Worth

Vanessa 1919

"Three days in a jail cell," Garrett grins. "I believe that's a record starlight."

"Don't sound so impressed," I scowl, walking beside him into the house. "They were so polite it could turn your stomach."

"Perhaps you're confusing politeness with fear," he smirks. "You are the daughter of an important man here in Atlanta."

That was the problem.

Everyone saw this as a rich man's daughter acting unladylike and having a tantrum. My class and the color of my skin mattered more than what I was trying to get them to understand.

My words were just stupid ramblings to them.

Eccentric. That was a word I'd heard used for me. Undignified.

Why? Because I wouldn't wear my clothes as I should? Or because I believed in fair treatment of all people, no matter their gender, race, or lineage? 

That was only the tip of the iceberg. People criticized my dade for allowing me to mingle with working folk, that they saw me dancing with black men and drinking until I couldn't remember my name.

All of it was true, and I felt no shame for any of it. Why should I?

Why does the color of a person's skin matter to anyone? I never understood why it mattered so much to everyone. What made one group of people better than the other? I blame the dragon king for that mentality. He fed humans so many half-truths and encouraged them to mistrust each other.

And then he dares to tell the rest of us to stay out of it?

The hypocrisy was deplorable.

"I feel like I'm not doing anything," I pout, feeling my ego sink to my shoes. "That all of you think it's the endearing rants of a little girl."

"No one thinks that, starlight," My brother chuckles. "We are all very proud of everything you do."

"Which has come up to absolutely nothing," I protest. "Nothing's changed."

"That isn't true," He turns me around and sternly looks at me. "How many families have you helped?"

"Garrett," I sigh, but he holds up his hand.

"You taught children to read, write, and how to make a good living in this world, no matter where they were born or how poor. I know that you took the treasure from your horde and paid for land that now belongs to people that would never have the chance to own it. Women working good jobs to provide for their families instead of selling their bodies to men they don't wish to bed. Because of you."

"That won't change the world," I mutter. 

"It will," Garrett insists. "I've lived a lot longer than you have, little sister. I have seen the horrors humanity can do to itself, and I've learned one undeniable truth."

"What's that?"

"Charity, kindness, and compassion might not seem as strong or unbreakable as the ugly side of being alive, but their impact is far greater."

 "Then why does it feel like I've done nothing?" I protest.

Everything he said was true. I hadn't blinked when I paid for the land I gave to those families. I knew it burned people up inside, but I didn't care, and the women Garrett was talking about were girls who never wanted to be prostitutes. 

I never interfered with the girls who enjoyed the work.

"Violence and hate are like gunpowder. It goes off much easier," Garrett smiles warmly at me. "Listen to your older brother. I've lived for almost a hundred years. I know what I'm talking about."

Garrett was the closest to my age. Our brothers and sisters were all closer to three hundred. My parents first clutch as my mal'e explained with a wry smile.

I wouldn't be the youngest child for too much longer. Part of me wishes there weren't such long gaps between us. I had nieces and nephews who were old enough to be my parents.

It was difficult for me to grow up like that. When I was a hatchling, I played with human children who grew up too fast. Also in their forties, they had grandchildren already and were considered old. 

Living to seventy made you ancient. I saw a girl I used to play with the other day. She stared at me as if I were a ghost. The last time we'd interacted was twenty years ago, and I still looked the same. I had to pretend I was my own daughter and that 'I' had already passed away.

Everyone tells me you get used to that, but it still felt strange to do. I was lying and pretending I didn't remember what we'd meant to each other.

In my world, I'm still a child. By royal law, I won't be an adult until I'm at least a hundred, and many dragon parents see true adulthood in the second or third century.

Elves and vampires aren't much better. It's the issue with longer lifespans, but vampires age closer to humans, so my mindset is that of a nineteen-year-old girl, not twelve.

So, other than Charlene and Robert, who had become my guardians from the day my mother declared she was pregnant, I was alone.

Charlene was two hundred and was always fun, but as she always said, it was her duty and honor to protect me. Even from myself. 

Robert belonged to the coven and was old. He refused to tell me his exact age. Telling me a princess should never be so rude. Always princess, never Valkyrae or the human name I'd picked out. 

If I left the house, day or night, Robert was at my side. Even though I'm guessing it irritated him to spend so much time in the direct light. Luckily, his reaction to it wasn't as severe as other vampires. 

In the books I read, humans had the strangest assumption that vampires were dead creatures. It was true they drank blood, but that didn't make them undead. Gods, how terrible would that be?

Vampires were human at the end of the day, just changed thanks to the spells and curses from ancient times. I'm not sure how it works or why one of the curses is intolerance of sunlight, but it's not like it'll kill them. Though, my uncle probably wishes it would with as ill as he gets.

"Why don't you change?" Garrett suggests. "Everyone will wait for you."

"I don't feel much like dancing," I mutter. I wanted to curl up in my soft bed and pretend things were different.

"Come now, starlight," My brother scowls. "You've been away from the trees for days. You'll get ill if you don't, and the oaks miss you. You know how happy they are when you dance with them."

"Alright," I sigh dramatically. "For the sake of the oaks."

The way Garret talks sometimes. It's as if I were a nymph who'd die without the forest. I could go several days without being close to the trees before the magic started affecting me.

The worst that would happen is I'd go mad. It wasn't ideal, but it wasn't a permanent state of mind either.

Walking up to my room, I quickly stripped off my clothes and put on the flowy, light-weight dress from my wardrobe. Releasing my hair from its braid, I let it change from honey blonde to the light mint green of my dragon form, and my eyes turn to copper.

This is who I truly am, the side I can never show the human world.

Valkyrae and not Vanessa.

Dragon, elf, and vampire.