Misha the Beast Tamer.
Chapter 23

I held my breath nervously and fidgeted like thousands of insects were crawling under my skin as I waited patiently for Emrick's arrival. Within hours, I would get an insight into my past. A past that my Father did not know about nor my mother.

All I knew of my Father was his position within the royal guard, title, and name. I knew nothing of his personality other than the bad. His evilness took my namesake and the love of my Father's life away from this world.

I found my mind wandering, If Micah had lived, my brother and I would not exist. My Father would still be smitten with Micah, and Stefan would be forgotten. Dad might not have even met Stefan. My wandering mind was interrupted by a rustle of bushes and a whisper.

"Princess, over here."

It was Emrick. I followed the whisper and found him hiding. I was very confused by his actions. He pulled me in the bushes with him and we crouched, hidden to the best of our abilities.

I looked over to him and shot him a confused look. He put his fingers to his lips shushing me. I nodded and followed his gaze to the rutted old road. I heard a jingleing of tack, the plod of hooves and the occassional snort. We watched, as the horse got closer, when I saw the rider's armour and then saw the insignia he wore proudly upon his chestplate, I finally knew why Emrick hid.

The rider belonged to a proud, very reputable, but also very cruel and brutal hunting organisation. This particular organisation hunted vampires and supernatural beings as a specialty. My heart jumped into my throat. Why was he here? Why was he heading towards the academy?

When I felt safe enough I questioned Emrick.

"Why do you think he is here, making his way towards the academy?"

Emrick shrugged his shoulders and replied with a tad of urgency in his voice.

"Let's not stick around to replace out. The faster we leave the safer we will be. So c'mon let's go."

I grabbed onto Emrick as he left in a flurry of green, brown, and white as we headed towards Primeva Island. A mysterious Island, surrounded by a reef which was a sanctuary for vampires, made this way many centuries ago to protect them from hunters like the one that passed us.

I found quite early on in our journey that being piggy backed was very uncomfortable, for me at least. Emrick reassured me that he was strong and could barely feel me clinging onto him.

We arrived to Primeva Island about four hours later. I gasped on awe as we approached the city. The city was located under a large, spanning canopy of tall, ancient trees, some of their trunks looked to be the width of 10 men. The tree's provided shade and just enough darkness that the vampires could walk outside during the day without feeling the effects of sun sickness. The streets were paved with white stone, the houses that lined the street were built with a variety of materials; ranging from stone to wood, and sandstone.

I followed Emrick nervously, I recieved many stares and glances. I wondered what was making them stare so shamelessly. Could it be I'm a stranger? Or could they smell the werewolf blood running through my veins? I felt uneasy.

It seemed that Emrick read my mind,

"You're a new face. That's all. If they do smell the werewolf blood in you, it wouldn't matter. You're a rare occurrence princess, and they respect that." He said reassuringly.

"We will be arriving to my house in a few minutes. Follow me." Emrick continued.

I did as I was asked. I decided to keep my head down trying to avoid more stares and glances being thrown my way.

We arrived at Emrick's place, it was a grand building made from sandstone. We walked through a mahogany door, with black iron rivets and a heavy iron door knocker proudly displayed in the shape of a lion's head. The detail was intricate.

Emrick led me down a long hall with red cedar flooring. The walls were panels made from a dark coloured wood. Along the walls, large detailed portraits hung evenly spaced upon its surface. Their faces looking off into the distance, not a single smile or twinkle in their eyes were shown. They wore different styles of clothing, each reflecting a different time.

Emrick motioned for me to catch up as he ascended a beautifully crafted staircase. The spindrals were twisted and felt as smooth as gold when I gently traced their twists and turns. Emrick led me to another mahogany door and unlocked it with a tarnished silver key.

"This will be your room for the time you stay with Ronin and I. Rose cannot see you tonight, but she will see you tomorrow evening."

I was flabbergasted,

"Emrick, how long will I be staying? I have not brought any clothes with me."

Emrick smiled,

"Look in the wardrobe Princess, there should be something in there that will suit you. Down the end of the hall to your right, you'll replace a bathing room. It's got a sign above the door.

We will be making you dinner. It's not much I'm afraid, vampires don't share the human palette and have no need for food or drink. Ronin remembers some recipes of his favourite food, from his human days and will be making you dinner. We'll be joining you of course, but will not have a share in the feast. I will leave you to rest Your Highness. Dinner will be served when the clock chimes six times. Please excuse me, I have a vampire council meeting to attend. Ronin should be home in about an hour. Farewell Princess."

Emrick gently closed the door with a click. I was left in an extravagantly decorated room. I had no idea that Emrick was this wealthy, you'd only expect this quality of furniture and decorations in a castle belonging to royalty.

I strolled over to the press and opened it. There was a neat row of various dresses. All made from luxurious material; cotton, lace, and the softest of silk's. I found a sky blue dress, with golden embroidered flowers. I took the dress over to the gold encrusted mirror. The colour brought out my eyes, and the darkness of my hair. The undergarments were neatly placed upon my bed. I laid my dress next to them and made my way to the bathing room.

I called upon a maid to help me with the breath takingly, tight, and very difficult undergarments. After dressing as tight as the feeling in my chest, and only matched by my shallow breaths. I was ready.

I walked as fast as I could with hard corset pressed tightly against my chest, which wasn't fast at all.

I wondered if corsets were used as a way to stop women running from the men who could not take a polite no for an answer when requesting a woman to dance with him or a refusal of his affections.

