The leaves of the forest trees rustled from the cold wind, along with the sounds of the crickets that made the night a lot creepier than it should. I sprinted into the woods as I endured the wound on my right calf. A guard was able to shoot me with an arrow, but I could only break the part that didn’t plunge into my muscle and let the other half block my blood from dripping. If only I were able to take a horse, this jailbreak would have been easier. Yet, here I am, trying to find my way out of a forest in desperation to run away. The moon illuminated the forest well so I could see the small trail that I was following.

A howl echoed from afar, prompting me to halt beside a tree and look around. For years, all I had were awful days, but good Lord, please let this day be tolerable. If a werewolf eats me tonight, let it be quick and painless. Suddenly, I heard a different noise from somewhere, so I carried on and walked along the trail quicker. I cannot be mistaken; those are horses, so there might be a carriage nearby. My head began spinning as I got consumed by the adrenaline rush.

I reached the border of the forest and ended up on a stony road. From my far left came a wagon drawn by two horses. I had to hide behind a tree when the lamps on the wagon shed light on the road. The horsemen wore an all-black pair of breeches, gumboots, Henley shirts, and black cape covering their shoulders.

They must be transporting goods, as the wagon was huge, about six feet tall, five yards long, and has two windows to the side. When it steered past me, I saw that the rear part has no walls, revealing a group of men inside the wagon. There was no lamp inside, but the moonlight was enough to see the chains wrapped around their upper bodies.

“Hands up.” Someone spoke behind me, causing me to turn around. A tall man in crew cut hair had his revolver pointed at my head, so I raised both of my hands and slowly walked backwards. The sound of my bare soles against the stones created a faint noise.

“What are you going here?” he asked, but I couldn’t answer right away when I noticed that the wagon had stopped. I slowly shook my head, thinking of a made-up story. “I was hunted by men in my village. They believe I’m a covert witch.”

The light from the wagon made me notice the blinking of his eyes as he gave me a stern look. “You’re lying,” he accused.

I shook my head anew and pointed at my calf. “I am wounded, and I have been running for hours now. Explains the panting.”

He sniffed twice, so I watched him in confusion until he abruptly widened his eyes as if he discovered something. “Where are you heading?” he asked before sitting on his heels in front of me. I stepped back, but he quickly grabbed the back of my knee to pull my leg closer to him.

He rubbed the blood off my wound with his finger, causing me to hiss in pain. Had he not carried a gun, I would’ve kicked him already. “What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

Instead of answering me, he licked his fingers stained with my blood, so I pursed my lips and frowned in disgust. The sound of crickets filled the place while I watched him clench his jaw. He took a deep breath and craned his neck to meet my gaze. “You are a kingmage,” he whispered. I didn’t get what he said, but it was already the last of my concern when I saw that his irises turned red.

“Shit.” I took a step back and raised my hand in front of me to stop him from getting close. “You’re a vampire?”

He stood up and slid his gun in the sheath hanging on his waist.

“Come with us.”

I shook my head and looked away. “No, thanks.” There was no way I was sticking around any longer. Before I could even take another step, one of the horsemen ran at full speed towards me, blowing my hair backwards because of the wind. He, too, was a vampire?

“We don’t have much time, so I’d come along peacefully if I were you,” he warned.

I shot a look at the other guy who found me. “I would never be in a wagon full of men.”

He nodded to his fellow before that person walked back to the wagon. “Wait here then,” he said to me as he crossed the road and entered the forest on the other side. I cleared my throat when the cold wind blew, sending me shivers. These aren’t the type of creatures I would expect to run into, but I guess I have no choice.

He got out holding a rope attached to a black horse. “Don’t just stand there,” he muttered, glaring at me.

I glared back and pointed at my calf. “I told you I’m injured, and unlike you, I don’t heal fast, in case you’re not aware,” I scowled before walking towards the horse. Its body was about four inches taller than mine. “How do I get up here—hey!”

He held my waist and hoisted me, so I had no choice but to raise my other leg. An exasperated sigh escaped my lips as I sat astride on the horse, shooting another glare at the man. “Could you be gentler?”

