Thomas brushed the entrance of his house with a broom. After cleaning off the dirt, the man made sure to put the broom back inside. He locked the door with one of the rusty keys from his keychain.
He ran his fingers through his disheveled brown hair, trying to remember something.
A woman staggered past him, frantically looking over her shoulder. Her clothes were unordinary. While she was dirty, her well-kept hair distracted the eye. It was an unusual colour, resembling him of snow.
The sleeves that came down her legs were muddy, ruining the bright colours of her clothes. He held back from clenching his teeth in disgust. Whether it was a speck of dust on his table, or some dirt on his doormat, it didn’t last long under his eye.
The gravel roads of the slums didn’t do the girl any favours either, though the roads were partially frozen due to the coming winter.
He grabbed the bag he had left sitting by the porch, and headed towards the slums.
The slums made up for over half the kingdom. It wasn’t an easy matter to handle, and the royal family did their best.
The rich weren’t rich enough to pull others from poverty either, since hoarding money was prohibited to an extent due to the grave financial situation, to prevent any rebellions from the slum people.
Of course, most nobilities would just hide away their fortune and show only the amount that they were allowed to have. But since the royal family was the jewelstone of the country, they had to abide by their own rules to stay as the head of the country.
When the members of the slum noticed him, they began gathering. They were the old and the young, sick and healthy, weak and strong.
His bag was filled with money, and everyone knew that. What was inside the bag could secure a comfortable life. Still, neat lines were formed as if welcoming a king.
He glanced at the lines before turning his head to the bag full of gold coins in his hands.
Ugh. How many are there?
Not knowing how to divide the insides of the bag, he gave each person two coins.
There was a rule for whenever he arrived. No bloodshed for an hour when he came to this small part of the slums. During this time, everyone could hide whatever they had gotten from him, so that they would not get robbed. If he found out there was bloodshed, he would stop coming.
There were still coins left in the majestic crimson bag, the count wasn’t even for distribution. He couldn’t have given some more than the others.
He took one of the coins from the bag into his hand. Staring at the shiny gold coin, he felt that he got overpaid for today’s job. He dropped the coin back inside the bag.
While he was returning, on a cold alley he saw the same girl he had seen earlier. She had a calculative yet unemotional gaze. She thought she had hid the knife well, and the half a second her cold gaze had spent on his crimson bag wasn’t left unnoticed.
Before she could act, he closed the distance and tied the silky strings of his bag to her waist.
“It suits your dress,” he said in an unbothered voice while already leaving, still hiding his disgust as he glanced at the mud staining the bright red and yellow patterns of her dress.
He was mildly interested, she smelled of flowers even though it already snowed.
--
The kingdom’s walls protected them of monsters and demons.
Serena was no different. She was no different from the monsters and demons, but she was also no different from those seeking protection from them.
Vampires were feared monsters, and they were also the only monsters that could disguise as humans. There were organizations within the city walls purely made of vampires. As a matter of fact, most of the vampires within the city walls were nobles.
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They were enjoying their life, drinking blood abundantly. Since there was no competition from other monsters, It was akin to letting a wolf to a sheep pasture then fencing it, so that other predators couldn’t get in.
The other vampires were second-class. She was of the direct bloodline of their ancestors. But she had a secret.
She was weak.
For her entire life, she had been learning how to become the successor. The vampires were surprisingly refined, and she had learned how to keep things sophisticated. Violence wasn’t required to handle things, and she could always get away without engaging in combat.
Her family were the leaders of their regimen, known for their cruelty. The family’s ties weren’t warm either; Serena hated her own father.
When she one day had found her sickly father dead, murdered in his sleep, she felt nothing. While standing completely emotionless in front of her bloodied father, she had finally realized why she hated him for all those years.
She hated him because she saw herself in him. It was a disgusting finding. She didn’t trust anyone, and took advantage of everyone. Like father, like daughter. Had she told him her physical power was inadequate, she would have been killed by his hand.
But now other vampires had finally grown tired of their weak leader being sick for too long. They also wouldn’t trust a girl as young as Serena, a 18-year-old.
And so they rebelled.
She escaped the regimen, knowing she would also be murdered. Living within the walls had high stakes. Now the threat of vampires was replaced by the threat of humans. The vampires living within were actually brave, living their everyday lives with the risk of getting caught any day. They were the wolves within closed sheep pastures, but there were also vicious guardian dogs inside the fencing.
