The Elusive Dream

"The sacrifice has already been done in preparation for their wedding night and that is ruined, If he does not marry her how are we supposed to achieve our objective? Have you spoken to him? Encouraging him to hurry it up." Came the worried voice of lady Kassandra.

"That will only make him suspicious." A male voice seated in a large chair said.

Unlike Lady Kassandra, his voice was calm and sure and she began to pace about in the dark room whose only source of light was a singular candlelight flickering away in the distance.

"We don't have more time, the master expects—"

"I know exactly what the master expects and he shall have it." He continued in an unhurried manner.

Kassandra was exasperated. They were quickly running out of time and could not afford to drag their feet or else their window of opportunity would be missed. She could not bear the thought of disappointing the master and receiving his punishment.

She shuddered at the thought.

"I already have another plan and the master agrees so it has already been set in motion. I only await one thing and then we shall be set to proceed."

Lady Kassandra glared in the direction of her companion in anger. While she had been fretting and tearing her hair out he already had a plan up his sleeve but he left her in worry. She wished that she could slap him for what she had gone through.

"Go and prepare because soon all that has been denied us will be back in our hands." He said, the trace of a smile in his voice.

He and so many others had waited so long for the chance to come out of the dark where they had been forced to hide like rats.

•

When Naiari woke up the next morning, she sat up in bed and blinked the sleep away while she tried to figure out why she felt so disturbed. She realized that it was the dream she had dream but it hung around like a hazy obscure memory, elusive and vague. She searched in her deepconciousness to remember details of the dream but to no avail and she felt frustrated.

She was soon distracted by Marie who came in and on seeing that she was awake, she helped her get ready for the day. Soon Naiari forgot all about the dream that she did not remember.

Breakfast was brought into the room and Naiari had to wonder if they were keeping her away because they were embarrassed to have a human eat at their table.

'Or maybe they are worried that i will look too much like an entree and someone might decide to try to take a bite out of me.' She thought and chuckled softly to herself.

She ignored Marie's pointed look. If she wanted she could go around and tell everyone that not only was the human princess weak but she was also insane, maybe they would let her go.

Reluctant as she was to go to the library, she nonetheless braced herself to go down. It would not do to have the vampire princess think that she was cowering and hiding in her room because she was afraid of a confrontation with her. She would just make sure she did not stay there too late.

She thought about the encounter she had had the previous night and decided that today she would look for a map of the kingdom and find a way to escape. She was more determined than ever to leave before she ran into someone who was faster than Ara was at rescuing her.

When she stepped out the door she noticed that it seemed more crowded than usual, in addition to the two guards who usually manned the doors there were now two more people. A young woman and a man who were dressed like the guards.

"Your majesty." They said with a bow to her that startled Naiari.

She still got unnerved when people treated her like a Royal.

"I am James and she is Valerie, we are to be your guards and we have been sent to go everywhere with you." The man informed her.

Naiari raised an eyebrow at their words. Who could be responsible for this? Had someone heard about altercation with the two women? Was this truly to protect her or was it just a ploy to stop her from running away?

Wordlessly she walked away to the library while her small entourage behind followed her. As they walked along the corridor she saw Prince Ara and his eyes flickered over her head to the guards who were following her before they settled on him.

As they came to a stop he smiled at her.

"I was on my way to see if i could accompany you to the library but I see that you already have escorts." He said of the unsmiling guards behind her.

"That is kind of you Prince Ara." Naiari said sweetly but Ara's face creased in a frown.

"I am Ara to you mi lady." He said glibly, "I will just let you go then." He added with a bow before stepping away.

Naiari realized that Ara did not know about her guards, who then could have done that?

Thankfully for Naiari, the guards all stopped in front of the door and let her go in alone while Marie went to the kitchen to bring snacks.

However, Immediately she stepped into the library she wanted to turn around and flee but she forced herself to be calm even under the scrutiny of those eyes that studied her as if she would be eaten if she made one false move.