“In some other occasion,” he whispered but enough for me to hear. He positioned himself behind me and signalled the horse to walk while we quietly followed the wagon.

In the middle of our midnight trip, my curiosity had gotten the best of me, so I could no longer keep my mouth shut. “Who are you?” I asked.

“A merchant,” he responded. I instantly turned my head to look at him. He doesn’t look like one. He gently pushed my cheek with his thumb so I’d face the road. “In where we’re going, you’ll see.”

“How about them?” I nodded towards the wagon, looking at the captives. “Who are they?”

“Prisoners.”

For a moment, I didn’t get what he said until I remembered something but not quite sure about it. “You’re sending them to jail?”

“We broke them out of jail.”

I gasped in surprise, so I clenched my fists resting on my lap. “You were the one helping the prisoners escape from the Penal Camp?”

“More like stealing them.”

“You can’t be serious, can you?”

“But here we are, aren’t we?” he asked back.

For five years, the Penal Camp would end up short of five or six prisoners on a random morning. It caused severe panic among the Peravenans, especially since the Penal Camp prisoners were all convicted for notorious crimes. I’ve always wondered how they successfully got out despite the tight security. I managed to escape tonight, but this is why no one caught the previous fugitives; because it was the vampires who broke them out. “Why do you do this?” I asked.

“None of your business. What’s your name?”

“Adeline,” I replied. “And you are?”

“Sawyer.”

I wrinkled my forehead. “You look too tough for that name.”

The wagon stopped in front of a gated archway, so my eyes roamed the area because it seemed like we never left the forest. I stared at the vines crawling around the bricked wall and turned to the fire sconce fixed on each side of the steel and sturdy gate.

Someone from the inside pulled the gate, so the wagon moved across the archway. Sawyer signalled the horse, and it followed the wagon. We pushed past a couple of men wearing the same clothing but with black vests instead of capes.

The horsemen drew the wagon off our view, so I got to see the entirety of what’s ahead. A diamond-shaped brick wall, approximately ten feet tall, fortified the village with a patrol path above it. There was a small lawn in front of us, where its grasses were nicely trimmed. Past the yard was a gigantic barn structure made of wood. At the same time, a perfectly aligned row of houses to my left and right where the doors were facing each other surprised me.

I could only hear the burning wood from the cauldron to my left, but other than that, there was no other noise in the place. Maybe because everyone was asleep now, except these men—or vamps—walking towards the wagon. Sawyer got off the horse and raised his arms, waiting to catch me. When my feet touched the grass, the cold wind blew, and light rain began pouring. “Do you have an infirmary?” I asked, looking around.

“I won’t take you here if no one could be of help,” said Sawyer as he grabbed my arms and took me to the right side of the barn past the lawn, where we found a door. I glanced at the sconce fixed on the wall before Sawyer pushed the door and led me inside.

The rectangular interior of the place was brighter, with fire sconces providing light in each corner. I got a homey feeling as I looked around, but this seemed to be barely one of the many chambers in this huge barn. There were six beds in a single row to my right and four to my left. A sleeping patient occupied one of them. On the wall opposite the door was a huge shelf filled with jars of herbs, some mortar and pestles and other tools used for nursing. It seems like this was the village’s infirmary.

A middle-aged woman who was aiding a patient to my left shot a look at Sawyer before turning to me. “What brought you here, and who’s the girl?”

Sawyer grabbed my arm and forced me to take a step forward. “Treat her injury, then send her to a vacant room in the mansion.”

The woman was taken aback by what she heard. “To the mansion? Who is she?”

“I’m not yet sure, but I have an idea.”

I frowned at Sawyer’s confusing reply, but he didn’t even look at me. I think he shamelessly forgot my name.

“Very well, I’ll take care of her,” said the woman before smiling at me. Sawyer left the infirmary in that very second, so the woman walked up to me and stared in curiosity. “You smell different,” she said.

“Are you a vampire too?” I asked.

She creased her forehead and raised an eyebrow. “You know too much,” she said, not happy about that fact.

I gave her a wry smile and pointed at my calf. “I’m just a normal person in need of treatment. Please…” I pleaded as my foot trembled in pain.

