The gods exist! There are many accounts of their divine intervention. Though many doubt, their existence is true. Though many believe the dark gods be evil, and the light gods be good. I believe that not to be the case. Balance must be observed! Light and Dark. Order and Chaos. Life and Death. Foolish are those who believe they are figments of our imagination! Thankful they should be, that the gods do not care for our faith!

A Random Crazy Man. (High Priest of Chaos)

Chapter 2.

 

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It had been another average day for Tina Meadow. Being the curator of the famous Vampire Palace museum, named after the old city of Blood-Haven; was something she had sort after in her youth.

Not for any reason she would acknowledge to anyone else. Most would call her crazy at best, a traitor at worse if they knew.

Ever since she was a young girl, she had dreamt of Vampires. There was something that drew her in, the stories and tales of them was of great interest. Though, somehow, she didn’t know at the time how, but she knew most tales were lies and misinformation. Able to gleam truths from the fiction that was ‘common knowledge’.

She learnt early on never to reveal her believes. She didn’t think Vampires were monsters. If that was the case, this palace they built wouldn’t exist, nor would the city. The tales of them ending wars wouldn’t have been put in writing.

When she was thirty, and had spent her time studying and had passed all her exams to become a qualified curator of a museum, the first place she went to apply her skills was at Blood-Haven museum, otherwise known as the crimson palace of the Vampire Queen by the people within the capital.

Her job interview didn’t go as she had expected.

She failed.

Still, she managed to be accepted as a lower level employee, a cleaner, and worked her way up over the years.

Now, at seventy-two years old, she was the Curator. The boss in charge!

Although she was getting on in life, time had been a kind mistress. Though her black hair in her youth has all but given way to a full head of grey, her body remained as agile and fit as a woman halve her age.

She sat down at her desk, a pot of fresh black tea sitting across from her. She was studying a new book, written in a language that had not been used for hundreds of years.

This was not a part of her job.

The book had been a gift, titled; The Family of Blood. As she slowly translated, she wrote her thoughts out on a sheet of paper, while muttering to herself.

“This book seems to contain the family tree of the Queen. The most recent version. It seems each tree is created when a new daughter is born.

“We now know the name of the last daughter of the Queen. Isabel Blood. Princess of the Vampires. Records indicated her presence in the battle for the capital, but they never mentioned her by name. There are also other names included, yet I have not been able to identify them as of yet.

“Is this book strictly for keeping records of family? Or is there something more? It seems there is far more than names shown, and Isabel’s name shows up often, leading to my first assumption of this being a diary of some kind.

“However… the layout discounts the idea a young girl would write a diary in such a way. Maybe a historic record, that includes a family tree.”

A shudder ran through Tina’s old bones. A feeling quite familiar to her now. The influx of magic in the air, prickling her skin. Indicating the seal applied by the Empire one thousand years ago had been reactivated.

This was of no concern, as they activated the seal as a lock for the night. The best lock in the world some say. When it is active, no one can enter or leave, keeping the priceless artefacts safe from theft.

Many of the staff are offered a room within the guest wing of the palace, most don’t accept, but Tina fell in love with the place early on, and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. The West and East wings had long been sealed away, even to this day, they are unable to access them.

It is widely believed the Empire sealed the wings, since there was no records of anyone entering the two locations.

So where did this diary come from?

Putting her feathered quill down, she looked around on her desk. It was clear and clean. She made it a point for her desk to be presentable, with the aged wood protected by magic lasting for generations of Curators, she was proud to show it off. Lined against all four walls of her office were worktops, with artefacts spread across them, you could find almost everything there, from kitchen knifes, to dice, to swords and metal pens. Most from the palace multiple rooms.

Of course, she wasn’t just there to catalogue, but also the maintain the multiple artefacts found within the palace, and even those found outside of it.

That was where the book was reported to be from. Outside the palace, which allowed her to work on it without having to go through the rigorous, at best, months, at worst years wait for the powers that be to approve.

