More Than Meets The Eye
Ketti: *shifty eyes* What? Whaaat? To be fair, I've had this written for... Heh, apparently the same day as the Unicorn one. That amuses me. (August 2015) I actually have quite a bit written for this, because I want to flesh out the next chapter in particular with more details. ALL THE DETAILS!
JuJu might be surprised... I was originally going to wait until I'd fully finished this before ever posting it. But I've decided that takes too long and y'all like it when I post stuff. Even if most of said stuff is new stories and not updates for already posted things. (I've got a chapter I'm trying to finish for one of my other stories, actually, so I can update it. Gasp!)
tldr; I regret nothing and I hope you like this story as much as I liked rereading it.
1: As The Wheel Turns
Seras Victoria was born mute.
Seras Victoria was born in the lower class.
In some people's eyes, Seras Victoria was born a slave.
At the age of three, when she could walk, her parents sent her to the Castle. Lord Draculae was a strange vampire – yes, a vampire, all in his lands knew, feared, and respected it. A lot of the lands were ruled by vampires, be it openly or not – with very strict rules in regards to lawbreakers and other ne'er-do-wells, even his own kind were prohibited from senseless slaughter of the people under his care. They repaid him with undying loyalty, taking care of his castle and other lordly needs. Because he was a vampire, he had means of communicating beyond simple speech, and he had an understanding with his subjects; those who could not work in the normal society, the deaf, the mute, and (rarely, because they needed more training) the blind. He kept only the pretty ones in public view, but work was still work, and work for the Lord of the lands meant more pennies for the table to earn bread and other essentials.
Seras so happened to be one of those pretty ones, a blue eyed blonde, practically innocence incarnate. She started her duties in the Castle as a kitchen maid, helping with washing the dishes in her little tub set on the floor to avoid dropping and breaking the flatware. When she was five, she graduated to messenger girl, carrying letters between the nobles dwelling within the keep.
When she was six… Well, that's when she could no longer go home again. It started as a normal day in the castle, taking Miss Lucinda's reply down the hall and up two floors to Lord Keryn, when she tripped on an uneven stone and stumbled into an unseen vampire, instinct causing her to reach out and catch herself on his coat tails.
He turned on her with a hiss and backhanded her to the floor where she promptly curled into a silent ball, this was not the first time one of the visiting nosferatu had beaten her for her clumsiness. She was just grateful he had not broken her jaw. She expected another hit, perhaps a kick, even braced herself for it, but it never came, instead there was an explosion of noise like snarling dogs fighting over a scrap of meat.
"She is a child! Have you no shame?" A familiar female voice shrieked, and Seras heard the sharp sound of flesh on flesh, perhaps Lady Aria had slapped the man she had apparently been conversing with before Seras' unintended interruption.
"It touched me, dared to grab my person as if it had any right!" The male retorted, she heard a crunching noise and a dull thud as the floor vibrated just off to her left. Peeking up from her fetal position, she saw Lady Aria, standing between her and the man, whose arm dangled limply at his side as he slowly got to his feet from where he had been tossed. "Human lover!" He spat, curling his lip, "the lot of you. This place disgusts me." With that he melted away into the floor, but not before shooting Seras a poisonous look with his pus yellow eyes.
'Are you alright, little Sunflower?' Lady Aria crooned into her mind, turning to face the child as she got to her feet and made sure the letter wasn't crumpled beyond repair. Seras gave the lovely lady vampire a gap toothed smile, 'I'm fine, Lady Aria!' She replied in a chipper mental tone, blue eyes alight with happiness to see the noble. Lady Aria was a permanent resident of the Castle, and had a soft spot for the children, doting on her favorites and playing the knight in shining skirts to defend them from unnecessary beatings. While it was true that no servant would be killed – justifiably, anyways – without due course, that did not mean life with vampires was easy. Vampires at their core are violent, pushing their dominance on others in the form of excessive punishments to any minor crime to 'keep the humans in their place'. That's not to say all of the Lords and Ladies and other such titles of repute followed this dogma, but no one would raise a brow at a servant being slapped for tardiness.
