Chapter One.

BOOK 2 of 'The TAMED Series'

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Sorah’s POV.

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“My lady, please wake up”

A voice calls out to me from afar, breaking through the rainbow clouds of my scintillating little world and scrunching the lazy muscles of my face.

I recognize this vague voice, it’s the same one that truncates my merry dreams every morning of every day in my life.

The voice of my loyal handmaid.

“My lady, you need to wake up and get prepared for breakfast at the mansion”

Grumbling and moaning in defiance was my usual response, one I’m still not willing to grow out of.

But not today.

I rise like a creature under a summon and twist my neck aside to where my caller’s at in a crouch. Her chocolate-brown face lights up with a gentle smile and I hasten out of my thermal layers of blankets.

“What’s with the sudden urgency, Mei?” I speed to my dresser and cringe at the dowdy reflection of myself in the mirror hanging against the wall and above the dresser.

My fingers work themselves with untangling my messy golden curls and I peer lower to see Mei bowing her head in the mirror as she relays her response dutifully, “My lady, the Mistress adjusted the schedule for today and ordered the kitchen to prepare breakfast an hour early.”

I turn my head this way and that, tilting it down to the left to actively attack a huge ball of tangled golden locks with a frown on my face.

“Please prepare my bath, I can’t go down like this and I can't afford to arrive at the table late”

“Right away, My lady”

I listen to her rapid steps and the eventual shut of the door, and my hands quit their work to drop down my sides. My eyes hinge on the translucent glinting orbs reflecting in the mirror, and my mood starts to descend into the dark clouds I hide in my heart.

For years, I’ve lived alone in this cottage. Away from the rest of my family and loved ones. No, it wasn’t because I was some revered princess who needed to be tucked away from vile eyes. Neither was it because of a chronic ailment. I wasn’t dying any moment, and I wasn’t being punished for an offense either.

The only fault I was remanded here since the early age of 5, was because I wasn’t the blood they wanted.

The Strauneuffs is a prestigious and gifted family. For generations, they refined the most elite and excellent of Vampire Hunters. Their bloodline is remarkable, and their talents, rare per se. Every other reputable family falls second and could never bolster the expertise to rival their unshaken position in society.

My mother is the only daughter of the legend, Mona Armin, who was the most exceptional of male and female Hunters alike. She garnered endless lauds and awards for her esteemed name.

Perhaps, that was the only Hunter who single-handedly stood on equals with the Strauneuffs and challenged their honor.

That must’ve been why they were eager to have my mother married into their family. So they could cultivate her exceptional genes and birth a new generation of elite warriors who would shake the world.

My mother, Morgana Anthens, and my father, Ulysses Strauneuff, are blessed with four children and cursed with one.

It's a disgraceful flaw to the reputable family to have birthed a child who is deficient in the prodigious genes and innate talent that the family boasts of.

I'm a fourth child with a younger sister behind me. Now that I think about it, I should’ve been the last, so I would’ve clearly gotten that demotion since I was practically the last at every other thing.

“My lady, your bath is ready. Please, hurry up. The Mistress will be displeased”

Mei’s pensive fit brings me away from the dresser and strides toward her. I might not have the golden genes my family is haywire about, but I have one thing that hurt my mother more than a cancerous ailment.

I'm her mirror reflection; her clone.

Mei pulls me through a series of dresses while I tend to my wild hair with the only old hairbrush I owned. My unruly curls even threaten to tangle the brush like the way those giant octopuses seized and capsized pirate ships back in those days, and I argue with it and pull at it until Mei leaves the disarrayed wardrobe and darts to my rescue.

Morgana Anthens loves her children and is passionate about molding them to be the best Vampire Hunters out there.

Lucky for her, her first child is a girl who now reigns in her mother’s glory and more. Erza is the best in the family, and my two older brothers are racing closely after her.

None of my siblings look like my mother at all, not the graceful illuminating platinum golden locks of hair, the snow-draped flawless skin, the pointed nose, enchanting large jade-green orbs, enamoring face with high cheekbones, nor the grace in her slender and tall frame. Even her modest voice.

Maybe what I don’t have in common with her is the assertive edge in her voice and the cold corners in her eyes whenever she sights me.

Morgana Anthens desired to have a child who would inherit her genes to perfection as she had inherited them from Mona Armin.

That’s why she despises me especially. I’m the only child who mirrors her physical characteristics and ruined her precious talent seedlings.

Mei steps away after brushing my hair back, and I hear her soft voice comment with pleasure, “My lady, you look as dashing today as well. Too bad the one expectant of a suitor is you”.

I find her comment rather amusing and show it in the smile I pull while rising from the chair before the dresser. With my golden hair flowing down my back and not mimicking bed nests, I look just as I had glimpsed in an old photo album where my mother was captured on a similar morning like this.

