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9.68% ~Bleeding Hearts~ / Chapter 24: Bleeding Out

Capítulo 24: Bleeding Out

It took getting halfway through the colonnade for Bel to see who was coming. There were about three guards and they were accompanying four servants. Bel only assumed they were servants because of their clothes; she didn't actually recognize any one of them.

The servants had their heads bent, and one of them was clutching their neck. The servants who were now close enough scattered to the sides, dropping to their knees. The guards stood behind them, one on each side while two were on the other side, each group holding up torches.

Bel winced as the smell of blood hit her. It was pretty sharp, and she could immediately tell someone was bleeding out. Bel stopped immediately, and her eyes zoned in on the servant clutching their neck.

She knew they would have to provide food for the vampires, and obviously, the food would have to come from their people. Dhampirs were different; she heard some of them had never tasted human blood before. This was something they prided themselves upon.

"Bel, what are you doing?" Her mother asked, halting her steps too.

Bel broke through the guards, who were too stunned by her actions to block her path in time. She stopped in front of the servant, who glued his eyes to the floor. Bel could tell he was scared. He was a young man who didn't look a day over nineteen.

His hand fell from his neck, revealing two pierced holes; his palm was stained with blood, even in the dark she could see how red it was. Bel's gaze darkened; surely there was no need for him to bleed out. She knew vampires could easily clot the bleeding holes by simply licking them.

Apparently, someone didn't think to do that because he was the only one who was bleeding. It would probably clot by itself in a few minutes if he applied pressure on it, but there was no reason for him to go through that when he just lost blood.

He dropped even lower as if he wanted the ground to swallow him. Bel smiled softly in an attempt to ease him and slowly stretched out her hand. She lightly touched him on the shoulder. She didn't need to touch him to heal him, but she found that it helped.

She closed her eyes and let out her magic. The air crackled, and a white light glowed on the young boy's neck, and the holes closed up immediately, leaving nothing but a tiny scar that was practically unseeable.

He looked up with wide eyes at Bel and immediately brought his gaze down. "T-thank you, princess."

She pulled her hand away from him and straightened her back. She walked away from him back to where her mother stood. The Queen had an unreadable expression on her face.

"You didn't have to do that," her mother said when she got close enough.

"I can't believe you would say that. They made him bleed more than he needed to," she responded with anger in her voice.

"He would have healed eventually," her mother said.

"No need to dwell on the matter; it took me nothing to heal him. Shall we?" Bel asked, and without waiting for her mother's response, she started towards the left wing.

Bel was angry, and she thought she was doing a very good job of not showing it. She couldn't believe they would be so negligent about something so important. It would have taken only a second, but whoever had fed from the human thought it wasn't worth the effort.

She couldn't believe her parents were willing to marry her off to them when they treated humans like this. Such actions shouldn't be easily forgiven.

They got to the doors, and two guards stood by the entrance. Bel knew they were vampires immediately. Their red eyes almost shone as the torches revealed their faces.

Bel knew her father had renovated the left wing to accommodate the vampires' request for no sunlight and a few other requests she didn't want to think about.

Every window had been boarded shut, and anywhere light could stream in had been covered. It wasn't until the Dhampir gave his satisfaction that they stopped working on the left wing. She remembered his name was Stelian, but she didn't want to think about him in a way that made him seem familiar.

The guards bowed to them and opened the doors. At least they had some regard for them; Bel tried not to roll her eyes.

As soon as the doors opened, Stelian appeared out of the dark space, and Bel watched her mother jump out of the corner of her eyes.

That was the only sign of fear her mother had shown all through this, and Bel realized they were walking into the vampires' den. She didn't think they would try anything, and her mother looked pretty confident.

It wasn't as though she had anything against vampires. She didn't think they were vulgar beings who couldn't control themselves or anything like that. She just hated the whole idea of this marriage, and at this point, she was nitpicking at everything.

"Your Highness," Stelian said with what appeared to be a smile. It didn't make him look less scary. "Princess." He nodded at her.

"Stelian," her mother called a little excitedly and a little too familiar. "You startled me." She clutched her pearls as she spoke.

"I apologize," he said and tilted his head. "It wasn't my intention."

"I know; it's fine."

Stelian bowed with one arm behind his back, and Bel noticed a necklace fall out. It looked like a locket. There was an inscription on the heart-shaped locket, but it was too tiny to read.

Bel also thought the locket was a little too small for him. She wondered if it belonged to someone else. Stelian didn't look like the type to walk around with that kind of jewelry. Any kind of jewelry for that matter.

"This way, please," he said and turned his back to them.

His words pulled her out of her thoughts, and Bel couldn't help but think he seemed polite, and she didn't know how to feel about this. She noticed that only two guards out of the seven accompanied them into the vampires' den.

Shouldn't they be a little more cautious? She glanced over at her mother, and she saw that the Queen was more nervous than scared. Bel wondered about that, but they were about to meet the Queen and King of Darkcrypt. She might as well prepare herself.


Capítulo 25: The Apology

Stelian led them up the winding stairs to the second floor. Bel didn't know what to expect as she followed behind him. The darkness in the space wasn't helping, and the only source of light seemed to be the torches the guards were holding.

