A Black Birthday

Few days to clocking a century year old vampire, Aliona had been locked inside for days, restricted from coming out, her punishment for befriending the head servant's daughter. Her governess had been ordered to pause her lessons till further notice.

She had been so carried away by the excitement on her friend's eyes, dancing and jumping around with her that she forgot the governess would arrive soon. Not until she met her father's enraged look. Her legs buckled in shock, she detangled herself from Mariah at the speed of light, lost for words, she stepped back in fright. How did he find their hideout? she wondered. She had been so careful that she couldn't believe she had been discovered that easily.

The disappointed look on her mother's face was better than the pure hatred pouring out of her father's as he starred down at Mariah. Ali had no doubt that the head-servant and her daughter would be scolded severely.

The chimed clock brought her back to the present, notifying her that her party will begin in few hours, her lady-in-waiting had started preparing her bath, she got up slowly from the bed, not looking forward to her party as much as her parents were. She couldn't wait to get it done and come back to the comfort of her room.

Adorned in a golden gown, marching her hair, a teardrop erring was perfectly fitted to her ears, her hair was packed up to allow her golden necklace be showed off for everyone to see. Her hair was decorated with small golden rings atop her bun, shinning brightly as the reflection of light played around it, she had to admit that Mary outdid herself this time around, looking at her reflection in the mirror, she was blown by the pretty as a princess golden girl starring back at her.

She descended the stairs with less enthusiasm expected of a celebrant, seeing numerous faces gazing at her with admiration, most of which she didn't know, her father's guests and acquaintance filled the ball room. Two large cakes were on display and her thought quickly went to her friend, she wondered how she is.

Her plan was to carry one of the cakes to their hideout for her to celebrate and eat to her heart's content, sharing the rest with her other friends.

"Happy birthday, Aliona!" her thought was cut short when she found herself in the midst of her fellow Purebloods. She smiled politely with them, looking at one after the other to see anyone who was genuinely wishing her a happy birthday and as usual, most of them weren't and as quickly as they wished her, they moved on to discuss things she wasn't interested in. One of the daughters of her father's close friends, May, spoke up, "as the friends of the celebrant, we have prepared a special gift for you, come along", she beckoned. Ali was hesitant about the special gift in addition to staying in their midst for long, knowing how spiteful and snobbish they were, she doubted whatever their present was, would be to her liking.

May was not going to let her plans go down the drain, she quickly pulled Ali and tugged her towards the door to prevent her from worming her way out. She had instead decided against telling their friends about Ali's relationship with the wretched girl, rather show them by backing her to a corner.

With the help of the others who were ignorant of her plans, they persuaded Ali to join them in the other room, which May had set up, the round dining table with consist of six chairs had a generous amount of delicacy on it, along with a small red velvet cake, the red velvet cake looked strange, looking at it clearly, apparently blood had been mixed with it, seeing the colour of blood. May beamed in satisfaction seeing the cringed look on Ali, "like it?" She asked

Ali sniffed the air coming from the direction of the cake, she could practically taste the sweet familiar metallic compound present in the blood, it's scent was quite inviting, the human must be unique.

She subtly shrunk her nose after she guessed the blood to belong to human. Ali drinks blood only when necessary, however, she hardly taste the human blood except when they acquiesced. Most vampires lose control when taking the human blood, seeing how rich it is compared to animal blood. She was quite satisfied with the animal blood which she consumed solely to survive and not as a meal.

"since you're now a century old, the youngest among the six of us, we decided to use this as a rite to welcome you officially to our circle"

"What circle? Is this a cult?"

"Of course not, you know we are the only future of the pureblood, knowing how limited pureblood vampires are and the six of us are the only young purebloods saddled to carry on the legacy; its only right that we bond and be closer to one another, to protect the blood."

Others nodded in agreement with May, acting like the leader of the circle, May waved her hands for silence, "I'm sure you know it's not an ordinary blood, this cake is mixed with blood, it is special because the blood is a mermaid blood."

