Regina was in the throne room when someone notified her that the hunting party had returned from Sherwood Forest with a live capture, she had specifically asked for a human who would be worth something to her, someone whom she would be able to use as a bargaining chip with the other kingdoms. For too long now her kind had been prosecuted, they had been rooted out, violated and killed, something drastic needed to be done in order to bring an end to that.
She wanted peace, not that she thought the rest of her coven would be in agreement with her, many were still on the warpath after the killing of their previous Queen, her mother had been their leader for centuries before she had been captured by the King's men decades ago. No one had ever seen her again and Regina had taken her place as leader of the clan, she was their Queen and they would bow to her orders. She was the most powerful of them all and no one would even attempt to stand up against her for they knew the extent of her wrath.
Standing from her chair she lugged the heavy red material of her dress, dragging it along the ground and beginning to make her way through the room towards the corridor, "Graham, where is the prisoner now?" she questioned as he walked a couple of steps behind her, it was a mark of respect taken up by pretty much everybody within the dark palace, something her mother had put in place, not that Regina cared much for it, the thing was though, she couldn't be bothered to change the rules. She had known from the moment she sat on that throne she would need to make it know she was Queen, make sure that she maintained the authority her mother had.
"They put him in the east tower, your majesty."
"I see, well, I guess I should go and see what prize they have brought for me, I hope my sister hasn't been a disappointment again," she sighed. Zelena had been fuming when Regina had been proclaimed the rightful heir, even though she were the younger of the two, the thing was, Regina was a pureblood, whereas Zelena was only a half-blood, this had left no question as to who their people chose as their Queen. That and Cora had clearly stated that Regina was to be her heir and she was to take over the throne should anything happen to her. Sometimes Zelena had been known to mess up an operation on purpose just to annoy her, she hoped that this wasn't one of those times, especially with more and more of their kind disappearing each month.
Her heels tapped against the hard-stone floor as she made her way through the maze of winding corridors, heading for the entrance to the east tower, once she had navigated her way there, she ascended the staircase, stopping in front of a wooden door before opening it and walking into the room, finding Mal sat in the window seat looking out into the night, "so then, what have you brought me?"
The blonde turned to look at her, her blue eyes shining as she glanced towards the corner of the room, "I think you'll like this, your majesty."
Her eyes fell on the prisoner and she tilted her head before walking closer, she knew that Mal was silently watching her. She crouched down beside him, her gaze widening in realisation as she moved closer, she knew him and oh how her girls had done well.
"Pleased?" the blonde asked.
"Very," Regina nodded, standing again and looking down at their catch, "he is exactly what we need to bargain with the other kingdoms. I believe they will give us anything we ask in return for the precious boy."
"He's hardly a boy Regina," Mal grinned as she moved to look at him with her, "in fact, he's entirely your type."
"You know I don't do that anymore, I haven't felt anything like that in almost a century," she sighed with a slight eye roll, tucking her hair behind her ear, at a certain point those natural urges seemed to just stop, it was said that once a vampire touched their destined mate the urges would return once again, Regina, however, felt as though she didn't even have a mate out there, she was 223 years old, if she hadn't met her mate now, what was the likelihood that she was going to, she was destined to rule alone forever and because she was immortal, that really would be a long, long time.
"Hmm, well, maybe he might be able to change your mind."
"I doubt it," she huffed, "keep him in here and keep him asleep, I need to go change and I want to be here when he wakes up. If he wakes before I return, knock him out."
"Very well."
"Well done Mal," she grinned as she turned on her heels and headed out of the door, she wanted to speak to her sister before she freshened up in preparation for her audience with his highness.
Zelena was in the castle's kitchens when Regina found her, sat upon the counter with a chalice of blood in one hand as she sipped slowly, she looked up when Regina entered and smirked, "I think I earned this."
