The city loomed ahead. The capital. A jagged silhouette against the twilight sky while I travelled alone.
Trying to hone my vampire speed, I had crossed miles of dark forests, winding paths, and unfamiliar roads, all in silence. No unnecessary movement. No noise. I'd become part of the night.
My transformation was progressing. The more I practiced, the sharper my senses grew. My skin, still pale, now glimmered in the moonlight like polished marble. I hadn't just learned to look like, them I was learning to feel like them.
I concentrated as I walked through the shadows. My body feels different now. Not just the outward changes—sharper features, red eyes—but the inner pulse of magic. The pulse that thrummed with vampire power. When I concentrate hard enough, I could feel my fangs—hidden at the back of my mouth—lengthen.
I practiced often, especially at night. It was dangerous to fully transform, but I had to be ready for when the moment came. I needed their abilities—their speed, their strength, their uncanny senses. Every time I shifted into their form, I felt more powerful, more... invincible.
The capital's walls stretched up behind me. I could hear the carriages rolling past, their wheels crunching over the cobblestone streets. A few nobles were out in the open, their clothes sparkling like jewels in the light.
I hated them already. I watched them from a distance. Their polished smiles. The way they looked at the peasants like we were insects beneath their feet.
I stood in the shadow of a stone building, just outside the gates. The divide was so stark it almost physically hurt.
On one side, the vampire aristocrats and royalty—their palaces gleaming with gold, their carriages finely decorated, their lives so far above the rest of us. On the other side, the common folk. The peasants who labored to sustain the luxury on the other side of the gates.
The gates that divided us.
I lingered in the shadows, watching the carriages go by, my eyes tracking their every move. The nobles inside immaculate, untouchable, their faces haughty and smug—were completely unaware of the anger swelling in my chest.
Every time they passed, I felt the same suffocating hatred.
The perfect time came, the Communion celebration. A time when vampires came down from their mansion and palaces to celebrate with the peasants more for their amusement than anything else.
It was just an opportunity to flaunt and play with every other person.
The festival. It was a mockery.
The vampires came down from their mansions, dressed in their finest. The peasants lined the streets to watch, their faces alight with false adoration, their hearts crumpled beneath their devotion. It sickened me. The festival was a shallow display of false communion, something the vampires did every decade. A way to remind the peasants of their place.
Their laughter, smooth and hollow, echoed through the crowds of peasants who had lined the streets, adoring the very ones who had condemned them to lives of suffering.
I could see it on their faces, their eyes wide and desperate for approval. It sickened me.
How could these peasants be so blind, celebrating Their oppressors.
And this year was special. The king had decided to announce his son, Kael, as the crown prince.
I clenched my fists as the procession began.
People jostled around me, their bodies warm and close. Their scents were thick, pungent with sweat and cheap perfume. My new vampire nose hated it.
The prince walked in front, draped in gold, I had seen him before. His cold perfect place a mask of pure indifference at everything going on around him
Behind him, a dozen guards. The royal family's finest. Their eyes, sharp, constantly alert. But they were focused on the crowd.
I moved forward through the crowd, getting as close as possible, thankfully being withim the crowd kept me hidden.
The festival marched on. The crowd cheered. There were smiles. There was applause. And I wanted to scream.
Then, it happened. I saw a man in the shadows hidden obscured making sharp movements and then I saw the gleam of silver.
He was putting the silver arrow in the crossbow and then he crouched and began to take aim.
And it wasn't just any arrow. It was made of silver. A rare metal that was toxic to vampires, capable of immobilizing them for years. It didn't kill them. But it could paralyze them, drain them, destroy them from the inside.
A silver arrow flew from the crowd.
The arrow shot through the air with deadly precision, aimed directly at the prince's chest. He didn't see it coming. No one did.
At first I thought about letting it happen, but an idea crossed my mind.
He stood there, unaware of the imminent danger.
I pushed myself, my muscles straining, my heartbeat a drum in my chest. I reached the front of the crowd just as the arrow was loose. It whistled through the air, cutting straight toward the prince's. I threw myself forward, positioning myself between the arrow and Kael.
My body hit the prince pushing him away as I swatted the arrow away.
It grazed my hand slightly. Which I kept hidden immediately.
The crowd froze. The silence that followed felt like an eternity.
I turned back to see the prince looking at me with shock in his eyes. It was the first time I saw his mask of indifference broken.
Then I heard a voice, cold as ice that sent a shiver down my spine.
"Who are you?"