By noon, Amaryllis had finished her task of cleaning the floors and dusting the ceiling and walls. She also had to help Kayla do her chores because the girl had no idea how to use a washer and dryer.

Amaryllis had to show her how to use the machines and then had to show her how to fold clothes. She wanted to bash her head off of the washing machine by the time she was done demonstrating everything for Kayla.

A little bit past noon, one of the King's right-hand men came to get the girls. The man led them to the human dining area where all of the other girls were already seated.

As Amaryllis looked around, she noticed that there were quite a few tables set up in the decently sized room. She sat down at one of the only tables that weren't already occupied. Amaryllis felt better sitting by herself as she had done her whole life at school.

The other girls, including many other human girls she had never seen before, quietly talked amongst themselves as Amaryllis longed to be part of a group. She looked down and played with her fingers until the slam of a door alerted her.

She looked up and saw the handsome yet menacing looking King walk into the room.

"This is where you humans will eat your meals every day. Breakfast at 7:00, lunch at 12:30, and dinner at 6:00." He then quickly left the room. A few girls carrying carts of food soon replaced his spot and they began serving us dinner.

There was a door in the back of the room connecting to the kitchen, Amaryllis realized as more girls came out of the door.

Amaryllis heard a girl she had never seen before talking to Heather. She said that the King feeds them well so they can do their chores to the best of their ability. And that the King wants us to be healthy for the auction.

"What's the auction?" Amaryllis heard Heather ask.

"Once a year, the girls that the King has chosen over the past few years are taken to an auction where vampires can bid on them. If you get to bid on, you have to live with that vampire and do whatever they please. The auction takes place a few days before a Harvest, so you all have another year before you will attend." The girl who introduced herself as Gabby said.

"I've been here for three years and haven't been picked yet. If you don't get picked then you have to live in the castle and do whatever the King tells you. Oh, the auction is also so the King can make room for new girls he gets at Harvests and so he can supply his vampires with a fresh blood source," Gabby said calmly as if this wasn't the most screwed up thing Amaryllis had ever heard in her life.

The auction seems ten times worse than the Harvest, Amaryllis thought to herself. At least back home you weren't being fed on by the vampires. Everyone age 18 or above is required to donate blood once a month.

The girls Amaryllis had never seen before were girls from past Harvests that had never been auctioned off, she realized.

One of the girls serving us walked back into the dining room after a guard called her out to the hallway. Amaryllis looked out of the door as it slowly closed. She noticed a young looking man that looked like her old best friend Travis walking with a woman.

No, Amaryllis thought to herself, he is probably dead. But, then again, girls from Harvests years ago were still alive. Maybe it was him, Amaryllis thought as hope swelled in her heart.

Soon, Amaryllis and the rest of the girls finished their dinner which Amaryllis thought was very good. It was meat in some type of delicious sauce along with some other tasty sides. It was way better than any meal she had ever had at home.

Amaryllis became angry as she thought of the times she went to bed hungry due to the town was not producing enough food because the vampires were taking it. These people have more than enough food and pleasure in their lives, yet they take from us anyway, Amaryllis thought.

They live amazing lives full of pleasure and riches, whereas the humans are forced to live in tiny towns, in tiny houses, without many luxuries in life. The humans don't get to pursue their future goals as they are forced to work in village stores or farms. The humans live as poor servants whereas the vampires live as rich dictators.

Amaryllis was pulled away from her thoughts as guards came into the room to make sure all of the humans left to go back to their posts. A guard grabbed Kayla and Amaryllis as they walked toward the door.

"The King ordered you to scrub the dungeon floors. You, the King ordered for you to go back to his quarters." A seductive smile grew on Kayla's face when she heard the King ordered her to go to his quarters. She sent me an evil smirk as she walked out of the room.

"Follow me," the guard said. Thankfully, he didn't harshly grab Amaryllis' arm like the other guards had.

Amaryllis felt a sad feeling wash over her. Why did the King want her, she wondered?

