Free Web NovelMatt closed his eyes.
"That's what you say."
The voice didn't respond.
The rest room stayed silent.
The bow-spear rested beside the bed.
The fountain glimmered softly.
And Matt…
Matt was trembling.
Not much.
Just in his fingers, but enough to hate it, so he clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
'Calm down.'
His current body was his.
Male.
Recovered.
His.
But the memory was still there.
The queen.
Her smile.
Her soft voice.
Her hands arranging his white hair as if he were a doll.
A year.
A full year.
A year in which that woman had watched him, corrected him, and raised him from scratch as if he were truly her daughter.
How to sit.
How to speak.
How to walk.
How not to refuse a glass of blood at gatherings.
How to dance.
How to greet people.
How to endure being dressed in clothes he hated.
How to respond when someone called him princess.
How to bow his head when the queen said his name in that soft voice.
And when he didn't learn…
Training.
Beatings.
Corrections.
More training.
More beatings.
Until his body got up on reflex even when his mind wanted to stay on the floor.
Matt swallowed.
'Damn witch.'
"I am nothing like her."
Matt opened his eyes.
The voice had spoken in a low tone.
Colder than usual.
Matt frowned.
"What?"
"I am nothing like that lying, manipulative witch."
Matt went still.
For a few seconds, he said nothing.
Then he slowly raised his head.
"Well."
The voice didn't respond.
Matt narrowed his eyes.
"Iris never insulted her like that."
"I'm not Iris."
"You say that a lot."
"Why do you keep comparing me to her?"
"Because you're inside my head."
"That wasn't my decision."
Matt let out a dry laugh.
"Right."
The voice was quiet for a moment. Then it spoke more carefully.
"I don't need to pretend I hate the queen."
Matt didn't respond.
"I hate her."
Matt stared at the cold forges.
"You're trying too hard to win me over."
"No."
"Yes."
"Matt."
"What?"
"It's the truth."
Matt clicked his tongue.
The voice continued:
"I analyzed what she did to you."
"How lovely. Now my trauma has a report."
"She tore you out of your life."
Matt didn't respond.
"She changed your body. Put a vampire consciousness inside your head. Locked you in a castle and forced you to act like her daughter."
Matt gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.
The music.
The ballroom.
The queen taking his hand.
His body obeying steps he never wanted to learn.
Nobles smiling.
Iris yawning inside his head.
"She taught you to fight through beatings."
Matt opened his eyes.
"That part was very educational."
"It wasn't education."
"Don't state the obvious."
The voice went quiet.
Then continued:
"She also threw you into this cave to make you obtain Eleonora."
Matt looked at the bow-spear.
Not Eleonora.
But the memory of her appeared anyway.
His first ego weapon.
His first real companion in that place.
And also another chain.
The voice spoke more softly.
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"And through all of it, Iris was with you."
Matt let out a humorless laugh.
"Being around Iris should count as formal torture."
"She was insufferable."
Matt raised an eyebrow.
"Now that sounded sincere."
"It was."
Matt looked down.
The trembling in his hands had eased.
Not gone.
Just eased.
"But that wasn't the worst of it."
The voice didn't ask.
Maybe she already knew.
Maybe she had seen it.
Maybe she was waiting for him to say it.
Matt hated all three options.
"There was another one."
"I know."
"Of course you do."
The voice went quiet.
Matt breathed slowly.
Once.
Then again.
But the memory came anyway.
◇◆◇
The other vampire kingdom was just as repulsive.
It just hid it better.
Its castles were whiter.
Its lamps more golden.
But Matt still saw the same thing underneath.
Blood.
Hierarchy.
Gazes measuring bloodlines.
Vampire women walking as if the world belonged to them.
Men looking away.
Servants bowing too deeply.
Children silent.
Girls trained with pride.
Matt walked beside the queen in a dark dress he hated, his white hair pinned up in a way he also hated.
Iris was inside his head, bored.
"This is tedious."
'Then go to sleep.'
"I tried."
'Try harder.'
"How rude."
The queen walked beside him with a perfect smile.
"Straighten your back."
Matt gritted his teeth and straightened it.
Not because he wanted to.
Because his body obeyed before he could resist.
The queen smiled.
"Much better."
'I'm going to kill you.'
"You've said that so many times… Don't you get bored?" Iris murmured inside his mind.
'I'll keep saying it until it works.'
"How persistent."
'How parasitic.'
Iris yawned.
"How human…"
Matt almost responded, but they had already arrived at the main hall where another vampire queen was waiting.
She was a tall, elegant woman with black hair and red eyes.
At her side stood a girl.
