King's Royal Ball

Esmeray couldn't hold any grudge against Maeve, no matter how much she wanted to because of the taunts and insults Maeve had thrown her way over the past years.

At some point, we all just want someone we can blame our miseries on. But Esmeray had passed that phase. She had accepted that we all have to be toughened by fate by facing everything we are afraid of. But it seemed like Maeve was still stuck in that phase.

In Esmeray's life, everything she had been afraid of had happened. There was nothing she held dear or nothing she cared for enough to be fearful of losing. It had been five years since she had been living among these Lost Souls and now it felt like she had become one too. The only difference was that she still has a beating heart.

Maeve's family was sacrificed like a lamb for people they didn’t even know. Maeve's home broke for the people who were related to Esmeray by blood.

Earlier Maeve had asked what Esmeray would have done if she was in Maeve's place. . . If Esmeray was in her place she would have hated the girl too because of whom she lost her father.

Maeve's hatred was valid~

Taking a deep breath Esmeray raised her hands to open a portal but Maeve interrupted her. "Aren't you going to change?" Maeve frowned at Esmeray's bare tattooed legs, messy platinum white hair and the dirty oversized shirt she was wearing.

"I'm going to use a cloak and glamour spell and as much as my clothes are concerned I'm not going there to impress anyone." Esmeray shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. The cloak was going to conceal her scent and the glamour spell was going to change her appearance.

When Esmeray raised her palms to open a portal Maeve interpreted her yet again. “I already opened a portal. You can use it and remember you have to bring the Vampire King to the Forest of Wonders so I won’t have a problem in covering his tracks.”

Esmeray nodded her head in ‘yes’. But she had a feeling that Maeve wasn't worried about covering the Vampire King's tracks. There was something else Maeve was worried about. "Opening a portal in the Forest of Wonders could be tricky. You know the Forest had a mind of its own. It's easy to get out of it by creating a portal but it won't be easy to open a portal in the desired location to enter the Forest."

The Forest of Wonders was known to have a million portals hidden in it that lead to different dimensions and foreign lands. That was one of the reasons it was called the Forest of Wonders. It was even rumored that the Forest had a beating heart and the trees in the forest bled if you cut them.

The only portal that could lead you to the Sacred Land of Witches was in the middle of the Forest of Wonders too but that portal only worked on the night of the full moon.

Esmeray didn’t know why Maeve wanted this Vampire King but she wasn’t going to question. If it was a killing task Esmeray would have done some search to know if the person deserved death but kidnapping was a piece of cake and Esmeray didn’t give a shit that what was Maeve after. It wasn’t her business. And Esmeray was known for not sticking her nose where it doesn't belong.

"I'll wait for you at the center of the forest. That way you won't have to search for me if you lost direction. And here take this ring. It will help you to navigate since you aren't immoral yet so your senses won't be as keen as they should be." Maeve held a ring with a simple transparent crystal ball on it.

Esmeray took the ring without any protest. After all, Maeve was right. Esmeray's hearing, smelling and eyesight were as meek as a human but that will change as soon as she will turn immortal but only God knew when that was going to happen because she was already past the age and her immortal abilities haven't kicked in yet. "The crystal will pull you towards me and it will turn green when you will be close to me."

"It will take more time to reach you if my portal didn't open exactly at the center of the Forest of Wonders." Esmeray added. The moment she slipped the ring on her finger the transparent crystal ball turned into a dark green crystal.

"As soon as you hand that bastard to me I don't care how much time you take. Now go." Maeve signaled towards the portal with a mischievous glint in her eyes that Esmeray chose to ignore.

Esmeray gazed at the oval door that had flames burning around its outline. It was an ordinary portal and she couldn't sense anything wrong with the portal.

With a shrug, Esmeray entered the portal and within a couple of seconds, she fell into water.

“Whoops...I might have mistakenly opened the portal in the middle of the Royal pool.” Maeve’s giggling voice came from the other side of the portal and Esmeray bit back a few questionable curses before the portal disappeared.

Gasping for air when Esmeray came out of the pool her curly hair was soaked, her panties were wet and her shirt was dripping with cold water. Esmeray looked around only to find herself standing in the middle of what seemed like a magnificent garden.

Even if her senses weren't as keen as an immortal yet, the scent of various flowers still overwhelmed her senses.

The sky above was dark and the garden wasn’t illuminated well and Esmeray forgot to bring her glasses. Without her glasses, she couldn’t see very well in the dark. Esmeray can't wait to step into her immortality. Because in her current position she was as vulnerable to fatal wounds as a human. And once she will turn into an immortal she won't have to use glasses for her vision problem and her hearing and other senses will be magnified.

Esmeray gazed at the grand illuminated castle at a distance and her mouth parted. It wasn’t a magnificent castle. It was more like a sinister remarkable piece of architecture only a selected people like Esmeray could admire who had a liking for dark, gloomy and grand places.

The castle looked like a cluster of well-arranged needle-like pillars, that were made of dark blue stone while the remaining structure was made of authentic grey stones. From the distance she was looking, the windows seemed small but Esmeray was sure they were huge.

Admiring the exterior Esmeray was overwhelmed with an urge to explore the interior.

Esmeray had never thought about building a home for herself but now after seeing such a remarkable piece of architecture, she wanted to build a castle for herself.

Shush whispers of two females bought Esmeray out of her awe for the castle that didn't belong to her. “Do you know the head of the Vampire council is up to something big?”

“What made you say that?” The second female asked and to Esmeray’s ears, it seemed like the woman was hunting for some juicy gossip.

“I have never seen such a remarkable exotic red dress that the man had given to his daughter for the King’s Royal Ball. No man would be able to resist such a beautiful girl in that glamorous piece of clothing. It’s not revealing yet it can make a man hungry for more.” Standing in the shadows Esmeray listened keenly to every word that came out of the two females.

“I wish I could try a dress like that but isn’t she a little late for the Royal Ball? The Royal Ball had already started an hour ago.”

“The girl is following her father’s instruction. And he told her to come late."

"What is he after?"

"I think the head of the Vampire Council is trying to make his daughter the Queen. He already had so much command over the Kingdom and with his daughter being the Queen he will be as good as the King of this Kingdom.”

“And you might be the first one to get a beheading in his reign if you didn’t get the roses to his daughter on time & run her a bath." At the female's warning, it dawned upon Esmeray that these two females were servants who were leisurely gossiping during their working hours.

From the conversation of these two servants, Esmeray had gathered that the King was doing an awful job at ruling his Kingdom and keeping his subjects in check. From the looks of it, the King must be a weak dick that was why his trusted people were scheming to snatch the throne from him.

A King or Queen's subjects talking behind their backs was seen as a weakness of the King or Queen in the supernatural world.

'The Vampire King wasn't capable of keeping his subjects in check. It was a miracle that his enemies hadn't already thrown him off his throne.' Esmeray thought in disgust.

“Oh, Dear Moon. I almost forgot that I came here for the roses. I’ll catch you later and remember you heard nothing from me.” The woman's slightly panicked voice bought Esmeray out of her thoughts.

“My lips are sealed.” The servant assured but Esmeray knew that before the night ended the King and the Council leader were going to be the hot topic of gossips for the servants.

Esmeray gazed at the servant holding a basket of roses running towards the castle.

Thanks to their gossiping Esmeray didn’t have to hunt the Vampire King in his castle, barefooted with her soaked shirt and panties. She just needs a decent dress to replace her wet clothes to enter the King's Royal Ball and she knew exactly where she could find it.

It was like for once fate was really at her side.