“Wait, Your Highness! Your outfit! How silly of me.”The woman gestured to her assistants, who gingerly carried what she was going to wear for this evening over to her. She stared at her dress in a daze; it was easily the most beautiful gown she had ever seen. The sleeveless, low-cut dress was neither black nor silver, or both perhaps. It shone whenever it moved in their hands. Delicate forest green laces were sprinkled with…diamonds.She swallowed the urge to refuse it, biting down on her lips not to slip that it was too expensive and she couldn’t accept it. Unlike the other dresses she had received from him, this felt so different. This gorgeous dress was full of his adoration for her; she looked away, blushing at her thought.After she put that on with their help, she stood before the mirror they had removed from her wall. Her lips were a few shades darker than her red hair; her cheeks appeared naturally flushed; and her eyes looked glittering, just like all the jewels over her bod
“Cut!” the director’s voice boomed. Nova slumped her shoulders and dared a peek at his direction. This was the 51st take of one single scene and the sunlight was burning her in her voluptuous Snow White costume. This was how a vampire would feel under the sun, she thought sarcastically. “Snow White’s supposed to be sad thinking about her late mother.” he shook his head. “You looked freaked the hell out. This is her birthday. She is ‘lonely’. Again!” Her jaws felt so stiff, almost paralyzed with trying to get into that sad smile the director wanted for hours straight. Before she was ready, the director shouted, “Action!” She looked at the giant birthday cake and sighed. “Happy 16th Birthday, Princess,” said the co-actress. She smiled wryly, or tried to. Thankfully, it worked! “Cut.” Director Clark rose from the chair. “Good job, everyone.” She exhaled in relief, before slumping down into a nearby chair. For today’s scenes which started at six am in the morning, she had to wake
When he led her down the stairs, she eyed Marie, who was biting her lips and giving her a conspiratory look. An hour later, she was in his mansion, having lost the crowd at last. Marc and Loyd arrived with Marie, Both whining they would have come sooner if they had known. In the garden, they sat down for dinner, five of them. Reign asked Mr. Hacke to join and the old man cried before he took a seat at the table. “You’re coming with me back to the kingdom, my darling,” he announced, in the middle of their noisy chats.“Am I? Why?” she set down her fork. “Are you…giving me orders? Already?”He tilted his head, candle lights half-shadowing his face. “If you’d love to stay behind, of course you can. I’m not giving you an order. Chaos could break out soon without me or you with the remnants of…” he halted as though searching for words, “my enemy. I simply thought you’d agree with me to come along.”She looked down at her plate.“I’m sorry I brought this up at our engagement dinner.” He k
Danica’s blood was boiling, seeing a male and a female being intimate three tables away. They were unaware of her watching them. A man and a vampire. She forced herself to calm down; a hunter needed to be clear-headed. Leaning against the back of the chair, she scrolled her smartphone screen as though she was relaxed and bored out of her mind, instead of planning how to take out the bitch. It should be tonight. The night was still young.A partition half-covered their table, but the observant could see what they were doing, or rather what she was doing to him, to be specific. Was bloodsucking illegal? No. But what the vampire was going to do was illegal.Her hands were so itchy with the urge to pull a pistol out of hostlers hidden beneath her shirt, and to send a bullet straight to ‘her’ heart. That would be pointless, not to mention Danica would be thrown into jail for assaulting an ‘innocent’ vampire. As much as she handcrafted these bullets with silver and wood, a single shot was
It was a royal emblem of the Eclipsis family, and it symbolized a solar eclipse and blood stars. A symbol that represented the family that ruled all vampire races: their monarch. This meant two things: either she was in trouble or she was not. Simple as that.An ordinary vampire could have that tattoo because they liked it, or this vampiress could be distantly related to the family. Wait. Why should she care? No matter what, this was a serial killer. In her 23 years of life, she had never spared a monster just because of wealth or social status. After dinner, she headed home. Past the skyscrapers, the neighborhood she lived in was dominated by red brick buildings. Her apartment was rather a shoe box than a studio apartment. From head to toe, she was smelly and dirty; she took a long bath and washed her hair, which was as red as a blaze, the opposite hue to forest green eyes. After that, she spent three boring days. Not even a summon from the ORP. Apparently, she had been overthinkin
Damn, it was the buzzer, loud and insistent. Was it morning yet? She lifted the curtain at the bedside. No. Who the hell was it at this hour? Normally, she’d wake up with the slightest sound. That’s why alcohol and hunters did not go well, but man did they drink.The earlier phone calls popped into her mind. Was it Dave? Did he show up at her door because she was not answering her phone? They had broken up for like, what, three years? Unbelievable.After their relationship ended, for months he had constantly called her and had annoyed the entire building by buzzing every door until she let him in. No. It was not because he loved her. His ego just couldn’t take the fact that she dumped him.Danica had known better then. It had been the second breakup. After the first break-up, she had accepted him back out of pity, but what did he do? He cheated on her again, with multiple women. She had fallen hard for a playboy without an ounce of loyalty. Dave had broken her heart repeatedly.In pa
