After some time for them to compose themselves they arrived at a set of giant doors.

“Beyond these doors are my parents. Be on your best behavior Mignon. Answer every question you can and the rest I will try to help you with. This could be life or death for you.” She nodded. Breathing in, Victor opened the doors to the throne room.

Immediately lowering his head Victor waited for his father to grant him permission to come forward. It took a minute, but he heard his father.

“Orphne, come forward.” Victor slowly advanced forward. Stopping right before the raised platform his Father sat upon, Victor gently placed Mignon on the ground then kneeled. “What is this? Why do you place a doll before me?”

“She is no doll Father. She is the sacrifice and my new Vampire Bride.”

“A child? Speak child, who are you?” The Vampire King passed the conversation to Mignon.

Victor spoke up instead. “She cannot Sire. May I request we speak in private?”

“Granted.” The King dismissed everyone other than his wife and his son. “Raise your head and let’s chat. What’s going on?”

Victor raised up, leaving Mignon sitting on the floor. “I have accepted the child not knowing they sacrificed an abused mute. I have decided to take her as the Vampire Bride anyways, despite her flaws.”

The King was enraged. “Let me guess, the reason she just sits is also because of those humans?” He spit out the word with as much venom Victor had towards Vampires.

“They broke her legs so she couldn't run away. She was drugged so I wouldn't notice that she couldn't use her legs. I had someone sworn to secrecy look over her legs as I showed her the grounds. She will be able to use them eventually, but it could take some time for a human’s bones to heal.” Victor's anger started to flare up, but Mignon’s small hand on the bottom of his pants leg calmed him down. “She has requested that I don't take it out on the village.”

The King sighed. Mignon noticed how similar it was to Victor's sighs. “You do realize the seriousness of this… I'm sorry, what is her name?”

“I have named her Mignon Akakios.” Victor looked at her as he said her name. Unknowingly his face softened.

The King nods approvingly. “It suits her. Alright Mignon, do you really understand what you are telling us to just ignore?” She nodded. “I'm not as kind as Victor when it comes to punishment for a crime of this size.” Another nod. Another sigh from the King. “The best I can do is postpone it as we investigate.” Mignon sighs this time out of relief. “Until then we will prepare you for the role of a Vampire Bride.” Looking over Mignon he continues. “You will need it, especially if Victor takes over for me. You will be the future Vampire Queen. Do you both think she can handle that?”

Victor nods and picks her up. “She is stronger than she looks. With the right treatment she might be one of the best we have seen.” He turns to his mother. “No offense.”

Victor's mother smiles, her fangs glint as she responds. “None taken Beo, I will be the one training her, so of course she should aim to beat me.” She reaches out her arms. “May I?” Victor looks at Mignon who nods, then hands her off to the other petite woman. “I will start right away, your father hasn't seen you in a while due to work. Talk with him.” With that the two Brides walk away leaving their swooning Vampires behind.

“I'm almost glad I let you wait it out. If you didn't Eric would have corrupted that child.” Neither the father nor the son approved of the doings of the next in line after Victor. “With this you’re the heir to the throne.”

“Thank you Father.” Victor bowed slightly. “I would like to chat more, but I must go soon.”

“Worried about her already? No, I understand, you don't want to let a beauty like that go. She reminds me of your mother when she was younger…” The King thought for a second and said one last thing before letting Victor go to his Bride. “Are you sure she is fully human?”

Victor lightly knocked on his mother's bedroom door and was surprised to hear laughing from within. His mother eventually opened the door to reveal the scene behind it. Mignon was pouting in a pale blue dress that surprisingly had even more frills than the sacrifice dress.

“Mother… What are you doing?”

“Your sisters grew out of their cute stage to quickly… They take after their father. I couldn't help myself when I saw her. You can't keep her in those sacrifice clothing. Do you want someone thinking they can lay a hand on her?”

“Of course not. But baby blue is my father's color.”

“Then what's yours? She's your first so you have never decided before.”

Victor looked over at Mignon who had already striped down to her petticoats and was looking at Victor surprised that she was not only the only Bride candidate, but the first accepted sacrifice he ever had. Victor went to his mother's wardrobe and searched for the right dress. He knew his mother still held on to it from before she was the Vampire Bride candidate.

Finally her found it. Victor pulled out the simple lavender dress. “Can you adjust this for her, Mother? And add some shimmery silver lace here, here, and here.” He pointed out where needed to be adjusted and added to to make Mignon's new outfit.

