Deception Of Fate

Moonlight came through Anna's bed-chamber window making a faint glow on her pale face. Thoughts of being found out by her father plagued her, running frantically through her mind. Her thoughts are even more jumbled than usual. Her new found love was the cause of her distress. Demetrious was a vampire. Everyone knew that humans and vampires were at peace, but for how long? Her own father the King had made it so, peace was fragile but it was there, new laws had been passed to benefit both races. One, in particular, stood out among all and was regularly enforced by both races. That even though there was peace, no love would be shared. No love period. No couples, no marriage. nothing. It was her kingdoms most enforced ruling. Anna sighed and walked to her bed-chamber balcony. She absently plaited her light long brown hair. She shivered as she sat on the stone bench just outside the balcony doors. Anna's gaze turned towards the river that flowed just outside the castle walls, its dark waters were cold this time of year, small purple flowers lined its banks. She shivered again only wearing a light nightgown was not a good idea in the early autumn. Again her mind wandered. She was terrified not only for herself but for him. Demetrious was the youngest of the vampire princes, Six in all the vampire royal brothers were frightening. No one quite knew how to be around them, they were battle-hardened, smart, extremely beautiful and all of them had tasted human blood before. The Unified Court held the five older of Demetrious's siblings. Her own father and four others made up the human side. It had twenty years since the conception of the Court and many things across the kingdom had changed, some things for the better other... not so much. It was a very fine line. Her time with Demetrious had been short, sweet, and constantly full of danger. It was amazing that anything had come of it honestly. Anna remembered the first time she had seen him. It was at the Unified Courts yearly banquet two years ago. Anna had just turned fifteen and her father wanted to present her to the Court. She entered her family's grand ballroom, coming towards the staircase wearing a light blue satin gown, a pale white ruffle train tailing close behind her. Her hair had always been hard to tame, Its length had been put up into a wavy bun, a single row of pearls had been threaded through her hair. She had worn a pearl ring to match. Everyone was here tonight, the yearly Unified Council ball was not to be missed, everyone was dressed to impress, even Anna knew that this was very important. The whole Council was here. They met only once a year. This time it was being held at her family estate. She looked down at the crowd, she knew some people, her friend Ala was already dancing with her fiancee. Many were dancing in the middle of the room, it was a swirl of color, the long room was lined with tables full of food and drink, in between the tables on the walls where huge glass windows, making the room feel so much more open and light, the moonlight was streaming in lighting the room. Each window had a double door under it, making access to the garden available anywhere you were in the hall. It was warm, Anna could feel the heat coming from the fireplaces from atop the staircase. "Ok here I go" she whispered to herself. She slowly descended the stairs looking out at the crowd as she went. Anna could see the vampire council the five vampire princes, all brothers who were presiding on the council currently they were standing beside one of the rooms infamous stone fireplaces, eight in total they were large enough to fit five men inside them. She knew the princes only by face, not that would want to meet them the stories she heard, they were brutal. They gave their enemies no remorse. They had a record of being unmerciful to everyone that stood against the Council's wishes. The brothers were standing so still silently talking among themselves, they almost looked like statues carved from marble, their skin pale and their faces sharp, but their eyes, it was easy to tell a human from a vampire, the eyes they had were pure silver. With the crowd around them, you could tell no one wanted to get to close. They were in the middle of a group that surrounded them. Though vampires and humans were mixed throughout the room, no one was getting close to the group. If their reputations did not scare them, then another reason was because of the way they looked. They were beautiful, astonishingly so. How could such mesmerizing creatures, be so ruthless? Anna reached the last step, her gaze swept to the whole room once again, then as she was about to take the last step she froze, A boy no older than seventeen was standing beside the brothers, Anna had not seen him standing there before, his dark black hair caught her eye, he was talking quietly with the oldest brother, he had his backed turned so she could not see him clearly. She heard him laugh slightly at something that he said, he then moved so that his back was not facing her anymore, their eyes locked. Even though there were at least half a dozen people between them, their eyes met. Anna still stood frozen. she could not believe what she saw. His eyes were the purest silver she had ever seen, she could not look away they rooted her to the spot. She could not breathe, her breath was caught in her throat. She felt slightly off-balance Anna held the rail for support. How could he be looking at her like that? His face had a look of total disinterest as if he would rather be doing anything else, nothing like how was he a few seconds ago, laughing with one of the five. But the look in his eyes was terrifying, Anna realized that was why she felt so uneasy. They looked at her as if they saw everything about her and wanted to consume her whole but at the same time, it looked like they saw nothing as if those silver eyes saw straight through her body. She looked at him confused, He was handsome for sure she thought, as all of his race was, but... what was this feeling of dread? She could not stand it. Anna was conflicted. How could he show so much malicious? They have not even met. He began to move to take a step his gaze still on her, a full second had passed. She could not breathe. Her hand shook. He took another step, backward she realized, towards the fireplace, his face still had a look of complete disinterest only his eyes showed what he could have been thinking. He looked away and turned back towards the Five moving closer to the wall and out of view. She took a breath. What was that about?