DISCLAIMER THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION AND IS NOT HISTORICALLY ACCURATE NOR THOSE IT OVERLAP WITH THE REAL WORLD OR REAL EVENTS MATURED CONTENT STRONG LANGUAGE VIOLENCE AND R RATED Scenes  

ITS SETTING IS SOMEWHERE IN ITALY

--AUTHOR—

NANA  

CHAPTER ONE

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“The life that I have is not the life that I choose.”

*three years ago*

The night sky was dark and ominous as the clouds high above were ready to burst with heavy rains, and the roaring sounds of thunder shook the grounds that surrounded the villa, tucked away in the hills that overlooked the Tyrrhenian sea, walled by the perfectly manicured gardens and marble fountain in the centre of its vast courtyard, cutting it of from the outside world . In one of its many rooms, a woman cried out in distress, that woman was my mother.

“LET GO OFF HER YOU SICK BASTARD!” she cried, struggling to free herself from the iron like grip of one of the guards that held her back, while I desperately tried to free myself from the man who held me, it was my father. His muscular physique towering over my smaller frame. Deep red eyes and a bed of dark brown hair that had been slicked back, not leaving space for even a single strand to come loose. The aura he exuded was that of intimidation.

“she is my daughter and I will do with her as I see fit…”came his clipped tone, it was cold, lacking any kind of warmth a father would normally have when speaking to one of his children.

But not this man though, there was no warmth, there was no kindness, and there was no love, just those cold red eyes staring down on me with much contempt. The same way one would stare down at a disgusting piece of gunk that was stuck underneath their shoe.

This was how the man,whom i’ve been told time and time again, was my father, looked at me. I knew what was going to come next, this wasn’t the first time i’d disobeyed him. it was my fault for skipping my training, now I would have to bare the consequences of not following his instructions and stepping out of line. And if there was one thing this man hated more than negligence, it was disrespect for his authority. After all, he was the Don at the top.

“you’re hurting her, please, let her go!” i heard my mother’s desperate pleas to get him to listen, but his heart was hell bent on making me feel his wrath as his grip of his gloved hand on my arm only tightened. The Leather bruned.

If i, as his alleged child, did not get any kind of affection from him, what so my mother? Her pleas fell on deaf ears, or at least that what it looked like. Most times he did not seem to care, not like he never did, after all, their marriage was onlg out of necessity, and not because they “loved” one another, or at least, that was what my mother would tell me anyways.

The real story was that my grandparents, ze’ev and selene Aloysius, were poor bakers, and the small shop they had been running in the poorest of conditions was starting to deteriorate. Without a stable income to feed them and their ridiculous standards of living, they had no other option than to take a loan from the Don, Cassius Oberon.

Unfortunately the debts they began to incur for themselves continued to grow until eventually they had no other option than to give up one of their daughters. You see, they had two daughters. My mother, Cassandra, and a second daughter I never heard about.

Off course they gave her away without a second thought, they used my mother as a way to get themselves out of thier debts. Selling her off to this tyrant of a man as though she weren't their own blood. She was heartbroken.

She had begged and pleaded with them not to let her go, but what did they tell her? "It's for the good of the family..." They said. Tch.

But the real question was, why would Cassius even loan such amounts of money to them being fully aware that they could never pay him back? It possibly couldn't have been out of the "kindness" Of his heart, could it?

He was like the devil, he had lured them in with his wealth, and they foolishly shook his hands and made the deal.

My grandparents were simple bakers who wanted to live a lavished lifestyle of more than what they could afford and their first mistake was taking money from cassius to begin with. Money they knew they could never pay off when the time for him to collect his payment came. And what did they do when he came? They gave her away, their eldest daughter. And the ultimatum Cassius had given them in order for what they owed to be cleared after taking her as his bride, was that they cut all ties with her. If they didn't agree, they would be swimming at the bottom of the Tyrrhenian sea. And to my mother, their lives if she tried to break the agreement.

Her very life had been the price paid for their greed.

I don’t even recall ever meeting my grandparents, and she never spoke about them, nor her alleged sister and I never did ask.

The look in my mother’s bloodshot eyes were that of helplessness. I could tell she was sick of watching me get tortured like this, I was also sick of it.

Cassius Oberon was his name, the Head of the Oberon Family business, "le Mafia familia". He was the kind of man who demanded respect and was not afraid to use violence or any other unethical way to get what he wanted. He was the Don that no one wanted to cross. Even the most powerful men in the city would think twice before crossing him.

