Into the Dark

Calypso wakes earlier than she had expected to. It had taken her nearly four hours to fall asleep and yet when she wakes, darkness still crowds the night sky. She knows there is no way she will find sleep again and, due to restlessness, Calypso decides to roam the castle.

She rolls and massages her sore wrists as she quietly makes her way down endless hallways. The castle has a certain mysterious air at night that it does not possess during the day.

A whispering voice carries along the stone walls to Calypso. She debates turning back before she is caught but curiosity gets the better of her. She presses herself to the wall as she makes her way towards light streaming through what she assumes is a kitchen door.

" ... yet she still has not changed,” Calypso is now close enough to understand the young woman’s whispers.

A older woman’s voice responds as dishes clank around,” It is very curious indeed.”

There is a pause before the younger one answers,” Why do you think that is, Madam Francis?”

Calypso can see the two woman preparing breakfast through the crack between the door and the wall.

The older woman, Madam Francis, gives her inferior ridiculing glance before answering,” Ah, yes. I tend to forget you were born a vampire. You see, Ana, marking a human mate is not enough to cause the Change. The bond between the two parties needs to be strong enough that the human can use their mates strength to survive. I assume that neither of them have fully accepted the bond.”

Ana blushes and shifts on her feet as she asks the next question,” Do they have to? You know?”

Madam Francis cackles,” No, my child. Though that certainly does not hurt,” the woman drops a cup of flour due to her laughter,” Go fetch the broom for me darling.”

Calypso’s heart drops as her order. The broom the old woman waits for is currently propped against the wall that Calypso is hiding against.

She has no time to move before Ana is in the hallway slowly pulling the door closed revealing Calypso holding the broom out for her.

Ana’s eyes widen with shock for a second before a smirk finds its way onto her face. Without a word, she takes the broom from Calypso’s outstretched hand and strides back into the kitchen. The young woman quickly cleans up the mess without a word while Francis hums a slow tune next to her.

“Madam Francis?” Ana’s voice breaks the peaceful silence.

“Hmm?” Francis is too engrossed in her work to look up.

“Would you mind if I went into the garden for a bit of fresh air?” Ana is practically buzzing with excitement.

This time the older woman does not answer. The pastry she is currently rolling has all of her attention. Ana uses this to her advantage and quickly escapes into the hallway.

Her eyes are already on Calypso and she slowly shuts the door leaving the pair alone in the hall.

“You know eavesdropping is not very polite,” Ana’s voice carries no hostility only playfulness.

Calypso lets out a soft laugh,” I have never been known for my manners.”

" The name’s Ana thought I feel you have figured that out already. You must be the Queen, my lady?” She drops into a low bow.

She smiles at the girl,” Indeed, though I would prefer if you just called me Calypso.”

Ana gives takes her hand as she leads her down the hall,” Of course my la- I mean Calypso. Would you like to join me in the garden?”

The queen has no choice but to accept her invitation. She walks beside the girl as she listens to stories about Ana’s childhood. She finds herself getting nervous. She has never had to hold a conversation this long with a girl so close to her own age. The realization that she has never had a real friend hits her as she struggles to figure out her role in this strange encounter.

A cool breeze tangles Calypso’s hair once the two make it outdoors. The garden has every flower you could dream of all color coded in different sections. Calypso feels calmness sweep over her. She spent most of her childhood in the wilderness and being cooped up between stone for the last month or so is slowly chipping away as her sanity.

Calypso zones back into the conversation as Ana’s starts describing her mates,” He’s the captain of the guard and the King’s right hand, you see. ‘No wife of the captain should work Ana,’ he tells me. The audacity of the man. So I tell him every time,′ She is my mother, Alec, I can help her if I wish to. Beside I like to bake.′ That shuts him up every time. He learned to let it go when I started threatening to take away my pastries.”

“Wait a second,” Calypso interrupts the girl’s babbling,” the cook is you mother? You’re a vampire and she a human though.”

Ana nods,” Yes she adopted me. I was raised in the kitchen.”

This comes as a shock to Calypso. She had always been told that humans in the Vampire had no rights. How was a human able to adopt, not only adopt but to adopt a vampire child was beyond Calypso’s comprehension.

Her new friend sees the confusion on her face,” Calypso I don’t know what you have been told but things are rarely as they seem. Do you mind if I tell you a story?”

The sudden change in conversation startles Calypso but she agrees.

“Just a warning, this story has a sad ending. It about the Vampire King. Before I start there are some things you must understand first. A mate is not something you choose. The universe choses it for you. A mate is two halves of one soul. If a man tries to mark a woman whom is not his mate, it will poison her and she will die usually within the same day; the universe is not a feminist I assure you,” shock floods into Calypso and Ana gives her a knowing look,” yes Calypso. You and the King are mates, there is no mistaking it. Anyways, back to my story. The prince of vampires reaches the age to become king. However, his father with not given up the crown until his son has found his mate. It takes nearly a decade before the prince finds his mate. Unfortunately for her, she was human and this angered the prince like no other.”

Calypso is sure that Ana is telling her a story of the current king.

Ana takes a breath before continuing,” In order to appease his father and gain the throne, the prince marks his mate though he has no intention of being a husband to her. Years of suffering and abuse pass, and the queen finds herself pregnant. She is still human however as the King will not accept her as his wife and queen. Being pregnant with a vampire child while still being human is very detrimental hence the importance of transforming into a vampire. The queen was sure that bring an heir into the world would make her husband love her. Sadly, this was not the case. The King cared not for his wife. Once his son was born, the King took the infant and left the queen there to die. But there was one thing the queen had, that was her stubbornness and strength. Long story short, the queen gave up on the idea of the King loving her. She raised her son the way she wanted to and took whatever beatings she had in order to ensure her son was a good person. Her husband was the death of her, he went too far one night and it costed the queen her life. The new prince swore himself two things that night. One, he will be the change that the world needs. Two, he will stop at nothing until his father is dead.”

The couple sits on a bench in silence as Ana allows Calypso to process the information she gave her.

“Is that a true story? Was the king my husband’s father?” her voice is a soft whisper as she waits for Ana to answer.

“Yes.”

“How do you know all of this?”

Ana gives her a soft smile,” I am his sister.”

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Unedited

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