24 Hours

The Conversation

Aria POV

“Aria stay under here! Don’t move and don’t make a sound!” My mom says as she pushes me under the bed.

“Mom don’t go!”

“Be the big girl you are now and listen to me. I love you Aria,” she sends me one last smile and stood up just as the door burst open. The vampires were already here. They didn’t say a word as they walked to where my mom stood and killed her. They all took a turn sucking blood from her and laughing about how the mighty warrior had fallen.  I watched from under the bed as she fell limp and heavy on the floor. What blood she had left pooled underneath her. 

As I watched the blood flow out of my mom, I felt a rage burn in me that I had never felt before. I felt it so much that everything turned red. I grabbed at the daggers in my boots and crawled out from underneath the bed. I killed ever bloodsucker there that night. It was the first time I had ever killed anything, and I loved the feeling I got standing over their ashes.

I grumbled and rolled out of bed. I’ve had the same dream since my mom died four years ago. I’m twenty now, and in a way, I blamed myself for her death. If I hadn’t listened to her and stayed under the bed, I would’ve been able to help and protect her. But I blamed my dad even more. He decided to leave my mom alone that night and be with his w***e. If he had been home and loyal to my mom, he could’ve saved her. If he hadn’t hurt my mom by cheating, she would still be here.

As you can expect, I don’t talk to my father anymore even though he tries to speak with me. As the general’s only heir, I became general when I turned 18. That was the last time I spoke with him. Now, even though he had a child with the w***e last month, only my children can inherit the title unless I am killed before I have kids. I smile savagely as I think back to when the w***e heard that. She wanted to have her future bastard child be the general. She’s power-hungry, and now she can’t have the power she tore my parents apart for. She probably doesn’t even love my father; she just loved his power.

In this new world, the humans built, there are no political leaders. The military is in charge of everything, and they make all the rules. The military is royalty in this world. All humans are happy with the military leading. They get protection from the vampires, and in exchange, they follow the rules. The general is the king. You have to be born in the general’s family even to have a chance at leading the military. It’s been this way for the past hundred years.   The only thing from the old world that still exists is the abandoned buildings that will collapse at any moment. The military is royalty in this world. 

I stand up and start putting my uniform on. The female uniform consists of a mini skirt, a button-up shirt, and boots. The only difference between the male and the female uniform is that the male uniform has pants instead of a skirt. Females have pants as well for cold weather and if they want to wear them instead of the skirt but most choose to wear the military skirt. For some reason, it’s easier to move around in. The color of our uniform is primarily black, but there is a dark navy blue lining the shoulders and stripping the wrists. Last but not least, I strap my sword to my waist and put my daggers in my boots.

I smile and turn around when I hear the approaching footsteps. My majestic bonding animal, Shadow, was walking up to me. She’s a Snow Leopard and is as white as freshly fallen snow, except for her black spots and black paws. Her spots were as dark as night with no moon and no light. If you ever meet her in battle, she will be your last Shadow.

“Good morning, Shadow!” I greet her cheerily, “Would you like to go have breakfast now or go start training first?”

Shadow gives me a look and growls. Through the bond, I could tell which one she wanted.

“Breakfast, it is.” I chuckle and open the flap of my tent so that Shadow could walk through it before I followed her out.  

I had moved the army out of the city walls onto the battlefield yesterday so we could prepare for the battle to come. This was the battle where we were going to experiment with the new gas poison we had developed. We made sure it didn’t harm humans or our animals, so now we needed to know if it would harm the vampires. If it did damage the vampires, we would release the gas in every vampire city we knew of and could reach.

My tent was at the center of the camp, and as such, the cooks were close to my tent. The cooks needed to be protected because most of them weren’t soldiers. They were putting themselves in harm’s way so that the army could eat. It wasn’t the safest job, but it was one of the most critical jobs. 

As usual, they had Shadow’s food already out. The cooks didn’t like giving Shadow her food personally for whatever reason. I remember hand-feeding Shadow when she was little, but everyone knows that she’s just a big softy when it comes to me. They never had my food out waiting for me, however, because they always liked convincing me, I need to eat meat before going to get my food.

“Ah, General Mercia!” One of the cooks, Laina, said while walking towards me, “How much meat would you like today?”

“Like every other day, I would like no meat,” I laugh at her attempt to get me to have meat.

“You’re not one of those people who won’t eat meat because an animal had to die to get that meat, right?” She shook her head at me in disappointment.

“No, I just don’t like to eat meat because I feel like it slows me down on the battlefield, and I can’t move properly,” I shrug my shoulders as Laina laughs at me.

“You’re completely different from the old miss. She wanted her meat done right, or she would beat us. It was tragic that your father married her,” Laina sighed.

I laugh, “The b***h can’t do anything now. She wanted her bastard child to be general so that she could continue mistreating people,” I laugh even harder, “That w***e doesn’t even realize her so-called reign is over!”

“General Mercia !” Laina looked at me in shock, “I’ve never heard you speak like that about anyone before.”

I look at her, “That b***h tore my family apart. Because of her actions, my mother was killed right in front of me. I laid underneath that bed and watched those f*****g vampires kill my mother all because that w***e wanted my dad’s power and made it, so my dad wasn’t there to help protect my mom that night. She deserves all the names I have to call her. When I inherit the family house when my dad dies, I’m throwing her out into the street, along with all the bastard children she may have. I don’t care if vampires kill her.” My hands were in fists at my sides after I said this.

Laina gasped, “Aren’t you living in your family house right now? As the general, don’t you control who lives in that house already?”

“The b***h manipulated things and had my dad put a requirement on me being general. As long as he lives, I can’t remove people from that home. I’m sorry I can’t talk about this anymore. May I please get my food? Shadow is almost done eating, and that means it’s almost time to train.” 

“Right away, miss,” The cook bowed a little and was about to leave, but I stopped her.

“Please don’t speak of what I told you today,”

“Yes, miss, I will forget we ever talked about your parents today.”

“One more thing. Don’t call me, miss. I don’t want to have any association with that b***h. If you don’t want to call me general, then just call me Aria.”

“Yes General Mercias,” With a flick of my finger, she knew she was dismissed to go get my food.

I walked over and sat next to Shadow and pet her as she finished her meal. I found it funny how Laina scurried away from us after she gave me my food. She either did it because of Shadow or because of our earlier conversation. I stabbed my food angrily. If she tells anyone of my house situation, I’m sending her back to her home city to cook there. I didn’t want negative rumors of me spreading about the camp. I wasn’t going to be seen as weak.

“Come Shadow,” I stood up when I finished eating, “We have wannabe soldiers to train.”