“Oh, right.” She led me to the last bed to my left, so I sat carefully against the pillow, resting my head on the wall. When I took a look at my calf, drops of blood already stained the sheet.

“That must’ve hurt. What’s your name?” she asked before marching up to the shelf.

“Dani,” I replied. It’s the simple version of my name.

“I’m Paige, head physician. I know I look like the only medical practitioner here, but there’s more of us. Though they won’t look like nurses,” she said before walking up back to me holding a tray. She picked up a pair of shears to cut the lower part of my trousers.

“Where exactly are we?” I asked.

“We’re at the village called Dunfield in the Westplains region. The people here all belong to the Sunken Guild, a group of vampires.” She whispered the last words and winked at me.

A guild of—everyone here is a vampire? Good grief. “Are you joking?”

“I could never be more serious.”

“How long have you been here?”

She smiled. “Hmm, four hundred years?”

Despite my surprise, I was immediately distracted when my leg pricked in pain from the fluid she poured into my wound. She turned to me, still smiling, while my heart raced. Now I’m terrified by everything that I found out tonight. Chances are, the possibility of me getting out of here might gradually disappear into thin air.

“Endure it for few seconds, then the pain will be gone,” she whispered.

“How did the rest of the kingdom not find out that you’re a vampire and that you don’t age?” I continued asking. If they’ve been around for 400 years, that means some people should have lived long enough to notice that they don’t age.

She poured another fluid into my wound, but it was painless this time. “We used one of the rarest spells in the world. An Eastern witch made it. When she died, her daughter inherited her book of spells and sold the spells to its highest bidder. Our former vampire leader bought the Omultae spell, and we recreated it so we could share it with the guild.”

“How does it work?”

“If you cast that spell under the full moon, everyone that you meet will forget about you after a decade.”

“It erases memories then,” I concluded.

“Not everything. Just memories of us. Like you, after ten years, you will forget about this place.” She showed me a needle in her hand. “I’ll begin stitching now.”

“Well, you might want to distract me,” I said under my breath as I prepared myself for the pain. My sweating hands automatically grabbed the sheets.

She gently placed her calm on my ankle and pricked the needle into my skin. I almost jumped in pain, but I bit my lip to keep myself from screaming. “I told you a lot, didn’t I?” she asked, but I was too in pain to utter a response. I’m already lucky to be breathing by now. “So you should start praying that you’re staying in this village because if he lets you go, I have to kill you,” she suddenly warned. My shoulders dropped in confusion while a sweet but suspicious smile made its way onto her lips. Damn. I am out of luck.

She finished stitching my wound and handed me a small bottle. “What is that?” I asked, holding it away from my face as it smelled terrible.

“That’s an enchanted medicine. It’ll help you sleep and heal faster.”

“By faster, I hope you meant like vampire-kind-of-fast,” I murmured hopefully and forced the bottle into my mouth. I coughed from the terrible taste and tossed the bottle onto the tray.

I sighed and adjusted the pillow behind my back to recline better while staring at the vaulted ceiling. “Why would you tell me so much if you won’t let me leave with it?” I asked, taking a glimpse of Paige’s back as she cleaned the tools on the sink.

“I’m just messing with you. Do you think I’d kill for nothing? I could just compel you,” she replied, obviously amused by the way she restrained her laugh.

I sunk deeper into the bed. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“My parents made me drink a Reisin.”

She finally shot a glance at me, confused and surprised. “The counter-compelling serum?”

I shut my eyes, and for some reason, I felt like my body already welcomed all the fatigue that I was trying to ignore earlier. “If I’m going to die tomorrow, at least let me have a pleasant sleep,” I said, letting my eyes close from exhaustion.

**

My mind was already awake, but it took me a while to open my eyes. I no longer felt the bed on my back while it seems like I was floating. When I opened my eyes, Sawyer’s face greeted me as my head rested on his chest. The ceiling above was as elegant as those in the Peraven Palace. Even the unlit sconces on the wall were pretty, while only the moonlight passing through the enormous arched windows illuminated the hallway.

When the thought of Sawyer carrying me in his arms finally sunk into me, I jolted in surprise and pushed him away, causing me to flop straight to the cold floor. My arms ached from taking the pressure of my fall, but I endured and forced myself to sit.

