Stolen

a boy or a girl. They had already lost three offspring so far and, after his dear wife died, he took Helena as his only concubine with the promise to his late wife that he wouldn't take another. He

never rule

If Helena had a boy, she would not survive the birth. If it was a girl, they would both immediately be taken back to the convent where his daughter would grow up to face the dhampir trials one day. At least, he had a

child. He waited patiently for the doors to open and his hear

passage. Victor closed his eyes for a moment before

hat he wouldn't be punished for doing this just this once. His father scowled before storming away. His mother patted the sides of his arm

oria

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in the gardens in the mornings. Prayers again after lunch and then my mother had evening chores while I spent my time studying with

eyes as she took my face in her hands. "I wish I c

to dhampir law. Until that night, I had never heard of the world outside of the convent. I didn't know anything about the dhampir guards, the concubines, or even the vampires. Her gift was the truth, and the apple. She asked me to be strong. For her and for my father, w

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battle move. From the first day I arrived, I decided I would do w

dn't even be allowed back into the building after our trials. I looked around and sighed. This had been my home since that fateful day they took me away from my mother. It was a simple room, just like the ones in the convent. I didn't have many friends, but I had a couple and I would miss them dearly if they failed, but if the trials proved they weren't strong enough, that was it. I had done what my mother asked and was s

leave and party with them, but tonight was too important. I needed my rest if I was to win the trials. I was hoping if I won, I would be stationed in the castle. Not that new guards ever got a position in the castle, but I had only one dream in my entire life. I wanted to meet my father. For my friends, it was just about becoming guards instead of concubines, and I sometimes wondered if they actually ca

o day. Once I became a dhampir guard, I would spend my days sleeping and my nights protecting a vampire. In the distance, I could hear our leader explain the trials one last time, but my eyes were scanning the grounds in th

sword fighting, and I could feel the strain my arms took, but since that was my only weakness, I knew it would also be my only low score. We went through all the weapons one by one and our group got smaller and smaller after each test. I almost breathed a sigh of relief when we were done and I looked up to find my friends still there. Our tactical knowledge was tested with a verbal example of an

within the order. The day had gone by so fast that I didn't even notice the sun slowly starting to set. Just as we were about to start, the perimeter alarms sounded and people were running in a

didn't have any more time to dwell on our history when one of them came flying over the wall, barring his canines. His feet hardly touched the ground before he stormed one of my friends. Within seconds, more came over the wall and I heard their howls as our warriors took their lives. There was the odd scream from a dhampir when a wolf actually killed one of us. I fought my way past a couple of them and was just in time to see the larger-than-life wolf come over the wall. He was la