Chapter 7

Many days passed in a seemingly peaceful succession. I had gotten to know some other slaves in the mansion. One of them told me about how she was separated from her brother, who was put into the human farm. I wondered what it was like living in the factory, but then again I didn't want to find out. This morning things were quite the same. We got our wrists cut as usual, except me. Then the vampire, who we first met, came up to me in the kitchen. He dressed in his elegant clothes as I had remembered.

For a moment, his violet eyes seemed to linger on my face longer than necessary.

"You," he said. His pale stony face held high. "From now on, you're assigned to serve whenever my mistress sends for you."

My heart sank further than it usually did. What could I say about that? Nothing. I had no choice but to nod in acceptance. Obviously, this piece of information depressed me even more.

"Now hurry up, take the blood with you," he said, beckoning to me. I picked up my tray and followed him.

At the dining hall, I saw my mistress and Anastasia were already there. They sat at the same table but far away from each other as if they couldn't bear to breathe the same air. I walked slowly towards them. The one, who bit me, didn't look at me, and neither the one who kissed me. I tried to imitate a robot, pushing all emotions out of my mind. Emotions are bad when you are a slave. They don't help you anything but make you more miserable.

I put the wine glasses down in the middle of the table. But I had a dilemma of who I should serve first. Then I stole a glance at the quiet Ana. She was having a piece of toast and jam. I had to look again to see if it was actual jam, the kind humans would eat.

Can vampires eat human food, too? I thought. I had only heard about their blood lust and savagery. This small innocent part of their existence confused me.

"Sit down," A familiar voice said, but I didn't know whom it came from at first. Then I realized Alexandra was looking at me. A flicker of mischief gleamed from her golden eyes.

"Y-yes?" I gulped.

"I said sit down." She gestured to the chair next to her.

Even Ana looked up from her plate to us. Her porcelain skin seemed to flush a little under the tension. I gingerly took a seat as instructed. My mistress turned her face to me and smiled kindly.

"Have you heard about your new position from Victor?" she asked. I didn't know who Victor was, but I assumed he must be the wax-looking vampire who came to me last morning, so I nodded back.

"Good, now you will have to stay near me," she said. "And even eat with me."

I looked up with questions orbited around my head, but I couldn't tell if Alex was joking. Then she got up and walked towards me. Anastasia looked on from where she was with uneasy eyes. Her hand clutched the spoon, and I saw it starting to bend out of shape. Alex took another seat near my chair and pushed a glass of blood towards me. I stared at the wine glass with red liquid stirring inside and then looked back at Alex.

"I want you to drink this," she said. My eyes went wide with shock.

"Sister," Ana said with a heavy tone.

"Relax, I'm just teaching her something," my mistress said then she turned to me again. "Drink it."

"What?" I found my voice again.

"You heard me."

"No, I won't."

Suddenly, her hand grabbed the back of my neck. Her cold fingers entangled my hair as she pulled my head slightly backward. Ana rose up from her seat.

"Stay out of it!" My mistress yelled and pointed a finger at her sister. "Or I will make it worse."

Anastasia gritted her teeth, but she didn't dare to move. Somehow I felt it had something to do with my safety than her sister's threat. Alexandra turned to me again.

"You want to drink the blood from this glass, or you want me to drink the blood from you?" Alex hissed at my ear. Her nose traced over my hot cheek. Tears ran down my face as I shut my eyes and reached out to take the wine glass. My hand shook so bad, I almost dropped it.

Alex released me and smiled in encouragement.

I brought the glass lip to mine. The smell was almost unbearable, it sickened me. I tried to hold my breath and took a plunge. The red blood flowed into my mouth like poison. The coppery taste quickly enveloped my tongue and traveled down my throat. I heaved nauseously in the process, but Alexandra caught my hand and forced me to keep drinking until the glass was empty.

I dropped the glass down on the table and clutched my throat in disgust.

"Good girl." Alex beamed brightly.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I asked between sobs.

"I want you to remember this taste," she said and smiled, "because someday you will change your mind about it."

"Enough of that!" cried Anastasia from across the table. "If you want to punish her, you already have. Just leave her alone!"

She was breathing hard. I could see the pulse on her neck beating. Alex stood up and placed her hands on my shoulders. She kissed the top of my head before I could flinch away.

"You're jealous?" Alex said with a mockery leer. "Well, you should be. I've found a rare gem here. And I'll polish her up. She won't be rough like this for long."

My mistress tracked her cold fingertips down my cheek. The hair on my arms stood on ends.

"Please, Alexandra," Ana turned into a pleading tone, "I beg you. She's just a child."

"Innocent and pure," My mistress agreed. "Just the way I like it."

Anastasia rushed forward in a flash, but my mistress grabbed me by the hand and pulled me to her. She was already behind my back when Ana reached us.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you," My mistress said as her hand wrapped around my neck. "Step back or I'll snap her pretty little neck."

Ana bared her white teeth and hissed like a wildcat. The way her eyes stared at her sister would have sent any human running. But as she looked at me, being helpless in Alexandra's hand she turned away, defeated. My mistress leaned over my shoulder and whispered into my ear.

"See? No one can touch you, my little doll," she said. "I still have another game for us, but instead of playing dress up, let's play undress."

Upon hearing that, Anastasia's face snapped back at us. Her face was filled with shock. She wanted to do something, but she knew she couldn't. Her eyes looked at me as if it was going to be the last time.

"Come on, sweet girl," My mistress said to me. "We're not going to do it in this room. Someone is having trouble controlling her jealousy."

Not until then that the terror began to seep into my consciousness. A panic coursed up from the pit of my stomach. Alexandra dragged me by my elbow. I turned to Anastasia for help, but she looked like she was lost on another planet. She just stood there like one of those a marble statue, looking dazed.

As we were leaving that room, I felt like I was being sucked into a black hole and could never come back.