Chapter 2: Unbroken Will

At night, Hazel wandered through the gothic mansion, trying to locate the slave quarters. She entered the dark basement, which had a stench she couldn't place; she could feel the eerie atmosphere in the air.

A chill ran down her spine and she hesitated, the fear of the unknown urging her to flee, to go back the way she had come. She immediately turned away from the basement fearing for her life.

She then steeled herself, before continuing onward. "Why does it smell like dead bodies?" She said patting her chest.

She walked slowly, admiring the gothic gargoyles. "This creature is scary but intriguing", she thought, tracing her fingers on the gargoyle's face, her eyes shining brightly in curiosity. She could only imagine the mysteries they held.

Hazel walked, staring at different portrait hung on the wall in the hallway. "Maybe this is Madam Nora's family?" She thought going closer to get a clearer view. She walked deeper into the hallway, staring at every door, hoping to get to the slave quarters.

Soon Hazel stood before a wooden door which seemed to not have been changed for ages with an imprint,

"Slave quarters"

"She hit the nail on the head." She said, opening the door to an empty room kissed with the smell of detergent, the beds seemed to have been used ever since the existence of the house as they lay on the cold ground.

"This life is completely different from my formal comfortable life. At least I have a roof over my head," she said, walking up to a comfortable corner to sleep.

Staring up at the ceiling in the quiet room making it easy for Hazel to hear her heart beats,

"It seems I'm not doing too many chores after all. How bad could it be" Rachel said, shrugging her shoulders, cuddling herself to sleep.

… .

Madam Nora stormed out of her room, furious. She rang her bell, causing all the slaves to drop what they were doing and run to the sitting room, where they knelt with their eyes fixed on the ground.

Amber raised her head slightly to take a peek, noticing the bloodlust in Madam Nora's eyes. She trembled inwardly. "What on earth made her this angry again?" Amber wondered as she kept her eyes to the ground for fear of meeting Madam Nora's gaze.

Amber slightly raised her head to search for Hazel, "Hazel! Where are you?" she said noticing Hazel's absence. Her mind went to the girl who had died for arriving late when they were called. Her heart beat in her chest like it was trying to leap out but she quickly composed herself to avoid attracting Madam Nora's attention.

… …

Hazel had been in bed, unable to sleep. After staring at the ceiling for an indeterminable amount of time, she had come out, intending to explore the house.

While slowly touring the house touching the red oil-coloured paint admiring knight status at the entrance of the hallway, she hits the knight statue on the head causing it's head to fall making a loud sound echoing through the hallway, "I don't want to whipped again" Hazel said running away from the scene leaving the knight's head on the ground as she got closer to the sitting room she heard Madam Nora's roar.

"And where is Hazel?!"

"I'm here!" Hazel quickly ran and knelt beside Amber, taking her place among the other slaves with her eyes on the ground.

She couldn't suppress the chill that ran down her spine as Madam Nora's gaze lingered on her.

"Is this the end of my life?" She thought, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. When Madam Nora then looked away, she couldn't stop herself from sighing in relief.

Madam Nora walked past them, watching their trembling. She felt so mighty like a god surveying her minions.

"Which of you tampered with my blood wine?" Madam Nora asked coldly, listening to their heartbeats.

"Are you the one?" she said, pointing at Amber.

"Never, Madam. I dare not." Amber said, her voice trembling with fear.

Madam Nora's gaze lingered on Hazel, "Hazel, do you know anything about my wine?"

Hazel felt her heart pound.

"I didn't, Madam Nora. I swear." Hazel quickly said.

Madam Nora noticed a rapidly beating heart in her left. She turned her eyes and met the gaze of the trembling maid.

"It's you, isn't it?" she said, displaying her teeth.

"I'm so sorry, Madam Nora. I was cleaning and it accidentally fell." The maid said, already crying, sniffing.

"But did you drink it, my dear?" Madam Nora asked, gently rubbing her hand on the maid's head.

Hazel watched her fear for the woman intensifying.

"Madam Nora, I swear I didn't even taste it." the maid pleaded, hoping to live to see another sunrise.

"But how are we going to know? It seems I must check myself," Madam Nora said, opening her mouth, her fangs elongating and biting the maid, sucking her blood.

Hazel's eyes widened in shock.

"Is this how people are treated here? I can't stay too long so I won't die in her hands!" Hazel thought making a mental note to leave the mansion once she had an opportunity.

"Ahh… k…h…" the maid tried to scream but couldn't, weakly accepting her fate, hoping not to be drained completely.

