She wasn’t sleepy. Not after what had happened to her.

She reached for one of the books she still had to read, starting to flip through the pages to reach the first chapter. She closed it briefly, placing the index finger of her left hand as a bookmark between the pages, looking at the cover and reading the author’s name. Then she turned it over to look at the back cover and read the synopsis. Once she opened it again, she began to read the first sentences.

She didn’t feel like reading, but the mere act of holding the paper in her hands put her in a good mood. She loved reading and she loved that typical smell of paper that she kept smelling while sniffing.

Her personal library in her room was made up of various novels, romance and adventure, but there were also historical readings that her father gave her as birthday gifts, often accompanied by letters and patriotic dedications. She also had a small section of horror novels that were very fashionable in those years; It was mostly the other nobles who gave them to her, because she didn’t like them and hadn’t read one yet.

“And I still won’t.” she said to herself, distracting herself from reading.

So she put the book to one side, lying down under the covers and resting her head on the pillow. The ceiling, white, had wooden beams and a large chandelier full of light bulbs had been placed in the center of it. She turned it on a few times; she was afraid that the flow of electricity might make it fall.

So she began to think. She imagined leaving her life behind and taking a carriage to the west, far away from here. From the stories she read and the stories she was told, the west was a very different place from the Korotsk region. Snow was rare there and there was talk of heat that could kill people during the hottest hours. In fact, a court advisor, a friend of her father, who traveled for work and had therefore been to the West several times, often said that nights did not exist, but only long, endless days... and hot.

The inhabitants of Kortosk and therefore Aria would not have been able to resist such a climate, accustomed to low temperatures. The cold of winter forged tough people who were not afraid of anything. Furthermore, diseases were rare in the city and the average age was quite high, thanks to the plants that grew under the snow and their healing properties.

Aria's eyelids closed on impulse and the book fell to the floor. She settled her back better and, without even realizing it, she fell asleep under the warm embrace of the blankets. The light had remained on, but that would not have been a problem, not after having accumulated all that fear.

She dreamed of finding herself in the palace garden, it was night and the full moon was high in the sky. Everything was beautiful, from the newly sprouted flowers to the singing of the birds that made the leaves dance. She too began to dance, dancing and walking among the thick hedges.

Wherever she passed, flowers grew, and wherever she danced, those same flowers began to dance. They had little faces, with two eyes and a mouth, and to the rhythm of the music, they sang a sweet melody that Aria used to keep time.

She started laughing, it had been a long time since she had done that. In the palace, now that she noticed, there was no reason to do so. Her father had always been hard on her and very few times, very few, had she shown signs of altruism. Madame Doroteya was the most joyful and happy, but sometimes, in Aria's eyes, she seemed to be just playing a part to get her salary at the end of the month. Sergey was like a mummy, that is, he was a person dedicated to work, even too much. He spent most of the time in the kitchen and when he wasn't there, he was out of the house running errands for Ungern.

She was alone, she had no friends and the only fun she hoped to experience were the funny chapters in the books she read.

Her heart became light and her mind free of all thoughts. She was dancing and had already made new friends, not to mention the tree that also started dancing and singing. He had a hoarse voice and for this she was teased by the flowers, but then the hedges intervened to scold them.

It was a perfect situation and she hoped to stay there a little longer but, like all perfect things, sooner or later it had to end.

Around her there were sounds. Not pleasant, not rhythmic and not coming from the plants. The flowers, the tree and the hedges stopped singing. Aria did too, looking around to try to understand the cause of the interruption.

A tall, slim and dark figure appeared from behind a hedge. It was the vampire who had attacked her a few hours before.

“You… you should be dead…”

At first, Aria froze, her heart had dropped to her throat and she could barely hold back the tears. A part of her mind thought it was a prank by the flowers, but then she realized that it shouldn’t be like that. Her breathing… she wasn’t breathing.

She remembered, however, that she wouldn’t be left alone, because Liza would arrive at any moment to save her. It was only a matter of time.

So she used those few seconds to better observe the vampire who in the meantime was approaching her: his face was covered in wrinkles and his cheeks were hollowed out so deep that you could see the bones of his skull. He was wearing rags and he wasn’t wearing shoes. The visible parts of his skin were moldy and the stench that the creature gave off was not even comparable to that present in the port of Korostk.

The vampire continued to advance and Aria looked around for Liza. Instinctively she took a step back, then another, because the hunter didn’t seem to be coming.

“Where are you, Liza!” she screamed, but her voice came out pinched, as if she had two hands around her neck that were squeezing her. In fact, there was one hand around her neck, it was the vampire who had lifted her up and showed her his sharp canines full of blood.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She then tried to wriggle free, but the vampire's grip was too strong. Her body was breaking and the vampire's canines were getting closer and closer to bite her. She closed her eyes, she didn't want to attend her funeral.

She woke up with a start. Her heart was beating like a running horse and her throat hurt because of the lack of saliva. She grabbed the covers with so much force that a nail broke. She was alone, her face illuminated by the first light of dawn. The pillow was keeping the book company and a lock of hair was caught on one of the feet of the bed.

She was scared.

She began to tremble and remained curled up under the covers for as long as possible, making herself very small so as not to face the demons outside.

In the street you could already hear the first noises of the city. The workers, in Korostk, got up at dawn to go to work and, for those who owned a horse, a cart or a wagon, you could not help but hear hooves, wheels or dragging along the tiles that made up the sidewalks.

