Irina, my hero

The next day, I was already prepared with the necessary things for the journey. Only a few sets of travel clothes and provisions, and of course, Irina, my loyal and cute little maid.

We were traveling fast towards the Duke's territory, as he had to go to the Capital later to greet the King of Docrem before preparing for the wedding. The knights and the Duke kept riding in front of the carriage making the powerful sound of the galops resonate and leave a ball of dust behind. I bet the view was amazing, the warmth of the sun, the freshness of the trees, and the fragrance of the flowers.

However, I stayed inside the carriage with the windows closed for the whole trip, completely sealing the sun rays from entering. Goodness, how much I wished to get outside and breathe the pureness of the forest that I was traveling for the first time instead of staying trapped in this small wooden box. Not long after a few minutes on the road, the thirst arrived at the doors of my mouth. I could feel that last night's potion was not enough, not even a bit. The sun was at its peak during the summer and I was beginning to doubt the shadows' ability to do their job properly. How useless!

"Miss, are you alright?"

"Yes."

Irina kept checking me from time to time. I knew she was worried as I hadn't been outside the castle for that long under the sun. Since some days ago, she had realized my craving for fresh blood was making my self-control weaker with each day. I tried to smile at Irina and assure her, but the truth was that I was starving. The desire hidden in my heart was dominating my mind more and more. I hoped for the darkness, for the night so I could sneak out and hunt.

My face was paler, and Irina asked the Duke on my behalf to delay the trip to feed me some water and let me go out of the carriage to throw up. Luckily, the Duke decided to stop to rest and camp for the night. I knew how his knights looked at me, they mocked me and threw horrible remarks at me. They couldn't believe that the Grand Duke of Docrem, their General, was being forced to marry such a weak and insignificant bride from another country.

'How I wish I could eat them.'

Then the gentle veil of the night covered us and the soldiers were asleep soundly, except for one guard, me, and my insatiable thirst. The food that Irina prepared earlier was not enough, and the potion was being less effective these days, especially today with all those knights around me, with all that tasty and nutritious blood. Will they notice? It is just a bit of blood, they would not feel anything.

My predator instincts awoke instantly, calling me to the hunt, telling me about the creatures that surrounded the camp, the bears, the rabbits, even the sneaky men approaching us, wait, sneaky men? Suddenly, screams and clashes of swords reached my ears. They were attacking us!

"Miss Lucia!"

"Irina! Stay back and hide!"

"Miss, you can't! You will be found!"

"Irina, I can't resist anymore, I don't want to attack you."

"But…"

"I will be careful. Don't worry, they will not notice me."

My appearance changed again. Then I took a long black coat and waited for an unfortunate victim to enter the tent.

"Irina, don't come out, did you hear me?"

"Yes, Miss"

She hid behind the curtains, under the bed. Just a few seconds later, when I was desperately waiting for the doors to open, a filthy man with a bloodstained sword entered. Then another.

"Whoa"

"What do we have here, but it is a beauty!"

"We should enjoy ourselves with this little gift, don't you think brother?

"You read my mind."

More screams and yells were heard from the battle outside, it would be difficult for anyone to help me. They both looked at me and smiled, as they intended to grab and drag me to the bed. However, they were unable to move my body. It was as if I weighed a ton.

"What the heck?"

I smirked and my eyes grew brighter and redder.

I couldn't resist licking my mouth and with a little chuckle and a flick of my finger, the lights inside the tent died down. Under the cover of the darkness, only a few bone crunches were heard. My delicate hands had broken their necks so swiftly that they had no chance to scream. Then my desire came true, I began to drink their blood until my thirst was satisfied.

When the last drop of blood left their bodies, I tossed them behind the tent, not letting anyone see them. Then I covered them on fire and walked back inside waiting for another prey. Everything was done perfectly, no one suspected anything, they were so distracted killing with their swords and arrows. Instead, my body felt so great and light, my face became even more charming and my heart was beating with so much power.

On the other hand, the battle outside was intense as the entire gang of thieves was fighting against the Duke's soldiers. From the beginning it was a lopsided battle, the Duke's soldiers were only a dozen against tens of thieves, rude and malicious thieves. Even if they were the great knights of the Duke, trained to carry out incredible achievements, the numbers surpassed them. Who cares!

I also worked non-stop. The number of necks broken by my hands was too much to go unnoticed. But surprisingly, no one was paying attention to my isolated tent with a large pit of fire behind it.

Three more entered and three more were sent away with a crack in their necks. I was getting bored but couldn't go out for fear of being discovered. Then something unexpected happened, the ones who entered this time were the Duke and three other bandits engaged in a battle. I watched amusedly the little show, will they kill each other? However, the show didn't last long when one of the thieves noticed me sitting innocently and smirked.

"Who do we have here? Is this the rumored bride of the Grand Duke?"

"Duke, if you want her alive you should do whatever we order, or she would be raped and killed in front of your eyes."

How awful! How dare he pointed a knife to my neck! He smelled terrible.

I noticed the Duke's eyes scanning my face in a small surprise and then looked at the thieves. I knew I was breathtaking, please don't be that stunned.

"Don't care, do whatever you want."

"…"

Tch, even if you don't want me, you should not be that cruel to a young maiden. I should just kill everyone in this place and escape with Irina.

"Are you sure Duke?"

He was about to cut my throat with his knife when Irina came up from behind and slashed their bodies with a sword left by the now-dead thieves. Three thieves' bodies were down in an instant. That's my girl!

Irina had always been great with swords and knives, she taught me, and she was taught by my mother's clan.

"Miss Lucia, are you alright?"

"I'm okay Irina, thank you."

I looked up at the calm eyes of the Duke as if nothing had happened. Did he want to kill me and free himself from me and this absurd marriage? Is that disappointment I see in his eyes? Asshole!