Chapter two

Arayah screamed like never before, her lungs threatening to burst from the strain it was going through. In all her six years on earth, she had never had the cause to scream the way she was doing now. And why would she? She had lived all her life in comfort right until the day the werewolves attacked their pack and killed her father, the vampire king and his people.

So if she had lived all her life in absolute comfort, why would she scream as loud as this? The only time she screamed was when she wanted something and it wasn't given to her and even then, it was never like this. Never as loud as this.

Two days ago, she had been brought to this pack after the werewolves had attacked amd her father and her people were killed right in front of her eyes. She had been treated like a bag of garbage, dragged round her whole town so that she could see all the dead people as if she hadn't seen them before and after then, as if that wasn't enough for a little girl of six to see, they had set fire to her town right in front of her eyes.

And even then, she didn't scream. She didn't even cry. She had borne everything bravely ad if she wasn't just a little girl. But even Arayah knee that she was a little girl. It was just that she was a little girl with the heart of a brave adult. She had inherited all that from her father, whom she would never ever see again.

Arayah was sure that most of the warriors had been shocked about how she had handled everything. Sure, she had been gagged to prevent her from screaming but even that hadn't happened before they paraded her about her wrecked town and burnt the place before her very eyes. The gagging had happened after all these. But still, she didn't scream. She didn't even cry.

Even Arayah was surprised at herself based on how she had acted back then, as if she was inbuilt with nerves of steel. Well, she probably was. She had always known that she was too brave and fearless for a six year old but she hadn't known that her braveness was up to this extent. She hadn't known that she would be confronted with so many horrors in the span of a day, yet she did not shed a single tear. She had been stone cold, without emotions like a rock.

And even when she had arrived at this pack and the werewolf king had fixed her with a cold glare which he thought would affect her, he had been shocked to discover that his actions did not even do so much as elicit a reaction from her. She had handled herself well. And the Alpha King had been shocked by it.

And even when the Alpha King and the warrior who had dragged her round and round, who she now knew to be Lyon, the head warrior of this werewolf pack, had been conversing in the former's office about the war and she had heard clearly, what the Alpha had to say about her predicament and what he wanted to use her for, his words ringing in her ears, she hadn't done so much as stir from her position on the floor. To the men, it was as though she didn't even hear anything out of their conversation at all, for all the reaction she gave.

But now that she was alone in this damp and smelly dungeon with nothing but silence to keep her company, the darkness overwhelming her, she was beginning to get scared. More scared that she had ever been in her life.

Arayah had acted strong and tough before but now, the hopelessness of her situation had already dawned on her. No one was coming to save her and there was no hope to cling to in this dark and smelly place. She was on her own.

Since she had been brought to this dungeon, she hadn't eaten or drank anything. But what Arayah truly craved for was blood. She was a vampire and there was no way she could do without consuming blood. She had already drank fresh blood before now but at this moment, she could give anything for even stale, bottled blood. That was how hungry she was.

Arayah wasn't really hungry for normal food. Though she was a vampire, her genetic makeup could still allow her to partake in normal food and it would do no harm to her. She didn't really want to eat food but if that was what was brought to her, then she would gladly accept it. She just wanted something in her stomach.

***

The feel of something on Arayah's skin jarred her from sleep and she opened her eyes to find a woman standing over her with her hand in the air.

That explains the sting I am still feeling on my skin. This woman struck me, Arayah thought.

The woman placed a plastic tray on the damp floor of the dungeon and pushed it over to Arayah's side as if it was some kind of filth.

Well, it probably is, Arayah thought.

The plastic tray contained a plastic plate with nondescript food and a paper cup filled with yellowish water. Everything looked dirty and Arayah never imagined that she would ever eat this type of food. But she had to eat it if she wanted to survive.

It was the only thing she could eat since they weren't giving her blood. They were probably afraid that the blood would make her stronger and they couldn't have that. The food was just there to make her scrape along instead of dying of starvation.

"You blood sucking monster!" the woman snarled. "Aren't you going to eat or should I take the food away? You should be grateful that they aren't letting you starve to death, leaving you to meet the fate that you deserve. If I were the one in charge, that was what I would have done instead of letting you stay here, rent free."

Then it's good you aren't the one in charge, then, ugly woman, Arayah thought. You don't even look like someone who would ever be in charge. You look like a lowly maid.

And truly, that was what the woman was. Her name was Naomi Cobalt and she was a handmaiden. She had been appointed to bring food to Arayah everyday and she didn't like it one bit. She just had to do it because she couldn't complain. She wasn't in the position to do so.

Realizing the woman was still glaring at her, Arayah picked up the tray, set it on her lap, picked a piece of the strange food since there was no spoon or fork in the tray and put it into her mouth warily, chewing on it carefully.

