THE PROPHECY The sky was dark, altered by occasional lightning and the rumble of thunder. The rain was coming down in drizzles, and the patter of rain on roofs was drawn out by the tortured screams of humans in the air. Two men in black robes stood on a castle balcony, watching the event calmly. "Move your asses, stupid mutts!" one of the captors yelled to the prisoners walking half-naked and bare feet under the rain. Prisoners of different ages moved while their captors brought down whips on anyone who delayed the movement. The prisoners screamed and cried in despair. The man who had yelled at the prisoners noticed a blond glaring at him, and he moved closer to her. Humans were not meant to look them in the eyes. Why was this girl so bold, staring at him? She did not flinch or avert her eyes when he moved closer. "What are you staring at?" he inquired. "I want to take a pee," she said in a cracked voice. He looked at her fettered hands and t
RALPH Hundred years after the prophecy... I sauntered into the building with Colbert stalking behind me. I hated these meetings because I hated seeing some other vampire lords. Some of which I can never be friends with, and I wondered how Viktor gave them titles they clearly did not deserve. "Welcome, Lord Ralph. Welcome, Lord Colbert," the servants by the door greeted. There were slight hesitations in their voices, and they gummed their backs to the entrance door in fear of me. I ignored them while Colbert answered them. They were young vampires who still had atoms of emotions. Vampires like me are emotionless, and I love it that way. It brings me much respect and makes no one mess with me. My elder brother Colbert often displays certain human emotions, and it irritates me. The only emotion I am capable of showing is wrath. We entered the meeting room, and six pairs of eyes flicked to us. The room was dark and quiet as usual, except for the pounding of our footsteps. I saw e
RALPH Eighteen years after the meeting... The prisoners were brought before me to select whom I wanted to feed on. The prisoners were mostly women and a few men. These days, we feed on men instead of women. More females were becoming slaves in the capital, but none seemed like who I was looking for. They were all terrified of vampires. I did not know how to identify her, but I knew I had not found her yet. A timid girl stepped up. The stink of urine wafted into my nostrils, and my nose twitched. I looked away from her and sighed. "Why does she stink?" "She urinated on herself, my Lord," the vampire in charge of prisoners replied. I fisted my hands on my waist and paced around the place. "Why is she in my presence?" The vampire opened his mouth to speak, but I was uninterested in his explanation. I was beside him in a flash and drove my hand into his chest, ripping out his heart. He crumpled to the floor, and I tossed the bundle of nerves aside whi
JOVITA Humanity lies on your shoulders now... The man standing by my door was so pale to be human. His sullen dark eyes refused to leave my form on the bed. Goosebumps blanketed my skin, and it was as if I was frozen on the spot. I could not move or speak. I only stared at the nightmare standing by my door. Who are you? I wanted to ask, but my lips were sealed with fear. But this man seemed to hear my thoughts. He left the door and took a step toward me. I forced my vocal cord to produce a sound, but nothing came out until the man leaned and loomed over me on the bed. His touch was cold. I stared into his eyes and realized there were no eyeballs, only hollows. A red substance was smeared around his mouth, and it did not take me long to realize it was blood. He grinned at me, exposing his long, sharp canines. Vampire! "I am your worst nightmare," he said, but his lips were not moving. My heart pounded, my body shuddered in fear, and I co
RALPH Six years later... I looked back again at the streets to make sure no one was following me. I felt strange as if someone were following me behind. When I saw nothing suspicious, I walked into the club, asking the bouncers to keep an eye on the streets. The club was buzzing with life. It was dimly lit with colorful flashing lights. The walls were adorned with neon lights and vibrant artwork, and the floors were lined with dark-colored tiles. Loud sensual music pumped from the speakers, and the center was filled with energetic people, ranging from pole dancers to patrons spending their money. I pushed through the crowd of party- lovers, searching for Colbert, my eyes scanning the seating areas and booths where higher rank vampires usually sat. But I found him at the bar gulping down a martini glass, and he waved when he saw me. The people that were sensitive enough to notice me made way for me to pass. The room was filled with vampires and humans. We ha
JOVITA It has been a week now since I moved to the capital. I was surprised to see that humans and vampires co-existed. There was technology at its peak. Humans were even allowed some amount of freedom but were still ruled by those night creatures. Uncle Kala had moved before me and was gathering information for me. I was pretty conversant with vampires' weaknesses and strengths, but Uncle Kala brought something to my notice. It seems vampires do not like getting into sexual relationships with female humans. He did not know why and could not ask any vampire not to arouse suspicion. He was working as the infamous Lord Ralph's driver and had gathered everything I needed to know. However, he wanted me to operate from a distance while he did the inside job. We agreed on it, and it was perfect. I wanted to know who this Lord Ralph was. Tonight was the perfect night. He had just opened a new club in the city, which was already buzzing. Uncle Kala knew about most of the in
