Wounded Butterfly!!…

As the world moved on, I stood frozen, broken and shattered!!…

Proserpina

"I was standing amid dunes with the dagger in my hand. The stormy clouds hovered over, turning the sky into midnight dark. The dry and chilled winds created giant sandstorms. I could feel someone watching over me!

A mystery man!

He looked so powerful, with ripped muscles and fierce body language. His face was shadowed, concealing his features, but his eyes had an unmistaken yellowish glow like pulsating hellfire. He was looking on the opposite side, behind enemy lines—a hooded vampire with an army of shadowed creatures.

The mystery man's body rippled, his armour snapped away, and his skin tore, bringing out the terrifying three-headed wolf from within that roared and ran at lightning speed, cutting through the sandstorm. Behind him, a wave of shadow followed, like an army of werewolves emerging through the portal. The battle took place between the werewolves and the vampires.

Then the air turned foggy with a stench of death. A pair of cold hands clutched me from behind. He was the Vampire. I screamed to the Werewolf to return to me, but he couldn't hear me amid the battle. The Vampire's fangs pierced through my skin."

"NO!" I screamed, gasping for breath. This nightmare has been terrorizing my sleep for the last few months. I sat on my bed with teary eyes roaming inside the gilded cage covered in dirt. It was built at the Northern Palace's highest point.

I have been trapped here for the last ten years. There has been no news about my parents since then. My uncle has taken over the throne and never came to see me. Often, I am left to starve for days in a row. Perhaps, I am a forgotten princess who died that day, but they failed to bury me.

I looked at my reflection in a small mirror barely hanging on the wall, thinking, 'If the pain has a face,' as a weak smile crossed my lips. My shoulders slumped, and a gush of tears flowed down my cheeks. My mind constantly battled with my heart, trying to reassure it that life doesn't always stay like that. But, my heart sank back into the darkness!!

I peeled and put a lump of hardened porridge in my mouth. I quickly devoured it but felt something crawling over my fingertips. The porridge was maggot infested. The bile shot up my mouth in disgust, and I violently threw up my stomach.

I wanted to start screaming, begging someone to come and get me out of there. I knew it wouldn't help, but that was the only thing I could do now.

I was jolted with shock by the feel of the ice-cold water dunking over my head. I turned around, shivering, only to hear garish laughter echoing.

"There she is, pretty princess!" One of the two guards spoke sarcastically, as with the dirt and black paint covering my body and hair, I was far from looking pretty. Still, that guard raked in my soaked body from head to toe.

"I see I made you wet!" The guard spoke with his gaze affixed between my thighs. Although I was fully dressed, his disgusting words made me feel dirty.

"I suppose I was caged here to be protected from the dicks of men, but your presence here proves that you both lack it!" I said with my anger flaring.

"You think you are funny bitch, yeah? Well, wait and see what's coming to you!" The guard said, removing his belt and unzipping his pants.

"She must be pure and unscathed, or the king will condemn your whole family to death!" Another guard warned him.

"I won't penetrate, but this bitch needs to learn her lessons." The first guard spoke, grabbing my hair and forcing my body to lower.

"On your knees, princess." He said, pushing me down. I fell with a painful thud, crying and scabbling to the far end, away from that man's malicious intentions.

"Leave her!" The other guard grabbed his elbow and pulled him away from me.

"What took you so long?" An older woman entered the cage. Her eyes bulged in shock over the scene.

"What did you do?!" She gave a sceptical look to them.

"Nothing!" The guard muttered angrily.

The woman grabbed my hand and dragged me to the pantry to wash the dishes, clothes and scrubbing the floor.

The flashes of the mystery wolf-man kept coming to my mind. My thoughts lingered on him as if my heart knew I must have known him from before, in some other time and life, perhaps past. My hands couldn't touch him, but my mind couldn't leave him alone. As a result, I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, and keep making mistakes and bumping into other maids. And that was when my day worsened as I bumped into the bully...Justina.

"Oh, my misery begins," I stated with a forced laugh. She was like an essence of evil in my life.

"Time to tame the crazy princess!" She commented, trying to act intimidating, but her voice was more like a man with a cold.

"What a cheesy line?" I rolled my eyes.

"I've to say, Princess, you have grown some balls." The way she said those words, I could hear their inner meaning like a cat scratching at a chalkboard. I knew her tactics and her mind games. Although her tone sounded friendly, it was laced with vindictiveness.

She deliberately dropped her tray. She then looked down at it and then at me with fury in her eyes. Her glare was burrowing its way into my forehead.

I held my hands up, saying, "I'm sorry." Though that would never be good enough for her, I walked away as far from her as possible.

"Where do you think you are going, sappy princess?" She hissed at me. I wondered what it was about me that she hated me so much. I turned around and said, "What did you say?" with my head exploding with outrage.

"You heard me, stupid princess!" Her lips curved into a sadistic grin.

"Leave it, Justina!" Another maid tried to convert tension into peace.

"Stay out of this!" Justina shouted at her and then looked down at the tray still on the floor. She nodded to it and snapped, "Pick it up!" her words slithered through her botched lips, and I half expected a snake's tongue to come out of her filthy mouth.

"No!" I said, folding my arms, determined that I won't back out this time.

"Pick it up, now!" Her eyes burned, turning red and bloodshot.

"I said NO!" I shouted back and was about to walk away from this girl's rude tantrum, but she grabbed my arm and dug in long fingernails, twisting them deeper into my skin.

"Crazy Princess," she sneered at me, curling her lip in pleasure, which was sickening. I tried to free my arm, but she twisted it more, and I could feel her nails digging into my skin. The pain seared through my skin, but I still managed to say, "I have felt more pain than your little cat scratch! Now let go!" I warned, but she twisted more, and that was when I lost all control.

I launched myself at her like a bear, and we were both on the ground holding fists full of each other's hair. Her hand was on my face, with her nail scratching down my cheek and neck.

"Stop it!" The older woman shouted. And that was when I realized that shitty guard was trying to separate us. I gasped at the sight of his face, frozen in pure rage.

"You see, this is what she does! This is real her! She's a destructive princess that craves attention!" Justina screamed.

"Oh, shut up, Justina!" I said when a tight slap hit my skin like a whip-lash. That guard hit me.

"What the----?" I gritted my teeth.

"Stop behaving like a spoiled princess!" The older woman said, grabbing my hand.

"Wh…where are you taking me...me?" I stammered.

"Vampire Prince Vlad is expecting to see you on your eighteen birthday, two weeks from now, to claim you. And this is how you behave, you silly barbarian? You will be groomed to his tastes and sent to Bucuresti. I wonder what vampire queen saw in you, you ugly duckling," She said with a disgusted look as if I was an abomination.

But what she thought of me was the least of my concern, for my thoughts went to Prince Vlad and his brother, my so-called mates.

What will become of me once they claim me? Will my life turn out to be better, or will I be caged again? The hope of dreaming of a better life shattered when I thought of Vampire queen Carmilla and how evil she was. Perhaps her sons are no different. I am so done being a little girl craving love and believing in fairy tales and knights on white horses; maybe it's time to run away. I thought, thinking of my dagger, feeling the heat where it touched my body. Indeed, it was magical, which always reacted to my touch.

"I hope Prince Vlad approves of you. You ugly little thing!" She hissed while dragging me through the hallways.

Why is she only talking about Prince Vlad? I am mated to his brother as well. Why does no one ever mention him? I wonder what his name is. Well, Fuck him!!

She wasn't looking for Prince Charming; she was looking for the dagger!!…