I woke up early today, finished my chores and went to help out another group of maids. Being a private maid restricted me to just having communication with the other private slaves as well so today I decided to join them in the library as we did the reorganisation of the materials there.
It was a sight to behold as I stepped through the double doors into the enormous room filled with all manner of books and materials. I was in awe of the room as I wondered how many years of knowledge was stored in this room.
"Wonderful, isn't it?" one other slave, Michael asked as he brushed past me into the room. He gestured with his hands for me to follow and I did. Forcing myself to remember the task at hand. "This library has been around for thousands of years; it is almost as old as this castle." he told me and my eyes widened at the revelation.
"That is amazing" I said in response to him. He looked back at me and shook his head with a laugh. He was nice, most of the male slaves in the castle were not very nice to the female slaves mainly because they were at the disposal to the people who held the power in the world now. The creatures of the night they always call them when I ask.
Male slaves only looked at female slaves like it was their fault they were being fed on or being touched when in reality none of us had the power to do anything in this castle against the will of our owners.
"This castle is actually a lot older than people realize. Six generation of Kings have lived here so far but they were not as active as our past two Kings were. They allowed humans more freedom and power making them think they were strong on their own but they also helped out once in a while." he told me and I nodded to indicate that I was listening to his story and for him to continue.
"The first King was more comfortable away from the human race, he didn't see why he should trouble himself with inferior being like ourselves. The world was long dominated by supernatural creatures and vampires were the ones who stayed hidden the most. There was enough segregation to allow every faction of being peace but still some people were not satisfied with the power they were given"
"What do you mean?"
"Humans are strange, we can have all the power but still want more. They gave us the respect and power and allowed us to be on our own but we couldn't sit and allow them to be separate from them."
"Why do you say humans? Aren't you one" I asked scrunching my nose in distaste of the words he used when he was talking about our own kind. He stopped and laughed understanding my question as we joined the others.
"I really do not know how to classify myself right now. I have spent more the five years here as a slave to the creatures of the night, where should my humanity lie"
He asked me with the shrug as if mocking himself and his position. I didn't like it. Behind a slave was no one's dream but that did not make it okay to degrade yourself further I thought.
It took a while but I had more to learn as he told me the stories that became history and eventually allowed me to understand why the creatures of the night decided to take over and rule the human world.
"It was in the time of the previous King when it happened. Humans were still not satisfied with the territory that they had been allowed. Although the rulers of the night had the power to take everything from them, they stuck to using the small city that they were given, avoiding direct contact with humans and such unless it was for business. But humans were not happy, they wanted to overthrow them."
"Why?! why does anyone want to go through all that for just more power than they have?"
"Rose, you were hidden away for some time after the siege happened so you may not have experienced so much in that place you were kept. Rose, humans are greedy to the bone. nothing can change that. take the slaves that were killed this morning for example, they didn't just want to be fed from but they want to gain power from possibly gaining favour from the king. that is why the mistress killed them and not because they offered themselves"
"We can all get over it after some time, there is no need to go to the extreme."
"Sometimes, it is best to take the extreme methods. The past king did not have much patience with humans after they tried to get rid of the families over the years. They had tried to get through the city once again with the weapons they thought would save them from the rage of the night but they were simply a bunch of fools thrown to the front line by the humans with power."
"Even if you don't agree with their ways you speak of humans like you resent them. why?"
"Why shouldn't I? we had an understanding with the supernatural world. They stay within our boundaries and we do same to avoid any wars but over and over humans have instigated the wars and they kept letting us go because of how foolish they knew we could be."
All this information was really making me think of what we would have bee if not for the people who led us to this fate. He continued to talk to me about the history and tried to give me more information when I asked about the people of the castle as well. I wanted to understand more about the masters I was serving. I had found myself trying not to ask the slaves I used to be with because they just fawned over how they looked or told me off on not trying to get in bed with them as if that was all our lives were about.
We finished putting up most of the books that we were supposed to work on for the day but most of us had to go back to our normal chores before the day had completely ended so we left the rest for another day. I hurriedly went to see to my other chores to make sure I had nothing left undone. I couldn't afford to make any more mistakes with my ability to cause trouble without intention.
I could tell the air in my room was different once I stepped inside. being a private maid now is definitely an upgrade from being one of the regular slaves with the others where everything was shared. but now I had the room to myself. Although it was not much bigger or anything, but now I was lacking company. coming from a shared prison with other slaves and then coming here where I stayed with the other slaves, I was used to not having my own space and it was normal to me.
I walked quickly into the bathroom and then hurriedly took a bath and stepped out. I had to go to bed early so I wasn't late in the morning. I wasn't a master at following instincts but I knew something was diffidently different once I stepped out back into the room. Someone was watching me but I couldn't see them but I could only feel their eyes on me. My heart beat against my chest rapidly, I could feel the nerves in my stomach making a knot out of the fear that was now growing. I should ignore it I thought but fate didn't plan a calm night for me.