Sorry, Love

Thanks to the remedy, Milena finally managed to find some restful sleep, dream-free. It felt as if she had fought three wars and finally managed to catch a break, her body falling into some deep slumber for several long hours. Anytime she got close to waking up, she could feel gentle fingers caressing her hair, or a cold breeze.

When she did wake up, the light of day blinded her first. She grimaced, annoyed by the sunlight, until someone's silhouette blocked it for her.

"Good Morning, Love."

It took her a few seconds to fully wake up, remember where she was and with whom. As she managed to fully open her eyes, she recognized the red eyes and long white hair.

"...Sir Raelius?"

"It's Grandpa," he sighed. "Grandpa Rael, if you prefer."

"You're not my grandfather."

"Oh, technically I'm something like your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandpa, but who's counting?"

Milena let out a faint sigh. His gentle smile had something comforting about it. She didn't have any proof he actually was her ancestor, but she didn't feel the need for it. That man gave off a similar presence as her Father. 

Tears naturally came to Milena's eyes as she thought about her father. Her mind was still very much foggy from the mix of drugs and heavy sleep, but one thing was for certain; she would never see her father again. She tried hard not to cry, but before she could stop it, she was sobbing and hiding her face in her arm, embarrassed. She hated for someone to see her cry like this, even if she felt close to Prince Raelius. She heard him sigh, and soon enough, he was caressing her long raven locks again.

"I'm really sorry, Love."

"Can you really help us?" She asked with a hoarse voice, still hiding her eyes.

"I promise I will do everything I can. There's no doubt you're my descendant, and... from what I've heard so far, it's pretty clear what you're enduring today all began during my time, about three centuries ago."

Milena slowly nodded, and took a few more seconds to calm herself down.

When she was finally able to, she slowly sat up, wiping her tears, and glancing around the room. The pain in her stomach bothered her. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until her upper body was upright... How long had it been? Two days, at the very least. She grimaced.

"Hungry?" Raelius guessed. "...They brought food in, two hours ago, but I don't know if it's safe for you to eat."

Milena's eyes fell on the little tray on the desk. Food! She could now smell it. She tried to stand up to get it, but before she did, Raelius was already coming back to her with the silver tray, putting it in front of her. Never had such a simple meal looked so appetizing. The lukewarm potato soup with a little piece of bread was all Milena wanted to see right now. Without hesitating, she grabbed the spoon, and began eating mouthfuls of it. Raelius sat on the other end of the bed, facing her with a frown.

"Aren't you concerned about being poisoned?"

"I'm trained against poison," Milena shook her head. "I have half a dozen different antidotes on my bracelet. Plus, the servants are most likely on my side. They mostly obey the Queen, and she wouldn't do anything to harm me."

"Now that sounds like a complicated situation, Love... You might need to explain a bit more to me. That brother of yours is very cute, but he seemed rather lost."

Milena slowly put down her spoon. Even lukewarm, that soup tasted delicious to her starved palate.

"Raphael just woke up as a White One..."

"A White One, is that what you call it?" Nodded Raelius.

"Do you call it differently?"

"How would I know, Love? I was the very first one created."

Milena was baffled. She hadn't really thought about it until then, but Raelius was definitely a white one... Despite his unusual eyes. She sighed.

"Do you... remember much?" She asked. "Most White Ones seem to forget about their past life upon their transformation, but you immediately remembered your sister, Princess Silvra..."

Rael chuckled, and looked down on his hands with a nostalgic expression. Milena realized he had found clothes since they had taken him out of the Blood Pool... He was wearing a very simple black leather ensemble, with a woolen cape of poor quality. Those weren't clothes made for nobility, more like something a middle-class hunter would wear. Perhaps he had stolen them. He had probably taken a shower to wash off all the blood, and his hair was now white as snow, long and beautiful too. He hadn't even tied it, it was simply falling elegantly on his shoulders and down to his waist.

"...I'm not sure," he muttered. "I don't remember that much, to be honest. I don't remember what happened to me in the last days, or even the last weeks before my... demise, and I have very... vague memories too. I feel like I only remembered what was essential, like the faces of my loved ones. According to Raphael, I should have forgotten it all, but it's not the case, luckily. ...I have two theories. Mostly, I suspect I'm a... defective one."

"Defective?"

He pointed at his eyes.

"Those are not supposed to be still red, Love, from what I reckon. Raphael told me about the other White Ones, like your friend Blanche. They all have gold to brown eyes, but none have kept the red eyes from their time as vampires. I do have a power as well though, so I am not going to complain..."

"What is the other theory?"

"Time. I've spent three hundred years under ice. Perhaps spending so much time without any memories f****d me to dig out the ones I had trapped inside my mind... Raphael mentioned he had heard me actually dreaming. Is there anyone who can dream, without any memories?"

"...Vampires don't dream."

"Exactly. But my brain had to learn how to, right? So it might have unlocked my memories by necessity. Who knows. Then again, those are only suppositions. It's not really important right now though, is it?"