Holding the still sealed envelope up as an explanation, Seras hugged Lady Aria's arm before scampering off to finish her duties. She felt the vampiress's eyes on her back until she turned the corner, and her smile widened to show all five of the slots where her teeth used to be, new ones not yet grown in. The rest of the day passed without incident – she got to deliver a message to the King! It was very exciting! Also terrifying, having to walk through the crowd of Nobles during Court to creep around to the back and tiptoe up to the throne, waiting for his attention to hand him the letter. He had patted her head! She was over the moon as she practically skipped out of the Great Hall – and she finished her lunch right on time before tapping Cook on the shoulder as her usual sign of farewell. She'd be back tomorrow.
Sunlight the color of blood spilled over the little village at the foot of the castle, illuminating one blonde child's hair like fire as she skipped her way home with a loaf of day old bread for her parents – a gift from Cook – the expression on her face making it clear she'd be humming if her voice worked. The townspeople she passed gave her indulgent looks, and she beamed back at them. It was a generally understood rule that the humans should stay indoors at night, to avoid any unnecessary incidents. While the pure blooded vampires could stand the sunlight, they preferred to stay indoors during the day, and the ones in the castle dined upon donated blood from the 'useless' humans who couldn't work, to keep the vampires from going on killing sprees out of hunger - if not boredom - It was the lesser blooded ones, the rogues and ferals that preyed at night, roaming from township to township until caught and destroyed.
As if sensing something in the wind, Seras shivered and quickened her steps, reaching her home in record time, she flung the door open dramatically and launched herself into her father's arms. He laughed and caught her, spinning her around and lifting her up into the air as though she were flying, she laughed soundlessly, and spread her arms out to 'steer'. Her Mother chuckled quietly and walked over to the pair, grabbing the basket from her daughter before returning to the kitchen to fix the evening meal. It was a mutually understood fact that the humans would not work out of doors past an hour to sunset, so her parents were always home before she was. They lived on a sub lot of land from a noble in the Lord's court, and her parents – as well as many others – were in charge of the fields for their own produce and export to pay their monthly rent to the creature that needed none of it. There were human nobles, but they rarely sublet their property, preferring to build extravagant houses that took up the majority of their acreage. Seras didn't like them much, the children were snobs, and some of them had a penchant for throwing rocks. For dinner with her parents, Seras usually had an apple, or other seasonal fruit because she was fed by Cook before the end of every shift.
Really, it was a night like any other, perfectly normal and carefree as her father read to her from the book of fairytales passed down from his great, great grandfather. When the tale was done, she kissed his cheek and ran to her mother to do the same, their night time ritual as she climbed the ladder into the loft to their shared hay padded bed.
A knocking on the door was the first sign of the disruption in their daily pattern of life, and Seras blinked drowsily as she rolled over onto her stomach, crawling closer to the edge of the sleeping platform. The knocking crescendoed into pounding, and slamming, until the door literally burst from its hinges and sailed across the room to land in a splintered heap by the wood fire stove her mother cooked with.
Stunned silence filled the home, before her father shot to his feet, an expression torn between furious and fearful on his sunburned face, "What do you want?" He snapped, then faltered a moment, "My Lord." He added in a grudging tone, and Seras peered over the edge, but could see nothing yet.
"I've come to make an offer on your daughter." A familiar voice sneered, and the hair on the back of Seras' neck stood on end as she ducked away from view, it was the visiting noble at the Castle, the one that Lady Aria had slapped for her. She had a terrible feeling about this.
Her mother inhaled sharply, and she knew from experience that the lovely brunette was seconds away from a shouting match, when her father shushed her, a grim tone in his voice. "An offer, Sir?"
