Blood

I was very young when I started work in the castle, you could say I was born into it. I had always worked in the kitchens, making sure that our food never spoiled, and that there were alternatives in case the blood ran out. Our kingdom is unique compared to the ones around us, they are the type of vampire who cannot walk around in daylight, but we are born, meaning we can walk in daylight. We are also strictly animal blood drinkers, unless you talk to our current Queen, who states that we should be drinking human blood, which in my opinion is wrong; we have humans who call our kingdom home and we do not want them to rebel against us.

            Looking out a kitchen window, I see our young princess walking in the gardens, laughing at something her father said, our new queen nowhere to be seen. She must still be in bed, or else the rumors about her are true.

            Young Snow’s mother died in childbirth, but I still remember her. She was one of the nicest nobles I had ever met. I remember watching her in the gardens one winter, walking alone in the snow. She was admiring the late blooming roses when she pricked her finger. She stilled and looked down, seemingly admiring the red of the blood on the gleaming white of the snow. A castle raven swooped by her head and landed on a bush not far from her. I recall her wishing that she wanted a child as red as blood, pale as snow, and black as the raven. She got her wish a year later, but never got to actually see her young daughter, and how beautiful she was growing to be.

            A bell ringing broke me from my trance, the young queen wanted her breakfast. Sighing, I grabbed her tray and walked to her west wing room, hating the smell of the blood in the goblet. Knocking, I announced that I had her breakfast and entered quietly.

            “No, I want it done now, he has to be gone for my plan to work!” a fervent whisper came from behind the curtain.

            “My lady, we do not think that would work, he has a child and she may be the key to him,” came the tentative reply.

            “No, he has to be gone, and she needs to be locked away, it is the only way to get the people on my side, do it now!” The first voice responded, sensing that the conversation was going to come to an end soon, I left the blood on the table by the door and hurried out.

            “What was that?”

            “Go check, idiot!”

            Looking around, I saw nowhere to hide, but I had to try, so I headed to the wall. A noble man came rushing out and saw no one at the door, he walked over to me and my stomach took that moment to fall to my knees.

            “You, maid! Have you seen someone run out of the queen’s room?”

            “No, your lordship, I only saw a few guards and other servants pass by, no one had entered the queen’s room. Nor even gone near it.”

            He hmphed and walked away, I breathed a sigh of relief internally, and went back to the kitchen, terrified that the lord would come back. I collapsed on a stool as soon as I got back. The others in the kitchen looked up at me and asked what was wrong, when I explained what had happened, they all got frustrated looks on their faces. Arthur suggested going to the guards, or the king, but Theophania pointed out that no one would believe us, we were just simple kitchen servants. At that everyone became somber and nodded, we came to the conclusion that we could not do anything.

A few days passed and the incident passed from our thoughts, towards little Snow’s fourth birthday, the king ordered us to make a lovely birthday cake for our little princess. We all were in a bustle to get the red cake covered with white fondant and black roses, her favorite. The ball was in full swing when we got the cake done, the cake was so big that we had to have the strongest guards bring it into the party. A few of us were dressed in our best to hand out the cake once the time came, currently she was dancing her heart out with her father. The queen was nowhere to be seen, still too light outside for her. My attention turned back to the young princess, smiling, and laughing, waltzing with another young noble now. The door opened sometime later, and the queen waltzed in, taking her place beside the king. Snow smiled happily at her, and I thought that the young family would have a chance at happiness.

Little did I know that that wish would turn sour, two days after the party the king died from a sudden sickness. Snow was heart-broken, crying in the garden day after day, I could not take watching her cry, so I baked a small cake to take out to her and try to cheer her up a bit. I made sure it was her favorite, and took it out to her in the gardens. When presented with it she took one look and smiled a watery smile, rushing to me and hugging me tight.

“Dear child, come inside with me, it is too cold out here.”

My little princess looked up and nodded, I lead her into the kitchens and placed the cake in front of her. From that day on you could find the little princess in the kitchens at least once a week, seeking shelter from the bustling castle life, where people expected so much of a young girl. I found myself answering questions that snow had about palace staff life, what we were expected to do, and why we did the things we did.

“Why do you still bake things, even though we drink blood?”

“Sometimes, my dear princess, we need more sustenance than what our bodies can get out of blood.”

Some questions were easy and some hard. Why are we different than our neighboring kingdoms? A question for the court tutors because I had no clue. Why is the queen locked away all day? Rumor around the castle is that she is not like us, she came from another kingdom, and is not immune to the sun like us.

Snow grew to be a courageous young princess, ready to follow in her father’s steps and lead the kingdom into prosperity, only problem was that the Queen said that she was not ready to take the throne, too young and inexperienced. Snow argued to let her be in the meetings so that she could gain experience and learn from her, but the Queen never allowed it. This always made Snow mad, she always hid in the kitchens for a day after those conversations ranting about how she was supposed to take over when she turned 18 and yet her stepmother never allowed her to learn, so how was she supposed to do a good job?