That explains the sweet aroma coming from the cake, her fangs extended, she wondered why she mistook it for a human blood in the first place, perhaps she needed to work on her sense of smell.

The mermaid blood is the sweetest blood among all species while the least is the witch blood. Mermaid blood is quite rare to find. One has to be very influential - which still doesn''t guarantee one would find any. Another significant factor is knowing a witch, according to the rumor mill; the witches have a special way of obtaining a mermaid blood. Just how did she come about one?

Latching onto the curious look from Aliona, May boast, "father brought some home the day before, I had to beg him to spare a little for my dear friends." She strutted back to her table, everyone obviously saw her already high invisible shoulder proudly raised higher.

As Aliona settled on the special chair adorned with golden ribbon for the celebrant, May clapped her hands to summon the maids to dish the food. Aliona kept her surprise at bay seeing how May was bold enough to summon adult vampires to serve them. Even though she was a pureblood with more privilege, she found it awkward to command a vampire to do things for her, unlike May who did so without batting an eyelash.

Seeing the almost empty jar of blood, May calculated then that it was time to execute her plan, she spoke up, "I could use a fresh blood, it's been a while," even though her 'a while' was just that morning, she clapped her hands and looked at one of the maids, "bring her in".

Not liking the evil glint on May's face, I'm sure she's up to something, not that she had anything against a vampire drinking blood from another, but she was sure May had some things planned.

The creak of the large dining room door pulled her gaze towards the door and a horror look appeared on her face.

No way the person May wanted to drink from was her friend, Mariah.

The horrified look on Aliona's face couldn't be more satisfying to May. The clang of the metal spoon dropping on the shiny golden plates drew her 'friends' attention to her, "are you all right?" Unaware of May's plan and Aliona's relationship with Mariah, the other four young purebloods watched in anticipation of how May will devour her meal.

'No!' she stood so abruptly that her seat fell off, she turned to the little human girl, clearly frightened with the way her body vibrated and head hung low, not daring to look at her mistress and her friends, Aliona could smell her fear and hear the loud pound of her racing heart, beating like it would tear its way out of her chest, her heart broke for her friend.

May stood up in confrontation, "no what? Do you have anything against our kind feeding off human?"

With no strength to admonish nor claim her stance about the manner vampires treat humans like a piece of meal, "you can take any other person except her, do not drink from her?' spoken with finality

Others were now curious to hear her reason, May's lips curved, "why? What's so special about her that I can't drink from her?" Goading her to speak further.

Now Aliona understood her plan; she must have known about her relationship with the human girl, focused on how to spare her friend from them, "because she's my friend.", she proclaimed

A look of disgust suddenly filled their faces, May was elated that she and her other friends felt the same thing, one of their friends spoke, "I'm disappointed in you Aliona. How could you be friends with this thing?" irritation filled his face, scrunching his face as if it was too unpleasant to imagine.

Feeling less concerned about his opinion, she didn't answer his question, what occupied her mind was how to free her friend from May's clutches, who had tightly held her head, baring her young pale neck sideways, her extended fangs glinted as she spoke, pure hatred poured out along her voice, "you can't be friends with them, their existence is solely to serve us and nothing more." Before Aliona could wring the human girl out of May's clutches, she sank her fangs into her neck, a horrendous yell erupted from Mariah but May continued to drink from her

"No!" Ali shouted, she tried to wiggle the girl from May but was pushed away, she obviously wasn't as strong as May. Not minding the pain she felt after landing on the cold hard surface.

"No, please. It's enough, she'll die" she cried but the devil's spawn didn't listen, her whimper further edged her on, until she felt the human dead weight on her arms. She pushed her away and picked a table cloth to clean the corner of her lips, smeared with blood.

"sweet, the younger they are; the fresher and sweeter their blood." She commented. Aliona ran to check on her friend, her white skin and lifeless eyes which stared back at her broke her. She closed her friend's eyelid and ran out straight to her room. May's throaty laughter followed her.

She vowed never to forgive May for killing her friend. Afterwards, she begged her parents to give a sibling to play with, after much pleadings, her mother one day surprised her by getting her a dog to play with.