Helena’s screams echoed throughout the passages of the

castle while Victor paced up and down outside the door. He prayed to the saints

that the baby survived this time. He no longer cared if it was a boy or a girl.

They had already lost three offspring so far and, after his dear wife died, he

took Helena as his only concubine with the promise to his late wife that he

wouldn’t take another. He would be faithful to his concubine even if it was

against the law for them to marry. He was the second in line to the throne

after all. It wouldn’t make any difference whether he had a boy or a girl. They

would never rule the kingdom.

Dimitri’s sons

would one day become the heirs to the throne of Ezorona. His brother had yet to

find his vampire wife, but he had six concubines, which meant that one of them

would probably soon be pregnant with a son. If Helena had a boy, she would not

survive the birth. If it was a girl, they would both immediately be taken back

to the convent where his daughter would grow up to face the dhampir trials one

day. At least, he had a child then. He pulled his fingers through his hair.

Their traditions had always seemed so barbaric to him, but since he was never

born into the ultimate position of power, he would never be able to change any

of them.

Silence fell and

two seconds later he heard the cries of his child. He waited patiently for the

doors to open and his heart broke the moment the midwife opened them and shook

her head.

“It’s a female.” Her words were barely audible in the passage. Victor

closed his eyes for a moment before turning to look at the waiting court and

his parents.

“Lady Viktoria of Ezorona has been born.” He sighed. He knew that he couldn’t really call her Lady

since she was a dhampir, but he hoped that he wouldn’t be punished for doing

this just this once. His father scowled before storming away. His mother patted

the sides of his arms and whispered that there was always the next time, but

Victor knew there wouldn’t be. This was the only chance the saints had given

him.

Viktoria

Flashback

I loved my mother

and she loved me. Our days at the convent consisted of prayers in the mornings

after breakfast. Some time outside in the gardens in the mornings. Prayers

again after lunch and then my mother had evening chores while I spent my time

studying with the other children living there. I was a bit of an outcast and I

never truly understood why until the night before my tenth birthday.

“My darling

daughter,” My mother had

tears in her eyes as she took my face in her hands. “I wish I could have

given you a different life. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, momma.” I wiped her cheek and she surprised me with an apple for

my birthday. She told me the story of my father for the first time. How he

declared me to be “Lady Viktoria” and how proud he was of me, but that

he was not allowed to acknowledge me according to dhampir law. Until that

night, I had never heard of the world outside of the convent. I didn’t know

anything about the dhampir guards, the concubines, or even the vampires. Her

gift was the truth, and the apple. She asked me to be strong. For her and for

my father, whom I had never met. She asked me to do my best to become a dhampir

warrior and not end up in the convent. To make my father proud and do well at

school. I didn’t understand any of it and cried when they took me away in the

early hours of the morning on my tenth birthday.

End of flashback

I put every spare

second into my training. Into perfecting every battle move. From the first day

I arrived, I decided I would do what I promised my mother. I would be the best

dhampir warrior ever.

“Tomorrow will be

your last day here. Whether you pass your tests and become guards or fail and

become concubines.” Our leader

announced, but this time she almost seemed sad. She never seemed sad in all the

years I had known her. It took us eight years to complete our training and

there was just the last day left. After we were dismissed, I made my way to my

room to pack the last of my things, not that I had much. We wouldn’t even be

allowed back into the building after our trials. I looked around and sighed.

This had been my home since that fateful day they took me away from my mother.

It was a simple room, just like the ones in the convent. I didn’t have many

friends, but I had a couple and I would miss them dearly if they failed, but if

the trials proved they weren’t strong enough, that was it. I had done what my

mother asked and was sure I had made both my parents very proud, even if I

hadn’t met my father. I was at the top of my class. I received only the highest

scores on all my theoretical tests and I was number one on the leaderboard for

all our practical tests. It was the first step in ensuring I didn’t go to the

convent. That was it. There was nothing more I could do to prepare for the

final day of judgment that would decide the rest of my life.

