Lost in the castle

"Oh, come on, Elaina," she slapped her forehead though her mask took the hit. She trespassed into the king's castle and not just any king, the vampire king she had never seen and knew nothing about. The consequences of her actions just started to sink in, this wouldn't have happened if she had followed that man!

After taking a deep breath, Elaina decided to go for the straight path. As she walked, the distance started to feel wrong. It would have been about five minutes since she had been walking, but she didn't seem to be getting closer to any light. Also, if she remembered correctly, there had been paintings in the hallway she had come from.

"That's right, there was a painting of an iceberg!" she exclaimed but, she looked at the doors lined on the wall, this was the wrong place.

With that, she decided to return to the staircase but as she turned around, the sound of footsteps and voices reached her ears and her heart rate spiked in fear.

Instead of relief, wariness mixed with fear overtook her. Danger bells rang in her head and her instincts told her to hide. She looked around in panic before choosing the door on her left.

Opening the door gently, Elaina entered the room and closed the door behind her as quietly as she could but she left a little gap so she could see.

...

Two men walked through the hallway carrying a long object wrapped in a white cloth.

"Leave it to the king's blood-thirst, there's not even a single drop left," one of the men stated.

"That's the price for being a pureblood," the other one replied.

"I hope we at least get to drink tonight," the first one said.

"Of course, it's the midnight ball, an all-you-can-eat buffet," the second one stated with a chuckle.

Meanwhile, Elaina watched what was happening through the little space she left. The first person was walking backward as he held a long object in his hands. Her eyes were on the long object as she tried to decipher what it was. It looked like a body, she thought in her head, and just as she thought that, a hand suddenly dropped out of the cloth.

Her eyes widened and a gasp almost left her mouth but she quickly covered her mouth and pushed the door shut.

"Did you hear that?" the second one asked. He had heard the faint sound of a door closing.

"It was probably the wind," the other one answered.

"Wind? On this side of the palace?" the first one asked skeptically.

"What does it matter? Let's just get rid of this and get back to the ball," the first one stated in annoyance.

The second one's eyes moved to the door that had closed where he heard a rapidly beating heart that he hadn't heard before. A maid would have no reason to hide and why would a heartbeat appear out of nowhere, his glowing red eyes narrowed in thought.

_

Elaina opened the door slowly when the sound of footsteps had faded completely and silence was all she could hear. She stuck her head through the door first and after ensuring that they were gone, she came out of the room.

Closing the door behind her, she ran away from there and didn't stop until she reached the stairs. Her heart pounded heavily against her chest and she rested on her knees to catch her breath.

She stood straight and quickly tried to decide which way to go, not wanting those men to return and find her there. She prayed earnestly in her heart that the right corridor was the right one.

Her feet were quick on the floor as she walked and relief couldn't describe what she felt when music from the midnight ball reached her ears.

As she got closer, the light started to become visible and the paintings came into view. Her eyes fell on a painting and she exclaimed, "The iceberg!"

While she was staring at the painting, someone approached her and called,

"Laina?" when he saw that it was her.

"Alex!" she called as she walked up to him. Never had she been so glad to see him in her life.

"What are you doing here?" he asked and she was about to answer when she heard voices coming from deep inside the hallway.

Alexander's eyes moved from her to the hallway where he could see and hear the conversation of the two vampires.

"The person ran away," the first one stated.

"It must have been a guest who got lost in the castle," the second one replied.

"They got away, what a shame, it would have been a free drink for us," one said and the two chuckled.

-

"Let's go outside," Elaina grabbed his arm and took him away from there.

Alexander's eyes moved to her trembling hands, they couldn't have been speaking about her, could they?

°°°

Elaina and Alexander sat on a bench in one of the many gardens of the castle. She took a deep breath and released it with a sigh of relief.

"Did something happen while you were inside the castle, Laina?" Alexander asked when she seemed calmer.

"A lot happened," she stated. Thus, Elaina went on to narrate everything, from the part she left the hall to how she ended up on the balcony and then how she got lost though she left out the part of her meeting with the stranger on the balcony.

"Was it a dead body?" she asked. The moment the hand had slipped out of the cloth played in her head, sending shivers down her spine.

"Well, this is a vampire's castle," came Alexander's reply.

"Then those were vampires," she concluded.

"You did well to hide, Laina, you might not be here if you hadn't,"

"But, we have laws protecting us humans," Elaina protested.

Laws protecting humans? That was nothing but a farce, Alexander scoffed internally.

"Sure, there are laws protecting humans but this is the midnight ball. Different sorts of creatures are present here, influential figures and creatures who consider themselves superior. Not a single soul would care if a human or two went missing.

The midnight ball is an event that unified the land but that's just on paper for the ignorant ones to believe and trust blindly. The real purpose of the midnight ball is to remind humans of their place at rock bottom on the food chain and not to get any ideas. That's the harsh truth many are ignorant of." he concluded.

Elaina pondered over his words. This was the first time he had spoken so much about a topic. Attending the midnight ball must have bothered him a lot, she thought in her head. Honestly, she had thought about the safety of the midnight ball too but she thought it would be fine because of the human protection laws.

The vampires and werewolves considered themselves superior and at the top of the food chain while humans remained inferior. It was nothing but ignorant and wishful thinking to believe that a few laws would protect them.

This must be what the rumor meant about not being the same after attending the midnight ball. After realizing this harsh fact, Elaina started to see the world in a new light. She had been too trusting, perhaps because she couldn't tell which creature was which, but now she had to proceed with caution, so for one, no more exploring.

"Let's go back inside," Alexander's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. And the two of them stood and returned to the hall.