Under the blue sky of Versailles lived two sisters who had just left their house hand in hand as they ventured around a small village on the West side of Versailles, a small village known as the Poisson. The older sister was the first to notice as a group of villagers had gathered around the information board, a place that was just built six years ago after the Great War between the vampires and humans.
The board was always known as the "harbinger of misfortune," partly nad that way by the two sisters as they always saw new nas of wanted or killed n by the high aristocratic families, which now consist of mostly pureblood Vampires. Seeing the heaps of people, the older sister beca curious.
"What is so fascinating to them?" Asked the older sister, tugging her younger sister's arms as she was focused on staring at the freshly woven veil that she had made with thread, a way for the sisters to keep the family alive after their mother left them to survive with their drunk father.
Uninterested, the younger sister only looked upward once at the people gathered at the information board before turning her gaze downward, "Whatever, most of them couldn't read, so they were just curious about what could be written there. So foolish, if they have ti, they should spend it working on the farm instead."
"Bella," said the older sister with a frown, "I don't think it's similar to the other warning that's been posted on the board."
Arabella, the younger sister of the two, finally resigned and shifted her focus to the information board. Dragged by her older sister, Lala, short for Ariel, they stopped in front of the information board. The other villagers frowned upon seeing the sisters, but Arabella couldn't care less about it, as the people in the village had always disliked them either way due to her father's drunken behavior.
At first, Arabella remained disinterested until she noticed that the parchnt used for this announcent was oddly luxurious. It was slightly creamy with a golden signature and a golden emblem at the top of the announcent.
"What did it say?" Lala asked her with another tug of her elbow.
Bella humd as she squinted her eyes. After her sister's urge, she finally read the gorgeous announcent that didn't seem to fit this ugly and dirty village, "To the citizen of Versailles. This is an announcent made by Your King. Sadness had overco the throne upon losing our King in a battle of illness, and another bla bla, ah," Arabella then frowned upon reaching the end of the paragraph, "It's an announcent saying that there has been a new King crowned to rule Versailles, Lala."
"A new King? Already? Wasn't the King still in his youth?" Lala asked her, but before Arabella could comnt, soone else had chided.
"Must be the vampires," said an old man who had been trying to read the announcent. The old man looked at both her and Lala before frowning in disgust. Arabella wanted to have a say only if not for Lala holding her back the mont she made a frown.
"What do you an?" Lala asked instead, polite in her tone as she was the eldest.
"Don't you notice? One by one, the noble houses began to issue death notices of their husband, wife or the entire family. Then, those noble family suddenly disappear and their titles are now taken over by a new vampire family. Ever since we lost the battle six years ago, Versailles had beco theirs— those bloodthirsty bats. I can only guess our King is a vampire by now.."
Arabella scoffed, as uninterested as ever, "Well, that is none of our business. What can poor humans like us do against vampires? It's their business as long as those vampires never step into our village."
A woman who had been staring at Arabella scoffed, and she could hear the snide coming from afar, "True, we can't have another unwanted people co and step into our peaceful Poisson village," then she spat. " Like mother like daughter. You both cannot keep your hands to yourself and steal the n who belong to others."
Bella felt her sister, whose face imdiately dampened as she dropped her chin in sha. Imdiately, Bella, who was more fierce than her sister, spoke up, "Is that jealousy, I heard Mrs Bampen? I do have to remind you how embarrassing it is to be jealous of young girls like us."
"Bella," said Lala in a hurry. Before Mrs Bampen could explode in anger, Lala bowed her head, "I'm sorry for my sister's words. She didn't an it."
"Oh, I an it—" Bella felt her sister's hands frantically covering her mouth. Lala bowed her head to the rest of the villagers as they rushed away from the information board, having everyone out of their sight for good. Bella, who was now pulled aside, was sour in expression and words. She stared at her sister in disbelief, "You don't have to stop . I would have given that woman a lesson. Mrs Bampen has always been so jealous of us. I heard it's because her daughter's suitor said he'd rather marry you than her daughter. Can't bla him, having Mrs. Bampen as mother-in-law must have been a terrifying thought."
"Shush now, Bella," sighed Lala while pressing her forehead, "I have to tell you that one day, that mouth of yours will cause you to be in great trouble! I reckon you should find a person who could defeat your argunts to stop this behavior of yours."
"I would like to see if I would ever find an opponent," Bella answered with a huff, "You have to agree with , though, that Mrs Bampen was going to embarrass us more the mont we clamp our mouths. I still rember how she told everyone that we sell rotten vegetables when she knew well you were sick and we needed money for your dicine. If I hadn't sold everything by begging, you could have died." She said with a frown. She couldn't have her sister be on harm's way and Mrs Bampen knew of it all yet still did it out of pure hatred and jealousy"
"Well.." Lala pursed her lips and began to drawl. Her note beca lower until it hit a pitch when she saw their house that seed busier as a group of n had gathered outside their wooden fence. "Bella!"
But she had already seen the commotion before her sister called her na. Bella imdiately placed the bucket of veils on Lala's hands and rushed toward their house. There, she witnessed n who were triple her size ransacking the entire house and even going so far as to destroy the only good vases in their house. Everything had been destroyed— their house gate, the door, and the window! But that wasn't the most concerning part of this all. It was the fact that Bella knew these n's faces as the loan sharks who lived in the neighboring village, the ones known to sell young, fresh won to vampires as a part of their job.
