The road to Draveil was far. It was something that Bella had never known. Her wrists had turned out to be either fractured or broken for good as she felt the stinging pain that was far more painful than a normal bruise. The pang of pain kept her awake the entire ride which perhaps became a blessing for her as it made her awake for every possible situation.
She didn't know when this would come in handy but if she knew a way to run from Draveil and perhaps further to another village, they would be greeted with a better life. One without vampires, their hateful neighbors, or her father. But when the images of the body that was wrapped in white fabric with splatters of blood came into her mind, her stomach churned.
She was still young, she couldn't help but wish that this was all a nightmare as she knew no one would be willing to help her or Ariel.
Meanwhile, Ariel slept on her shoulders, having exhausted herself. Since childhood, Lala had always been the most softhearted one out of the two sisters and Bella knew her sister wouldn't survive if she was to become one of the castle's "toys." She needed to do something and the only one who had the key to their survival was the same woman who had admonished her earlier, now sleeping on her elbows without a hint of tension or worry.
It was then that Bella saw that the wagon had reached a wooden bridge that was built to connect the gate of the capital and the river that circled the entire land. A group of knights were standing near the gate to make a thorough check on each wagon and carriage that had tried to enter the capital.
With ease, the loan shark who has occasionally made his visits was greeted by the leader of the knights. He took a look at the leader's permission card even though they both knew each other and had drinks whenever they were around.
"Seems like you have caught a lot, Anderickk." Said the knight which made Bella note the leader of the loanshark's name to be Anderickk.
Anderickk, the leader grinned, "Enough for us to have a feast for the next three months. Any differences in Draveil?"
"Other than being careful to the new king, there is nothing else that you should fear."
"The new King," repeated Anderickk. The King of Versailles is none other than the same man who had planned a twisted game of gifting human toys to everyone in his castle. Though it was a twisted hobby that made Anderickk's stomach churn, it fetched him money and he couldn't care much about it. "I hope that he requires more entertainers."
"I'm certain he does," answered the knight, "You haven't been here in a while so let me tell you, there is going to be a ball held for the celebration of the King's coronation. It's going to be grand and they will need a lot of toys to play with."
Anderickk scoffed, "Great to hear then," after that, he continued to drive the wagon while Bella shuddered at the thought that these vampires would hunt more humans. No matter what, they needed to escape, thought Bella.
It wasn't long after they had both passed the castle gate that Bella saw the capital of Versailles Kingdom, the land of Draveil for the first time. What she noted first was the mixture of stenches and perfume. She found that everyone was dressed in polished attire, most of them either wearing a gown or a suit. They were also riding carriages that were a rare sight to the villagers. But Bella couldn't bother being impressed by the view of the capital or the cobblestones that had covered every inch of the land.
She was worried about where the wagon had driven as it didn't go through the main path and instead took a sneaky hidden path that was dark and gloomy. At once, she saw a couple of homeless peasants on the ground. They didn't look very much alive despite breathing and the cobblestone path was much less neat which caused the wooden tire to be caught with a stone and the wagon to shake. Every single woman in the wagon was woken up by the sudden crash including Lala who gasped as she woke up.
She first looked around and only turned devastated when she realized that despite waking up from her dream the nightmare continued.
"W- Where are we... Bella?" Whispered Lala to her ears.
Bella pursed her lips, "I think we are Draveil..." She then looked over to the woman who had admonished her earlier, now yawning. With a little hesitation, Bella called up to her, "Do you know about Draveil?"
The woman turned her eyes at Arabella. The girl has rather beautiful brownish-red hair which made her sigh, "Stop worrying, you and your sister will be taken to a brothel as long as you keep your mouth shut."
She could see the woman was tired of questions but Arabella wasn't able to stop her questioning, "Can't you tell me anything? Just a single piece of information would be great."
The woman eyed her, seizing her figure. Her thoughts rambled in her head which Bella could see until she decided with her reply, "Never ever go to the castle. If you ever do then avoid every red-eyed creature you see there. They have no love in their bones, only selfishness, hunger, and desire. You should be even more aware of the fact that they couldn't ever love another person, especially a human."
