'Sundress or jeans?'
Call it an act of desperation or by force, I made myself go through the trouble of getting ready to go out with that arrogant Vampire King.
A part of my brain was screaming at me to be smart about it, but that was as much truth as I was running out of options here. What other choice did I have?
It has been more than a week since the day I was kidnapped. Nobody came looking for me. I even doubted if they were aware that I was taken and held captive by vampires.
And I hate to admit it but I had no one else to blame it was all my fault that my father and pack wouldn't even get to see my body after I ended up getting murdered in cold blood by vampires and I had a feeling that going to happen sooner rather than later judging from all the hated looks I received from everyone here whenever Nancy escorted me to the dining room and back to the room.
I understand it might not be easy for them either, to be friendly with a werewolf and if not for the order of their King, they had already set a bounty on me.
Sophie Clearwood, dead or alive, on-demand.
I shuddered at the thought. I might not be the one to care to think about my future that much, believe it or not, it doesn't involve being kidnapped and murdered. Nope. If there's a way to escape, I would make sure to find it before inevitably happens.
A soft knock on the door pulled my attention towards it before a smooth voice asked from the other side. "Are you ready?"
"Yes!" I was born ready.
'Ready to execute mission: Rescue Sophie'
***
Be honest. What would you expect when a hot Vampire King comes to my room and offers to show me around?
Endless hallways, a bunch of antics from all over the globe, all-time greatest artworks, a secret room, or maybe a hidden dungeon. What else would this ancient Dracula castle offer, right? So wrong.
Right here, standing in front of a room made of glass, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.
Yeah, overwhelming.
A girl who was born a part of a supernatural society hidden in the mundane world.
Damn, right I was. Seeing a man turned into a werewolf or dragon or bear could be considered a normal course of routine for me.
But a vampire-hidden, magical garden!?
Yeah, you heard me right. A garden and not any ordinary one, a magical one.
My jaw hit the ground as soon as the Vampire King opened the door for me to her mother's secret sanctuary.
The glass house was built in the prohibited area of the Darkness castle. On the rooftop.
The entire structure was made of a transparent medium of glass, giving a perfect view of the magnificent night sky filled with the prettiest stars and an enchanting moon hanging in there.
The entire place seemed to bathe in the silvery glow of the moon. If I stepped further, I could watch the entire night sky down at my feet via the mirage in the artificial pond\ fountain located in the middle of the room surrounded by infinite stars.
I had seen different varieties of plants and flowers, if not all, but the sight in front of me seemed like anything I ever encountered.
'Is it even real?' I couldn't help but question if my eyes were deceiving me.
How could plants dance and sing? Well yeah, they did in dragon tales and Winx club but that was the cartoon I used to watch when I was a little girl, and point to be noted that was a work of animation not real for crying out loud.
There's no way that the plant with tentacles like its hands dances to the rhythm of the bell-shaped flower combined with the drum-shaped flower. For god's sake, these plants have hands made of branches and they were shaking them up in the air while swaying their body to make perfect dance moves!
The air inside seemed to be whistling the same song so was the water rushing through the fountain. As if everything was aligned. A perfect melody.
A butterfly came to sit on my shoulder. Unlike any other butterfly, this one was touched by magic, and so were the bunch of other butterflies and plants. Everything was glittering neon pink, green, and blue.
A touch of magic makes everything surreal. A scene came out of fairytales.
"Is this real?" My voice sounds dreamy to my ears. This was the first time I spoke since I entered this place.
I shuddered when a gust of hot breath blew in my ear and the side of my neck as I felt a presence behind me. "What do you think?" Vampire King whispered in my ear. All this time he was standing behind me but didn't say a voice, just letting me get lost in the environment.
"A scene from my favorite cartoons." I'm being honest.
"Ummm…. There's a chance this was from where the inspiration came for those cartoons. My mother loved to give a hand to those in need."
"Your mother? But how? A vampire could create something like that?" I frowned. The last time I checked, it wasn't the page in the vampire cookbook. It wasn't like I read their cookbook or if they had one in this case.
"My mother was not a vampire. She was a witch."
I turned my head slightly to look at his face. His chin was almost resting over my shoulder, but not touching.
"A witch?" I asked, not following this piece of information.
"Don't tell me you don't know the history of Royal Darkness. I could have felt offended." He mocked.
"Of course, I know that! The first vampire was created by the super-powerful witch named Almora back in time and after 2000 or so years she married one."
"And she was my mother."
"What!? The great Almora was your mother?" How come historians forget to record such important information in their records!?
The great witch Almora, a witch who lived over a thousand years and created the first vampire, was the mother of current royal darkness. This was revolutionary.
While I was lost in the excitement of my new revelation, the man standing behind me got others' ideas as he moved his face so close to my hair and licked my earlobe. He whispered seductively, only for me to hear. "Does the idea of me turning out the part witch and part vampire turn you on, mate?"
My body froze to his advance. It wasn't like I didn't know what to say or how to punch his pretty face. It became a problem when my body instantly started reacting to his advances. I hated to admit that his touch was making me feel good inside. My whole body was on fire, and my senses were clouded by his intoxicating scent. He seemed to take my silence as permission and continued to assault my ear to my neck, his arms hugged me from behind.
Time seemed to stop. I thought he wouldn't stop until I pushed him away. My thanks to whoever angel was looking out for me as the assault stopped when the voice of breaking glass forced us apart.
***
Tears stung my eyes when I watched the most heartbreaking event of my life live in front of me.
The love of my life stood with his arms around someone else who wasn't me. While his face was buried in her neck. He had his back on me, so he didn't know I was there, witnessing his shameless act with my tearful eyes.
It was my fault. I had seen it coming, but I was too naïve to accept the reality. I was dumb to believe that we had been together for so many years.
I believe in him, in our love.
Love? Huh, that's what I thought we had.
Right now, standing here, I couldn't help but watch the world around me falling apart and my heart crushing into thousands of tiny pieces that could never be together again, no matter how much I try. There was a fire shooting through every part of my body while my heart was wailing in pain.
I came back home after waiting for days for him to come to me and apologize for being rude to me in front of everyone, but he didn't. Then I thought it might be my fault for giving him a hard time. He was just trying to handle the situation as best as he could. That's why I came back on my own to apologize to him for acting like a brat and not trying to understand where he was coming from. Only to find this.
All of this because the love of my life found a remaining part of his soul. A soulmate. And the curse of my life was that I didn't have a soul of my own. This was the first time in my very long life I felt regret at selling my soul for this strength. Maybe only if I had it, so it would've been me in his arms and not some random bitch.
All my life I had never been someone who silently accepted fate. Call it my ill fate or coincidence. I never got happiness without paying a price. There's always a price to pay. I always had to fight to get what I love. After repeating the same cycle over and over, I learned my lesson.
"If it had to be this way, so be it."
'I will do my best to win you back, my dear Acera. Because you belong to no one but me. And no matter what, I will not let some random bitch take you away from me.'
With this vow, I wiped my tears with the back of my hands and turned to leave the scene, breaking the glass vases in the process.