"When I discover who I am, I'll be free."

― Ralph Ellison

The only thing that gave me any indication that I still had feeling in my body was the violent tingling in my neck. The thick haze that had surrounded my head was finally beginning to dissipate. I wanted some sort of comfort ― some reprieve from my own mind and to forget the unforgivable deeds that I had just committed. But there was nothing and no one that could help me escape from my actions.

Despite the fact that my mind was ready to acknowledge what had taken my place my body wasn't. It had yet to register all of the cuts and bruises that covered almost every inch of my dirt covered skin. The odd pins-and-needles feeling continued to travel down my spine and into the rest of my body. I couldn't help but wonder if any of this would make any sense soon. But in the end what really was sense? I was too broken, too tired, to want a real answer.

The sudden reality of everything crashed upon me. I was surrounded by rubble and broken glass. Fire covered various places amongst the carnage, still burning brightly. The sharp edges of concrete and plaster dug into my knees painfully as I kneeled on the ground. My body suddenly flew into overdrive as the pins-and-needles sensation grew into an unbearable burning sensation. No take it slower. Don't force yourself into reality, let it come to you. My mind urged me. Allow your mind and body to nurture and heal.

Folding into myself I allowed all of my emotions to flow out of me. Be it in tears or screaming, I let everything out till I had nothing left to give. That was a start. The damage was done and I would have to find a way to fix myself. I should not be mourning my now past life. I had despised it and everything and it entailed ― why should I grieve over such maltreatment? They deserved this. They deserved this. I attempted to convince myself.

All of the bodies would eventually be burned and nothing but ashes would remain. Along with the fire the dull echoes of life that had once inhabited this area would die and be forgotten. I allowed my legs to shift from underneath me, letting my body fall to the ground with a painful thump. Perhaps I should let myself burn with them. No. There is much left to do.

Yes, yes that was right. I had done this for a reason. There was a reason behind all of this death and destruction. I should be working to find that very reason right now. Shakily pushing myself up single-handedly with my right arm, I began to stand from my previous fetal position. My nonexistent left arm was useless in the endeavour. I couldn't stay here like this. Everything we had worked for would be a waste if I could not pull myself together. I could do this.

.Liar. The thought mocked me softly.

Stumbling on my shoeless feet, I began rummaging through the ash and debris near me. He was nearby. I know it. My heart rate only continued to increase as I continued to look. I had to find him. I had to. He was everything and more.

A soft clicking behind me was enough to catch my attention. I quickly dropped the rock I had been attempting to lift with my right hand and turned quickly. He hadn't been harmed thank goddess. But the people in the building were harmed. It didn't matter; I had done this all for him, everything would be pointless had he been harmed.

"Taika, are you okay?" I asked as his small body slammed into my legs at breakneck speed. His hands grappled onto my shirt and held tight. Taika shook violently and pressed himself as close as he could to me, attempting to block out the rest of the world.

"Yes, Miss," He said in his small, silvery voice. I hummed patting him on the head, my hands almost tangling in his scraggly orange hair. His once beautiful, sunset orange hair had turned a disgusting rust color. Even if he had only been in the manor for a week was already covered in dirt and other unidentifiable substances. Taika had been through hell and his appearance clearly reflected that.

"That's good," I said as I attempted to detach him from my leg. "Taika let go. We need to leave right now." I reached down and grabbed his hand before I started dragging him away from the leveled manor. We needed to get out of here before word about the news of the massacre reached the Council. My throat tightened as a sickening crunch could be heard as I stepped on something unidentifiable. Oh crap. My stomach twisted violently and I could feel bile rise in my throat. I highly doubted that it was a piece of the building that could have made that type of noise. Shhhh. Ignore it. You have to keep moving.

Swift and distorted shadows were cast upon the ground as we ran. The darkness twisted and seemed to seep up from the ground like oil. While our shadows may have moved silently our feet were a whole other story entirely. The loud clacking of hooves accompanied by my heavy footfalls did nothing to help us get away unnoticed. Move. Faster. Faster. My mind urged.