Narrowing her eyes Bella wondered if it was important until she heard the woman adding at the end of her sentence, "Don't be as foolish as I was."
As Bella sunken her thoughts in the creature she had never seen, she heard the woman nudging her shoes toward her as they had sat diagonally across each other, "Your name?" The woman asked.
"Arabella," she replied and then looked at her sister who seemed to be too frightened to speak. "And yours?"
"Courtez," replied the woman. "I hope you never see me again." Before Bella could ask her words she explained, "I'm cursed you see, everyone who talks to me usually suffers a terrible fate. You have been talking to me for a long time now, so don't blame me when you get cursed."
In it, Arabella couldn't help but let out a small smile on the corners of her lips, "If there is someone who brings bad luck it would be my father. Don't worry, anyone's bad luck is never one's fault."
To this, Courtez seemed impressed but she schooled her expression. They met inside a wagon of slaves that were about to be sold to either their deaths or brothels, warming up to each other would only bring more regret. They shushed after the conversation until suddenly Bella felt the wagon coming to a stop. She carefully looked at her Ariel and whispered, "When there is a chance, take it."
Ariel nodded her head. She had managed to pull a bit of herself and promised that she shouldn't be a crying mess and be a burden to her sister anymore. After all, Bella is the youngest of the two, not her.
The first to open the wagon's curtain was Anderickk. He slapped his hand on the side of the wagon and sighed, "Step out. Don't even think of anything foolish. I have stabbed about five women from the earlier wagon and if you want to remain alive without a limb of your body, you better heed my words."
The women in the carriage said nothing, only shaking with each other as they stumbled their way out of the wagon. Bella and Ariel were the last two to step down and Bella made sure that Lala had gotten down first before she did. When she passed by Anderickk, her eyes turned into a glare that made the man scoff. He warned, "You better keep that feisty attitude to yourself. If you're dead don't even blame me."
"I'll blame my father, you, and your descendants," said Bella with a hint of contempt. When she saw Anderickk turning angry, she jumped quicker than earlier and followed the rest to the line as they gathered next to a dirty wall.
Each of the women was lined shoulders by shoulders, they didn't particularly set them in order but rather placed them as who had left the carriage first. Anderickk kept his glare at her for a long time until three people came toward him from the darkness of the other end of the path. They were cloaked with a brown leather mantle which covered their face but by stature, there was a woman and two men behind her.
She looked at the women who were lined up and without words made her way toward them. Arabella felt something was off when she saw how the woman studied the girls from head to toe. For a long time, she didn't stop. She only did when she had arrived right in front of Courtez. Her eyes narrowed and she hummed, "I only have one spot left for my brothel. You seem like a perfect match to the needs of my frequent guests."
Courtez didn't reply. When Bella looked at her, she saw the woman only holding a faint smile. It looked spiteful, she noted.
"Then the rest should go to the castle?" Anderickk asked, "So many women, do you think this isn't too much, Mr. Rueben?"
Bella's stomach fell. If they leave to the castle— then they'll become toys! Her expression turned grim at the dreary thought as she knew her sister, Ariel wouldn't be able to survive. Even now, though Lala was pretending to be strong, her body was trembling. Bella ignored the fact that she was also shaking like a leaf as she felt as if the floor beneath her feet had tilted.
In a rush of adrenaline, she eyed the woman who had ordered Courtez to follow her and paid Anderickk a handsome amount of gold coins in a brown pouch.
She heard Mr. Reuben, who seemed to come from the castle, speaking in a polite tone even though a loan shark leader like Anderickk, "The more the merrier. Female slaves make less fun to the guests, however, they all demand for much more exciting toys to play with."
How could they— how could they speak about human lives as if it was none of their business?
Bella pursed her lips and she shouted, "M- Miss!"
