Darkness... Howling and hissing filled the night as the battle between two, primordial forces raged on. The air was filled with the coppery scent of blood; death was claiming his unfortunate victims and his treacherous disciples were seeing to it.
A woman is seen running through the forest, clutching her child safely in her embrace. A group of bloodthirsty monsters is chasing after her. Quickly, she maneuvers her way through the woods, her heart violently beating in her chest. Her pursuers were gaining on her and she knew it. Sudden pain explodes in her foot as she trips on a tree stump and hits the forest floor with a hard thud. With her last iota of strength, she crawls to a gulley and places her baby carefully in it.
As she turns around, a bronze dagger finds its way into her chest, wounding her fatally. Coughing up blood, she prays to the gods to protect her child. Then her vision was lost and the cold hands of death claim her. The manslaughter continues...
The annoying blare of my alarm clock finally jolted me from my not-so-peaceful slumber. Took you long enough, clock. My thirteenth nightmare this week; my brain was working wonders in keeping me entertained, even at night! I made a mental note to see the coterie's therapist as I dragged myself out of bed. A soft knock greeted my ears almost immediately. Felix, my best friend, burst into my room, almost ripping the doors from their hinges. "Dude, it's almost nine; you're gonna be late for school!", he exclaimed. Pickle juice! How could I have forgotten about classes?
I made a beeline for the bathroom but Felix's figure blurred and blocked my path. He was smiling like a toothless fox, mischief dancing in his eyes. That was all I needed to know that he had tricked me. Of course, I didn't forget about school; we were on summer vacation!
Felix had a terrible habit of tricking people; I always fell for his dirty pranks. That aside, he was my best friend. Regardless of his attitude, I loved him for who he was. None of his tricks and shams were severe. Except for the time when he pushed down my lunch tray, obviously on purpose, at the school canteen. That day, I got suspended for almost biting his finger off! But as usual, we made up and laughed everything off. The idiot was the closest thing I had to family aside from my ward, Malachi.
I shot Felix a joking frown. The world-class moron, Felix, was still laughing hysterically so I walked up to him and smacked his head with my left hand. He contorted his face into that of a baby to mock me.
"What was that for?" he asked in mock innocence. I rolled my eyes at him, shoved him aside, and got into the bathroom anyway. The summer sun had a bad reputation for being fierce, something that irritated the hell out of us vamps. Cranking up the shower to its coldest form, I got under the shower rose and switched it on. This is gonna be a freaking long day.
Felix was gone before I was done with my shower. Malachi probably sent him to wake me up. I threw on a couple of clothes: a white T-shirt, blue jeans, and an old, tattered pair of sneakers. With that out of the way, I quickly sprinted downstairs, just in time to see Malachi exiting the house. "Oh, Hayden! I was just leaving for an appointment", he said. " There are a couple of blood bags in the fridge you can help yourself too. I won't be back early, so take care of yourself." I bid him farewell. Quickly, I undid the straps of the fridge and opened it. There it was; the most beautiful stack of blood bags I had ever seen. My gums began to ache; this was a sign that my fangs were threatening to burst out. Without wasting any more time, I dug in and gulped nonstop till the bag was dry. I burped, a satisfied grin plastered on my face.
Call me weird but I knew I had quite the appetite. When I was younger, Malachi got worried due to my abnormal yearning for blood and took me for a medical examination. The results the doctors gave us were quite shocking; I was only a step away from becoming a Ripper. A Ripper was a vampire with an erratic, spontaneous thirst for blood. Rippers were sane but were not in control of their urge to feed. The doctors attributed my condition to genetics; one of my parents or grandparents was probably a Ripper. Because of this, weaning me off blood was out of the question, as depriving me of blood would just increase my urges to the point I became an actual Ripper.
The only choice we had was to keep up with my urges by constantly supplying blood when I was thirsty. Of course, this caused me to become a victim of bullying. "Guys, look. It's Hayden! The one that still needs a personal blood bank!", some of them said. "Gee, his parents could at least try to wean him off it." "Didn't you hear? He doesn't have parents. Maybe that's why he is always drinking blood; a means to escape his reality." It was quite funny that these words came from kids my age. I could never forget their words, no matter how hard I tried.
