It didn't take long for me to find out that Prince Omkara walked forward, into the dark of the unknown.

I stood there rooted.

I knew I had to take a step.

I can't! I just can't!

Damn it !!!!

"I suggest you step through that door before something unfortunate happen to you again." His voice sent a shiver through my bones.

There was nothing forgiving or merciful there. No room for error.

All I knew that I had to do something.

So, I took that step.

Slowly I took that first damned step.

A light flashed into being, burning my eyes.

They were still sore from the smoke.

No doubt it was a blood red.

It's definitely not a colour that I wanted a vampire to see on me.

The room I had stepped into was astonishing.

The corridor outside was nothing compared to this. Wooden panels gleamed along the floor and walls.
Rich red rugs coated most of the floor, oddly softening it. But the colour of them. So like that other red. Red on the floor. Red staining the stones. Red, red, red. My soul dripped with it. Red and red until all the world was bleeding.

Everything was fudging red!!!

No Gauri!!!!

I shook my head.

Not here.

At least Not now.

The bed.

Focus on that.

It was just as ornate as the rest of the room. Twisted wooded spirals held up a canopy.

Damn! It's Red again.

No. The fire. It was cold and empty.

The whole room, despite being bedecked in cushioned swathes of fabric, was cold. I got the sense it always was.

Must mirror his soul. I wondered if he had one. I knew I did, even though I was, well, what I was. I could feel the shards of it stabbing into me.

It's was literally Digging in my brain, my lungs, my heart.

"Hey Ladki," the prince's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "You are my Personal. Do you know what this requires?" He was so close.

I could feel his breath near my neck .

God I knew  I had to be strong.

Who was I kidding, the gods wouldn't grant me strength.

I had to find that myself.

"Yes, your highness. I am to do whatever you desire." It was an effort to keep my voice even.

"I expect you to be punctual, I do not appreciate delays. You are to take care of my rooms, my food, my clothes. If there's any additional tasks, I will let you know." The silence stretched after his words.

It was there in the room, as tangible as my breath.

Stretching to breaking point.

I knew I had to say something.

"Thank you for your generosity, your highness." I prayed he didn't notice the bite in my voice.

"You are now dismissed." He turned, the ice leaving my skin.

I gave a small courtesy smile.

So, this was why we had been forced how to do them at schools.

Guess who decided our lessons?

I left, forcing my legs to go slow.

Be calm Gauri ...Do not run.

Never engage in such a deadly game as chase with them.

Once the door was firmly shut, I gave a sigh of relief.

How was I going to survive being his personal?

Go, go my brain, my bones urged.

Go, get away from him. I resented the power he had over me, but I also knew it would be unwise to stay here.

For so many reasons.

So I went.

Down the corridor, ignoring the opulence of my surroundings. Beauty did not mean safety or mercy or peace. Here it meant the very opposite.

Apart from, maybe, peace- they would eventually grant you that final, longed-for peace.

Maybe.

So, I found no comfort in the beautiful paintings I walked past. The carved wooden furniture, gleaming in the lamplight, was meaningless.

It all was, apart from the door we had come through.

I recognised the window opposite.

I had no idea what part of the castle I was in. I had only recently learnt my way to the laundry, now I had to navigate this labyrinth daily? And be punctual.

Punctual too be damned.

The only thing he could puncture was my neck. They had already taken everything else.

Maybe I could do that, antagonise him into letting me free. But Something told me that would not work.

He was too clever, too cruel to allow such a thing. No doubt he would just find some new means of tormenting me.

Rub the shards of my soul together, see if they bleed perhaps?

For now, I knew I needed to find my bed.

I could feel fatigue gnawing away at me, a shadow that would only grow as I went in search of rest.

These stairs led down. And down in the shadowy bowels of the Castle was my world. I would have better chances of finding some rest, some time to recover down there. I was fully aware how badly I was gong to need my strength tomorrow.

Down I went.

Down into the darkness without illumination.

Down and down and down, spiralling ever further.

Eventually the stairs came to an end, long after my lungs burned sore, still raw from the smoke, and my legs had gone numb. But I had reached the bottom, and for now, that was victory enough.

Looking around I saw the passage was empty.

I gave myself a moments break, a moments weakness. No more than that could be afforded.

A window, high on the wall, showed the shadowy figure of a scaffold and a moonlit courtyard.

