Entertaining the Vampire King

Truth.

I heard murmuring. A distant sound, pulling me out of the darkness. I heard a voice calling my name.

"Ayla."

I wanted to open my eyes, but the voice was so calming. It was almost familiar..

"Ayla, wake up. You must wake up, please."

I knew that voice. It was... Elizabeth?

My eyes shot open. I was laying awkwardly at the head of the bed. I sat up, sore all over my body. My neck hurt, my head throbbed. My back was sore from however long I was asleep.

"Ayla, please try not to move. I am so happy you're alright." A voice startled me. I turned around. Mary was next to the bed, holding a cup. She offered it to me, and I took it absentmindedly.

"Where am I?" My voice trembled.

"You're safe here. Please don't be afraid... This is your new chamber. Thaddeus has ordered you to stay here until he wants you." She motioned at the cup.

"Drink it, you need strength. Nathaniel was not supposed to bite you, you don't belong to him. He will not be returning, you needn't fear." She forced a smile.

My mind was racing. I looked down at the liquid in my cup. It was red, and smelled like wine. I took a sip and let it warm my body.

"I am a prisoner." I said. It wasn't a question.

"You're not a prisoner, Ayla. But you can't leave."

"If I can't leave on my own accord.. I am a prisoner. And your brother... he's a monster. He's a demon!" The panic hit me as I remembered the pain of his bite.y hand flew to my neck, covering the spot where the bite mark stung.

Mary raised her hands. "We are not monsters, I assure you.. not all of us."

"We? So you're.. like him?"

"Yes."

"You're a demon."

"No. That's not what we are. Have you ever heard the story of the Countess Elizabeth?"

I nodded. Countess Elizabeth Bathory. It was a tale told to all of us girls when we were little. The Countess wanted to be forever beautiful, and it was said she bathed in the blood of young virgins, and she drank from them.

There were many accounts of the stories. Some said she bit the girls and drank their blood, and that she never aged. Some said she was insane, and she died in confinement over a century ago. Others said she never died, and that she would creep into the homes of small girls that did bad things, and steal them away in the night.

None of us truly believed the tales, but mistress told me she was in fact a real woman. It had shocked me, and I had never seen the world in the same way.

"I was told the tales. But they are stories. They are not reality..." At this point, I was hesitant to believe my own mind.

Mary sighed, sitting closer to me.

"The Countess was real. She was vain, and arrogant. She thought she could do whatever she wanted, and died because of it. She was one of our kind. A vampire." The words came out slowly. I blinked, holding the cup of wine close to my bosom. I felt numb, processing so much in so little time.

"Am I going to die?" I asked plainly. I no longer cared about my own life. My world had been turned upside down, and I no longer wanted to be a part of it. Everything I knew had been shadowed by the existing truth of monsters. True, real, blood consuming monsters.

"No. Not yet at least. The King doesn't usually kill his girls unless they upset him. He simply makes them forget, and sends them on their way... Though you're different. You can't be persuaded by our tricks of the mind, and it intrigues us. Nathaniel just likes you, he got excited. You are not his to claim." She said, backing away. She walked over towards the door. The King? He was a vampire, too? My head was spinning.

"Thaddeus will be here soon. I suggest you do whatever he tells you if you want to stay alive." And with that, she left me alone.

My stomach growled, and I wished I could see what time of day it was. Or if it had been more than a day.

Do whatever he tells you if you want to stay alive.

Truthfully, I don't know if I wanted to stay alive. I was trapped in this room, and if I did as I was told I would be trapped for who knows how long.

There was only one thing that I wanted. I would greet the king, and he would kill me.