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2.36% Valerian Empire / Chapter 3: The beginning- Part 1

Chapter 3: The beginning- Part 1

Katie sat in front of her parents' grave while the priest prayed for all the souls to rest in peace. By order of the Valerian Lord, all the bodies had been taken to Valeria and had been given a proper burial in the public cemetery in the morning. Names were carved on the tombstones using the help of the high priest who was disguised as white witches, having the ability to figure out the names of the deceased bodies.

Sylvia stood next to the young girl, wondering where things were going to head from now on. Vampires and humans coexisting were rare, as only a few showed respect and mercy towards each other.

She looked to her right to see the Lord and the third-in-command Elliot, talking about the half-vampires that were captured. Returning her gaze to the girl, her eyes softened. Was it the right decision to take her to the Valerian Empire? She thought to herself. A kingdom full of vampires with very few humans wasn't exactly a haven but if not Valeria then where would the girl go? She had known Lord Alexander for quite a long time, and she was one of his trusted friends. Sylvia knew him well, and that's precisely what worried her; Alexander being the only son had taken over the land and could be one menacing man if someone got to his wrong side. Maybe this one will change him for good, she thought, nodding her head. If he weren't able to take care of the little girl, she and Elliot would provide the care that was needed.

"Come on, Katie," Sylvia said, offering her hand to the girl after spending an hour in the graveyard, "You can visit them later, anytime that you want."

Katie took hold of the hand that was offered and rose from the ground. Her mother had told her to stay strong. Therefore she held back her tears, at least most of them but a few escaped from her eyes. She looked up to see the eyes of the woman whose hands she was holding right now. She seems like a nice person, Katie thought to herself.

"My... such a cute little thing. I could just eat it up," the third in command said, looking at the girl as he walked towards them.

"Do you wish to be beheaded, Elliot?" the Lord asked next to him with narrowed eyes. Elliot raised his hand in surrender and bent down but not before glancing towards Sylvia in question,

"Look at the rabbit, so white and cute," he said making Katie clutch the rabbit closer to her, "I'm sorry, I was joking and what might be your name beautiful?" he asked her.

"Katherine," she replied, looking up at him while standing close to Sylvia.

"The carriages are here," Alexander informed them as he heard the sound of wheels heading towards them becoming more prominent.

Two more carriages followed the first one. One of the brown carriages stopped, and the man who rode it jumped down to open the door for them with a slight bow. The four of them got into it and settled down comfortably. Katie had taken the seat next to the woman while the Lord and the man named Elliot sat in front of them.

As the carriage started, she looked outside the window as lush green trees passed by as though each one was running towards them. Elliot and Sylvia were talking about something when she felt the Lord's eyes on her. She gave a small glance towards him and saw his dark red eyes staring at her before darting her eyes away, looking anywhere but at him. After some time she looked down at her lap and brushed the rabbit's fur with her hand.

Alexander observed the girl as her hand brushed the animal's fur gently. No matter how young a child was, the character and nature of the person he or she would become were always readable. Even when a vampire was about to kill her, she was worried about the animal rather than herself. He had come across many humans, but this one spiked his curiosity.

As the minutes passed, they heard something fall on the ground making everyone look at each other in question. Suddenly an arrow's head pierced the side where Elliot sat, and he exclaimed looking outside the window.

"Oh boy, we have company!"

"We have half vampires following us, and our charioteer is dead," Sylvia informed, taking out something shiny from her back. She was glad she took out the armour she wore before.

"Sylvia, you take the front seat and drive towards the West, Elliot, you take the side," Alexander ordered quickly moving behind and taking a gun out, pointing at one of them. Arrows flew towards them, and they dodged it, Elliot missing one of them narrowly.

"What, are they in medieval times to use arrows?" Elliot asked, pulling the trigger of the gun, "Get upgraded men," he said to them as he shot one after the other.

"They aren't simple arrows. Smell the air. It's rustier," Alexander said, shooting two half-vampires at the centre of the head simultaneously.