I was relieved to have made it to the dining hall without fainting, but on the other hand I was quite breathless, so it seemed I wasn't far from it. I was shown to my seat by a servant, I was the first one to arrive.

I waited awkwardly for Ronin and Emrick to arrive. The table was long and adorned with fresh flowers from the garden, candlesticks, and exotic fruit. It was quite lavish, even for me, a princess. The servants busied themselves, as we waited for the hosts.

Ronin was the first, I stood in greeting and he kissed my hand. His black hair fell over his eyes once again proving to me how handsome he actually was. Emrick was a lucky man. I blushed, I still do not regret letting Ronin feast upon my blood.

Emrick arrived a short time later, he greeted me exactly the same as Ronin, his golden eyes pierced into my soul like daggers. He was a very handsome man too. He greeted Ronin with a kiss on the lips, they made such a handsome couple.

Our conversation started with small talk, I always dreaded this part of etiquette at dinner parties, tea parties, and any formal occassion. Even worse if you were nobility, royalty, or wealthy. It was expected that you'd participate in the repetitive, shallow, and the falsity of small talk.

Soon the dreaded and useless formalities ended; Emrick, Ronin, and I started talking about interesting things.

"Princess, you shouldn't worry about meeting Rose tomorrow. Everything she sees and says does come true. Her power is real."

I was apprehensive, but Uncle Stefan's grandmother was gifted with the same power as Rose . She correctly predicted my Father and Stefan becoming lovers. She would not have become as wealthy as she did, if her predictions did not come to pass.

Our conversation was interrupted by the rattling of wheels on the floor. A silver covered platter was placed in front of me. Ronin was given a crystal goblet filled with thick red blood. I admit my stomach churned as he delicately took a sip. I couldn't help the niggling doubt in my mind that the blood in that beautiful crystal goblet was given with permission.

I tried to ignore Ronin and focused on the meal of pheasant served with onion and herbs. To my surprise I managed to finish the meal, and was successful in ignoring Ronin.

Dessert was served a little while after. I was full, I felt as though I would burst forth from my undergarments. But they held me in firm. But I did replace it a lot more difficult to breathe. Ronin excused himself from the table, leaving me and Emrick alone at the now cleared, empty table. I stood to go back to my room, I was in desperate need to loosen my undergarments so I could breathe deeply again. Emrick stopped me.

"Princess, stop! I...I want to show you something. It's important."

I shook my head,

"Sir Emrick, I need to go back to my room. I need to free myself from these, uncomfortable, binding undergarments they call fashion. I would like to breathe again."

Emrick smiled slightly, and replied

"I can loosen them for you."

My face burnt,

"Wouldn't that be considered inappropriate behaviour? In more ways than one. Firstly, you're a wealthy noble, and it is not really a thing nobles do. That's why you have servants and maids. What if someone saw us and thought you were taking advantage somehow."

Emrick scoffed,

"Princess, not to sound harsh, but you are in no way my type and never will be. Secondly, I was not always a wealthy noble. Thirdly, the servants are aware that Ronin and I share a very strong bond and my heart belongs only to Ronin. Finally, you're way too young. So the servants will see it as it exactly is. Me helping you breathe? You still want to breathe, dont you, princess? Remember, I cannot turn you or save you if you decide to stop, now can I?"

Emrick smiled again and let out a soft laugh.

My face turned bright red. As turned away from him and allowed him to undo the top of my dress. I clutched the dress tightly to my chest. He gently loosened my corset and I could breathe properly once again. He did the buttons back up.

"Thank you, sir Emrick. What is it that you wish to show me?"

"The blood in Ronin's goblet, was given to him voluntarily by one of his sacrifices. All the blood that vampire's drink on this island is given to them freely. Only occasionally will they drink from unwilling sacrifices. They only do this as a way to protect Primeva Island from conqurers, explorers, or anyone who wishes to claim this island as their own or tell others of our location." He paused.

"Our sacrifices can never leave the island, we provide them food, shelter, a luxurious lifestyle and in return they give us our sustenance. We never drink them dry, we never mistreat them, and if a sacrifice feels they are mistreated they can see their overseerer and get advice. If it is proven the sacrifice has been mistreated, they will be given to someone who is known to treat their sacrifices nicely and their abuser is punished."

"Do you use them for other things? Like slaves, prostitutes, and domestic servants? Do you drink from children?" I asked, depending on how Emrick answered this question, I would know for sure if they were being treated as nicely as he claimed.

Emrick sighed,

"No! There are rules in place to prevent vampires and sacrifices from having sexual relations with each other. If a vampire did break those rules, the sacrifice would be dead, as we tend to go into a blood frenzy when we have sex with humans. We get carried away and we drink all their blood, they die. We will also be put to death. We will be led to flat hill, tied to a stake with silver chains and left to burn in the sun's rays. Its a long and painful death.

We will firstly succumb to sun sickness, blisters form on our skin, we cramp up, we vomit, our heads feel as if they will explode and the pain builds with every minute we are exposed to the sun. Then we start to burn, we will feel the flame melt our flesh, burn our bones, only when we turn to ash do we die. That, Princess is the curse of us almost immortals, and No, we will never feast upon the blood of children, that is also punishable by death."

I was shocked into silence. Emrick reassuringly patted my shoulder.

"To show you that everything I speak is the truth and that vampires are not actually as monstrous as your teachers claim. Will you accompany me to the house of sacrifices?"

I nodded.

"Yes, Sir Emrick, I will."