Black hair, dark red eyes, and an impeccable posture in a deep blue dress.
She looked beautiful, cold — but her gaze was empty.
Matt looked at her and felt something unpleasant.
Not because of her appearance.
Not because of her power.
But because there was something about her that felt familiar.
Too familiar.
The other queen smiled.
"So this is your new daughter."
The queen placed a hand on Matt's shoulder.
"Yes. She's still adjusting."
Matt felt like tearing that shoulder off.
The black-haired girl looked at him with curiosity.
"How long has it been?"
"Less than a year."
The other girl blinked.
"Ah."
Her expression shifted.
Not much.
Just slightly.
As if she had just looked at a young animal.
One that still bit.
The other queen laughed.
"My daughter took more than three years to stop asking annoying questions."
The girl with black hair bowed her head gracefully.
"I was immature."
Matt looked at her and Iris spoke inside his mind.
"How dull."
'For once I agree with you.'
The queen gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.
Matt understood the order.
Smile.
Matt smiled, but he wanted to be sick.
Later, when the queens talked about political matters, Matt was left on a balcony with the black-haired girl.
The night air was cold.
The girl looked at him from the corner of her eye.
"You were a man before, weren't you?"
Matt tensed.
"Yes."
"So was I."
Matt looked at her.
For the first time during the entire visit, he felt something like real interest.
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
The girl smiled softly.
"I was thirty-two…"
Matt blinked.
"I was twenty-two."
"So young."
"Thanks, but I feel old on the inside."
She tilted her head.
"You shouldn't hold onto that."
Matt frowned.
"Hold onto what?"
"Your human age."
Matt didn't respond.
The girl looked toward the garden below.
"That belongs to another life."
Matt felt something tighten in his stomach.
"It was my life."
"It was an inferior life."
Matt went still.
"What?"
The girl said it without anger.
Without doubt.
Without sadness.
As if she were talking about the weather.
"The human body is limited. The human mind too. Its bonds are small, fragile, noisy."
Matt stared at her.
"Don't your human memories matter to you?"
The girl made a small expression.
Disgust.
That was what Matt saw.
Disgust.
"At first they were irritating."
"Irritating?"
"Yes. Family. Responsibilities. Guilt. Fear. Insignificant desires."
Matt felt cold.
"And now?"
"Now there's almost nothing left."
The girl smiled.
"It was liberating."
Matt stopped breathing for a second.
Iris, inside his head, said nothing.
That was strange.
The girl continued:
"My mother was patient. She taught me to stop looking back."
Matt tightened his fingers on the railing.
"And your human family?"
The girl took a second to answer.
Not because she hesitated.
But because she seemed to be recalling something of no importance.
"They were a nuisance."
Matt felt his gaze harden.
"Were?"
"Yes."
"What happened to them?"
The girl looked at him. Then smiled with a horrible calm.
"I eliminated them."
The world went still.
Matt didn't understand.
He didn't want to understand.
But he understood.
"You…?"
"It was necessary."
Matt felt his blood boil.
"You killed your family?"
"They were a weak bond."
The girl looked back at the garden.
"They searched for me. They cried. They kept insisting on calling me by a name that was no longer mine."
Matt gripped the railing.
CRACK!
The stone cracked under his fingers.
The girl looked at his hand.
"You're still very emotional."
Matt spoke slowly.
"They were your family."
"Before."
"And you killed them?"
"Yes."
Matt felt the urge to hit her.
No.
Something worse.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
The girl frowned as if the question were vulgar.
"Order."
Matt let out a low laugh.
Without humor.
None at all.
"You're sick."
"That's what you say now."
The girl looked at him with a kind of pity.
"But you'll understand in time."
Matt felt Iris stir inside his head.
"How unpleasant."
Matt didn't know if she said it about him.
About the girl.
Or because the conversation made her uncomfortable.
The black-haired girl took one step closer.
"Don't fight your vampire side so much."
Matt looked at her with hatred.
"That's not my side."
"It will be."
"No."
"Humanity weighs you down. Royal blood cleanses."
Matt felt sick.
"Cleanses?"
"You forget what's useless."
The girl smiled.
"What's painful."
Another pause.
"What's human."
Matt thought of his mother.
His sister.
His home.
The smell of simple food.
The unanswered messages.
The worry on his mother's face.
And then he imagined forgetting it.
No.
Worse.
He imagined looking at all of it with disgust.
Like her.
As if his human life were garbage.
As if his family were an annoying chain.
Matt felt something inside him go cold.
Very cold.
"I am never going to be like you."
The girl looked at him in silence.
Then sighed.
"That's what I thought too."
Matt took a step toward her.
