them, not knowing that she was more vampiric than wolf. Eternal struck immediately, turning the King and his army of men into Vampires.

Eternal then killed the Prince she had loved. It is unsure whether it was out of mercy or just out of power. That faithful night, Eternal was powerful enough to stop the rise of the sun. The King and the men, losing their humane emotions the night they turned, turned every other man, woman, and child.

And thus, that is how the Dark Age of the Vampires began.

I swallowed as I finished it. “You know,” I said softly, “that my surname is Lamia...?”

Quatan didn't look up at me. “Yeah,” he said. “Does this chapter ring any bell...? It could be just a coincidence.” Quatan looked slightly uneasy. I suddenly realized that he didn't want me to be...a Lamia. He was hoping that I was pure human just like I had hoped he was pure human too.

I didn't want to shatter that hope. “No,” I lied, “I don't even know what a Lamia is. My parents never told me about it.” That was a half-truth. My parents never told me about it because I never met them and they were dead. But Quatan didn't need to know that.

Quatan looked relieved to hear my answer. “Great!” he said a little too enthusiastically. He lowered his voice a little. “I mean, that's good.”

“So you wrote all this?” I asked as I scanned the page again. “On your own?”

“Like I said, it was just a strange urge that got my hand moving once my pen touched the paper. But I wrote this along with a few other things.”

“And,” I said hesitantly, “you said that a rogue Vampiress wrote part of it too,” I said. “So...how did anyone even get her to write in it?” I asked.

“I heard that all Vampires come to our world at the age of seventeen,” Quatan said. “So I met her and she basically threw all the information at me. It was pretty startling. But at the same time, I had already started to develop my powers so I wasn't too surprised. She gave me the book that she had already written in.”

“Why was she even a rogue?” I asked, feeling confused. The Vampires looked like they could have everything they wanted here. It was such a laid-back life. It was a wonder why anyone would want to turn into rogue here.

Quatan shrugged. “I didn't ask. But I assume not everything here is as easy as you think. It's only easy for the wealthier Vampires. The Prince, the high Lords, whatever they call themselves.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. I had thought that everyone here was wealthy and got everything they wanted. I thought the only hierarchy here was from nobles to wealthy.

“The hierarchy list is here,” Quatan said as he flipped through a few more pages. He stopped at the page where with all the lines connecting each other. On the top, it said 'Hierarchy'. Quatan read them out loud. “On the top here is the Lamia bloodline,” Quatan said, giving me a slight glance. “Apparently, their eyes colour determines their bloodline just in case anyone forgets who the hell they are. The Lamia bloodline has green eyes. Emerald green eyes.”

I swallowed as I thought about the colour of my eyes. Quatan looked and me and gave me a reassuring smile. “It's alright,” he said, pointing at a drawn picture on the page behind. “Your eyes are dimmer—more human.” He was right. The picture showed eyes that looked like Eternal's eyes. There was just so much green that it looked unnatural. My eyes didn't look like that. There was another picture beside it that showed the serpentine eyes that Eternal had gotten when she turned. I shuddered.

“The next in line are the Catlins. No surprise there,” Quatan said. “Red eyes and more powerful than the rest. They were, after all, turned by the first Lamia themselves. After the Catlins are the Burkes.” The Burkes. That was Rina and Alex. “The Burkes are a little...off, you could say. They were turned just after the Catlins, but a few centuries back, one of them had lycanthropy. They became wolfened. Or a werewolf, you could say. Even though the wolfen were still despised, the Burke family would still remain at the top because they still had Vampire blood in them and because they're kind of like dukes. Their eyes are human brown.”

“And the rest?” I asked, noticing that there was no more family lines after the Burkes.

“Um, that's it. Basically. Then it goes to the wealthy Vampires and Vampiress. After the wealthy come the working class and then the poor Vampires, fugitives and finally, the wolfen. The wolfen have another hierarchy though. Wait—no, the last ones are the human toys. Us.” It sounded almost like a normal human hierarchy to me. Almost. If you took out the part about human toys and the wolfen. “The rest basically have plain brown eyes. Not like the Burkes, but more glow in the dark kind. Freaky, right?” Quatan closed the book.

