Beauty and the Vampires

The next morning, I heard the distant sound of a carriage approaching.My aunt and my little Alice were shedding tears of sorrow.I was hopelessly trying to cheer them up but to no avail.The coachman approached us.

"Miss!It is time for you to leave for the Castle." The middle aged man bowed and I knew the time had arrived.

"Take care Aunt Rose!" I tried to put on a brave face.

"Alice do write to me sometimes." I smiled at her.

I boarded the carriage and took a last look at my grieving family.Once inside the carriage I waved them goodbye and we set off to my new destination.

After what felt like eternity, we finally reached the castle.The castle was huge.From the outside it looked no less than a fairy tale palace.It had many rooms from what I gathered.There was a huge gate at the entrance.Two guards were stationed at the gate.Both of them looked exquisitely beautiful.'Vampires!'I thought.

My carriage was allowed entry.Once I reached the main entrance, I stepped outside.I was nervous but there was a slight excitement too.I didn't know what future had in store for me but I knew that I would face it for my family.

I was escorted by a guard through the long corridors in the castle.The interior of the castle was more exquisitely beautiful than the outside.I was appalled to say the least.Such grandeur was in every way fitting for royalty.The walls were adorned by beautiful paintings.As I was lost in my own trail of thoughts, I didn't realize when we reached a huge door.The guard gently knocked and a deep voice replied,"Come in."

As we entered, I was greeted by the same brown haired vampire that I had met at the pet shop.His demeanour exuded authority and confidence that only happened when a person held an important position.It looked like a study room.He gestured the guard to leave.

"Welcome Mia.I am Gabe, the chief advisor to Lord Damian." He smiled.

I was dismayed.Had I been talking to the Chief Advisor of the Empire all along?I quickly recovered and bowed,"The pleasure's all mine my lord!"

He chuckled,"You can call me Gabe when we are alone.I give you this concession in return for great baking skills you possess." He winked.

I looked at him suspiciously but he seemed to be genuinely smiling.'Are vampires really that friendly.'I thought to myself.I mentally battled with myself to ask him about Lucinda but I dropped the idea.Who knew how a vampire would react and it was my first day at the castle and I didn't want any trouble.

He gestured me to follow him.I followed him through the long never ending corridors.Everything was just so exquisite about this place.It was as if I had entered a fairy tale palace.As I was busy admiring my beautiful surroundings, I realized that we had reached a small room in a far corner.When I peeked inside, I saw that it was a dormitory.

He stopped in front of the dormitory and said,"This is the dormitory where all the female cooks of the palace stay.You will be staying here from now.Your dress has been kept at your bed.I'll see you around." With this he gave me a genuine smile and went away.

I went inside the dormitory and found my clothes kept neatly on the bed.I quickly changed into them.It was a black and white attire and fit me well.The skirt reached till my knees and I found it comfortable.

I looked around and found three more girls who introduced me to themselves as Holly, Edith and Chelsea.

"Hi I am Mia and I am new here." I replied.

"We are working here since three years.We are glad to have one more member.Things can go very scary here but if you do your work properly, it shouldn't be a big problem." Edith said.

"We work here under Chef Jackson.He is a bit strict so try to be careful with him." Holly stated.

I nodded."It is time for lunch.Let's go to the kitchen." Chelsea added.

I tagged along the three girls towards the kitchen.The kitchen was a huge place and I found a man wearing a chef cap.He looked in his fifties and was in a grumpy mood.

"What took you girls so long?" He angrily asked.

"S-Sorry Chef.W-We were just helping the new girl with the rules here." Edith stammered.

The Chef turned his strict gaze at me and remarked,"You must be Mia.I was informed about you joining us.I hope you know cooking well.Bad cooks aren't tolerated here and the Lord personally sees to it that they are discarded."He smiled devilishly.

I gulped not wanting to know how exactly were they 'discarded'. "Since it is my first day here, can I bake some cookies?" I asked nervously.

"You may but make sure that they are nice."He replied coldly.

I was glad.I could start off with my chocolate crisp cookies.They were a hit back at my place.The next few hours saw the cooks and the Chef busy in preparing food.The amount of food being prepared astonished me.I had never seen so much extravaganza on food alone.Nevertheless, I continued to prepare my own recipe with earnestness.

"Hi! My name is Henry.You must be new here." A boy with a sweet smile approached me.

"Hi! Yes I have joined today.My name's Mia." I introduced myself.

"You must have already met our Chef.He has quite a temper.You will learn to deal with him eventually." He chuckled.I smiled in response.

"How long have you been working here?" I asked.

"I was brought here when I was just a boy of thirteen.I was brought by Lady Eugene, the Lord's sister.She found me begging on the streets, took pity on me and brought me along with her.I was trained as a cook under the Chef himself. I owe my life to Lady Eugene." He smiled.

A vampire with kindness?That was new.It was hard to believe.More so after what my family had gone through because of them.

"This may not be the best place to work but it's better than the slaves who are forced to stay here and are bound to their masters for as long as the master wishes.Have you heard about the chief advisor here? He has had thousands of pets before.All of them died a cruel death.He kept them for their blood and when got bored of them, he sucked them dry and threw their lifeless corpses away."He stated.

I shuddered.Suddenly I felt very protective of Lucinda.I wondered what the poor girl must be enduring at the hands of a ruthless monster.I decided not to continue this discussion and continued with my baking.

Damian's POV

"Gene!You are being ridiculous.I am happy at the prospect of seeing my brother after so long.Why would I be opposed to his visit?" I spoke to my sister as we both headed towards the dining hall.

"I am not a child Damian.I can see the hostility in your eyes whenever his name is mentioned.Since the day you have heard of his arrival, you've become restless." my sister complained, slightly annoyed.

"Maybe you should do something about your poor observational skills then sister." I smirked.

We reached the dining area and my advisors and other important officials were already waiting for us.I took my place at the dining table and all of them followed suit.I was seated at the main chair and my sister sat to my left.The servants, on the cue of the head chef, brought huge vessels of different cuisines and set the table.Our glasses were filled with life giving blood.

Though we preferred blood, human food could be easily consumed by us as well.We mostly served human food at the castle for high society humans.We needed to create balance between the vampires and the humans so we regularly held lunches and dinners at the castle for them.

"How is the new pet shop coming up in the city Gabe?" I asked taking a bite from my bacon.

"We had a little trouble acquiring land from the land owner my lord but it has been taken care of." Gabe replied.

"You aren't eating much Gabe.Looks like your new pet is providing you sufficient blood supply." Eugene smirked, taking a bite of her fish.

"She's quite a catch my lady.Her blood keeps me full through the day."Gabe replied.

I smiled slightly.My sister loved teasing my advisors.She always thought they weren't doing a good job at advising me.I took a bite of my food.All of a sudden I was hit by a whiff of baked chocolate cookies.I reached out my hand for one and popped it into my mouth.Though I was a vampire who didn't have a taste for human food, I couldn't help but admire the taste.

"Jackson!Since when have your culinary skills improved?" I asked the now-going-red-in-the-face chef of my castle.

"M-My L-Lord!I am highly obliged.I take immense care to prepare dishes to match your high taste." He replied.

Gabe smirked at the Chef's response.

"It's not him my lord.I have hired a new cook at the castle.She's very skilled in baking.She was working as an assistant at Louis' pet shop.I brought her here." Gabe responded.

"Wonderful" I smirked."Bring her here." I ordered.