Princess' Journey

Chapter 6

    The memory of that day makes me regret how I had just yelled at the real Leka. I began to think about him so much so that it felt as if I could sense his every movement. Then, without realizing what was happening, I was seeing the world from a whole new perspective- I also was no longer in my room. I was walking thru the open kitchen door (which was now cleaned of blood…thank goodness), up the spiral staircase and down the long hall.

    Then, I saw my bedroom door, and the large oak panel cut out and placed on hinges like a large doggy door. The next thing I know, I am looking down at myself, face buried in the mattress, and then it’s gone. I now feel a large nose pressed against my cheek, and Leka starts sniffing me, continuously asking ”What doin’? Hey ‘lora, what doin’?”

    I begin to laugh, and between chuckles and Leka’s incessant sniffing I say “Being smothered by a hundred and twenty pounds of fluff! Now get off of me you giant dust bunny!”

    Laughing, Leka flops onto the bed next to me and curls up with his head next to mine. I rub his ears, letting my hand sink into the dense fur; I hear his breathing slow and realize he is asleep. I begin to doze off next to him, exhausted from this morning’s events, and I decide to keep what just happened to myself. I need to make it through this birthday party first, then I can worry about whatever just happened. As I doze off, Mother’s words creep back into my head “You’re special. Special powers take time.” I don’t know if I want to be special.

    The rest of the week goes by with out any more incidences, our ball gowns arrive on Friday and the workers begin putting decorations up and cleaning the ballroom for Saturdays “festivities”. I had honestly forgotten about the party because I was too busy pestering Leka about his dream.

    “Come on Leak! Just tell me!” I beg as we continue our daily walk around the grounds. It’s the only time that my hound and I can spend together without distractions, without feeling eyes watching our every move.

”Princess, I haven’t told you about it any other day this week, what makes you think today is any different?”

    I look down and notice an awfully familiar look in Leka’s eyes, “you’re enjoying this aren’t you? Keeping me out of the loop. Well mister, you’re going to have to tell me at some point, so it might as well be now!”

    I leap on top of the unsuspecting canine, pinning him on his back with my nose touching his long snout. Smiling, I begin to kiss his nose and tickle his belly. This always works, I think to myself as I begin to hear Leka’s voice: “’Lora stop it! That tickles! I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not going to work!”

    I tickle him some more before I feel a heavy sigh followed by a submissive “alright”. Rolling off of Leka and sitting cross legged on the soft damp grass, I look at him expectantly. Laying on his side facing me, Leka looks a bit annoyed at my tactics to get him to tell me about his dream.

    “Look Alora, the dream I had earlier this week, was about your death.” Sighing, Leka continues, “the party was interrupted by screams and there was blood everywhere. The ferals are coming and your mother is the one who lets them in.”

I feel a look of pure shock fall across my face, “I know mother’s crazy, but she wouldn’t kill me, the Council won’t allow it!”

    “Alora, my dreams are never wrong. You know this. I need to keep you safe, and in order to do that we  must leave when the toasts begin at the party.”

    Never breaking eye contact, Leka sits up and tells me about the plan that he and Olek had come up with.

    “We leave through the tunnels once the toasts start. You, me, Olek, and Annaliese. We will meet up with Jakob and Amaru once we are outside of the grounds. From there they will take us to a safe house deep in the forest where we will meet up with someone who can help.”

I have known Jakob and his hound Amaru since we were toddlers. He is a few years older than me, with blonde hair and icy blue eyes. He's more like an older brother than a best friend. I trust him with my life, with all of our lives.

    “Okay. I mean, I have no reason not to believe your dream and I don’t really wanna die, so I’m in.” I say as I stand up and start heading back to the house.

    The sun is just beginning to set, and I can smell that supper is ready. I suppose that once I am done eating, I should go straight to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a big day.

    That night, I could not sleep. My mind was too busy running through what Leka had told me that afternoon. Why would mother want me dead? I know I’m an ass sometimes, but I don’t think it constitutes death. I tossed and turned all night, tortured by more memories of my childhood, when killing her daughter was the farthest thing from mother’s mind.

    I remembered sitting at my desk in our makeshift classroom when I was about fifty years old. The subject for the day was the difference between humans and vampires. Living in Romania, Anna and I were exposed to the usual vampire myths; burning in sunlight, coffins, immortal, excreta. But mother was going to be absolutely sure her daughters knew where they came from and the real differences between humans and vampires.

    “Now, my dearies, what is the main differences between the two races?” Mother asked in a kind and supportive voice.

    “We live longer!” Anna shouted; her hand outstretched into the air.

    “Very good Anna, we do live longer. But are we immortal?”

    “No mamma, we age just as humans do, only slower. And we stop aging at two hundred years of age.” I answered in a small voice.

    “Amazing job Alora! We do age up to the age of two hundred, and then we stop aging. We aren’t immortal though. I want you girls to remember that. We can get sick and hurt just like humans. So you mustn’t be careless, my lovelies.”

    Jessabelle smiles at us and continues onto busting the next myth, “Now, what about sunlight?”

    I pipe up, giving mother the answer. “We can go out into the sun! We just can’t stay out too long, or we get sunburnt!”

    Mother smiles and nods. “You are correct Alora. We do get easily sunburnt. But the burns we receive are excruciating and can cause nasty infections that make us terribly ill. So, we must limit our exposure to the sun. But the myth is completely wrong about vampires bursting into flame if sunlight touches them. What about our diet?”

    Anna stands up from her desk and enthusiastically gives her answer, “we can eat whatever we want! But we get weak and more likely to get sick if we do not drink blood!”

    “Yes, my dear. But we must drink blood for other reasons as well. If we neglect the consumption of blood, we slowly begin to starve and eventually not even normal food can sustain us. It is at that point where we must choose between death or a life of murder and bloodlust. We become Sălbatic, Feral, and lose our sense of self and humanity. We must keep a healthy balance between food and blood.”

    She smiles and closes her book she’s been teaching from. “I think that’s enough learning for the day, who wants to go make cookies?”

    I wake up and notice that my cheeks are wet, I've been crying. Wiping my face, I gently get out of bed so that I don't wake Leka, and head to my bathroom. I stand in front of the mirror for a few minutes, not thinking about any on thing in particular. Just the memories I have with my mother and father, the good ones that is.

    I sigh and place my hand on the mirror and my reflection mimics my gesture, "tomorrow is going to suck ass."

    I return to my bed and try to soak up what little time I have left before our big escape.