^^ Eve

"Yes, Grey? Did you have something to report?" I ask.

"An update on Eve, Your Majesty," replies Grey.

"Go ahead," I respond my heart quickening.

"We have received reports that she's going to Rosewood Academy next fall," says Grey.

"Perfect, that will make our plans much easier," I say.

"You're not thinking of attending your majesty?" questions Grey cautiously.

"Of course not Grey, but not to worry, I've been expecting this for a long time. I have just the plan in place," I answer.

"Your majesty," he pauses biting his lip, "I know I've mentioned this before, but, well... um... you know that if you take her it will mean war."

I spin toward him, "Grey! How dare you question me on this! She's mine! Of course she needs to be with me!" I shout.

"She's not yours. She's the Callisto Princess of Darkness and there are serious-" he stops when he sees the expression on my face.

How dare he say she isn't mine! I'll kill him!

"Your majesty, I'm so sorry! Please don't kill me! I'll... I'll punish myself! Please!" he pleads. He draws a knife from his belt, and brings it toward his face. With a swift movements, he gouges his eye out with the knife, screaming. Blood gushes out from his now empty eye socket, and he drops the blood knife on the ground. He clutches his bleeding wound, falling to the ground, so he's on his knees.

Good that's where he should be.

"I'll spare you this once Grey because of all our years together. Now leave, before I change my mind. You know I love doing that," I say. He hurries out of the room still holding his hand over where his eye once was.

I chuckle, what an amusing sight. That's one of my favorite parts about Grey. He has such a proud, dignified personality, but it all falls apart when he's in pain. I wonder what kind of face Eve would make if I did that to her? I remember how defiantly she fought back at the auction all those years ago. Will she fall apart just like Grey? Break like my other toys?

I don't know, but I'm excited to find out. I get the feeling she's very similar to me in many aspects. It would be interesting to see her pushed past the breaking point.

I better start my plans if she's going to the academy. I pull out a piece of paper, and start writing out an important message that will set so many things in motion.

Eve's never going to see this one coming.

I look out the window of the carriage I'm in, taking in the dense forest around the windy dirt road we're traveling down.

"You know if we just ran to the stupid Rosewood Academy, we'd be faster," I say.

"Your parents said it would be unbecoming for a lady like yourself to not arrive in a carriage," replies Nyx.

"What's unbecoming is me being cramped in a carriage for three days straight because of stupid politeness rules," I respond crossing my arms.

Alright, maybe I'm being a little bratty, but I am definitely not excited to meet up with all the death flags (aka the male leads and female lead) awaiting me at the academy.

"Well even if we were allowed to run the whole way there, I don't think Finn would be able to. Either you or I'd have to carry him, and I'd definitely end up murdering him if I was that close to him for hours," states Nyx.

"I'd be able to use my magic to create tools to keep up with you guys! I'm not useless!" retorts Finn.

Nyx just sends him a look of disbelief, "Please, the amount of mana you have is the size of a teacup in comparison to yours," he says.

"That's a lie and you know it!" shouts Finn.

"Not everything's about mana," I grumble. My physical strength definitely compensates for my lack of mana.

Still I am a bit worried. Ever since I created the necklace I have which turns into a sword, I haven't been able to create anything else from my mana.

Creating things with mana is directly related to the amount of mana you have when you're born. If you go beyond what your mana level is capable of naturally, trying to make something beyond your abilities, you'll use some of or all of your stored mana. In other words the mana level you're born with, and it won't replenish. This will lower your overall mana abilities for the rest of your life since it lowers the baseline for what magic you can naturally do without tapping into your reserves. And when all the mana stores in your body are gone, then you can no longer perform magic.

This is different than battle magic which doesn't strain your mana because it is more "natural" to your body. Those are the special powers people have in this world. For me it's my wings, but even so battle magic has to be trained too and it still can exhaust the body since it takes physical energy to use.

Most of my power doesn't come from mana at all. Instead it's from physical abilities I have from being half-vampire and part demon. The demon abilities aren't much since I'm a very tiny amount demon, but it does give me more protection from silver (I can still have super healing if I drink blood) than normal vampires have where they are affected by silver wounds like any human would be from a normal wound.

It's quite annoying though because in this human dominated empire, magic power is looked at as the indicator of strength. It's stupid though because I can beat most high level magic users with my physical strength.

"That's very true. Eve and I can beat you with our physical abilities easily! Although that's not saying much because you basically have zero physical abilities," says Nyx.

"You want to go?!?! I'll give you a first hand demonstration of my physical abilities!" retorts Finn.

"Ugh, the two of you are giving me a headache," I say. Seriously, I'm already dreading this and now they're fighting. This carriage is way too small for a physical altercation without me getting hurt in the crossfire if I do nothing, which means I'd have to intervene if they start fighting, and I am not in the mood today.

"Great, now you've given Eve a headache!" complains Nyx.

"I've given her a headache? It's your fault! You're the one provoking me!" fires back Finn, grabbing onto my arm.

"Stop touching her stupid pink bug!" shouts Nyx.

"Make me!" says Finn, sticking out his tongue.

"Can we all just get along till we get there?" I ask.

"Well that won't be for another five hours!" says Finn.

"FIVE F*CKING HOURS?!?!?" I reply.

Ugh, kill me now.