He pulled out the arrow when one of them was shot in his arm, pulling out the arrow he noticed that the head of the arrow was made of poison that could paralyze a vampire. Unlucky for them, he was no ordinary vampire.

There were three types of vampires in the entire land, the standard vampires, half-vampires, and lastly the pure-blooded vampires. The normal vampires and the half-vampires were the ones that fed blood from animals and humans while the pure-blooded ones could feed even on the vampires, making them the highest creatures in the entire hierarchy that ruled the lands. The turned humans were the half-vampires, and their transformations mostly went wrong when the human body couldn't cope with the new internal systems. He wondered where a group of half-vampires could obtain the poisoned arrows and why they were attacking them out of nowhere. There were too many of them. Someone must have turned them, he thought to himself.

As the half-vampires were shot, they turned grey before their body began to disintegrate to dust, vanishing into thin air in no time but one of them was faster and quicker than the rest, seemingly smarter as well, with the way it avoided all the bullets. When Elliot concentrated on killing one of them, the smarter one got into the carriage. Katie, who didn't know what was going on, suddenly screamed, seeing the half-vampire baring its mouth to show a set of jagged teeth. It caught hold of her hand and jumped out of the moving carriage.

"Sylvia, stop the carriage!" Alexander shouted before heading towards the half-vampire that had taken the young girl. Sylvia stopped the carriage as she pulled the reins, making the horses halt suddenly. Elliot got down from the carriage and fought the creatures as he kicked and shot them.

Dusting herself, Sylvia took hold of another gun, wielding two guns now. Three of the half-vampires looked at each other smiling widely as they saw the woman standing alone without any men to help her.

"God, I hate that look," she muttered before raising both her hands, "Let's see who's smiling now," she said, pulling both of the triggers.


Chapter 4: The beginning- Part 2

In the meantime, Alexander caught up with the creature and cornered it at a cave. The half-vampire bared its teeth towards him and then at the girl. Katie trembled in fear at the sight of its teeth.

"Don't come any closer," it warned him.

"Who created you?" Alexander asked calmly, "Answer me and I'll let you go," he said. The creature knew it didn't stand a chance with no companions now.

"Lord Norman," it spoke hoarsely, pushing the girl away and ready to flee but the gun didn't drop from its sight. The Valerian Lord then said,

"Sorry, but I don't keep my word," he said calmly, "See you in hell," and he poured all the bullets in the creature's body. The sound of the gunshot echoed due to the cave they were in, making Katie flinch.

Once the gunshots ceased, she opened her eyes to see blood splattered on the floor with a dark, dusty powder sinking in it. Seeing dead bodies and death at proximity, she was exhausted. Her young mind being unable to digest everything, she closed her eyes, and her body moved forward, but Alexander was quick to catch hold of her.

Alexander looked at the girl in his arms with a frown. She had passed out due to exhaustion. He knew humans were fragile little creatures, and he questioned his judgment on bringing the girl along with him. Surviving in a vampire world would be difficult, but only time would prove it.

Picking her up in his arms, he carried her out of the cave walking through the lush trees. Inspecting her, he noticed a trail of blood over the toes of her right foot. The creature had hurt her for no reason. He felt his eyes grow redder and sharper, irritation surfacing in.

Few half-vampires were vile creatures, a mix of human and vampire but useless, unlike pureblooded vampires.

"Is she alright?" Sylvia asked Alexander once they reached the carriage.

"Her ankle's bleeding," he replied, getting inside and placing her on the other side of the seat before taking a seat next to her, "Use this," he said handing over his handkerchief to Sylvia.

Elliot closed the door and took the place of the missing charioteer, his eyes looking around for any suspicious movements. The black ashes left a stench in the air, making him cringe a little. Cracking the reins, the horses began to move. Inside the carriage, Sylvia was almost done wrapping the handkerchief around the young girl's ankle when Alexander spoke,

"Find out what Norman is up to once we reach the kingdom," he said looking at his fingers for some time, thinking something deep and then bent forward to gather a drop of blood on his finger that had escaped down the girl's knee.