It took a few hours but when they were done Victor held it up in front of Mignon who nodded fast, excited at her very own custom dress. After the approval of Mignon, Victor was quick to slip it onto his Bride, somehow understanding his mother's passion for dressing up the tiny child. Like Victor thought, the dress was the same shade as Mignon's eyes, and the lace looked like her flowing locks of hair.

His mother nodded at the final product. “You definitely are the one to take after me the most. Now for the finishing touches…” She went rooting through her wardrobe and handed Victor silver stockings and a pair of tiny black shoes. “These should be thick enough to hide her casts, and I think these are the right size. Put them on her while I find her some accessories.”

Victor put the shoes down next to Mignon and kneeled, lifting her limp left leg. Mignon shook her head and blushed. “Please let me Mignon. Out there may have been terrible to you, but I want to change that while you're next to me. You no longer are someone to be abused. This is your family now, and we will treat you like royalty.” Victor smiled briefly as she stopped struggling against his help.

“You better treat her like royalty. She is the next Queen after all.” Victor's mother interjected, coming back with a handful of jewelry. Holding them up one by one she decided on a violet locket with a black rose. “I thought so, this one definitely suits her the most…” She chained it around Mignon's slim neck then tied a black lace hairpiece into her hair. Afterwards she stood back. “The resemblance is uncanny… Mignon I think it's time you told us your age, you act too mature for a child of your size. You could blame it on stunted growth from malnutrition, but that's not all is it?”

Mignon shook her head and look down. She fiddled her fingers then she raised both her hands and opened them wide. Victor spoke up. “She's ten then, a human child still.” He awkwardly refused to acknowledge her shaking her head as she held up a single number again and then opened her hands wide.

“One hundred fifty five years old in human time. She's fifteen and a half in vampire time. So yes, she's still growing, but she's hardly a child." His mother looked at Victor with a relieved smirk, like she had guessed something only she knew correctly. "Victor, you have a Vampire Bride right there. You don't have to even do the Turning Ceremony. Just marry the girl when the time comes.”

Mignon pulled on Victor's sleeve shaking her head and made a chopping motion onto her other hand.

“Half?” She nodded slowly. “Half what?” She pointed at him.

His mother fell. “...Half Vampire, half human… that son of a-”

Victor cut her off. “What do you know of this Mother?”

“Look in the locket… that's Mignon's mother… my half sister… your aunt, Victor.” She started weeping. Slowly she started telling the two about her sister.

Their father was a noble from the west and wanted more power as most Vampires do. He sent his two most beautiful daughters to be sacrifices to the Vampire King of this nation. He arranged that whichever daughter didn't get accepted as a Vampire Bride candidate would be put to work as a handmaiden for the other, to woo the other nobles, not revealing who she was of course.

The younger sister lost the King's heart, but unknowingly caught the eye of his brother the harem master. A slippery bastard much like his first born Eric was now. Her father thought it was a good deal and sold her to him, whether he knew or not what would happen next no one knows.

She changed hands so quick that even the King couldn’t keep an eye on her. When Victor's mother pleaded with him the King took pity and sent his guards to search for the younger sister. But every trace was gone from the palace. He banished his brother, allowing his son to stay solely for a backup heir in case something happened.

“So she was sold to the humans?” Mignon nodded. “Vampire blood can be powerful if used right… They probably thought they could create a breeding machine so they could raise our own kind to overthrow us. Instead they created a Dhampir.” Victor's mother reached out and stroked Mignon's cheek. “Humans can't use Dhampir blood like Vampire blood. Blood isn't where their power lies. Treasure this one Victor, let no one but you father know of this. There is a reason why we turn humans before the wedding night.” Calmed down his mother went into her queen mode and started planning everything. “There is a special ceremony that speeds up a Vampire’s growth. We'll perform it instead of the Turning Ceremony when the night comes to turn her. I don't know what kind of side effects it could have on a Dhampir though. What do you want to do Mignon?” Mignon took a moment to reflect on everything, staring at the tiny portrait of her mother in the locket. Finally she nodded, this was her family and she trusted them surprisingly.

Even if she was betrayed, it was better than the hell she grew up in during the past hundred and fifty five years. She gave up her life when she drank the suspicious tea prepared for her by her nephew's aging son and his granddaughter. If her human side’s family was cruel, what about her Vampire side’s family? She had to have inherited kindness from someone, right?