Soft green grass met us as we managed to get past the ruins of the once glorious mansion. The mansion had been in a very remote area surrounded by at least two hundred and fifty-nine acres (according to passing conversations anyway). It had been a rather impressive example of French and Italian hybrid architecture. But even as beautiful as the building had been I was ecstatic in its obliteration along with all those inside. Liar. The people who had been in there were remorseless and inhuman. Perhaps I could let them by with the ill treatment of grown adults. But children? That was unacceptable. I had no respect for morally destitute people.

Hey. Aren't you glad? They deserved this.

No. I thought. No I wasn't. Even if they had deserved this I didn't enjoy ending their lives, even if many of them had been indirectly. There were very few whom I could ever wish ill upon. And never have I ever wanted to end anyone's life. But you did. My mind mocked.

"C'mon Taika. I know you can run faster than that." I said. "You are a faun are you not?" Taika nodded as he pushed himself to run even faster, his tiny deer legs trembling.

"Sorry Miss, I will try and keep up," Taika said softly. "I don't mean to hold you back."

My eyes went wide as I saw the slick black road that led to the property. Well at least we had managed to find the way out of this place. I motioned for Taika to follow me as I took off down the road opposite the direction we came from. If we could get off the property we may have a chance of finding someplace safe. Safe? No place is safe now. He continued to follow me diligently.

We continued on the path for about another fifteen minutes, only stopping to catch our breaths occasionally. By now my bare feet were sore from all the activity within the past twenty-four hours. I looked behind me to check on Taika and how he was holding up.

Taika's eyes widened as he stared past me, "Miss, behind you!" I swiftly moved to the left and Taika did the same. Bright, fluorescent white lights illuminated our figures. I felt completely terrified as the both of us were exposed to the people in the vehicle. My eyes connected with Taika's and gestured for him to get behind me. They had already seen us and if we ran they would only send a tone of people after us.

My fingers tingled as I opened and closed my right hand slowly. A loud slam from the black limo only served to scare me even more. Sharp and precise steps could be heard making their way towards us. I looked to the floor as I ran through as many possible ways this could play out.

"You really shouldn't be on the road." A velvety, charismatic voice spoke from a decent way from us. My head snapped up at the distinctly masculine voice. "It's not safe." My mouth went dry at his very appearance. The man stood proudly and with poise, his expression calm and eerily serene. Bright and obnoxious white hair stood out crudely against his sharp gold eyes, pale skin only a few shades away from his ivory hair. But that was not what caught my attention. The expensive clothes that adorned his form were a cause for concern; a black jacket with gold embroidery and a lace cravat indicated that he was upper class. He wore power.

"Poor things." He cooed as he stepped forward, shiny black leather shoes tapping lightly on the pavement. Whether he pitied us or was simply mocking us was irrelevant to the situation. A single ringed hand reached out to me, I flinched away from the contact. "Ah I see. You don't trust me do you?"

He smiled flatly as he began pacing in front of us. "There is nothing left for you here. You certainly made sure of that," he said smoothly. "However, don't feel guilty ― if you hadn't I would have done it myself." He stopped moving. "Though I do suppose this is not exactly the time to discuss this matter. I would like to extend you the offer of staying with me ― until the both of you recover that is." The man's offer was certainly inviting, but I had learned long ago that anyone with wealth could not be trusted. I stepped backwards, pushing Taika even further behind me.

He gave me a contemptuous smile. "Do tell me, where do you plan to go?" I shifted uneasily. "Do you plan to run off the woods and live off the land? Do you insist on eroding away, fearing every second of your pathetic excuse of a life that someone will find you?" He asked. Despite knowing that this was his attempt at buffaloing me into seeing things his way I couldn't help but listen. "I am certain that you can see that it would be in all of our interests if you were to come with me."

He seemed to consider his words before speaking again, "And more importantly, how exactly do you plan to survive with only one arm, hm?"

