Bent double, like old beggars under sacks

Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through

Sludge,

Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs,

And towards our distant rest began to trudge.

Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots,

But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame, all blind;

Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots

Of gas-shells dropping softly behind

-From “Dulce Et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen

        I had fallen a bit behind, mostly due to the nursing staff, but once they realized there was nothing they could do, I caught up relatively quickly, though I think Queen had slowed her pace.

        “So… What’s your name?” I ask softly, attempting to make small talk, “I can’t just keep calling you Queen, can I?”

        She stops for half a second in pause and turns her gaze to me, “I do, but I don’t tell many; those I have told aren’t around anymore, either because they perished, or I exiled them.”

        I gulped and pulled at the collar of my shirt like it was too tight and making me unable to breathe in that moment, and we continued on in silence.

        At some point before we reached the destination, she slipped away from me unnoticed, ‘Dammit,’ I thought to myself at the realization, ‘when did she slip away?’

        It was some time after that a messenger had found me, “The Queen requests your presence in the Hall,” they simply stated, and led me through this little village.

        Once I had a guide, it didn’t take more than a few minutes to get from where I was to where I needed to go. Once he’d delivered me to the doors of the Hall, he bowed his head and took his leave. The doors, not having been closed all the way for some reason, were open just wide enough for me to slip inside.

        Even before I’d done so, the crowd’s cheers were loud, but after I’d stepped across the threshold, the cheers got even louder.

        “It’s time we finish what we started when she tried to exile me, my Clan! It’s time we fight back, and erase her from existence! You helped me retain control of the Throne, ‘exiled’ though we may be, but now it’s time to repay the favor a hundred-fold!” she was shouting, the crowd getting more riled with each word.

        I made my way through the throng of people, some taking notice and moving aside to make it easier. It took a few minutes, but I was finally by her side once more, this time, though, we were standing, and I was wholly unsure of what to say.

        Unfortunately for me, mouth said words before brain could stop it, “All-out war?” I asked, just loud enough that every pair of ears heard my voice, and a hush fell over the Hall instantaneously, all eyes on me, even Hers.

        I looked across the crowd, and then at her expression made of stone, fidgeting momentarily before I found my voice again, “All-out war?” I repeated, “Why? There’s obviously a story I haven’t been told, and I deserve to be, for all the promises of being caught up. If she’s… the same race, then why put the lives of innocents, the ones who had nothing to do with your exile, at risk? Why not just target her?” I finished strongly, to which there was no response, except for a hand on my shoulder.

        “Forgive her, Clan, and for now, begin your own preparations! Anything and everything you can make with what we have will be useful; go, my friends, and my family! Go, and let’s race towards the beginning of the end!” she shouts, taking back control of the crowd as they disperse after a brief salute.

        As they were filing out, she dropped her hand from my shoulder to my wrist, and forcefully pulled me through a door I hadn’t had a chance to notice, closing and locking it behind her.

        I had a few moments to recognize this was supposed to be some kind of bedroom, or maybe a study, before I was roughly spun around and pushed onto the bed. I blinked and looked up at the ebony woman, her red eyes blazing with fury and her stony expression somehow matching it, despite showing nothing, “First things first,” she starts, that commanding tone that makes me melt booming throughout the room, despite how soft she’s actually talking, “You not only interrupted me, but asked questions that didn’t need asking, not when the lives of my people are involved.”

        I merely nodded, “For that, a punishment is in order,” she stated simply as she pointed to something I hadn’t yet noticed, and motioning me towards the wall, “For interrupting me, you will be chained here for as long as I wish.” She said as she clasped the shackles around my wrists, producing a riding crop from somewhere hidden.

        “Secondly, those who require punishment don’t require clothes,” she stated coldly as she used her nails and ripped my shirt open, tearing it at the shoulders so it fell around my ankles, before smacking my stomach with the crop, “Thirdly. You asked about my name. I guess I can give you a proper answer for that, at least.” She sighs, another whip of the riding crop landing elsewhere on my torso, “Over the years, I’ve had several names, though Queen was the one I took a liking to the most in recent history,” she starts, the riding crop landing twice more, this time on my nipples, which elicited a moan I bit back, “I’ve only ever told a handful of people my true name, then I’ve had to kill them for some reason or another, or put them in exile from even this exiled Clan.”

        She continued, the riding crop hitting my nipples a couple more times, the moans getting harder to bite back behind a bitten lip, “Don’t make me regret telling you my true name, girl,” she said, drawing out that last word harshly, “Or else I will have to kill you.” She finished, as she turned to look at me.

        I was hanging my head, hiding behind my curtain of hair to hide my face, bright with blush, and panting. I could see the marks where the riding crop hit me, and just the thinking of her hitting me more made it harder to think properly.

        She must’ve noticed something was wrong, as she’d stopped talking and stepped forward, tilting my head up towards hers. As she drank in my expression, she leaned towards my ear, “Mai, little Rosalyn; my name is Mai,” she whispered seductively as she rested the riding crop against the tops of my breast, “and you seem to be… enjoying yourself?” she asks.

        I know she purposefully asked rhetorically, but just then she slapped it where she’d had it resting, eliciting a moan I couldn’t bite back.

        I heard her smirk, the lust glazing over in my eyes as she tossed the riding crop elsewhere in the room before letting me out of the shackles.

        “Now, I’ve told you my name. I don’t have to kill you, do I?” she asked, returning to the seriousness of the previous conversation.

        I nodded, “I promise, I won’t tell anyone; not a single soul.”

        She simply nodded in response, before digging through what I now recognized as some kind of dresser, before tossing a plain, black shirt at me, “Here, for the one I ruined.”

