I stood in front of the elder council, a human who had no right to be here. Valek Noctius, the new pureblood prince who was deemed to be the strongest in the last few centuries, had brought me to their clan.
A mere human.
Nothing special.
In front of me stood five elders, all of whom were looking down at me from their high chairs.
Their own personal thrones as they judged me.
"I will leave as you guys desired. I don't think I can keep living like this." I keep up my confident charade as I look up at them with glaring eyes.
"This means you will never be coming back here. Do you understand that, Kaia Sterling?" One of the elders boomed.
"No matter how much you love Valek, it is good to see that you understand your place now. There is no place for a filthy human like you. I cannot believe that Valek was willing to soil the pureblood lineage with tainted human blood," a second elder scoffs.
I bit my lip in frustration, shedding blood.
The scent instantly spread through the court as the elders started to get riled up.
In a flash, one of the elders was up in my face, grabbing my chin and closing his eyes and taking in a big whiff of my blood.
I was careless.
Still not used to their magic, I was stunned. He rubbed his thumb across my lip, wiping up the blood and licking it.
I feel my insides churn.
"I can see why he keeps you around, though. Such high-class human blood. If Valek did not care so much about you, I would have kept you as my personal tap." He grinned at me.
Though these people were 1000s of years old, the elders were all stuck in time. Vampires stop ageing at the time they were turned, or purebloods stop ageing the second they ascend.
In front of me was a teen who looked no older than 20, threatening to turn me into a blood farm.
Shivers went down my spine as I looked at him.
"Sebastian, leave her alone. We have to send her away. We can't risk it." One of the other elders calls him back as he grins at me and jumps a few meters off the ground, then back to his seat.
"In the next week, the full moon Bloodfeed will start. This will be the best time to take her away. Valek will be busy with his full moon blood rites," one of the elders snickered and began discussing the plans. They knew precisely what Valak gets up to during the blood feed but kept quiet, thinking I didn't know.
Feeling their knowing glares mocking me, I look away.
I just stand there, wondering how I even got myself into this mess to start with.
I think back to the countless times I had remembered him going off on a full moon for his blood feeds, thinking it was just normal, but I had seen his proper form the last full moon.
Valek wrapped around multiple beautiful human females handpicked for him to feed on. Their naked bodies intertwined as he succumbed to the lust of skin, hunger and desire.
The sight made me sick.
Valek had never once touched me, saying that he was saving it after we had vowed our Eternal bond. Now seeing what he had already done, I scoff at the thought.
What was I to him, and why did he say such sweet words to me and keep me close?
He coaxed me to come with him here to his clan to leave the human world behind and live my life out with him.
I let out a single laugh, thinking of how stupid I was.
Being a normal human being with nothing special, coming from a poor family that I didn't talk to, and having a friend with whom I wasn't close, nothing about me seemed good enough to make someone like Valek fall in love with me.
But I had believed him anyway.
"Kaia Sterling," the main elder calls for her attention as the decision was made, "When the bloodfeed starts, Valek will lock himself in the ritual chamber. When he does that, a man will come to you to take you back into he human world. I hope you understand that you are never to search for him again. Love a silent and quiet life away from our kind."
"Funds will be provided to your personal account with the items you brought with you when you entered the clan. Remember, this is to convince Valek that you left and we are here just for his money. Don't go about getting ideas and ask for more. We can just as easily kill you if we have to." Another elder, leaning back on his chair, sighed, looking down at me with vicious eyes, "We are just opting for the easier solution."
I nodded as I was dismissed.
I walk back to the room I shared with Valek in the castle, but I was never alone.
The room I stayed in, which was decorated in antiques and the finest materials, seemed like it was all to keep me distracted from his lies.
But now there was someone inside a girl, Cassandra Ward. She held a blade in her hands. My blade.
"Don't touch that!" I reach for it, but she pulls back as I trip and fall onto he floor.
"What the fuck, I was just looking at it. What's your problem?" she smirks at me as I pick myself up.
My chin, which had hit the floor first, was now bleeding as it had scraped on the wood on the floor. I wipe it with the back of my hand.
"It's not yours to touch," I growl at her, demanding the dagger back.
"So what, it's not like you are the only special person in this place. You saw how Valek treated me like in the last bloodfeed, right? He hasn't even touched you. What makes you think you are special? You are nothing but a plaything from the outside world he wanted to have fun with." She laughs as she plays with the dagger, "It's not like it's useful anyway, it does not even open."
She threw it onto the floor, causing one of the gems to come loose. Anger flashes in my eyes as I jump her.
"You fucking btich!" I grab her hair as she struggles and fights, trying to kick me.
"I told you not to touch it. Who gave you the right to go around throwing my stuff around!" I push harder as she smirks in the midst of the struggle.
"Don't fool yourself. You are just mad because of the view I showed you. Did you like my gift? Did you think that all these other girls who live in the same house as you and Valek were just for show? Did you think Valek was a saint?"
That was when it clicked. She had planned it all.
"You! You planned it so I would see, didn't you?" I was getting angrier by he second. Looking at her face, the same one Valek was looking into with his red lustful eyes as he bit into her neck. The mark of his bite is still visible.
She saw my eyes move towards the bite as she pulled open her corset more to show me her chest, "That's not the only place he bit."
Exposing herself, she showed me the hickies that covered her breasts. I was filled with rage.
"Bitch!" I scream as I try to pull her hair, and then suddenly I feel claws dig into my shoulder, dig deep, and pull me back and throw me off her.
In front of me was Valek, holding onto Cassandra as if she were more precious to him than me.
Tears fell from her face, "Valek, I don't know what happened. I was just admiring her dagger because it looked too pretty, but she just started attacking me, saying not to touch it. Then out of nowhere, she started to talk to me about not getting close to you, and I should not touch things that belong to her."
I scoff as I see her fake tears fall elegantly on her face.
"Are you kidding me?" I gave a squinting look towards Valek, who seemed to be eating this up, "Why are you looking at me like that? She touched my things without permission and broke them." I pointed to the dagger with the loose gem on the floor.
"It's just a dagger, Kaia! Did you really have to fight because of something so stupid?" He looked towards Cassandra and carried her as she sobbed into his chest, "Let's take you to a healer to check if you are hurt. I can smell blood. This won't be good if you are injured for the Fullmoon ritual."
I sneered at this as he left without looking back at me. Eh, I should have known it was my blood from the smell, but he is ignoring me. The place where he dug his claws into me bled as I pressed a piece of clothing onto it. I winced at the pain.