One I remembered from that day.

Oh, how ignorant and useless I had been! I knew what monsters they were; I should have been better aware. Then maybe her blood wouldn't stain my hands. I could feel it still, a glove I never wished to wear.

Ironically, that scaffold was a life-line. I knew how to get to the dormitory from here.

I was surprisingly close, thank the gods.

Hurriedly, I passed down the corridor.

A shadow amongst others, stirring the burning candle wick as I passed.

Turning down passage after passage my feet fell faster every time.

Turning once more I stopped dead. Ahead lay a blackened pile of rubble, smoke still rising from the charred, fallen beams.

The fire. How could I be so stupid? There was no way I could get the dormitory, it was gone.
Gone.

Oh gods, it was gone. I hoped Bhavya was alright. I had not seen her since that crush.

She had not been in that dungeon with me. But that didn't mean there weren't others she could have been in.

Gods, even the flames could have got at her. Oh Bhavya, please, please be alright. Please be safe.

I almost laughed at myself. Safe, not a state one could be in this desolate place.

Maybe death would be the kinder fate for her, then she would be free.

No. Not Bhavya. She deserved her life, but one lived freely. Not bound in chains, but running through forests and sleeping beneath stars in the arms of someone who loved her.

Treasured and adored.

I hope she was okay.

It was as I stood there, staring at the damage from the fire and praying to lost gods that I heard the footsteps behind me.

"Hey, are you ok?" The voice startled me out of my thoughts.

It was a man's voice. Shit.

"Hey, miss. Can I help you?"

This is not what I had expected. Men in the dark were not good. Not when I was there with only shadows for company. But he was not a guard.

No, a guard would have spied their prey and struck by now, vipers that they were.

And yet, I had never seen a human man in the Castle.

It was always women that were taken.

Some sort of arbitrary punishment for our involvement in the uprising.

Somehow, we were more to blame than our male counter parts. And so, to keep us down, we were expected to pay the heaviest price possible.

And to do it all in a submissive manner without complaint. Afterall weren't we lucky? We had been chosen for a purpose others could only dream of.

We were the few who got the luxury of seeing the Castle and the monsters who took everything from us.

We got to watch as they took our sound and feasted on the pain this caused.

And now there was this man, this stranger.

Something was different.

Something had changed.

If such a person was here then I knew I should not be.

The vampires always had a reason for everything they did.

Some sort of predatory mind, always analysing, always calculating.

Waiting for the chance to take the lamb.

And yet he offered help? I was far too exhausted to think much on the issue.

I could feel the cramp in my muscles, still weak without food or water, still over worked form working and running and that damp cold cell. I had no idea what to do.

So, I did the only thing I could think of.

"I'm actually a bit lost. I was in this dormitory before, well, this," I gestured to the pile of charred timbers, the smell of smoke staining the air around us.

"I've been otherwise engaged for the last few days, and I'm not sure where I'm meant to be. You wouldn't know where the other girls are would you?"

I turned around. He was young with fair skin And a bit muscled. Anything beyond that was hidden by the curtain of shadows.

"As far as I am aware, this was a storage area. I think you might be a bit more lost than you thought. Don't worry though, I know what to do."

How could he not know about the dormitories? There were over a hundred women, where were they all? I knew I was in the right place.

Nothing would make me forget that scaffold, or the walk. Unease clenched in my empty stomach.

"If I'm correct, Miss Pinky should be just down here. I'm sure she'll sort you out."

By all the gods he was a damned informant. Shit. How the hell was I supposed to get away from here? I remembered Bhavya's words, gods I hoped she was alright.

Nobody could be trusted. Not even yourself.

How could I have been so stupid? The first chance I got I had gone back to the scene of the fire.

To anyone who did not know what happened in that hall it looked suspicious.

To those who were there it would only make them believe I was guilty.

Crimes returning like an avenging ghost to haunt the unrepentant.

Shit.

He stepped forward. Reached out.

I could not stop the flinch. Heart thumping in my chest. But the hand one my arm was warm.

It had been days since I had felt the touch of another human.

Were we really so warm? Maybe I was getting sick.

Just what my situation called for.

He saw my reaction and dropped his arm. Well this was somethid new. But it didn't mean I could trust him.

I was too exhausted to run. Not when I knew the labyrinth of stone that awaited me. Not when there would be monsters without the mercy of wolves waiting for the chance to take chase.

