The Moonlit Knight

The Beginning

It starts with a stinging, painful feeling in the neck as the teeth sink in to puncture your skin and blood begins to seep out. Then, a slow and exhausting death follows afterward.
This was one of the first things Dahlia taught in her childhood. A long time ago, vampires terrorized villages and wreaked havoc across all the twelve kingdoms. One by one they began to crumble, and with only one kingdom left standing, King
Atticus sent an army to attack the vampires. They thought they'd lost everything, but then one brave warrior, The Moonlit Knight, cried out for help to our ancestors and was graced with the powers that helped defeat the vampires and bring back the kingdoms gradually. It's rumored that if you visit the battlefield of The Moonlit Knights' victory, you can see his spirit walking about, protecting all twelve kingdoms to this day. The descendants of King Atticus are highly honored and every year the twelve kingdoms host a Moonlit Ball to reaffirm their connections and honor their knight. This brings us to Princess Dahlia, one of the descendants of King Atticus and the daughter of King Felix and Queen Evangeline. Raised as a fierce warrior, Dahlia never had time to mingle with the children of her sibling kingdoms. Her parents placed her in every combat course they could find to prepare her for life.
Even though the vampire population had died down over the years, they were becoming more and more apparent recently. Vampire attacks are more common than people realize and her parents wanted her to be able to stand on her own two feet. However, nothing prepared Dahlia to start her first year of high school. As she had been homeschooled all her life, training for half of it. She'd been placed in a prestigious school, full of other princesses and princes from across the land. As she walked into her first class and sat down in her seat, a boy with light curls and deep, amber eyes glanced at her from his seat. Dahlia instantly recognized him, Prince Sebastion of Eldbury. One of the many sons of King Caine, he was the oldest and took many responsibilities around his kingdom. He strolled over to my desk and sat across from me and narrowed his glistening eyes.
"You're Princess Dahlia? Like the Princess Dahlia? I must say your family is pretty cool, and don't get me started on your awesome warrior skills." He rambled on and on about his admirations, not letting Dahlia get a word in until he was finished.
"Sorry, I'm just so excited!" He grinned.
"Yeah. I can see that, Sebastion." Dahlia mumbled.
The professor walked in looking rather scruffy and disheveled. His wrinkles sagged as if they were reaching for the floor and his wild unkempt hair looked like a bird's nest. A single strand of grey hair sticking out of it and a crack in his glasses, only god knows what happened to this poor man. He beholds a strange-looking machine with dozens of wires and circuits sticking out of it with a beeping, glowing button on top. Students murmured and muttered about this and confused stares overcame the classroom. A student shoots up her hand, "Excuse me, sir, but what is it? I thought this was a vampire class." She snorts like a wild pig and puts her hand back down.
"Well, I'm glad you asked, Katherine. It's a vampire detector! You press this beeping button and it immediately sends a message to the screen to see if someone is a vampire or not!" He sounds as if he invented something revolutionary. Another student's hand shoots up, this time more gently than the other's.
"Sir, wouldn't we know who is a vampire? Y'know with their scarlet eyes and pale, grey skin?" They question.
The professor looks shaken as if this wasn't a problem that came across his mind before. Their professor couldn't possibly be this clueless, right? He looks puzzled for a second and then throws the entire machinery in the trash beside his desk.
"No matter that now. I demand you stop calling me sir! My name is Professor Stolidus. You will address me as so." He barked.
Snickers went around the classroom and then another person raises his hand.
"Your name is stupid in Latin? That's ridiculous!" He remarked. More giggles go around the room but Professor Stolidus slams the ruler down on the desk and the class falls silent. He continues his teachings and the rest of the period goes as smoothly as it could be. As the second bell rang, Dahlia caught something in the corner of her eye. Something out of the window darted across the schoolyard, her first thought was a vampire. No, that'd be silly. They wouldn't be out this time of day, but then something else crossed her mind.
Could it be a werewolf? Also ridiculous, perhaps this new environment was messing with her mind and she scanned the room to see if anyone else was interested in it too but no one. Not too surprising but Dahlia wanted to feel less crazy than she thought she was.
Alas, the class ended, and her new buddy, Sebastion, found her in the schoolyard eating alone. Dahlia was used to being alone most of her life, she was the only child in her family and didn't have many cousins that lived close enough to stay in contact. She had been trained to be a soulless, emotionless blank slate. Made for combat and raised as a weapon. Even though her parents wanted the best for her, they made detrimental choices for her life.
Sebastion sits down beside her and invited her to come over to his table with the other princes and princesses.
"Okay," Dahlia said.
"Perfect! Can I call you Lia? It rolls off the tongue. I'll let you call me Seb." He frolics to the cafeteria and grabs Dahlia by the hand. She didn't answer, didn't even look him in the eyes. She went along with him and sat down next to Princess Katherine. She recognized her from the Moonlit Ball, what a horrible year that was. Katherine tormented her for the entirety of the ball. Spilled rosemary wine on Dahlia's sparkling white dress and never even apologized. To make matters worse, Katherine had always been that way to everyone. How could someone as seemingly pure as Seb befriend this lowlife monster? Though, she seemed a little softer when talking to him. She was sorta—nice. The rest of the table was full of familiar people Dahlia had met in the past. But didn't know them enough to have an honest opinion about them.
Princess Genevieve, Prince Francis, Prince Blake, and Princess Eloise. They joked at laughed throughout the day and seemed like a solid group of royals. Dahlia felt like she could fit in for once, like a normal high school girl. At the end of the school day, Seb gave her a glowing orb with the contacts of their friends.
"There. Now you can summon us whenever you want. It was nice meeting you, even if you don't say a whole lot. I bid you goodbye, Lia!" He bows and his crown becomes tilted a little. Dahlia found this so amusing that she burst out laughing with no hesitation. Which caused Sebastion to laugh wildly as well.
"I didn't know you could laugh! It seemed like you didn't even like me at first." He teased.
"I didn't know either. I hope to get to know you more-" Her royal carriage showed up right before she could finish and she gave a curtsy and lifted her gown to scurry towards her carriage.
As Dahlia watches the school fly past her, she notices that shadowy figure again. Taunting her. Dahlia blinks—not even a second—and then the shadow is gone. Was she going mad? Is sixteen too soon to go crazy? If it was she'd been long gone by now. Dahlia stepped through the threshold of her front door and slid through her parents to go to her garden. Her garden was simply divine, roses on her left and tulips on her right. Lillies growing from every which way and the heavenly scent of sweetness from each flower flooded the air, as though you were intoxicated by it. Dahlia danced around and admired every flower, she treated each of them as if she was their mother. Dahlia grabbed the watering pot and sang a little song for all of the lovelies to hear.