On those days, I would make a small cake, like I did all those years ago, to try and cheer my dear princess up. Today was one of those days. I finished the cake while she ran out of steam, and collapsed on the counter. Smiling at her antics, I placed the cake in front of her and asked her what she planned to do about it. She looked up at the question, confusion written all over her face. I told her to think about it and left her there to ponder. The Queen called a proclamation later that day. She stated that the animals were beginning to get sick and that they could pass the sickness on to us if we continued to drink their blood, she then proclaimed that all who drank animal blood from now on were to be exiled and we could only drink human blood. Outrage followed her statement, as many farmers called that the animals were fine, the humans in the crowd called out that it was wrong to drink the blood of your subjects. I looked to the young human servant standing beside me, tears in her eyes, she smelled like sweat, the pungent scent of fear rolling off her in waves. I shook my head, placed my hand on her shoulder and led her inside, she should not have to listen to this. She looked at me with fear until I led her into the kitchen and sat her down next to Snow.

Snow looked at both of us confused and asked what her stepmother had just announced. Coming back to the two of them, with a goblet of wine for the girl and a small biscuit, I explained what the Queen had just announced. The outrage on Snow’s face sold me, reminding me of the little girl she used to be, reminding me of her dear mother. Before I could say anything, the rest of the kitchen busted in, an air of anger around them. Following behind were a few guards, just as angry as the others.

I looked to Arthur and asked if something else had happened after I left. He said that a small fight had broken out after a lord spoke up in favor of the order. He then asked if I remembered the lord that had spoken to me that day, and I remembered that day weeks before Snow’s birthday. I said yes, and he described him perfectly. Everyone else looked confused, so we recounted the day for everyone.

“I knew it! I knew she had something to do with his death! Papa was in perfect health and she moved the funeral on too quickly. Plus, she never allowed the servants to mourn, just had life go on in the castle like he was still alive!”

The company pondered what she said, all looking around at each other, thinking about how they had thought it odd as well. Whispers broke out, but one voice stood out.

“But what can we do? Most of us are just servants, and she’s made sure that the princess was kept out of touch with the people and the politics.” Everyone turned to the young human girl sitting next to Snow, still crying silently, as she spoke her fears.

“We cannot just do nothing, she’s talking about killing, or at least hurting half of the population of my kingdom. We may not have been able to do anything about her role in my father’s death, but we can do something now.”

“If we play our cards right, we can get all of the human staff and most if not all of the vampire staff on our side, we just have to use our connections,” I state, as I turn towards the guards. “You lot have connections all over the castle right?” They nodded, “Perfect, go quietly and tell my tale, tell them that our princess does not agree with the Queen, and neither would her father, if he were still around.”

Snow nodded tears in her eyes, she looked to me and asked me if I would go with her to confront the Queen, told her we all would, but that I would be right there beside her.

“Have strength and patience, little princess, we will be victorious, and get justice for all.”

Snow nodded and we went about making sure we had people to back us. The guards talked to their friends who talked to their friends, whispers filled the corridors as the staff of the castle spread the word to each other. As I had predicted they all fell to our side, and only the nobility was unaware what was about to happen in the castle.

Snow told me that we should wait for a few days to let the people stew and for the nobility to become complacent, for them to gather for a party. I found it a sensible plan, as it would give the castle staff time to prepare, and find out which nobles were on our side and which were on hers.

Unsurprisingly, almost all of the nobility was on the Queen’s side, having been taught that they were above the lower classes, and therefore humans as well. A the select few who did not share this perspective vanished, either to their countryside estates or to unknown whereabouts, most likely the dungeons. We might have been able to free the people in the dungeons if we had known about them on time, as the party arrived a day after they disappeared.

Snow was dressed in her best, ready to play the part of a noble, but waited for a while before entering the party. Everyone turned to her and stared, unaware that the princess would have even come. Snow kept her head up like I told her too and approached her stepmother. That was when the doors opened and in walked the entire staff. We all congregated around Snow, making sure they saw we were all behind her, that we would defend her.

“Stepmother, I would ask you to peacefully step down, or we will remove you forcefully.”

“Why would I step down? You are still young and not yet 18, you would have no one to lead you.”

“You put half of my people in harms way. With the order you just released, you could kill all of the humans who live here, that is if the vampires actually listen.”

“Ok, but what if I repeal the order? The people would agree that you are still too young to rule, with no experience. You won’t turn 18 for at least three years yet.”

“You cannot speak for us, we have watched Snow grow into a beautiful and smart young woman, she would be a better ruler for us than you are. As for her age, she turns 18 next year,” I state.

She glares at me, “You lot only have one complaint against me, that is hardly a reason to depose me.”

“No, we have another, one that many in this room consider worse than the order. You killed my father,” Snow said straightening up and looking the Queen in the eyes. The Queen started at this.

 “You have no proof,” she spat. Her response was proof enough in the court’s eyes, all stared at her with horror in their eyes. All except one.

“There is no proof, the king died of a sudden illness.”

“Lord Williamson, quiet your tongue, else you dig your hole further,” Snow snapped. “According to my witness, you were complicit in my father’s death, therefore you are in as much trouble as Stepmother is.” The lord’s mouth snapped shut and he looked down.

A hand swung out and Snow caught it centimeters from her face.

“Insolent girl, you could not fall in line, you had to say something; I should have killed you when I had the chance,” the Queen tried to pull her hand from Snow’s grip, but Snow held strong, took a slight side step and launched her stepmother over her shoulder onto the ground with an audible thud, and crack. The guards smiled and took over from there, pulling the woman from the ground and dragging her off, all the while she screamed about how she would get her revenge. The lord was dragged off too with little fight, but a lot of fuss.

Snow stepped up and asked if nobles would fight her right to take the throne early, no one said anything. I smiled at her and bowed to my new Queen, one who I knew would do right by her people, one who would live up to the legacy her mother and father left behind.