"...I've been trying for a long time to understand where, when and why Wendigos were created," Milena muttered. "We're close to getting to the remedy to stop vampires from transforming into those creatures, but the main solution is dhampir blood, and... we have a limited quantity of it."

"How come?" Raelius frowned. "No other Dhampir volunteered?"

Milena hesitated.

"No, I'm... I'm the only Dhampir."

"What?" He scoffed nervously. "What do you mean?"

"That's just as it is. I'm the only living Dhampir that we know of... Dhampirs are just too rare, so..."

His expression sank, and he gradually looked more and more furious.

"Too rare?" He repeated. "You're telling me you're the only Dhampir child... in this Kingdom?"

"That I know of, yes. I-I mean we do suspect there have been others, but they were probably kidnapped by the Church, and since there's so few of us..."

"Milena, that does not make sense," Raelius hissed. "Dhampirs are rare, yes, but not that rare that you wouldn't know of anyone else like you! ...During my time, the ratio of dhampirs born between a human and a vampire was one in twenty children!"

"...One in twenty?" Milena muttered, shocked

"That's right."

"B-but... Silvra was the only other dhampir recorded in history!"

"There were more!" He shouted. "Many more! Before we had to move the Kingdom here, back in Lunaria, the Dhampirs were not a... an extinct species, there were many! Certainly not as many as humans or vampires, but no way was there just one! Having a Dhampir child was even a source of joy for mixed couples! One of my best friends was a dhampir!"

Milena was baffled. There was no way they would have suspected such a thing. What had happened? How had the dhampirs plummeted until she was the first one recorded in three centuries? Raelius seemed absolutely furious, but Milena was more surprised.

"We... With my husband, we had a theory... That the Church was somehow k********g dhampir children for their experimentations. It didn't make sense that they were able to create White Ones all at once. We thought they had used my blood since I had several accidents, but... There's Blanche, the Oracle, the Saint, and at least one more White One alive. My blood alone wouldn't have been enough, so we suspected they had at least one more dhampir in their hands. There's word on the Black Market too, there's a constant high offer for Dhampirs to be sold. That's how my Father was able to find me, when I was kidnapped as a child. Someone... tried to sell me on the Black Market."

Raelius took a deep breath, visibly trying to calm down. After a while, he slowly nodded, his eyes going to the window, then back to Milena.

"...Love, you need to eat first. Then, you need to explain everything to me. Raphael was half-confused himself, just as you said, he doesn't have his own memories. He only read those of your furry friend... So, you eat, and then you get to chat with Grandpa. We have the time."

Milena's eyes went to the locked door, and a shiver went down her spine. The fear was still there. She hated that she was now so afraid of seeing that pair of green eyes in the corner, behind Raelius, but she couldn't help it. Hours and hours of delirium and horror had her trapped still. Raelius noticed, and glanced towards the door too.

"Don't worry," he muttered. "He won't come back anytime soon."

"...So I didn't dream it," she whispered.

"No, Love. But don't worry, he doesn't approach you. I know it must be frustrating, but from what I've witnessed, he just stands there like a creep, watching. It feels like he's waiting for something but I am not sure what. He comes in the evening and spends most of the night here, but he leaves a few hours before dawn, and stays out during the daylight." 

Milena slowly nodded. She was disgusted with Ellias, and disgusted with her own fear.

"So you have... been watching over me?" She asked in a low voice.

"When I could. I've been here and with your brother when I couldn't. He's fine, but worried about you. So is that little furry pest, Blanche. They kept harassing me to stay by your side."

Milena smiled. It was a relief to know they had made it out alright.

"Thank you, Raelius."

"It's Grandpa," he protested, looking hurt. "Love, if you don't start calling me Grandpa I'm really going to take it personally, you know!"

Milena chuckled, her first smile in a while. In fact, it wasn't so much about their connection, but she had a hard time calling someone Grandpa that barely looked older than her. Physically and despite his white hair, Raelius seemed like a man in his thirties. He seemed about Valentin's age, and didn't even have a single facial hair either... She had a hard time seeing him as a very, very old person. The only thing was his voice, and his tone. He spoke with a deep, slow voice that did make him seem like an older man. He probably wasn't that old when he had been trapped in the blood pool, so she was a bit surprised he was so willing to play the part of a "grandpa". She finished her soup in a couple of mouthfuls.

"...Grandpa Raelius," she said, putting it aside. "Grandpa, you said... You know who's behind all this."

"I said I have an idea. But I've been awake for just a few days and I'm not sure about anything, Love. So, now, I need to hear you out. All of it, Milena De Crescent."

She nodded, and took a deep breath.

Milena chose to tell him absolutely everything. From her childhood as the only known dhampir child alive, her mother's death, her k********g, even her relationship with the twin princes. It was the first time Milena was opening up so much, and, in a way, telling her whole story felt incredibly freeing. Not only that, but it was the first time she spoke out loud some of her thoughts, or voiced some of her opinions. Raelius was her family, but he was also a stranger. Perhaps that explained why she spoke so much, without an ounce of shame or restraint. She smiled when she mentioned the happy times with her fiancé-now-husband, and cried when she remembered those she had lost, especially Valentin. 

