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

worked, functioned. There were a few towns near every city, dedicated to the growth of human slaves. Babies would be born in one house, called a Bright, and then depending on what the vampires’ needs were, would either be shipped off to a Beginning or a Care, where they would be surrounded by other children, and instructed by the vampires that lived there, by the kind that they would one day serve.
    The human babies who went to the Beginning houses were like my parents, paired with another human so that when they came of age they could have children of their own, supplying the vampires’ need for “slaves”. But the children who weren’t like my parents would end up at the Care houses, where their guardian vampires would watch over and teach them until they were near the age of six, and could be “sold” to a vampire in need of a slave.
    That was the way that it was in our world, the way that it had always been, ever since the vampires had come out of hiding, and had overtaken the humans, tired of the lowly race ruining the Earth with their stupidity.
    But me, I was different. I never went to a Care house, though it was decided that I wouldn’t go to a Beginning house, either, a fact that I had always resented, until I was finally Chosen.
    As soon as my parents were of age to marry, they were sent to the local Bright, which was run by a kind vampire named Mercy, who actually cared for humans, and who sympathized with their “condition”. After a while, Miss Mercy and my parents had become friends (well, as good of friends as slaves and Masters can ever be), and when I was born she had allowed my parents to keep me, instead of sending me to the Care, to await the day that I would be Chosen, “sold”, the vampires in need of fresh human slaves at the time, nearly every child that was born being sent to the Care house.
    I remember the day when I was born, though I don’t know how. It was dark, and it was night, and it was a rare night, one where you could actually see the moon, which is usually hidden behind the dark clouds that continuously linger in the sky, painting it a grey color.
    There had been a total lunar eclipse that night, the first in a long while. My parents and Miss Mercy had taken me outside with them, after I’d opened my eyes. I had seen it, the eclipse, gaining my first memory.
    I’d seen the moon turn red, and my first vision of the world had been of something soaked in blood.

     

Chapter Two
     
    It was nine after the tenth hour when Sibold and I reached the deck, and Sibold strode over to one of the large, plush chairs, sliding into it casually while I stood beside him, my head hanging down, my hair falling into my eyes, though I could still see through the strands. Maids rushed past, looking at me hungrily before they vanished into the Manor, closing the heavy, black door behind them; all was quiet then, save for the sound of the forest surrounding us, of the wind on the lake…
    And then Sibold spoke.
    “Luke returned today, Juliet, early. I met him in the hallway on my way to find you,” he didn’t appear as though he was that interested in what he was saying, but I knew better; I tensed at hearing Luke’s name, knowing how Sibold felt about him. “I’m sure you will see him later,” he glanced over at me as I nodded silently, stiffly, gaze remaining focused on the floor of the deck, my eyes hidden behind my long, dark red hair.
    I knew that Sibold wanted me to look at him, to sit next to him, to meet his gaze again, but I couldn’t; I couldn’t risk it. If Master Delouge were to come by and see us like that, then I would be dead, and—
    “It’s alright, Juliet,” Sibold’s voice was calm, soft when he spoke next, reaching out to gently grasp onto my arm, pulling me towards him until I was situated in his lap, fire eating at my cheeks. “I’ve told the maids to leave us be, and they will listen. It is the tenth hour, after all...”
    I felt myself blush further as I