Marcella

The world was spinning.

Mari could feel it beyond the confines of her eyelids, waves of black and grey swimming through the darkness.

Nausea crept in as she carefully stretched her arms, feeling the cold, dusty stone of the floor she laid upon, the equally freezing stone wall behind her head. She dared not open her eyes.

Whatever room she was in was agonizingly quiet. But, she thought as she tried to sit up, there were things much more harrowing than silence.

Like the screams of Frostwood as the sun disappeared, the cries of children as they were trampled to death or impaled by falling debris, not to mention the fear in their eyes as the vampires-

Mari heaved with a start, placing a hand on her abdomen and curling over as whatever sat in her stomach (Zohar knows it certainly wasn’t food, she couldn’t remember the last time she ate) threatened to break free.

For better or worse, it was only dread that rose in her throat. She took several deep breaths to push away the onslaught of sobs she could feel forming.

But her body wasn’t hers any longer, it did not care for what she wanted.

The tears erupted.

As did the memories, so fresh that she had to focus all her strength on pushing them away.

It was a futile effort.

Her head seared with pain as the images shot through one by one- how the entire square fell apart along with the sun itself, how her brother was tossed aside like he was nothing but a piece of flint, how she could do nothing but watch in horror as en entire roof crumbled onto his limp body.

It was so potent, this pain. More than the throbbing in her head or her neck or her throat. She could feel it in every bone, in every inch of skin that covered her body along with the dirt.

She didn’t know what she looked like, but she hoped her hair was as disheveled and her clothes as stained as she thought them to be. She hoped she looked as pathetic as she felt.

That was all a weakling like her deserved- to be pathetic and to have been crushed beneath that roof instead of Tristan. He was the one who tried to save her when she couldn’t even bother to save herself.

She should have tried to escape her cell in Frostwood, or tried harder to convince the commander to let her go. Better yet, she should have stopped Tristan from running to that damned recruitment stand in the first place.

Then she wouldn’t have been-

She shuddered and breathed in deeply to keep the screams away in her head. Not just of the villagers or her brother, but of her own in the darkness of that cell.

Then she wouldn’t have been abducted for Zohar knows what reason, she told herself instead. Her instinct was to rationalize it and she was helpless to stop the generation of possibilities. The vampires- she still couldn’t believe they were real, probably wouldn’t kill her. If that had been the plan, they would’ve just done it back in Frostwood. Was it for her blood? But then why wasn’t anyone else taken, unless they’d done it after they made sure they had her first…

Or was it for her blood?

That had to be it. Mari had no idea why her blood would be important to them, but she didn’t know anything about it herself. Perhaps it was more than just some genetic mistake, perhaps she could be useful to the creatures.

The idea didn’t comfort her.

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Despite her efforts, more memories resurfaced.

She could feel herself hyperventilating and an even stronger wave of nausea overtook her as she felt the hands of the soldiers holding her down, unable to see anything with the rag over her head, unable to do anything as water was poured onto her face.

It was like drowning. They’d pour the water for seconds at a time before asking her a question, and every answer of hers, the words muffled beneath the cloth, was met with a slightly longer stream the next time. Once they finally left, it was only because the water had been poured for so long that Mari had stopped breathing and gone unconscious.

She tried to steady it now, but it was if the water was still being forced down her lungs- the more she tried to breathe, the worse it became.

With more tears, she realized that she’d been the one thing that, no matter what other faults she possessed, she could never stand the thought of becoming- a fool. She may not have been the strongest or the richest or the most beautiful, but if there was one thing she had it was her wits.

At least that was what she used to believe.

Now she’d understood that the one thing she’d always clung onto, the one thing that fueled that distant dream of becoming a scholar and living out the rest of her life in some manor or even the grand research towers of the royal castle itself, was never hers to begin with.

And she was a fool to think otherwise.

She flinched as a door creaked open somewhere nearby and footsteps shuffled closer, finally opening her eyes to see that she was in a similar cell as to the one in Roshire, although this one was much larger and cleaner.

But it was much darker, the hall outside her cell baring no torches. She could barely see the faces of the two people who arrived at her bars, only some moonlight from a window providing her a view of their faces.

With their pale skin and knowing eyes, they were both vampires.

She crawled back against the wall as even more panic rose in her chest.

“Hello,” one of them, a girl with pinkish-reddish eyes, said. “I’m Elaine.”

Mari didn’t reply as she stared warily at the vampires. The girl seemed to be a little younger than her, although the legends made her wonder if she really was. She wore a girlish black dress with sheer sleeves, her glowing white hair sprawled across her chest in soft waves. The man beside her seemed older and was wearing what looked like a guard’s uniform, although his was much more elegant than the one of soldiers back home.

The girl, Elaine, gave her a warm smile. “I know this must all be very confusing, but I promise no one is going to hurt you. What’s your name?”

Mari wondered what the point was anymore in listening to her self-preservation instincts, but she did so anyway and stayed silent.

The girl sighed and turned to the male vampire. “Why is she in a cell?”

“His majesty ordered it, Lady Elaine.”

“Unlock the door.”

“But his majesty-“

“Does it look like his majesty is here?”

“Well, no-“

“Then you take orders from me, don’t you?”

Even in the dark, Mari could see as the guard’s eyes flashed in fear. “Y-yes, my lady.”

“Then open it.”

He didn’t need to be told twice as he removed a lavish pin from his belt and used it to prick his finger, a droplet of crimson blood forming on the tip.

Mari watched with wide eyes as the blood solidified into the shape of a small key and the guard used it to unlock the door of metal bars which swung open before her.

Elaine extended a hand. “Come with me, I’ll answer all your questions.”

Perhaps Mari would have refused or tried to make a run for it, but she was resigned to her fate now, whatever it may be. “Do I really have a choice?”

“Sure you do,” she said, amused. “If you’d really like to stay down here then I won’t make any objections, but I'll ask that you humor me and at least see the rest of the manor before you make your choice.”

She was in a manor?

To hell with it, what more could they do to her?

It took a few moments for her to gather the strength to stand, her muscles crying out in agony as she used the wall to steady herself. If Elaine was impatient, her face didn’t show it as she quietly waited until Mari had crossed the distance between them.

“You may go,” she said to the guard. Being this close to her, it was hard for Mari to deny that she was beautiful, her features warm and youthful but also otherworldly. She certainly couldn’t pass for human, but she didn’t fit the traditional, monstrous depictions of vampires in folktales either.

And yet even the air around her seemed dangerous, a lethal grace hidden in her delicate movements. There was also no denying that she could kill Mari with a single gesture despite her gentleness. But perhaps that was the point, her beauty perfectly sculpted to lure in unassuming humans.

The perfect predator.

The guard gave Mari a hesitant look. He also shared that air of danger and elegance, but his was much more muted, more so like the vampire that had attacked her and Tristan in Frostwood. “Are you sure, your grace?”

“If a human manages to kill me then it is well deserved, and she certainly would have the means to kill you as well.”

The guard did not seem convinced but nodded and used the key to lock the cell behind them, the blood turning back to liquid and disappearing into his finger as he walked away.

“Now,” Elaine said as she turned to Mari. “Where do I begin?”