JOVITA I have never felt more disgusted in my life. His question irritated me, and I hated that Lord Ralph was so close to my neck. If he tastes my blood, he will find out who I am. I needed to distract him. "Please, do not harm me," I implored, hating that I had to beg from someone I hated so much. "What were you doing on my roof?" I had no answer to that, so I opened and closed my mouth like I was afraid to speak. "I will tell you exactly what she came to do," someone replied from behind. "She is a thief. I encounter many of them in my castle occasionally," the man in a high-collar robe said. Lord Ralph let go of my hair, and I looked down. In whatever I was doing, I was careful enough to avoid eye contact so that they wouldn't compel me. "A thief," echoed Lord Ralph. I was not looking at him, but I knew his eyes ran over me. "A beautiful thief." I did not deny the accusation. It was better than thinking I was a spy, and it would have been worse i
RALPH The telephone jarred the second time annoyingly, drawing me out of my terrible dream. I sighed, reached for the phone by the bed stand, and put it to my ear. "Why the fuck did you call me this early?" I asked whoever was on the line. "The prisoner." "What prisoner?" I asked, becoming irritated. "The girl that fell from the roof three nights ago. She is raising hell in the basement." I sat up in bed and removed the hand of one of the females wrapped around my chest. I could not believe I had forgotten about the girl since that night. "The thief? Why did you all not remind me about her?" I threw another woman's leg around my waist, and when I got off the bed, the third woman on the bed crashed to the floor. I grabbed my dark robe and donned it. The women still slept when I left the room, but they knew better than lying there when I returned. I went into my library and ordered a cup of coffee, then called for the woman to be brought. H
JOVITA The event of the previous night stayed with me throughout the day and into the night, occupying me when I was alone. As usual, I went to throw the thrash out, but only one thing remained in my mind and that was the image of lord Ralph having sex with the girl. Anytime I think of this, there was this rippling sensation I get. I had being trying to forget about it but it was all I could think of. The fire his mouth and tongue lit on my body still lingered and even though I had taken my bath twice today, his scent still lingered on me. I sighed, what was wrong with me? Why did I keep thinking about it? This was a man I was supposed to kill not fuck. But I could not help it. He arose those feral desires in me. I huffed deeply and walked away from the thrash can. I looked up again at the bright moon in the sky and thought about Bryce. How was he? Is he out of comma? "I see the moon makes you think of me," a deep voice I knew too well said. I looked
RALPH "I will make you want me, but I will not fuck you." That was my mouth speaking, but I wanted to rip her legs apart and fuck her until she forgot her own name. I only have an ounce of control remaining as I work my way through her body. Jovita. I hated the name, but I wanted to fuck the girl. She was in my head every time, even when I was not thinking about her. I thought doing all those things would make me forget her. Maltreating her, removing her from being my assistant. I thought making her hate me would make me hate her, but it made me fucking miss her. I wanted her. I wanted her every fucking night. In a bid to get her out of my system, I go to my club and fetch many vampire women. I slept with them to get her out of my system, but she was there when I had sex with them. Her body was the only thing I thought of when I fuck those women and the only image that drove me to climax. I had lost count of how many times I had masturba
RALPH I pulled into the compound and saw Kala, my driver, waiting for me. I decided to indulge him and know what he thought about me being the reason for the boy's demise, but before I could even get out of the car, my assistant, whom I hadn't asked her name yet, came walking up to me with a news Colbert had insisted on going down and using the public transport to go back to his city. Our argument did not end well, and I was grumpy. This was the first time Colbert blatantly disagreed with me on anything. It left me sorer than I cared to admit. "Welcome, Lord Ralph. You have a visitor." "I am not entertaining visitors now," I said, tossing my keys to Kala. "Hello, there," someone greeted from a few feet. I looked up to see Andres. My heart fell low inside my stomach. I looked from him to my assistant as if wanting her to explain things to me, but she offered no help. It was quite a relief that I got rid of Colbert on the way. "What are you doing
RALPH I did not need my driver today, so I took the car keys from him. Colbert watched me, wondering what was going on in my mind. I signaled him to enter the car as I sat in the driver's seat. He came in and sat in the passenger's seat. "Alright, where are we going to?" he asked. "I wanted to make it none of my business, but now that you asked, I think I will pick up this case." "Are you really saying you didn't do that? Do you have an alibi?" Jovita was supposed to be my alibi. I was kissing and carrying her to bed around that time, but I could not say that to Colbert. He will project this love thing again. "Of course not. I know this is difficult to believe but trust me, I did not do this. Someone is trying to set me up, but what worries me is the reason for that." "Maybe another vampire that is secretly into her?" I did not like the sound of that. No other male will touch her. I zoomed off, heading straight to the hospita
JOVITA Lord Ralph stared at me without blinking. I stood there contemplating jumping into the sea behind me. Did he see me? Did he notice I was going through his stuff? "What did you think you were doing, human?" His voice was cold and steel. It sounded more like a growl. "I... I... I was..." I lost what to say. What could I possibly say to him? Hey, I was checking out your secrets, and I know them now. He stalked toward me, and I took a few steps back. Resentment and anxiety were warring inside me, and anxiety was winning more. My hands shook, and my lips shivered. I could feel the rage he exuded. He hated me enough to give me hard labor for nothing; he hated me enough to beat Bryce to a pulp. Nothing would stop him from killing me right now. "You feel you can disobey me?" He took off his jacket and started to unbuckle his belt. My eyes widened. What? Was he going to hit me? I bet I misjudged this man. He was worse than everything they said he was.