She reached for the teapot, purring a fresh drink in a second cup.

It didn’t take long for a shadow to appear. Sitting down opposite Tina. Tea cup in hand. “I do like this blend. Thank you.”

Tina smiled. “You are very welcome,” taking a sip of her own, now cooler, and thus, drinkable tea.

The shadows surrounding the figure reseeded, revealing a young, red haired woman. Her crimson eyes took on a gentle look as she watched Tina from the rim of her cup. “How are you, Tina.”

“Quite well, this book you gifted me has been quite interesting.”

“I’m glad.”

When the shadow first appeared before Tina, she didn’t know how to react. She was young back then. Staying inside the palace for the first week as a cleaner.

It was the dead of night, she was in bed, reading a book about the history of Vampires, when she caught a shadow entering through a secret door of her large room.

Before she could scream bloody murder, the vampire attempted to charm her into silence. This meant revealing their crimson eyes.

Needless to say, she didn’t get a wink of sleep that night, she surprised the vampire by becoming so excited, the charm simply couldn’t take hold.

“Tina, are you okay?” Tina was brought back to reality by the shadows voice.

“Ah, sorry… I was just remembering when we first met.”

“Ah, I see. That was quite the night. You shocked me quite well back then, I never thought I’d meet a human who would be so happy to meet a Vampire.”

“Well, I’m glad we met.”

“Oh, I know,” the vampire laughed.

“Is it that time already?” Tina asked the shadow.

“Yes. Today marks the thousandth anniversary. As always, everyone needs to avoid the throne room tonight.”

Tina nodded. “I’m not sure why you always remind me, it’s been this way since forever. Everyone avoids the throne room at night.”

“You are a special case,” the shadow vampire spoke flatly, “the curator is usually under a heavy charm spell to ensure our secrecy.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Tina softly laughed, “with how many times you’ve ‘charmed’ me out of my panties,” she pointed out to the red haired vampire.

“You wound me…” the vampire mocked, holding her chest as if she was hit.

Tina sighed, a faint, content smile lifting up her face. She finished the remainder of her tea, before pulling up her sleeve, exposing her clean, smooth skin up to her elbow.

In response, the vampire stood, moving around the old wooden desk. Tina offered her arm, and as the vampire was leaning in, she pulls her arm back.

“Any chance I get to know the name of the woman I love yet?”

The vampire gave Tina an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, you know the rules.”

Tina sighed. “I know…” she offered the vampire her arm once more. This time, she didn’t move it.

She felt a slight bit of pressure as the red haired woman bit into her arm, she felt no pain, only a slight feeling of something leaving her body, including her magic being drained ever so slowly.

It didn’t take long for the vampire to feed. After having her fill, she moved to reveal her unharmed arm. The only evidence her skin was punctured, was the two spots of blood left behind.

“Thanks for the meal,” the vampire leaned in and whispered. Tina leaned her head towards the woman.

“Happy to help. Always.”

“I better go, the others are waiting for me,” before the vampire could move, Tina leaned in and kissed her. It wasn’t a long kiss, or one of passion. A quick kiss that old couples typically give one another, “I’ll see you later tonight?”

“Okay, love,” Tina whispered back.

The vampire vanished into the shadows, seemingly never there to begin with.

Tina couldn’t help but smile. This was her favourite time of the day after all. If she could tell her younger self, she would be feeding a vampire whom she falls in love with, and will be in a romantic relationship with for almost forty years, she’d call herself senile and crazy. No doubt.

She pores herself another cup of tea, getting back to work on the book. Only to find another gift beside it. A small vile containing a potion of unknown effect.

She shook her head. Taking the potion and drinking it. If her love gave it her, she was sure it was safe.

 

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“Mother!” moving faster than the eye could see, the lead shadow guard rushed towards the throne. The hood of her cloak flew off, revealing her crimson red hair, trailing behind her in a loose ponytail.

It was purely instinctual, she had finally saw the Queen move, the seal on her finally released, only for her to slump back into the throne as if a puppet with its strings cut.

