The Vampire King's Bride

The tree sat by itself soaking up the rays of moonlight just beyond my window. Green leaves swayed in the gentle breeze, causing some to fall to the ground. A memory surfaced in my mind, one of my parents and me sitting underneath a tree exactly like this one laughing. I didn’t have many memories of them, but the few that remained I held close to my heart. These memories often brought some happiness to this dismal room I slept in. The room contained no bed, just some blankets on the floor and few to no belongings. If I had any belongings, they were always taken away from me as ‘slaves don’t have nice things’. That’s what I was, a slave. This lifestyle was chosen for me after my parents passed away when I was five. Mr Akuma took me in and made me what I am today. He was the one that always made sure I knew my place: beneath everything and everyone else. It has been almost sixteen years since my parents died and as the years went by my life got worse. When I was little, it started off with small beatings when I couldn’t get the washing right or I broke a plate when serving food. It progressed from simple chores to feeding him and he loved doing it from my neck. Mr Akuma is a vampire and his eyes glowed red because he strictly only drank blood and no other sustenance. I was a vampire to except I hadn’t been allowed to go through the transition to become one yet, so I stayed a human. ‘Cordelia, time to go,’ his voice came from behind me, snapping me back to the present and out of the thoughts of the past. I turned around making sure I kept my eyes on the floor, my dark brown hair falling around my face. If I dared look at him, he would beat me till I was unconscious. ‘Yes, sir,’ I replied, bile rising in my throat. He often fed from me once a day, sometimes twice, depending on how much energy he used. For once, I wished he would use someone else, I hated the whole process. How close he had to get to my neck and lately he had started to move his hands around my body. He led me to his room and got comfy on the bed. I usually fed him in his office, never in his private room, I thought, as the door locked behind me. ‘Come here,’ he ordered. I forced my feet to move forward even though they wanted to turn around and run. ‘Excuse me sir,’ a voice came through the door. ‘What is it?’ he growled. ‘We have a pressing issue that needs to be taken care of.’ ‘Can it wait?’ ‘No, it can’t.’ My Akuma got to his feet and walked over to me. He grabbed a hold of my wrist and dragged me towards the bed. Before he left he made sure to put a handcuff around my wrist and the other to the bedframe locking us together. ‘Ill be back.’ He dropped my hand and started walking towards the door. I watched him go my eyes not leaving his short plump frame. As the door clicked into place tears welled in my eyes because I knew what he was going to do to me when he got back. How could life be so cruel to take my parents away and doom me to a life like this? I glanced out the bedroom window and stared at the moon. It really looked beautiful tonight making me wish I was outside sitting under the sky. The hair on the back of my neck started standing on end. Something was watching me I could feel it, those eyes staring right into the back of my head. I turned around slowly worried about what I was going to see. In the corner of the room was a cloud of smoke. It swirled around until it formed a loose shape of a human figure. The smoke figure was barely able to keep the shape going like it lacked power to keep itself there. It started moving from side to side, small movements at first then it got bigger and bigger. The next thing I knew it was floating over to me and there was nowhere I could go. ‘Who are you?’ I whispered. ‘The one that is going to bring about your destiny.’ The voice that floated out of the smoke was very light and barely there. It was hard to hear what it was saying yet I understood every word. ‘What does that mean?’ ‘You will see.’ The smoke started to fade away, but as it was fading the voice whispered the words,’ Time is running out.’ Time is running out? Running out for what? Or is it my time that was running out? Looking around the room, I could understand why time was running out for me. There were so many things I had put up with, but what I knew Mr Akuma wanted to do with me, was one thing I couldn’t let him do. He would kill me for it, that much I knew. I started to feel like my world was coming down around me. The smoke figure's warning that time was running out, filled me with a new determination, making me look around the room again. There had to be something that I could use to get these handcuffs off me. The bedroom was nearly empty as I searched for what was in reach. There was nothing, absolutely nothing that I could use to get these handcuffs off. Fresh tears filled my eyes and rolled down my cheeks. The warning the smoke figure gave me a fear that went right down to the core. Looking out the window and up at the moon, I prayed to anyone who might be able to hear me. ‘Please help me,’ I whispered to anyone who could hear me.