(Northern Region- Outskirts Of New Atlantic City)
(Castle Eden)
Mary stood outside on a balcony and relaxed under the bright sunlight that streamed down on her body.
It was now some time in the afternoon, and the young woman was feeling in a good mood.
She stepped a bit closer to the balcony's edge and looked down.
All she could see from one end of the horizon to the other was a vast sea of green.
Tall, magnificent trees that had stood for hundreds of years and would stand for hundreds after. Untouched and barely changed by the passage of time.
Mary absentmindedly wondered if Camilla had seen these trees when they were just small saplings jutting out of the ground.
It was still hard for her to wrap her head around just how old her mistress truly was. Of course, it helped that she looked like an attractive woman in her early thirties but...
She was centuries old.
Mary's lifespan was probably just a blink in her eyes because how could a mortal's lifespan ever compare to the vast expanse of eternity.
The young woman let out a light sigh as she cracked her knuckles absentmindedly and continued to enjoy the cool breeze that brushed against her face.
There was much work to be done.
She needed to finish cleaning up the palace's throne room in preparation for the banquet to be held at the end of the month.
A reasonable person would probably be terrified. She was going to be the only human in a crowd of ravenous bloodthirsty vampires.
And yet... she felt no fear.
Perhaps it had to do with the inexplicable trust that she had in Camilla or the shock of having killed a vampire on her own.
It was like something in her blood longed for the chance to kill more spawn of the night. Mary hissed in pain as she felt a warmth travel through her body.
She raised up one of the sleeves on her dress and saw golden marks on her exposed flesh. These golden markings resembled tattoos.
This was a secret that she was keeping from Camilla.
Well... she didn't plan on hiding it forever but for now... she had not said anything to her vampire mistress.
These golden marks...
The more that she trained and the more sunlight that she absorbed... the more marks appeared on her body.
It was like every inch of her flesh was slowly being transformed and branded by something hidden deep inside her.
Mary lowered her sleeve and then walked back inside.
At least the markings disappeared once nighttime fell but... she could sense that they were lurking just beneath the surface of her skin.
The young woman walked through the castle until she arrived at a large magnificent open hall where a golden throne stood proudly on top of a raised platform.
There were several buckets filled with water and soap in the corner of the room as well as a large mop.
"No time like the present," Mary muttered quietly to herself as she walked towards the mop and picked it up.
The next few hours passed like a blur as she slowly cleaned up the floor from one corner of the hall to the other.
It was a slow and tiring process but for some reason Mary felt energised and relaxed.
It may sound a bit strange but doing housework helped to take her mind off the distracting thoughts that usually plagued her.
She didn't need to worry about her feelings towards Camilla.
She didn't need to concern herself with how she would eventually escape.
She didn't even have to bother about the human who...
Wait! The human hunter!
Mary quickly dropped the mop and headed for the exit of the hall as she realised something.
Camilla had killed the senior hunter and dumped his corpse in the field outside to act as fertiliser but...
His belongings were still untouched!
Mary cursed softly as she could not believe that fact had completely slipped her mind.
The mysterious intruder was a senior hunter... maybe he had something on him that would allow her to communicate with the Hunters Association.
She could send a message to her sister and let her know that she was still alive!
Mary's footsteps quickened until she was almost sprinting. She didn't know at the time, but her excited mood caused her usually green eyes to flash a golden hue.
The young woman dashed outside the castle and headed for the garden located in the back of the estate.
She eventually arrived at the field and had to cover her nose since a nauseating odour could immediately be smelled.
Large nasty flies buzzed around a rotting corpse that was missing a head. An animal must have stolen the head of the body during the night.
Mary tried not to gag as she stretched out her hand and checked the pockets of the long cloak that the hunter wore.
She shuddered as some of the flies landed on her dress. The scent was getting worse by the minute, and she had to resist the urge to throw up.
The hunter did not have many items on his person and all Mary found were daggers, poison vials and some... unwrapped condoms?
Eww... gross...
Finally, she felt something hard inside one of the pockets
She wrapped her fingers around the mysterious object and pulled it out of the pocket.
It appeared to be a hardcover book but there were no words on the brown cover.
Mary examined the corpse one more time but could not find anything else. She took her spoils back inside with quick steps.
The first thing she did was rush to her room and take a nice long shower before using a cloth to wipe away the grime and filth from the items.
She may not have gotten something to send a message back to the human side of the country but...
Mary took a deep breath and opened the mysterious book. The first page displayed a diagram of what looked like a human body with red lines drawn in strange places.
A new technique?
Mary continued to read with great curiosity surging in her heart. Her assumption of this being a hunting technique was actually wrong.
The first pages of the book detailed the experiences of the hunter, and the diagram showed the weak spot of vampires.
Other than the heart there were some parts of a vampire's body that regenerated slower than others.
Certain arteries... the liver and the small intestines...
Unusual spots but for some reason the hunter observed that the vampires' regeneration ability would take a long time to heal wounds in those areas.
Mary flipped a few more pages and saw what looked like journal entries and their contents... made her feel sick to her stomach.
The entries detailed torture, experimentation, and horrific acts that the hunter inflicted on any vampire that he managed to capture.
[Entry #45]
[Captured a newly converted female vampire off the coast of Italy... bitch didn't understand what was happening to her... luckily, I was there to help...]
[Promised to turn her back into a human and lured her into my private underground complex. Stupid girl didn't know it was a trap until it was too late]
[First, I removed her fingernails then her toes. Then I began to skin her alive... the feeling of my knife as it sliced through her body... gods... I feel so aroused just thinking about it]
[Morrison caught me towards the end of my session and killed the vampire before I could torture her further...WHY DID HE GET IN THE WAY?!]
[He even dared to lecture me about morality and ethics... these things aren't human... they don't get rights... they are just animals...]
[They may look like us, but one must never forget...]
[They. Are. Monsters.]
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