Accepted

The following day at the vampire castle was slightly weird for me, not only had I woken up miles away from a place I knew as my home but being around the vampires was going to take a long time for me to get used to. I knew that I had to get used to being here because I had no other place to go. I just had to keep reminding myself of the reasons why I needed to stay here. No matter how uncomfortable it was I knew that I couldn’t leave, I had to stay here until I had gotten my revenge and maybe even killed my father’s entire pack. This was the first time I hadn't spent the night at home, and growing up I was a very well-behaved child. I never did anything that my parents didn’t like. Even when my friends were sneaking out and going to parties I always stayed at home. That had to do with the fact that all my friends had mates and I didn’t, not that I wanted one. I couldn’t imagine what my life would have been like if I had found my mate back in my father’s pack. I was very certain that whoever that mate would have been, he probably wouldn't have defended me when the entire pack wanted me dead my father included. This was the reason I maintained that wolves could not be trusted, especially mates.

I didn’t even want a mate, my mother had chosen love over security, and look at where that landed her. She was dead all because of a mate bond, a mate bond that she refused to give up despite the fact that she was being abused. One thing I liked about this vampire clan was that they never forced anyone to be with anyone like the moon goddess did. I had never heard my mother talking about being mated to someone else before my father in the vampire clan or even knowing someone who had a partner chosen for her. This to me meant freedom, it was the freedom to choose whoever I wanted and the freedom to not chose anyone. I didn’t want anyone, I was okay on my own and I wanted it to remain that way.

After I bathed I heard a light knock on the door and it was the same little girl that had come to give me some blood the previous day, Lilly. She had a bag of clothes with her and I was surprised at how strong she was because the bag looked very heavy

“You didn’t eat,” she said looking at the glass that was still full of blood, she looked very concerned

“Oh, I am not used to human blood or any kind of blood. But you can have it if you like” I offered and she shook her head.

"so what do you normally eat?" she enquired

"I eat real food," I said and when she still didn't seem convinced I offered her the glass once more "you can have it"

”No thanks, I already ate,” she said and I was surprised by how they just referred to some liquid as food, how did they even get full-on blood alone?

“what do you have for me today?” I asked her and she smiled excitedly

”I thought you would like some fresh clothes,” she said and I looked at my clothes that were on the floor. They looked very dirty

”Thank you so much but won't you get in trouble for helping a stranger?” I asked her and she shook her head once more her pretty black hair bouncing from side to side and she seemed to enjoy that

“I have been assigned the task of taking care of you, I am your caretaker,” she said unable to contain her excitement again

”Thank you so much, but I can take care of myself,” I said, “how old are you?” I enquired because I just thought she was too young to be taking care of anyone let alone anything

“I am eight years old,” she said shyly

“you are still very young” I commented, I wondered why they would entrust all these tasks to a such a little girl

“not really” she blushed “I have just been eight years old for a while now,” she said and I realized what she meant, she had probably been turned when she was eight years old and she got stuck on that age. That would also explain why she was the one chosen as my caretaker, my mother had told me that vampires that were once human were the lowest on the food chain in her clan.

“Well don’t just stand there, show me what you have for me,” I said sitting on the bed and she opened the bag and started taking out everything that was inside

“it’s mostly jeans and I wasn't sure of your side so I just guessed,” she said

“and where did you get these clothes if I may ask?” I asked her

“I went out with an escort to buy the clothes,” she said and I was flattered and touched by how thoughtful she was

“thank you so much this was very thoughtful of you,” I said touched by the efforts she put into what she had done, for as long as I was in my father’s pack I had never been taken care of like this. He had literally told them, in my presence that I wasn’t worth honoring or respecting because he didn’t consider me the princess. I had to snap myself out of my painful thoughts and focus on the current moment

“the elders also wanted me to let you know that they want you to come for a meeting  at noon” she added and I got nervous all over again, I really hoped that this would go well and they would accept me

“don't worry, they already like you, whatever you told them last night worked. I think now is also a good time for me to tell you that the fact that they didn’t kill you also shows that they like you, no rogue vampire has ever been given this type of treatment” she said

“then you again” I thanked her once more, grateful for the information she had just shared with me

“you know for an eight-year-old you are very mature” I pointed out

“I have had to grow with my mind over the decades that I had lived, there has never been any other way for me,” she said and I could see the sadness in her eyes and I suddenly felt like hugging her, but I didn’t because I was afraid that I would be overstepping a boundary.

”I will leave you to it then, remember your meeting with the elders is at noon,” she said and then excused herself

I emptied the rest of the contents that were in the bag and I was shocked that the little girl had gone as far as getting me panties and bras. She really was thoughtful, I also couldn’t help wondering what it was that was causing the sadness that I had seen in her eyes. Was she also being mistreated here? I couldn’t imagine anyone harming or abusing a child as young as her, despite the fact that she had lived decades and was actually older than me in a way, I still saw the lost childhood in her eyes.

As soon as the clock struck noon, I knew it was time to face the elders and find out what my fate was.

I nervously made my way to the meeting hall where I found that all the elders were already waiting for me. The whole thing was just nerve-wracking for me, they had to take me in, they just had to otherwise where was I going to go? I couldn’t even consider going to the witch territory to take refuge there because despite the fact that Iyana had made it clear that she wasn’t going to take me in,  also knew that I would never be comfortable in that place.

I took a seat that was set for me in the middle of the room while trying to control my breathing, I dint know much about vampires but I knew that if they felt like I was hiding something from them right now, this would all go south.

“so my name is Elder Marcus and I am the head of this council” the first elder introduced himself. I guessed they hadnt told me their names last yesterday because they didn’t think I deserved to know, I was curious to know what had changed their minds.

“And I am elder Sebastian,” the second one said and the third one was a woman (Emily) that looked like she was at the peak of her youth, she was very beautiful. I had always heard my mother talking about how she had never seen beautiful women as they were in their coven. She always told me I was lucky because I had the best of both worlds and I just thought she was saying that because she was my mother but I was now seeing what she meant and I agreed with her.

“So Amber, we have come to the decision to let you stay here with us,” Elder Marcus said with a smile, I guessed he wanted me to jump for joy but I knew he was not doing me any favors. He only wanted me to stay because they knew I could help them

“yes we will let you stay but on the condition that you will join our wolf hunters”  elder Emily chimed in but she seemed like she didn’t agree with the decision that had been taken

”but in order to do that we have to assess the abilities you possess, that means that we would like to get you in training first because as you c imagine this is a very important job. Not only are the wolf hunters responsible for hunting wolves but they are also responsible for the safety of the coven” elder Sebastian added on a more serious note

“and I am sure you are aware that in the game between wolves and vampires, it is a matter of kill or be killed and we can't have someone incompetent as part of our security team” Elder Marcus said and I nodded. I understood, they wanted protection and I wanted revenge, and being here would give me the tools to achieve my goal and make the wolves pay for the tears that I had cried because of one of their own.

After the meeting, I was led to the training grounds where I would begin training and let me just say that my first day on those grounds was grueling and challenging. However, I was excited to start. There was a lot going on, on the fields some vampires were focused on target shooting while others were responsible that the ones that were training had an endless supply of ammunition. I couldn’t wait to hold a gun I couldn’t wait to just shoot something and maybe that would help me get rid of all the anger and bitterness that I had been nursing ever since that fateful day.

The wolves were not even going to know what hit them, what made me more dangerous and capable of fulfilling my mission was not my determination to not fail. It was the fact that I could fit in both territories without being detected and I was better than wolf and vampire. Now that I was here, I was going to be able to get the training that I needed as a vampire, and best of all I was going to be able to find out what my other abilities were.