One of the other shadows reached her first, stopping her from approaching by grabbing her wrist. “Isabel, wait!”

The voice was female, young and high pitch, but carried authority beyond what some would expect.

All shadow guards tended to be female, not because their Queen was female, but because female vampires were simply more powerful than males. Though there has been male shadows in the past, those are few and far between, and typically end up being princes. The Queen sons.

Isabel froze in place, her training catching up with her frantic mind. She knew she had messed up, but so did her fellow guard.

Whenever they are on duty, they are no one. They have no name, no family, no identity. This was to ensure all guards were treated equally, and not based on birth. Many tend to be daughters of nobles and some come from lesser or commoner families, some are turned humans.

She was the current leader. She had a duty to preform.

“Gamma, Delta and Epsilon, take her majesty to her chambers, make sure she’s healthy and comfortable. Beta, Zeta and Eta, capture all the humans currently inside the palace. Charm and knock out those who resist. But don’t harm the Curator. Bring them to the throne room.”

““Understood!””

“Beta, thank you. I’ll forgive your breach of protocol, as I also breached protocol. I will ask for punishment later, after this current situation is dealt with.”

“Of course, Alpha. However, I understand why you did what you did, I do not think it warrants a punishment,” the shadow known as Beta said. She spoke in a gentle, understanding tone that bore no blame, despite the appoint seriousness of the breach of said protocol.

“That is not for you to decide, now go!”

As the two spoke, the shadows known as Gamma, Delta and Epsilon had already moved the Queen to the West Wing of the palace.

“I doubt any of our sisters will see fault in your actions. Please forgive another breach I’m about to commit, but you were the crown princess of our great nation, none of us blame you for becoming emotional about your mothers return after a thousand years.”

“…” Isabel turned her head to hide her face, quickly pulling her hood back up to hide in the shadows of her cloak. “Thank you.”

With a nod, Beta left with the remaining Shadows, leaving Isabel alone. She wanted nothing more than to rush to her mothers side, worried about why she just collapsed as she did. But she had a duty to preform. A very important duty.

One only she could do as the current leader of the shadow guard.

She saturated herself in front of the throne, looking towards the large ornate doors on the far end. She had to inform the humans inside the palace of where they now stand, and announce the return of the Queen.

She had no doubts that the Queen was okay, she was practically immortal, nothing can kill her, not even time.

As to prove her believe, one of the shadows sent to take care of the Queen returned with her report.

“Ma’am, Gamma reporting!” the guard known as Gamma was quite short for a vampire, quite short even for a woman. Only standing at her own chest height, she had to look up in order to maintain eye contact, even though the shadows of the cloak hid her features, the girl was very youthful, almost childlike in appearance. Hard to believe she was over one thousand years old. That is, until you realise Vampires don’t physically age.

“Report.”

“The Queen is resting, ma’am, her heath is perfect, we could find nothing wrong other than mental exhaustion. She should awake within a few days at most.”

“Thank the gods…” Isabel sighed in relief, “return to your duties, Gamma.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Isabel could feel the joy in Gamma’s voice, let alone hear it. Everyone must be feeling such. Their Queen was finally back!

It is a great day! For the Vampires, that is. No so much for the humans.

A lot of blood will flow when she finds out what they did…

It wasn’t her concern, the humans brought on their own fate by invading and hunting down her kin.

She moved to stand before the throne, facing the large golden doors to the large hall like throne room.

The displays needs to be gone before the Queen awakens, this place is now a throne once more.

 

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Tina stretched her tired body, yarning as she regrettably tears her eyes from the book she’d been studying.

The potion she was gifted worked wonders earlier, refreshing her body and making her feel young again. But thanks to that, she had completely lost track of time!

It was getting very late. Past midnight if the crimson moon was any indication. Slowly rising from her chair, a figure caught her eye.
The room darkened, everything seemed unreal.

Tina’s eyes widened in realisation of what this was.

