I walk down the corridor slowly, stepping carefully on the hardwood floor trying not to make any sound, looking around completely floored. The golden decorations on the walls, the massive mirrors, chandeliers, colourful silk fabrics, bronze clocks, marble fireplaces, the grand staircase, ceilings painted with angels and clouds... I saw these things in movies long years ago, when I was a child, I knew that those kings I read about in my history school books had lived like this but, in my mind, it was an abstract concept, like a palace in a fairy tale. Nothing had prepared me for the real stuff.
I keep walking with my hands on my back, scared, because I don't want to touch anything, breaking it or staining it. After two decades living in my small bunker inside a cave, these fancy rooms look even more surreal. I wonder if I'm dreaming and I'll wake up in my bed or maybe I'm sick, delirious with fever, or in a coma after falling off a cliff... The events that happened these past hours parade through my mind, tangled thoughts, some of them look like nightmares and some others like a wonderful dream. I think I'm still in shock and feel like crying again although I try to restrain myself because I don't want to draw unwanted attention sobbing... the queen's attention to be precise.
I guess it makes sense that she lives in a place like this, taking delight in the most obscene luxury, surrounded by gold, mirrors and tapestries: the Queen of the Vampires... the most powerful woman in the world and the mistress of my destiny. I swallow hard and keep wandering around under the chandeliers, looking through the windows at the Arc de Triomphe and the trees beyond illuminated by the lampposts and the lights of cars driving around the traffic circle. For a second, the idea of running away crosses my mind although I know it's crazy because I have no place to go, there's no place to hide, and she'd find me because she's tried my blood. She made sure to tell me that it was a perfect tracking device and I won't be able to deceive her, her harsh tone of voice sent a shiver down my spine. I shudder with disgust and fear but there's nothing I can do, the spider caught me in her web.
It's hard to accept that I'm the last human on earth, me, poor Iselen. Not a tough soldier from the special forces or any of my father's friends that were getting ready for the Armageddon, people with lot of experience. The only reason why I survived it's because I'm a coward, I hardly ever left the bunker during the first years because I had enough food and, later, I only went for a walk around the forest during the middle hours of the day before running back to my den like a scared rabbit. I don't feel as if I'd done something special, I've been losing my mind for two decades, that's all, and yet, here I am, feeling the pressure and responsibility for being the last member of my race, even if this is a ridiculous feeling.
I blame it on Her Majesty, Ruby Rose, a cruel and unscrupulous woman despite her smiles, her beauty and poetic name. She ordered the death of the elders, turned young people and wiped out the resistance, hunting the last humans. And she admits it unashamedly, convinced that she's done the right thing for her race and mine at the same time. Apparently, the world is a wonderful place right now, technology makes life way easier and all vampires are happy. I told her that, if it were true, they wouldn't have tried to overthrow her... She didn't like that, her eyes turned cold while she stared at me with her jaw clenched and I moved a step back, scared; she ordered me to leave her bedroom and go to the dining room to have breakfast. But I don't know where it is and, besides, it's dinner time for me, damn it!
"My big mouth will be the death of me," I mumble looking through the window at the Place de l'Étoile. "I'll die after blurting out an impertinent remark, I'm sure of that." And it'll be the queen the one who will rip my head off but she can't do it now, at least, till she gets enough blood from my veins.
"If you're looking for the dinning room, madame, it's right here."
I turn around startled when I hear a male voice and nod when I see a dark-haired guy pointing at a door, the uniform tells me that he's one of the queen's servants and his face tells me that he was turned into a vampire when he was young. He looks harmless, smiling kindly, but I know he's stronger and faster than me and he's probably listening to my heart racing and smelling adrenaline running wild through my veins. I hate this feeling, I'm at a disadvantage in this place, everybody around me is a powerful creature and I'm a tiny and anxious mouse.
