My head feels like someone is hammering at it from the inside. I sluggishly open my eyes. This isn’t my bed, it’s way too large. Also, this isn’t my room. What the hell happened?

“You’re finally awake.”

I turn to my left side to find Alice relaxed in an armchair, reading a book.

The image of that monster I saw before passing out flashes before me. I touch my neck where he strangled me. Ouch, there is still marks confirming that it wasn’t a dream.

“Your butler,” I say painfully, my throat still sore from that strangulation, “he tried to kill me. He turned into a monster. And you, where the hell were you?!”

Alice closes the book she was reading and gives me her full attention, “This wouldn’t have happened if you had listened to me in the first place.”

“Can you for once stop shifting the blame onto me.”

She sighs, “Humans.”

“That! You’re not human are you? And also that butler.”

Alice smiles, “Of course, I did try to protect you from all this but you refused to listen. Now look at the sorry state you’re in. You’re lucky I was able to take over your body when you passed out.”

There’s no getting through Alice, at least in her eyes she can do no wrong.

The door opens and in comes the butler, carrying a silver platter.

“Your Highness, lunch is ready. I see the human boy has finally woke up.”

“No thanks to you.”

Graham, the butler, clicks his tongue, “You make it sound as though I did it out of the blue. You were sullying my mistress’s honour. I had to act.”

I’m dealing with monsters here. I need to get the hell out of this place. I’m done, this is what happens when you try and help someone out.

“Anyway,” Graham says as he puts the silver platter on a table next to Alice, “Your Highness, what are we to do with this boy? He can’t be let free after discovering our identities.”

Alice nods, “Yes, simply letting him go would violate the Pact.”

I’m not planning on dying here today. Not like this.

“I think we can come to some agreement. I won’t tell anyone as there’s no advantage of me reporting your identities to the authorities. In fact, I don’t even know what kind of monsters you two are. So you don’t have to kill me.”

Graham’s face contorts into disgust, “Monsters? You dare call my mistress, a vampire, one of the most supreme undead creatures, a monster? Human, you must not value your life.”

Great. This is no better than bank robbers revealing their face to the hostages. I’m going to die for sure. Wait, did he say she was a vampire. But I’ve seen Alice in broad daylight. She does come to school every day, rain or shine.

“Alice, you’re seriously a vampire?”

Graham interjects before Alice could even respond, “How dare you use my mistress’s name as though you were her equal. Your Highness, I beg of you to permit me to flog this human boy at once.”

Flogged! I immediately sit up. There’s no way I’m going to just let him whip me.

“Relax, Lucius. Graham, there’s no need to be so rough with the boy,” says Alice. “I’m sure breaking both of his legs would suffice.”

“That’s worse!” I say to her.

Alice chuckles, “My word, your reaction is priceless. I jest of course. I thought you had a good sense of humour. Putting that aside, it’s true I’m a vampire. Surely you must have suspected it.”

“Of course not! I thought you had an eating disorder or something for not wanting food. Besides, why didn’t you sparkle whilst out in broad daylight?”

“Sparkle?”

Graham groans, “I believe he was referring to a popular novel here.”

“Well, I’m not acquainted with the high literature of humans. In any case, I’m from a noble house and thus I’m no feral vampire who would simply burn into ashes due to sunlight.”

“Yes, my mistress is of fine pedigree and thus mostly immune from the rays of the sun,” adds Graham.

“Graham, you flatter me,” chuckles Alice.

“Stating a fact is not flattery, Your Highness,” says Graham, taking a bow.

Okay, are they done blowing at each other’s horns? Because I still need reassuring that they are not planning on driving a stake or some weird stuff in my heart to kill me.

“Can we come back to my issue on whether I’m going to be killed?” I say to them.

They both turn to face me, Graham looking quite irritated.

“Pardon me, I’ll try to make this quick,” says Alice in a rather stern cold voice. “You have two choices; you can choose to die now or swear fealty to my family in order to carry on your mortal life.”

Well that isn’t exactly a choice. On one hand, she’s going to end my life and on the other she wants me to be her servant.

“Why must I swear fealty to you, can’t you just let me go?”

“The laws of my kind are absolute, those who have discovered the identity of vampire must be killed or be made to come into service of a vampire. This is how vampires have remained in the shadows for many centuries. Do realise, Lucius, I’m not the creator of these laws, I’m just following them.”

Just following orders, huh. That’s what every bad person in history would say. Maybe I should have given her control of my body that way she could have gotten here without needing me to find out about their identities.

