OWNED BY THE VAMPIRE KING.

"The night my parents died was the night the world reminded me that humans were never meant to win. Eight Years Ago. I still remember the smell of that night. The night had been calm, almost peaceful. Moonlight slipped through the curtains of my bedroom window, painting pale silver lines across the floor. I had fallen asleep to the distant sound of my parents talking downstairs, their voices soft and comforting. Back then, home still felt safe. I didn’t know monsters had already found us. The scream woke me up. My eyes snapped open as my heart began to pound violently against my chest. At first I thought it was part of a dream, some fading nightmare clinging to the edges of sleep. Then something crashed downstairs. Glass shattered. Furniture scraped violently across the floor. And then I heard my mother’s voice. “Marcus!” The fear in her voice made my stomach twist. I sat up slowly in bed, clutching my blanket tightly as confusion filled my chest. “Mom?” I called weakly. No answer. Another loud crash echoed through the house. Then footsteps. Heavy. Slow. Wrong. Before I could move, my bedroom door suddenly burst open so hard it slammed against the wall. I screamed. My father rushed inside, his face pale and strained in the dim moonlight. I had never seen him look like that before. He looked terrified. “Dad?” My voice trembled. He rushed toward my bed and grabbed my shoulders firmly. “Seraphina, listen to me,” he whispered urgently. “You need to hide. Right now.” “What’s happening?” I asked, my chest tightening with fear. Before he could answer— Footsteps echoed from the hallway. Slow. Calm. Like whoever was coming wasn’t worried about anything at all. My father turned toward the door, his body instantly moving in front of me. Then the doorway darkened. A tall figure stepped inside. The air in the room suddenly felt colder. Moonlight revealed pale skin that almost looked grey… red eyes glowing faintly in the darkness… and long fangs resting behind a slow smile. My breath caught in my throat. A vampire. Behind him, my mother stumbled into the room. Tears ran down her face as she clutched the doorframe for support. “Please,” she begged, her voice breaking. “Please don’t hurt them.” The vampire didn’t even look at her. His red eyes were locked on me. Studying. Interested. My father stepped forward. “Take me instead.” The vampire tilted his head slightly. Then he smiled wider. Everything happened too fast. One moment my father was standing. The next— A sickening crack echoed through the room as his body slammed violently against the wall before collapsing to the floor. “Dad!” The scream tore from my throat. My mother rushed forward, crying desperately. But the vampire grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the ground like she weighed nothing. Her feet kicked helplessly in the air. “Please…” she choked. The vampire sank his fangs into her neck. Her scream filled the room. Then suddenly— Silence. He dropped her body to the floor like it meant nothing. I couldn’t breathe. My entire body felt frozen. “No… no… please…” I whispered weakly. The vampire wiped blood from his lips before turning toward me. Slowly. His crimson eyes gleamed with amusement. “Well,” he murmured. “What do we have here?” My body finally reacted. I ran. My feet slammed against the wooden floor as I rushed out of the bedroom and down the hallway. “HELP!” I screamed desperately. “PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!” But deep down, I already knew. No one would come. No one ever came when vampires were involved. I reached the front door and grabbed the handle. Something seized my arm and yanked me backward violently. Pain shot through my shoulder as I screamed and kicked wildly. “LET ME GO!” I bit his hand. I clawed at his face. I fought with everything I had. But I was only a child. “You humans always fight so much,” the vampire muttered. Suddenly something pressed tightly over my mouth. A cloth. A strange smell filled my nose, instantly my vision blurred. “No… please…” I whispered weakly. Darkness swallowed everything. --- When I woke up, my body felt sore. My head throbbed painfully as I forced my eyes open. For a moment, nothing made sense. The air smelled strange—damp, metallic, and stale. I tried to sit up. My head immediately slammed into something hard above me. “Ah!” Pain shot through my skull as I gasped. Confused, I looked around slowly. Cold iron bars surrounded me. My breathing stopped. I tried to move again, but there wasn’t enough space. My knees pressed painfully against metal. My back brushed the bars behind me. The cage was so small I could barely sit properly. Panic exploded in my chest. “No… no…” Tears filled my eyes as memories from last night crashed back into my mind. My parents. The blood. The vampire. “They’re gone…” I whispered brokenly. A sob escaped my throat as tears streamed down my face. I curled into myself as much as the tight space allowed and cried until my chest hurt. But the crying stopped when I heard voices. Footsteps echoed somewhere nearby. Low murmurs. Metal clanging. I lifted my head slowly and looked through the bars. Rows of cages stretched across the large room. Some hanging from chains. Some stacked against walls. Some barely bigger than mine. Inside them— People. Children. Men. Women. Humans. Fear filled my chest as I watched them. Some sat silently with empty expressions. Some stared at the floor. Others trembled quietly in their cages. None of them looked surprised to be there. The large metal door at the end of the room opened. Everyone around me instantly went quiet. Even the people who had been whispering moments ago lowered their heads quickly. The footsteps that followed were slow and deliberate. A woman appeared. Tall. Elegant. Her dark dress swept across the floor as she walked. Her face was beautiful in a cold, sharp way that made something inside my chest tighten with unease. Her eyes moved slowly across the cages like she was inspecting merchandise. And suddenly I remembered something. Stories. Stories people whispered about a woman who sold humans to vampires. A woman who trained them like animals. A woman who punished disobedience until they either broke… or died. Madam Virella. I had heard the name before. Everyone had. Parents warned their children about her like she was some kind of nightmare used to scare them into behaving. They said she owned one of the largest human pet shops in the city. They said she enjoyed watching humans suffer. They said no one who ended up in her cages ever left the same. And now she was standing right in front of me. Her heels clicked softly against the floor as she walked past the cages. Humans shrank back as she passed them. Some lowered their heads immediately. Some didn’t even dare breathe. Then her eyes landed on me. She stopped. Her gaze slowly traveled over my cage… my trembling hands… my tear-stained face. For a moment, silence filled the room. Then she smiled. Not kindly. Not warmly. Cold. Amused. “Well,” she said softly. “So this is the little fighter.” Fear tightened painfully in my chest. I didn’t even realize the cage door had opened until a hand suddenly grabbed my arm. Hope burst through me. I pushed forward and ran. I ran as fast as I could toward the door. But I barely took three steps before someone grabbed my hair and yanked me backward. Pain shot across my scalp as I screamed. “Stubborn little thing,” Madam Virella said calmly. Something cracked across my back. Pain exploded through my body. The cane struck again. And again. And again. My scream echoed through the room. But no one moved. No one helped. The humans in the cages only looked down at the floor. Like they had already seen this too many times. “You will learn,” Madam Virella said coldly as the cane struck my back again. That was the moment I realized the stories about her… Were not exaggerated at all. If anything— They hadn’t been cruel enough.