Hazel watched Madam Nora suck the maid until she became a mere skeleton.

Hazel tried to keep her trembling from showing as she stared in horror.

"This world was evil"

"Damn, I forgot this is no longer the human world. Behold the vampire world," Hazel thought, trying to act as normal as she could as Madam Nora drank from the maid.

After Madam Nora finished, she sighed in satisfaction.

"Amber put the body outside." She ordered.

"I can't,", Amber thought, not daring to voice out her thought. She quickly stood, trying to hide her fear. Her trembling hands picked up the corpse and took it outside so that when the sun came out, it'd burn the corpse to ashes.

… … .

Madam Nora turned to face the frightened Hazel.

"And you, you dare break two rules in my home!"

Hazel's eyes widened in shock and fear.

"I didn't sign up for this!" she thought.

"I did? " Hazel asked with a confused gaze. She then remembered opening the window, which might be forbidden. "This is not your home Hazel. This is the vampire's realm. It'll be forbidden to open windows during the day", she thought, immediately getting on her knees. "I'm so sorry, Madam Nora, I forgot", she pleaded, immediately kneeling. She couldn't hide the shaking of her hands anymore from the terror coursing through her body.

Madam Nora was even more pleased to see a dhampir kneeling before her even if she couldn't access their blood. She wanted to see her cry at her feet.

"Take her to the basement." She commanded.

The guards roughly yanked Hazel, dragging her to the basement. When they got there, they opened the iron door the air was heavy with the stench of rot and decay. Flickering candles cast eerie shadows on the cold, damp walls. Iron bars lined the cells, each containing a single, rusted cot. The silence was oppressive, punctuated only by the distant dripping of water. Besides the pole lay a tray with an assortment of horrors neatly arranged: A rusted scalpel, its blade etched with ancient symbols, a set of gleaming needles, poised like snakes

a pair of vice grips, their metal jaws open wide, a small mallet, its handle worn smooth.

The devices seemed to whisper cruel promises, their presence suffocating.

"No, please! Let me go!" Hazel screamed at the top of her lungs, not wanting to spend a second there.

"Tie her up." Madam Nora said upon entering the bloody basement.

The guards swiftly tied Hazel's hands far apart,

"Ah" Hazel cried the thorn's piercing into her skin as she was tied.

"That's all you need to do." Madam Nora said casually to the guards, her predatory eyes fixed on Hazel with a smile.

Hazel stood there, her hands outstretched, inhaling the stench of the basement and staring at Madam Nora, shivering with fear.

Madam Nora stared at her, smiling mischievously. "Do you think you can do as you please because I can't drink your blood? You act as you wish because you know your blood is dangerous to me, huh?"

"Let's see if you can still defy me after I'm done with you." Madam Nora said, clawing Hazel's stomach.

"Ahhhh!" Hazel screamed in agony.

"Yes, that beautiful sound. Keep it coming!" Madam Nora laughed maniacally, her eyes shining with bloodlust. She turned away to pick up a drill from a nearby table before inserting it into Hazel's skin.

"Ahhh, no, please!" Hazel screamed, tears streaming down her face.

"Why no? I love the sound." Madam Nora said, her eyes gleaming with excitement as she sinks her claws into Hazel, pouting her lips.

"Ahhh!" Hazel's screams echoed through the mansion, everyone who could hear it trembling where they were.

"Hang in there, Hazel. Please don't die." Amber thought while washing dishes, her skin prickling at the sound of Hazel's screams.

The torture continued until Madam Nora grew bored. She then reached into the wall behind Hazel, releasing a forty-pound chain onto her, the weight causing her to fall heavily to her knees.

"Next time, don't you dare defy me. You'll be here until morning." Madam Nora said and left the basement.

Hazel's hands were still spread wide, her wounds slowly healing. She stared blankly, then laughed weakly as her mind went to her past life.

"Once I was Rachel Roman, a top student, involved in many activities. I had lived a bright and colourful life as an only child, cherished like a gem. When I turned twelve, I had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Hospital visits became the norm. On my eighteenth birthday, I was rushed to the hospital due to my heart disease. I went into surgery, thinking everything was over, and death was the end for me, but here I am, a slave, brutally tortured. I should have been sleeping peacefully in the cold embrace of death as Rachel, but instead, I am here with a forty-pound chain around my neck," she thought aloud.

"No!" Determination flashed in her eyes. "I won't submit to this kind of slavery and torture. Who says half-bloods must be slaves?" She snarled to herself, determination filling her heart.

"I must leave this place, and I must do it quickly." She whispered, refusing to accept weakness despite her current state.