Blood & Crown

(AURORA POV) My footsteps were the only noise that reverberated all over my head along with it was the moonlight that acted as a beacon to guide me out of the woods. I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, out of the bushes, and into the open yard leading into the kingdom's door. The more I ran the more the road leading to the kingdom seemed to stretch far away, taking me back into the darkness of the forest. I cried out for my father and then… I woke up. Beads of sweat ran down the side of my face as I tried to catch my breath. ‘It’s the same dream’ It's been so long since I last had that dream and just like before, it ended the same, giving me the same feeling of dread. I hated it. “Ms. Aurora? Your father's calling for you.” A knock on the door jolted my overthinking brain into focus and I exhaled to release the forming tension in me. “Yes. I'll be there.” I answered back. I got up and headed straight into the banquet. What greeted me at the dining table was my favorite food and the piercing glare of my father, leader of the vampire clan, King Lucas. I sighed and thought, ‘here we go’ “I sent the servants to check on you earlier and they said that you weren't in your room.” “I was in the garden.” Suspicion grew on my father's tone as he continued to question where his 22 year old daughter had gone. “Wha—” “Dad.” I cut him off. “I'm okay.” I said, trying to end the conversation as early as possible. I explained to him that I can't sleep so I tried to tire myself out by tending to the flowers. Finally, I got a glimpse of relief on his face. For the past few days, my father has become busy traveling to the werewolves territory for business purposes that he doesn't want to divulge to me. Though, I don't really mind, as I don't care about those issues but whenever he returned, his pent up frustrations would fuel his strictness towards me. I'm already stuck inside the Palace back home—not allowed to leave the kingdom—for 90 percent of my life. And now that I am finally able to convince him to take me here, in our interim house, I don't want that decision taken back just because of reasons that I'm not even privy to. “Dad.” I started. “Maybe it's time for me to go out and, you know, discover what's out there..” He stopped drinking and turned to me. “I—It’s been more than a decade since mom died. You wouldn't know—” “Enough!” He exclaimed. He put his cup down and wiped his mouth. “We're done here, Aurora. I forbid you to step outside this place! And I don't want to hear this topic ever again!” He stood up, called a servant and ordered her to clean his side of the table then left. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Well, that was a fail.’ I thought by now that I'm an adult, he would, at the very least, let me explore the forest nearby or take me with him outside. But I was wrong. After the servant was done, I continued my dinner and thought of a plan to sneak out. —--- Our whole kingdom was small and walled in so there's basically nothing to do there once you've explored everything, so I've yearned for something more that the outside world could offer. As my father slept the night away. I snuck out of my room, this time, wearing a disguise. Since the security was lax, I easily slipped out of the gate and into the forest. The woods were, unfortunately, uninteresting. There were animals that I've encountered before, plants that I probably could find at my greenhouse and even the atmosphere felt exactly the same back home. Dark, quiet and lonely. As I ventured even further down, I started to hear noises that are different from the usual woodland creatures produced. The sound of music and people chattering. I walked through a thick brush and lights seeping through the gaps of the trees touched my skin. At first, I was hesitant to even learn more about it but my curiosity had pushed me enough to come closer and take a look. I opened up the bush slightly and poked out my head. All I saw was, right outside the familiar dark forest were full of bright, hanging lanterns and banners that were akin to fireflies in the night sky. The adults with their colorful attire chattered about. The thuds were created by their kid's happy footsteps as they danced around, accompanied by the music produced by the percussion and string instruments, strummed by the energetic men. The stalls offered a wide variety of items. From clothing to fancy jewelries. From delicious-looking food to beautiful crops. All of it combined, drowned out the quietness and dullness that the forest brought. Everybody seemed to be having so much fun. I wanted to join in. To dance, to eat even without the benefits, to look at the items or even just to have fun chatting with the locals. But I just can't do that. I couldn't just waltz in with my pale skin and my red eyes and be accepted just like that. They are humans. Ever since I was born, I was warned of them. In fact, I witnessed it firsthand as to how cruel they could get and how they could hurt me in the worst way. We used to feed on them and they retaliated by annihilating several of my people that caused my father to walled his kingdom out of fear. We stayed away as much as we could but I would always see them venturing outside our kingdom. They would not do anything but just stare curiously and then leave. That was why, even though I knew the ramifications of being discovered as a vampire, I hope that they had changed their ways as we did ours, even way back then. Even so, maybe I could blend in as a human? I waswearing the dress that I've sewn myself based on their fashion and I wore my shawl to cover the insignia on my neck. Maybe I could finally burst my bubble and expand my reach? Besides, I don't think I would have another chance to find something as interesting as this, once my father was done with his business. I took a deep breath. Again and again. And with the heavy hammering of regrets buried down deep within my mind, I stepped out. Before I could even get close to the main area, I froze in my tracks as the husky voice of a man made his presence known.