by Nina
I'm back at the castle. Alone and trying not to think about what I'd done as I rappelled up, avoiding the prying eyes of the court and asking the gods no one knew didn't spend the night in the castle.
Once again, my father's Council is meeting. The peace between us is so fragile after our hunters discovered Espumas beyond Vesna's boundaries. I know wartime will inevitably come.
Hecate's procession roams the land of humans and hunts us down. Vesna is one of the last portals of the gods to protect Pandora's Box. Your army of shadow creatures must remain trapped as it was decided at the beginning of time when the world was divided among the gods.
The last seal must not be broken. They are creatures that must not be released. Our world is a mixture of vampires, wolves and sorcerers. The oldest prophecies of my people speak of the birth of a half-blood who will lead the spectres of the goddess of the paths so that the natural order of the world is remade.
And if the father of us all, my blood father, cared about his only heir, he would know that his choices displease me. I tried in every way. I struggled to contain my rebellious nature and not indulge his whims. I know that important alliances between the seven provinces are still made by blood ties.
That last day made me see how wrong I was. Spending an eternity beside an Aswang who doesn't love me and making sure his heirs rule his lands seems like too much of a burden to me.
-Nina! By Hecate, Nina. Where did you go? You can't imagine the mess he created in the castle after Demitri decided to find her.
Dimitry?
Before or after taking the unhappy maid to bed? I shake my head in amazement. I smile with some bitterness. I doubt my father noticed me. He always wanted an heir of fibre. A vampire to take over the Dasklovy family.
-My life still doesn't belong to Demitri. - I assure you with all conviction without wanting to think about Boris.
The great Vlad Daskolvy is too busy to know about his daughter. doing his will does not guarantee you any paternal affection. He never did in those centuries. My presence on these walls represents only the failure of your wildest dreams.
- Mercy, Nina. Not today. Not after the baitals are complaining about the ekuminis again. The situation is already very tense here.
I stare at my lady-in-waiting, smothering my bad mood. It's always like that. And when are they not?
-And when, Mira? When will Vlad have time to listen to my complaints? I don't want this marriage contract with Demitri.
These are old discussions, as usual. I also know that blood represents life to us; the existence of aswangs and mananggals haunts me in dreams. The way they hunt and feed...
There has to be something else to justify our existence among the shadows. Eternity is so scary sometimes. Knowing there will never be an end… I want more than these walls or having to subject myself to a vampire for the sake of duty.
-For everything more profane, I beg you, child. Don't challenge Demitri.
Dimitry? My father's trusted vampire? Curse! My suitor clung to some human, satisfying his appetite for meat among the cattle my father keeps here for our food.
Gipsies may be hateful, but humans are dangerous. If they only knew, if they suspected what we are...
-Enough, Mira. Demitri was very busy yesterday and...
My words stop in midair when I hear the noise at the door. He arrives with the usual fake smile on his face. Did anyone believe there could be something between us?
It's an affront even for someone I trust to break into my rooms without my permission. My hand quickly goes to Mira's hand, which undoes the ribbons on my dress. I suddenly don't like the idea of him seeing me naked again. Not after that day.
- I don't remember seeing you during the meal. - his voice is falsely pleasant.
How dare he?
It's my room and Mira is my maid. With what rights does he judge himself to give orders like that to my mistress?
I won't pay attention to Mirla's pleading looks this time. The blood still runs hot in my veins. Some vampires say this happens when you meet your soulmate. Imagining Demitri's hands on my body makes me shiver.
I see Demitri in front of me with the most cynical smile possible and his hands finish tugging at my dress as I watch my reflection in the mirror. At Vesna, we have no problem with our reflection not being reflected in the mirror. These are lands that border the underworld.
I take a deep breath grateful that Demitri isn't able to read my thoughts and take a deep breath. I know with a certain vengeful pleasure what he will see in my body. I close my eyes, fighting the feeling of lust as I remember Boris' fangs in my chest as he weakly drinks my blood.
-What is it? -His voice is filled with insane hatred.
This one? Did you not believe that I would stay here crying your betrayals? I'm young. Lovely. I have the right to love and not be obliged to fulfil the duties that my role requires.
Our world is doomed to failure. It always was. I just deluded myself and let things go further when I allowed Demitri to enjoy my body. Please? His touch is the coldest of those snow-covered lands. I never imagined that there would be a pleasure.
Even among humans, women serve only as merchandise for their husbands, with a duty to ensure healthy and living heirs. This is not what I want for my life.
-What do you think? I ask with as much pride as possible, knowing that even in his coldness this vampire likes to enjoy my nudity.
