“Congratulations Ma’am! It’s a boy!”
Maids were rushing about and the sound of high pitched cries reached throughout the palace. The head maid quickly bundled up blankets around the source of the noise.
The mother slowly watched from afar in her bed. She had no energy to even acknowledge the maid that was beaming happily at her.
'William my love,'
The bright purple in her eyes began to fade.
'I’m sorry.'
As the Lady of the house was not responding, the maids began to panic. Standing over the Lady, the maid brang the bundle closer.
“Lady Amaia? Wouldn’t you like to hold your son?” the maid beckons desperately, holding the baby towards the Lady.
Yet she could not hear them; as her thoughts began to blur, so did her vision.
'Don't be too mad at me.'
She slumps over in the bed, her curly black hair blanketing her face as her final resting place.
“M-Madam?!”
“Oh god she’s not moving...”
“Madam! D-Doctor! We need a doctor immediately!”
The palace was in chaos. The madam had died giving birth.
-
In the bedroom, covered in luxurious drapes and candles, an ethereal man keened in agony. He knelt on the side of the bed, face buried in the sheets. His long-time friend and palace doctor, Thomas, stood at his side.
“I’m sorry William… The birth was too much for her body this time.”
William only responded with a pained sob as he buried his face next to his Amaia. This was not meant to happen. This was not what should’ve happened today.
The doctor could only stand there with regret and grief for his friend's family. There was silence throughout the manor that night.
-
As morning dawned, the sun lit a newly decorated room. Like most rooms in the manor, the windows were high and dressed in the finest drapes. However, unlike other rooms, a most prestigious crib sat in the middle of the chamber.
Two maids occupied the room and leaned over the crib. One was a short blond woman miserably trying to stop crying, while the other had dark plum hair tied into a ponytail. The plum-haired maid stared sadly down at the crib. “She’s gone… I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like without Madam Amaia.”
A small gurgle was heard, and they both looked down into the crib.
There, in the crib, was a newborn baby with raven hair and bright purple eyes, with a mole speckled under his right eye. He opened his eyes as he sensed the presence of the maids.
Confused at the fact he had just woken up, he began to tear up. The maid quickly shushed him and the blond maid picked the baby up and began to cradle him.
The plum-haired maid sighed, gently poking his incredibly soft cheek. “It’s such a shame though,” she says to herself, “She never saw how precious the young master is.”
The blond maid nodded solemnly as they both stared down at the amethyst eyes of their newest young master, Elijah Mason.
It was nighttime in the manor, and the palace was dead. Little Elijah rested in his crib.
The baby would now and again wriggle but was contently sleeping after crying and giving the maids hell the whole day.
The maids would come in at scheduled times throughout the night to check on the baby, but it seemed one came much sooner than the next planned check-in. She walks lightly on her feet and closes the door slowly so as not to wake Elijah. Once she reaches the middle of the room she stops by his crib and peers down.
She sneers in disgust at the boy.
Elijah does not notice her presence and continues to snuggle into his sleep. The maid, whose features were shadowed in the moonlight, shifts backward. She begins to pull something from her apron. A knife is clutched in the emerging hand.
"Rest in hell-" she swings the blade toward the baby, "Devil Child."
Blood splatters across the carpet, and a loud crack resounds through the room.
Something thuds to the floor as Elijah cries. The door closes and someone starts walking toward the crib once again. "My poor baby." They shushed the boy, "Shh, you're alright now."
Stepping over the bleeding maid on the floor they hover over the crib. They ignore the dying gasps on the floor near them.
"My poor Eli... Did your stupid daddy wake you up?" He apologizes to his son and reaches for him, "I'm sorry my angel."
Elijah's cries begin to silence as Wiliam rocks him in his arms.
William smiles as he snuggles into Elijah's face. "Papa left the window open and it seems a bug decided to fly in," he scoffs and his gaze becomes unclear. "The bugs are getting bolder."