"Flower of mine, oh how I hope you're all doing fine. Even when winter comes to unwind, you all we'll never truly die. I keep you in my heart and even when we depart. I'll always keep you in my mind."

She sang, and sang, and sang. Though Dahlia grew up learning to fight, her mother also taught her the importance to care. Even though Dahlia doesn't always remember when it is important, she tries hard to not be so harsh when it comes to talking. Her family finds her much more blunt then any child they've ever met, even as a kid.
Dahlia sat back up and wandered to the door. Sliding by her parents once more, it was honestly surprising how they didn't notice. But as Dahlia overheard, she started to get more and more peculiar.
"We can't tell her, it's too soon. She's a child." Whispered her mother.

"The more we wait the worse it could get. She has to be ready. This is what we've been training her for." Muttered the king.

"No it's not! You've been training her to be scared of it her whole life! How dare you?" She called out and cried.
Her mother rushed out the room and out to the garden—just as Dahlia was. The king sighs in dismay as he slams his hands deep into the oak table. Dahlia runs up the stairs, not looking back. Pondering on what her parents could be arguing about but also how much it pains her to see them fighting. She shuts her door and plops down on her bed. The words of what her father said lived in her head for the rest of the week. Replaying in her mind every time she woke and before she went to rest. It practically made her shiver, could it be true? Is she a ..? It pained her to think of such a thing. She'd been raised to hate them, dare not to even think of them. It was preposterous. Dahlia's skin crawled by the thought, and suddenly everything felt pressure against her. Her chest became so hard the simply thought of breathing in hurt, the sweat on her palms felt like an ocean flooding her as her tears fall down her cheek. 
Dahlia lays down upon her sheets and buries herself in the covers until she falls into a deep sleep.

To be Continued.