Iris spoke inside his mind:
"Don't do something stupid."
'Shut up.'
"They'll punish us."
'I don't care.'
The balcony door opened.
The queen appeared.
Smiling.
Perfect.
"Getting to know each other?" fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Matt didn't look away from the silver-haired girl.
"Yes."
The queen noticed the crack in the railing.
Then looked at Matt.
Her smile didn't change.
"My dear daughter."
Matt felt his body tense.
Silent order.
Don't move.
Don't attack.
Smile.
Matt smiled.
His lips trembled.
The black-haired girl watched him with approval, as if that trembling were just a phase.
As if it would someday disappear too.
Matt understood something in that moment.
The queen didn't just want to transform him.
She didn't just want to make him obey.
She didn't just want Iris to consume him.
She wanted him to end up like that.
Proud of what she had made him.
Disgusted by what he had been.
Emptied of everything that kept him human.
Matt looked at the queen.
Then at the black-haired girl.
Then at the black sky above the vampire kingdom.
'No.'
The word appeared in his mind.
Simple.
Small.
Absolute.
'Even if I have to tear this blood out with my teeth.'
◇◆◇
Matt breathed again.
The rest room was the same.
But his hands weren't just trembling anymore.
Now they were clenched so hard that blood had begun to seep between his fingers.
The wound closed almost immediately.
That made him more furious.
"Damn it."
The current voice spoke carefully.
"That's why you want to go back."
Matt didn't respond.
"That's why you hold onto your human family so tightly."
Matt looked up.
"Talk less."
The voice went quiet.
Matt breathed slowly.
"One thing."
"What?"
"Don't use that tone."
"What tone?" fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
"That one."
The voice went quiet.
Matt gritted his teeth.
"For a second you sounded like her."
The silence grew heavy.
Then the voice answered.
Colder.
"I am nothing like that damn witch."
Matt blinked.
He hadn't expected that.
Iris had never insulted the queen that way.
Not even when she was upset.
Iris complained.
Yawned.
Called her mother intense or tiresome.
But she never called her a damn witch.
Never spoke with real hatred.
Matt narrowed his eyes.
"Well."
The voice didn't respond.
"You really are trying hard to win me over."
"No."
"Yes."
"Matt."
"What?"
"I say it because it's true."
Matt let out a low laugh.
"How convenient."
The voice sighed.
"I've seen what she did to you."
"Because you went digging through my head."
"Perhaps because I'm trapped in it?"
"That doesn't improve your defense."
"It does actually…"
The voice paused.
"But I understand why you hate her."
Matt said nothing.
"She changed your life by force. She turned you into something you didn't want to be. She made you live as her daughter and raised you like you were a doll."
Matt clenched his fists.
"And then she deliberately showed you what you were going to become."
Matt closed his eyes.
The black-haired girl.
Her calm smile.
Her words.
Matt felt the rage rise again.
"I would never do that."
"I know."
"You don't."
"I do."
Matt opened his eyes.
"How?"
"Because even after all of it, you still think of them first."
Matt went still.
"Your mother. Your sister."
The voice lowered slightly.
"You don't want power to rule. You don't want blood. You don't want a throne. You just want no one to touch them."
Matt didn't respond.
"I want to help you not end up like her."
Matt let out a short laugh and looked toward the fountain. His reflection was broken by the movement of the water.
White hair.
Red eyes.
A tired face.
A vampire.
But also Matt.
Still Matt.
"How noble."
"I'm not trying to sound noble."
"You failed. It sounded awful."
"Matt."
"What?"
"I want you to believe me."
Matt let out a dry laugh.
"No."
"Please."
That made him stop.
Not out of tenderness.
Out of suspicion.
"Please?"
"Yes."
"Now you're sounding strange."
"I want to help you get out of here."
"That's what you say."
"I want to convince the queen that I can fill the role she wants you to fill."
Matt didn't respond.
"I want her to leave you alone."
Matt gritted his teeth.
"That's not going to happen."
"It can."
"You don't know the queen."
"I know enough."
"No."
Matt slowly got up from the bed.
His legs were steady.
His body wasn't trembling as much.
But his voice came out low.
Dangerous.
"That woman doesn't let go of what she considers hers."
The voice went quiet.
Matt walked toward the table where the materials had reappeared.
Dark metal.
Red crystals.
Polished bone fragments.
Mineral dust.
All ready.
All waiting.
"If I do this…"
The voice didn't interrupt.
Matt picked up a piece of metal.
"If I make that gun."
His fingers closed around the material.
"If I give you a chance."
The voice stayed quiet.
Matt looked at the cold forge.
"You'd better keep your word."
"I will."