The staircase support was made out of wood, but what really drew her attention were the balusters. Each one of the vertical bars was intricately designed. Bel knew they were handcrafted.

The design of the spindles was similar to that of the main castle; however, it had a peculiarity that the ones in the main castle didn't, and she wondered if it was because she didn't see it as often. It wasn't that she couldn't venture towards the left wing whenever she wanted to, but there was really no reason to.

"We are here," Stelian announced, pulling Bel out of her thoughts.

She looked up to see a huge pair of doors, with two vampire guards standing in front of it. They nodded to Stelian as he stopped in front of them. One of them made eye contact with Bel, and she glared at the pair of red eyes.

"Open the doors," Stelian commanded, and the doors were immediately thrown open.

Queen Eleanor scooted closer to her daughter, and Bel fought the urge to grab onto her mother's hand. She wasn't scared, but some comfort would be nice. It didn't help that the first and last time she had met the vampires, she had supposedly treated them rudely.

Stelian walked through the open doors and dropped to his knees. An arm rested on his knee, and his head rested on the arm. "The Queen and the second Princess are here," he announced.

Bel didn't know what she expected when the doors were thrown open, but she prepared herself regardless. There were three vampires in the drawing room. One stood by the unlit fireplace, while the remaining two were seated.

The first person Bel's eyes caught was the Queen. Bel realized she didn't know her name. She was dressed in a very pretty gown, her neck adorned with necklaces, and her black hair fell on her shoulders.

"Queen Eleanor," the petite vampire said and rose to her feet. "To what do we owe the honor?"

"Queen Alana," Bel heard her mother say as she took several steps into the room.

Bel knew she couldn't hang around the door. She was here to show she could be agreeable. She rushed in with her mother, and when she was close enough, she bent her knees and her head as she grabbed the hem of her dress.

"Your Highnesses," she mumbled. The hat on her head felt heavy as she leaned forward, but she wasn't worried that it might fall; Faith had made sure the chance of that would never happen.

"Raise your head, my child," Queen Alana said.

Bel felt Queen Alana place her palms around her shoulders and gently lifted her so she was standing to her full height. Bel blinked at the vampire who she was taller than; the height difference was pretty obvious with her standing this close.

However, the Queen didn't feel small. She commanded the space, and Bel found that she was drawn to this vampire. She was caught off guard when the side of the Queen's eyes crinkled, and her lips broke into a smile.

"Oh my," she said, taking her hands off Bel's shoulders. "You are so pretty," she complimented. She took a step back as if to look at Bel properly. "Your eyes remind me of the gems in the cave Davien likes to hide in. They are the most beautiful shade of green I have ever seen."

Bel felt warmth creep upwards, and her face felt slightly warm. "Thank you," she managed to say.

"She gets her eyes from her father," her mother commented.

"I definitely see the resemblance. She has some of your features too," Queen Alana said.

"She does, but Hazel takes after me more," Queen Eleanor proudly announced.

"Lucky you," Queen Alana said with a sad look on her face. "Unfortunately for me, none of my boys look like me. They all have the tough face of their father," she laughed.

"Well, they are boys," Queen Eleanor said, laughing with her.

"Thank you for coming to see us; you didn't have to do that, and you brought the princess too," Queen Alana looked genuinely happy as she said this.

"Of course, we have to. The incident last night should never have happened, and we are here to apologize," Queen Eleanor explained, and Bel could only nod to her mother's words. "Please do not take the action of my willful daughter to heart. She has always been a little obstinate and dogged."

Bel tried not to wince at her mother's description of her actions, but as long as she didn't have to tender the apology from her own lips, her mother could say whatever she wanted.

"Of course, there is no need to apologize," Queen Alana replied a little too eagerly. Turning to Bel she said, "I am sure the sudden arranged marriage came as a shock to you, but Davy really wants you to be his wife."

Davy? Bel turned her eyes in the direction of the figure that wouldn't look away from her since the moment she stepped into the room. He was still standing by the fireplace, his arms were folded, and his legs were crossed as he leaned onto the side of the fireplace.

He had this relaxed demeanor around him that got on Bel's nerves. Her eyes met his, and he held her stare, forcing her to look away first. Bel didn't like this, but the intensity of his gaze made her a little uncomfortable.

"Davy," The Queen called and turned to him.

Davien pushed himself and walked towards them. He headed straight for Queen Eleanor. He bowed a little and stretched out his hand. Bel heard her mother giggle like a teenager as she handed her palm to him.

"Your Highness," he said and kissed the back of her hand.

Bel cringed and took a step back. He stood to his full height, and she could tell he was looking at her, but she refused to look at him.

"This is my first son, Davien," Queen Alana said. "The one who wants your hand in—"

The rest of Lady Alana's words were seized by the loud sound of the doors opening. Bel instinctively turned around to see who was coming in, and she regretted the choice almost immediately.

A replica of Davien walked in. He wasn't identical, but they had enough similar features to be able to tell they were brothers in one glance. His eyes darkened as they rested on her face.

It was rare for Bel to face hate, but for the first time in her life, she could see the clear hatred on someone's face. She was unprepared for how piercing it was.


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