A Shadow Of True And Heart

~Bleeder~

Liliana Roslyn.

I snap my eyes open at the irritatingly high-pitched alarm. Squealing as I sit up, a bright smile dances on my lips.

"Yes!"

For the first time since forever, I'm actually excited to see the break of the day. My birthday is today and also my last day on this hellscape earth, wishfully.

Rolling out of bed, I yawn and stretch my arms with a bubbling feeling within me as I hum a tune on my way to the bathroom before I swiftly open my baggage parked beside my bed to take out a black-coloured satin top and a skimmery skirt.

Once laid on the bed, I go to peep into the bathroom just to find no one in yet. The confined-space bathroom that the generous bitches of a species that enslaved mine created for us. I bet no human would have been alive if not for the precious blood that they need from us.

Soon, the warm, soapy water is cascading, washing down my skin with a burn from all the bruises I've gathered. At first, I flinched until I heard the sounds of the girls, and I hurried, not wanting to battle my pants in this tight space.

I put on my dress in a flash, clinging as it brings out the shape of my frame, right after tapping off the shower and drying my hair while the scent of shea butter and natural honey fills my nostrils. There is no closet, so I have to dress up in the bathroom before I make my way to the dining hall.

I make my way to the food station and grab a hamburger and a cappuccino.

The sweet taste of the coffee sastifies my taste buds as I look for an empty seat to eat, but a bulky security bender stops me on track. He points his index finger at the coffee.

"All students are advised to drink juice because of today's event."

Don't fall for that prank! He's not caring about me. He just wants my blood to flow well, so whoever buys me is happy.

"I'd prefer cappuccino over other drinks. It's my birthday today, so I should spoil myself a bit." facetiously, I reply, licking off the foamy cream that has formed a moustache on my upper lip. A thin-lipped smile comes up on my face.

Mr. Alaric's mouth slightly parts like he wanted to say something, but a familiar, annoying, feminine voice arise from behind one of the pillars interrupting him and earning our attention.

"Let her be, Dominic. She's going to be marked as an bleeder anyway; perhaps Lord Lucas will choose her." And it's Miss Rogue. She and I are sworn enemies.

The school bell dings after a while, giving me a chance to escape those two good-looking monsters.

I'm finally eating my breakfast in serenity when a voice startles me as its owner crashes onto the seat next to me, and my heart skips a beat.

"Hey, babe. Morning!" Rita winks at me, then dives into her food.

"Get me a new coffee. Now!" My voice is ragged, and as I stare at the spilled coffee on the table, my right hand is still glued to my chest.

She scoffs, her lips moving aggressively. "That's surely no way to greet a friend."

"Well, obviously, not one who spilled away my coffee, spoiling the morning of my birthday already." I'm speaking with pain in my heart.

"Oh, now that reminds me," she shifts closer to me, more like bumping into me, and blinks, "happy birthday!" Her voice fills the entire space, grabbing attention from nearby seats, and I facepalm.

She pulls me into a tight hug, and I smile with radiance. "Thanks, love." Pulling away, I add, "we should head back to class before Miss Rogue eats our heads for lunch."

"Not you acting like a good girl just because of your wants." She says and I laugh.

Oh, she has no idea how much of a luxury I'm going to gain from death today.

The hallway is getting engulfed by students rushing to class. It's ingrain in our nature to get in before the instructor. Well, count me out and that's why I get punished each day.

We are all settled, and soon, our instructor, Mrs. Rogue, graces us with her presence, and without a warning, the class falls silent instantly—principle 25th.

"As you've all known, your 71st principle indicates that you're to walk to a room where you'd be examined before you're labeled and then transferred to the Mass mall where you'd be bought based on your labels, right?" she recites.

"Yes, Mrs. Rogue."

The students tremulously answered her all together. No one dares not, except me, of course! I'm the girl with two heads who can challenge her.

"This year's different, however. You won't be labeled first. Lord Lucas has taken it upon himself to label you all based on your school performance.". She explains, but her clarification was not enough for me.

This is bad. I'm to be labeled a bleeder and sold out immediately, but what if so-called Lord Lucas decides otherwise and makes me a breeder or a feeder?

"Why won't the Lord s meet us?" Asks a voice. Wait, was it mine?

The room instantly fills with gasps from students as their eyes fall on me.

I've f****d up big time. Stupid Ana. Mrs. Rogue may deliberately send me off to a cruel owner, or she may even buy me, and I swear that will be hell for me. A raging, blazing hell.

"f**k! Ana, you should have kept silent." A pity voice rings in and out of my head.

Mrs. Rogue's lips curve into a devilish smile. Her shoe clicks with each step as she walks toward my desk with antipathy. She hates me, no doubt. "Of course, your leaders are busy and won't want to waste their time on sleazy creatures like you."

Her chuckling is perilous; she pats my cheek lightly, but I don't show any ounce of fear. One lesson I've failed to register: never look a Bender in the eye and never stand up to them!

They hate dominance from us.

