My Long Lost Mate

"How am I supposed to walk in these shoes?" I asked Luke, struggling to walk in the heeled shoes that I was wearing. My hand grasped his arm for support, my feet walking ever so slowly with a slight tremble in every step that I took. 

"Just walk like you usually do," he chuckled, his feet moving at the same pace as mine. 

The walk from our room to the grand hall was not a far distance, but because of the struggle that I had with my shoes, the walk took a couple of minutes longer for us to finally arrive. It was the first time that I ever walked in shoes like this, and I couldn't help but question why people go through the hassle to made such shoes when they were so hard to walk in. I would much prefer the boots that I usually wear compared to this one. 

"I'm a little nervous," I said to Luke, making him glance in my direction. 

"You don't need to feel nervous," he ȧssured me, smiling, "I'll always stay by your side."

Hearing his comforting words, I nodded my head slowly and licked my dried lips. Even with the help of Luke's presence, I still hope that people wouldn't give me too much attention and pretend that they didn't see me there. I would feel much more at ease that way.

But on second thought, I think staying with Luke would be the first thing that I need to avoid if I didn't want people's eyes on me, though that was very much impossible to do. I didn't know what would happen if I stayed alone in the land of the blood-sucking creatures. Things could go very bad if I happen to encounter a hungry vampire. 

Our journey came to an end when we finally arrived at the entrance of the grand hall. There stood a servant who politely greeted us with a bow, waiting for us to give permission for him to announce our arrival. 

"Ready?" he queried, and my hand unconsciously tightened around his arm. I took several deep breaths, swallowing the lump in my throat before answering him yes. He then nodded his head to the servant, allowing him to do his job. 

Following it, the servant opened the door, announcing our presence to the many people inside, "Mr. William and Ms. Quinn!"

When the door to the hall opened, all the eyes in the room immediately went to both of us. People stopped their chattering and took their time to see the new presence in the room, recognizing the man standing beside me. But when their eyes moved to me, a questioning look appeared.

"Who is this girl beside him?" that was probably the question that popped up in their heads. 

Not far from the door was Kiera, who greeted the guests with a brilliant smile upon her face. When her eyes wandered around the room and found our presence, the smile on her face grew wider. She giddily approached both of us, though her attention was solely on the man beside me. 

"Luke!" she called, taking his other hand that was not holding mine in hers, "I'm so happy to have you here." 

Luke frowned and quickly retracted his hand, saying, "I'm only here for Kiel."

As if she had expected such a reaction from the man, she chuckled, "I know. But I'm still happy regardless. My birthday ball was the only time that I could meet you, so I was extremely sad that I couldn't hold one last year. It is always a great pŀėȧsurė to have you here in Gordom," her eyes then moved to me, and the beaming smile on her lips almost disappeared, "Oh, you are also here. I hope you enjoyed the ball. Please tell me if there is anything that you need." 

"Thank you," I forced out the words, plastering the fake smile that I had prepared to use. 

"Well, I need to go and greet the other guests," she bowed curtly, eyeing at Luke, "Let us talk later, perhaps while we dance."

With that, she left us for another guest. I sighed, already feeling tired only after meeting one person in the room when there were more than fifty of them. We walked deeper into the room, passing a number of people who had their attention on us. 

"Kiel," he called for the lord who took a seat by the table on the side of the room, casually popping grapes to his mouth. "I wish you the happiest birthday," said Luke, but Kiel returned it with a scowl. 

"You should rather wish for this ball to end faster," he sighed, glancing at his sister who was standing in the middle of the crowd, "I don't understand why she likes troublesome things." 

"I'm only saying," Luke admitted, shrugging. He pulled out a chair for me, then took the seat right beside, "That's what you say, but you let her hold this ball every year." 

"You don't know how noisy she would be when things didn't go her way. It would be better for me to follow her wants rather than having to hear her raving for days—or weeks," he shuddered. Glancing at me, he smiled, "I see it is your second time going on events like this." 

"It is," I replied, "Thank you for inviting me."

"It is my pŀėȧsurė," he bowed his head a little, "And you don't need to worry. I ȧssure you this one would not go as bad as your first time. At least, there is not a rogue here." 

"But maybe there's a deranged vampire," added Luke before pounding on his ċhėst, "But yes, you don't need to worry. I'll be right by your side."

"What do you mean a deranged vampire?" I asked.

Luke glanced at Kiel and beckoned for him to explain, folding his arms. "They are vampires who have no control of their own mind and body. They are blinded by their ŀust for blood and dėsɨrės to kill," explained the vampire.

"While rogues are mostly still in their sane mind, deranged vampires are not. To put it simply, they are a lot more dangerous than a rogue. A deranged vampire will kill everything that is in front of them without a second thought," added Luke, making his friend to nod his head in agreement.

Before I could ask another question, a servant came and called for Kiel. "Sir, it is time. All the guests have arrived."

Kiel sighed hearing it and rose from his seat, excusing himself, "I'll see you both later."

The man walked towards his sister, offering his hand for her to hold. They both went to the front of the hall, making the crowd died down to listen to what the sibling had to say as their opening speech. 

In the meantime, I asked Luke about the question that I was supposed to ask Kiel before he left, "What is the cause that made vampires turned deranged?"

"It is actually an illness that could happen to any vampires at any time," he explained, "No one will know if they will turn into one or not. A deranged vampire could turn another vampire with their bites, that's why they are especially harmful."

"Then what should they do if they turn into one?"

"Someone had to kill them," he stated firmly, "That's what happened to Kiel's parents."

Surprised by his statement, my eyes went wide as I stared at the man, "Kiel's parents were deranged vampires?" 

"His father was the first one to turn," he smiled wryly, as if remembering the man, "Then he bit his wife and turned her into one as well."

"Was Kiel... the one who killed them?"

"He had to," he replied, his eyes moving to stare at his friend who was standing in front of the crowd, "He didn't have any choice but to kill them before he got killed himself."

I couldn't even imagine how hard it must have been for him. I didn't even have the courage to kill a mouse, but him—he had to kill his own birth parents. Though I didn't have many happy memories with my parents, thinking about killing the parents that I once knew as kind was impossible to me. But if I were to be put in the same situation, would I kill in order to protect myself? 

"Ahem," came a cough from Kiera who tried to catch people's attention, starting her speech with a beautiful smile, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Thank you to you all for coming to this celebration on this wonderful day. It has always delighted me to see you here every year, standing side by side and keeping our bond stronger than ever. Me and my brother, we are always working hard to make Gordom a better place for us to live, to keep our land safe from any harm.

So in turn, I hope the people of Gordom too will help us make our land to be an even more wonderful place to live in by living according to the law and keeping good relations with all creatures for today is not only a day to celebrate my birthday, but also a day to deepen our bond with one another."

She halted in between her speech, occasionally smiling at the crowd and not forgetting at Luke as well. "Well, I will not talk any longer now because I know everyone is itching for a dance, am I right?" she queried, receiving a number of chuckles from the crowd, "As usual, we will start with a dance from me. For this year's dance partner, I will not be doing it with my lovely brother but with a gentleman standing amongst the crowd in this great hall."

Once she announced it, all the people in the hall started to whisper to one another about how great of an honor it was to have the opportunity to dance with the vampiress, and all the men hoped for the lucky man to be no one but themselves. But strangely for me, I got a really bad hunch where she would choose the only man in the vicinity who didn't even dream about dancing with the vampiress. 

The hunch that I got soon came to light when the vampiress called, "Mr. William, will you be so willing to be my partner for this evening?"