Carrying Elijah in his arms, he begins to walk towards the windows covering the far wall, and peers down at the courtyard. Elijah gurgles and William smiles and strokes the boy's cheek with his index finger.
"You are very special Elijah, just like your big brothers and sisters," William grins down at Elijah. "In this land of Zinnia, there are only humans." He chuckles, "That is why we are special."
William stares lovingly at the baby in his arms.
"That is why those bugs swarm to you, they are jealous of how special you are."
William peers down at the bug on the floor, her blood staining the carpet.
Ugh, what a bother that will be to get out.
"But you have no need to worry about them Eli, Daddy will squash them for you."
-
"And that was Lady Anastasia and Sir Red!" Emilia points out to her 5-year-old brother, Elijah. "They were both knights for the royal military!" She beckons him closer to the painting they were staring at.
Earlier in the day, Emilia got the bright idea that it was her duty to teach Elijah everything about their family, and has since been dragging him all throughout the manor to look at memorabilia.
"They were both highly respected knights, and even managed to end the war the very same day it was started," she explained in awe, pointing towards a short but muscly woman and a tall yet expressive man.
However, Elijah couldn't turn his eyes away from someone else in the painting. There stood the tallest man in the painting, draped in the fluffiest coat Elijah had ever seen! His dragon-like pink eyes bore down at him.
"Sister? Who is that tall man?" Elijah beamed.
Emilia zones in and begins to think. "The creepy dude?" she squints at the painting. Realization dawned on her. "Oh! That's Count Dragon."
Well I can see where he gets that name, Elijah thought.
"I guess technically he's the founder of this family!" She hums. "He was a rich and successful man who decided to open up an orphanage. But somehow he ended up fathering all the children and they all became the Mason family."
Emilia leans into the portrait, zeroing in on Count Dragon's eyes.
"However people believe his intentions for the orphanage were much darker than they thought."
"Back before the family was built, Zinnia had just lost a war with the neighboring country. It resulted in poverty among the people and many homeless children were dying in the streets."
"So when Count Dragon came to give the children a home, the people believed it was so he could eat them."
Emilia hovers over Elijah.
"Back then, there was a rumor that drinking the blood of a child would keep you youthful and immortal. Count Dragon was known by the people for his look and health, even among the war so they couldn't help but be suspicious-"
"Don't listen to a thing she says Elijah" Emilia and Elijah turn to find Anna, Elijah’s other older sister, she stares at them with her hands on her hips.
"Eating children? Please Emilia, that's a human way of thinking." She scoffs, "For all they care about, we're only monsters."
She squints at her twin, "And why are you of all people teaching Eli?"
Emilia puffs up. "What did you just say?!"
Elijah watches and his older twin sisters begin to squabble once again for the 5th time today.
They tend to fight a lot, these two twins. Anne is the second oldest of the family, while Emilia is third.
The problem is that Anne likes to use her power as the oldest twin, even if there's only a 20-minute difference in birth. The rest of the siblings Elijah has are Romano, who is the oldest and the only sibling with a different mother, and Adam, the second youngest.
Adam does not like to play with Elijah, and why, Elijah doesn't know. With Adam not an option, Elijah doesn't have many to play with. His older siblings are never at home, either at school or in Romano's case, at work. Elijah had become acquainted with two kids of his father's friend but he couldn’t see them often.
His family lives an hour away from the main village, their gothic mansion overlooking the tiny town on a hill.
But, Elijah wasn’t sure he’d want to live near the village in the first place.
Once, his father had brought him into town to pick up his siblings from school. But Elijah couldn't shake off the gazes of the people walking by.
He didn’t understand why they were looking at him and his father with such hostility. He grabs his father’s attention.
“Papa, why are they mad at me?” Elijah asks, looking up at his father as he is carried through the streets in his arms. William smiles and ruffles his hair, “Just ignore them pup, no one could ever be mad at you.”
Little did he know, people had a hatred for them that ran much deeper than Elijah could imagine.
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