I’m dumb. I should have suspected something was up but I ignored the signs. Even though the existence of ghosts doesn’t logically guarantee the existence of other supernatural creatures, I should have at least entertained such thoughts. Now I’m forced to rethink my approach in this world.

“What would being your servant even entail?” I can imagine her trying to suck my blood dry.

“Well for one you’ll be under the protection of my mistress and that should be good for you human,” Graham spits out angrily.

“At ease, Graham. For one, you’ll be able to practise your necromancy in peace and I’m sure I can hire tutors who can assist in your journey learning magic. Second, I won’t kill. I can assure you, Lucius. If you remain a loyal servant, I as your liege will be merciful.”

What choice do I have? She will kill me. This is coming from a sixteen-year-old looking girl. My word, I’ve gotten myself in deep trouble here.

Wait! Before I decide to submit to ‘my mistress’ then I need to know what happened to her. I think it’s the least I can get from someone I worked hard to get here.

“So what happened to you then?”

“I can’t tell you that until you give me an answer. Swear fealty to me or simply die.”

It’s not like I can refuse. Fate has dealt me a dirty hand. For now, I’m forced to play along and be the good servant I can be. Until I get my chance to get rid of her.

“I wish to swear fealty to you, Alice.”

“Then get out of bed and kneel before me.”

Even though my head is still throbbing, I remove the blankets and kneel before her. Her eyes then turn red before me.

“Offer me your wrist, Lucius,” she says softly.

I extend my right arm to her. Alice reveals her vampiric fangs and sinks them in my wrist. Instead of pain, I feel a lot of warmth around my wrist. My throbbing pain washes away and I end up smiling out of nowhere.

She removes her fangs and the puncture marks heal immediately. But there are still faint dots on my wrist. This must be the mark Graham asked for.

“Welcome to the family,” she says to me.

“Thanks,” I say flatly. I’m not going to flatter her as though had an actual choice in the matter. The only reason I swore fealty her is that I’m not done with life. At least not yet.

“Now that you’re part of the family, I believe you need to get informed of the upcoming events,” Alice says getting up from the armchair. “Graham, I’m not having lunch now. I believe Lucius needs a tour around the place.”

We walk out of the room. I remain silent as I follow her down the hallway. She opens a red door for me and I enter. Inside this new room, I see weird animal skulls. The are skulls that have three eye sockets, others don’t even have jaws and some are made out of obsidian. There are numerous jars in the room. An eye stares at me while I walk pass it. It can move on its own, no need for a body.

“You should consider yourself lucky for even coming close to these things. So many mortals will live and die not seeing these creatures with their own eyes.”

Yes, how lucky of me. It’s not like I traded my freedom for something I never asked for. At the back of the room, there’s a large aquarium tank. It’s not a fish inside the tank, rather it looks like… a mermaid?

“Beautiful, isn’t she? One of the first pets I got once I arrived here at Stonefield,” she says smiling. The mermaid turns to face us and smiles at Alice.

“Is she a mermaid?”

“No, a siren. From the coast of Sicily. She has a beautiful voice. One day I’m sure you’ll get the chance to listen to it. I tell you, it was such a pain transporting her here but it was definitely worth the trouble. Just watching her swim relaxes the mind.”

What have I gotten myself into? Alice is crazy. Stay calm, Lucius. Alice seems passionate about this, is should pretend to be interested.

“So, what is her name?” I ask her

“She doesn’t have one as I don’t name my pets,” she smiles. “I guess you’re the exception.”

Okay then, I’m really diving in the deep end here.

“Don’t you consider her sapient? She does after all have an upper body of a human.”

“An upper body of a human? That’s a rather human-centric view to take,” Alice says. “Sapient. If using human standards, yes she is sapient. Are you going to respond by asking how can I enslave another person as though they were some animal.”

I remain silent.

“In any case, my kind doesn’t consider mortals as persons. Anymore more than you consider a cow a person deserving rights. But I do make sure that all my pets are well kept. I’m no sadist, I don’t take any pleasure seeing my pets in pain. So don’t worry, Lucius, I’m not planning on keeping you in a cage.”

I sigh.

“So long as you behave,” she cheekily smiles at me. So the Ice Princess can show emotions. But only if you are her pet.

We move to the next room. The walls around here are painted as such to portray a forest of sorts. Two humanoid (forgive me for being human-centric) creatures with goat legs and upper human bodies are eating some salad on the floor.

