"What do you mean?" I asked angrily, "My mother was kind, caring, but I can assure you she was not lier." I spit the words out angrily before I could stop myself.
"You said you don't know anything about her," The princess replied, turning to look at me in this strange all-knowing way that made me want to back away and run. "Your grandparents did not die in a car crash, your aunt didn't die from cancer, your father didn't die from a heart attack." She said, a confident sternness in her voice. "Your name is not Elizabeth Greenwood, nor is your mother's Mabel Greenwood, and in fact, there is no such thing as the Greenwood family at all." I was beyond enraged, but I seemed paralyzed in my seat, unable to stand or scream or say a word.
My grandparents in a car crash and my aunt of cancer. My father was killed by a sudden heart attack.
"I know your mother wanted to protect you but she could have at least told you your real name," The princess said, turning away and talking quietly, mostly to herself. "Well, you'll have to know it one way or another, so I shall tell you." She turned towards me and staked forward, her long black loose curls seemed to spread out from her head and her eyes glowed as she approached. I felt the urge to pull back, but fought it. "You are the daughter of the Rosetta Clementia, daughter of the royal Clementai family line. You are the forsaken child of her own selfish desires. The lost relic of your mother's dreadful mistakes. You are Eleutheria Clementia, the disinherited child of that family who lives on it's knees." Her voice was soft and smooth, mocking my confusion in a glittery dance, and I could see her anger in her speech, and it seemed to deprive me entirly from mine, replacing it with a deep fear I felt I had not know for a long time, yet had know before, although I knew not from where I knew it.
"But," I stammer out.
"You wear the engagement ring my mother gave Rosetta, embellished with your family's crest. In your belongings there is your wretched father's golden pocket watch, each day you drink poison as your ancestors have done for eternity, and your eyes pour out their blue hue just as your mother's did so long ago." She seemed to calm a littler after this, and I felt an urge to bury my face in my hands. I wanted so badly to say that my mother never lied, that I only didn't know about her because she was busy at work, or something else normal or human like that, but I could deny nothing. My mother had never had a standard job, because she left the house very rarely, always hidden under a veil or cloak, and often dressed as a man. She had always looked sorrowful and regretful, and when outside, skittish. She had never told me anything of any one, and seemed always to be holding her tongue. I could deny nothing.
"Poison?" I asked suddenly, recalling her words.
"ricin, brucine, arsenic," The twins said in unison, "They are all deadly poisons, and at how much you drank, you would have been stark dead seconds after consuming it." I looked around in shock.
"Then I," I stammered out, "Am I human?" At this is seemed everyone laughed.
"No," The Princess replied, "You are a rauzire just like your mother was, your whole family is." I looked around and saw the world almost like a new place. I wasn't human. I was a creature, one of those forsaken creatures I had always shuttered to read about, was me. I felt it all too much to take in, and stared at those around me, I felt like fainting. My mother had lied, and beyond that, she had done something, something that warranted all of this.
"But why," I asked, but the words faded away before they reached my lips, coming out as half muted shapes, void of all conviction.
"Your mother was not a bad person," The Princess replied, "But I am obliged to hate her. She betrayed my mother in favor of a wretched man of no class, and killed to get her and her child out of it.You are the daughter of a runaway, and she did all she did to protect you, and atone for her sins, and for that she is a good person." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and for comfort's sake, I drew back the cap of the brucine bottle and chugged down the remainder, forgetting for a moment I had just been told it was poison. But it was poison, and because I was still alive, I was a rauzire, and because I was a rauzire, I was not human, and because I was not human, my mother had lied. I felt tears gather in my eyes and rush down my cheeks.
I heard the Princess plop down on her seat next to me, but paid it no mind, that is until I was forced to. My chain was yanked suddenly, and I was snapped up so suddenly I cease crying, and looked straight at her, who in turn seemed to stare at me with a soft and firm, unemotional type of sympathy that I was unfamiliar with. "Relax," She said softly, "Your mother is gone, and her suffering's over, and you'll atone for her mistakes with the gift of your life." She smiled and I caught a glimpse of malignancy in her deep red eye. "If you had not been a legitimate child, you could be my wife by your content, and a Princess yourself, but your mother had forsaken you, and so I shall grant you space as my slave, in return for your innocence in the matter, I will punish only your mother's honor with this, and neither you nor your family shall be taken into account."
She looked at me with a strange and mystical glance that in the fear it inflicted, seemed also to chase away everything that plagued me, and because I was chained to her, unable to run with them, I felt strangely at peace. "What do you say?" She asked smoothly, "Shall you be my slave, Eleutheria, will you submit to my every command, and only mine?" I had no option, but fully appreciated the question. I felt alone beside her, my knees pressed against her cold thighs.
