A Place to Belong

As a young child, I was never allowed to play with other children. The adults of the maids and cooks grudgingly took me under their wing to teach me to cook and clean from the age of 4. I was punished a lot, but I had learned quickly not to let them see me cry. After all, I was born from two different species which was very rarely heard of. When I was little, I believed it was because I had already done so much wrong in my own life, but didn't find out until later that it was because, unless I was beaten and broken, I would be a force to be reckoned with. My days always started the same - get up before the sun with the other staff, clean up from the previous night's revelry amongst the alpha, Luna and betas, then start helping with breakfast. By 7 AM I needed to be ready for school - if I wasn't, then I had to spend the day doing chores and being yelled at. There is no child on this planet that would enjoy that. At 12 years old I was told I had come of age - though I wasn't sure what for. The Sunday after my 12th birthday, I was told that I had been disenrolled from my school and the next morning I would be shipped to a new home. I had been excited, getting the cleaning done and helping with cooking with a lightness to my step and a smile on my face. The other cooks and maids scowled at me until one of them had finally asked me about this sudden change in attitude. They hadn't spoken to me much outside of giving me instructions, but some of them had started to grow attached to me. I happily chatted their ears off about how I was moving on to brighter and better places, described the home I was told that I was being moved to and about my hopes of finally being in a place where I would be accepted and treated as more than a tool. Everyone in the kitchen stopped and turned to stare at me as I gabbed. The woman who had asked me about my newfound joy had tears in her eyes and had covered her mouth. I started going on about finding a bag to pack my sparse clothes and toys in when someone had placed their hand on my shoulder to stop me. "I'm sorry baby girl", they said, "I hate to be the one to say this but I can't let you go on getting your hopes up like this." "What do you mean?", I asked. His answer made my blood cold and made sure I wouldn't say another word to anyone. "You're being sold to the Bloodthirst Clan - a clan of vampires. Every so often, they need new maids, cooks, or even playthings, and will exchange sanctuary for the smaller packs of supernaturals if they are given the bodies for their needs. Since you are both Fae and Werewolf, you are seen as less since you are not pureblood, and no matter how hard you have worked, they will never see your true worth. I can only pray to the moon goddess that you will only be a maid or a cook. You will not be packing your things, they will get burned anyway. I will miss you, young Chastity." My world shattered with that answer. Not only was that the first time anyone had used my name since I was about 6 years old, it also ripped away any hope I had left of being treated with some form of respect. I went through the rest of my day finishing the cooking and cleaning. I baked a large batch of browned butter toffee cookies earlier in the day as a way to say goodbye to the pack that had housed me for the first part of my life. I had baked them during my time of joy and hope, now I had a face that betrayed my numbness as I served them. The Alpha and Luna of the pack tasted the dessert and spoke the only kind words to me they had or would ever say, "Chastity, these are amazing! It is a shame you're moving on to a more prestigious place!" I stared at them - more prestigious? I could be killed, or worse, tortured for long years of my life for no reason other than some sick vampire felt like it. They could use me for food, for training. Who knows what could happen there? I lost hope of finding a mate to take me away from this position of refuse. No longer able to hold back my emotions, I slammed the empty tray I held down and ran back to my room, the cry of a heartbroken adolescent trailing me as I went. The next morning, I was dressed in a white smock, white pants, and white slides. Everything was white to represent my purity as a child. I stood with four other elderly members of the omegas, the ones who had no mates wore white as well, and the ones who did were dressed in blood red to resemble the bond that was to be broken. I was the only one in that pack that had not been pureblooded, and after I was picked up, the pack would be pureblooded once more. I never found out if they knew that it wouldn't make them any stronger, but I did know that they thought it would. A black bus pulled in front of us and opened its doors. A tall, pale woman walked out, every inch of her skin, save for her face, was covered in black leather. She wore sunglasses and held a black parasol to provide shade over her pale, elegant face. I barely heard her footsteps as she slowly walked in front of us, looking us up and down like livestock. She stopped when she came to me. "You. You are an interesting specimen," she said in a breathy voice, "Typically they send us the most useless and feeble. You are strong, young, and you smell of more than a mangy wolf. Yes, we will have a lot for you to do back home. Let's pray to the moon goddess that you can survive." With a toothy grin that showed her fangs, she ushered us onto the bus. We all sat in silence as we made the hours long journey ahead of us. The two omegas with me who had left behind their mates quickly whispered their rejections into the stillness of the air. Even my young self knew that you did not want to keep your bond when you were shipped off, the torture that you would need to endure to prove your mate bond across the territories could kill you. It was rumored that the vampires enjoyed killing mated supernaturals who insisted on keeping the bond. I sat staring out the window as I had to listen to their pained cries. The vampire who had gathered us sat watching with silent laughter until she noticed one of them had slumped over and was not moving. She walked over to them and grabbed them by the hair, sniffing at them. "Dead. A pity." was all she said. She bit into their neck and took a few long drinks. She walked back to her seat, wiping the remnants of her snack on a black cotton handkerchief, and watched us all for our reactions. The dead omega's body was still slumped over while we kept riding, now leaking blood onto the floor. It was another two hours to our destination and I had to keep myself from getting sick the whole time. I didn't know my parents but I cursed them anyway. Their selfishness in causing me to be of two worlds cursed me from a bad fate to a worse one. I had to find a way out of this. I swore to myself that I would. As we pulled to a large stone castle by the sea, I could feel my resolve to flee being replaced with uncertainty and fear. The vampire stood up, clasped her hands together and said to us cheerily, "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome home! Let's see how many of you survive!"