A Carriage Apart

'Purchased?' That particular word rang in Samantha's head for several minutes before she finally blinked. She could remember one time in the village when she had gone to return a novel at one of her favorite libraries in the middle emporium of Empty Hollow, and there were two ladies having a conversation concerning the unknown slave market.

When it wasn't time to get fully auctioned, those who were in urgent need for a slave would come directly to the slave establishment and purchase them. Rumors spread quickly beyond the boundaries of EmptyHollow, and Samantha never gave it much thought cause she never assumed she would find herself in such poignant contingency.

But on the bright side, she would be able to leave this provoking atmosphere. That alone calmed her heart to a bearable extent.

Whoever Madame Cerise may be, she couldn't be a thousand times worse than the guardsmen and caretaker who are hell-bent on making her life miserable.

If she's not allowed to die, then she would follow the course of fate, act by it and endure all the hardship until she's ready enough to pick herself from the ground again.

For the meantime, it was best to lay low.

"You already caused minimal damage to the goods, officer Regan, so I won't pay in full." Madame Cerise turned to the caretaker whose eyebrows narrowed disapprovingly. It was pretty clear that he wasn't in one with her decision, but he couldn't deny that she was right.

"I don't know why, but I believe with proper care, you can be shaped into an extremely gorgeous woman, and that my dear, would be more beneficial for me." A strange conniving smile graced the corner of Madame Cerise's lips, sending a negative sign down to the bones of Samantha, and then she heard the caretaker stamping an ink on a record file that had her name written on it.

"Sold!"

When the main gate opened up with a groaning sound, Samantha tottered out of the huge tower with her wrists and ankles manacled with chains. She stopped walking and looked around the outside environment that turned shadowy dark since it was still Midnight, then her gaze shifted to what was ahead of her.

There was a decent-looking carriage that awaited them on the open field, and about five slave girls were already seated inside. The harsh night breeze stung her peppering skin, and she felt pain instead of comfort.

With her hands and legs bound to a shackle, running away would be futile because she would easily get caught by these guardsmen. She'll have to hold on to her patience and find a way to escape from Madame Cerise when the carriage stops and she's freed from these uncomfortable metals.

One of the guardsmen helped her into the carriage with the rest of the five girls, and the door was locked shut. Samantha's emerald green eyes stole glances at the quiet girls she was locked in with, and each one of them kept to themselves, refusing to speak or look in her direction.

Apparently, striking a conversation with these girls and persuading them to join her in escaping already seemed fruitless.

Madame Cerise took the first carriage, and in no time, they were riding away from the tower. Samantha looked through the grills of the window, watching the slave tower disappear from her sight.

Her fingers clenched tightly against the iron grills. If she manages to succeed in this harsh world, she would most definitely come back to save the rest of the abducted girls from this filthy place.

Her mission was to get away from here and find her brother who had been taken away. From the look of things, males and females had their very own distinct towers. If she was brought to the tower that occupied females, her brother would probably be in the tower specified for males.

But where is this tower? And how will she find it?

Looking away from the window grills and to her left, Samantha's gaze fell on a dark-haired girl who was seated beside her. They seemed to be of the same age, or perhaps, she was even older.

Taking a deep breath, Samantha moved closer to the girl.

"Excuse me, pardon." She whispered, trying to grab the girl's attention, and the girl lazily stole a glance at Samantha.

"Sorry to bother you but, do you know where the slave towers for males are located?" She asked in a silent whisper. The girl she asked pondered on the question for a while before shaking her head, to Samantha's dismay.

"Okay, thank you."

The ride went on for many hours, so much so that Samantha fell asleep only to be awoken by a sudden bump, and to her greatest consternation, the carriage was still moving. When she peered out, the sun was slowly starting to rise from the horizon, but then her expression blanched when she noticed something up ahead.

A black royal carriage with a flag containing the symbol of a bat was coming up front, and beside the carriage was a familiar stunning face who rode on one of the elegant horses.

Fear shook the heart of Samantha, and she immediately averted her gaze. To the rest of the girl's surprise, Samantha looked away from the window grill, turning her head to the other side and shielding her face with her hair to avoid being noticed by the young Vampire Lord.

When the royal carriage passed them by, there was someone sitting inside of it, but Samantha, who had stolen a peek, could only see the silhouette due to the transparent curtains.

Besides the carriage, a young Fellow with strikingly deep red eyes rode past on his White stallion, his stone-cold eyes focusing on nothing but the path ahead of him.

'Your Father is responsible for the death of King Muzan' the insanity in those blood seeping eyes, and the cruelty in his accusations flooded her head, and a deep vengeance boiled within her, making her fingers curl into a tight fist.

She was as angry as she was afraid.

Samantha couldn't guess if it was out of instinct, but the young Vampire Lord reflexively shifted his gaze to her direction, and out of impulse, Samantha looked away, her golden blonde hair that was disheveled shielded her face.

She wasn't looking at him anymore, but she could feel his piercing gaze locked on her. Samantha didn't dare look until their carriage had made its way past hers, and she finally let out a breath.

"Lord Ivan." The young Vampire, who's frosty stare was still fixed on the passing carriage, smoothly averted his gaze to the aging man on a black horse who had ridden his horse to his side.

"My Lord, there are no signs of the girl and her brother. Literally, they've both been missing for four days now." He informed the young Vampire with an irritable look. "We must find them, the children of a murderer must perish along with their Father in order to end their bloodline for good!"

The man who was speaking with audible annoyance took notice of Ivan's distant gaze, like he was thinking entirely about something else, and the man curiously looked back at the carriage that had left before returning his inquiring gaze back to his young Lord.

"My Lord, you seem detached, shall I call back the carriage?"

"That won't be necessary." Ivan curtly tossed away the idea, looking over his shoulder to see the carriage disappear from his sight.

"That won't be necessary at all."