“Hey, Lady

Viktoria!” I turned around

to find my three friends hanging around my door, laughing and joking. What was

originally meant to be an insult over the years became a pet name my friends

called me. “Don’t tell me you are staying here tonight!” They were

clearly drunk! They must have gotten into the secret stash our leader kept in

her office! “Come on! We are celebrating!” They tried to get me to leave

and party with them, but tonight was too important. I needed my rest if I was

to win the trials. I was hoping if I won, I would be stationed in the castle.

Not that new guards ever got a position in the castle, but I had only one dream

in my entire life. I wanted to meet my father. For my friends, it was just

about becoming guards instead of concubines, and I sometimes wondered if they

actually cared about any of it. For me, however, it was more than that. If I

could win, I might actually see my father. They finally gave up and left so I

could get ready for bed. None of them ever cared about their fathers. If they

were truly worried about becoming warriors and guards. Life as a concubine

didn’t look that bad, did it? I fall asleep with the memory of my mother

hugging me on the last day I saw her.

As I suspected,

my friends were awfully hung over in the morning and I felt sorry for them as

we took up our places in front of the stage. This would probably be the last

time I would see the sunrise as it slowly turned into day. Once I became a

dhampir guard, I would spend my days sleeping and my nights protecting a

vampire. In the distance, I could hear our leader explain the trials one last

time, but my eyes were scanning the grounds in the hopes that I would see my

father. It was a silly hope since the vampires never came out during the day,

but I still hoped. I wondered for a moment if it wouldn’t be better for me to

lose. Then I could see my mother again.

The trials

consisted of a couple of challenges. Weapons skills, tactical knowledge, and

finally, there was hand-to-hand combat. First up, we had to prove our skills as

archers and I watched a girl cry as she was led away after the first round was

over, but I had to shake it off quickly. I couldn’t lose focus this early.

There was still an entire day's worth of fighting left to do. The second was

sword fighting, and I could feel the strain my arms took, but since that was my

only weakness, I knew it would also be my only low score. We went through all

the weapons one by one and our group got smaller and smaller after each test. I

almost breathed a sigh of relief when we were done and I looked up to find my

friends still there. Our tactical knowledge was tested with a verbal example of

an old battle our people had lost and, as usual, I was the last one to be

called forward. The aim was to give them a solution that would have allowed us

to win the battle, and since history was one of my many favourite subjects, I

was prepared for any scenario they could give me. It didn’t take the council

more than a couple of seconds to release my score and I fought back the urge to

shout with glee.

Last up was

hand-to-hand combat that would decide our ranks in the dhampir order. If you

lost your fight, you could still be sent to the convent, but if you won, you

would definitely be placed within the order. The day had gone by so fast that I

didn’t even notice the sun slowly starting to set. Just as we were about to

start, the perimeter alarms sounded and people were running in all directions.

Our leader was ferociously giving orders and as soon as she saw me, she shouted

my name. I was to go to the wall with the highest-ranked guards and defend our

land as one of them!

Since we had an

agreement with the humans to stay behind our walls, there was only one enemy

that I knew of that would attack us. The beasts! Horrible, malformed wolves

that were created by the first of the ancients. The first king. They were once

the protectors of our kingdom. In the days before the new laws, In the days

before, humans and vampires existed in peace. Long before the kingdom was built

or the walls went up. Before the first dhampir on record was born. Werewolves!

I didn’t have any more time to dwell on our history when one of them came

flying over the wall, barring his canines. His feet hardly touched the ground

before he stormed one of my friends. Within seconds, more came over the wall

and I heard their howls as our warriors took their lives. There was the odd

scream from a dhampir when a wolf actually killed one of us. I fought my way

past a couple of them and was just in time to see the larger-than-life wolf

come over the wall. He was larger than the rest and his aura was filled with power.

Our eyes met and I froze in place as an electrical shock ran right through my

entire body. My split-second hesitation was enough for him to close the gap

between us, and as his powerful hands gripped my throat, I wondered if this was

it. Was this to be the last day of my life? Would my life really be snuffed out

by a beast? After all that training? My training kicked in and I fought back,

but he was stronger than anyone I knew.