The mark on my chest seems to set my sensitive skin on fire. Why did I run away before Boris woke up and go back to this hell?
-Did you dare to give favours to someone like a whore, a bitch? - Demitri launches the insults out loud. - Did you have the audacity to allow them to drink your blood?
I can fight and argue. A discussion will ensure that my body is not just an object to satisfy your desires. It never bothered me before.
"Perhaps my inheritance and the lands I own are not so interesting to appease your honour, my lord?"
No one ever, ever challenged Demitri like that. It's the heat that invades me, protesting with all my energies that I don't accept the fate imposed on me. political alliances can be made in another way. I am not a commodity to be traded.
I look at him with all the sarcastic bravado I get, noting his hand reaching out in a wide arc to slap me.
-It's a big difference from the marks you want to leave on my skin, no doubt because you're incapable...
My insults linger in the air as I'm pushed hard against the wall and groan in pain. Very unhappy. I'm not just any maid. I am the Dasklovy heiress.
-You won't...- The words hissed out of her mouth.
It brings me an appeal of sadness that I cannot bear. I know I won't see you again. A stranger in our lands won't be here long if he hasn't already presented himself at the castle before my father. Now, this seems unbearable. The feeling of loss... The emptiness... An eternity beside Demitri... I can't imagine a worse punishment in someone's death...
"Hecate, have mercy, great goddess..."
My plea comes from my gut as his hand releases me without blinking. My only response is a sigh of relief.
Different directions can be decided in this war for power. Hecate has always been an ally of the lord of the underworld, but I don't believe he will allow Pandora's box to be opened again to bring about our destruction. Not even hope must have survived the Espansas.
That he's already satisfied his carnal needs and doesn't want to claim my body. My horror is absurd at the idea of having Demitri in my body again satisfied with a damn animal.
- Do you think I would leave marks on my chosen one? - your contempt is total. - Like it or not, your father decided our union. As soon as the leaders of the species gather at the next Council meeting, you will share your blood with me in front of everyone. Like it or not.
It haunts me now more than nightmares. he didn't let me rest after the day of torrid caresses that took me to a world of sensations and pleasure in Boris' arms.
Is that what made me run? If Demitri knows or decides who was my companion for the day...
-I had trouble coming home because of the wolves. - I explain asking for a miracle that my lie will convince. - Winter is approaching. these beasts are trying to conquer and expand hunting territory with the arrival of winter.
Let him believe. May Demitri have more business to do with the cousins of our newcomers who keep him busy.
It must have been a moment of insanity when I first allowed him to touch me. Relationships between couples generally have some freedom even before marriage, even between humans.
How could I have made so many mistakes and accepted my father's will?
It won't make my father look at me or notice my existence. It has always been that way since my birth when my mother died in childbirth. Sometimes I look at her portraits wondering if Vlad before that was someone else... I can see the resemblance between us in her features and the colour of her eyes... The same eyes... I think that's what keep Vlad from me. See the shadow of love die because of me... Only my hair isn't the beautiful colour of the sun's rays.
I have obligations among my people. Vesna holds humanity's most unholy secrets. Since its inception, the women of our family have taken care of Pandora's Box. Their disobedience brought a curse upon an entire offspring when we were attacked by.
What would it be like to live as a human, knowing that one day death beckons to final rest? Would it be the call to live more intensely? The taste of eternity doesn't appeal to me. Not when I'm our leader's forgotten daughter and he's found the perfect way to ensure my departure.
The seven provinces have been scattered all over the world since the holy war between us divided and demarcated the borders. I cannot imagine my existence far from the Balkans.
-Get ready! - Demitri growls furiously. - We have dinner with relatives who came across the ocean.
That means they're bringing together the leaders of the species for something serious that won't just be my union with this vampire.
-Too?
- All over the world, there is a collective fever of fear among humans after some relatives of our family decided to play with their food.
This could mean war. Hunters are the only threat that concerns us other than wolves.
- The decision to separate us into seven provinces must ensure that this does not happen. - I answer coldly.
We never take more than what is rightfully ours. We are the system's natural predators. Agile, dangerous and feared predators among Gypsies. And the prophecies that run between them about the birth of a warrior...
-It didn't seem to calm down much if tombs are desecrated and corpses impaled with metal or wooden stakes. Even those without resources are turning to wooden stakes to ensure the undead do not rise from their graves. The God they believe in... Paganism's days are numbered... It is man's nature to seek faith in something they believe to be superior...
-And how does that afflict us? I ask, startled.
I was never very religious. Eternity does this to us. When a time comes for all eternity, we end up leaving it for later...
-They can raise an army against us, girl. An army that can walk in the sunlight to attack us when we are vulnerable.