August 23rd, 985 – The Green lands forest

Situations like this were just shameful. The princess of the Green lands, one of the four kingdoms of Mikill, shouldn't be sitting on a cold floor in an iron cage, in the middle of a forest nonetheless.

Kate was never going to live down this disaster. Her father already thought she wasn't fit to learn the ways of a warrior - although that never stopped her from finding ways anyway. Still despite all her effort, he never seemed to believe in her. And here she was, locked up in a cage, proving him right. All because she was yet again distracted by her own life and misery.

The first lesson of a warrior was to never get distracted, and even though she had skills even royal knights didn't possess, she always failed at that very important first one.

This situation was the result of her own incompetence. How could she have been so distracted that she got herself caught by a bunch of Vampire Hunters? She was a Royal Vampire, one of the Originals, and supposed to be one of the strongest vampires in existence.

The princess sighed and let her head fall back against the iron bars of the cage. Her eyes searched for the stars, but the clouds and the light from the campfire and torches that lit up the Hunter Campsite made that impossible. A sigh escaped her again, nothing was going the way it was supposed to go in her life.

She shook her head hoping her thoughts would take another direction. Coming up with an escape plan would be a good distraction. She could listen to her surroundings and the stories the Hunters were telling each other around the campfire.

Kate tried to concentrate on one conversation at a time, but she soon skipped every single one of them and ended up smashing her fist on the iron floor.

Why were those Hunters so full of themselves? Did every single one of them have to brag about killing vampires? Didn't they have anything else going on in their lives?

Talk about her capture had spread like wildfire through the campsite. Even now, Kate could hear her name everywhere, as if they wanted her to hear so she could relive this feeling of humiliation over and over.

Full of pride, a few of them had even started chatting about other victory stories and vampire kills, which didn't really make her feel more comfortable either. Those were her people after all.

The princess nervously moved from her spot. She tried to stand up, but decided against it. She had already tried to break the bars of the cage without much success. It was probably strengthened with some potion. It couldn't have been wolfsbane, because that would've hurt like hell. The small brunette vampire was sure Hunters had a lot more secrets she didn't know of when it came down to killing a vampire. Although, judging from the stories around the campfire, it seemed their skills and bravery were the only thing they needed. Something the princess highly doubted.

Kate sat back down and tried to breathe slowly, as to calm her nerves. She laid her head back against the bars, closed her eyes wishing to calm herself further.

After filtering out the barbaric stories of those Hunters, there wasn't anything left to do but listen to her surroundings. It wasn't her favorite way to distract herself, but it seemed better than being alone with her thoughts. She switched her attention to the quiet nature around her. She had hoped for nearby animals, but no such luck. It didn't come as a big surprise; she had a feeling they'd fled the scene as soon as the Hunters had arrived. She would've done the same thing.

The party was growing by the minute and so was the sound. It got harder to concentrate on the serenity of the forest. Kate had the urge to cover her ears - hearing her own pulse was probably more soothing than the laughs of her enemies.

Suddenly, a deep, sad sigh reached her ears. It was so out of place and so unexpected that Kate opened her eyes and instinctively looked around.

Why would anyone be sad at a celebration like this? It wasn't every day that a Royal Vampire was captured. Actually, it had never happened before, which made this all the more humiliating. But it also made it even stranger for a Hunter to be sad at such a celebratory party. Kate shuffled to the right side of the cage and leaned with her cheek against the bars. She didn't really know why she did that, it was not like her hearing would increase by moving a couple of inches closer to the sound.

Her eyes scanned the open place for the mysterious sad Hunter, but all she could see was a handsome male human in a suit and an almost naked woman coming straight to her cage. The princess jumped on her feet. The guards that had been surrounding her cage drew their bows and arrows, giving the newcomers protection. The handsome male walked to the door and unlocked it.

If it wasn't for the increased heartbeat, Kate would've never guessed his fear. The anger on the other hand was clearly burning in his eyes, even the 'faux' smile gave away his feelings towards the princess.

"A vampire in a cage," he spoke with a calm albeit cold voice, "it's truly the most wonderful art."

With loud steps, he walked inside the cage. Kate could clearly hear the iron in his soles. The sound was so familiar to her, it made her heart squeeze uncomfortably. It reminded her of home, the one place she was not looking forward to returning. At least not after this disaster.

"Aren't you scared to be eaten?" Kate showed her teeth to further poke the bear.

"Eaten? No. Vampires don't eat. They kill." The man stayed completely calm.

"And you don't?" The princess hissed, mostly because she started to feel threatened by his calmness.

