It was two o'clock in the morning when she slipped out of her room and let the heavy wooden door slide silently into the lock.

Isy's introduction to society was tomorrow. She had to warn her this night or the girl might find herself in Maria's or Dominic's clutches by tomorrow!

She was allowed to move freely in the castle, apart from a few areas, but she was still not eager to meet anyone. At that time, almost all the humans and most of the vampires were asleep. Since there was little crime on the island, there was no real need for checks or guards. There was a patrol of the Guard that regularly walked the buildings of the castle, but it would not be difficult to wait for them to pass and then slip through the castle gate.

As well as providing accommodation for newcomers, the building she had to enter was also a contact point for the guard. Meetings were held or paperwork done. There were secured accommodation, offices as well as meeting rooms. It was unoccupied at night and was regularly passed and checked by said patrol. As with most public buildings, there was no reason to lock the main entrance. The newcomers' rooms were secured separately. At least as far as Claudia knew.

Everything went down perfectly. The guards had disappeared around the main building a few seconds ago and Caroline quickly made her way to the gate. It was a historical artefact and had never been locked or guarded.

That was when her stomach turned. She had been explicitly instructed not to leave the castle. Not obeying the orders of a vampire, especially the commander of the guard and implicitly those of the king was severely punished.

The listed recommendation was seven lashes at which the skin would open up. She shuddered as she thought of the punishment. She was well aware that such strokes were not to be taken lightly. Neither the pain nor the health consequences. With a suppressed groan, she pushed the thought aside and stepped through the gate.

A wave of panic washed over her as the main entrance to the house was locked and the door would not open. This couldn't be happening! Public buildings were not locked! Maybe they had made an exception because newcomers had arrived and were in training.

Or Rebekka suspected that she was coming to see Isy! Hastily she looked around. Nobody was there!

She stepped back and looked up and down the building. Maybe someone had forgotten to lock one of the side doors out of habit. Or she would find an open window.

Ok then, here we go...

Right at the first door, which had a small loading ramp leading up to it, she was lucky and found herself in the entrance hall, only dimly lit by the streetlamp in front of the windows.

She had brought a candle and matches. It would have been suspicious to ask for a flashlight and she hadn't been given a smartphone yet. Let's keep it romantic, she thought in a touch of desperate humour and lit the match.

The cells should be on the ground floor on the other side. She had passed through two swinging doors and was now standing in a long white corridor when suddenly the light above her flashed. In shock, she dropped the candle and wax splattered in all directions.

There was no one here. The light must have been triggered by a motion sensor. The fluorescent tube above her hummed and clicked occasionally. The doors leading off to the right were metal and had narrow flaps at the very bottom. Probably to pass food through. This was the right place.

The first door was firmly closed. She carefully opened the flap from the outside and looked through. A loud steady rattling breathing suggested that it was one of the men.

Behind the second flap, the darkness was soundless.

"Isy?" she whispered softly. "Isy?" a little louder. She strained her eyes, the bed seemed deserted ....

"GET THE FUCK AWAY from my food hatch you filthy BITCH!" A pale face with dark-rimmed eyes and a fine-limbed hand shot up from the darkness on the right.

Caroline jerked backwards with a yelp. An arm with puncture marks squeezed out of the hatch up to her shoulder and groped wildly.

Okay, this withdrawal is going to take a while.

Slowly, breathing heavily, she picked herself up and kept walking. Her heart was pounding and the blood was pulsing in her ears. The arm behind her disappeared and silence fell again. Two doors down, a small crack in the hatch opened.

"Who is it? Linda, are you all right?"

Relief flooded through Caroline. Paying no attention to volume, she ran forward.

"Isy, it's me!" she called softly. And dropped to the floor in front of the hatch.

"Caroline? Oh my God, Oh my God!" The girl reached a hand out to her through the hatch as best she could, Caroline stroking her tear-soaked cheek and soft hair. Isy sobbed uninhibitedly and Caroline couldn't hold back the tears either.