"Indeed, you filthy pigs should feel privileged. I offer you five gold coins for the girl." The nosferatu's voice was nasal and grating as he stood somewhere below her, and a shiver rolled down her spine. She didn't like him one bit.
"Five gold?!" Her mother shouted, before she was hushed again, "You must be joking. She earns twice that a year, not including bonuses." Her father sounded insulted.
"Such a pity, it seems negotiations have failed. I did try to do this the civil way." The vampire spat the words, then laughed cruelly, "You have only yourselves to blame, mortal filth."
"Wha-?" Her dad protested with an angry shout before it was cut off by the hand around his throat. Seras' eyes widened so much she thought they might pop out of her head as she watched from the edge of the loft. "Where is your daughter?" The noble asked calmly, as though he weren't about to asphyxiate the human in his iron grasp.
"You can't have her!" Her mom screamed and threw the heavy frying pan at the vampire, who caught it easily. She saw him look at her mother, and he snarled something too softly for Seras to hear, but she did hear the sickening wet crunch of her father's neck snapping. Daddy, no!
Launching herself off of the platform with a silent shriek, she collided with the noble's head and shoulders, pummeling him with her tiny fists with tears running down her cheeks. He dropped the limp form of her father onto the ground – he crumpled like a rag doll, head held at an unnatural angle, face frozen in horror – and flung her into the wall. Her mouth opened in a soundless scream that reverberated through the perceptive minds of the ruling monsters. The noble hissed at her, baring his long teeth in a snarl, "Shut up you useless bitch!"
He grabbed her by the leg and shook her upside-down, tightening his grip until the bone splintered. She went completely red in the face and flailed weakly, the pain changing the pitch of her psychic scream to resemble nails on a chalk board.
"Let my daughter go, you bastard!" Her mom yelled and charged the vampire with the butcher knife. He sneered and flung Seras back into the wall – her arm snapped – to turn and deal with the interfering mortal, roaring in outrage as the stainless steel blade sunk into his chest. "You stupid human whore! I'll teach you to mess with me." His voice dropped an octave and his fangs elongated past his lower lip, black claws bursting from his fingertips as he advanced slowly on the woman who, for her part, was trying to get another knife from the counter. Seras watched, in a crumpled heap against the wall, sobbing soundlessly and chanting 'Mummy!' with wide horrified eyes as the human hating vampire stepped over her daddy's corpse and pulled the knife from his chest, only to bring it down blindingly fast, splitting the human's abdomen open. Seras' mind went blank with shock and for a brief moment her screams went quiet. The vampire laughed and tossed the knife carelessly over his shoulder, it landed crimson blade down two feet from Seras as he bent over the screaming shape of the little girl's mom.
All she could hear was the terrible inhuman shriek, and all she could see was the trickle of blood down the shining steel. Her mind snapped into action and she couldn't help the banshee howl resonating through her skull as she forced herself to move with her good arm and leg, reaching desperately for the knife. She'd show him! Even if it cost her life, she'd get him back for hurting her mommy and daddy!
The instant her trembling hand grasped the handle of the blade, darkness oozed into the simple home through the smashed front door, blowing in like some foul wind and ensnaring the occupants inside. Seras felt her mind freeze up for the second time, and it took every ounce of will she had to turn her head away from the back of the vampire, and into the face of another. Recognition dawned in her eyes as she stared, awed, at the menacing form of the No Life King. He stood there, framed by the light of the crimson moon, with his cape billowing and dancing like black flames, obscuring what she thought might have been the outfit he'd worn earlier that day of loose black velvet pants and a half buttoned shirt so deeply red it looked black as well. Despite the darkness within the house, she could see the stern expression on his face that made her want to cower at his feet, and his eyes glowed like hellfire as he strode into the room, the flickering light of the lamps within brought stark relief to the crimson smears on the walls and floor.
Seras inched back instinctively, still clutching the knife in her good hand, and was almost thankful she could not speak, for she knew she'd be whimpering and possibly draw his attentions on her. It wasn't exactly that she thought he'd kill her, she mused, looking back on the day, but … no one wants to be caught between two angry vampires.
