The Glass Rose

Sneaking Out

There were few things Uzi could do under the watchful eyes of Prin.

At home, Uzi mainly stayed holed up in her room or the library, reading, drawing, or making secret plans to fight against the vampire threat. The last one she had to keep under lock and key so that Prin wouldn't find out and report to her father.

Still, Prin kept her on a short leash.

Whenever she caught Uzi behaving 'improperly', Prin was quick to scold and rectify her. Uzi kept doing it though, making it difficult for the old maid as much as she could. She liked Prin, but the older woman could get on her nerves sometimes.

Out in public, however, was when Prin shortened the leash on her.

The old maid would never allow Uzi to act out in public or do anything improper. Even for the smallest things like scowling or flipping the bird at someone.

It was honestly suffocating to Uzi. How had she managed to live with such a woman for eighteen years? It was a miracle she didn't snap sooner.

Still, as much as Prin had been good to her all her life, Uzi knew that her loyalty was to Khan. She had been his maid first, and served him far longer than she had with Uzi. If she found out what exactly she was trying to do, she would immediately tell her father and things would be harder for her to reach her goal.

Uzi sighed, gazing out her balcony window, tapping the piece of charcoal against the paper.

The sun was once again setting behind the mountains, and soon the vampires would be out hunting again. And Uzi made no progress in stopping them.

For the past week, she had been going down to the town library, trying to find something useful that could aid in her quest. Of course, she lied to Prin about her true intentions, claiming to study politics, history, and other things that would help her in the noble community.

Not that she was ever interested in that boring stuff in the first place.

Of course, Prin was more than happy to help her, gathering all the books for the subjects she requested. None were very helpful though to what Uzi really wanted, and she was almost certain that Prin discreetly knew what she was really after and prevented her from getting it.

Point one to Prin.

Still, Uzi wasn't going to give up so easily.

If Prin was preventing her from getting what she was really after, then she needed to give the woman the slip somehow.

But how?

As Uzi pondered over her predicament, there came a knock on her door. "Come in. I'm decent." She called out without looking to see who it was. Prin was usually the one who came in here anyway.

"My lady?" Uzi tore her gaze away from the window, surprised to see that it wasn't Prin. It was the maid that had found her up in the rafters one morning. Uzi couldn't place a name on her, but she was sure this girl was new if she didn't recognize her. "Why is your window not covered? The sun is about to go down soon and..."

The maid's emerald eyes darted left and right, dropping her voice to a whisper. "And those things will be out hunting soon."

"Yeah." Uzi rolled her eyes, huffing slightly. "I'm well aware of that."

"Then you should close the curtains!" The maid set down the basket she brought in with her, hurrying past Uzi and shut the curtains over the glass. "You can never be too careful with such horrible beasts hunting about at night."

Uzi only shrugged as the maid went back to the basket, watching her for a while as she placed flooded clothes in her dresser. "Are you new around here?" She asked after a while, startling the maid.