Claimed

Ch. 3: Justin

Astrae awoke, feeling completely better. It was silent, the only thing she could hear was her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Panic struck her, she needed to get out of here.

She slowly sat up, and was immediately drawn back when she noticed a lycanthrope sleeping next to her. Shit shit shit she thought as she slowly slid her body off of the bed and quietly walked to the door. She felt like she was strong enough to get out of here.

Astrae walked around the corner and tried the door handle. Surprisingly, it was unlocked. She opened the door slowly and peeked out. It was light outside so she assumed it was day time.

Time to go she thought to herself. She tried stepping out of the door and it was like her feet were planted there. She couldn’t move. She wriggled and pulled her feet forward. They wouldn’t move. She took a step back and almost instantly she could feel the hold loosen. This room was charmed. Or at least this door was. She quickly backtracked. There had been a window to the left when she arrived, but it was no longer there. She again searched her brain for a way out.

“Good morning Kothari.” Her head jerked over to Demetri. Her escape would just have to wait until he left. She shot him a glare.

“What do you want with me.” She stated, keeping her eyes cold. He smiled.

“At first, to rip out your throat. You seemed to be as good of a prey as any. Then you confused me. I could have sworn you had a heartbeat at the warehouse and all of a sudden you didn’t. You reek like vampire, so I thought I must be imagining things. Then when I injured you, I heard it. four little heart beats, they were barely there, but they were there.”

“I know, I lived through it remember.” She snapped. “I meant why am I still here, why am I still alive?” She was becoming thoroughly annoyed.

“At first, curiosity. Your heart was quite unusual. But then after looking you up,” He paused. He smiled and stood up again bowing. “How much money do you think the kingdom would give me to give them their supposedly dead queen? It explains why you have the magic to smell like a vampire, although I didn’t think the kingdom had as huge of a secret as you not being a vampire, let alone not being dead. Your paintings don’t do you justice.” He smiled again. He thought she was her mother.

Kothari and Astrae did look a lot alike. They both had pitch black hair and pale skin. Her facial features resembled her mothers. The one major difference though was that her mother was turned from a bite, so her eyes were bright red. Astrae’s eyes were a mint green, the same as her dads.

None of the creatures knew she was gone. She had arranged it that way. She had an orphan play her part as ‘Astrae’ and had advisors to tell pretend Astrae what to do. It all worked out until this little flaw in her plan. She put herself in her mothers shoes.

“My daughter is doing a marvelous job ruling. Someone needs to look after the human world.” It felt weird pretending to be her. Especially after watching her get murdered and then murdering her father.

“Then you wouldn’t mind visiting her.”  Astrae froze. There was a reason she left all those years ago. A reason she wasn’t ready to face. Demetri saw panic flicker in her eyes. Only for a second, but it was there. “Look at me, talking like you have a choice.” He said.

“You shouldn’t have fed me then.” She snapped. She was getting angry. She could already feel her fangs pulsing, begging to get out. She wasn’t hungry though, she wanted to rip his head off.

Astrae walked over to where she remembered the window was and picked up a chair. She smashed it through the wall. The enchantment that hid the window flickered and then died off. Her memory was good. The window was smashed out as she used her inhuman speed to jump through it and run back to civilization.