The kingdom assigned random check-ups on people regularly. They would force their mouths open, and check their teeth. The vampires could hide their fangs to an extent, but an expert could always see them.
To show the vampires living outside the walls it was not worth it, death would usually come slow. The humans weren’t defenseless against monsters. An average vampire could barely handle two adult men at once.
Men with bows and crossbows were placed around the walls, to watch out for other monsters. That is the reason why the walls keep most of the monsters away.
Serena had been living within these slums for two weeks now.
She had been desperate for blood, she needed it to live. She would survive, and at some point, live comfortably.
She had struck a deal with some loaners, and used the money to buy human blood from a vampire noble that was an acquaintance.
The vampire noble had looked at her with intrigued yet wary eyes. She was a master of keeping her composure and looking strong, she had already been doing it all her life.
The vampire noble thought her power was unrivaled like her father’s in his heyday, when actually it was just that of a human girl her age. All it took was confidence, it created a barrier around her for those that knew of her family name.
The loaners, however, were human. She couldn’t act strong. She was just a weak human girl in their eyes, no matter how she put up a front.
She could probably bluff and bare her fangs, but then she would get caught by the kingdom.
Serena was attractive. It was an asset to her; her manipulative personality had gained a tool as she aged. She had a voluptuous figure for a girl her age, or at least bottom. Her breasts were probably above average in size. Her skin was pale, and her eyes had a darker shade of pink.
Serena cared for her hair, it was the only thing she hated getting dirty. It was pure white. The fluffy long hair rose up at first, but then fell down to the side of her head like a waterfall.
She had plenty of husband candidates back when she was still the successor’s daughter, but she was greedy.
She wanted to secure her position, she wanted to gain the biggest advantage. None of those men were good enough. Even with the circumstances drastically changed, her goal was still the same. She wanted to live safely.
Serena had been running from the loaners for the whole day. She hadn’t been able to pay in time, as expected. She hadn’t given up, but her mind was desperately going through the options.
Help can appear in two different ways, conditionally and unconditionally. Unconditional help when you need it, but don’t ask for it. She blankly stared at the red velvet bag on her waist, she had never felt this relieved and confused about anything.
She was good at reading people, of course. Motives were simple to understand, at least they used to be.
When she had first seen that young and frail looking boy in the slums, with coins practically jingling in that bag of his that was on full display, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
Did he not know where he was? He was an easy target. Serena’s mind had quickly come to the conclusion that she could rob him. He was about her height, age, and looked skinny. His face was clean but the hair was messy.
Just when she was about to rob the boy -..
.. Why did he give her the bag voluntarily? Was he interested in her looks? Could she gain more from him? Maybe blackmail him?
.. He had told her it suits her dress. But why give it to her?
His indigo blue eyes gave an extremely frightening feel when he had stepped close to her. It seemed like a warning.
She was a shameless person. When the boy left, she had followed him. Once she saw him enter a house, only then did she finally leave off to pay her debts.
It was late night. The ground was freezing, she only had her dress on. The weeks that she had spent in the slums had been uncomfortable. The nights outside were the worst, the worst criminals were on the move to search for sleeping targets.
There had been a lot of money in the red velvet bag, but it was now empty on her waist. Blood was not cheap, the nobles had raised the price to heavens.
She could kill someone for blood, but it was a final resort. She wasn’t strong and didn’t want to get caught.
There was no light in the house that the boy had entered. The door was locked, but one of the windows could be opened.
She clenched the dagger in her hand as she briefly remembered the powerful look he had given just for a moment earlier. Serena thought it must have been nothing, the boy looked so weak.
She gathered her breath and got a leg through the window.
It was warm inside. The fireplace that she went past was still crackling with wood. It was a simple house. She checked the drawers one by one, until she heard a noise.
The boy was breathing heavily in a room. Serena had a fleeting thought of killing him and getting his blood.
Serena looked at his sleeping face with bloodlust, but then shook her head and turned to the bag she had filled with treasures. She needed blood soon.
--
Thomas opened his eyes and rose up. He hazily stared at the stars of the night sky, leaning on the window.
He opened the hidden safe and took out three, shiny daggers.
He didn’t want blood spilt in his house.