“Satyrs?” I enquire.

“Fauns,” she corrects, “humble little creatures, quite docile and kind. You should seem them when their playing ball, their joyful faces always lighten up my day.”

And her final pets Alice wanted to show off to me were in the library, taking care of the books. There were three of them. All of them had butterfly like wings on their backs

“Fairies?”

Alice nods.

“So, how do you feel about joining your new family here? I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”

I feel like shit. I’m not even special, just another human being. Why am I even comparing myself to these mythological creatures? I shouldn’t feel guilty, it’s not like I’m trying to please her.

“About fitting in. Can I still live in my apartment? This is all new to me, I need time to adjust.”

Alice remains silent, staring up in the air as she contemplates my request, “I guess, if you really want to. But as the Baroness of Stonefield, you must realise that I do have many enemies and they might come for you.”

“Do they already know I serve you?” I ask her surprised.

“No, but eventually they’ll do. So be careful.”

Okay, at least I can live independently from her.

“How old are, by the way?”

“How old do I look like?”

“17 or 18. In a good night, you could enter a bar.”

“I am 17.”

My throat dries, “How long have you been 17?”

She chuckles, “Come now, Lucius, a lady doesn’t tell her age. You should know better.”

“Fine, you mentioned you had enemies. Were these enemies the one who got you in that accident.”

“Indeed, I had an unexpected encounter with a new enemy. I’ve always dealt quickly with Hunters who try to take this place from my family.”

“So who is these new enemy who caught you off-guard?”

“A nephilim.”

“Nephilim? I don’t think that I recognise that term”

“You can think of them as children from angels.”

“So, I guess demons exist.”

“Yes but you don’t have to worry much.”

What does she mean I shouldn’t worry much? If she has enemies then I also need to know who they are.

“Can you tell me who this nephilim you caught you off guard?”

“I barely remember much from that night. She must have used some powerful magic but thabkfully Graham was close by to fight her off. But I do remember her having a star shaped birthmark on her forehead.”

Oh no. She couldn’t possibly be talking about Jessica.

“You seem to know something,” Alice says to me.

“I think you’re talking about Jessica, the cheerleader captain. She has that kind of birthmark on her forehead.”

“Excellent, you should go out and find out if she’s actually a nephilim,” Alice throws a crystal blade at me and I manage to catch it. “Just get her blood on that blade, if it turns blue then she’s definitely the nephilim.”

“Wait! Why can’t you do it?”

“I should keep my distance from her, least she recognises me. I had a veil on while I encountered her but after that fight with her, I can no longer put up a strong enough veil to disguise myself from powerful magic users.”

“But she’s a cheerleader, there’s no way I can just walk up to her and ask for her blood.”

“Then just stab her with the damn thing!”

“If she’s a nephilim, she’ll probably kick my ass! In any case, I doubt I can get close to her without rousing suspicion.”

Graham enter the room, “I believe, Your Highness, that tomorrow is Friday. That does mean a football game is happening. I’m sure the cheerleader captain will be there. So you’ll get your chance there, Lucius”

“Anymore great ideas, Graham? I might as well stab her in front of everyone.”

Graham grits his teeth, “Your Highness, this human is nothing more than a useless piece of warm meat. You should have killed him.”

Alice sighs, “Graham, I’m sure Lucius will find a way. He is after all a problem solver.”

Thank you for that compliment, Alice. I really want you strangle you.

“Fine, I’ll find a way. Can I go home now?”

“But you still have marks around you neck,” says Alice with a hint of genuine worry. “Drink my blood, it will heal instantly.”

Nope, I’m not drinking any blood.

“Don’t worry, I’ll just cover it up.”

“You still have that aversion to blood. You must get over it soon enough,” Alice says titling her head to the side.

I just nod at her. I’m in no mood to argue, I want to get far from this place as soon as possible.

Alice commands Graham to drive me back to my apartment, much to his chagrin. But being the loyal hound, Graham puts on a pleasant smile and escorts me out the mansion.

We drive in silence back to the apartment.

“Thanks for the ride,” I say to him as I exit the car.

“Just get out! Your stench is polluting my mistress’s car.

I try to play nice and he only ends up bearing his fangs at me.

When I enter my apartment, Benjamin flies to me, “Young Master, where were you?”

“Hell,” I say jumping back in bed.

My life is such a mess. And yet I’m forced to descend the top of the hill in order to drag the next big boulder to the top.

Maybe foster care wasn’t so bad.