Linda shook her head and explained the reason for her presence there. The manager who was listening intently to her, gave her a look over and found a baby bump on her stomach. He looked back at her and said, "But you are seemingly pregnant. I can't take the guarantee of anything that happens to your child. You would be working at a loud place as such and there might be a possibility of some drunk people to hit on you with such good looks as yours. Will you be able to handle it?"
Linda had already seen this question coming. She had already readied herself for the upcoming challenges when she was exiled from her kingdom. There was no going back.
She confidently nodded her head as she said, "I know sir. I want this job anyhow. Can I please be hired for it? I might seem vulnerable but don't get fooled as such, sir. I will be able to protect myself."
The bar manager seemed to be thinking for a moment before he finally gave her the approval to join from tomorrow. She was then led into the back place of the bar where she met a girl who was probably 18.
Seeing Linda coming in, the girl gave her a friendly smile and introduced herself enthusiastically, "Hi, I'm Nora. Nice to meet you."
Suddenly she gasped as she noticed the baby bump as well. She put her hands on her mouth before looking at the manager and asking, "Sir, will she be working in this condition?"
The manager just helplessly nodded his head and from the next day onwards, Linda started to work at the place.
She went through many hardships as well. The first few weeks went by, with her living on the streets in tattered condition all the while still maintaining her dignity and self-respect by not begging for money. She had already made it clear to herself, that she would have to take of herself on her own without anyone to rely on but herself and herself alone. But she was taken in by Nora, despite herself living in a small apartment. Nora supported Linda with everything that she needed. And Linda couldn't thank her enough. Her encounters with kind people like Nora and the manager were good-going but from time to time, she was looked down upon by people in the bar. Some called her mama piggy and some others made fun of her, but Linda persisted. She couldn't leave this job, not when this seemed to be paying well for her basic amenities.
Once she was almost in an argument with a drunk customer who was persistently cursing her for being pregnant and working there, but thankfully the manager came in time before he could attack her in his drunk state.
Linda then got the idea. The human world is that place, where selfishness is filled to the brim, but thankfully it was still working well with the good people there to balance humanity.
One thing that she had learned in this world was to hide her vampire fangs and also minimize her blood cravings to almost zero. While she was pregnant, the urge for blood intensified a lot but all she could do was have red meat. When Nora wasn't noticing, Linda would eat up the raw meat and the chicken blood that she had bought from the market secretly. She had to brush her teeth thoroughly after that to avoid any suspicion. She couldn't possibly show her blood-stained teeth to Nora or talk with a blood smell in her mouth.
Anyhow, Linda was living her life among humans, all the while also taking care of the little life in her womb. Now the baby was her only companion in hardship and the only hope for her to work hard and earn.
A few months later…
She was running away from the lewd and drunk men chasing her. With heavy rain pouring over and making it almost impossible to see the road ahead, she still thrived and fought herself to move forward.
She looked back and found that she had long lost sight of those people chasing her. She stood by the nearest pole and took a deep breath, while also trying to steadying her uneven heartbeat. Suddenly she felt her stomach aching. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths while dragging herself to the nearest shade she could see.
The journey from the pole to the bus stand felt like a lifetime, but Linda made her way nevertheless. When she finally reached the bus stand, she could feel the pain had already increased tenfold and was increasing second by second.
Wait, what month was it? Gosh, this was the ninth month. She might be due for delivery.
What will she do now? In such stormy weather, she couldn't possibly step out and just ask for a cab. Rummaging through her bag, she found her phone all wet and switched off.
'Damn it.'
Linda felt like her life couldn't be any worse. Her fate couldn't be any more broken. Being the vampire princess that she was, all she could do now was just grit her teeth in fury and pain, as she remembered the moment when her own family disowned her and exiled her to the human world.
Suddenly, she was brought back to the present by the sudden honk of the car that pulled up in front of her. Seeing her in such a poor state, the owner of the car stepped out of his car and made his way towards her, also while lending her a hand for help.