• Mother had been going throughout several shops, buying pricey goods and wares accompanied by her servants and guards. The entire time she had been ignoring my desire to buy a raggedy doll made purely of patches from different fabrics and two mismatched buttons. It was a crude toy, but I had a love for the shoddy stuffed doll. Perhaps it was it's infallible sewn on smile, wide as the crescent moon and just as bright. The tiny trinket had brought me a warmth inside, one I haven't felt for years.
    She would not let me have it, however. She would always reply that I have no need for toys or childish things anymore. My mother believed I was no longer a child, but rather an unholy creation of a vampire. Despite her bite being the one to turn me, she has no desire to truly take me as her own any time soon.
    "Ophelia!" she called to me, authority high in her tone. "Drop that disgusting thing and come here! We're leaving!"
    The venom in her words lingered longer than the words themselves. It was obvious she despised me with every fiber in her body.
    "Coming mother," I replied in a monotonous tone, the only one she could put up with. When I expressed emotion, she would lash me when father was no where to be seen. Perhaps she found defiance in my tone. It took me two years, but I have mastered the art of emotionless chatter.
    "Hurry now, Ophelia. Your mother does not like waiting!" a servant assigned to me by father said with a beautiful gleaming smile. He was the one thing that made my life enjoyable.
    Kristen Strong had been my personal guard since the first night, staying at my side throughout the entire process of transforming into a vampire. He was still human, but he stayed by me for all this time. Others curse the existence of...my kind...but he does not see me as a blood thirsty animal that kills with no remorse. He sees me as what I am; a little girl.
    "Yes, Kristen," I replied, forcing a hint of love within my voice. He ushered me to catch up to my mother.
    For the entire visitation to the village market square, mother Lilith criticized the handwork of rugs and drapes at each and every stand, breaking the hearts of the vendors. I felt their pain as even their most prideful art was defamed by my mother. But I could not show emotion...lest I fuel her wrath. Her desire was for me to be a decoration, nothing more, and nothing less. I was to be a distinguished and elegant daughter of the Vanderveldt house, haughty and noble in every way. My mother was to be my role model, but father believes differently. He often argued I was still a little girl, and I was to be treated as such. Mother disagrees nonetheless and raised me otherwise, for father was often out to maintain business among the vampires. Their safety was his first priority. It left me sad and alone at times, but he would always bring me a teddy bear from each place he visited. I have a handsome collection throughout my room now, but mother always tries to convince me to dispose of them.
    "Ophelia! Stand up straight! And don't let your dress drag! Hold it in your hand if you have to!" mother scolded.
    "Yes mother." I took an end of the dress she made me wear in my left hand and carried it off the dusty wood floor of a collection store. Odd trinkets of ceramic and marble lined the shelves in an eerie manner. There were animals, children, insects, aquatic creatures, and even mythological ones all staring at me with multi-colored jewels for eyes. They were crude figurines, definitely made for those with a disturbed sense of style or humor.
    Nothing could fit my mother more.
    "I see you have the ruby eyed dragon in stock. It was something I've been yearning to get my hands on for a long while now. May I take a closer look?" she said in a gentle voice. The man behind the counter immediately nodded nervously and gently took down the gold figure with shaking hands.
    "You have an eye for rarities, madam," he replied as respectfully as he could. The people of this land all knew who my mother was, humans and vampires alike. He may not necessarily enjoy the presence of my mother, but lest he desires to be torn in half by her, he will kiss the very ground she strode on.
    Mother Lilith eyed the gold dragon with great interest, perhaps the only time I have ever seen her so interested. "Yes...it's not a replica either. This is indeed the object of my desires." She smiled evilly.
    Without another word, she gave it to one of her guards and turned to leave, everyone following close behind.
    "W-Wait! You forgot to pay me!" the seller cried. My mother stopped dead in her tracks, then slowly turned, her expression not in the least bit amused.
    "You dare make me pay?" she said, her gorgeous voice containing a terrible tone. "You should be honored that I even walk into your disgusting store! You should be on the ground, kissing my feet and thanking your maker than I am in your presence! And you expect me to pay!?"
    In a flash too fast for human eyes, mother separated the poor man's head from his shoulders. The cranium smacked the floor with a wet thud and spun for a few moments, then laid flat on it's temple. The scent of blood attacked my nostrils, dancing with my lust, teasing me. I could feel my body grow warm with cravings...
    Mother looked to me, sensing the change in temperature from my undeveloped vampire body. I was showing no resistance to my hunger.
    My face flushed with embarrassment as all eyes were on me. "Ophelia!" mother hissed. "Show reserve! You are a Vanderveldt! Not a whore!"
    For a vampire to grow hot and flustered just by being in the presence of blood showed extreme animosity, like a doe in heat. It was much similar to a human being sexually aroused. Instead of emitting scent like animals, however, the body of a vampire grows warm, then hot. It was opposed to the natural cold and dignified temperature we normally had.
    "I apologize mother," I replied quickly, clearly growing more uncomfortable as time passed. But mother was secretly enjoying my shame. She had never called me a Vanderveldt before, and if she was truly disgusted by my behavior, we would have left the store quickly. It was as if I had urinated in my dress. Instead of the mother telling the daughter all will be well, she made me stand in front of all to see and criticized me.
    Kristen, my knight and hero, had suddenly rushed into the store and sheltered me from all the eyes. "I apologize madam. I will take her immediately."
    Before my mother could protest, Kristen had rushed me out in his loving embrace, and at once, we were heading back to the castle.

