Humanity's War on the Dead

VIII-A Fatal Mistake

Ravenswood Castle
Library

Alexis

It had been a month since the King declared that every human female was to be a breeder. A list of who would be bred and when was made, but it was kept secret from us. No one knew who was being bred now or who was up next. I had an appointment with the Ravenswood's doctor who determined that I was healthy enough and old enough to become a breeder. I faked my happiness at that news.

After more reading in the library, I discovered that there were more types of slavery than just unpaid servitude. It was a lifetime of servitude. The most famous slaves were originally from a place called Africa and they had darker skin than mine. They were brought from Africa to a place called the Americas. There, slavery lasted until an event called the Civil War happened and the Americas were had a free country for all people.

This sound like my slavery in many ways, but it wasn't how the Vampires treated us. We were valuable and their food source. I did however find a type of slavery that disturbed me to the bone: Sexual slavery. This was a slavery that forced young girls and women into sexual acts. I would have looked in the encyclopedia for what sexual meant, but it was no help. All it said was sexual intercourse. After searching for that, it was no help either. To have sexual intercourse. I didn't know what it meant and I didn't want to find out.

I also kept thinking about what Helena said. If I had the chance to take my freedom, I should do it. I would take my freedom from Ravenswood, but what would I do with it? If I escaped, I would be alone, lost, and vulnerable. I could try to find the Resistance, but would they take in a girl that escaped from Ravenswood who was a Feeder to the Prince of all Vampires? Then there was also the dragons and the five names I heard.

Pyro, Silver Wings, Slayer, Einstein, and Reaper.

I may have not known them very well, but Ravenswood knew all to well who Reaper was. A few days after the attack, more and more of Reaper's symbol, the scythe, showed up on the walls of house and on a Vampire's forehead that was dropped out of the sky by a dragon. The Resistance had captured him, tortured him and then released him to Ravenswood so he could "tell his people about the Reaper" and what horrible facts about the Reaper did he have. It was as Helena said. The Vampire said that the Reaper was all black and his face was bone white like a skull. Reaper had been the one to torture the Vampire for information about Ravenswood. The Vampire refused even after Reaper took his hands and feet. The symbol of the scythe was carved permanently  into the Vampire's forehead. It never healed and the Vampire said that the Resistance knew what could hurt Vampires. He also said that he was the only survivor to be left alive when five Humans killed thirty Vampires with such swiftness and ease, Reaper included.

The King wasn't pleased to hear that thirty Vampires were killed so easily by five humans. The Vampire was then set ablaze by the King for his failure. This confirmed my idea of a way out of Ravenswood. The Vampire that had been captured by the Resistance was part of a scouting mission to find the Resistance by the King. There was a way out of Ravenswood and the King knew about it. If I could find it maybe I could finally take my freedom.

As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was tired. I was tired of being ordered around. I was tired of being told what to do. I was tired of feeding the Prince three times a day with nothing more than a biscuit to eat. Overall, I was tired of being a slave.

However, there was still the problem of what to do if I ever got out of Ravenswood. My chances of being killed by a Walker were higher than the chances of me finding the Resistance. Even if I did find them, would there be a place for me there or would they turn me away just as a Vampire or kill me as they would a Walker? The only way of finding out was to go to the Resistance and try to at least talk to the leader. The man they called Grimm. Another grim. First the Grim Reaper and now the man they called Grimm. I remembered what grim meant in the encyclopedia. Foreboding, harsh, cruel, fierce, ghastly, repellent, relentless. Nothing good could come from someone who was called Grimm. Could Grimm be the Reaper? It wouldn't surprise me if he was. After what he did to that scout, Grimm could be the Reaper and he did tell him to tell his people about the Reaper.