The guard led her back down the dungeons where she had slept. Then he showed her the cleaning closet. She had to scrub the hallway and clean out the opened cells in this wing. Thankfully that was only this hallway, she thought, referring to the hallway her room was in.

Amaryllis made her way to the supply closet. Chills creeping along her skin as the coldness and the eeriness of the dungeon took over.

She filled a bucket up with water and soap and pulled out a mop and some scrubbers. She first swept the entirety of the hallway and threw away the debris she swept up. Then she bent down and scrubbed the entire floor with a cleaning brush.

The hallway wasn't that awful dirty; it was cleaner than she expected a dungeon floor to be. Amaryllis assumed that it must've been cleaned within the last few months. They did appear to take very good care of the castle because she hadn't seen a speck of dirt anywhere around the pristine building.

After scrubbing the floor of the hallway, she stood up from being on her hands and knees for about two hours and then proceded to mop the stone hallway. The hallway was long, but at least she didn't have to do the whole dungeon.

She was hopeful that she didn't run into a jailed vampire, and so far she hadn't. She figured that the jailed ones were around the corner, a part of the dungeon she didn't have to clean.

After approving her work on the hallway, she moved to the individual cells. The first few cells just needed some mopping, but the ones toward the end of the hallway needed more than that.

Amaryllis carelessly walked into a cell when the smell of something metallic hit her nose. Suprised, she looked up from her mop bucket and was met with the horrifying sight of blood.

The crimson red was splattered along the floor, walls, and ceiling. She gasped in horror and slowly backed out of the room as she gagged at the overwhelming smell of blood.

As she backed up, she accidentally bumped into the stone wall. However, she jumped back when the stone wall moved.

She turned around to face the moving wall and saw King Ulric standing in front of her. She was so distracted by the sight and smell of the blood surrounding her, she didn't even register the amazing smell coming off of him as he stood behind her.

Immediately her body reacted to his touch and the hair on her body stood up. She breathed in deeply, basking in his scent.

Amaryllis looked down, intimidated by the powerful man in front of her.

"Is the smell overwhelming," she heard the King mock.

"Yes," she nodded, afraid to disrespect him.

The King grabbed her shoulders and pushed her into the room. She once again was overpowered by the smell of blood. She covered her nose and mouth, trying to filter the air through her hands.

"This is what happens when a human gets lost in dungeons," King Ulric said sinisterly.

Fear consumed her and she felt chills break out in her skin. She was terrified of both this place and the man in front of her.

He menacingly smirked at her and pushed her even further into the cell.

The King let out a booming laugh, but nothing about it said he was amused.

Amaryllis wasn't the type that got weird around blood, it really didn't phase her, but this would phase anyone.

"This could be you one day," the King said and walked out of the cell.

The King left the dungeon with a smirk on his face, knowing he scared the human girl to hell and back.

That wasn't human blood though, a young vampire had just turned and was trying to kill humans around the castle. They had to calm him down and bleeding him out was the only option.

Back in the dungeons in the blood-filled cell, Amaryllis was sitting on the stone floor with her head buried in her hands. Her shoulders were shaking and tears were streaming down her dirt marked face.

She felt panicked and anxious. She used to have panic attacks when the vampires first took over, but she hadn't had one in years.

Amaryllis continued to feel waves of fear and panic. She felt as though she couldn't breathe and her heart was pounding so loud she felt it should explode out of her chest.

Pain started shooting through her body and she couldn't move. She just lay crumpled on the ground.

Amaryllis felt lightheaded and exhausted. She couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. Tears poured down her face due to the fear of what was happening to her. She hadn't felt like this in years.

Ten torturous minutes later, the attack was finally over. She could move again and could breathe better, but she still felt awful.

She didn't want to experience the feeling of a panic attack again. She didn't want to go back into the cells.

Amaryllis crawled over to the wall opposite of the cell and leaned her back against it. She wanted to rest her mind and body for a few minutes before going back into the cell.

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- DancingRainDrops1