"What are you doing?!" Bella yelled out loud, gathering all the attention to her as she felt sothing dawned in the depth of her stomach of sothing that had gone wrong. "This is my house! You have gone to the wrong house!"
The first to turn his face was their leader. He was dressed in a red shirt and a brown trouser. A long beard hung on his chin, and on his left eye was a large scar that was able to frighten anyone who looked at him. The man stared at her before he let out a twisted grin, "No. We did co to the right house. I know where I am, and I have never been tardy to my appointnts. Unlike my appearance, I follow my promise to death, you see."
At his taunt, the other five n behind him began to sneer. They eyed Arabella entirely, seizing her figure, including her bosom, which was one of her least disliked body parts. It hit her that these n were lusting over her, making her skin crawl and disgust to sit on her face. She hurriedly hissed at them, "This must be a misunderstanding."
"Perhaps, but not between you and ," the leader spoke up as he walked to his left and stretched his arm to showcase her father, who was on the wooden floor of their house, curled in a fetal position as his face was covered in blood and bruises.
Seeing the horrible wounds made her body freeze and her skin tingle. She stared at the loan sharks, realizing what a big mistake her father had made.
"He borrowed money from you?" Her voice wavered with caution and worry, unsure until she saw the leader sentence her life when he nodded his head.
"He borrowed quite a lot of money from us. He promised to pay it by the end of today but look at him, hiding in this house so he could try to escape from under our noses. Thankfully, we grabbed him before he could leave," the loan shark leader's eyes narrowed as he detailed, "It's a sha, but there is nothing but ager items in this house. Even if we sell this house, it still wouldn't be able to pay back half of what he had borrowed."
Her blood turned chill as dread filled the air. Bella felt suffocated as she looked at her father desperately, only to find herself feeling more disappointed when she saw her father had grabbed a satchel as if to run away without even warning them of his promise to the loan shark. Regardless of her sadness and denials, their father had planned to give up on her and her sister.
Worries balled on Bella's throat as she found no other way to escape as the leader of the loan shark eyed her.
"We need you and your sister as a paynt. You will fetch us quite a great amount of money," said the leader of the loan shark. Just the ntion of money pulled his lips wide into a grin. He then snapped his eyes behind her, finding Lala, who was watching everything unfold not too far away, with her face pale enough to drive away a ghost.
Bella shook her head as she felt panic setting in her blood now, "No, No! Not my sister. . I'll go," she offered herself quickly. " and my father, we both can go, and that's enough, isn't it?"
"Your father? Hah, that won't be enough. He's too old and ill from all the alcohol he had drunk. You and I both know that if you try to resist, it won't end prettily for you. I won't mind cutting your tendons or tongue. What matters is that you are still alive, and that will fetch quite a lot of money, enough to cover the loss I gained because of your father."
Arabella could only glare at her father as she saw the loan shark leader raise his finger, coiling it to signal his n to grab both her and Ariel. Seeing this, Bella imdiately snapped her eyes to her sister and yelled at the top of her lungs, "RUN! RUN LALA! LEAVE THE VILLAGE!— AH!"
Her mouth felt painful the mont one of the n pulled her by her hair, revealing her brownish-red hair that was covered by her veil. The man then covered their hand on her mouth, but angrily, Bella bit down on it. This only caused more fury between the n as they tossed her to the ground, causing her wrist to twist when she broke her fall. That was the first ti she felt the most painful pang of pain hit her bone. The urge to cry bubbled up to her burning throat, but her fierceness refused to give up, and she could only find herself glaring at the loan shark leader.
He raised his hand, and the taste of iron imdiately followed to fill her mouth. Her head was shoved to the left as his palm hit her cheeks, causing her to feel more and more blood spill from her mouth.
"Think twice before trying to run away; I am unforgiving as I look, although I am trying to settle this peacefully. I, myself, hate n like your father, but it is only him you can bla now," the loan shark pulled away while she still tried to straighten her mind as her head reeled in dizziness.
She didn't know how long it was until she managed to grab herself together, and by the ti she woke up, she heard Lala yelling as her arms had been bound by a rope.
"You can say goodbye to your father and this village," the loan shark announced as he let out a sarcastic scoff with a wide grin as he had acquired two beautiful sisters who would fetch him quite the amount of money to those lustful vampires. They all say that the appearance of a girl would make their blood taste better, and for certain, these two girls would be loved by them.
Bella felt the shaful humiliation to her blood. She felt her eyes burning, her heart in pain the mont she saw Lala crying as her beautiful and kind older sister didn't deserve the life she had to suffer now. As the n dragged them away into a wagon, Arabella saw the entire villager in Poisson, all staring at her. That grandpa who had talked to them, Mrs Bampen, and those who had been there ever since their birth simply stood still and watched them as they were dragged away. Their nonchalant attitude toward their misfortune was like a fresh slap across her left cheek, making the taste of the iron less bitter than their pretentious stares.
Inside the wagon, she and her sister were placed along with the other girls. Most of them, however, weren't as fierce as her or as saddened as Lala. Most of them were dispirited, looking down at the wooden floor of the wagon as their hands were all tied by the rope like her.
"Damn it," cursed Bella as she heard the soft cries coming from her sister. She reached out her hand, softly soothing her sister, who had begun to cry on her shoulders. All she could do was shut her eyes tightly, wishing this could all be a nightmare. But the wagon imdiately moved, and the sound of laughter ca from the loan sharks who had successfully captured their fill and echoed the brutality of the truth where her father had sold her and her sister for good.
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