“How about the Djamphirs?” I blurted. I remembered that Eternal had told me that the Djamphirs were a respected more than the wolfen but they were always used as cattle. Quatan raised an eyebrow at me, as if wondering how I knew all this.

“It's from a television show I watched, ” I immediately lied. It wasn't like Quatan knew I didn't watch television shows so he wouldn't suspect anything odd.

“A little higher than the wolfen but still around their rank,” Quatan said absentmindedly. “But I would say that they were lower than us. You've seen this place during feeding time, have you?” His blue eyes bore on my face, searching them for answers.

I felt like throwing up when he mentioned feeding time in the pens, the Cattle Farm. “Yeah,” I said, “I saw it in HD,” I added.

“Me too,” Quatan said a little sadly. He looked down at the floor. “And funny thing—they expected me to do that too. Turn into one of those brainwashed Djamphir and humans...” He swallowed. “But not after what they did. I won't ever go there.”

I felt slightly guilty. Xavier had said I was here to trick him into giving in. I didn't want to trick him. Quatan Loy was a good guy. At least, to me. He was...very handsome too. I swallowed as I thought about that. Handsome enough for any teenage girl in the right mind to pounce on him the second they got. But that was the same with Xavier. There was just something different about Quatan that made me trust him. “Don't worry,” I said, “I'll get you out of here.”

“Thanks,” Quatan said. “Even if you don't, thanks for trying to help.” He sighed. “Luckily, the Vampire's powers don't work on me. They can throw their enchantments all they want. My supernatural abilities help me resist.” He looked at me and I felt self-conscious under his scrutiny. “Just wondering,” he said, “did the Prince try any persuasion on you?”

“Sometimes, yeah,” I said. “He got me. A few times. Unless I concentrated hard. Then I would be able to push him away and gain control again.”

“Odd,” Quatan said. “You know, normal humans can never resist the persuasion from a Vampire. Especially from the Prince himself...”

The door opened suddenly that I jumped and almost fell backwards onto the bed. Quatan reached out to study me. I grabbed onto his hand gratefully.

Xavier was standing by the door with that woman from the counter earlier. “Myra,” he said, “have you dealt things out with this human boy yet?”

I hadn't and I would never want him to be cattle like the rest of the humans and Djamphirs here. I wasn't sure what to say. “He's not your food,” I said, trying to sound brave. I stood up and held my chin high. The woman beside him looked at me with surprise. Of course, he was Prince. Why would anyone defy him? Anyone sane, that is. Or anyone other than me.

Xavier looked amused. That wasn't a good sign. “Here, he's food,” Xavier told me. “Or did you forget already?”

“Right,” Quatan added sarcastically. “I'm three-oh-four. Or something. Seriously, who gives people numbers? Oh right, monsters like you.”

“It's three-oh-five,” the woman said quietly, but Quatan ignored her.

“I want him at the mansion,” I told Xavier. He opened his mouth to say something but I beat him to it. “Now,” I demanded. I focused my energy like I had when I wanted to look closer and run faster. I didn't close my eyes, I stared right at the woman and Xavier, repeating again and again in my head, I want Quatan at the mansion. I want Quatan at the mansion.

Xavier and the woman both took on a dreamy expression. I stepped back in surprise. I hadn't been sure it would work but it was. “I'll leave everything up to you, your highness,” the woman said, turning to leave.

“Right,” Xavier muttered, looking confused. It was a very new expression on his face that I had rarely ever seen. It was actual confusion instead of frustration. His facial expression made me smile. “Come along,” he said, still in a dreamy state.

I hurried after Xavier, not wanting to spend another moment in this place. I had enough of feeding time already. I realized Quatan wasn't following me and I turned back to look at him. He was still sitting on the bed with the book in his hands. “What are you waiting for?” I asked him. “Let's get out of here before Xavier changes his mind!”

“I swear,” Quatan muttered to himself, “that wasn't by his natural will.” He shook his head and stood up. He grabbed something off from the floor—a black backpack, and stuffed the book inside.

“Hopefully he won't change his mind before I get to his mansion,” Quatan murmured.