Vampire King's Consort

Chapter 6: Livia

Livia paced back and forth in her room, awaiting her guard to be relieved of his position so she could sneak out. Her maid was put through such a terrible and disgusting punishment. Once she had escaped from here and met with her maid, she would bring her to her room, help sanitize her, and give her a warm meal. Maybe even share the lavishly large bed with her. Livia felt so guilty and just wanted to right what was wronged. Maybe all her efforts would be for not in the end, but she couldn't stand idly waiting and hoping Amy would return.

What if Amy would never come back as another sort of punishment from the temperamental king who seemed to do whatever he pleased without listening to reason? Or worse, what if Amy didn't want to work for Livia anymore because she might hate Livia now? Livia wouldn't have it; she had to make sure Amy knew her feelings and thoughts.

Slowly and silently, she opened the door a crack to check if the guard had left, and to her surprise, he was nowhere to be found. Opening the door wider, she peered out, glancing from side to side. Not a soul around. Smirking, she quickly made haste. Finding the manure facility was a challenge since she wasn't accustomed to where everything was laid out, but she was determined, and since many had not known her face, she could try and pretend to be a new staff member on their first day asking for directions.

After circling the many halls using only her faint memory, she approached a pair of maids giggling and gossiping while washing laundry. Taking in the room slowly, Livia noticed many strings hung from one wall to the other filled with sheets drying. The washing machines tumbled and swirled, but the dryers seemed dormant and cool unused. The maids continued tossing in new loads while taking out the finished ones and hanging them up together individually. Walking slowly, Livia approached the two, who fell silent upon laying their eyes on her. They didn't seem that happy to be bothered with her but kept silent and waited.

"Hello, I was wondering if the two of you could help me?" Livia felt nervous. She normally only spoke to Lycans, not humans. Her family abandoned her when she was a toddler. She was the only human that lived amongst the Lycans for so long she didn't know how to interact with humans. But putting aside her anxiety and fear, she assumed they were no different than Lycans when it came to communication.

"What is it?" One of the maids snapped, clearly annoyed.

"I'm new and need to be at the manure facility. Can you point me the way?"

High-pitched laughter erupted from both girls, causing Livia to become confused and back away a bit fearful. What was so funny? Had she said something wrong?

"Who did you piss off that you got stuck with that duty?" The same maid asked; she had brown hair and brown eyes and brown freckles said, rubbing a watery eye.

"Um, no one. I was just told to go there."

"Hmm. You don't need to tell us; we don't care anyway. Just go through where you came from and turn to your right. All the way down until you see an old door with chipping paint and go through it, you'll see the wooden building. That's the facility. Now go on; we are busy."

"Thank you," Livia said, waving, but they had already turned their backs and began gossiping and chatting, ignoring her presence. She was relieved they hadn't become violent-vampires were known to look down on humans.

She could feel a pair of eyes on her back as she left the room but didn't mind it. They were young ladies who probably had nothing more than their stories to hang on to. From what Livia had been told by many of her lady friends back when she lived with the Lycans, the vampire society treated their own kind low if they were not born in nobility and ranked each family according to them. The same for humans that lived among the vampires, which had become the norm because vampires used humans as their food source.