"I will keep an account of every drop of blood that drops from your body... I will keep your last breath locked in my fist... I will destroy you so much that your body will feel the pain while you live... But your soul will scream even after you die."

-Damien Knight.

___________________________________

The King's chambers,

Crystaline Castle.

**

~~~~~~~~~Two weeks later~~~~~~~

Letting out a exhausted sigh, I leaned my back on the side of the bathtub.

Every limb in my body was screaming in pain from being stiff for too long. I just got done with cleaning the King's bathroom. Which was a difficult task considering it was huge! If someone gave me a bedroom this size to stay in, I would be the happiest person alive.

My arms were tired from constantly scrubbing the now shinning, marble bathtub. It shimmered due to the sunlight hitting it from the small window. I was actually proud of my work.

It's been two weeks since I've moved to the King's bedroom and it was not much better than staying in those closed prison doors.

On the second day of my stay here, I remember waking up because of cold water being splashed on my sleeping face. It was an old maid who screamed at me for sleeping for so long, even though it was seven when I checked the time. Then she handed me some cleaning supplies and a list of chores I had to do. She said and I quote, "you can't be laying around like a queen bee, the king ordered that you are to clean his room everyday and be his personal slave. He told me to give you this list of chores you have to do. You'll find a new list on that table everyday." After giving me a last shove, she walked out of the room.

The list was basically the same everyday, which somewhat went like this:

Make my bed (I see any wrinkles, I'll kill you ).

Clean my bathroom. (Any drop of water in sight, I'll kill you ).

Take out my dirty clothes to laundry room. (find it yourself ).

Fix my closet. (but open the second drawer in second row and I'll kill you).

Clean the windows (should be crystal clear ).

I could almost hear those threats coming out of his mouth in a already pissed off tone.

Some days, the maid told me to do extra work if I was finished early. Which was hardly ever the case since his majesty always left with his room looking like a tornado just hit it.

I don't get how he can make a complete mess of it in just a few hours he's here. Sometimes I strongly believe it's just to make me suffer more.

I haven't seen the king at all this past weeks. I'm always fast asleep before he even returns to his room, but sometimes, I would faintly hear him stumble his way into the room, and then the coldness around would suddenly dissappear, replaced by a comforting warmth provided by a soft blanket.

However, the king always leaves before I'm even awake.

Which means he only sleeps like, what, five hours?

But I guess Vampires don't really need to sleep to charge their energy, they just need blood.

I was kind of glad for not having to come across him. He scared me to no end.

I've heard his voice when he gets angry, which is way too often. When he's yelling at someone, the sound booms off the walls at this part of the castle.

Maybe the reason why he's so angry is because he just seemed to be really busy working all the time. Does he even have friends?

He probably doesn't, that would explain why he doesn't know how to talk without being rude to people.

My thoughts wondered off to the dreams I've been having.

The first one left me bewildered. I couldn't even imagine what that little boy and his mother must have went through. But I kind of do understand since that sort of happened to me too...

I was ripped away from my family too.

It was shocking how I always remember every single tiny detail of those dreams.

Other times, I had dreamed about that same boy but he grew older in each dream.

One thing I was sure of was that he never had the childhood he should have.

Just like me.

But while I was a prisoner locked away from the outside world, that little boy was fully exposed to that world. Exposed to the things he never should have witnessed at such a young age.

While I was safe in the company of Maria, listening to her stories, that little boy was out there battling for his life at a young age of ten.

He was forced to kill every living soul that came in his path. I know he didn't want to kill them, but he had to.

For if he didn't, his father would kill him.

*

"Dad! Stop!"

The broken voice cried out as the knife sinked further into his stomach. He desperately clunged his father's hand as his dad pushed the knife deeper, twisting it at an angle which had the poor boy scream out louder.

"This is what you deserve! What did I teach you? Not to show mercy on anyone, did I not? Then how dare you go against me and do what I've strictly told you to not do all these years?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it won't happen again! Please, dad, let me go, it hurts! Ow."

Tears rolled down the pale cheeks of the nine year old boy as he struggled to keep track of his breath. His fragile frame couldn't keep itself standing any longer as he found himself dropping to the floor but his father kept him up with a tight grip on his arm.

*

I was brought out of my mini day dream by a voice calling my name. This was one of the dreams I had, I had no idea what they meant or who was that little boy. He seemed strangely familiar but yet everytime I would think that I've solved the puzzle, everytime I would think I know who he is, I would find myself back to square one because of the way that boy acted.

It just couldn't be who I think it was.

That voice called my name again.

It wasn't familiar at all, a feminine voice calling my name.

I stood up even though my body complained and responded, "I'm coming."

I tried to walk quickly into the room with my sore muscles. I got there the same time the door opened and a girl walked in.

A really beautiful girl.

For once it wasn't some maid dropping off my food or telling me to hurry because she has more work for me.

With brown hair and icy green eyes, she looked like the goddess herself. Her eyes met mine as her lips stretched into a smile. Her figure was slim while she was wearing a uniform of some sort, a plaid blue skirt and a white blouse. Her feet covered in black flats that ticked against the marble floors as she walked closer to me.

"Hey! Are you Alexis?"

I slowly nodded my head, unsure of what to say as I've never met her before.

"Oh my god, now I see why my brother had a hard time killing you off..."

"Uhm..."

I was acting strange and I knew it. But I've never really had the time to socialize with anyone before, literally. Wait, she's not his sister, is she..?

"I'm so sorry for what my brother put you through. I know you don't deserve it, I can see it. Believe me, I never knew he had a little child locked up since she was seven years old. I'm sorry I wasn't here when he- when he beat you. I had a school trip to the human world..."

I was shocked, she was actually apologizing to me, for crimes she didn't even attempt. I started to shake my head and opened my mouth to tell her it's not her who's responsible for all this.

"Oh sorry, forgot to introduce myself, I'm Emma, Damien's little sister. Well not so little anymore since I just turned seventeen last month."

What is she doing? Why is she being so nice to me? I thought everyone hated me here. She's the first Vampire I've come across who had shown such kindness towards me. I smiled.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Alexis."

I let out my hand for her to shake, but she did something completely unexpected, she hugged me.

I stood there, eyes wide open, my brain couldn't seem to comprehend what was happening. This was all so new to me, I was so use to the rude remarks and the beatings. I lifted up my arms and wrapped them around her,

too.

Suddenly, she stepped back, as if she just got electrocuted. My confused eyes met hers as I noticed her eyes changing colors, from green to a pitch black.

"Emma?"

She stared at me as if she couldn't even see me, like she saw right through me.

"Alexis, you have a tough life ahead of you, it could either end in hell or something far greater than paradise. That would depend on the choices you make, just follow your heart and dare to look beneath the outer facade of things. Look beyond the ice that tells you the water is frozen, dare to break through and you might discover warmth. It's your job to save yourself from him, but don't forget it's your job to save him from himself, too--"

Before Emma could continue, she blinked once and her eyes changed back to their original color. Gazing around the room, she asked, "What happened?"

******************************