So, I followed him. That man who was most likely a traitor to his species. For what other reason would he be here? Know Miss Pinky?

He led me through that maze. Back to the white hall with its doors forever barred to me.

He led me back to the begging. Back to that first day.

Back to my mother's face, blanched white with fear, blanched white with death.

We stopped, so like that last time. He knocked, something different.

"Yes?" A cold voice rang through the wood. The man opened the door.

"Sorry to disturb you so late Miss, but I found a young lady lost on the site. She seems very confused. I thought you might know where she should go?" There was no fear in his voice. No hatred lying beneath the surface like a snake waiting to strike.

"Thank you, Kabir, I will handle this from here."
Miss Pinky walked out of her office. It was an effort not to laugh when she saw me.

She turned to this Kabir , a grim smile on her face.

"Yes, you did the right thing bringing her to me. She suffers from sleep-walking, you see. I would appreciate it if you could keep this to yourself? The poor girl has enough to deal with without more people ogling her."

The lying, two-faced bitch. But, he didn't know what I was. But How could he not know? Didn't the prince dragged me in front of everyone a while again .

"Of course, Miss. Whatever I can do to help." With a short nod he left.

Great. Now I was alone with her.

"Well I should have known it would involve you," she said, the bit in her words turning them crisp and sharp. Like ice that froze on the lips of the dead, sealing their final breath.

They had lined the streets in winter.

Sold everything to pay taxes. It was a fate my mother and I had only narrowly avoided in our frozen attic.

Not that it did us much good.

Maybe it would have been better that way. Neither of us would have felt any pain, they would have got nothing out of it, given their revulsion for dead blood.

We would both have gone to the Beyond, together. I hoped she was there now. I hoped they were all together and that it was not some fable to comfort those left behind to wonder what fate their souls now faced.

I bet she knew something about it. Given her adoration for them she probably licked the damned stones clean.

There was as much blood on her as there was on any of them after a feast.

Gods I wish I had the means to make her pay. To make them all go through what countless numbers of us unfortunate souls to be Chosen had been through. But right now, I needed rest and that would only come through playing the diligent maid.

"Sorry for the inconvenience caused Ms Pinky," I replied.

She glared at me, as if she knew the anger laced in lemon juice behind my words.

I remember my mother received a letter in it once, she showed us the brown words before she burnt it.

"You should remember that are the prince's personal now. You should be there serving him, not grovelling in the ashes like some moon-stuck girl. Come, no doubt he is already aware of your absence. For your sake, I hope he is in a good mood."

She latched on to my arm, her grip surprisingly strong.

Why the hell they all have to grab me? I knew how to bloody walk.

I swore a bruise was forming, digging into the very bones. If they wanted to chain us up metal would be much more effective. I couldn't care less if she got hurt as a result of me.

Maybe it would speed this whole process up.

Except now there was the possibility.

Fragile as a butterfly's breath. But sitting in that ash I realised there was a chance. Slim, but I could just, just see it.

Fluttering there, waiting to be caught.

Once again, I was led through that network of stone, cold and gey and lifeless as a corpse.

Once again, I was made to ascend those stairs. Lungs burning. Sight blackening. I could feel the last of my energy leave my legs.

Please, please let it be there an end soon for this .

Shadows swirled and danced before me, like tempting spirits in some long-forgotten story.

A warning that the dark contains the cruellest of creatures.

The blood sucking monsters.

Once again, we came out on that hallway, dripping with silk and blood. The light kept fragmenting, tripping me up as I walked.

Before me, Ms Pinky drew put a key and pressed it into my hand.

Finally releasing her grip on my bruised- blue arm. "This is your new room. So that His Highness Omkara  may call on you if he desires. I hope this will be the last of our unfortunate encounters girl." With a last viper worthy glare, she walked away, vanishing into the shadows crowding the corridor.

I turned, facing the slab of wood before me. At least is wasn't red.

Taking a deep breath I unlocked the door, the thud sounding too loud in my ears.

In the half-light beyond I saw a small chest and a bed.

Rest.

I stumbled forward. Only fear of what lurked outside made me find the strength to lock the door behind me.

Just a few more steps.

Three.

Two.

One.

I collapsed on the bed.

Finally.

Finally, I could let the tempting darkness come in.

Finally, I could sleep.