"Yes," I replied softly, wiping the tears from my cheeks. She took me by surprise and pulled the chain around my neck, placing a soft kiss upon my cheek, before releasing me. The kiss didn't sting like that of my hand, but seemed soft and filled me with a sweet feeling of rejoice, as those I had somehow returned home. I was so tired of not knowing anything, and it seemed the moment I finally understood something, another enigma appeared in it's place. I resolved to sleep off the mysteries and almost the moment I let my head fall to the leather seat, I was asleep.
* * *
When I woke up it was night, and for a moment I thought that it might be that same night I had fallen asleep on, but soon I realized it wasn't. The golden twins were invisible, but wearing their soldier uniforms, so that on the seat lay two complete uniform figures, but they missed heads and hands and if you looked closer you could see the hollow insides of the clothing. The carriage was bumbling along at top speed and Master had changed from her cloak to a suit, that's cravat was pulled all the way up to her chin. It was red and white, and on the pocket was embroidered in fancy script, I. Caedis. They had drugged me again. I could see it in the sky as I peeked out the window, last it had been a full moon, now it was a smaller crescent. Another week had passed.
This time however I felt none of the sickly pallor I had last, and so I supposed they had given me my medicine while I slept. Medicine? It all came flooding back to me, my mother, myself, all of it, and I sighed under it's returning weight, making the Princess look up at me. I wondered if it would be rude to sit next to Diamond for a while, as I found his way of explaining things much more likable than Master's. I peered out the curtain in the front to see if Diamond looked amiable, but found the driver's seat empty, and pulled back the curtain farther to try to see where she was. Surely someone was driving.
"Shut that," The Princess said curtly, and I shut it, feeling like a child told off for fidgeting, "Diamond is out running with the pack, not driving on the seat." I peered out again and counted the wolves, and sure enough, there were eleven compared to the previous ten. I shuttered at the thought. "I suppose you have questions," Master said, pulling my attention back to inside the carriage.
"Is it alright if I..."
"Yes," She cut me off.
"How is it all this works?" I asked. "With the families and royals and different species, I mean. Is the Clementia family the only Rauzires, and Caedis the only vampires or?" I trailed off, not quite knowing if even I knew the question I was asking.
"God no," She replied, "There are many families of all the different species, but only one royal family and one serving family. The royal family are the Caedis family, which has two members in it, my mother, the queen, and I, the princess. The Clementia family is different, they are the serving family. Clementia means mercy, and that is what they are designed to do. The idea is that the Clementia family is constantly trying to make a suitor that will appease a Caedis family member, and if by age thirty they have not succeeded, they have a kid and are killed." I drew back in horror, and I saw her smile a little at my fear.
"While vampires go without a rauzire partner, they need blood to sustain themselves, which is drawn from the population, human or otherwise. Therefore the idea is that each vampire will eventually have a rauzire pair and the population will be safe. However the Clementia family has failed to produce a plausible partner since they were appointed for the position. They finally succeeded in creating someone that could, at least temporarily, subdue my mother, when Rosetta, through her own selfishness, betrayed the kingdom by taking another partner in secret, and therefore had you. Now you shall be my slave in return for her selfishness, but the family will be able to continue their position."
"That's horrible though,' I replied, blanching at the idea of a family that murders it's own children to please another.
"No, it's merciful." The Princess replied, "If they succeed, not only will their child have the honor be being a member of the royal family, but the whole kingdom gets rest from our constant need of blood." She smiled proudly, her pointed teeth sparkling in the light of the lanterns.
"But why not just have a rauzire alive to keep the family from needing blood?" I asked.
"Vampires are a greedy creature, and without a love bond with a rauzire, we would gore ourselves no matter if necessary or not, and the rauzire wouldn't be able to give it's blood if it didn't love the vampire anyway." I pulled back at the thought
"You would gorge yourself on blood even if you didn't need it?" I asked in disgust.
"Of course," She laughed, seeing the repugnance on my face. "Oh come on, you haven't even met my mother yet."
"What is she like?" I asked, a little afraid to know.
"Her name is Mortemine Caedis if you get the idea," She said, and seeing it I didn't she continued, "Mortem means death, caedis means blood, so her name is bloody death, for the death of spilled blood." She smiled as those this was normal. "Do you really know no latin?" She asked.
"None," I replied, and wondered where I would have learned such a thing.
"Well, I'm Ilustra Caedis, which means illustrious or glorious blood, while your mother was rose mercy, you are freedom or liberation mercy, ironically." She laughed a hideous and diabolical laugh, that felt like light nails on my back. Yet there was something about her I just couldn't seem to hate. She was glorious, no doubt, in her red with mismatched eyes and black curly hair and her deep red plump lips. Her white skin looked like it would put snow to shame, and although I knew her to be dead, she looked so youthful.