It’s a cotton white dress with the finest of embroidery that was handed down to me by my most respected and beloved grandmother, Mona Anthens.

That’s the only true relative that adored my existence and cherished it till her last breath.

~

Mei and I arrive at the Strauneuff mansion and the air respiring through my body becomes colder than winter frosts.

This place is my sacrificial altar. I’m often laid bare and lashed with the most venomous of words and scarred by the scorn and hate in their eyes.

They say we never get used to pain, no, it was toxic. One should never have to be tortured so to the point where one just cave in and start to crave even more of it. But each day, with the same routine reiterating to no visible end, I was once rearing towards that craving.

“My lady, have your seat”

Upon our arrival at the grand dining hall, all the chatter dies, and scornful eyes cynosure my way. My shoulders would shudder and my heart would clench with painful palpitations. Sometimes, my head spun and my breath ceased at intervals.

I count my steps to the spot I had at the classic dining table laden with beautiful carvings on the surface. The hall is pin-drop silent and all that echoes in my ears are the soft taps of my flat shoes as even the shortest distance to my seat feels like I’m taking a walk around the estate.

“You’re late to breakfast, Sorah”

That’s mother’s snort and I cower in and halt in my steps. Mei emulates the same as I lift my head to meet the scorn of the woman who birthed her curse and still won’t relieve herself of it. She’s as dashing as I look, despite the displeasure crumpling her face.

Mother occupies the high seat beside father, and they both give me stares that constantly bear down on my heart and soul that I’m nothing but a burden they’re putting up with. I’m not something they will keep for long. Soon, I’ll be kicked out to go seek shelter and sustenance for myself.

My life is running an impending countdown.

“I deeply apologize, mother. It won’t happen again” I do this with a curt bow and hear her empty huff which serves as a signal of dismissal. I proceed to my seat at the far end, isolated and lonesome.

Mei perches beside me quickly. The servants never eat with us, they eat their meals after we did. I yearn for Mei’s sitting, so I won’t be this blatantly shunned, but this isn’t my cottage and the rules of the Strauneuff household are rigid.

“Erza’s received the invitation, she wouldn’t miss your big day for anything” My elder brother, and the first son of the family, Yasha, speaks with delight and I lift my head from my served meal to peek across at them.

Stella, my younger sister, straightens her shoulders smugly and fixes a huge smile on her freckled face. Stella relishes in her air of confidence as she announces, “Erza promised to procure the dress for me, and that too, while she’s only returned from a vampire hunt”.

That’s right, my younger sister is getting married and in four days at that. Stella is 20, and only four years younger than me. After I was birthed and the family fell into anguish, my mother conceived again and Stella’s birth averted the affliction.

Erza is married and already has a family of her own. She lives far away and her heroic achievements are often boasted about over times like this.

After all, she’s the undisputed pride of the family.

I absently and dejectedly eat my meal while peeking at the hearty conversation issuing on the lively half of the table. Stella’s so elated about her wedding and is particularly loquacious today. Her smiles are luminous and her voice is rich with emotions. It’s rare to see her like this.

Since childhood, Stella hated me differently. She was most aggressive and satisfied herself when she injured me. She was a wild one, and despite her antagonistic treatment towards me, I’m deeply worried and concerned for her.

Her fiancé is the infamous Eliot Serhin. No one pays heed to his repugnant lifestyle since his performance as an excellent Hunter coats over it. But I was wary of his character when I listened to Mei reading me the News headlines and accounting for each Hunter’s achievements.

I’m not allowed to own a television or a phone, so I rely on a radio or would send Mei to go get one out of the Newspapers that arrive in the mornings.

The world outside the estate is one I’m curious to explore, but banned by my family from ever setting a foot out to. I only know the many ends of the expanse of the estate and nothing more.

Oh, save for the woods that span behind the fence close to the back of the old cottage.

I remain in my seat until they’ve all left, finally having the chance to offload the weight on my chest with a deep exhale.

I look and find Mei with a crestfallen demeanor and I source a rueful smile. Mei has been by my side since the day grandmother took her in when we were children. And together, we live in my lonely but cozy cottage.

The entire mansion is booming with the elation of Stella’s wedding and I excuse myself back to the cottage where I have a lot planned out to do.

“Upma”

I call out gently, getting out of the cottage through the back door. My eyes sweep the backyard curiously and my ears perk up as I avert my gaze to the thick tree branch over the roof of the cottage. It’s from an old large Oak tree that yearns a branch over the fence and across the cottage. Its large branch now serves as a bridge for the creature I’m calling out to.

Shortly after my call, the leaves begin to tremble and the snaps of twigs fill the air. Birds squeal and fly off while I grin and rest my back against the door.

“Hey, Upma”