A/N: Hello! This is my own fiction, plot is all mine but it was deeply inspired by SVM (very, very deeply!). I've decided to try something different because I loved Charlaine Harris series until the last book came and crush my heart. I almost felt like crying at that ending. Because… seriously? It was just too much of a disappointment to me and with my feelings torn as they were, I decided to go on and try my own thing.
So, do tell what you think about it.
The New World Mysteries
1.
The cold wind blew briskly sending shivers through Elise's spine, she drew her coat closer to her slim body and fastened her pace.
The streets were deserted at that time of the night, it was middle of November and the upcoming winter could be felt in the gelid atmosphere that hovered in the thick haze. The lights were dim and every house was tightly closed, giving no signs of life. Even the smell was hard to breath, it was a dreadful stink of solitude and fear wrapped around nasty smoke, poverty and cheap alcohol.
Elise shrugged the emptiness of those streets; it was depressing seeing a city and its people private of their own liberty and choices, private of having a life out of the small minded concepts and fear that were injected on them, every day.
The world changed a lot before she was born and the smooth yet terrific sounds of the night led Elise to an introspection during her path. She was now eighteen, legally responsible for herself but she had been so since she was a little girl and her parents got killed.
She still dreamt of the night she saw her mother being ripped away from her embrace and tore open in front of her shaky eyes. The image craved itself in her soul and there was no way it was going to cicatrize.
After the dreadful incident she was sent to a training school, which was like an orphanage for kids whose parents had passed-away or had simply abandoned them. There were separated schools for the different genders and they never blended.
Girls were taught how to be a proper maid, craftswoman, needlewoman or servant; they learned how to sew, how to properly clean and maintain a household, how to cook meals in massive quantities, how to be pleasant and not impolite or inappropriate but mostly they learned how to obey fealty to their future masters – if they were lucky to find one.
The boys were taught almost the same, except they were trained to serve physically, as well, for the most extenuating and demanding jobs or to be prepared to serve in any war or conflict, if needed.
When both reached the adulthood they were sent away with their few belongings to jobs previously fixed for them, those jobs were just a passage through whatever they would really do. If they were lucky enough they would be bought by some Master and serve him, if not they would just blend in the torpid mass that the humans were.
That year there was a celebration in town and Elise was one of the lucky few who got picked up to help in the preparation of the royal household. It was the King's birthday, apparently he was celebrating his millennium but she couldn't be sure, because no one knew, in reality, his true age.
About a century ago vampires became known to man, they perfected their own skills in order to rule the world and apply their power over the others races. They managed to succeed in their quest though the way they've done it was a blurry page on the history's books. There were different versions of how they accomplished that and it depended mainly on who was telling the story.
Ever since then, humans had only one purpose: to serve.
They had very few rights and their importance and conditions depended on the class they belonged. The richest ones were the closest to the vampires – though they were not friends, they sometimes frequented the same places, such as the royal gatherings – and they lived on the upper part of the cities in more accommodating homes.
While the poorest ones were labeled as the vermin class. They lived at the oldest part of the cities, the part where only existed the basic living conditions and nothing more, the darker and melancholic part of each realm.
The richest were just considered plain humans and were only superior to others due to their proprieties, they either were owners of important fabrics and enterprises (which contributed to the kingdom's wealth) or they had schools and institutions that were prepared to teach and train kids for their future lives.
The poorest were seen as the vermin class and were simply the proletarian order; the ones who worked on the fabrics, who served in the masters houses, who cleaned the streets, who cooked in the public canteens, who sew the other's clothes, who fought in the battles, who cultivated the lands, who grew the animals, and so on.
Elise, being an orphan, belonged to the lower class. She was too little when her progenitors were killed, so the assassins thought she wasn't yet corrupted by her parent's beliefs and could still be "cleaned".
Elizabeth and James Greisen were rebels; they held forbidden meetings in underground places, plotting against the superior power: the vampires. They gained too much followers and popularity among the lower class due to their ideals and quest.
Unfortunately for them they got caught before they could act upon their plans and got publicly killed, setting an example for their followers – their punishment would be applied to anyone who would even consider rebel against the vampires.