Perhaps it was this fleeting sense of lonelyness I seemed to see dangling by a thread in her purple eye. It seemed like it was holding onto her, and every time I saw that horrible shine in her red eye as she spoke of evil and horrors and blood, it seemed it swung back and forth precariously, threatening to fall into the obis. Whatever it was, I supposed I shouldn't let it go, since she was my master, and at this point, I had to obey wether I liked it or not. I much preferred to like her. "Sorry I didn't get there before my mother did," The Princess replied.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"With your mother," She said, "I told mother it was best not to kill Rosetta, even with what she had done, but it was too late for that, and she got her anyway." I looked up puzzled, and remembered the car accident. We had crashed head long into a black van, no one knew who's fault it was because it happened so fast, but when I awoke and was told my mother was decapitated, even though I had only lost an arm, I did find it strange, and had entertained the idea that there was something going on that I was oblivious of. "Don't consider yourself special though, consider yourself lucky. I there was a list of people my mother killed it would span the earth at least twice, and most went in much worse ways than your mother. Be glad she was a rauzire, if she wasn't..." But she trailed off when she saw the angry horror on my face.
"Why didn't she kill me?" I asked, shuttering at the question.
"I don't know," The Princess replied, "I assume she only gave her assassins orders to kill your mother, and when they realized you were there too they decided it would be easier to turn a blind eye, since they had no orders regarding you. I'de not be surprised if Mother has completely forgotten your existence by now, as she really only cared about Rosetta's betrayal. And although she won't dole out mercy, or anything less than cruelty, her assassins are more willing to let people slip through the cracks if they can't be blamed."
"Then what will she do when I show up?" I asked, suddenly aware that I might be in a fair amount of danger.
"I already prepped the idea with her, and since you are both in the generation that should go to me, and currently my possession, she can't really lay hands on you. Plus, from what I heard when I left, my mother wanted a break and started fasting, so I think she plans to be dead for a while."
"What?"
"Many creatures in Caedis have been living since the Kingdom was founded, and my mother lived for a while or so before that, so they often get tired of life. For vampires, we have a safe way to become dead for a while and then waking up when things are more interesting, and my mother does this often. She prefers for me to lead the kingdom as well, since unlike me, she has no interest in the rest of the world."
"Then, how old are you," I asked, unsure if the question was one I should be asking someone who owned me.
"Around four thousand years I suppose," She said, casually. I felt my eyes widen in surprise. How was it this creature that was four thousand years old wanted anything to do with seventeen year old me? "But I did die for about a thousand in the middle there," She continued.
"Then when was Caedis founded?" I asked.
"Four thousand years ago. I was born during the war of formation in case my mother and father didn't make it through, so there was someone to inherit the kingdom. It was a good precaution because my father did die in that war, but my mother survived so it wasn't really necessary." When she spoke she seemed to develop this disconnected look in her eyes, as though she had a long time ago wish this story contained something more, but had given up on it. She stood and opened a drawer in the table, pulling out a small silver case and a brown glass bottle, and then a large black wine bottle.
She tossed me the small brown bottle and poured herself a large wine glass of the red substance, which I was now less sure was wine. I think she saw me staring and laughed. "Would you rather I feed on you?" She asked, turning to me and tracing her finger lightly down my neck. I shuttered, and resisted the urge to recoil from her touch. "Don't I wish I could," She smiled menacingly, "I'm sure you'd be very sweet." She said almost in a whisper, she pulled back laughing and plopped down on the sofa and taking a large gulp of the viscous red substance. I knew now it was blood, and the idea made me shutter. Originally I had been shocked to find out I wasn't human, but now I could only be grateful, as I watched the blood slide through her deep red lips and drip off her sharp white teeth onto her tongue. Yet it seemed mixed in the horror of it all was some untapped and intriguing desire. I shook it off and took a swig of my bottle.
The bitter taste was comforting and familiar, and it's burn in my throat before it reached my stomach seemed to sooth me with past memories of my mother and all that was past. It was ricin, I knew by the taste and calming potency. In it was none of the crude boorishness of blood and death, but of safety and the warmth of contentment.
'Why do I have to drink medicine every day mama?' I had asked one summer evening, when the rosy sun was setting between the cracks of our lavender curtains, which always remained closed.
'Sweetheart, because you have a bad heart,' she had said, pressing her hand softly to my chest, 'mama has a bad heart too, so we'll drink together, but i'll promise you this sweetheart, i know it will make your heart kind and soft, and not like my rigid one' she had spoken distantly, and took a long sip of the medicine.
'But mama, your heart is soft and kind, it's not rigid at all' I had replied, with all the childish tones of innocence.
I recalled the memory fondly, as I had done many times. I wasn't even sure that I needed the medicine until one time I stopped on accident for a week and felt the real effects of it's absences. At the end of that week I had fainted in the driveway to the house and my mother had been so scared she made me stay home sick from school all that week. I looked up at the Princess and wondered how incredibly different out lives probably were.
"You ready to go back to sleep yet?" She asked, throwing me the little silver case. I opened it and found the same small white pellets I had taken last time. I was about to refuse when she cut me off. "We have a week of travel left," She said, and putting down her glass she reached over and took a pill herself, "It'll be less boring if you're unconscious through it." And with this she tossed the pill into her mouth and keeled over slowly into the couch. I turned back to the box and took one myself, and followed her into the wake of sleep.