Chapter III. The small coven
Even with Nora's preventive measures, Josette still fell into the princess's trap for being too unattractive. She would punish her for absolutely no reason, she loathed Josette for being too ugly. Buy Nora knew it was better to have a beaten daughter than a dead one, unlike the other royals that protect their pleasure slaves to an extent, Djanel didn't care about his promised slave.
Josette went out of the small quarter she shared with her mother, outside, she looked around until the coast was clear before she chanted a spell that immediately caused the wall beside her mother's door to open. She entered the narrow passage and the walls closed behind her. It had a spiral stair leading downwards but everything was pitch black.
She balled her fist and when she opened it, a small flame illuminated which she used as a guide down the stairs. The stair looked endless but that was only an illusion for intruders that managed to find it. When Josette reached a peculiar staircase, she chanted another spell and a door appeared out of nowhere.
The door opened by itself then she stepped into the room. "How now, Genny? How now Elsie?" She greeted with a wide forced smile that showed her white teeth that had a gap between the two front roll.
"You are late. Again," a dark, gold-skinned girl whose name was Harmonica said with a frown and arms crossed under her bust. Her skin was flawless like a pearl, she was a mixed race giving her honey brown skin, thick curly hair, and a set of alluring hazel eyes.
Among the three young girls in the room, she was the best dressed. Over her chemise, she was wearing a long-sleeved ankle-to-floor length maroon red gown. She had a sapphire blue cubic zirconia pendant the size of a coin round her neck. A gift courtesy of her master.
Josette and the second girl in the room who was standing by a table full of potions were wearing simple short-sleeved gowns with Josette's own looking dirtier.
"Josey, we know you have to care for your mother but this meeting is also very important, you more than anyone know how much my mistress hates to find me missing," Elsie the girl by the table berated Josette.
"I am sorry, " Josette apologized but deep down she knew she would still do it again if need be.
The small room they were in was filled with a lot of things for witchcraft; brewed potions and brewing potions, spell books, sacrifices, and vampire blood, all of which were gathered by members of their small coven of witches.
The walls had flame torches to light up the room. Their coven was formally made of four women, Nora was the original leader but she soon became too weak to continue.
Harmonica was made the next leader, she was also the oldest among the trio being nineteen years of age. She was a spell creation witch, whatever she wrote down could be used as a spell. She also scribed down the uses of each of the spells but her spell-casting powers were limited to only a few protective spells.
Elsie was the potion witch, she was taught by Nora who was also a potion witch. With the right ingredients, she could brew anything to become magical.
And last but not the least, Josette, she was their coven spell caster, magic came to her naturally but she had to keep the chaotic part of her powers at bay. She was the most powerful in the coven.
Their coven was created with only one goal, to gain freedom from the vampire royals. The girls joined the coven with the awareness that if they got caught it would mark the end for them.
Witches were torched publicly by crusaders to warn others while vampires first torture information out of them before burning them alive. But the women in this room all have strong reasons to remain in the coven.
Harmonica for one became a pleasure slave immediately after she turned 18 and her father before her was already serving as Princess Geishana's pleasure slave.
The princess drains the life out of him whenever they met and punishes him with hard labor if she was not satisfied with his performance. Just like Nora, it was the potions Elsie made that were still keeping him alive.
Elsie was brought into the castle with two parents but none were alive because they were both blood slaves. Her only living relative was her aunt who was an aging, sickly kitchen maid.
She was only spared by Princess Geishana because she was good at praising her. She was made the princess's handmaid who always introduced her with praises before she enters a place. Occasionally, Geishana would punish her for no reason.
They all searched the length and breadth of the castle to find a means to end the wicked reign of the supreme vampire royals but all they found was a legend, a legend that might as well be a myth.
Many years ago, the kingdom of Vitenigea had one ruler, King Neyra, the first of his name. He was a vampire but one with a heart of gold. Under his reign, human blood slaves were called blood serfs and were freed after a few years of servitude in the kingdom.
They were never completely drained of their blood and were given time to recuperate. All of the king's pleasure slaves were either promoted to consorts or freed after some time.
The vampires In the kingdom were not allowed to act out of order like attacking or killing the human serfs or peasants, the punishment for disobedience to the crime was public death. The kingdom thrived on the sales of farm products, mining, and oil unlike now that the kingdom thrives more on slave trade.
Above all, the just king kept his reckless siblings on leashes, he would punish them by boxing them with a dagger stuck in their chest for decades so they can learn their lessons. But they got tired of his righteousness and plotted against him. The king was said to have no weaknesses so it proved to be a hard task getting rid of him.
He didn't fancy witches but he allowed a hand full of them to live in his kingdom while evil witches were hunted and imprisoned. The same witches he trusted were used by his siblings to find his weakness and on a special eclipse where the moon was blue, he was stabbed and put in a coffin hidden away forever.