"I thought you were ... they didn't tell me! I begged them, but they didn't say anything!"

"I'm here love! It's going to be all right!"

They held each other and for the first time since the last night on the cruise ship Caroline felt happy. She had made it. She could warn her friend. It was going to be all right.

"Isy, listen to me, I'm here for a reason! What do you know about what's going to happen tomorrow?"

"You mean a bunch of vampires are going to gawk at me and then I'll have to choose what job I'm going to do for the rest of my life?"

"Mmmh, right, they filled you in." Caroline smirked a little at Isy's summary.

"Did they also tell you what it means to become a ward of a vampire or become part of a family?"

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Yes, that it's very unlikely to be given such an honour right at the start and you have to work very hard to be allowed to belong to a family."

"Ok, let me hook in here, sweetie!" Caroline took a quick breath. "Under no circumstances will you enter into this bond! Promise me right now!"

"Ok." Isy sounded confused. "I promise. Will you tell me why?"

Caroline told her friend in brief what had happened in her trial, that she herself was now the king's ward, and of Maria's threat.

"Is he treating you well? Has he done anything to you?" Isy's voice sounded worried. Not for herself but for her friend.

"No Isy, concentrate. I'm fine. You're the one in danger!"

Isy peered sceptically through the flap.

"I swear neither the king nor his people did anything to me or plan on doing so! I'm alright and would be much better if you were paying attention right now."

"Okay! What do you want me to do tomorrow?"

"You know there are a lot of organisations here looking for new workers. If you can somehow manage to get employed by the castle staff, that would be perfect. They pay well and the accommodation is excellent. Whether you work in the kitchen or in the service doesn't matter. Also, we could see each other whenever we want."

Isy was about to declare that it was a done deal.

"Slow down," Caroline stopped her. "They only take the best, and I have no idea what the criteria are. A good alternative would be the guard. Not as one of them, of course, but they have staff. Humans who do the paperwork and documentation. Kind of secretaries. The important thing is that you get something in New Blackburn, otherwise you're completely out of reach."

"New Blackburn? What ...?

"That's the name of the town. Whereas mostly it's just called ‘the town’. There are only a couple of smaller settlements on the island otherwise. Specifics aren't really necessary."

They went through possible jobs for Isy for a while when she suddenly hesitated.

"What are we even doing here? This is madness! Are we really talking about vampires here?"

Caroline understood immediately because she felt the same way but forced a smile.

"You know, if you look closer, this place isn't so bad. Well, it might not be advisable to start a classical family and have children if you want to avoid them growing up in this situation. But to build a good and satisfying life for yourself is quite possible, I think."

Am I trying to convince Isy or myself?

"Really? In slavery?"

"Well, if you don't put yourself into personal dependency, it probably doesn't feel like that at all. Apart from the monthly blood donation."

"Blood. They really drink that, don't they?" Isy sounded devastated.

"Yep. That’s what vampires do. But hey, think about it, how many humans would kill for the chance to ever meet one?"

Isy looked at her in disbelief, almost shock, but suddenly bristled. "Right, imagine if word got out in the goth scene! They would never need to kidnap anyone again! They'd be all over the island!"

Now the girl was grinning again, even if there was still a tear glistening in the corner of her eye. "Do you think there's any chance of a hot vampire romance here? Like in the books? Falling in love and they make you immortal or something?"

"Phew, a lack of handsome vampires won’t kill the plan." She interrupted herself and thought about how to explain her concerns to Isy.

"Look, if you're into hot vampire sex, I’m completely in! Some of them are obviously interested in humans. You noticed it yourself when Jonathan made advances towards you."

The smile disappeared from Isy's face, but Caroline wasn't done yet. She wanted to shatter this illusion from the ground up.

"As for falling in love ... This is definitely not like the books you read! Honestly, if I get my hands on one more story where the virginal teenage protagonist devotes herself unconditionally to the dominant and much older alpha vampire or billionaire, I'll scream!" She had muttered the last words more to herself. "Do you really want to know how I feel about that?"

