The Twisted Links

Chapter 24

Author's Note: Brace yourselves people cause were about to go on a whole vacation with this side trip that's going to take up the next two and a half chapters... even though I'm only publishing this one and the next tonight.

CHAPTER 24

Location Unknown...

Eesha watched as the creatures carried the cage into a large modern looking mansion. Vampires with collars walked around cleaning and working. Those collars brought back so many bad memories that Eesha had to take a deep breath to force away the living nightmares.

Flashback and Backstory...

Long ago, a wizard held vampires in contempt because one had killed his Soulmate and decided to create a way to destroy them. He created a collar that would force vampires to fight against other vampires to kill off the whole race. The magic in the collars took away their free will and they were forced to do as their master's bidding no matter how horrendous. The true horror was that the wizard made vampires kill their own children and Eternal Ones.

A Protector, Octavia, eventually freed the vampires by killing the wizard. The High Council refused to outright ban the collars stating that they could be useful in controlling rogues in case of an uprising. Octavia was livid and warned the High Council of their folly.

Her words became prophetic when an exiled King Jezreel formed a new kingdom with his followers. His greed led him to try and overthrow King Hussein's father, the High King of the vampires, to gain a position on the High Council. The plot was uncovered and Jezreel fled.

In a new land, the disgraced king needed an army. He used the scroll that he had stolen from the Tomb of Silence, to create the collars and forced other rogue vampires to serve him. His reign came to an end when his own daughter, Athailah, gained the knowledge to control the collars and declared herself queen. Without an army the banished king was now forced to flee from his new home.

^Athailah^

Athailah was as cruel as her father was greedy. They both thrived on depravity and carried on an incestuous affair. Power was the tipping point of their relationship and Athailah came out on top.

It was in this world that Eesha was born. Her father, a collared soldier, died shortly before her birth and her mother during labor. Her uncle and aunt took in her and her older brother. The harshness of their lives didn't give them much of a childhood but Eesha had never known anything else. She had her brother, Fardeen, who was only two years her elder. An unusual age difference for vampires. He was full of life and mischief but also knew to be careful.

Unfortunately they weren't careful enough. The queen had a nefarious appreciation for young boys and a handsome Fardeen caught her licentious eye. She ordered her guards to take him to her palace. Seven year old Eesha begged them not to take her brother. Angered by the daring of the urchin, Athailah declared her a traitor and ordered her to be taken to the mines.

Ten years of back breaking labor and torture were suffered before there was a surprise visit from the queen. Her favorite consort, Felix, needed a new slave but she didn't want to give him just any female slave. The last female was far too pretty and Athailah had her ripped to shreds. Looking at the line up, she picked the gauntest female with sharp features and ashened skin.

Upon arriving at the place, Eesha was taken to the consort's house, bathed, and dressed in a uniform showing her rank as slave. Slaves were given the worst tasks and had no rights. They could be tortured by anyone and no one would say anything because they had no rights. Servants were treated better than slaves and every slave wanted a chance to become a servant.

She never saw her master as she was instructed to bow down on her knees with her face toward the ground whenever he or anyone above the rank of servant came around. Only servants came in any sort of contact with Consort Felix.

For 20 years she served as a slave and was forced to see the worst behavior of her kind. The depraved corruption of their queen led many to follow suit. Those that didn't were collared and forced to commit the most vile of crimes. Fortunently for Eesha she remained unnoticed. No one spared a skinny dark haired  slave a second glace. No matter how bad her day she remained thankful that she wasn't born a human. Humans, men, women, and children, were regularly captured, raped, and slaughtered. The lucky ones died quickly and soon after their arrival. The unlucky were kept as blood givers, their plight was worse than slaves.

Eesha made no friends among her peers because a slave would sell out another slave just to get some sort of relief from their hell. No servant cared about or would associate themselves with a slave. In her 20th year Eesha was assigned the task of hedge keeper. It was her job to maintain and trim the hedges in the vast garden maze that Athailah had planted for her favorite consort. Over the years, Eesha learned how to make herself scarce and invisible. As long as her work was immaculate, no one sought her out.

She spent hours in the endless maze always carrying her clippers and no one would question her. Whenever she heard voices she would immediately turn the other way and leave. No amount of curiosity was worth her position. Unfortunately trouble found her.

The first year she spent as hedge keeper, she used her spare time scrounging for materials to fix up an old  run down tool shed that held her tools. No one ever came this way hence the small outbuilding's poor state. Once the holes in the roof were mended, Eesha moved in. She only returned to the slave quarters for her weekly ration of food and half goblet of cold blood. As a child she never had the proper amount of blood so the small portion she received now was more than sufficient.

Life for once was peaceful and she had something that she hadn't in a long time. Hope.

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Sorry I got lazy and didn't feel like editing this chapter.