Chapter 5: No Escape

Reaching one of the cells that was occupied with two girls, one of the guardsmen opened the cell door and shoved Samantha in after getting rid of the shackles.

She stumbled and could barely stop herself from falling forward into the hard ground. Samantha looked back to see they had locked the gates of the cell, and it became more clear that she was indeed held as a slave.

With a gasp, she quickly rose to her feet and hurried to the railings, her fingers curled around it as she tried to push it open with all the strength she could muster.

"Come back here! I don't belong here! Get me out of this place!" She banged hard against the iron railing, not minding that it gave her dainty fingers little cuts till they bled.

"You have to let me out! I need to get to my brother and Father, please!" Tears welled up in her eyes as she continued to bang hard in fear and anger, not until she heard a quiet voice speak behind her, and it made her flinch to a pause.

"They won't come, no one will listen to your pleas. If you keep this up, you'll attract nothing but trouble."

Turning around to look at the girl who spoke, a dark-haired girl with chocolate-brown eyes quietly rose to her feet. She walked up to Samantha and held her wrist, bringing her to sit with them.

The other girl inside the cell smiled faintly at Samantha, posing no harm, but said nothing.

Samantha's teary gaze studied the cell she was in. The three walls made of cold hard bricks were relatively small, so small that it was impossible for the three of them to lie straight when it was time to sleep. They had to rest their backs against the wall, hugging their feets and staring into space until they each succumbed to the heaviness of their eyelids.

The place was eerily dark, and only the fires hanging on the sconces on the wall, gave light to the narrow path, revealing the cells that faced them.

It was hauntingly quiet.

"How long have you been here?" Samantha asked both of her cellmates in a soft whisper, as though speaking was going against the rules of the cell, and the dark-haired girl gestured, raising her index and middle finger in the air.

"Two days?"

"Weeks." She sighed and looked at her fellow cellmate whose hair was white-blonde, her dark colored eyes stared into space as she leaned against a wall to Samantha's right.

"She's been here for a week, and hasn't said anything." The dark-haired girl spoke for her silent cellmate before turning around to look at Samantha who could neither cry or laugh. She was like a ghost that needed to gather information about this place.

"How old are you?" The dark-haired girl asked after taking note of Samantha's young appearance.

"Seventeen." Samantha answered, blinking her tears away. She sniffed them back before shifting closer to the girl. "You've been here for two weeks, why haven't you escaped yet?"

"Escape is only possible if there are places to escape from." The girl responded despondently, "just like you, some of us were abducted, while some, some were sold off by their relatives to those slave traders for money. If you try to escape, it's a death penalty, so don't bring that idea into your head, if you have no wish to die early."

"But I can't stay here." Samantha couldn't think of a better phrase that would explain the gravity of her situation. "They took my brother from me, and my Father, he's in a lot of trouble, I need to get out of here and find them. Please..."

Samantha could only seek help from the two girls as she clasped her hand pleadingly. She no longer had the strength to fight back the tears as they freely dropped from her eyes. She couldn't accept this as her fate, this couldn't be her fate.

"I'm sorry." The girl lowered her gaze apologetically, "I can't help you. This is a slave establishment, we either suffer, die or pray to be bought by someone. That is the only way to get out of this place."

Samantha could feel her trembling heart drop at the idea of being bought. The slave trade wasn't a new thing in Empty Hollow, but people considered it to be a rumor as not one of them have ever been caught. Also, there have been rumors from the Royal Palace that those royal Vampires buy slaves from these people and turn them to their personal blood slaves, their number one nutrition.

Samantha shuddered at the idea of being bought by one of those devils. They were much aware of the illegal slave trade going on, not just them, but those born with blue blood running through their veins. Everything went completely wrong after the death of King Muzan, and his evil son, his evil son, had to be responsible for everything happening!

Surely, this slave establishment wouldn't be this successful if someone from the high court isn't assisting them.

'Your Father is responsible for the death of King Muzan' those ill words of his rang in her head multiple times, and she would never believe it. Her Father would never take the life of another, especially a vampire king!

He was lying, he had to be lying! Her Father has told her many great things about the late King because in the past, he was one of King's Muzan's trusted advisors, and the only human to gain the King's favor.

So how can he possibly be responsible for the death of the King except… except there was someone out there who's trying to frame her Father.

But how will she figure out the truth if she's stuck here?? She needed to save her Father's name, she needed to find her brother.

She needed...

At that instant, a shrill painful cry tore through the walls of the cell, startling Samantha and her cellmates.

Before their eyes, a girl was being dragged by the leg on the hard floor, hot tears streamed down her eyes to her cheeks as she pleaded to the guardsman who was taking her away.

All the girls from the rest cells had moved forward to see what was going on.

The girl who was being dragged away by her leg, tried to grab onto anything that would save her from being taken away by the heartless guardsman. Her body was already lined with red welts on her pale skin, as though she had been flogged.

From the look of things, her punishment was yet to be over.

Immediately, her hands grabbed onto one of the cell bars where Samantha was locked in. She sealed gazes with the petrified Samantha, her watery blue eyes were red and swollen, and she looked at Samantha pleadingly.

"Help me." She begged.

Watching the crying girl, Samantha's fist balled behind her back. She hated herself for being unable to do anything to save her. She could do nothing but stare.

"No one can save you." The guardsman laughed sadistically at the girl he kept dragging away, and with one forceful pull, her aching fingers released from the cell before Samantha could get the chance to grab her hand, and she watched with horrible eyes as the girl got dragged into the darkness.

"She tried to escape." The dark-haired girl softly explained the situation to Samantha, as this was not the first time she was witnessing this type of madness. "Stay away from trouble and don't think of escaping, else, you won't be far from being in her position."

Hearing this, Samantha could only burst into tears as she covered her face with her palm, shaking her head in denial. Her body trembled and her heart felt weighed.

No, this cannot be.