The Five Before the Wolves

Just One Taste A Night (Part One)

Lilly's POV

I was surrounded by trees in the clearing. Ava was beside me. She looked happy, it was the first time I had actually seen her smile in this way. She seemed generally happy, it wasn't like when she hurts someone, it was as if she were finally free.

A rustling sound in the trees drew my attention away from my sister. I looked ahead of me to see a man. He looked rough. His face was smudged with dirt and his sweat slicked skin glistened like he had crawled from the fiery pits of hell. He bore his sharp elongated teeth and hissed at us. He was a vampire but I had never seen him in the palace before. He was new and that was not a good thing. He could be a rogue. Dried blood hung on his dirty clothes. The smell of it was so tantalising as I bit my lip to hold back the urge. His face was hidden from my view. I stepped closer and he stepped back as if in sync with me. He seemed hesitant.

"Who are you?" I called to him. No worded answer, only a throaty hiss that sounded like no vampire before him.

Slowly the trees began to disappear. Like dust blowing in the wind, I knew they were there but it was difficult to see. Everything faded into a black void. The last thing to disappear was him and the sound of his deep hiss.

I sharply opened my eyes to see the familiar dusty grey ceiling of my bedroom. Quickly I sat up and looked over at Ava. She was still silently sleeping, no smile though. Her chest rising and falling soundlessly. This helped me to relax after the very vivid nightmare. Outside was still a little light. I climbed out of bed and opened the balcony door. My feet took me onto the frozen stone of the balcony. I could feel the cold but it didn't affect me much. If I were human I would feel the chill run up my spine and feel the goose bumps rise up on all over my body. Instead the cold did nothing. Just nothing.

I hate being this monster that I am. I'm neither human or vampire. Instead a mixture of both. A filthy mix of the two that makes my sister and I the perfect beings. I hated the fact that with everyday we are becoming more vampire than human. I desire human blood like the Cardinal wants. Our Father, the King of the monsters.

I winced as sunlight poked through the grey clouds hurting my eyes. Sometimes I longed to be human so that I were able to feel the warmth on my skin. I quickly stepped back into the room to find Ava sitting up on her bed frowning at me.

"Why did you let the cold in...It woke me up!" She moaned. It's unfair how she is more human than I am. It's unfair how she can feel the things that I can only read about in books.

"Well...Lessons start soon, so you had better get ready!" I said as I closed the door feeling slightly satisfied with myself from waking her up.

"I know Lilly, I'm not a child. You're not my mother!" She said climbing out of bed. That hurt. I never wanted to be the mother of the two of us. But I had to look after her.

"We are still thirteen...By the looks of us anyway...Father won't be happy... You know that means we will be forced to drink more blood!" I told her as I looked back at my reflection in the mirror, poking and pulling at myself. My long orange hair was slightly messy and the light shined on me perfectly so that the girl in the mirror looked like a wild girl. A beast. Utterly desirable.

Once we were dressed we left the room. The vampires were going to bed and the human staff were beginning work. We walked down into the kitchen. The smell of freshly baked bread hit me. Sitting there at the table was the closest thing to a mother we had, Gracie. She was our mother's best friend and when she died Gracie said she would take on her role, it was suitable because she had miscarried a few months before and had the motherly instincts. Even though we had Gracie I still felt overly protective of my sister.

The Cardinal accepted of course, He didn't want the trouble of two rapidly growing children when He had the fear of the people to uphold in order to retain His reign of the kingdom. Luckily Gracie was a kind woman. She was in her late twenties and wasn't a vampire. It's one of the reasons why mother was so fond of her. Her light blonde hair was tied so it fell down her back. Bright cerulean blue eyes gleamed at us once we were stood at the doorway. She smiled warmly at us as we sat down at the small table with her.