I was ostracized even by some of the adults. The looks of disdain and the snide and shady remarks were enough for me to tell. I sighed and brushed the thoughts away. I was almost a man; petty shit like this shouldn't worry me anymore. But yet it did. Shrugging the thoughts aside, I trashed the blood bag and fetched my blood bank: a flask which could store blood for 72 hours. Quickly, I filled it to the brim and set out for Mrs Kaitlyn's.
As I predicted, the sun was harsh, scorching even. I had to keep my head down and squint to reduce the irritating effect it had on my eyes as I walked to the therapist's office. Not long after, I was sweating buckets, beads of sweat continuously rolling down my head. The streets were bustling with vampires going about their businesses and carriages transporting multiple people. This was my hometown, Dracia, ruled by the undisputed, King Faginus. Dracia was a small city, with a couple of vampire settlements. These settlements housed various vampire coteries and other demi-humans. I belonged to the Cinder Coterie, a coterie created by the King himself. King Faginus had ruled Dracia and its surrounding lands for centuries. Centuries and that wasn't still enough to embrace new policies and values from the other lands he governed. I would never say this to the hearing of others but King Faginus was the most antisocial and egotistical being on the planet. There was a reason Dracia housed only vampires and very few demi-humans like dwarves and elves.
The man felt that the vampire race was superior to every other race out there and he didn't trust the others not to usurp the throne from him. He felt humans were weak, disgusting scheming creatures that could only amount to destruction and waste of natural resources. Despite some of these being true, not all humans were the same. Only second to dwarves, humans were one of the brightest creatures to ever exist, making technological advancements daily. Sure there were some exceptions but having trade relationships with them like other races wasn't a bad thing. If not for the dwarves that helped in production here, Dracia would have long ago crumbled due to its large population and lack of workforce to support it.
In terms of technological advancement, Dracia was the worst. The King refused to fully accept modern civilization devices like cars, planes, etcetera, were not 'reliable' enough to be used, according to him. Heck, I was surprised that therapy made it into Dracia!
Other faraway lands had grown in many ways. Although some of them had a no-human policy like Dracia, they all had trade relationships with them, whereas Dracia only traded resources with dwarves. The only type of tech that advanced around here was farming, education, mining, and building construction. The vampire ruler was only versed well in one thing: the art of war. Dracia was one of the most secure places on the planet because of this. There were guards everywhere you looked, wielding swords, maces, spears, etcetera. This further reflected his belief that vampires were superior creatures: none of the guards carried guns, tasers, or anything of the sort. Dracia was quite the city.
After a few more minutes of walking, I arrived at Mrs. Kaitlyn: a well-designed, two-story building with guards stationed at the entrance. Due to being one of the only therapists in Dracia, she was an asset in the eyes of the King and was guarded 24/7. Her schedule was also tightly packed due to the high demand for her services in the area. Fortunately, she was good friends with Malachi and I so I didn't need to book appointments with her. As I approached the guards, they recognised me immediately and let me through. The walls were painted dark blue and further decorated with calming and reassuring quotes like "this is a safe zone; say whatever you wish". At the reception desk was a blond lady with glasses. She seemed to be processing some paperwork so she didn't look up. "Welcome, sir. Do you have an appointment..", she stopped speaking as she finally took a glance at me. "Oh, it's you. She is free right now so you can go right up." I thanked her and quickly took the stairs. Since I vamp-sprinted, I was at the door of her office in seconds. As I curled my hand around the door knob, the hair on my neck suddenly stood straight; something was wrong. In a split second, I was pinned to the wall by one of the last people I wanted to see: Kane, a nosy vamp who did not know when to quit. The bastard had unsheathed his dagger which smelled as awful as he did.