"Alex-" Sylvia gasped, seeing her Lord put his finger in his mouth. The same finger that had touched the blood, "What are you doing?!" She exclaimed with a shocked expression on her face.

Once he removed his index finger out of his mouth, he asked, "What does it look like?"

Sylvia didn't know what to say to him. A Lord much less a pure-blood drinking or tasting blood from a wound was considered to be disgraceful. They didn't know if the wound had gotten infected during the time the creature took her. Sighing, she only shook her head.

When they reached the castle, Katie was sent to the infirmary while a few officials were gathered in the upper ground of the dungeon. Most of the gatherings took place in the main hall, but the important, urgent and secretive ones were held in the dungeon, its entrance below the palace shed. The dungeon was divided into two grounds, upper ground, and the lower ground. The upper ground was guarded with men and wolves while the lower ground held prisoners who had broken the law.

"Sir Elliot, why have we been summoned here?" one man asked, looking at the third in command, "It has been only two days since the last gathering."

"Didn't you hear about the attack that happened last night on the village?" a woman who stood against the wall spoke, studying her black-painted nails.

"What attack?" an old man asked from the group.

"I heard they were drained of blood. The humans," a young boy replied. Gasps and murmurs filled the room at the given information. The voices got louder slowly asking questions on what had happened.

"Silence," said Alexander entering the upper ground. Behind him followed a man with round glasses, "Last night an entire village of humans was killed by rogue vampires. We have one of them captured, and the trial will take place next week."

"Next week?" the old man asked.

"Yes," replied Alexander. "Until then, he shall undergo interrogation. There is something else that needs attention about which Oliver will explain when I leave," he said, looking behind him and the man who had followed Alexander nodded.

In another part of the castle, Katie sat in front of Sylvia, drinking a bowl of soup.

"Did you like it?" asked Sylvia who sat with her elbows on her thighs, supporting her chin with both her hands, "I can ask them to prepare something else if you don't like it."

Katie shook her head, "I like it," she said with her soft voice.

"Glad to hear that," Sylvia beamed. After a few seconds, Katie looked up at the woman with hesitation evident in her eyes. "What is it, Katie?" Sylvia asked, sensing the girl's hesitation.

"Um- did you see my rabbit?" She asked slowly, and Sylvia's smile faltered for a second.

"Alexander said he took it to the vet," she informed Katie to which the little girl nodded and continued with the task of emptying her bowl. Sylvia's smile fell from her face when the girl looked down to continue drinking her soup.

It was true that the animal was taken to the veterinary doctor, but she doubted its survival. The claw of the half-vampire must have grazed the rabbit while pulling the young girl out of the carriage, she thought to herself. They would have to replace the rabbit with a different one if this one didn't survive.

Once Katie was done with her food, Sylvia took her to the second floor of the mansion so that she could show her the room she would be living in for the time being. The room was situated two doors away from the Lord's room for safety purposes as they had vampire guests in the mansion right now. Katie was yet to be introduced to everyone, and being a human wasn't safe. Even if warned, there were vampires who would want to drink blood from her. Out of the twelve rooms on the floor, only four of them were occupied, the rest were empty.

"Katie, this will be your room for now," Sylvia said, pushing the door made of teak wood. The room was painted white, and it had a bed placed almost at the centre, but pushed against the wall. It had white satin-cloth-like curtains around it. Katie jumped when she heard a loud crack of thunder outside the window.

"Jeesh, can't believe it's raining," Sylvia muttered, going to close the windows. Lightning struck from the sky and with the way it looked now, the rain wasn't going to stop anytime soon. Turning back, she saw the young girl staring at a nearby vase with flowers in it.

They had brought this girl into their dark world. If she has survived all this while, Sylvia thought with a smile. Her future shouldn't be that difficult.


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