    I was crying back inside my room, Kristen holding me to his warm chest all the while. "It's okay Ophelia," he repeated over and over, stroking my hair with his magnificent hand. I would cry even louder so he would not stop. "There there, young one. Everything is fine."
    "Not everything is so," I replied, still emotionlessly. "Mother is displeased by me. She loathes me deeply! Why must I live in such a house when I had a loving mother back home?"
    He looked down to meet my eyes, as I looked up to meet his. "That was the fate chosen for you," he replied softly. "The stars decided you would become vampire, and that's what happened. There's no arguing with the fates, and nor would I."
    He smiled softly and pulled out something from a bag he had. It was the doll I had admired earlier.
    He gave it to me, his face brilliant with excitement. "Do you like it?" he said with great hope. Without making any movement to touch the doll, I whipped my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as my little arms could.
    Normally, such a hug would kill a human, but that was not the case for me. I was turned when I was sickly, so I was born into the world of vampires with a severe retardation; lack of strength.
    Kristen laughed and hugged me back just as tightly, rocking me gently in his arms. "I thank those who laid out your fate everyday, Ophelia! For I was able to meet you!"
    "Do you mean it?" I asked, meeting his icy blue eyes once more.
    "Yes...I love everything about you, my little princess. From your gorgeous purple hair, to your mystical violet eyes. I love you, Ophelia..."
    "I love you too...Kristen..."

    All was well, as long as I had Kristen...for the time...I had him...

    The night I lost him was the night I lost myself.