Isy thought for a moment and nodded.

"Okay. What do you think a centuries-old immortal, highly intelligent non-human being wants with a human woman who has seen NOTHING in this world, at most has the lifespan of a pet and he has nothing in common with?" Caroline was going for the brutal approach.

"Psychologically and physiologically, falling for someone comes from fascination, from excitement. A cocktail of endorphins and adrenaline. The point is that we have NOTHING to offer that they haven't already experienced, heard and seen in countless versions in their lifetime. Nothing that could even BEGIN to fascinate them."

Isy listened in silence and Caroline could tell by her eyes that she was really trying to comprehend what she was saying.

"The most we can hope for is to entertain them briefly. With unusual ideas, creativity and" She pointed down at Isy as best she could through the flap. "A youthful body. Any feeling beyond brief amusement or sexual desire is unlikely. Also, please always keep in mind that it says nothing, NOTHING at all, if a vampire is nice to you for a supposedly long period of time. In their lives, years are the blink of an eye. Every action could be part of a decades or even centuries long planned agenda in which we are just a tiny cog. We can't even begin to imagine the kind of loyalty, love, friendship that has grown over decades or centuries and exists between them."

Isy bit her lower lip at her words and Caroline continued and Caroline went on.

"So how are we supposed to befriend or form relationships with beings who have grown up in a world that is fundamentally different from ours. Who have lived through the Thirty Years' War, who have escaped the Inquisition, who have killed dozens or even hundreds of people to this day. Who physiologically exceed our limits and whose immortality has an influence on their psyche and their decisions that is incomprehensible to us. So if you think you can trust a vampire, DON’T! Trust in yourself and your ability to build a life here."

Even for her, that was a long speech. She didn't have time to weave all the info into a lengthy conversation, though.

"Okay," Isy said after a while. "I've never thought about it before, but you probably have some good points there."

"Yeah. Yeah probably. To get back on topic, what do you say tomorrow when someone offers you a nice life in exchange for you becoming their ward."

"I decline," Isy declared confidently.

"Ok and what do you say tomorrow if someone threatens to kill me, you shouldn't accept them as your guardian?"

"What?" Isy looked at her with wide eyes.

"Remember, I'm untouchable, but they don't know that you know. So what do you say?"

"I decline."

"Good. So what are you going to tell them?"

"Well, that I decline, right?" asked Isy, confused.

"Okay, now more elegantly. Something like, I'd be honoured, I don't think I'm worthy and can live up to expectations."

Isy dutifully repeated until Caroline was happy.

"As I said, try to get to the royal court. There you will be near me ... though I don't know if that is so healthy. But since our relationship is already known, it probably won't matter."

"You got it, I'll do my best!" assured Isy.

Caroline sighed, "I should go."

"Yeah, before someone catches you! I don't want you getting any beatings because of me."

"Um, yeah, about that, that's going to happen either way." Caroline's chest tightened uncomfortably at the thought.

"What do you mean? You made it here unseen, too. Didn't you?"

"It's not that." Caroline wondered if she should let Isy in on what she was up to. She decided to do so, partly because it delayed saying goodbye a little longer and she trusted the girl to be able to handle it.

"You know, I couldn't choose how to start my new life here. I have an owner now." Her stomach twisted at the word. "From everything I've seen so far, I've been kind of lucky. But I am absolutely convinced that he will not forgive dishonesty and a breach of trust so easily. He took a big risk with me. If I want to have even a little chance of surviving the coming months or years, I have to prove that I'm worth the risk and his trust."

"What are you saying?" Isy seemed to suspect, but couldn't seem to believe what Caroline was trying to explain.

"I can't risk him finding out from anyone or anytime that I broke rules. He needs to hear it from me, and he needs to hear it now. I want him to know that I may not always follow the rules, but that I will at least be honest and face the consequences."