He stared at me in disbelief while his arms remained in the air. “Paige told me you passed out, but you look awake as hell.”

I squinted my eyes at him and stood, looking at the arched windows to my right. It has no panes, so I saw what looks like the entirety of the village. “Where are you taking me?” I asked him, keeping my eyes glued outside.

“To your room.”

Instead of turning to him, I marched to the window and rested my hand on the cold ledge. “Who lives here?”

“Before, the whole family of Millard. Now it’s only their son and the servants who live here.”

From here, I got a good look at the structures inside the walled village. There were two complexes in front of me. The one closer to the gate was where I stayed earlier, and the other one was this barn in front of the mansion that had a small signboard made of wood. It says “Workshop.”

I didn’t realize that I was holding my breath as I looked around. This place was mesmerizing not only by its structures but the secrets it kept. “There’s a village of vampires here, and no one found out?”

“It’s a long story. Come on, you need to rest,” Sawyer told me before grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the window.

We entered the door at the end of the hallway, but I heard a clanking of metals behind us, so I turned around. It was dark, and I couldn’t see if there was someone at the other end of the hallway. The door suddenly closed because Sawyer pushed it, so I shifted my gaze at him. “Come on,” he said and gently pushed my arm.

I looked around and noticed that we were standing at the end of another hallway. This one was more extensive. There were six doors on each side. All of which had an oil lamp fixed in between the doors.

I heard another clanking of metals from where we stood, so I glanced at the door before turning to Sawyer, who was acting like he didn’t hear anything. “What was that?” I asked.

“Nothing that concerns you,” he replied before walking to the sixth door to my right. He took the ring of keys that hung onto his belt and inserted one of them into the door’s lock. “Come here,” he ordered before slowly pushing the door made of thick planks of wood.

“Why does that look like a prison door?”

He glared at me before entering the room. I stood by the door and waited for him to kindle the oil lamp on the wall. The light illuminated the place very well, and my eyes first landed on the canopy bed to my right. “That was intricate,” I whispered, staring at the parted curtains hanging onto the posts at each corner of the bed.

“Your clothes are on that trunk,” he pointed at the table below the oil lamp where a huge trunk sat atop it.

“If you need anything that you didn’t find in here, knock on the first door to your left,” he said before walking up to me. I stared at him as we stood in front of the door. “Are you waiting for something? Get in,” he ordered.

“This kind welcome looks suspicious,” I whispered. “Especially after what Paige told me.”

He raised his eyebrow and gave me a bored look. “You’re in a mansion, in the residence of a vampire family; what did you expect for a room? A rathole?”

I sighed and walked in before looking around. There was another door on the corner adjacent to a wooden window and a dressing table beside the trunk. On the wall at the head of the bed hung a beautiful and elegant tapestry with flower designs.

“This kind welcome looks suspicious,” I reiterated.

I walked to the dressing table and took a look at myself. A disappointed sigh swiftly escaped my lips when I saw my terrible hair and dirty upper garment, which was only a vest made of old canvas. I winced when I suddenly smelled my scent. God damn, how did Sawyer bear to stand near me?

My eyes landed on the trunk, so I lifted its lid to check the clothes that they provided. There were all nicely folded drawers and long sleeve chemises made of cotton, linen and silk.

**

The moon shone brightly through the window. I shut my eyes and felt the freezing wind while memories of my past drowned me. A series of familiar shrieks, growls and words of pleading filled my ears. I think I won’t be able to sleep peacefully again. My memories of that night will forever haunt me.

My stomach grumbled from hunger, so I turned to the door and walked up to the room that Sawyer told me. Suddenly, the door at the end of the hallway sprung open and revealed a young woman.

She was petite and pretty, but my heart almost dropped when I got a clear glimpse of the black veins under her red eyes. She wore nightwear, but even the white fabric turned red from what I assume was a bloodstain. She ran towards me, and it was a normal run, so I had the chance to dodge and move to the other side of the hallway.

“Excuse me! There’s a situation here!” I screamed at the top of my lungs in hopes of getting the attention of somebody.

“Who did this to me?” she whispered.

