Vampire King Chapter 50

How a Witch Became a Vampir
How a Witch Became a Vampire
Lola
I’m not used to living in such a big place. The castle is too big. I don’t know why people want to live here when it takes forever to get from one room to another, I know vampires move fast, so it might not be a problem for them, but I have short legs and climbing all the stairs is not fun.
Emory doesn’t agree that they need to install elevators in the castle, but she’s taller than me and doesn’t understand how hard it is. I don’t like being out of breath because I want to go to her room or visit the library. I like the library a lot because most of the vampires seem to avoid it, and the librarian is really nice. Miss Willow is usually the only person at the library, and she recommends books to me and even sits down and talks to me if I ask her questions.
She’s seated at her desk and looks up when I come near here. She gives me a soft smile in greeting. Miss Willow is pretty, and she’s not mean like some of the other vampires. She doesn’t say nasty things about me behind my back.
“Hello, Lola,” she says. “Have you finished the book you checked out already?”
I hand her the book I’m holding, and she takes it carefully. “1 read through it last night after Emory told me to go to sleep. I just had to know how the story ended.
She smiles and places the book on the trolley. I follow her as she pushes the cart toward the shelves to the right to put away my book and a few others.
“You read fast for your age,” she comments.
“I didn’t have much to do at home so I would read a lot,” I tell her. “Luna Helen didn’t let me watch spend much time with the other children. She said I didn’t need to have friends.”
“Who’s Luna Helen?”
“Emory’s mom. She doesn’t like me very much.”
Miss Willow’s eyebrows furrow. She looks concerned, “Why do you think she doesn’t like you?”
“Well, it’s because my dad is mated to her, and he had me with my real mom, so Luna Helen sees me as a’tragedy.””
“She said that to you?” Miss Willow asks. She looks upset. “She told you that you’re a tragedy.”
I shrug. “Emory always told me that people who are hurt will hurt other people to make themselves feel better. I think Luna Helen was really hurt by my dad, and that’s why she was mean to me.”
“She still shouldn’t have been mean to you. It’s not your fault what your father did.”
“Yeah, but nobody ever blamed my dad for anything before ’cause he was the Alpha. Now that Emory’s the Alpha, everyone is angry at my dad. He did a lot of bad things.”
“They should blame him,” she agrees: “When people do bad things, it’s important that they’re held. responsible for their actions.”
“Emory said that too. I thought I would miss my dad, but I don’t really. He never really liked to be around me much. He liked Emory and Coit more.”
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Miss Willow looks sad. She moves closer to me and ruhs her cold fingers through my hair. “He doesn’t deserve you. And you should know that it wasn’t right for him to treat you that way.”
“I know. Emory says sometimes men can be real jerks
She smiles. “That’s true.”
“What’s your dad like?” I ask. “Do vampires have dads?”
She hesitates before answering. “I wasn’t always a vampire. I did have a dad. A long time ago.”
“What happened to him?”
She turns me around slowly and guides me to a table with her hand on my back. I sit down, and she takes
the seat across from me.
“It’s a sad story,” she tells me. “It’s related to how I became a vampire.
“How did you become a vampire?”
I’m curious because some members of my pack have told me my whole life that vampires are all evil and heartless, but Miss Willow has only ever been nice to me. If she’s nice, then maybe not all vampires are bad. Otherwise, she would have to be secretly evil, and I don’t think she is.
“You’re too young for that story,” she reasons. “Emory will be upset with me.”
“I’m not that young!” I counter. “I’ll be a teenager before you know it. I’m not a baby.”
Miss Willow contemplates telling me the story, looking into my eyes before giving in. “All right, but I’m not. giving you all the details.”
“That’s fine.”
Her eyes stare off into space, like she’s remembering something. “Once upon a time…”
I give her a judging look. “That’s the cheesiest way to start a story.”
“This is how I want to tell my story. Do you want to listen or not?”
I mime zipping my mouth and throwing away the key.
“Once upon a time, back when this land was ruled by a different king, King Michael, he started hunting witches,” she continues. “You see, at that time witches existed. They lived amongst the humans and had a tenuous relationship with the wolf shifters. But the vampires? They hunted the witches.”
“Why?”
“King Michael thought the magic the witches wielded was dangerous. He wanted to control the witches. by preventing them from using their magic. When he started capturing them, he realized our blood itself was magical.”
I lean forward wanting to hear more of the story.
“He discovered that if a vampire were to drink witch blood that they would be given an extra burst of energy-temporarily,” Miss Willow explains. “Aside from that, witch blood is addictive to vampires. They like it more than human or shifter blood. Maybe it’s the magic or just… the taste.” She shivers as if she is
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How a Witch Became a Vampire
thinking about a bad memory.
“And then what happened?”
“There was a young witch named Willow. She was from a small village to the south of here. Her father owed a debt to King Michael, so he sold off his only child to be a feeder at Castle Graystone.”