"Is that a vintage?" Regina chuckled as she sat on one of the chairs. The kitchen, much like the rest of the castle, was cold and dimly lit, there were animals strung around as their blood was drained, once that was complete, Regina more than often had the rest of the carcass sent to some village where the people would be happy for meat, that part of the animal wasn't exactly any use to her, or to any of her people for that matter. Although, some of her kind did have human mates and they would have the first choice of the meat before it was sent away.
"Hmm, from mother's secret stash," the red-head laughed.
Regina found the bottle, reading the label, "a nobleman?"
"Yes, I do miss the times when we could hunt properly and feed right."
The brunette sighed and shook her head, she had outlawed the hunting of humans for a reason, it wasn't right and she found it rather sickening, sure it depended on the human that was being hunted, there had been the odd occasion where she had witnessed someone commit a terrible crime and she decided that maybe feeding on them wouldn't be so bad, she would let her sister take them. That hadn't happened for a while and she could tell that Zelena was getting restless, she wasn't like her, she couldn't control her urges, as well as Regina, could. "You know we can't do that anymore."
"It's not natural for us to just survive off animals, I need something more stimulating, something alive."
"Go catch yourself a live animal then, no humans…"
"Regina…"
"No humans," she snapped, pushing the bottle of blood away from her, "you can drink from the stash, but as for hunting, you are not to target anything other than animals, am I clear?"
Zelena just scoffed and pushed herself off the counter, glaring at her sister, "one day, you won't be around to stop us, your majesty."
Regina closed her eyes and tried to keep her temper in check, her sister was infuriating and clearly jealous of the position that Regina held within the coven, she always had been, but to threaten her was taking it to a whole other level. She stalked closer to her stopping in front of her, "don't threaten me Zelena. I came to congratulate you for bringing back our prisoner, but if you threaten me I won't be responsible for my actions," she breathed before backing away and heading for the door, hopefully, Zelena got the message. She wasn't powerful enough to take on the Queen of the coven.
Once she was out of the area she headed for her chambers, her room was just as dark as the rest of the castle, there were deep red curtains which covered the windows, blocking the daylight out, too much sun could be dangerous for her kind so she chose to shut it out for the most part. With a sigh she dropped down on to the purple silk bedspread, a human she once knew had asked her why she didn't sleep in a coffin, she had simply laughed and stated that it was way too cliché and nowhere near as comfortable as an actual mattress with sheets.
Closing her eyes, she brought her feet up onto the bed, she needed to rest a while before she talked to the prisoner, something which was bound to be more than interesting.
After her rest, she changed into a form-fitting burgundy dress, it had a slight train and no back, the heels underneath made her seem much taller than she actually was and she hoped it gave the impression that she was someone to be afraid of. Regina headed towards the east tower, swinging open the heavy door to find Mal still sat in the window seat, "has he awoken yet?"
"No," the blonde shook her head, standing from where she was perched and giving Regina the once over, "someone's gone all out, loving the menacing makeover," she gestured to Regina's face.
"I think fear could be our best asset in this situation dear," she stated as she walked to sit in the hardwood chair that was on the opposite wall to where the prisoner was sat, "you may leave us, I think I can handle this alone."
Maleficent nodded and left her in the room with the prisoner, Regina's eyes landed on him, watching as he slept, Mal was especially good at making people sleep if she needed them to, she was pretty apt at hypnosis.
The man himself was very good looking, slightly rugged perhaps, but in a way, that made him totally pleasing to look at, she'd seen him once before, a few years prior she had slipped into a royal ball at the palace, he'd watched her that night and she'd watched him also, but as soon as he grew the nerve to come and speak to her she had excused herself and left. He'd asked her to dance and if there was one thing she couldn't do, it was dance, so she left, ran from the ball back to the safety of the castle.
She saw him stir and sat up straight, his eyes opened slowly and he suddenly shot upright, looking around frantically, Regina simply grinned, "finally awake I see, I've been waiting for you, Prince Robert."
A/N Hi, thank you all so much for reading! I really hoped you enjoyed it! Now we've met our leading characters the chapters will get longer. I know they have been short so far, but I wanted to set the scene. Thanks again for reading! :)
