In The Underground Cell

GRACE woke up in a familiar room. Her bedroom! After two days of unconsciousness, she woke up from her living nightmare. No more chain. No more hitting. No darkness! Yes! It was the freedom she wanted. That three months spent living unwillingly in the slave house was a hard time for her. Till today, she still felt painful and anxious. Every day living in a bad dream, hoping someone would wake her up and said it just a dream. But now, it just a terrible piece of her memory.

Grace looked around her bedroom. She was sitting on the cozy, soft bed covered in comfortable duvets. Her toys and teddy bears were on the floor. Her beautiful family portrait was hanging on the wall, and she could see the lights. Everything was still the same as before. The same!

Some maids were waiting for her to wake up. Grace smiled feebly at them. She still felt a little weak. And Grace was hungry.

She wanted proper food. Not a spoiled piece of bread like she received at the slave house. Yet her mouth was hard to utter the word 'food'. Fortunately, her maids understand. In an instance, they served a platter of warm soup with freshly baked bread in front of her. As she took a sip of the warm soup, Grace could not hold back her tears anymore. She used to take those things for granted. After living in the slave house, she always regretted that she never appreciated it.

At that moment, memories came rushing to her mind. She could still remember how the human named Yuki saved and healed her. While returning to the estate, Yuki embraced her. And Grace could not forget the soft and cold yet warm hands of Yuki caressing her hair. Like a mother.

"Where is my brother?" Grace asked after finally regaining her strength, bit by bit.

"Young Lord is in his study. Should I call for him, milady?" the maid reply.

Grace shook her head. "Where is the woman that followed us to the manor?"

The maid took some minutes to answer the question, "The guest is…" she hesitated, "… in the cell." Her voice was almost inaudible.

But Grace could hear her loud and clear. Especially the 'cell' part. "What?!" she gasped.

Another maid interrupted the conversation. "The Young Lord put the guest in the cell. In the underground cell."

Grace was in shock and disbelief. She could not accept what her brother did to her savior! Hurriedly, Grace jumped out of her bed. In her nightgown, she escaped the maids and ran to his brother's study on the third floor.

BANG!

Grace opened the door. She forced herself into Damien's study, although the guards tried to stop her. But that is Grace. And she is unstoppable!

It truly surprised Damien to see his sister doing well and so energetic in the morning. "Grace!" Damien stopped whatever he was doing at the moment and lunged at Grace. He gave a lot of kisses to his beloved sister.

Grace tried to avoid the kisses. Sometimes, her brother was too much to handle. And it was displeasing!

"Brother! I cannot believe you did that to my guest!" Grace was mad at her brother.

"What did I do?" Damien acted innocent.

"You locked my guest in the cell, brother!" It enraged Grace at the thought of her brother Damien placing Yuki in a prison cell. In underground!

"She is a vampire, dear sister! A precaution is a must!"

"Gosh! I cannot rely on you, anymore! This is nonsense!" Grace shouted. "Hand me the keys."

"What keys?" Damien raised his hands in the air.

"Stop playing innocently with me, brother. I want the keys for the cell, of course!" Grace lost her temper.

Damien chuckled at seeing his adorable sister being angered. It was cute. "Grace… you just woke up. And you require plenty of rest. Don't strain yourself on something trivial. Instead, focus on your recovery. My ceremony is going to be held in two days, and I want you to be there with me." And Damien carried his sister out of the study.

Grace was struggling. "You don't understand! Sister Yuki helped me at the slave house!"

Damien stopped walking. "What do you mean by helping? She was also there, being locked. She just another slave."

Grace sighed. She tried to explain. But she carefully elucidated it without spilling the beans. "No! She helped me!"

Damien breathed heavily. This conversation was not continuing the way it should be. It was not going anywhere! Grace kept repeating the same words again and again without explaining the real reason for her action.

At last, Damien gave up. Like he always did. He gave the keys to the underground cell with some conditions. "Take care of yourself and recover. And please explain this to me soon, because I don't want my sister to keep any secrets from me. It is suffocating and torture trying to figure out what is playing on your mind, little sister."

And Damien gave a peck on her forehead.

___

THE shouts and laughter of servants came from a distance, woke Yuki. Her vision was watery, and she was still sleepy. At least she was sleeping on a bed, not on the icy floor. And the servants gave her a coarse blanket to warm up and cover herself in this weather. Yuki admitted it was pretty comfortable than being in the slave house.

There was a small hole in the wall that allowed Yuki to see the outside. Everyone was busy doing their chores. And everything looked pretty decent.

What was not normal was the servant kept giving her bags of blood for breakfast and dinner. And of course, she did not even touch them. For goodness' sake, she does not drink blood!

Yuki finally realized that others assuming she was a vampire because of her unique hair color and pale skin. Yet, the reason for her pale skin was because she did not have any proper food for days. Luckily, the servant gave her normal water to drink.

Yuki just kept waiting and waiting for her little savior to come. But the boredom was suffocating. She needs something to do or maybe read. She saw the guard outside was riding a journal, and she just stared at it with curiosity.