The Vampire's Hybrid Mate

Grounded

The next morning, Emmaline woke her up for breakfast. She cleaned herself and wore a casual dress, since she was going to see her family at the table. In order to avoid being the topic of the day, she had to dress modestly. “Good morning everyone” she says heading to her seat at the table, right beside her mother and Victoria. Looking at the plate before her, it’s Eggs, bacon and some bread. There is a small bottle of milk beside her plate as well. “Lala, where were you last night?” Asked her Father. Dropping the bread she was about to eat, back to the plate, she responded, “I went to see Mayre, father” then stus the bread in her mouth almost immediately. “Luna, do not lie to me. I ask again, where were you last night?” Her Father thundered with feigning annoyance.

“Father, I just told you,” she says, avoiding her father’s gaze. “You know, why don’t you just tell the truth, Lala?” Victoria cuts in.

“Hush!” Their mother cautioned Victoria.

“You had a fight at the local inn yesterday, you think I wouldn’t find out?” Her father asked.

“Yes father I did, those men bullied me when all I just wanted to do was to sit there peacefully”

“And drink, isn’t it?” Victoria cuts in again looking at Lala. “Sister, why don’t you stay out of this?” Merida says to Victoria, across the table.

“Henceforth, you will not step an inch out of this house till you decide to live and act like a lady!” her father said without looking at her face.

“No Father, that is absolutely unfair!” She says angrily, standing up from her seat.

“Would you sit at once?!” Lala lowered herself slowly on her seat. She suddenly lost appetite for the food and pushed it aside slowly.

“Your sister, Victoria, is getting married in two weeks time, to the same Prince Charles you rejected.”

“Good for her” she said and continued, “please I need to go in and rest.” She says standing up. Victoria looked at her with so much pride, she ignored her and walked out of the room. She felt so uncomfortable being in the house, no one understands her point of view. She lowers herself slowly on the seat beside her dressing mirror and stares at nothing in particular. Instead of wallowing in thoughts, she decides to go hunting. She went beneath her bed and took out her hunting knife and slid her bow across her neck and stued some arrows in her bag. She couldn’t possibly go out from the front door so she decided to go through her window, which leads directly outside the house. She put on her hunting boots and proceeded to the window.

“Lala....your mother told me to bring you breakfast.......” Emmaline's voice trails off after seeing her trying to jump off the window.

“Drop it on the table and do not tell anyone about this, understood?” She says sternly.

“Of course” Emmaline says timidly and shuts the door quietly. Lala heaved a sigh of relief and jumped out of her window. She landed on the floor successfully without a scratch. As she was about to go to the front gate, she overheard some of her Father’s guards speak in low tones. “The Chief has made a law that Lala must not step out of these walls. Anyone who lets her go, will face the penalty” says the head guard.

“But why won’t she be the woman she is meant to be?” Another guard says jokingly.

“I don’t know but she’s too feisty for everyone’s liking, I really don’t think she has any plans to get married” said the head guard taking a seat beside the other guards. Hearing how the guards spoke about her, pierced her insides, “how dare they speak about her In that manner?” She said inwardly. As she was about to go out to challenge them, she heard another guard speak, “if she wants to be a man so badly, the council are looking for more warriors to go to the dark forest, she should probably join them” he says laughing out loud.

“Why didn’t you go, since you are man enough?” Said the head guard.

“I’m not ready to die young”

“And you want her to go for it?”

“Well, she has won so many fights against men at different games and she even beat Stephan and Ed just yesterday at the local inn, what other proof do you need to show that she’s right for the task?”

“Watch your tongue!” said the head guard and continued, “enough of the gossip, head back to your positions at once” the head guard said and watched the guards walk to their positions. Immediately she saw them leaving, she tiptoed to the front and saw just one guard at the gate. His stature was intimidating but she knew she can’t risk being caught. All she has to do is to take down this guard and run as fast as she can. She picked up an arrow from her bag and took her bow, then shot the arrow at a wall a few inches away from the gate guard. The guard saw it and walked towards it, sensing a threat in the vicinity, he brought out his sword. Immediately he went to the other side of the house to check the environment, she opened the gate slowly and ran as fast as she could.

There wasn’t any need to take Maddie with her, to avoid the risk of getting caught. I’m no time, she was at the place where the warriors were preparing to go to the dark forest. A lot of clamoring and laughter filled the air. She headed to the first tent where she assumed registration should be held. Immediately she got in, she saw two men looking at a map, immediately they noticed her presence they looked up.

“Good morning, I would like to be among the warriors going to the dark forest” she says with a straight face. The two men looked at each other simultaneously and laughed hard. It took a while before they could stop the laughter, then one of the men spoke up, “ You must be Lala, right?”

“Yes, I am Lala”

“Do you think going to the dark forest is like winning any random fight?”

“You are desperately in need of warriors because the turn up is lower than expected. Here I am, willing to join and you want to stop me?”

With her response, the both men stared at each other and the second man arched his eyebrow and asked, “Do you know what it takes to be a warrior?”

“I’ve been training to be a warrior, my whole life”

“I see” he says, eyeing her closely, caressing his beard

“Well, we will have to put you to a test. There is going to be a test for each warrior by sunset, in front of the entire kingdom” the first man said.

“The entire kingdom?” She asked

“Yes, are you getting scared now?”

“No, just asking to be sure”

“Okay, go to the third tent to get prepared along with other warriors. You won’t be needing a bow and arrow, you know” As she was about to leave the room, the second man said to her, “ I admire your courage, Lala.”

Lala looked at him and nodded then left the tent.