A Violet Fire (Vampires in Avignon #1) - Kelsey Quick Page 0,11
drops upon entrance to the circular room; every inch of it covered by panels of luminous, reflective glass. For a moment I stand in awe as I study myself from all different angles and places. I haven’t seen a mirror like this since my home back in France. They were never allowed in the school or dorms.
“Ah, yes. The coveted mirror. Enjoy ravishing yourself.” The candid dorm mother snickers. I don’t reply, mainly because the energy that would be expended wouldn’t be worth it.
The other dorm mother tinkers with a mirror panel that has a crisp letter “Z” carved into the top. It slides open, and a single, long, ruby-red dress is revealed. Ruby is Lord Anton Zein’s indicative color in the Stratocracy of Cain. I lose interest as fast as I gained it, returning my attention to myself in one of the crystal panels, carefully analyzing everything about me. I see new things, like lightly colored birthmarks and blemishes that I never knew I had. Things that don’t necessarily displease me, but cause me to question how much I actually know my own body. Like finally putting a face to your own name.
A tug on my arm pulls me from the panel, and the mothers remove my towel. They proceed to dress me, primp me, and curl my hair with hot rounded coils. They place lavender scents upon my chest and arms. And while I should be in awe of myself like everyone else probably was during their dressing, I can’t help but find it all very... useless. A waste of time. My mind wanders to my inevitable fate, and I find only enough motivation to prevent myself from crumpling to the floor.
There’s no point to any of this.
“No,” I say, when they bring out the bottles of red, black, and fleshly liquid. They pause and tilt their heads, probably more shocked that a human tried to give them an order.
“You both must know what I did to land me in that infirmary. I’m sure you’ve heard your fair share of rumors, too, so what’s the point in all of this?”
They glance at each other, still shocked I assume, before the more assertive one speaks.
“That is none of our concern. Making you presentable is our job whether you will be subjected to death or not.”
I hold in a tight breath as the brushes make contact with my face, scouring the crevices. The other vampire, the candid one, offers a strange reply.
“If you know that you are going to die, why not leave this world with all you’ve got left within?”
“...What?” I wrinkle my eyebrows. Unsure if I heard her correctly.
“If you will die no matter what, you might as well die doing something fun. You know? If all you have left is your pride, leave this world with your pride.”
The other dorm mother narrows her eyes at her companion in scorn, but she pays her no mind.
“Pride?” I say, mainly to myself. The conversation stops there.
When they finish, it becomes difficult to look at my reflection. The person that I see in the mirror does not seem right. It doesn’t feel like me. What’s more is that as my time slowly seeps away, I grow even more regretful and angry; unbelievably anxious and scared. Even if Zein keeps up his streak of not sentencing any humans to death—for whatever reason—still my life is only as great as what it can do to fuel the vampire race. That means Saya’s Houses… where I will be forced to bear child after child, each one damned to live out their lives pining for vampire attention and hosting an endless bloodlust, until they finally end up back where they all started… where I will most definitely end.
I clench my teeth and lower my head as we make our exit back. I was unable to escape this prison that I have been confined to for ten years, and now, what faces me are only the most insufferable paths. Paths that converge to serve the very things I hate in the most horrible ways I can imagine.
But what can I do?
I lift my head as we enter the doors from before, the hallway now cleared of supply units and dorm mothers. We find them all in the sanctuary. Five long lines of supply units face away from us, each stationed in front of a colored banner—Ruby, Amethyst, Emerald, Gold, or Sapphire. Right now, the Sapphire banner is lit from the staged blue, flower-burning lanterns on