They met at a cafe. Dave was rid of his usual smugness. He looked in a dream just like the hunter, but was not as crazy as yesterday. He admitted that there was something weird about his memory.“Tell me how you spent yesterday before you called me. Describe the way you remember.”“I don’t know. Everything’s confusing. The night before that I went into a fight with—you know—umm”“Elaine?” Her former friend who he slept with while he was dating Danica.“Yeah. Now it was like a dream. I was angry with her—and you—because normally you’d call me and ask me if I was okay. But you didn’t. The weird thing was I found out the date and the changes around me, but I was still confused.”“Like you were living in two different timelines at the same time.” That’s how George described his experience.“Exactly. How do you know that? When I woke up this morning, I also remembered I’ve already broken up with you, but—”“Do you remember meeting any suspicious non-human?” She did not know an other-race t
Danica hesitated to continue. Being lit up meant whoever was in the building might not be a thief. Or was this light the magic of the building itself?With caution and silence, she set forth, the safety flipped off of the pistol. She pulled the door–heavy, thick, and decorated with ornate carvings–, and it opened with a draggingly long creak. That was freaking loud. She cursed at the door inwardly. Stupid door! So much for the silence.At least nobody jumped out, yet. Stepped inside, she found herself in a brightly lit empty hall. Vast, vintage furniture against the walls, old paintings on the wall, and dark curtains hang at the windows. She did not need to touch a thing to find out how every surface was squeaky clean. If the light had not surprised her, this should be. In the middle of the hall, she waited for something to happen. Nothing happened. There was a door before her. She took slow steps towards it. Upon opening the door, the pretentious tranquility ended. An utterly unexp
When he led her down the stairs, she eyed Marie, who was biting her lips and giving her a conspiratory look. An hour later, she was in his mansion, having lost the crowd at last. Marc and Loyd arrived with Marie, Both whining they would have come sooner if they had known. In the garden, they sat down for dinner, five of them. Reign asked Mr. Hacke to join and the old man cried before he took a seat at the table. “You’re coming with me back to the kingdom, my darling,” he announced, in the middle of their noisy chats.“Am I? Why?” she set down her fork. “Are you…giving me orders? Already?”He tilted his head, candle lights half-shadowing his face. “If you’d love to stay behind, of course you can. I’m not giving you an order. Chaos could break out soon without me or you with the remnants of…” he halted as though searching for words, “my enemy. I simply thought you’d agree with me to come along.”She looked down at her plate.“I’m sorry I brought this up at our engagement dinner.” He k
“Cut!” the director’s voice boomed. Nova slumped her shoulders and dared a peek at his direction. This was the 51st take of one single scene and the sunlight was burning her in her voluptuous Snow White costume. This was how a vampire would feel under the sun, she thought sarcastically. “Snow White’s supposed to be sad thinking about her late mother.” he shook his head. “You looked freaked the hell out. This is her birthday. She is ‘lonely’. Again!” Her jaws felt so stiff, almost paralyzed with trying to get into that sad smile the director wanted for hours straight. Before she was ready, the director shouted, “Action!” She looked at the giant birthday cake and sighed. “Happy 16th Birthday, Princess,” said the co-actress. She smiled wryly, or tried to. Thankfully, it worked! “Cut.” Director Clark rose from the chair. “Good job, everyone.” She exhaled in relief, before slumping down into a nearby chair. For today’s scenes which started at six am in the morning, she had to wake
“Wait, Your Highness! Your outfit! How silly of me.”The woman gestured to her assistants, who gingerly carried what she was going to wear for this evening over to her. She stared at her dress in a daze; it was easily the most beautiful gown she had ever seen. The sleeveless, low-cut dress was neither black nor silver, or both perhaps. It shone whenever it moved in their hands. Delicate forest green laces were sprinkled with…diamonds.She swallowed the urge to refuse it, biting down on her lips not to slip that it was too expensive and she couldn’t accept it. Unlike the other dresses she had received from him, this felt so different. This gorgeous dress was full of his adoration for her; she looked away, blushing at her thought.After she put that on with their help, she stood before the mirror they had removed from her wall. Her lips were a few shades darker than her red hair; her cheeks appeared naturally flushed; and her eyes looked glittering, just like all the jewels over her bod