Raelius was a good listener, and many times, she noticed he withheld his questions to let her speak. He only interrupted her a couple of times to clarify who was related to whom, or some decisions she had taken. The more she spoke, the more his expression changed. He got mad with her, sad with her. Milena was even surprised how saddened he seemed about the losses she had faced in her own family, and how angry he got in her stead at times. Naturally, he asked her most about the White Ones or about the political issues. At times, she felt him get upset for a reason she couldn't understand, or grimacing at some surnames. Still, he let her speak for a very long time. Milena felt a bit better after eating, resting and being able to talk to someone. It had been a restless few days, and this was one of the few times she actually felt safe. She was still a bit cold, but the blanket he had brought was good enough to keep her warm. She had noticed how Rael had also positioned himself so she would get some sunlight, but he was blocking most of the cold air coming through the window. 

Milena's eyes couldn't help but go to the door, from time to time. She was speaking softly, and always keeping an ear out for any sound coming from the corridor. Most likely, that door was thick enough to block the sounds, and the wind of the snowstorm blocked the rest of it from coming out, but she couldn't help but be nervous. At best, even if they did hear her, they would think she was still under the effects of the d**g, and speaking to herself...

When she finally ended her whole story, no less than a couple of hours later, Raelius slowly nodded, with a long sigh.

"...You're one brave little Princess," he muttered with a proud smile.

"Do you think everything happening now really is related to... what happened three hundred years ago?"

"My brother definitely created the wendigos," he groaned. "He was a lot of things, but he was both brilliant and dangerous above everything. I don't remember everything, but I remember we had a tense relationship... All of us did. The only ones that were truly close were Silvra and Silverius, of course. The two oldest. Those two were always together, while Sleverin and I were the... third wheels. I remember being mostly free. I was the fourth child. I helped when I had to, but I also had the freedom to do whatever I wanted. I probably gave Charmilla a hard time too..."

"My ancestor, the Duchess De Crescent?"

"She was a Marquess, back then."

"That title is barely used anymore... We only have the four Duchies now."

"It makes sense, if there's only so many nobles left. Anyway... We were always close, but I probably wasn't the most... reliable fiancé. I feel like I wasn't until the very end..."

His eyes went back to Milena, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"...History has it that you were... killed by Sleverin," muttered Milena.

"I don't remember how I ended up in the Blood Pool, like I said. But I do want to find out. I don't really... care about my own death. But I want to know who killed my sister, and what the f**k happened to our family. To dhampirs, too."

Milena felt strangely close to Raelius, at that very moment. She realized, she would have probably been the same, had she been in his position. Him waking up three centuries after his disappearance was tragic, but it was a matter too old to cry over, and he was here now. She could understand he was madder about his siblings' fate...

"So what do we do now?" Milena asked. "My plan was to stay here until I can get to the King and escape, using him as a hostage, but with you here... We could probably go faster, right? To find who is behind this."

"...Whoever it is, I think we need to stop them with your initial idea, Love. The remedy. We need to bring your hubby back, and stop the wendigos. Your plan is good, Love, so we will stick to it, and I'll do what I can to give you more power."

"I'm not powerless. I told you, the people will follow me, and..."

"Even if you do have that many people and the citizens on your side, The Church will simply hide even more," said Raelius. "I don't doubt a single second they'll let the King take the fall for them, and hide until they find the next brat they can manipulate. Think about it. How do you think they stayed in the shadows for so long, while doing such horrible things?"

"I know, but every time I tried to trace them back to the top, the trace has gone cold. I've tried everything, Grandfather. Stake outs, bribery, murder, hostages, anything. Rayan and I have been trying forever to find who is behind this, but anytime we get close to having an advantage over them, somebody dies, and we are back to square one. They even killed their own White One, the Oracle! And now they have one more that murdered my best knight, and even posed as our nurse to try and steal my children!"

"Don't worry about that White One," said Raelius. "I'm sure we'll meet them again, and find a way to end them. For now, I need you to stick to your original plan, Love, and fool the King. You're right. He's not our main target, but he's our best shot at luring them out."

"...My original plan, you mean... the d**g?"

Milena's eyes went on the device. It was in a corner of the room, visibly blocked under an upside-down pot Raelius had brought inside.

"Yeah. I am still learning how to use my power, so this seems to be the biggest size of object I can get, and I have to take it with me when I leave you. ...Our best shot is for you to pretend you're still getting drugged, while taking the remedy and becoming immune to that shit."

"So you really can't take me out of here," muttered Milena.

"I wish, Love... I wish I could," he sighed, leaning forward to caress her hair again. "For now, you're going to have to be strong a bit longer. I know you can do this."

"...I know."