Beyblade Fan Fiction ❯ Silent Nights ❯ Sexist Rulers ( Chapter 12 )

“You expect us to believe that you are a dead woman?” I wasn't sure who had spoken. “Just this morning you were a mere slave, now you are of royal blood?”

 

The first female voice besides Alli's and myself spoke up. I had thought only men were here. “You sexist pig. Just last year Lord Oliver returned to your side from his once presumed status of dead. Why is it now that you question the possibility?” I glanced to the figure sitting on the other side of Tala. The figure was smaller then the men in the room, close to Alli's size and she was surrounded a bold yellow glow. I figured it was her who had stuck up for me.

 

“She has been missing for nearly nine years!” The man protested. The figure lit in a pinkish glow leaned forward from his seat. It was him who had spoken. “Lord Oliver was only absent for a few months.”

 

“An amazing feat that is, to keep her and her sibling's presence hidden for so long.” I drew my head back but kept my eyes locked on her glowing figure. So she knew about my sister, `bout time someone did.

 

“What sibling? The Air Empire only had one heir.” The man argued back. A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips.

 

“That is where you are very wrong.” The woman then glanced my way. I could feel my cheeks warm at the sudden attention and suddenly I was very glad the room was pitch-black.

 

“My sister sits in this room with us, though she looks much older then she should.” I was still very bitter about learning my sister was now a blood sucking monster and I was determined to make that known.

 

“The Vampire? Ha, like she could-” His words stopped as one of the two purple figures shifted.

 

“I would watch your tongue if I were you, Johnny.” Bryan's voice was smooth and relaxed unlike Johnny's whose voice had been harsh.

 

“Who are you too threaten me, blood sucker?” At that point I suddenly liked this sexist fellow named Johnny. He seemed to hate vampires just as much as I did.

 

“You two can fight later.” A boomingly deep voice shook me as it sounded over the room. I turned my head towards the man who sat calmly surrounded in a green light. The testosterone flying through the air seemed to calm as the room relaxed. “Now we talk war.” He must have been the oldest or strongest of the people in the room because everyone dropped their grudges and set into their seats for a long discussion.

 

The man glowing in orange cleared his throat and began the meeting's true topic. “Most recently the port city of Liguria was captured. I suggest we take it back by…” My mind wandered from the discussion almost as soon as it started. I wasn't sure how the darkness of the room helped people discuss things because I was rapidly growing tired. I looked down at my arms and watched as the marking dissipate. I lightly set my arms on the arm rests of the chair and let my hands hang off the edges. My head felt heavy and fogged up like a windshield during the winter. Perhaps the use of the demonic powers I wasn't supposed to use had drained my stamina away completely.

 

A warm touch on my left hand dragged my senses away from the sleepiness of my mind and too the hand that took mine. I knew it was Tala who had taken my hand in his. The glow of his hand was a comforting sight, making me want to roll over and start dreaming. My opinion quickly changed when he sent a wave of ice cold power up my arm. I almost yelped in surprise but managed to bite my tongue and keep still. I guessed that he could tell I was falling asleep, but I still didn't like that little trick he had pulled. I gave his hand a disapproving squeeze and settled further into my seat.

 

I was wide awake for the moment, but I was still not paying attention. My hand was going numb from the shock of his little trick and Alli was taking over my thoughts.

 

I knew quite a bit about vampires. My parents made sure I was well educated on that topic, probably because they were the one enemy my people had out of the entire demon plains.

 

When a demon was changed it took a few days for the process to be completed. Their bodies became rock hard, almost stone, their original powers were extremely amplified but they believed in brute strength and speed. In 99% of all turnings the victim lost the ability to control their powers. Sure, they still had them, but because they grew so powerful they lost command over their own nature.

 

The thing that changed my opinion of them completely was the fact that they needed blood to survive. I hated the sight of blood, even my own. I was, by nature, a vegetarian. Veg-heads and blood suckers don't mix. It's like oil to water. I was the oil and the blood suckers were the water.

 

It took a total of three bites within a week to turn a demon into a vampire. Humans only took one because they had no distinguishable traits to over write. That fact made my blood boil. Bryan had known that Alli was a demon. Even if her powers hadn't emerged it would have still taken three bites to turn her, maybe more because she was also of royal blood. On top of it all he was sick enough to force her body into aging. Only he would be sick enough to put a child into a woman's body.

 

But something about the whole process and my situation made me wonder. If the whole turning process took at least three days to complete, not including the time it took for the bites and Alli wasn't a blood crazed monster like most vampires started out as, just how long had I been a captive? A week? Two weeks? How long had I been a prisoner?

 

I whipped my head over to Tala at the moment. My eyes stared at the side of his glowing figure in wonder. He didn't notice my sudden movement or at least he didn't show it. I felt him lightly squeeze my hand telling me to calm down. I sighed and let my head roll back over to stare blankly into the darkness. The men were onto something about proportions of armies or cumquats and something. It didn't much interest me in the least so I stared at each of the glowing figures in silence, memorizing their voices as they spoke.

 

It must have been hours before the meeting was finally over. As far as I knew they had decided on attacking the city. Yeah, I didn't learn anything except the voices belonging to each person. Tala had shocked me awake every twenty minutes or so with a freezing blast up my arm. That I wasn't very happy about, but he kept me from snoozing. I must have looked like a child in a movie theater drifting in and out of sleep next to their mother.

 

We stood, my body moving much slower then the rest of the people in the room. Tala carefully led me to the opening door by our tightly clasped hands. My eyes were drooping shut but I kept my feet moving. My eyes focused on the light streaming into the room through the door way. Getting through that door way was my goal to accomplish before I let myself collapse.

 

Tala suddenly pulled me forward a bit faster then I had expected. I stumbled over my dragging feet, but before I took a face full of stone his arm caught me around the waist. He pulled my side against his and kept me moving. I shook my head trying to wake up. He looked down at my suspiciously. I got the feeling he knew that the display of my markings had drained all my energy.

 

As my eyes were blinded by the light in the hallway I resigned myself to darkness.