    The moon was crying again, drops of rain splashing down against the cold, stone walls of my great home. In front of my mother's throne knelt the love of my life, lacerated with wounds from a blade and bites all over his body. He was only half-alive, trying to see through his blood soaked eyes. I was not positive if he could hear either. Earlier I had seen my mother's guard forcing needles into Kristen's ears.
    My eyes burned with sadness.
    "Do you know why I have brought you before me?" she said, her voice just as emotionless as mine. Kristen let out a wail of pain. A bubble of blood bursted from his once beautiful lips.
    "It has been discovered that you have been conspiring against the vampires! You used Ophelia's young heart to convince my husband to trust you, but I see you for what you are; an enemy of our kind!"
    "NOO!!" he cried out. "OPHELIA!! I LOVE HER!!"
    I whimpered loudly, enough for my mother to hear me. "Ophelia! Step forward!" she roared. The walls echoed with her viciousness.
    I obeyed, and carefully took step after step until I was before her in a shivering mess.
    "Look upon this man that swayed your heart! Look at the true face of your kind! Do you see now why humans are trash!? They cannot be trusted! Even those that pretend to love you!"
    I only sobbed relentlessly, barely understanding her words. I was torn between listening to my mother and throwing myself to Kristen, but fear overtook me.
    "No one loves you!" she continued. "Can you not see how weak you are? How pathetic? My husband saw you and imagined you as a pet! You are no more than the pet of the Vanderveldts! And even then you cannot perform your duties right! YOU ARE USELESS!!"
    I wanted to disagree, to yell I am not, but I was too fearful. In the end, perhaps I was useless...
    "But fear not, pathetic creature." She stood up and drew a blade from the sheath of her guard. "You can redeem yourself yet. All you must do..." she offered me the sword, hilt first. "Is end him."
    I let out a shriek of pain and agony before falling to my knees. To take the life of my love! I could not! I would not!
    "He does not love you!" she shouted. "He used you! He wishes to destroy my kind! But, if you destroy him, it will be over, and you will be accepted fully as a Vanderveldt. You will be the princess of vampires as my husband wished! Do you not wish to please him?"
    I wanted to. I wanted to please him with all my will. He was a strong man who acted as the father I never had. The way he would look at me felt as if I was his real daughter. If only he would marry my real mother...and took me...we would all have lived as a happy family, and Kristen would marry me when I was old enough! But this nightmare! It was the opposite of what I wanted...my father was nowhere to be seen, my mother miles from here, mother Lilith holding a blade to me, and Kristen in agonizing pain, bleeding from every orifice of his body.
    "Do it. Ease the stress of your king and slay one of his enemies."
    I stared into her dark red eyes, boiling with bloodlust. The blood had been teasing me for the entire time, more than usual. The blood of my love...there could not be blood more delicious!
    "Or...perhaps you wish to drink him dry..." she smirked, realizing how hot my body was for him.
    No...no!
    Before I could react, she forced my nose into a gash across his neck. "Inhale it! This time, you have no need to hold back, my daughter! Feed! Feed like a whore! Do it however you like!"
    I tried to push him away, desperately trying not to breath his erotic fumes! But each breath I took was one for guilty pleasure! Lust had held me in a vice grip, taunting me.
    "Do it...do what you've always wanted. Drink your first virgin blood! Become an adult!" Lilith egged on. My tears mixed with his blood...
    "I'm so sorry..." I wailed to him.
    "W-Wait! Ophelia! Please don't! PLEASE!"
    But he was silenced as I clamped my teeth over his neck, biting down hard and sucking viciously from his wounds.
    It was so warm...so succulent...like a nectar of gods...
    I did not hold back either.
    I sucked viciously, rubbing myself on his body to bathe in his blood. My tongue swirled all around inside his wounds, tearing veins and widening the holes. I could feel the life leaving him, his soul escaping from him, but I continued. I needed more of him! I needed him!
    My first time was amazing...but like the black widow, I lost him...

    That was nine years ago. If I did sleep, I know I would have that nightmare every single night. It did not feel real when it happened, for I have not closed my eyes to blank the memory since. I could not close my eyes...I would not. I wanted to remember how disgraceful I was, how monstrous I was. I am not capable of love...no one who loved someone would drain them of life, just to relieve their lust. I was just what my mother called me; a whore. I was a whore...a lonely whore...
    There was no emotion left in me. All that was left was a demon. I did not cry, nor smile anymore. I would not laugh, whine, or love. I was only a creature.
    A creature that lives on animalistic instincts.
    I am Ophelia Winters Vanderveldt.
    I am the princess of vampires.
    No more.
    No less.