She gathered everyone's attention at once as no one would have raised their voice in such a situation. Bella didn't think twice before walking toward the woman who had held Courtez by her elbow. She looked carefully and felt Ariel who rushed to stand beside her, not wanting her sister to be beaten again. But Bella didn't stand back, she looked at the woman, "My sister— she can.. she can read and she can count. She does perfectly in singing and she can dance. She is also beautiful and has a clever mind. She's tender-hearted and the flower of the town."
Bella didn't know what she was saying. Her mind was in a jumble, every word coming out like spillage. She didn't want to send her sister to the brothel. She didn't want Ariel to suffer a life worse than death but she didn't want her sister to die like those humans who were tossed lifelessly. At least if she went to the brothel, she wouldn't have to suffer. It would be alright if she was the one who suffered a painful death because she deserved it, but not her sister.
Ariel took a long time to understand what happened. She shook her head, "No, No, Bella don't! You should go," begged Lala, "She's gorgeous and she can also do things better than me."
The missus who had taken Courtez was known better as Madam Ursula. She stared at both Arabella and Ariel, taking a long time as she thought about them, "You can read, write, and count?"
"Yes, Lala can!" Arabella hurriedly pushed her sister with tears catching in her eyes. She felt fear surging on her skin but more than that a sense of relief to see that Madam Ursula was thinking twice about their offer.
"But I can only afford one of you," Madam Ursula dictated rather coldly while staring at Arabella and then at Ariel. The woman looked at how the sisters were indeed gorgeous. They were also unplucked and this would raise their status before she could finally sell their virginity. But Courtez is more appealing so she couldn't let go of Courtez and took the two sisters either. She had to choose one.
"Ariel," Arabella took the chance as she pushed Ariel toward Madam Ursula. She held the tears that threatened to fall from her green eyes and showed a smile to assure her sister, "She does everything better than me and she is prettier than me." She then held her sister's hands and pulled her closer, whispering, "Please, please Ariel. Learn from Courtez and run away once you can."
The castle won't allow a single chance for a human to run away but the brothel is owned by humans which is less difficult to run away from.
But Madam Ursula seemed unconvinced. She stared at Arabella, holding more favor on her as her outspoken attitude would be a rather good choice in the brothel. Before Madam Ursula made her choice, Anderickk suddenly pulled Bella by her neck, causing her to choke on her breath and fall to the ground with a loud slam.
She felt her knees bruising from the fall and her wrist aching so painfully that her tears became harder to control as they fell on her cheeks.
"Take that girl," ordered Anderickk before turning to Arabella, "But this one will be more fun for you, Minister Rueben. You told me you need someone more exciting for the vampires in the castle right? Then you have this girl. Not only does she talk back, she is quite stupid that she doesn't recognize her own predicament. You even saw that she still jumped forward despite seeing my men who had stabbed the other girls before her didn't you?"
Mister Rueben's eyes glowed underneath the hood. When he pulled back the hood, she gasped upon seeing the crimson eyes that were slightly covered by the pale white fringe of his hair.
"Sounds about right. She'll make a good toy. I'll pack her up, Anderickk." Mister Rueben then turned away, having his men toss the gold coin pouch.
A wild grin covered Anderickk's face. "Drag her," he ordered his men, staring back at Arabella as she shouted at her sister when they were separated from each other.
"BELLA! BELLA.. NO!!" Ariel yelled as Madam Ursula's men shoved her into the carriage with Courtez. Unlike the fancy carriage that Ariel had entered, Bella was pushed to a different wagon, one that smelled more bloody than before and had a stench of death.
Before Bella could relish her tears of being torn away from her sisters and the fear of what was about to face her, she felt a sharp burning pain on her scalp as she turned around to see Anderickk who was smiling wickedly, "See? I told you not to test your luck. You've angered me and dug your own grave."
Angry, mortified, and upset about being separated from her sister, Bella was livid. She glared at Anderickk, vowing, "One day you'll pay for this."
Anderickk however scoffed at her words and made a face, "How many people have said that to me? Yet they didn't even last an hour in the castle. You are no different bitch."