Zuri's face was as pale as a sheet. The ringing in her ears only grew louder and louder, an unceasing nuisance that she couldn't shake off. Her knees felt weak and the world around her spun.
Her name had been called. She had been selected as the sacrifice for this half-decade after the lottery had been carried out. Her name!
Zuri was mortified.
The Mayor, her father, stood watching as well. His head felt heavy and it was as if it was going to explode.
What had he just heard? He was not aware that her name had been put into the lottery.
Zuri's father bit his lower lip in regret. He should have asked to go through the names before the lottery began.
He tried his best to control how he was feeling. Beads of sweat broke out on his forehead as his mind raced with what he would do to prevent his daughter from going over to Transmere. He would not— could not allow it.
They were in public so he could not get to his daughter at that moment. He watched her and saw how stressed she looked.
'She must be so scared,' the mayor thought.
"Come here ,Zuri," Sabian said to his daughter as he dragged her to himself when she was about to walk past him from where the crowd had been. He had been waiting for her backstage and he was impatient to get what he had planned off his chest. He needed to tell her what she would do.
"You have to hurry," Sabian said. "Let us get you out of here. I've arranged a carriage that will take you to another town, far away from here. You need to leave now that the people aren't paying attention. In a few moments, they'll be ready to take you to the border. Please, darling. Come with me."
"Hold on, Daddy. Take a deep breath," Zuri said to her father. She had tears in her eyes.
She had to tell him that because he had been going on and on and looked like he had forgotten to breathe. His eyes were as wide as saucers and his face looked pale. Zuri knew exactly how her father was feeling at that moment.
Zuri understood what her father had been saying but it still made her feel uncomfortable. Her brows creased and she looked straight at him.
Sabian knew that look that was on his daughter's face at that moment. It was the look she usually had when she wanted to argue with him. Sabian's heart skipped a beat. This was not the time for Zuri to argue.
She had to leave now.
"You will leave Bellmare now. You will go someplace else. Zuri…," Sabian trailed off and took a deep breath for the first time since he had been talking and almost rambling.
He was about to plead with her to understand what he was saying and to follow his instructions. Sabian was not ready for this. He had not prepared himself for what he would do if his daughter was chosen as the sacrifice. What Sabian knew at that moment was that no one — absolutely no one — was going to use his daughter, his only child as an offering to the bloodsuckers.
It had been easier, even though it had been with a heavy heart, for the mayor to say farewell to other sacrifices that had been chosen in the past. They would mourn with the families of those who had gone over to Transmere as offerings.
Nevertheless, nothing had prepared the mayor for what he was feeling at that moment. The thoughts of what might become of Zuri. Those thoughts plagued his mind and the mayor could not bring himself to agree to send her off. He felt like it was sending her off to her death.
Or at least, that was how the mayor saw it.
After all, the people of Bellmare had not heard anything good about Transmere since stories of old.
"What are you saying?" Zuri asked even though her stomach continued to churn and flip.
"You are not going to Transmere. Simple," Mayor Sabian said. "We will tell the people something happened. I will handle that. All you have to do is leave here now. Another lottery will be carried out. They will find another sacrifice."
"I am going," Zuri replied calmly as she averted her gaze to the ground in front of her.
Sabian glared at her. "Do you know what you are saying? Since your mother died…," Sabian stopped and cleared his throat. "You are the only one I have, Zuri. You talk as if you have not heard about what goes on there. That is the land of the undead, my darling. I don't want you to be a part of that."
"But how am I any different from the people that have gone before— the people that have been chosen? Am I better than them?"
Sabian was going to shout a loud 'yes', but he knew what Zuri was saying. He understood completely well even though his mind was fighting to ignore it.
"Zuri…" Sabian trailed off.
"I know you are scared, Daddy," Zuri said as she wrapped her arms around his firm and sturdy frame. Her father had always been there for her. He had been both a mother and a good father to her and she cherished him more than anything in the world. "I'm scared too. I don't know what to expect. Am I going to die there?"
Zuri began to sob. Her body trembled as she cried into her father's chest.
The Mayor's heart broke.
He placed his jaw on the top of her head, closed his eyes, and took a whiff of how her head smelled. He would miss her.
Zuri smiled a sad smile that would have shattered her father's heart if he'd seen it.