They left behind a little kid, a girl who was only two by then and who got mercy from one of the vampire soldiers. He said she was too beautiful to be murder and too young to be corrupted so she was sent away to a training school.
And there she was, sixteen years later, a woman to be hold and just another little sheep among the gray and helpless herd.
She could see the great, thick walls rising before her eyes; she was getting closer to the palace. As she made her final turn, through a small and strait alley, she felt the unwanted sensation of being watched.
She abruptly stopped and scanned the whole area before returning to her route, her pace quickened. Elise knew she shouldn't walk alone at those hours of the night but it wasn't her fault that the inn where she was staying, was so far away from the castle.
Closer to the royal place only existed fancy hotels and houses that the vampires or the wealthier humans used and since she wasn't one, she had to travel all the way from the south part in town to there, completely alone and unprotected.
She was just about to reach the main road to the palace, when a cold hand got a grip of her arm and pulled her violently against the alley wall.
"My, my…" A raspy voice sneered close to her. "Aren't you a pretty little thing…"
Elise shivered from the contact, the creature was gelid-like and she knew all to well what he was. She couldn't reply though, fear got too struck in her lungs and she couldn't show any insolence.
"What are you doing here all alone, sweet thing?" He asked, harshly licking her neck. "Don't they teach you to not walk around here at these hours?"
"P-Please" She stammered, tears blurring her vision. "I-I have to g-go to work…"
"Hmm" He moaned, stroking her cheek lightly. "Are you one of those workers?"
He must have been referring to the prostitutes, the ones that sold their bodies and blood to whoever wanted to pay them. Elise felt a chill run down her spine. This was the first time a vampire or any male creature had ever been so close to her and it was not being a pleasant experience.
"No…" She whispered unable to contain her tears. "I-I'm a maid in the royal staff… I'm h-here to help in the preparations of…"
She didn't get to finish her sentence as the vampire begun to lick her tears. "Oh my! You're tastier than I could ever imagine. I'm sure no one would miss if you disappeared, right?"
"No!" She screamed, though her voice came out weak. "Please mister, I… I'm just…"
"I want you to call me Master from now on" He said, returning his attention to her neck. "Hmm"
"You know that's not how you claim a pet to yourself" A deep, hoarse voice cut in through the sounds of Elise's quiet snobs.
Elise jumped in fear and surprise from this new and unexpected presence. Before she could say or even think anything, the new creature got a hold of the assaulter's neck and begun crushing it in a way she couldn't have thought possible.
Due to the almost-inexistent light, she only got a glimpse of her savior and she gasped at the sight. He was a strong, tall male – probably the tallest she had ever seen, and his hair was long and dark. By the smooth whiteness of his skin, the strength he possessed and the incredibly speed in which he moved she could quickly conclude he was, too, a vampire. And most likely an important one.
The scene that was displayed in front her eyes, unfolded so quickly she almost didn't have time to process it.
Her assaulter was being crushed by the other vampire manly hands and though he was trying, he couldn't form a word due to the pressure that was being applied in his throat.
Luckily you don't breathe, otherwise you'd be so dead, Elise thought to herself.
"You should be doing your own job, I hope for your sake this is the last time something like this happens" The powerful vampire whispered in a deadly and dangerous way before throwing the weaker one through the air, so strongly he disappeared from their sight.
Elise almost felt like giggling at the strength she had witness, she could never believe it was possible to throw a vampire over the air, so high and so far away, he would just get lost in the middle of the sky. But the fear she was feeling was too big to let her do that.
If that vampire did that to his own kind, what would he do to her?
The powerful figure didn't get any closer, though. Instead he turned around, ready to proceed on his own path.
"He's right though" He said calmly in his hoarse voice before going away. "You shouldn't be walking alone at these hours of the night"
"I have no other choice" She confessed and immediately got shocked with her reaction. She thought he was going to get angry and reprimand her painfully for answering back but he did no such thing.
Instead, he turned his head back looking profusely at her. He did it in his own speed kind of way, so she wasn't allowed to see his features very well but something got craved in her mind, and it was the sinful, sapphire sparkle of his eyes.