We pulled into a hotel. I laid Kaden in my lap; his breathing seemed to turn for the worse. My heart is heavy for the boy.
I wipe away the sweat from his face. People would assume I would get used to watching people die over time. In a way, it's true, but when people get under your skin like a disease, the disease spreads to your heart.
In some ways, the boy reminds me of myself when I was younger. Delicate and fragile. I used to live with my father, who was a simple villager like everyone in the village. We would plow in the field and plant some food and wait for them to grow.
It was hard work, but it was nourishing, and the feeling of completing a huge thing did wonders for your body and mind. It keeps you busy throughout the day.
Later, my father taught me some simple self-defense moves with knives and how to deal with people who are bigger and stronger than me, but it doesn't change the fact that I was a weak child.
After losing my family, I had lived on the run for two months with no one caring for me. I was certain I was going to die from the cold and the hunger.
My body shivered from the painful memories, and seeing the same boy in my lap makes me want to fight harder for him. With a desperation that grows within me by the second.
I wipe more sweat away from his face, and I hear the cage opening with a rattling sound. The vampires started pulling each of us with no gentleness, and some people in the front shouted with pain and terror.
I turned to see what was happening. More vampires gathered by the spot and grabbed more people on the spot, and another vampire appeared when I was the last one left in the cage along with the boy in the lap.
I felt my heart drop when I saw the same vampire from earlier, who vowed to make me pay dearly. He looked at me with a ravishing look on his face, but his eyes were cold and fierce like fire.
He said with a snicker, his belly rumbling like a storm, "It's time, darling."
His eyes flashed with a disgusting light, and then he quickly grabbed my shoulder. I tried to move back and fight him off. It was instinctive, and I didn't think it through. I didn't want his filthy hands anywhere near me.
He was far stronger than me, and my strength was crumbling by the second. He pulled me out of the cage, and another vampire with black hair and cold red eyes appeared and then took the child out of my arms.
I felt my heart drop with pain and agony. The child in my arms woke up with clear panic on his face, and he started to cry. He reached out to me with a savage hold, and I held onto him as well.
Then the vampire who was holding me kicked me in the head, and I felt dizzy. Dark spots appeared in my vision, and then it caused me to release the child in my arms.
When I was forced to let go, the child cried even sadder; his cries turned to shrieking like painful howls in the night. It broke my heart, and then it only made me remember my family's cries before they died.
It was agony to my soul. Pure agony.
I fell to the ground with my heart ripped in half, and the back of my eyes burned. My throat burns with a lump that almost chokes me on the spot, and before I know it, two vampires hold me to the ground.
I couldn't move at all; I was utterly trapped. I felt useless in that moment, then a burning hot rage flashed through me like fire. My veins burned like ants crawling under my skin. There were no words; pure, utter rage grew within. It was hot and fiery.
"Stop."
A simple demand is uttered in the chaotic night, and everyone freezes on the spot. The voice was lazy and amused, but the words had frozen everyone, and I caught my breath when I was released a tad bit.
I lifted my head when I recognized the silver-haired prince. The golden mask covered his entire face, and only red eyes bored into me with a deadly light. But something was different. Like he knew something about me in that moment, and I felt a cold shudder down my spine.
I breathe heavily from the fight, and the vampires holding me down ask in a low, fearful voice toward the prince, "My prince?"
Before they continued speaking, the silver-haired prince spoke again, his words filled with menacing demand, "Release my thing. I don't like him dirty."
Unaware that the two vampires holding me down glanced at each other in confusion, they then released me, and I was able to get my arms back. I didn't rise up, and I only remained on my knees.
I clenched my hands tightly, and I swallowed hard.
"Feral one, calm down. Why are you raging?"
I looked up, and his face wasn't mocking, but it was a genuine question. His words only made me confused, and I felt like I was being mocked, but I answered.
"They're taking Kaden away from me."
The silver-haired prince tilted his head at me, then turned to the child weeping in another vampire's arms. The child was thrashing like a menace cat, and then the prince said to the vampire with black hair, "Release the child."
The vampire obeyed the prince fearfully, then released the child immediately like a cat was on fire. The child fell to the ground, and I immediately felt the child lunge in my arms like a wildcat.
The child was shaking in my arms. He was a sobbing mess, and I could feel his snot coming out his nose and mouth and then all over my clothes.