Chapter 03

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A/N: As wished I provide the two songs I've listened excessively to while writing this chapter. For the first half, this hidden gem: Lavender's Blue Halloween Version by Frances Thomas. 
For the second half, this well-known badass anthem: Prom Queen by Molly Kate Kestner. (I could only link one video, sorry. But this one's easier to find on YouTube.)

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Sleep was something Haewon hadn't experienced in millennia. It wasn't that vampires didn't sleep. Indeed, younger vampires slept for hours during the day but the older a vampire got the less sleep they needed until all they knew was a light slumber if they felt like resting. So no, Haewon hadn't slept in nearly two millennia.
But with the castle filled with mostly young vampires, it was eerily silent during daytimes. Almost hauntingly so if one knew the rambunctious noises of the night. Haewon preferred the noise, though. It was too quiet now that she was awake and everyone else asleep.
She couldn't do much without blowing her cover. As young as she posed to be she would need to at least pretend to sleep for six hours each day.


Just lying on her bed and letting her thoughts drift like waves in a sea wasn't a good idea, though. The silence too similar to being trapped in the tomb and her own thoughts too dangerous.
In the light of the day she found anger brewing beneath the tiredness and pain.

An anger that was dissatisfied and hungry like a prowling monster only waiting for the right time to attack. Gnarling and growling with saliva dropping from chaps and gleaming sharp fangs. Eyes burning red. A bright crimson. Fed with blood and still thirsty.
Still thirsting for blood. For justice.

Haewon ripped her eyes open. Dark, almost black with the thirst itching in her throat.
A tired sigh trickled from her full lips and she shifted on her side. One hand beneath her head the other playing with her blanket as she was looking at the darkness around her.
The castle was equipped with shutters that would keep out every bit of sunlight if need be. When Haewon was last here there were still a couple of butlers and maids going around and closing them in time.
Now Sophie had shown her a switch next to her room's door to close it electrically. Strange times, really.

She knew that dwelling on her thoughts wouldn't do her any good. Her eyes swept across the room. The empty book shelf at one wall, the desk and chair next to it, the wardrobe with her school uniform in it, the door. And back.
The door, the wardrobe with her school uniform in it, the desk and chair with a faceless woman in a white dress sitting on it, the empty—

Haewon's fangs dropped and a low hiss rumbled from her throat. Her body crouching in front of the bed within a fraction of a heart beat. Faster than most within these walls due to her age but nowhere near as fast as she used to be.
Black eyes focused on the chair. The empty chair.

Her muscles relaxed. A deep exhale left her lungs. The vampiress shook her head at herself as she straightened from her crouch. She looked left and right and back at the chair.
Still empty. No woman in a white dress.

Haewon huffed disapprovingly of her own nerves. What a joke she was. A snarl on her lips, baring her fangs in anger—
No.
No...by the shadows...she was so tired of it all. She sighed and let one of her hands run through her hair. Eyes closing for a moment. How tired she was of being angry. How tired she was of feeling betrayed. How tired she was of...of...feeling.

With another shake of her head, Haewon walked to her bag resting at the leg of the chair. If she couldn't go out and to the library to get books so she could read up on vampiric society and history...well...then maybe she could give that technology thing a try?
That laptop had to be practical for something, right? Maybe she could find something to quench her thirst for knowledge. A too obvious lack in knowing how this new world worked and Haewon's story of just escaping a reclusive mate would fall like a house of cards. Easily crashing at the first sign of imbalance.

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