Excuse my language, but this ass wipe had a habit of shoving his nose into other people's businesses. I didn't see him as a bully though. He was more like an itch that you couldn't get rid of, no matter what you tried. To make things worse, due to his exceptional performance in physical activities at school, he was called to service by the King and recruited as a royal guard. This became another avenue for him to push me around. "Explain why you are here, Cinders." What else do you do with a therapist, fucking dolt?
Kane was one of the only people who addressed me with my surname, something he knew I hated a lot. I shared the same surname as the King, along with every other orphan in the Cinder Coterie. The name was given to me as a claim of ownership, indirectly implying I belonged to the coterie. Name or not, I belonged to no one but myself. My gums began to ache so I opened my flask and took a long drink. When I was done, I burped in Kane's face, causing him to grimace. "No, Kane. Explain why you're here. All of a sudden you need therapy. Finally having mommy issues, I see", I smirked. Kane just snorted and released me from his grip, his dagger still unsheathed. "Something you'll never be familiar with, I guess", he retorted. "So you do admit you having mommy issues", I chuckled. His face turned a deep shade of red as he realized what he admitted previously.
"Still haven't been weaned, I see." I just shrugged; I was used to that bullshit now. "Believe me when I say that this flask is the only thing keeping your ugly head attached to the rest of your body…" "I asked you a question, destitute. What are you doing here", he growled. I heaved a great sigh; he just couldn't back off, could he?
"I guess you're more of the brawn and less of the brains; what else do you do at a therapist, you dolt?", I asked. "Last I checked, orphans still had the right to move so I can go anywhere I want. Secondly, I see Mrs. Kaitlyn from time to time for reasons that do not concern you. Also, do you have a crush on me or something? I'm sorry but I don't swing that way." For a second, Kane's face flashed a deep shade of red, then it was gone. A glare was now plastered on his face.
"Whatever business you have with the therapist can wait; I was sent to escort you to the palace. This is an order from the King and you will follow through, or…" I stopped listening immediately he said I was needed at the palace. A small chill ran down my spine; what could the King possibly want with me? I hadn't done anything out of the ordinary or wrong since summer break started. He possibly can't read thoughts. Right? I wasn't even sure of myself anymore. "Guess you'll have to come with me now." I glared at Kane as I walked toward the stairs. And what if I don't want to leave with you? Well, I dare not question the King's authority so without any further questions, I went down the stairs. As we walked to the exit he murmured something that sounded very unsettling. Being a vampire, almost nothing escaped my ears, especially something as disturbing as that.
Death to all hybrids? What the heck did he mean by that? And what did hybrids ever do to you? Not giving my archnemesis the satisfaction of seeing my discomfort, I said: "So how the heck did you know I was going to be here? You stalking me now or something?" The dude just chuckled. "You're not worth my time, Cinders. And before the end of today, you will not be a problem anymore." I slowed my walking pace, irritated by his remark.
"Ok, so what the fuck do you mean by that? I already said I wasn't sleeping with you, assh…" Suddenly I started coughing and sneezing violently. What the hell was going on? Vampires didn't sneeze, even in the presence of smoke and dust. Coughing was another story; that only happened if they were coughing up blood. Vampires couldn't even get sick but here I was, coughing like an old human with lung disease.
I tried to take a glance at Kane, but his figure blurred and he was nowhere in sight. Before I could comprehend what was going on, pain exploded in my side and a familiar smell assaulted my nose. Where have I smelt this substance before? I quickly turned to face my assailant. Kane was smirking, holding his bloody dagger that smelt worst than shit. Wait, the dagger… My eyes widened with realisation. "You dogs have always been slow; it is wolfsbane."
Wolfsbane? That's impossible! My feet began to wobble violently, threatening to give way any second now. "If you think wolfsbane would work on a vampire, then you need more than therapy, Kane!", I coughed violently. "If you think you're a vampire, then you are slower than I am", Kane chuckled. At this point, I was too confused to make sense of what he just said. My legs finally gave way and I slumped to the cold, hard ground. As my vision turned dark, a question still lingered in my mind: Why did wolfsbane have such an effect on me? And then my world went black.