Unreal
Void Delirium
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Firstly, this story is dedicated to my friend Madelyn, who convinced me to make this an actual story instead of the random drabbles it began as.
Also dedicated to my friends Devin and Caroline – this story never would have been finished without their constant nagging.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bram Stoker's character Count Dracula (even though he is only mentioned briefly), nor do I own any other names/things you recognize. However, the characters Aleera, Jamison, Damien, and Pierce are MINE so no plagiarizing!
PLEASE DO NOT PRINT OFF OR SAVE ONTO COMPUTER!
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Prologue
In a castle deep in Transylvania
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The chains around her wrists rattled as she desperately tried to break the bars that were caging her in. Screams of frustration erupted from her lips, tears of desperation streaked down her dirt-smudged face, but still she was beautiful.
After all, that was the only reason she was still alive.
"Stay with me, my love, and I'll make you a Queen." the Count whispered, stroking the beauty's hair through the dungeon cell bars.
"No, I can't." she replied.
"Why ever not? Haven't I offered you everything you've ever wanted?"
"I-I have two children to care for at home... I can't stay... I just... can't." the beauty said, then broke off into sobs.
"If you stay with me, I'll give you thousands of children. What difference do these two mortal children make?"
The grief-stricken beauty just sobbed louder, clutching handfuls of her hair in agony. She ignored the powerful vampire in front of her and, instead, began talking to herself.
"Oh, what have I done? My poor children, not even knowing where their mommy is... Adrian is so strong and brave now – I can't believe hes almost 10 now... and my little Aleera – she's only four! She barely even knows her mommy... I'm such a horrible woman..."
"No, you are an exquisite woman who deserves no less than to become a queen. Stay with me, my love, and you'll never have to worry about anything ever again. I will make all your dreams come true." Dracula cooed, reaching out to grasp the beauty's chin and bring her face up to his eye level. And as soon as her eyes locked onto those crimson orbs, she was lost to his hypnotic spell.
"Te rog," he whispered in his native tongue.
"Yes..." she said breezily, "I'll stay with you."
The Count smiled.
"Now you must forget your family, forget your life back in America, forget your children. Your only life now will be here with me."
This caused the beauty to blink and look away, therefore breaking the spell between the two. She stared determinedly at the floor, refusing to meet those blood red eyes.
"I can't do that!" she shouted, her voice hoarse from screaming.
"If you refuse me," the Count spat harshly, "I will hunt down your children and kill them both right here in front of your eyes. Then I will kill you right after that."
The beauty trembled in her stance, clutching the dungeon bars for support. At seeing her fear, Dracula then changed his tone.
"Look at all I'm offering you! I'm giving you immortality, my love! I will make all your dreams come true! Just forget your other life and start a new one here!"
This startled the beauty into looking at the Count's eyes again, and then all was lost. A cunning grin draped across the vampire's features – he knew he had won.
"Yes, my King," the beauty whispered, fully under Dracula's control, "I will leave them all..."
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Twenty Years Later
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"Come on, Aleera! I know you can do better than that!" the blond man shouted, easily dodging my punch. I let out a frustrated growl.
"Shut up!"
It's not like I wanted to hurt him, but I knew that it was part of my training to do so. Hopefully he would never take it offensively if I left him with a bloody nose or something else of the sort.
Stepping to the right, I faked left and threw a right punch. My circle leader, also known as Damien, easily moved to avoid my attack, then returned a punch to me. It barely grazed against my jaw as I side-stepped away. His attacks were coming quickly, and I could barely blink before I had to block another one. Finally, as a last resort, I faked a punch and ended up kicking him square in the chest. His green eyes appeared startled as he fell back onto the cold grass, not believing I had actually done that.
I quickly made a move to help him up, but froze in my tracks as I heard the bushes behind me rustle. For a second, I could have sworn that something was behind me. But the longer I stood in place, the more I came to believe that I had imagined it all.
"Is anything out there?" I asked Damien, who was already up and inspecting the bushes.
"Nope, nothing. But let's end our session here, just to be safe."
Safe? If I had only learned one thing in my entire life, it would be this: nothing about my little town of Beauton is safe.
I am writing this to tell you about my life as Aleera Covington – the life which I soon learned was all a lie and, within two months, the life that turned completely upside-down.
I write this for your own benefit, so you do not make the same mistakes I did.
My story all started when I was given my first mission to prove my worth as a vampire slayer. But, firstly, there are some important pieces of my past that all led up to the mission. Those pieces shaped my character into who I was and, therefore, are key to understanding this story of a lonely woman.