Snow White Queen [NaNoWriMo 2018]

Prologue

Media: "Snow White Queen" by Evanescence

Just past midnight. No moon or stars lit the night, leaving it shrouded in an impenetrable darkness.

The vampire snuck its way into the castle. It had one goal in mind: Kill the princess.

The castle was huge. It was a wonder anyone could find their way through it.

Even at this late hour, there were plenty of people bustling about. Their motivations did not matter to the vampire; the only thing that did was getting to its destination unnoticed, and all these people were getting in the way. Even with its heightened senses, several times it'd had to dodge into a shadowed corner at the last second to avoid detection. Several times it had debated just killing anyone he came across before reigning in its instincts. It was there for the princess, no one else. Leaving behind any more dead bodies would leave more of a mess than needed, and might raise alarm before it could get its job done.

And so the vampire made its way through the castle, making its way to the bedroom it knew that the princess slept alone in.

The large wooden door was locked, and heavy enough that it would require multiple humans to open it. But this obstacle was nothing for the immortal warrior of the night. It was inside the bedroom within seconds, and hardly anything was out of place.

Triumphant, the vampire floated across the room to the crib where the toddler princess slept. Lovely child, she was. She would surely have grown into a beautiful young woman. It was a shame the vampire was there to ensure that she would never grow up.

The vampire was so sure of its victory that it hadn't checked to make sure no one else was in the room. Its fangs had just punctured the girl's neck when a loud scream pierced the air.

~~~

Little princess Neva had been under the weather with a cold the past few days, so the nursemaid had been staying in Neva's room to make sure she'd be okay.

She'd turned her back for just a few seconds to grab something from the closet. When she'd turned around there was a dark figure hunched over the crib.

She screamed.

The figure jerked its head up and looked at the nursemaid. By the light of her candle, she could see blood dripping from its mouth, and two gleaming fangs.

A vampire!

She stepped back, away from this monster. She wasn't sure if she was going to make it out alive.

She could die right now.

Maybe someone had heard her scream. Maybe someone would get here in time to save Neva, if they couldn't save her.

Suddenly the door burst open. The room was flooded with the light of half a dozen torches. Metallic swords gleamed in the light of those torches, and holding those swords were several knights, out of uniform, but alert and ready to fight.

The vampire quickly surveyed the knights before it. They couldn't kill it with those weapons, but they could very easily overpower it and imprison it. From there, they could most certainly gather the resources needed to harm it, torture it, and kill it.

A decision was made: the vampire would flee. The princess wouldn't survive her injuries anyway.

It sprinted for the open window and jumped. The knights rushed after it, but it was too late. The vampire was lost to the night.

A few lingered to try and spot it, but most turned to the more pressing matter.

The nursemaid was hunched over the crib, examining the damage that had been done. So much blood... there were only two small puncture wounds in her neck, but already half the bed had been soaked in red. Too much for her tiny body to survive.