Veil of Blood and Silver

2 - I had one job!

Harlow

“Harlow?”

I turn away from the mirror and smile at Claudette. I still live with her because she won’t let me go anywhere else. Not that I mind, I like living with her. Claudette is good to me. I feel safe and wanted, though I often wonder if I have a family out there somewhere. Maybe I’ll search one day.

“It’s time to go, sweetheart.”

“I’m ready.” I smile.

I sometimes wonder why Claudette doesn’t have a mate. She’s a wonderful woman, and she deserves to be loved. When I mentioned it in the past, she chuckled and said she was fine on her own. I hope there is someone out there for Claudette; she deserves someone nice to love her.

Claudette and I make our way to the castle on foot. It’s a twenty-minute walk from the house to the castle, but Claudette and I enjoy the fresh air each day. Of course, Claudette could be there in less than two minutes if she used her vampiric speed. But she never does because I don’t have the ability to do the same.

Once we arrive, we get straight to work. I’ve learned a lot about food prep from Claudette. She doesn’t allow me to cook or bake because we soon realized that I could burn water!

People assume that Vampires don’t eat food because all they need is blood to sustain them. They could indeed survive on blood alone, but they do eat like everyone else. From what I’ve seen, they enjoy a varied diet.

The Queen and her children are hybrid Vampires and Lycans, and they cannot survive on blood alone. The Queen wasn’t always a hybrid; she was a Lycan Princess, but she became a hybrid once she mated with the Vampire King.

I’ve never met a Lycan before. Well, aside from the Queen and her children. But I’ve never seen them transform. I don’t know, perhaps I may have once upon a time, but I wouldn’t know.

“Princess Natalia,”

I turn away from vegetable chopping to look at the young princess. Natalia is a beautiful sixteen-year-old and treats everyone as her equal. But she also knows her place is above us all, and we don’t take liberties. Treating everyone like a friend is noble, but she is a princess and cannot be seen to look weak in front of important guests. Most Royals and Noblemen would deem the princess’s kindness as a weakness.

Princess Natalia drops down onto a stool at the kitchen island and sighs.

“Is everything okay, Princess Natalia?”

The princess chuckles. “Claudette, how many times do I have to tell you to drop the princess? Unless we have guests, it’s really not needed.”

Claudette chuckles. “I’m sorry. So, Natalia, is there something wrong? You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

The princess props her elbows on the counter and rests her face in her hands. “Hi, Harlow.” She smiles at me.

“Hi,” I whisper back.

She looks at Claudette. “I’m just having a bad day.” She shrugs. “I’m going to Lykos tomorrow to spend time with my grandmother.”

Claudette furrows her brow. “And that’s a bad thing?”

“No,” Princess Natalia laughs. “It’s not a bad thing. I love my family, and getting to spend time with them in Lykos means everything. But I worry about AJ. I know that I don’t do much when I’m here. Well, because I can’t. But I like being close in case anything happens.”

“Can I be honest with you?” Princess Natalia nods at Claudette. “Nothing has changed in over six years, Natalia. I’m afraid to say it because I don’t want to hurt you. But nothing will ever change.”

The princess sighs. “I know, but I can’t help hoping for a miracle.”

I feel for her. She hasn’t seen her brother since she was ten years old. He has missed out on his younger siblings growing up, and that is time none of them can get back. It saddens my heart, but nothing will ever bring that time back.

I look at the clock. It’s time for me to visit Prince AJ.

“Claudette?” I had to interrupt their conversation, but she would worry if I disappeared without a word. She looks at me. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I need to take Prince AJ his meal.”

I always refer to the blood supply as the prince’s meal. It makes it sound less savage.

“Okay, sweetheart. Try not to dally today; there’s a lot to get through.”

I smile. “Of course. Princess,” I tip my head. She smiles, and I walk away.

I head to the cold storage unit within the castle. I need to collect four bags of blood, which will need to be warmed to imitate the sense of drinking blood from a live human. Of course, it’s not the same, but no willing donors would allow the feral prince to drink from them.

The King said his son would kill anyone who got close to him. So, he wouldn’t risk it. No one deserves to lose their lives for merely trying to help. However, the kingdom does have a fair few blood donors of different species.

Vampires rarely drink the blood of fellow Vampires, but it is known to happen with the newly turned. They will need to feed from their sire to make them strong. They then find a donor to help them through the first few years when bloodlust becomes a problem. After that, it shouldn’t be a problem for them.

Claudette told me that taking blood from an unwilling donor is not allowed. If you can’t control your need to attack, then the King will deem you feral and execute you. Of course, it still happens, and the King doesn’t know every incident. But he has people stationed all over the world to keep an eye on things.

I imagine there are some Vampire’s out there who bite people, drain them, and get away with it. But whatever.

I collect what I need and turn to leave, only to startle when I see someone watching me. Not this bitc.h.

Vogue Masters is a beautiful girl on the outside but not so much on the inside. She’s tall. Really tall for a woman, but as a Vampire-born Lady it doesn’t surprise me. She’s red-headed, cheekbones you could cut glass on, and has a really bad attitude.

Vogue has made my life difficult since I arrived here. She can’t stand the sight of me, yet I don’t know why. I have never done anything to her, but it seems she hated me on sight.