The murderous bastard turned when he sensed Lord Draculae enter the home, and Seras cringed to see the noble coated head to toe in her mother's blood. His putrid yellow eyes were glowing with madness as he snarled at the more powerful male, "Pathetic! Human lover! You'd turn on your own for the sake of these mortals?" He kicked the eviscerated corpse of Seras' mother and the little girl sobbed mutely, closing her eyes and turning her head away.
"You call me pathetic?" The lyrical baritones of the ruling Lord poured into Seras' ears like poisoned honey, "When you slaughter a family for some perceived slight. You disgust me." He sneered and Seras peeked at him through half open lids to see him draw his sword, and she could hear it, too, in the deathly silence surrounding them. "It's filth like you that would drain the world dry without a care of what tomorrow would bring. You dare refer to yourself as a noble? No one is above the reach of my laws."
The coward that he was, the lesser vampire tried to step back through the walls, and she knew he would have melted into them if he could, but they were still coated in Lord Draculae's darkness, and before he could even scream he was beheaded. Seras watched it roll with numb fascination. It stopped by her side, and with a quick vengeful motion, stabbed the knife into the mustard yellow iris of the monster that killed her family.
A deep chuckle surrounded her and she heard his heavy boot steps thud upon the wooden floor as the Lord approached. "Such a feisty little thing," he purred, looming over her. His nostrils flared, and his lips twitched, "Ah, so it is you, little servant." He knelt down to be level with her, crimson eyes taking in the unnatural angles of her left arm and right leg, and noticed something that she hadn't while caught up in the adrenaline high; at least three of her ribs were broken. "Hm," he hummed, taking a second lingering look at the rather pitiable sight of the blonde child at his feet. "Not life threatening, but they would never heal properly." He murmured, as if to himself, and he lifted one gloved hand up to her chin – she managed not to flinch – to tilt her face up further for his inspection.
'My Lord?'
He smiled then, a truly terrible sight, but she found she wasn't afraid, and leaned into the coolness of his touch. "Indeed. Come, child, you shall live in the castle and learn your letters. I find I am in need of a new scribe that will not back talk during meetings." He laughed, and the light of the moon shone white on his fangs.
'Yes, my Lord.' Seras chanted obediently, but her eyes turned sadly back towards the crumpled bodies of what used to be her parents. A tear trickled down her cheek.
"They will be buried." He spoke, and she smiled tremulously before the night's events finally caught up with her and she passed out cold. Little girls weren't meant to break an arm, a leg, and a few ribs all in the span of five minutes and remain conscious afterward.
The No Life King chuckled indulgently as he petted the little blonde's head. He was amused by her spirit, she had refused to give up despite the odds, and he liked that about her. Perhaps…
A ghoulish expression curled his lips and he laughed as he pulled the little girl into his chest, standing with a flourish of his cape. Yes, perhaps he would.
When he arrived back at his castle he sent a contingent of guards to deal with the aftermath; bury the humans and stake the treacherous glutton's body out for the sun to devour. It was by no means normal for him to take matters into his own hands so directly, but the psychic screaming had caught his attention, and he was bored. The humans could squabble over who got the house, he cared little for such trifles unless brought to his attention during court days.
He phased into an empty set of servants quarters and set the child's limp body down on the bed, aligning her bones properly with the ease of a master surgeon. "I hope you continue to entertain me, little Seras." He laughed as he removed his glove and cut his palm, pouring his blood past her slightly parted lips and watching with satisfaction as she swallowed it. Only a small amount, enough to bind her to him and heal her mortal injuries, he did not wish to cease her aging yet. No, that would come later. When she had curves he could admire to his undead heart's content.
Oh the rumors that would spread! He would enjoy each and every one of them, and ruthlessly smother them with a twist of his boot heels. The next few months would be glorious entertainment in the dull matters of vampire court.