"Let me go", she sniffed. "You taught me to lead by example, and I have followed that since I was little. My name was picked. I should be the one to go".
Those words were to convince herself as well.
Sabian did not know what to say in response to what Zuri had just said to him. She was stubborn, just like her mother, and was just as sweet as her mother had been. He had always known that Zuri was brave at certain things, on certain fronts. Especially when it came to principles.
She was unique -- just like her name.
"I will miss you."
"I know, Daddy. I'll miss you too," Zuri said. "So much."
In only a few hours, Zuri was called upon to be escorted to the banks of the lake that separated them from Transmere. A lake that no one used except with the sole purpose of going to the kingdom of vampires. A boat awaited the chosen one that would use it to sail across to the border of Transmere. This was no ordinary boat and no ordinary lake.
Some people had come for the sole purpose of making sure that she got to that river because some of them suspected that the mayor would want to play a smart one and save his daughter. Everyone knew that it was a hard thing to give up your loved ones to the vampires of Transmere.
They had heard all that happened to human beings there. The story had been passed down from their ancestors.
Centuries ago, Bellmare suffered at the hands of creatures that weren't human.
The mayhem continued even though the people tried to fight off their predators. However, all their efforts to fend off and defend themselves against these creatures proved futile. People kept going missing and were getting killed or eaten right in the presence of wailing family members.
Whenever the creatures of the night raided their town, it always ended as a tragedy and this happened too often to count.
Body parts would be littered around the town, some smashed in while others remained.
The people of Bellmare lived in fear every day, worrying for their lives until the Ruling Council of Bellmare made a decision that was unconventional but had to be done.
Helpless, the humans of Bellmare and their neighboring towns who shared in on the onslaught went to the 'People' of Transmere to seek their help against the creatures that wanted to send them all into extinction.
Transmere was under its own jurisdiction and had its boundaries. No human was allowed to pass those boundaries. If they did, they would have themselves to blame for whatever they saw or received.
Nevertheless, that knowledge had not deterred the desperate humans from their quest. They knew that this was their only option as no human weapon could work against their predators. The desire to survive pushed them, fueling them with resolve as they marched into Transmere with trembling hands and hearts.
When Transmere had told the humans that they were to offer one of their kind if they wanted their protection, the former had expected that they would refuse. Yet, what the citizens of Transmere didn't understand was that the offer had sounded much better than being eaten like delicacies, snatched from their homes in the wee hours of the night.
Hence, the humans accepted the treaty.
Those who had been courageous enough to face the ruling family of Transmere had accepted the offer with hopes that the massive killing and gore that usually happened in Bellmare would seize. What Transmere had required seemed little compared to what they had been suffering through. The humans had left Transmere happy that day, satisfied with the deal well made.
However, that was eons ago.
The humans of Bellmare knew what they were getting into. They had not expected to receive protection from Transmere for free and understood that protection came with a price.
This was their only option. They had to get Transmere on their side.
They had to come up with a way that that selection would be easy. In the end, they left it to fate. A lottery was carried out to select the sacrifice every half-decade.
That night, the people of Bellmare escorted Zuri to that lake that would take her to Transmere.
The Mayor was quiet throughout the journey and could not utter a word. Zuri held his arm as they walked until they got to the bank of the lake. She understood why her father was quiet and it broke her heart thinking about what he could be running through his mind at that moment.
However, there was nothing that she nor her father could do about this.
Zuri had been chosen and she had to step up to her role.
She climbed into the boat that she had heard so many stories about. It had a name in Bellmare -- they called it the Cursed Boat and now she was the one getting into that loathed vessel.
The Mayor stared at his daughter throughout. This was where he was going to say his goodbyes and his heart clenched within him. He was sending her off to the land of the vampires. Had he failed in life?
Then, he heard her say something, he had been so far into his thoughts. His heart had been beating so loudly in his ears that he had not known that Zuri had been speaking to him.
"What did you say, my dear?" He sniffed as he tried to stay strong. He felt like breaking down there. The land of the Vampires was no place to be. Everyone knew that.
"I said that I will miss you. You'll always be in my heart," Zuri called out. The boat had started to sail away and she stood waving at him with a sadistic smile on her face.
The Mayor looked morosely at his daughter and barely managed to wave back.