Why would this man walk into a cage of a vampire without a weapon? He wasn't a Hunter, that was clear by his blue tailored suit made from the expensive eastern fabrics. Usually even though guys had racing hearts and sweat coating their palms. Yet this man was calm, like an ice sea you saw only in the north. Hunters didn't have many emotions either, but at least their bodies were smart enough to fear us. It might only be audible in the smallest changes in their heart rhythm, but at least it was there. His absent fear was troubling.

"I'm a doctor, little princess," the man pulled a scalpel from the bag he carried with him, "doctors heal the ones you leave behind."

"Okay, doctor."

Kate's warning signs were blaring through her head, but she tried to stay calm. No one needed to die.

She could probably get out of here without much difficulty and without causing a bloodbath. Yet, somehow her curiosity was messing with those plans. Again. Now that she was here, she could at least find out what they needed her for.

"What is it that you want from me?"

The doctor laughed a hollow laugh.

"I need your blood."

"My blood?" The princess blinked a few times, clearly startled by his answer. Her confident mask failed her for a second, but the princess quickly recovered.

"Why? Don't you humans get bellyaches from drinking blood?"

He ignored her last question and took a step aside so the aged woman standing behind him could take her place next to him. Her green eyes were familiar to the vampire, but she felt too threatened to think much about it.

"Look, you seem like nice people, but you're not getting my blood I'm afraid. I like it where it is, inside of me."

Kate took hold of the bars behind her and tried to pull them apart, but yet again the iron didn't budge. She grunted in frustration before letting her arms fall in defeat.

It really wasn't her day.

"You really think we would be so stupid to drop the spell around the cage?"

The smugness in the doctor's tone was starting to irritate the little vampire.

"Fine, have it your way," but instead of the planned attack on the doctor, Kate felt her legs give away. Her whole body became mushy and her head felt like a bag of bricks.

"What is ... happening?"

She slowly slid to the ground until she was lying on her back and glowing green eyes were looking into hers.

"You're ... a witch?"

Kate's energy level was so low that talking was labored. Did talking always require so much breathing?

"But ... where is ... your ... pack?"

The scarcely dressed woman only gave her a small sadistic smile in return.

"So beautiful, a vampire at our feet, weak and harmless. This is the way it should be."

The doctor knelt down next to the heavy breathing vampire. His empty hand took another tool from his black leather bag. With the scalpel in his one hand and her head in the other, he made a deep cut in the princess's neck. Without the need to hold her still, he punched the tap-like instrument inside the wound. The Royal Vampire's blood seeped through the tap into a wooden bowl. All while the old witch danced and sang in words only people of her kind understood.

Only half the bowl was filled when the bleeding slowed, and the healing of the vampire kicked in. The doctor pulled the device out of her neck, before standing up and looking down at her.

"Thank you, princess, it will be because of you that your kind will finally find its extinction."

With those words he walked backwards out of the cage.

Together with a still singing and dancing witch, he walked in the direction of the tents. The princess went cold, a terrible guilt and impending fear started to grow inside of her. What did the doctor mean by that? How could her blood cause the extinction of the vampires?

The air in the cage was sizzling with magic. Even though she wasn't an expert on that front, she knew enough to know that this kind of magic wasn't pure. It wasn't given by nature, it wasn't asked through rituals or thanked by offers. This kind of magic was taken. It would leave marks behind. Magic always has a cost, which if not paid will cause destruction one way or another.

Whatever was going on, it would surely have colossal consequences. It was the potential size of those effects that was worrying the princess, because the way the air felt heavy and tasted metallic could only hint at the terrible strength of the magic being used.

Kate stayed on the ground while the energy slowly returned to her body. Even without the effects of the witch's magic, she couldn't find the strength to stand up. She was used to her father thinking very little of her, but this, this was more than screwing things up. She might still not understand everything that was going on, but she knew darkness when she saw it.

A few of her guards murmured something to each other before they followed the doctor and the witch to the other side of the campfire, leaving only two behind. It wasn't like their job was interesting anyways, considering the magic was the real guard of the cage.

"Idiots," one of the two left behind mumbled.

Unable to do anything in that cage, the Royal kept track of the doctor.

"Go lay down," he spoke in a firm tone to someone inside the tent on the other side of the campsite.

Before the princess was interrupted by the muffled grunts of her guards getting knocked down, she heard that same sadness and defeat in a surrendering sigh coming from the tent. Even though she was highly interested in what was going on there, her rescuers pulled her away from the scene.

"Kate?!" The distress was clear in the man's voice.

"I'm fine," she called back, finally pulling her full attention to her rescuers.

She wiggled her fingers and toes to check if the magic had worn off before she pushed herself up to stand. With her fingers interlaced with each other, she pushed her hands in the air and stretched her body.

