Cursed Blood | Chaelisa

Chapter 31.

Mom didn't know I was missing at all. And you might think I got a good night's sleep after that, but I had a terrible nightmare that night. I dreamed about some fragmented events that I had no experience of having been through in my life. In the dream, I was watching the senseless images of people like a movie, except I felt like I was standing in the middle of the setting while the movie was being made.

I was in an enormous place that looked like a courtroom.

In front of me, there were rows of wooden seats. People were loitering around, dressed in elegant suits. All these men and women looked beautiful like they were in a painting. There were platforms of comfortable seats lined up against the walls like a theater. I could see some of them wore long heavy coats embroidered with silver and gold reeds. I watched a few important-looking men flick through files, talking all the time to one another.

The people on the row behind were also whispering frantically around the courtroom. And when I looked around the place some more, I saw a massive chair, all in gold with the back of the seat narrowed in three prongs filled with precious gems and rubies. This amazing thing could possibly be a throne for a king or a queen.

The throne was empty, but it still looked so majestic and powerful.

All the whisperings and mumblings of the crowd grew louder until the gate at the front of the hall suddenly opened. A troop of guards stormed into the hall with a very ancient-looking man walking in the middle. He wore a long heavy red coat with gold reeds. He was much older than the rest of the people here. Yet the way he moved made him seem timeless as if there was nothing wrong with his aging body. Pale and mighty with a grim mask on his face, the old man seemed like he had just woken up from a tomb.

"Up!" Someone's voice echoed and the crowd silently rose up to bow at the presence of the man.

The old man came to the throne and settled himself. Everyone took their seats again as the guard faded to the background. One of the men in silver reeds coat stepped out to the center.

"Your Majesty," he said with a respectful bow, "I would like to outline the prosecution's case."

"You may proceed, Lord Aldric," the monarch replied in a slurry ancient voice. Then the man turned around to face the crowd.

"Dear all lords and ladies," He started, straightening himself up. "The Vampire House has a great honor to have your company here. However, it's not an ordinary meeting today. We have encountered an extraordinary crisis. With all due respect, Your Majesty. I would like to bring in the case."

Then the main gate groaned open, revealing another group of guards marched into the hall. The silence in the courtroom grew heavier. Coming forward in a graceful walk, I saw a middle-aged man with silky black hair, his eyes sparkled like a gemstone. As I looked at his fair face, there was something familiar about him. Even I couldn't quite pinpoint it, I felt as if I had seen him before. Then something seemed to click between us.

"Dad?" A small voice uttered which must have been mine.

"Prince Vladimir of Russia," Aldric said, "has violated the most important law that forbids the vampire race. It is great irresponsibility as well as a danger to our kind."

"Your Majesty!" Another man's voice boomed from the crowd. "My son shall be granted amnesty!"

"Your Highness," Aldric spoke again. "As we all know in this case, it is impossible. The law has stated clearly. No one can change it. However, if Prince Vladimir turns over the human-" he said with a screwed face as if the word was too disgusting to utter. "-we will decide to let it be a memory and there's no more charge against him anymore."