Claudette warned me not to get on the wrong side of Vogue. Her parents are well-respected within the Kingdom of Anthaian. Lord and Lady Masters are decent people, though they do not converse with the help, and their daughter can manipulate her way out of anything. Trust me, I’ve seen her do it.

I am a staff member and not even a Vampire, so I have no power here. Vogue treats me like something she has trodden in and cares nothing for those around us who might see what she’s doing. She’s never been physical with me, but she is verbally abusive toward me. Actually, she’s vile and also childish.

You have no idea how hard it is trying not to clap back. I wish I could tell her to get lost, but I have to hold my tongue because I can’t afford to lose this job. Prince AJ needs me, and in some strange way, I need him.

“Can I help you with something?” I ask, deliberately leaving out the respect of calling her Lady Vogue. She may be one in name, but Vogue is no lady.

She raises her perfectly manicured eyebrow while folding her arms over her chest. “I see you still haven’t learned any respect. But what can I expect from the help.”

I refrain from rolling my eyes. She always calls me the help. Yes, that’s technically what I am, but it’s just plain rude!

“Off to feed the freak?”

Gods above, I hate this woman, and hate is not an emotion I want. But she doesn’t make it easy to like her. She calls my prince a freak, but she was the one wanting to be his wife. It was her family trying to get her married off to Prince AJ. Naturally, that didn’t happen because the King and Queen don’t believe in arranged marriage. Plus, they thought he had a mate. I want to scream that at Vogue, but I can’t.

“If you’re referring to Prince AJ, then yes, I am.”

“The kindest thing you could do for that monster is poison his blood supply and put him out of his misery.”

My eyes widen in shock.

How vile can one person be?

It’s not the prince’s fault this happened to him. He’s not completely lost to his feral state. I don’t care what anyone says; there is still good in him. I see it in his eyes each time he looks at me. I see beyond the feral. I know there is more there than what others believe.

“It would be only too easy, and no one would blame you.”

I cannot believe this woman!

“Why are you saying something so horrible?”

Vogue smirks and walks deeper into the room, closing the door behind her. I swallow hard because I do not like to be shut in! I don’t know why, but being in this room with the door closed scares me. It is irrational because the door only locks from the outside, but still.

“I said that because it would be the kindest thing to do, Harlow, and you know it. There is a reason the King never allows a feral to live. Because there is no way back for them. Why keep his son alive? To torture the prince? His family?

“What kind of life is it for AJ to be locked away like a beast? Forever tormented, and never finding peace? You can’t honestly tell me you enjoy seeing him like that?”

I shake my head because I don’t like seeing the prince locked up. Nor do I enjoy knowing he will be that way forevermore. But I know it’s for his own good right now.

Vogue smirks again. “So, why not do him a favor and put him out of his misery?”

“Because I’m not like you!” I snap.

My eyes widen because this woman could kill me in less than a second for my insolence. Or worse, she could drag me to the King and ask him to punish me. If that happened, I could be locked up or killed in a terrible way or even sent away.

What would happen to Prince AJ then?

No one else could get close enough to feed him. He would get worse all over again. Prince AJ is finally calm. Well, when I’m in the room, at least. I cannot allow him to sink back into complete loneliness.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

Quicker than lightning, Vogue’s hand wraps around my throat. My eyes bug out of my head as she lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing at all.

“That was a very foolish thing to say, Harlow. I give you advice and a suggestion, and you think you can speak to me like that?”

I cannot breathe! And I can’t grab her hand to try and relieve some of the pressure because I’m clutching the blood bags tightly. I can’t risk anything happening to them because these are the last bags in storage. The new shipment isn’t due until Friday. It’s only Tuesday! The Queen informed me that there had been a delay. She was pissed, but it couldn’t be helped.

I close my eyes when Vogue’s fangs drop. She hisses, and blood gushes everywhere. I should have seen that coming!

“Now look what you did. You’re such a clumsy girl.” She drops me to the ground, and I greedily suck air into my lungs while slipping in the blood, now staining the ground.

Wasting blood of this magnitude is a crime. The King and Queen will be so angry. Vogue won’t get into trouble because she’ll blame me. This insane Vampire split the blood bags with her claws, knowing I would be in trouble for wastage, especially as this blood was needed for Prince AJ. After what Vogue just said about poisoning Prince AJ, and I did not agree with her, she decided to do this.

What am I supposed to do now?

Where the hell will I get four pints of blood?

The prince needs to feed. Yes, going without for a few days might not make much difference. But his routine will be broken, and I don’t know what that will do to him. Besides, every bag is carefully checked and counted. Every drop of blood is analyzed before it so much as reaches us. I can’t even hide what happened here, and Vogue knows that.

I’m fucke.d!

“You might want to clean that up before someone spots it. That was the last of this month’s stock. Wasn’t it? The next won’t arrive until the 1st? Friday, right?”

I nod without looking at her. I feel so deflated. I’m not weak, but I know my place. As much as I was to slap this woman’s teeth out, I can’t.

“I best let the Queen know how clumsy you’ve been.” Vogue doesn’t wait for me to protest; she walks away from me, laughing to herself, and I’m left here, not knowing what to do now.

I don’t know if I ever prayed to a God or Goddess before I lost my memory, but I know they exist. The Vampires have their own God, and the King’s father is the First Vampire. The Queen is also related to Gods and Goddesses through members of her family mating with them. I will pray to every single one of them for a solution to this mess.

Gods, please help me.