I gently shook my head and picked up the oil lamp from its holder on the wall behind me. “Look, whoever they are, I am not one of them. So if you don’t mind, I’ll just go back to my room and forget about my hunger—”

“My hunger is insatiable.”

I forced a friendly smile. “Did I ask?”

Unfortunately, it triggered her, so she ran towards me again. My hands trembled as I sprinted towards the door to leave this hallway.

I pulled the handle and closed the door behind me, panting in fright. What a fucking night. What a fucking night! The lady seems to be a baby vamp, and from what I’ve learned, they don’t have a full grasp of their abilities until after a few days since they turned.

Did no one hear anything? Why was this mansion so empty? I walked away and endured the chill of the cemented floor against my bare soles until I reached the dark end of the hallway. My hand gripped the lamp while I walked down the similarly cemented staircase. The smooth bannister felt cold against my palm.

Downstairs was another hallway with arched windows to the left, but there were rooms to my right, unlike the hallway upstairs. “Hello? Is someone in there?” I asked after a few knocks.

Silence filled the room while I desperately waited for someone to open the door. I sighed in disappointment and looked around.

“Excuse me? Does anyone hear me?” I yelled.

“I do,” responded someone from the other end of the hallway. When she revealed herself, my shoulders dropped at the sight of the baby vamp.

She smirked at me, but I had no time to watch. I turned behind me and ran for my life. Whoever manages this mansion need to designate a guard on every goddamn floor! I looked around when I reached the base of the stairs, but all I saw was another hallway full of rooms, so I kept running until I got to the lower ground.

A sigh of relief escaped my lips when I found what seems to be the main door. I hastily lifted the bar off its holder and pulled the handle with all my strength. The wind blasted on my face, feeling colder against my sweaty neck. I stepped out and faced the door, so the baby vamp won’t be able to attack me from the back. The stones were painful against my feet, but I endured the pain.

I gazed at the entirety of the mansion in front of me. The building was vast and lengthy that the hallway where Sawyer and I talked earlier was only on the right wing. At the centre of the building was a spacious porch, and above it was balconies on each floor.

“Where the fuck are these people?” I asked myself as I looked around, still carrying the lamp.

The wind blasted on my face yet again, and the baby vamp was already in front of me in a snap. Holy shit. She smiled like a devil’s spawn, and I got weak in the knees, so I collapsed on the ground. An edged rock pierced through my palm as the oil lamp fell and broke in front of me, causing a small fire.

I moved away, and so did the baby vamp, but I walked on the other side of the fire to keep our distance when she tried to come to me. Am I really this clueless about vampires? I thought she wouldn’t be able to manifest supernatural abilities until after a few days.

She winced and stepped back the moment she got too close to the fire, but her eyes did not leave my bleeding hand, so I raised it and smiled at her. “You want this?” She gently nodded. “You’ll have this only if you stop coming for me. This village is full of vampires. They would surely know what to do with you. So please,” I pleaded. “Let’s just calm down.”

She growled again, ignoring what I just said. “I need a nice meal, so God forgive me,” she whispered before running at full speed towards me. She grabbed my neck, but her face made a shocked expression while blood seeped from her mouth. Jesus Christ!

I froze when she stumbled on the floor, and a figure of a man appeared behind her. When I looked back at the baby vamp, I found an arrow pierce through her nape, prompting me to cover my mouth. That’s awful and disgusting!

A couple of men showed up, so I turned my gaze ahead. They looked at me like they just finished watching the theatre. The man who showed up first holding a crossbow stood out the most. He must be about a few years older. I noticed a scar above his left brow as I stared at him. He walked towards me while he rested his crossbow over his broad shoulder, so I got a closer look at his blue eyes. His black hair was tied from the back, revealing a wing tattoo on the left side of his neck.

My eyes darted on his nice all-black clothing. It was elegant, but not too fancy. He sported a wool vest and a tunic tucked in his pair of breeches. His cloak swayed along with the wind while his leather boots ground against the stones making his every footstep audible. He stopped when he was only about two steps away from the dead vamp in front of me. “Your blood smells nice,” he whispered in a deep voice, leaving an arousing sensation on my nerves.