“What is it?” she questioned, pretending to be angry. “You have nothing to be jealous of, do you?”“I wouldn’t dare, Your Royal Highness,” Marc joked. “It’s just, you guys were not even kissing, but the tension was so high. We were afraid you guys might burn down the building.”“Yep. Yep,” Marie agreed vehemently.“You guys trust him now?” interrupted Sage. “Stop, Sage,” protested Marc, but the other one continued, “And you, you don’t care about her. Why are you even here?”Danica was worried Reign would do something to him and prepared to stand between them.But, he merely responded, “I am starting to regret that I healed you. I probably should’ve let you crippled for your entire life.”She spun around and faced him. “You healed him?!”“Yes, my darling,” he smiled, lighting up the entire apartment, or the entire building perhaps.“The vampire prince—sorry—king could smile?” Loyd remarked, sounding dumbstruck.“I’ve seen him smile,” retorted Marc.“I’ve seen it on the net too. But, i
Patrons went back to their noisy selves although several were still staring at her. “Who cares if you’re someone’s fiancee or not?” he grinned. “By the way, did he tell you? That I saved his life.”“Yeah, Marc is a hero,” said Loyd, looking at him fondly. “He saved the vampire king’s life.”She took the glass Marie was handing her. “Now that I think about it, yeah, he almost told me about you. I think he was saying, “Your friend...” when I started screaming about going back.”“You shouted at him. Now you’re a hero,” Loyd pitched in. She noticed some tables went silent around her. She ignored them and swallowed. The scene in the throne-room from five months ago replayed in her mind.“Thank you, Marc,” she said seriously. “What did you do?”“It’s nothing,” he sighed. “Compared to what he had suffered. I’ve never met someone like… your boyfriend. He’s your boyfriend, right? Excluding Loyd obviously; he is the most amazing. Anyway, I was at the palace gate when the evil vampire king was
After a long, frustrating flight and drive, Danica was finally back in Brickland, Umbre. Along the way, she had yet to meet a single person who did not recognize her as an alleged-criminal-turned-princess. Some stared at her, whispering between one another, and others–especially teenage girls–would surround her and try to take photographs with her, and of her.“I don’t want you to take my pictures. Please. Please!”Nobody gave a damn. They would press their faces next to hers and would take selfies while her face ended up grimacing or contorting. A few would caption their photos and upload them to their social media accounts, right under her eyes.Their hashtags, #withcc, #ccandme #atairport, #milestonemoment, etc., etc. CC meant Cinderella Convict, apparently to someone who practically shouted that to her face. One group of teenage boys even asked her, “Are you hungry now? Do you want to bite me?”“No. I don’t have bloodlusts.”“Really?”They looked disappointed while some girls gav
In the wind, his sentinel cloak was flapping. It tickled her calves below her nightdress. The garden below was in pandemonium just like in the tower. She registered all those noises vaguely while she was too aware of the single presence, the male holding her.“We’re going back in,” he warned.In one swift movement, he lifted both of them back into the tower. Once their feet touched the bathroom floor, he stood face to face with her and leaned down gently, cornering her against the half-broken window. Along the ragged window frame, he placed his hands, seemingly unaware the sun was hurting them.She stared when he spoke, unable to take her eyes off of him.“I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight. It was my fault,” he murmu
That did not surprise her. All of Fragor’s followers hardly consider her a princess anymore since they realized what she was for their king: a device. This sentinel must think the same. He must not feel the need to grace her with a response.She left the chair and went to the wardrobes where she had found the blanket, all along feeling a hawk-like gaze on her back. It seemed her remaining few days would be even more suffocating than her previous days. While Eirene hadn’t given a damn about her well-being, she had kept her good company most days.This new person… she sighed, placing the blanket in the far corner where she had found it. She went to the bed and sat down in the middle. There was no scenery to look out. No sunlight. She had wondered how the sun would feel against her skin since the seal on her arm was gone and she was a hybrid. Hours must have passed while she was sitting on the bed and the person at the door had yet to move at all. She got down from the bed to take a bath
Danica did not blink at the word, ‘the ritual’. She did not care what he was going to do with her. Footsteps retreated and footsteps entered while she did not bother getting up from the floor. Pulling up her hood, her new attendant stopped by the bedside; she did not look like an attendant at all.“You know…” said Eirene. “I came here to kill you.”“I know,” she mumbled. “How do you know?!” her eyes widened.Danica got up, holding onto the edge of the bed to support herself. Her limbs felt heavy after days of no movement. “I saw you in the crowd the other day.”“You couldn’t have possibly known my—”“Here…” she looked at her in his glowing eyes. “I’ve been a hunter for years. I could at least spot someone who wants to kill me. You probably thought I was a dumb bitch, didn’t you? How convenient you want to kill me. Do it now.”Eirene showed her fangs. “No. I changed my mind. You deserve to live suffering.”“Oh…” she breathed, disappointed. “Your father let me in even though he knew I