The girl remained like that for about half an hour. She did not know what to do or what to think. Her father had already gone to work and Madame Doroteya, like every morning, was already on her way to the market to buy something to eat. Most likely, at that moment only Aria and Sergey were at home, so she decided to stay in bed for as long as possible to avoid anything unpleasant happening to her. Sergey was old and, if a vampire had shown up at the door, he would not have been able to help her.

And Liza, instead? Could she really count on her? Was she watching over her house right now or was she out on a vampire hunt? If yesterday’s vampire had managed to get downtown so easily, someone else would have been able to do the same.

So, Aria had an inspiration and finally got up from her bed to go get changed.

“Damn what my father thinks” she said to herself, and at that moment the door opened.

Aria spun around, already planning to grab the poker for emergencies, but then she saw Madame Doroteya in front of her eyes.

“Good morning Aria,” and the housekeeper pirouetted, “How are you today?”

“Good morning Doroteya, everything is fine, thank you.” she tried not to look nervous, loosening her grip on the clothes in her hand and forgetting about the poker. Reaching the mirror, she changed her clothes with the help of Doroteya and held her hair in place using a hair clip. Compared to last night, she had decided to wear slightly more bourgeois clothes, suitable for going out and walking in cold temperatures.

“I decided to go out, walking in the fresh air will do me good.” Aria said when she put on her gloves.

“Of course, dear, I’ll let Sergey know right away.”

“No!” Aria exclaimed impulsively. Her denial echoed several times through the walls. “I’d like to go out alone.”

“But my dear, that’s not possible, you know what your father is like.” Madame Doroteya said as she began to choose a hat, “Would you prefer pink or blue?”

“Pink.” Aria took her makeup bag to put on her foundation, she had chosen a light color to match her dress, “I need to be alone after what happened, to think… do you understand?”

“If your father finds out that I let you go out alone, he’ll put me in prison.”

The housekeeper put the hat on Aria’s head and Aria stopped her arm when she was about to pull it away.

“You have to do it for me.”

The housekeeper said nothing more, helping the girl put on her makeup and finish the preparations. She went to the door to leave her alone, but stopped a moment before.

“If anything were to happen to you, I wouldn’t know anything about it.”

“Thank you, Madame Doroteya.”

The door was slammed and Aria stood there for five minutes looking at herself in the mirror. Everything was so perfect and in order and, although objectively there were duchesses more beautiful than her, she said she was satisfied with her appearance.

Once she was out of her room, she hurried to the front door and past the kitchens so that Sergey wouldn’t see her. It wasn’t easy to sneak out in a dress like that, but her steps were so light that the sound of the pots and pans and the fire didn’t arouse the butler’s suspicions.

She knew that going out alone would put Madame Doroteya in a bad position, but on the other hand she couldn’t tell anyone what she was about to do. The house rules were clear: Aria had no right to go out alone and had to be accompanied by someone at all times, and that someone was Sergey. When he was not there or was sick, the housekeeper accompanied her, and if she was not available either, Aria could not allow herself to go out.

Only once, many years ago, had she gone out alone, but she had not had time to change sidewalks before Sergey caught her and took her back home.

But today was different, she was no longer a child and she knew what she was getting into. Mostly, after what had happened last night, in Ungern's eyes there would have been no excuse that mattered. And yet, it was precisely the events of the previous night that had lit the flame in Aria.

So she opened the door, walked around the garden and left the villa behind her.

Korotsk was characterized by long white houses and narrow streets. Carriages drove along the main streets and the police patrolled the streets on horseback. It was full of citizens and, especially in the morning, most of them went to work while the elderly went to buy flour to make bread. Merchants from all regions could nest in the shops ready to exchange their goods and sometimes carriages were rented just for the transport of goods.

Clearly, these were services that few could afford, but then again, the neighborhood where Aria lived was one of the richest.

Taking a good look around and taking one last look at the Zotova Palace, Aria began to walk down the sidewalk, soon arriving at the central square that was a few minutes away from her house. A fountain stood in the center and, above it, a statue depicting the King on horseback. The city's coat of arms was posted on all the houses, but only one of them also had flags, and that was the Yahontov Palace, a huge three-story mansion that housed the royal family. The wall was guarded by both policemen and private guards spaced every three swords. The garden alone was as big as the entire Zotova estate and, according to what her father told her, having been there twice, the furniture inside the rooms was made by melting down entire gold bars.

Aria continued her journey and walked down a side street, where the attitude of the people, if not the people themselves, began to change. No more nobles dressed in high fashion and with bright necklaces, earrings and rings, but middle class workers often without clothes to protect themselves from the rush. No more carriages pulled by thoroughbred horses, but carts to transport wood, bricks and iron.

Some of these workers even dared to look badly at Aria, but luckily for her the police were alert to any possible threat and so Aria managed to reach her destination undisturbed.

It was a palace of modest beauty. The wall was narrow and high, presenting more than five floors making it one of the tallest buildings in the whole of Korotsk. A small garden full of flowers invited people to come in and so Aria did, giving a push to the gate smaller than her that opened to leave her passage free.

A wooden door appeared in front of her and she decided to knock twice waiting for an answer.

Despite the biting cold that morning, she still tried to concentrate because the moment would require it. She was sure of the choice she had made, the one she made when she woke up from that bad dream. Because reality could not be ignored, and given the fear, she knew that in the event of another attack by a vampire, she could not hope to get help from a huntress.

She would have to become one herself.

The door opened. A tall, balding man, older than her father, dressed in designer clothes, looked her up and down. A plate with glasses rested in his left hand, and in his right he held a cloth that hung from his wrist.

“What would you like?” he asked; his voice strong and firm.

“My name is Aria Zotova and I was invited by Liza.”