I considered this. Perhaps it would be good for us to go with him. He's just like the Mistress. Don't trust him. My mind whispered softly. My throat tightened at the thought. We needed help from someone and he was our only chance.

"We can't, we're not like you," I choked out. "We'll only be a danger to you." I stiffened and felt my body burn with shame. There was nothing more embarrassing than to admit to someone that you're different, that you don't belong with those around you. The man seemed stunned for a moment before chuckling.

"Oh my dear, we are not as different as you think," he said, his voice surprisingly soothing. Just like earlier, he attempted to reach out to me. "I would like to formally introduce myself, I am Karlheinz, the Vampire King." I nearly choked on air and found myself stupefied. Shivers wracked my body as I felt his ring clad finger trace along my jaw before pulling my chin up to look into his eyes. "Now, could I have the honor of knowing your name, dear?"

Taika leaned out from my side and stared up at Karlheinz, "My name is Taika, sir." Taika's eyes watered pitifully. "Would you really allow us to stay with you."

"Why yes I would. In fact it would be my honor!" Karlheinz answered, voice carefully even and polite. Having taken his hand away from my chin long ago, he looked to me for an answer.

Every bone in my body seemed to scream at me not to answer. That if I did something would go wrong ― terribly wrong. Yes, and everything will go wrong. But he was our only chance at making it out of here alive. I wanted Taika to make it out of here and this man could make this possible. I cleared my throat and looked into his golden eyes.

"Amelia, my name is Amelia," I stated as I extended my right hand to shake his. Karlheinz's hands had a rather odd texture, lightly calloused and as cold as ice. However, as his hand met mine he gripped it tightly and pulled it to his face, brushing his lips against of the top of my hand before letting go.

Karlheinz gestured for the pair of us to follow him to his dark limo. I was shocked to see a man standing next to the passenger doors of the vehicle. The man had been watching our entire exchange. Well if that's not uncomfortable I don't know what is. As my adrenaline rush wore off my legs slowly began to tingle, they were no longer numb. Stumbling slightly, I could feel Taika come to my left side to support my all but useless body. The doors were opened for the three of us.

The inside was lavishly decorated with deep red velvet and ebony leather. How gaudy. A deep and sudden growling could be heard from within the car as the engine was turned on.

As I looked over I noticed that Karlheinz had practically forgotten about Taika and I's existence after we had entered the vehicle. We sat there in silence as the car drove along to who knows where. It made me uncomfortable, were we not worthy of his attention anymore? Or perhaps he was content with achieving his goal and figured that there was no longer a need to make any more conversation.

Are you just going to sit there? A voice whispered nastily.

But I ignored the voice. I instead chose to amuse myself by looking out the tinted windows at the scenery. We must have been traveling at a rather fast speed because the trees and other fauna were blurred into nothing more than streaks of green and black. The occasional animal could be seen peeking out from the brush; the property was indeed rather beautiful. I flexed my fingers, sending tingles up my spine at the sudden movement.

I found myself almost completely numb, emotionally that is, as I thought about what had happened not even four hours ago. I hadn't meant to bring about the destruction of the entire building and all in it. My intentions were to free as many people as I could from the mansion. It was pointless anyway. But sadly those that I had tried so hard to save were not quite willing to save themselves ― instead they wished to destroy those who had imprisoned them.

While I could sympathize with all of those people I could not comprehend their fixation on our captors. They had squandered chance to escape.

I tapped my fingers on my leg nervously. Karlheinz certainly made me uneasy just by being him. Vampires were dangerous, merciless creatures. Most people even believed that they lacked the capacity to care for anything, to love if you want to be sappy. It didn't help that it had been a group of creatures in his subspecies, infernum, that had taken my arm either.