A strikingly beautiful girl appeared from the dark. Her bright purple eyes glowed in the darkness. She may have looked like a twelve year old, wearing a black lace dress with perfect cream skin, flowing hair the colour of the void, but she was no child.

“My goddess,” Tina bowed her head, not kneeling, nor showing any of the usually worshipping behaviours one would expect from a follower.

But this was the correct way.

“Tina, my priestess,” a child like voice reached out, sounding almost ethereal, “the time has come.”

Tina’s eyes widened even more in shock.

Her eyes opened, jolting up from her desk. It had appeared she fell asleep at her desk, but she knew the truth. She had just received an oracle from her goddess!

That’s when a new figure caught her eye.

She knew it wasn’t the goddess nor her lover this time. For starters, this figure was shorter and thinner looking than her lover but, not by much, no way she’d be mistaken as a twelve year old child like her goddess, she could tell that much despite her being hidden under the cloak of shadows.

“What happened?” she straight up asked.

She wasn’t sure if the shadow guard knew of her relationship with one of their own or not. She has never interacted with any of them. But right now, she didn’t care.

The figure seemed a little taken aback. “You are all required in the throne room.”

Rising her brawl at that, Tina moved around her desk. “Did the Queen wake up?”

“!” the shadow froze up, seemingly not sure how to react.

“Well, what are we waiting for!?” the fatigue she was feeling just moments before vanished in an instant. If what she thought was true, the Vampire Queen has been freed, she was alive!

Thank you my goddess! Thank you!

 

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A strange, heavy air hung within the throne room, as it filled with the humans staying the night.

Security patrols only happened inside before the palace was locked for the night, during the night, they only patrolled the outside, every human inside, with the exception to Tina and another girl, had been asleep when the shadow guard came for them.

Three women, and four men in total comprised of the staff. Ages ranging between eighteen, to Seventy.

Tina being the oldest and most experienced.

Her prime assistant, who would one day replace her was fifty-three, and the second oldest.

The youngest was twin girls of eighteen, who had recently been hired as cleaners, and apprentices.

And three men, one twenty-six, one thirty-eight, and the last forty.

It was important to know who stayed inside the palace, as they were fed upon the most.

The other staff who didn’t stay the night, and work in the day, also are fed upon from time to time.

On occasion, they do take a tourist to feed upon before wiping their memory and sending them on their way. Feeding seven vampires didn’t take a whole lot per day.

It’s been a long time coming. At first, there was Twenty-One Shadow Guards protecting the palace. Seven remained on duty at any given time, while the others slept in stasis.

Which, unlike the name implies, doesn’t freeze the subject in time, but slows it down.

One thousand years is a long time, even with the stasis spell, the only ones still alive are the youngest of the guard, all noble rank. The fourteen others died of old age long ago.

The others have survived beyond the vampire’s natural life expectancy thanks to the stasis spell. Still, Isabel couldn’t have been more relieved.

As a Vampire Royal, it meant her life would naturally be longer than the noble or commoner vampires, it would mean, there was a chance she would be the last one to guard the palace until the Queen was freed.

It was quiet in the throne room, no one dared to make a sound as they were gathered in front of her.

That was, until the oldest man spoke. “There is nothing of value here, and the museum has been sealed until morning. Whatever you want, you wont get it! As long as you don’t harm any of us, the guards will only charge you with trespassing, but harm us, the punishment will be much worse!”

Isabel stared at him without any reaction. Even though she felt like laughing, hard at his assumptions.

She pulls down her hood, revealing her pale skin, flowing crimson hair, sharp pointed ears and crimson eyes. “It is you, who are trespassing, Human.”

Every human was shocked, with the exception of Tina, who’s eyes were not on her, but the throne directly behind her.

“I am known as Alpha, I lead the Shadow Guard, in service of her majesty, the rightful ruler of these lands. Queen Lucy Blood!”

Everyone stared at Isabel, shocked at what they just heard.