        I pull it over my head, only to have her catch my cheek with a kiss as it pops through the whole, and my head being pet, “I’ve got to step back out to my Throne; I’m certain my generals are there, and have grown impatient. I promise that we’ll…. Continue later,” she says as she steps out the door.

        I sigh softly and flop back on the bed, laying there for a few minutes before getting up and pulling my shoes, socks, and jeans off. Once free of their constraints, I snuggle into the bed and doze off, vague sounds of arguing over the best course of action somewhat coming through.

        I awoke to a rather delicious aroma sometime later. Rubbing the sleep away as I stretched, I looked around, to find Mai sitting at the desk and a bowl of what looked like a stew with some buttered rolls on a plate on the end table next to me.

        I looked from the food to Mai, who had taken notice of me waking up, and who also nodded at me, silently making it known that the meal is for me.

        I nod back and dig in, not having realized how hungry I had gotten over the last few days until that moment. ‘Everything happened so fast, didn’t it?’ I thought to myself as I ate, ‘First the dreams started happening, then I met her… and now…’ it dawned on me where I was, and my brain shut down again; the rest of the meal devoured on autopilot, along with a glass of water she must’ve had someone bring in afterwards.

        “Would you like to take a walk around the grounds? Get more familiar?” she asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

        I looked over at where I thought she still was, only to find out she was now sitting on the bed with me, putting my brain near shut down mode again, “Uh, err…” I stuttered, trying to look everywhere but at her directly.

        She chuckled at my reaction, and pat my leg, “You’re cute when you’re flustered, and you fluster easily, you know that.” she states, more matter-of-factly than I would’ve liked as she stood up and stretched herself, “but anyway, suit yourself. I’ve got things to do, so stay here or don’t, your choice.”

        I merely nod as my brain begins processing things again, as I get up and put my clothes back on, settled for exploring the castle and surrounding grounds.

        I make my way through the now empty Throne room and whistle appreciatively, taking notice of the artwork and craftsmanship I hadn’t previously been able to. Making my way through the giant doors that were open, for once, I wandered around. I opened every door that would, and tried to remember where the locked ones were, for later. I passed through long hallways, some with lots of people, some with very few, others with none.

        It was a hallway that had nobody in it that had a long, lonesome window. I stopped and looked outside, whistling at the view of the rising moon, entranced by its beauty, ‘How many days has it been since we arrived?’ I thought to myself, eventually tearing my gaze away and searching for a way out, to walk around the village outside.

        “This window does have the best view of the night sky, usually,” a voice states from behind me.

        I stopped and turned around to look at the direction it came from, “Yes; it’s definitely breathtaking. How did… Rather, how was any of this managed?” I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me, though who the voice belonged to, I couldn’t see.

        I was about to turn around and go back to searching for a way out, when I felt a familiar hand on my shoulder, and a familiar breath on my earlobe, “I couldn’t tell you,” Mai said softly, barely more than a whisper, “I wasn’t part of this Clan when this particular castle was built, sad to say. My history with them doesn’t start for some few hundred years after the fact.” She added wistfully as she stood up, leading me around, despite being behind me.

        I nodded in some minor understanding and tilted my head to show I was listening, “Listen… About me, there’s a lot to tell. You must understand, I was born in the late-1700’s, so things are far more different now than they were then. For starters, we women had no power anywhere, or if we did, it was a very small amount. To add insult to injury, we of the mythological variety were scarce; that is to say, while we did what we needed to for survival, the humans ended up at each other’s throats in trying to hunt us down if it was suspected we were hiding amongst them.”

        I thought for a second, my train of thought taken to the Salem Witch Trials and sighed in understanding.

        As if reading my thoughts, she continued, “I mean, look what happened during the Salem Witch Trials, for one example. Whether they were legitimately non-human or not, dozens were burned at the stake for the ‘heinous crime’ of existing. Flash-forward to when I was ‘reborn’ as a Vampire, in the first half of the 1800s, in France. I had been there because I’d heard Europe was a slightly better place for… women like me, as well as finding ‘mythological’ creatures. At the time, I was looking for a witch specifically, you see, to ask about a couple spells or potions she might be able to make; one for immortality, and one for… well, you’ve seen me, haven’t you? I certainly found who I thought might be a witch, but in the end turned out to be the being that made me who I am today, almost quite literally. A live, blood-sucking, Vampire Queen. Since my initial birth, and my rebirth, I’ve had multiple names and aliases. For now, most just know me as Queen and, well, I told you the rest earlier, I think.”

        I listened in silence, my brain short circuiting as the memory of ‘earlier’ flashed through my head, “Where do I fit in with all of… this?” I asked quietly, “How am I… the way I am?”

        “Because you are; to make things simplistic, your parents tried something nobody, human or creature, had thought to try before. They managed to take DNA from both a werewolf and a vampire, combine it into one sperm, and then artificially fertilized your mother with it. I’m surprised it worked, let alone that your mother survived; though if anyone would’ve, it would’ve been her…” she trails off, what looks like a tear threatening to fall from the corner of her eye.

        My face rose and fell in shock as I listened, “I—I’m sorry… I didn’t know,” I replied softly, stopping to face her.

        She shook her head and smiled, “No, I’m glad it was she who did it. She actually survived against all odds, and managed to raise you as you should’ve been, at least for a handful of years. The doctors who were monitoring her were surprised as well; they’d given her a matter of weeks, maybe months if she was lucky. Though, I guess they hadn’t accounted for a Queen to lend her blood when needed,” she said with a sad grin.