I lifted my stub of a left arm as I glanced at Taika. The boy had only been eight years old when had had been sold to the parents. He had not told me his full story but from what I could tell it had been his family that had sold him. Even though I had only met him not too long ago I felt protective over him. He reminded me greatly of my younger siblings, innocent and kind. I was happy to know that all of my siblings had been pawned off to much kinder people.

I on the other hand had not been as lucky as they had. Mental and physical scars were evidence enough. However, there was still a possibility that the scars would fade over time. If I had kept track of the years as well as I hoped I was fourteen and still growing. That would give me the chance to grow out of my scars, and hopefully, my past.

As my thoughts once again drifted to Karlheinz, my eyes did likewise. The man appeared to have fallen asleep (though I knew this was most likely not the case). It was hard to comprehend that such a pure, angelic looking man could be the Vampire King, hell if I didn't know better I would have mistaken him for an angel. Looks are absolutely deceiving.

I tapped my fingers as I attempted to alleviate some of the numbness in my body. Pointer finger. Middle finger. Ring finger. Pinky. Thumb. Repeat.

By the time we had arrived at his mansion I had managed to get the rest of the feeling back in my body. Though my mind and soul were still in need of major repair. On thing at a time. I thought.

The large building loomed over the limo as we drove up the driveway. Bright lights graced the driveway sides making it look like a runway. The house was a gothically beautiful seemingly right out of the Renaissance, and perhaps it was. The thought was not as alien as most would believe.

As the limo driver pulled up to the foot of the mansion and pulled open the doors Taika stirred from his sleep. His little hooves shuffled nervously as we watched Karlheinz stand and exit the vehicle silently. I gestured for Taika to leave before exiting myself. My grey eyes connected with the driver's violet before nodding my thanks.

Taika clomped over to stand by my side and waited for Karlheinz to make his next move. Karlheinz didn't even acknowledge us and began to make his way up the stairs. A woman stood at the top dressed in a sharp suit and black stilettos.

"Sir, you should not have went without me," Her voice was as cold and commanding as her appearance.

"I know but I do not believe that either of our guests would have taken to kindly to someone such as you Ewell," He countered. Placing a hand on my shoulder he guided me forward. "Please take Ms. Amelia and Taika to suites seven and eight."

Ewell wasted no time in dragging us both up the stairs and to the second floor. As we stood in front of the two rooms she quickly placed Taika in his room before putting me in my own. I let out a soft breath as the dark brought forth all of the thoughts that I had fought to keep locked away on the way here.

I could remember large numbers of people being released from their confinements and storming through the hallways. The fires that had started not long after. I remember watching the people, the guards that had one been out tormentors groveling on their knees for mercy. Stop it ― you're hurting yourself. Running―running―trying to get as many people out as I could. I said stop you imbecile! Only two of us made it out.

I was choking on my own failure. I thought if I staged an uprising I could get everyone out. In the end all I accomplished was destroying everyone. I shouldn't have―

.Failure.

A creak from the door was enough to slam me back to reality.

"Miss Amelia," A meek voice said. Taika's scrawny form quivered in the doorway. "I can't sleep." I turned gestured for him to come in before making room for him on the queen sized bed. He crawled in quietly and gripped tightly to the sheets.

"Thank you for everything, Miss," he murmured as he shuffled closer to my body heat. I could feel my body stiffen at the familiar action and kind words. Perhaps, just maybe, I had done a good thing.

I sighed and ruffled his curly hair before speaking, "Taika, you know you don't have to call me Miss right?" He nodded.

"I'm sorry it's a habit," he said softly.

I snorted at his words, "If you want to continue calling me Miss I'm okay with it."

"Okay."

Not even ten minutes later he had fallen sound asleep, tiny body curled up in a fetal position. I let out a quiet, hollow laugh. He had taken all of my sheets and left me with one pillow.

I smiled bitterly. I wanted to be a better sister, a better daughter. But life wasn't going to give me a second chance at that.

But there was a chance I could do good by Taika. I could give him a new life. A good life.

I adjusted the covers so they covered him completely.

"Sleep well, Taika." I whispered.