The year 1925,
all had been known to Janet, all about the secrets of the supernaturals and the existence of the mythical creatures. Years later, her stay had been of good service and a new beginning from her harsh past. Thou she was in regret of the loss of her baby but grateful a child of a man like him couldn't be brought to the world and it was all thanks to him and his mother. The men that night didn't only use her body to their will but also got her recked of strength from beatings that got her stomach to lose grip of the fetus in her womb.
And what's more, she was no more the illiterate she was, her knowledge had been expanded thanks to his majesty's generosity of being her tutor. And sworn her heart had gone to never love a man yet, she couldn't help but love him. She wouldn't mind making another mistake, he was worth that.
" It not much I ask, just make me one of you," Janet said through a bow to Steffen who shook the idea off. He had saved her and given her a new start to life not to waste it away on her fantasy of becoming of him. He feared she might not survive a second of his bite, not one had survived his bite.
" If you're too scared to do it then have others do it, have Abi do it," she said gracing her eyes at Abi in the most pitiful manner.
" Count me out, am of no use to you. I can't convert you" Abi said evading the scene before more pressure could be laid on her. She wasn't being stingy just that her guts never served her to bite others. She had lived among the human half of her youth and even got married to one yet fate couldn't bring her just, she lost her husband in the war of the previous years. With nowhere to stay she decided to come back to WillsHills and work for the king as a great honor, it served.
" If not Abi then have John bite me" She suggested, not wanting to give up. Her request has been on for two years and yet Steffen refused to have her turned. He believed she had a lot to accomplish and the excitement she felt about being transformed was nothing more than a want that would disappear with the years. He didn't want her to be a prisoner of the so immortality, that he believed to be a curse.
" This won't be discussed further," Steffen said up on his feet and marching out.
"Stingy, all of you are stingy" she yelled stamping her feet on the poor floor.
In a fit of anger at being refused, she led her feet into the wood for a cook of air, perhaps a miracle to have her forget her greed to be one of them.
Out flat she sighed as her feet kicked the tiny stones on the footpaths. The paths brought a sudden cold in her spine, quick her hands rubbed on her skin, baffled at the cold on a summer day as it was. The sky was wide as was the sun that gifted the lands with its glow stinglessly.
"It's useless to run, today marks your last day" She looked out to find a man in words to a lady on the ground, her a cut of deep laid on her arm. Her ginger hair fell on her back straight as were her eyes that stared at the man.
Janet observed closely at the scene.
The man gestured to the other three who stood at his sides to grab the lady. With feet closed to her, Janet evaded out of the corner where she was hidden and rushed between like a foolish duck walking to its death.
"Let's be civil here. Killing is a crime worth of years in prison or best beheaded" she said only to have the man spread his lips in a hard chuckle.
" Foolish humans," he said tastefully with a spark of his eyes in the shadow of red from its normal brown.
And that was enough to have her know that they were no humans, seconds of thoughts flushed into the mess she had got herself in. She could run and leave them to settle their enormity but that would make her an awful person. She had gone through the same situation of facing bullies and she was saved, so she stayed even at the risk of her life.
" I don't care what you're but am not leaving you to hurt her" she stated standing a firm hold of her hip.
Anger filled the man's heart as he led his mouth wide to reveal fangs with sharp edges. His feet stalked towards Janet hungrily and as his reach was on her, the lady on the ground hooked her waist and fled the scene in a flash of the winds. Half away, she dropped Janet as her body weakened on the grass, her skin drained of any glow laid straight.
"Are you okay, what's happening?" Janet asked to her sudden breath that went slow. Worried her life was at risk, she lifted her head and tried to fan her air with her hands.
" There's nothing to be done, am at my end," the lady said like it was nothing to lose her life.
" Don't say that, you'll be saved. All you have to do is speed us as you did halfway out the woods, and I'll have people attend to you" she assured.
" I can't use any more of my powers," she said coughing "Also they're probably not far from us, once they catch us they'll have us both killed," she said
"But who're they?"
"An enemy of my clan. They seek my powers, if given to them the innocents would suffer" A silence aired between them, Janet on her legs baffled about what to do next. She wasn't aware the situation was that complex, and she was trapped between. Worse she had already chosen the weak side, just a few minutes, and the bad guys would be up against their neck.
"I'm sorry," the lady said attracting Janet's gaze, before she could respond or make do with what she meant her teeth were against the skin of her neck. Deep she shoved her fang in her flesh causing a flush of electrics in Janet's veins, her hands stroked out and collapsed on the solid dried grass. Her brain was in chaos due to the weight of different memories that flooded in, she could see the lady's entire existence in her head, both the past and the present. Her coal hair took a copy of the lady's ginger hair as she wet her eyes transformed to ginger, and her skin glowed out pale like that of the dead.
" You're now my replacement " the lady whispered before shutting her eyes for the dark and body vanquished into thin air
Luckily Janet's was found by Steffen's guards before the other men could, or perhaps they did but found no use of her as the one being chased was dead.
"You're finally up" Steffen greeted through a hard voice. Upset at the fact that she disobeyed his word and went for the woods. Which was known as the duel of the night dwellers.
"Due to your actions, you've gotten yourself a situation that I can't help with" Her brows arched in question of what he meant. She only saved a poor lady from being killed but she ended up paying her with a bite.
How ungrateful, she thought.
" My apologies Your Majesty, there's someone in request of your presence," Abi said at her entrance. With no further questions, Steffen walked out and down to see the familiar face. His mind settled on the fact that Janet was being taken to her new home.
"Kin Steffen" the request man greeted with a bow and up on his straight average height.
" His Majesty requests that you have the new princess sent home to where she truly belongs," the man said.
"Hold it who's being taken away?" Janet asked coming down the stairs. She couldn't help but overhear their conversation on her way. She had followed the king in the hope of pleading for his forgiveness.
"Your Highness" the man bowed to Janet, who broke her hold in shock. She turned back to see if there was someone but found no one but herself.
"Who, me?" She doubtfully asked with a finger pointed at herself.
" Yes. You're the new princess" he stated
" Okay, can you be direct with me? How am I your princess?" Her bafflement couldn't just be confined by the little words he said. How did she become royalty in just hours?
" The lady you met was our princess and she gifted you her powers and memories making you our princess. You're her replacement" the man detailed.
So that's why she bit her? She had her powers transferred to her and her memories too. That explained the fuse of energy she was feeling in her veins and the urge to have fresh blood.
" Now that you have the powers, you're to be taken home where you belonged. And, you not only replace her in duties but also take her name. You'll be addressed as Balu onwards"
****
"That's insane" Ella vents out. " She got to change her name, why ?"
"Because it is the vampires' law, specifically of royalties. She was given the late princess's memories and powers making her a replacement" John explains. Royal bloodsuckers are gifted with a tradition of passing their memories to another suited as a replacement for them on their deathbeds.
"That's barbaric" Ella rants following in with a scoff, h oh wcsn someone just have her identity change?.
"It's tradition" John responds to her silly remarks. Humans tend to have the it e traditions and customs which they follow, supernaturals were no different.
Besides, she got what she wanted, to be a supernatural.
" And what of the man that betrayed her and his mother, what happened to them?" Her curiosity grows wide with every answer given. It feels like Balu's past is a whole field that she must brush.
"That I can't say. Let it be another bedtime story that she's best fit to tell. Till then we're here" he said driving in the gate that wides out on its own and shuts on the car's entrance.
"Mia"