Sold: The Vampire's Slave

Cruelty

"Wake up!" someone calls urgently.

"Mmmmm... What?" I mumble. My eyes flutter open and burn as they adjust to the dim, yet seemingly bright light.

"Hurry, you need to prepare for the day!" Alexander blurts out urgently.

"We don't have much time before Madame awakes," Lou-Ell calls me.

"What?" I sat up, startled I jump up and run to the closet, change in the bathroom. I splash some water on my face helping me wake up, the beads of cold water run down shock my senses into alertness. I hurry to follow Sofia, who is heading up the stairs with Lou-Ella and Alexander.

"I have to make Madame's bed," Sofia informs me and heads up another flight of stairs.

"What are we doing?" I murmur while following Lou-Ella into the kitchen. The counters are made of beautiful marble, and a few clay decorations line the shelves near the wall. I marvel momentarily at the opaque blue vase with red flowers. A couple of framed paintings hang near the door on either side. Pictures of vast cities with shades of stone-gray, sky-blue, beige-brown, and blood-red colors.

"Madame's breakfast," Lou-Ella tells me. She crouches down beside the cabinet, where she opens up an icebox. The icebox held cold bottles of blood. Each labeled for a particular kind.

"Ewww," I mutter.

"You fix it like coffee, just heat it up," Lou-Ella explains to me. She grabs a bottle of blood and dumps it into a pot over the oven. The smell is terrible, similar to the holding cell I stayed in before the auctioning. I shove wood under the stove, holding my breath as hot flames roar beneath the furnace. The blood heats in seconds, and bubbles and splatters the stovetop. Once melted, it's poured carefully into the glass, coming up to a beautiful red line at the brim.

The dining room is just as fabulously furnished as the rest of the house. I lay a beige placemat out where Madame will drink. I shudder at the sight of the glass. Just as I set it out, Madame enters the room. We pause for a second, her gaze falling on each one of us as she strides in gracefully she takes a seat the moment the glass is set down. While I don't quite understand what these vampires are capable of, I know they're powerful. Her very presence in the room is something like being in a cage with a lion. A dangerous predator, so close that you can feel its presence. We stand in a line waiting for Madame's orders. She takes a few sips and sighs in contentment. 'So gross, absolutely, positively gross' I gag internally, fighting to keep a straight face.

"Lou-Ella, Sofia, Alexander tend to the garden, it's getting quite chilly out. I want Rosella here to see if she was worth the money I paid," she decides, at last, smiling cruelly at me. Her fangs are exposed, and the tips stained with red blood. She licked them, wiping them clean of stains. The urge to run, leap, fly away fills me as the others leave me in the lion's den.

"You shall come with me," she orders.

"W-where are we going?" I ask, my voice was weak when I spoke.

"Don't you ask, obey," she hissed furiously, extending her fangs at me. I can't help but flinch. Her dark eyes flashed red for a second.

"Yes, Madame," I breathe. I follow her out of the house and down a long narrow pathway with walls on either side. My heart is still racing as I follow Madame. Fear is painful told hold onto, but I can't let it go. It's so gravitational, pulling you in, growing worries in your head. Vampires, these monsters of legend and mythology, are terrifying. In folklore, they scare little children, but in reality, it's hearts stopping. Once out of the narrow alley, we are in a small, busy vampire town. Horse-drawn carriages stroll down the stone streets, vampires and human peasants walk briskly down the sidewalks to and from boutiques, and early light snow is falling steadily from the gray clouds above. The town is centered around a large, still, dull fountain.