A tad bit, I was convinced that she's done, when she stopped the patting and pulled back. Little do I know that she has tons of vengeance waiting to throb me to death.

My hands suddenly feel numb and my throat begins to burn, and that was the start of it. Involuntarily, my body begins to tremble before it lands on the floor with a thud. I'm wheezing and gasping for air that's now limited, and like a block of ice, it's choking me.

Freak, I can't breath. The pain is instantaneously killing me. I'm dying. Apparently no humans get a pleasant death anymore since the Great Mass, but at least mine shouldn't be this horrific.

Insentience's surmounting me abruptly, as life's slipping away from my grasp.

Like a reversal, serotonin instantly circulates throughout my veins. A relief from death that I never thought I had in me. Isn't this what I've always been longing for?

A whine escapes Mrs. Rogue's mouth; I guess she was halted from her goal of killing me painfully. "She wouldn't learn, so I decided to punish her, Master." The b***h defends herself from a presence that my eyes are too wet to catch sight of.

"You're to train them, break them, not kill them, especially not today. You shall be punished!" He roars into the wind gruffly.

My body has gotten more feeble. In a flash, darkness fades off my senses into obscurity.

My eyelids flicker open to a dark and warm room. There's a cozy feeling in this unfamiliar room that I wish to admire, but my blurry scenery hinders my desire. A throbbing pain strikes my head when I try to sit up, and my body slams back into the bed.

I'm unable to see any images for understanding, and my hearing ability is far from me. What happened to me that made me so weak?

After a short moment, the door creaks open and then gets slammed almost in a flash. A pleasant, fruity smell fills my nostrils before a familiar, intoxicating, masculine voice speaks with a flat tone. "You are awake already." His accent sounds Roman.

Something about his presence is unnerving. My human senses have never been this heightened because of a Bender before. "Now, I see why Mrs. Rogue wishes to get rid of you. You're strong for a human. I, for one, didn't expect you to wake till I arrived at my kingdom."

Now, who the f**k does he think he is?

Oh, wait, have I been bought?

"Helpless, yet a terrorist in her thoughts." Can he hear my thoughts? Only royals are the ones recorded to hear humans' thoughts. "And in case you're wondering, you've been asleep for three days now. I was beginning to think that you'd die from hunger." Feeling pressure next to me, I realize he is seated on the edge of the bed.

I'm annoyed that all I can do is listen. I'd have given his white ass some response.

He pats my cheek, and fright travels down my spine. The last time this cheek got patted, it all went horribly. Funnily enough, my memories are settling back in, and recognition of how doomed I am drills in more.

I wasn't supposed to last this long. Three days since my birthday now?

I'm supposed to have died and be free from this bondage. And in this environment, I don't think I'm still at the academy. Oh, stupid me, he mentioned his kingdom earlier.

Heck no! Is he one of the Lords?

The door slams open yet again, inviting a trembling voice from another presence.

"What the f**k do you want?!" Now the stranger sounds so pissed.

Whoever has disturbed us better has a good reason, or they might just not see the daylight.

"We've been ambushed, my Lord. The Harlows, they are here." A manly, croaky voice says with haste.

"That's impossible."

"It seems it isn't anymore. The bridge between the worlds must have been paved, Lord Lucas." His voice is trembling.

I wonder who the Harlows are. Out of the blue, my brain hisses back to his words. Lord Lucas? The cold-hearted, sinister Lord? The most feared after the king himself? The one rumoured to cause the suffering inflicted on us even though no one knows the story of how?

My body freezes as I wonder why he hasn't tainted my blood yet and drained me.

I hear the faint clicks of their shoes as they go farther away from the room I'm kept in.

But then, a feminine voice startles me sotto voce: "Lord Lucas has ordered me to watch over you."

She must be a human and a bleeder at that. Her voice is weak. I wish I could see her or talk to her.

Silence fills the room; her breathing is the only uneven sound in the space. I'm disturbed by how she looks like a bleeder surrounded by those benders. The pain she must be going through with the taint in her blood.

And in the distance is the sound of war chanting, explosions, and the rumbling of water waves. By the way, I've evaluated that I'm being transported by a ship rather than on ground.

A few minutes later, the door opens with a slam against the opposite wall. Lord Lucas is saying, "order all water benders to freeze every broken under spaces. Earth benders to mend the irons. I want the ship fixed as soon as possible. We must get out here."

"Yes, sire." I can hear some footsteps rushing in the opposite direction.

"And you can leave." His voice must be directed to the girl because she leaves the room afterward.

My nerves are spiking up. Something is wrong, and I'm kept in the damned darkness.

And why the f**k isn't this man killing me? Just stop my suffering for me.

"Liliana Roslyn," he begins as he sits back down. Now, he knows my name too? Oh, what does he not know?

"When you'd do your next period?" My instinctive voice teases.

"I'm gifting you to a friend. Sleep now?"

He can't mean what he said. He can't gift me out. Why has fate just had to f**k me in the ass? My train of thought is suddenly wheeled off track as I succumb to a deep slumber.