A tough guy, a bit older looking than the vampire herself, walked in composed steps towards the door of the cage. Immediately joined by a twenty-year-old blonde girl with the same emerald eyes as the witch from before. They stood in front of the door, the slim blonde only a few inches shorter than the handsome guy.

"That's all?" The princess asked in surprise, looking around for the rest of her rescue squad.

Jason, the muscular guy, pointed to the side with his thumb where a teenage brunette boy was sitting on top of the knocked-out guard. The teenager grinned and waved at Kate who responded with a proud smile and a thumbs-up. His boyish looks and sparkling eyes were even visible from inside the cage. Mason always carried a warmth around him that made it hard not to like him.

"Haven't missed us too much, princess?" The soft low voice made her turn to the young man in front of her. Jason wore a flirting grin across his face. Kate slowly shook her head with the same grin, while she dramatically stretched her body further.

"Just get me out of here before they notice, you idiot," she countered back with a playful smile plastered on her face.

The blonde girl, Heather, pushed the leader aside. "Listen to the girl, Jason."

She put her hands on the lock and closed her eyes. She whispered a few words in the same ancient language as the half-naked woman. The lock glowed up before it opened with a click.

The princess walked to the door of her cage in almost desperate steps, her foot hadn't crossed the barrier of the cage yet when a loud scream echoed over the open place. The nauseating sound came from the same tent the doctor and the witch had entered. A shiver ran down the vampire's body and made all her hairs stand up.

Jason pulled her forward by her arm. She hadn't even noticed that she was still standing half inside the iron cage. Kate looked inside the eyes of her lover, hoping he would understand her plea. The corners of his lips curled down and his eyes begged her for forgiveness.

He understood her curiosity, but she also understood that he was an alpha and his first job was to bring his pack to safety. If it wouldn't have been for all the Hunters in this place, he might've reconsidered. The princess knew that, but there was no chance they were strong enough to take on that many Hunters and a witch that could cause such disruption in the world's energy.

Nobody needed to know anything about magic, to know that the feeling in the air was becoming heavier and more threatening.

"We have to go," Heather spoke impatiently.

Her stern look had turned into a restless one. Another indication that leaving was the best option.

A balmy wind swept over the open place and made the fire of the torches and the campfire flicker wildly. Heather gasped out loud and reached around her. With his increased reflexes, Jason caught her just in time.

Kate felt her own legs go weak and the world started to spin. She too reached out for something to hold on to. Her hand found one of the metal bars, but the spinning became so heavy that in her attempt to keep her balance, she ripped the bar out of its place. Mason caught her right before she hit her head.

Kate felt lightheaded, as if all life was being pulled out of her.

Both men looked at each other, not understanding what was happening. Without any words, they communicated their next moves. Jason took Heather in his arms, bridal style, and Mason copied his actions with the princess. They both ran out of that place before anything else could go wrong.

The further they got, the more the effects of the magic started to wear off. The air felt lighter again and the light-headedness turned into a pounding headache. When both girls regained consciousness, the boys took a moment to rest. Mason, with his cheeky smile, set Kate back down on her own two feet.

"M' lady," he bowed playfully, and the princess just gave him a nudge against the shoulder while she chuckled weakly.

Jason was still holding Heather up by the waist, but he too smiled at the princess. Although his smile contained more love and worry. Kate smiled and nodded at his silently asked question if she was alright. His eyes turned soft and gave her another loving smile before he turned his attention to his witch. She was still not completely recovered going off by her constant swaying and dazed look.

"Is she going to be alright?" Kate asked while moving closer. She too wasn't feeling 100% yet, but at least she could stand without help, and that must do for now.

The boy nodded. "Go. Your parents need to know what happened to you tonight. We've got her," Jason spoke with his soft and caring voice.

The princess stood on her toes to kiss his cheek before she turned to the blonde and put her hand on her shoulder: "the headache is terrible, but it also fades rather quickly. So no worries. A good night's rest will do."

She let her hand slide down the girl's arm to her hand which she gave a comforting squeeze. Her duty was to her people, and her friend had people that would take care of her. She'd be alright. Before she ran off to her castle, the princess quickly gave a thank you and a peck on Mason's cheek.

With still slightly shaking legs, Kate ran in the northern direction where the mountains were covering the horizon.

As if her life wasn't already a disaster, she was now going to have to admit to her dad that she might possibly be the reason for the extinction of their people. Above that, she had to tell him that she didn't have any proof of that, only the words of a crazy doctor and a gut feeling.

This really wasn't her day.

---

AN: So, for my devoted readers, here is the rewrite of Cursed. Since writing the first version of Cursed, I have learned a lot about myself and my writing. Mainly that I am a really slow writer hehe. For the ones that have already read the first version, it will be just as interesting for you to read this new version, because quite a lot has changed since then. Enjoy the story and always welcome to comment!