My eyes widen in shock, and I ask, “Why would he do that?”
“He was desperate. Maybe he didn’t care about her enough. She knew he was scared. If he didn’t pay off his debt, he would have been killed along with their entire village.”
“But you were his daughter!” I retort, hot emotion making my face feel like it is burning. “He should have fought for you!”
Miss Willow’s cold hands grab mine in hers, and she tells me calmly, “It’s all right. He’s been dead a long time. This all happened long before you were born.”
I feel tears making my eyes watery, but I don’t want to cry. “He shouldn’t have done that to you.”
1 know,” she agrees with understanding. “Just like I know that your father shouldn’t have done that to
you.”
I go still in shock. “You know about what my dad did?” I feel ashamed. It doesn’t feel good that other people know how cruel my father is. It’s one thing when people in the pack know, but the vampires knowing it too makes me feel small. It’s not easy to know that my father doesn’t love me and never will.
If my dad loved me, he wouldn’t have tried to sell me off to King Kane. He would have protected me. He would have fought for me. He did none of that.
Miss Willow nods. Her face looks solemn. “I know the story about how your sister ended up in the castle. The se**nts like to talk amongst each other. Some of them witnessed the bargain in the throne room.”
“Emory saved me,” I tell her. “I was going to be a feeder, but she stopped it. She’s the only one that’s ever loved me.”
Emory fought for me. She stood up to our father and to the vampire king and told them they couldn’t take me. Everyone else had kept quiet because they didn’t mind losing me.
“And you’re lucky you have a sister that loves you so dearly she was willing to sacrifice herself for you. Not many people have that privilege.”
“I know.”
I have always known that Emory loves me. Even when the rest of our family ignored me or said unkind things, I had Emory. When she was taken from me, I had to live with the Kincaids who were nice, but they couldn’t replace my sister. I didn’t think I would ever have to be away from her, but when it happened, it made me realize just how much I love her.
“What happened to you after you became a feeder?”
Miss Willow pulls away from me, physically and emotionally. “I’ve upset you enough. We shouldn’t talk more about this.”
“I want to know,” I plead. “What happened to you when you came to this castle?”
How a Witch Become a Vampires
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She goes quiet, her eyes closing. I wait as she breathes in and out. Eventually, her pale blue eyes open, and she won’t look at me as she continues with the story.
“Witches don’t last long as feeders. Vampires often drained them dry if nobody stopped them. It was more common for vampires to go straight to the dungeon and take what they wanted at the time with no regulation. It was a nightmarish existence that could only be escaped through death. Since witches and humans could be turned, we had to be bled into a cup, but sometimes vampires would cut too deep and bleed us too much without thinking.”,
She’s looking down at the oak table, her expression blank like she’s just trying to get the words out.
“There was a vampire that fed on me the most. He was young, and he couldn’t control himself yet when he fed,” she says. “One time, he bled me too much. I should have died, but instead, I woke up, and I was… different. I’d become a vampire. I assume he must have bitten me when I passed out.”
I take in the story. Miss Willow is quiet. She covers her mouth with a hand and looks upset. I want to hug her and make her feel better.
“Did that young vampire do it on purpose?” I ask. “Maybe he wanted to save you?”
She snorts, shaking her head. “It was an accident. He never cared about me. He never even looked at me again after he turned me. It was as if I never existed at all to him.”
I frown. “That’s not nice.”
“No. It’s not nice.”
“What happened to him?”
“He continued living his life. We didn’t cross paths much after that,” she describes. “Once I became a vampire, I was no longer useful as a feeder, so I was released from the dungeon. I couldn’t do anything about what I had become, so I worked at the castle. I was a maid, a cook in the kitchens, lotso f things. My only reprieve was the library. The old librarian was kind and would lend me books that I would read when I had free time.”
“How did you become a librarian?”
“The old librarian unfortunately died. He did something King Michael didn’t like, and he was killed. It happened a lot back then, actually. They made me the new librarian since I was the s**nt that spent the most time here and knew how the place worked. And I like it here because most people avoid this place.”
“Aside from me, of course.”
Miss Willow smiles warmly. “Aside from an ever curious little wolf girl.”
I get up from my seat so I can move closer to Miss Willow and hug her. “I’m sorry all that happened to you, but I’m glad you’re here. You’re the nicest vampire I’ve ever met.”
H
“You’re the nicest wolf I’ve ever met,” she tells me. I’m glad I got to meet you, too.”
“Are we friends?”
We c
can be.”
“Can I call you Willow?”
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“Of course, you may.” She gets to her feet and holds my hand to lead me to a nearby bookshelf. “That’s enough sad stories for today. How about we find you a happler tale to read?”
I smile as Willow starts to pull out books from shelves and tell me about each one. I’m glad I have a
friend in the castle. Emory can’t always be with me because she’s busy as the Alpha, and I understand that. The castle is too big to not have a friend. It’s too cold and lonely