章 4: The library
Luciana sat on a chair in front of one of the tables provided for them in the room, deep in her own thoughts. She had gone to see the royal physician, and he applied medicine to her wound before covering it up in bandage. She thought the prince was so different from the rumours. Or maybe he just had different sides. Or he didn't want them hurt what whatever reasons he was keeping them. But one thing about him stuck to her most.
He was a vampire!
The moment she realized, there was a certain feeling that clouded her mind.
She hated those creatures. The creatures that were the cause of her nightmare, the creatures that had brought indescribable pain to her.
She didn't want to think about it, but her mind kept taking her back to that faithful day. The day one of them, a vampire mercilessly took her family away from her for the slightest reason.
Luciana came home that day from the garden, carrying her fruit basket. She met her parents kissing on the table on the living room table. Her aunty was busy in the kitchen, while her brother and sister were preparing gifts, as it was their parents anniversary. Even the house had been tastefully decorated.
Luciana was happy for her parents, but she was also very worried.
"Mama, Papa, how can we afford to celebrate when we still owe Lord Kruger?" She asked, looking disturbed.
Her father owed the vampire he used to work for, Lord Kruger a huge amount of money, and that day was the deadline for their payment. She wouldn't worry too much if it was someone else, but everyone knows cruel Lord Kruger was, and plus the fact that he wasn't human.
"Oh, I got a good job in the Turner's mansion, and I will be paid tomorrow. So I would have enough money to pay off the debt, and some left for us to spend. Besides, my wife comes first." He smiled and turned back to his wife, eyes gleaming with love.
Luciana shook her head, but she was at least relieved.
"I also had some money saved up from my work in case what you have is not enough."
She used to work as a governess for a wealthy human family.
"Thank you Lucy. But you should use the money for yourself. You have earned it. Your father and I got this one covered." Her mother said with a gentle proud smile.
Luciana was going to say something to counter her, when they suddenly heard noise outside.
"What's that?" Her mother asked.
Then they heard her sister's voice, followed by her brother. They were screaming. The three of them dashed towards it door, only for it to be broken down, almost falling on her father.
Her brother was then roughly thrown forward and pushed down by a guard. Then her sister, followed by her aunty. Luciana turned alerted. These were Lord Kruger's men. Did he come for his money already? But this was only the last day. She expected that he would at least give them a day.
"Stop treating them like that!" Her father yelled at the guards.
Then a man walked through the door, looking as mean as they remembered him to be. Lord Kruger!
He nodded his head as he looked around the house. "You are having a party when you have not paid me."
"My Lord, I have more than half of the money here with me. I promise, it would be complete by tomorrow." Lucy's father pleaded. He too did not expect that the lord would come on that day.
Luciana noticed that her father was scared, from the slight quiver in his voice and the trembling of his fingers. He was only human.
They live in a society where human life was not valued, especially the poor among them. They could be easily killed, and no one would do anything about it.
She then felt a tap on her shoulder, pulling her out of her nightmare.
"Luciana stop it! You are hurting yourself." Annalise's worried voice sounded behind her.
That's when Luciana looked and saw that she had reopened her wound, and was now peeling it with her fingernails. She had no idea she was doing it.
Annalise carefully took her hand and tied it with the bandage again. She then looked up at her.
"You piqued the prince's interest." She stated.
"He perceived the smell of my blood."
Annalise nodded. "You should talk to him more next time so as to spend time with him. Try to charm it. I am glad he wasn't offended by your manners though."
Agnes, one of their roommates intruded.
"You had the chance to speak with the prince and even got him to speak back to you, yet you didn't try to seduce him."
Luciana rolled her eyes. All they could ever think about was how to seduce a man.
Annalise was suddenly behind her with a brush.
"Luciana doesn't care about seducing anyone." She stated almost exasperatedly. She then began to brush her hair, while Luciana sat quietly. She never remembered to take care of her hair, it had become a duty for Annalise.
"Since you piqued the prince's interest, you might as well try to look pretty."
Annalise then proceeded to making braids on her hair. "I will make them into waves by evening." She smiled, satisfied at her work. "Now let me teach you how to seduce a man."
She turned Luciana's chair to face her, then she went to the middle of the room, drawing the attention of the other girls.
"You should always do things slowly, and with elegance, starting with your walking step." She then proceeded to demonstrate what she meant to Luciana. "You don't have to talk much. Let your eyes speak for you." She batted her lashes in a seductive manner, "and if you have to speak at all, say things that are innocent on the surface, but have deeper meaning..."
"You are really good with this seduction stuff. You should try seducing him." Luciana remarked, before standing up.
"Where are you going?" Annalise asked almost in frustration, as Luciana was heading out of the room.
"To find the library." Luciana replied.
"But we are not done here." Annalise protested, but Luciana ignored her.
"I would like to learn. You can teach me." Agnes told Annalise, and she sighed, a little frustrated because of luciana before going to teach her.
Luciana came out of the house, and was surprised to meet two guards, as she didn't see them in the morning when she had previously snuck out.
She pretended they weren't there, and proceeded forward.
"Hey! Human!" One of them called.
She turned to them a little irritated, not only because of how he called her, but also his tone. She could easily tell that he was one of the many who treated humans badly.
"Luciana!" She corrected, and he frowned.
"Your name doesn't matter. Where are you going?" He asked.
"The library. Rebecca is aware, she let me go." She lied with a straight face, and he stared at her, probably trying to listen to her heartbeat to know if she's lying. But her heart was calm.
"You may go."
"May I know where it is?" She asked politely, and the guard pointed to a big building not too far from there. She then walked there.
Luciana got to the library, ignoring all the stares she was getting on the way. Maybe they have never seem a human in the library before. She was sick of how scared humans have been made to be, and that was part of the reason she was visiting the library.
She went to look for the librarian who was in the ground floor. To her surprise, he was human.
The old man looked up from the book he was reading when he noticed her presence. He gave her a 'how may I help you?' look.
"I am looking for books on vampires and werewolves." She gave him the most genuine smile she could muster. She could tell it wasn't good enough, but the man just pointed to a shelf of books.
"You can't take them away." He told her.
"I don't plan to." She replied.
Luciana searched through the racks of book, but most of them didn't contain what she was looking for. They were mainly about the history, abilities and the classes of vampires and werewolves. She could only guess that the ones that she's looking for were not available for the public.
"Nothing piqued your interest?" She suddenly heard a deep voice behind her.
She turned around, only to come face to face with the prince. She bowed in greeting, before raising up her head to look at him. He had never met a human so not intimidated by him.
"Your highness."
"Vampires and werewolves?" He asked as he looked around the shelve of books.
"I find them fascinating." She replied.
"Did you see what you are looking for?"
"No."
"May I know what it is?" He inquired from the weird girl.
"I'd rather keep it to myself." She politely told him.
"You might be looking for a way to eradicate our races." He joked, but she just kept staring at him.
If only she could, then the humans would be free from them. But now, what she wanted was to at least learn their weaknesses, and create a defense for humans.
"May I request a favour your highness?" She asked, and he nodded, surprised again. "Can you give me access to the restricted books?"
"You aren't scared of me at all." He stated, unable to contain it anymore.
She gave him a long stare, as if studying his features. The man had dark hair which was tied into a ponytail at the back, his eyes grey, and his jawlines sharp and masculine.
"You don't look scary at all. I would rather describe you as very good looking." She didn't sound like she was trying to compliment him, she was just stating facts.
He only shook his head. "Come with me."
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