JOVITA I rolled the cart into the event center and looked around; the vampires were chattering amongst themselves. I handed them over to one of the servers and reclined in the corner, waiting for another order. My eyes ran around the place and locked with the lord called Landon. He had a crooked smile plastered on his face and signaled me to come over. I approached him and saw Lord Ralph watching me with a jaw sharp enough to slice me in two. I hated him and wanted to hurt him so badly. I walked up to the vampire that called me and doubled over to hear what he had to say. "I will eat you. You look so delicious," he whispered into my ear. I felt like vomiting all over his face. I straightened up and flashed him a fake smile. "What do you want? Some blood?" I asked, still holding my phony smile. Someone grabbed my arm from behind, and I looked to see Lord Ralph staring at me with fury in his eyes. I tried to snatch my hand from him, but he held me tightly.
JOVITA "Hello there, pretty one. I am Lord Landon, nice to meet you." "Hello," I said and moved away from his way. "Excuse me." I made to leave, but he grabbed my hand and I stopped me right in front of me. His hand was colder than most vampires. Something about him seemed troublesome. "Eh eh, not so fast, human. I guess you are going with me tonight." "Lord Landon, let the girl do her job," someone said from behind, relieving me. I turned to see Lord Ralph's brother standing behind us. I sighed with relief when the other man's hand left me. He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Well, if it is not the goody-two-shoes," the other Lord muttered. "What are you doing here, Landon?" Lord Colbert asked. "Am I not supposed to be here? This is a traditional vampire gathering and I do not rememeber Viktor banning me from coming here." I took that as my cue to leave. My face cheeks were hot and my heart pounded in my ribcage. I did not know why that L
JOVITA I had a dream the previous night and saw Lord Ralph in it. I found myself on my bed when I woke up, and my lips were still sore. However, I did not want to believe it was Lord Ralph that brought me up to bed because he could not care that much and had just shown it by showing me his ruthlessness. After sending Bryce to the junkyard to work on a bartered car, he added to my chores yesterday. I knew I would give him a piece of my mind sometime, but I would hold my peace now until I could not take it anymore. Ana was already gone when I woke up, so I did not get to ask who put me to bed. I knew it was Bryce, and we would Iron out things today. I went down the stairs and was surprised to see many people in the yard and police cars and ambulances. I also noticed some people were looking at me. I spotted Ana in a corner, and she saw me, too, and walked over to me. She grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the backyard without letting me speak. "What is going on? Why i
RALPH I paced in my room with a glass of blood in my hand and ran the other finger over my hair. I thought I was over her. I had convinced myself about that, but all my resolve crashed when I saw her with that mechanic boy. I did not know what to do. The only way to stop this is to send her away from me, but even as she is far from me, I yearned for her presence. Have they slept together? Has he tasted what was mine? Has he done everything I fantasized about doing to her? I will have to kill that boy. They even call them love birds now. I sighed and sat on the edge of my bed. If I kill him, everyone will suspect it was because of Jovita, and they would all say I killed him out of jealousy. I was Lord Ralph; I was not supposed to be jealous. I downed the blood in my hand and stood up again. I could not sleep, and even after coming up with different methods of keeping them apart, I still was not comfortable. A knock came at the door, interrupting my thoughts. I spun toward