The Legend of Juliet: Part One (A Vampire Dystopia) (Finding Freedom Novellas) by Alexandra Lanc Page A

hide behind Sibold, though I knew better than to touch him; thankfully he was shielding me somewhat on his own. “It won’t happen again.”
    I could see Sibold smile tightly, his face half turned towards me now. “Of course not,” he confirmed, and then his expression brightened a bit, as if he’d just noticed his father, though he’d been watching him throughout our exchange. “Father, so nice to see you. I hope you won’t mind Juliet. I’m afraid I kept her awake far into the night, and she’s a bit tired,” I secretly thanked Sibold in my mind as I let out a slow, shaky breath, my shoulders sagging under an invisible weight, hoping that Master Delouge wouldn’t pay my sigh any mind; he was a vampire, after all, so I knew that he could hear it clearly.
    “Don’t make excuses for humans,” was thankfully all that Master Delouge said before he abruptly pushed past Sibold, and started off down the hall, casting me one last, nasty grimace.
    It wasn’t until after he vanished that I completely collapsed, my legs giving out from beneath me as I held in a row of sobs, my chest feeling as though a boulder sat on it, it was so tense. I remained on the hardwood floor, shaking, for a moment before Sibold offered me his hand. I stood without taking it, knowing that I would be punished if Master Delouge found that I had accepted the help; it wasn’t wrong for Sibold, a Master, to offer it, but it would be horrendous for me, a human slave, to accept his kindness.
    I looked down at the floor again as I stood there before him, my legs shaking beneath me, though I managed to remain standing this time; I knew that his eyes were focused on me, but I couldn’t look up at him. Not only were we not supposed to — vampires were the Masters here, and humans were the slaves, unworthy of eye contact, according to the Laws — but I didn’t want him to see the tears that were brimming my eyes, showing off my fear, because they made feel ashamed.
    Everything made me feel ashamed.
    And I lived with that shame as best I could – but sometimes it proved too much for me to bear.
    “Juliet.”
    That – the soft utterance of my name – was all that it took to make me look up, to make me meet Sibold’s gaze, though I knew that his father would kill me if he found out; I couldn’t find it in myself to care then, though. My green eyes locked with his dark hazel ones for a moment before he reached out, and slowly took my chin in his hand, not wanting me to look away -- not that I wanted to, because his eyes had captured me, as they always did. We stood like that for a moment — me, holding my breath, him, staring and steady — before he continued to speak.
    It seemed like the longest moment of my life.
    “Juliet,” when he spoke again, his voice was even as always – almost monotone, though his hazel orbs continued to hold me prisoner, his touch gentle, “you should be more careful.”
    I didn’t answer him as he abruptly released me and then turned away, silently heading towards the deck. I simply trailed after him as the clock struck the tenth hour, my eyes never leaving his graceful form, knowing that he was right – that I should be more careful, because he couldn’t protect me from everything.

     

 
    “Oh, look...
    ...It’s a full, full moon...”
     
    I was born on a chilling, cold day in a town called Merciper, named after the woman who would come to be my second mother. It was a town full of humans, though there were vampires in every house too, there to keep the “peace”, if it could even be called that.
    My parents grew up in a small home, which had a grand total of five rooms, a breeding ground for human babies. They’d met at a young age, and, having had a spark of romance almost instantly, had been paired together for the future, when they would move to another, larger house in Merciper and have children who would one day come to serve the high-ranking denizens of the world.
    That was the way that things