Of course, she noted, with the exception of one. Who didn’t seem shocked, but way more excited than even her about what she was about to say.

“You have been gathered for one reason, and one reason alone,” she moved, revealing the empty throne behind her, “our Queen is free, the seal that has trapped her for one thousand years has finally been broken. As of this moment, the Palace is sealed, and until the Queen decides, you are not to leave.”

 

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The world swirled as inky blackness dominated within her mind. Nothing felt real.

This was a strange sensation. One, in all her lives, she has never felt before.

Which is saying something.

Lucy had thought she has seen it all, felt it all. Life after life, she has met a terrible end. But, such ending was only the highlight of those lives. It was what happened between rebirth and death that was troubling.

“You’ve come a long way, Lucy Blood.”

A childlike voice echoed around her. But she knew, that voice didn’t belong to a child. How, she didn’t quite know. Was it instinct? A memory long forgotten?

“Look at you. I’m amazed you survived. But your mind isn’t quite intact,” as the words washed over her, she saw a childlike figure appear in front of her.

“Chaos,” the words slipped out of her mouth, though she had no idea how, or why, the name of this being was clear to her the moment she heard her.

Chaos giggled cutely, a smile lifting up her childlike features. Though she looked young, her lips were a beautiful shade of red, full and enticing. Her hair was the colour of the void, pure darkness with streaks of purple that seems to shift and move, not staying to a single strand of hair for long. But her eyes, sharp and deep as they were, was more like orbs of void itself. If one were to stare into those orbs of void, one could be lost forever.

Lucy didn’t look away, yet she didn’t lose herself. Something deep inside allowed her to stay sane, to stay in the moment.

“Interesting. You remember me. Did I make such an impression on you so long ago?”

Lucy was even more confused by her own reactions then the words of Chaos.

“I see. Unlike last time we spoke, you are an open book to me now.

Something I have longed for, for so long… but the cost for such thing has come at a price far to steep for both of us.”

“Chaos!” another voice rang out loudly from the dark. Raver than childlike, the new voice was from a much more mature sounding woman. Though still light in pitch, she had power behind her voice that could turn heads.

“Fuck,” the being known as Chaos cursed as she stepped back, forcing a smile on her face that was obviously fake, “Darkness! What are you doing here?”

“You know very well why I’m here! You will not take my vampires away from me!”

“I’m not trying to take them away from you!” Chaos argued as her body vanished into the dark.

“She is under my domain, why are you even here?”

“I predicted her arrival, didn’t I? Look, Darki, I want to help you, that’s why I send my priestess to the survivors within the palace.”

“…”

The words suddenly become muffled, as the two beings went back and forth, the words seemingly speeding up as their augment seemed to be accelerated in time.

Within only a few seconds of strange sped up muffled silence, a new figure appeared. A young woman with long purple hair, she appeared much older than Chaos, like she could have been the older sister of the other being.

Though neither would admit it, they were twin sisters. After listening and watching what has been happening with a strange familiarly to it all, Lucy finally spoke.

“Why?”

“It wasn’t my fault!” Darkness spoke fast, seemingly panicked by the sudden question, “I don’t know what happened, but… it wasn’t by my hand!”

A soft laughter echoed around the two, but there was a sad undertone to it that made it unsettling. “I don’t think she’s asking why it happened, Darki, she’s asking why she’s here, now. Why we called her here. Can’t you read her soul, she’s an open book! Broken!”

“Shut it, Chaos!” Darki¹Darki is a nickname for Darkness, however, it wasn't her twin who thought it up! shouted back, frustration clear on her extremely and perhaps unnaturally beautiful face.

“We’re here to help, Lucy! What happened to you should never have happened!”

“Chaos!” Darkness shouted again, but her voice weakened, “I’m her goddess, let me speak to her.”

However, before another word could be uttered, Lucy’s crimson eyes opened wide. The inky darkness vanished, replaced by a pure white ceiling above, and a warm, soft bed beneath.

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