With horror, Arayah realized that the food was stale bacon. It was bad tasting but she had to eat it if she wanted to have at least, a little strength.

Throughout the course of Arayah's eating, she studied the woman in front of her carefully. She deliberately chewed the food slowly so that she could get enough time to observe the maid who had brought food to her.

The first thing that struck Arayah about the woman was her ugliness. It was her most prominent feature and her next most prominent feature was her pale skin. Her skin was so pale that it was almost transparent. She had wide eyes which were set too far apart and were a dull brown color. Her nose was flat and unremarkable, and her lips were thin; too thin perhaps. Her forehead was wide and her chin was narrow. Overall, she didn't make an attractive picture. She was just ugly.

When Arayah had taken as much time as she wanted studying the woman, she finished the rest of the food, drank the yellowish tepid water and slid the tray from her lap and onto the floor.

The sound of the tray meeting the floor jarred the Naomi Cobalt away from her reverie and she took the tray from the floor, the sour expression never leaving her face. She glared at the evil kid once more before she spoke.

"The next time you take as much time as this eating a little meal, I will spank you until your buttocks turn red" she threatened but to her surprise, the kid seemed unfazed by her threat.

In truth, Naomi had been warned not to lay a hand on the kid or else she would be punished. When she had struck the kid as she arrived with the food, it was only because her hand had been itching her to do that and not because she was allowed to. She hoped the guards never found out about it or that would be the end of her. And as for her threat, that was another matter altogether because she knew she would never carry it out. It was impossible.

She turned her back on the kid, picking up the lamp she had brought with her and plunging the dungeon into total darkness once more.

***

It was five days after Naomi Cobalt had first come into the dungeon where Arayah was staying and three days since she had been fed last. Hunger was gnawing at her stomach, threatening to take over her and her breath was already coming short because of dehydration. She really needed to drink water and eat some food even if it was the stale food and the yellowish water. She would accept it like that.

What Arayah really wanted was blood but she pushed the thought away from her mind as fast as it had entered into it. There was no use longing for what she would never have because she already knew that there was no way these people were ever giving her blood to drink. People who were starving her so that she could be at the weakest point in her life but not enough to die.

Arayah clenched her stomach with both of her hands as if the action would spare her the pain she was feeling. But she knew it couldn't. Nothing could really spare her the pain except it was food and water or blood, but nothing else.

It was day time and Arayah was still hoping that food would be brought to her before night came because once it was night, she might as well push all thoughts of food out of her mind because nothing like that would surface.

Time passed and there was still no sign of food and then Arayah started rolling on the floor, her innards contorting in severe hunger, the pain already overwhelming her. She tried to scream but what came out of her mouth was just a little sound, something that could not even draw any attention.

Then suddenly, she heard the sound of someone sniffling and just as quickly, it was gone. It was so sudden that Arayah presumed that it was just her imagination playing tricks on her.

But after a while, she heard the sound of sniffling again and this time, it was accompanied by someone's footsteps. Her ears pricked up in hope but she couldn't stand up and rush to the person for help. She just lay on the damp floor, hoping that whoever it was would hurry up and get to her.

**

Amareux Kingstone was sad. He had failed to beat the son of the Beta who was older than him with three years during training and afterward, his father had summoned him to his office and yelled at him about being such an incapable son and a disgrace to him.

It wasn't his fault that the son of the Beta was older than him and more trained since the former had started training three years ago and this was just Amareux's first year. It wasn't really his fault but his father seemed to think it was. And now he was sad.

He just wanted to get away from his father and he had found himself wandering through different parts of the pack house and even into places that he had never set foot into before.

That was what had led him to this place. It was a very strange and dirty sort of place and he didn't really want to be here. But at the same time, it seemed a perfect place for him to break down and cry as much as he wanted to since he couldn't possibly come across anyone here.

So despite the fact that the place was damp and smelly and the plaster had long since peeled off the walls, Amareux sank down into a crouched position, buried his head in his lap and began to cry. He cried so much, bawling his heart out and when he was done, he started to sniffle, trying to calm himself down.

Perhaps, a walk around this strange place will do me some good, he thought while still sniffling. So he got up from the floor and began to walk into a corner that seemed to lead off to somewhere. He really wanted to find out where it led to.

He walked until he entered a very room which was no different from the rest of the place. Or at least, that was what he thought until he saw the form of a person splayed out on the floor.

His hands flew to his mouth and with panic in his heart, he rushed over as quickly as he could to the person and almost gave a shriek of alarm when he saw that it was a little girl of no more than five to seven years. She was clutching her stomach and there was a faraway look in her eyes.