Ethereal Kiss {Lesbian Vampire Romance} [ON HOLD]

Chapter Nine

And so begun my imprisonment.

I wasn't thrown into a cell and the key thrown away although at times it felt like that. In a way, my imprisonment was in my mind. I could walk past the guards and out onto the Parisian street but it would mean losing Natasha's protection, the only thing keeping me alive. 

I didn't see Adele again for a while. Natasha kept me busy on mindless tasks such as passing messages and taking the royal dogs for a walk. Vampires were not always great with animals, mainly due to animals sensing the greatest predator and fleeing. Some vampires however were good with animals and Natasha was part of this minority. Thanks to her, the palace now held stables (in the courtyard which was in the very centre of the labyrinth) and Natasha owned a small pack of little, ratty, handbag dogs. I had always been much more of a cat person and after an hour of constant yap-yap-yapping, I was willing to test animal blood out. Chihuahua blood especially.

From gossip overheard from the human servants, I learned of Adele's whereabouts. William had petitioned the King for a proclamation of his vampire marriage to Adele as a reminder to other vampires and then he had confined her to his apartments at the opposite end of the palace to Natasha's apartments. I had been unconscious the day I was rescued from his apartments so I didn't know how to get there. Nor was I brave enough to want to see Adele's condition. William was a monster and she would be in direct line of his violent temper.

Sometimes, during my recreation hour, I would lie on Natasha's four poster bed (she never used it anyway) and stared up at the rich, silk canopy. Through the telepathic connection, I would capture faint images: a dark room, a solid oak door, a sense of melancholy. But then William's sadistic pale face would appear and our connection would be ripped apart and then I would just lie there. Alone.

When I first became a vampire, silence was one of the things I missed most. Spending every waking minute with another voice in your head was distracting. Adele's thoughts were a random roller-coaster, flipping and turning through different thoughts, leaving me dizzy and confused. But now the silence only made me realise all I had lost. Adele. Mum. Dad. My sisters. My cat. My existence.

Natasha was surprisingly good company. Yes, she smiled too much. But she had a good sense of humour and she was quite kind. I probably would never forgive her for tricking us. For leading us to this separation. But as each day dawned, I felt myself open more to this tiny vampire with her continual grin and happy demeanour. 

My official job was acting as her companion but as the weeks spent at the Palace turned into months, I began training for a position as a guard. The royal wedding had been put back until winter and so I hoped by then, I would achieve a status as a guard to the future Queen. This training involved practicing fighting with other guards and exercising around the courtyard. As autumn deepened, I began to miss the true outside world. The world away from the boxed confinement of the courtyard and Natasha was kind enough to order trees to be planted in the courtyard.

Sitting under the trees with the weak October sun shining through the darkening leaves, I remembered my time with Adele in the woods. How we hunted together, how we spent hours talking, how our bodies met like jigsaw pieces. She was less than a mile away from me but she might as well have been dead for I mourned her as if she was.

On Hallowe'en night, the King ordered a masquerade ball to be held in honour of the new Queen. Hallowe'en had been my favourite festival of the year as a child after Christmas (presents duh) and so I was excited to see how other vampires celebrated it. My only previous experience of a masquerade ball had come from Adele's memory and so I found it refreshing that I would be able to live a part of her life through my own eyes rather than hers.

On the day of the 31st October, the palace was insane. Human servants rushed here and there, cleaning like mad. My position was low enough on the vampire scale but I was pleased to be higher than the humans just to get out of cleaning. Natasha was not smiling today but instead tore around her apartments ferociously, trying to beautify herself even more.