To cassius, life was just a game of chess, and everyone in it were nothing but pawns to be moved and used by him to his own advantage. And i was no exception to this cruel game of his as my mother had been.

As a young child, i could not even begin to rack my brain to understand what his purpose or reason for subjecting me to so much torture could have been, but my guess at the time would have been that he planned for me to be of some use in the family business. Because you see, when i was born, i had actually been born a vampire, but at the ages of six, I clearly remembered, my body begun to change, I could no longer fed and the colours of my eyes begun to fluctuate between red and black.

Worried sick, my mother rushed me to a doctor, whom was also a vampire after I up chucked the blood they had given me that day for the fourth time. But the doctor found nothing to be wrong with me. He had ended up concluding everything as due to some rare genetic mutation in my genes.

There was no explanation and there was no cure. "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do for her..." I heard the vampire say to Cassius and my mother as we sat in his office. Cassius left immediately without a word, and as I watched his receding figure exit the office I felt as though a part of me had left with him. I was no longer going to be a vampire.

Slowly, as the days counted down, i began to turn more…human, until finally, i lost all traits of vamperic genes within me. This was how i became an outsider in my own family, and by extention, the vampire society. What good was a vampire wanna be who could not even drink blood?

Infact, the very smell of it made my stomach churn, and its metallic taste would make me vomit, emptying out my stomach contents, leaving a terrible acidic taste in my mouth. Yet they still forced me to drink the blood, it was hell, and no matter how much I begged them to stop it, they just continued to torture me with it. And for every time it happened, Cassius was there. He witnessed it all with a stone cold look on his face, unaffected by my suffering.

But I think at some point, they just gave up on me, I was a human.

My red eyes dyed black as tar. They turned hallow over the years that went by. The reality begun to set it, it was painfully clear that I no longer belonged, and I was off no use to them, what good was an ordinary human anyways? Off all of those who were the most disappointed, it was Cassius. My sudden change had soiled his reputation, having a human child? As a pure blood? It was A stain on the Oberon family name.

He was a pure blood himself, along with many generations before him, and even his other children, and they all looked down on the entire human race. After all, the vampires were the superior predators and the humans were just the livestock. So why had i been cursed to become the thing their kind belittled?

Although cassius never said it with his direct words, i could tell from the look of contempt in his eyes,and his actions, he thought of me as being as a worthless human, despite being of vampire descent. But cassius was indeed a peculiar man, and for some reason, not just because i was his seed, he decided he’d keep me, a sort of investment, as he’d so crudely put it. Or maybe it was because of my mother? Tch. no, it had to be more than that.

Seeing as my mother had come from a poor family that had no money and no social status, that the oberon’s didn’t already have, whether he let me go or not would not affect him. So there had to be something he would gain, but what?

It could have been that he was just a petty man who still wanted paid what my grandparents had owed. And letting us go would be having mercy on the old vampires.

A debt so large could never be so easily overlooked, a debt they might not ever be able to pay up even after selling a thousand loafs of freshly baked breads. A debt over thirty thousand hubs.

My mother could have just ran away if she wanted too, and let them pay heavily for it, but she stayed, for their sakes and for mine. she feared what might happen to me if she just took me and left. I was still just a child, and I had suddenly turned human. She was inexperienced and had no money of her own to cater for my needs as a human. I knew she was trying her best.

Even when I was subjected to many inhumane conditions that revolved mainly around physical training, and psychological torment. She still wanted to protect me, even if it meant defying Cassius for my sake. But he would give her harsher punishments. Locking her up for days at a time, keeping us away from each other, while Working me to the bone like a dog.

From the age of eight or so, just when i wad about able to tell my left from my right. Cassius made sure i witnessed vampires,humans, common men and “business associates” get “offed” before me. All while my mother had been locked away. The things I witnessed and experienced were horrible and I would cry. His methods far surpassed using mere guns. He was cruel and merciless.

Heck! He was the one who first put a gun in my hand and thought me how to “off” debtors who didn’t pay up what they owed. Imagine the last face you’d see when you’re about to meet your maker, would be the face of a snot nosed Burnet kid. *hah*

"If you're going to survive in this world, you most be tough..." Was the only piece of advice he'd ever given me. But I was a child, I didn't ask to be the way I was, I didn't need to be strong, I needed to be protected.

Now, I’m no child psychologist, but being exposed to the life of the underworld at such a young age would definitely have some psychological side effect on them as they grew older. Drugs, Guns, Murders, straight up assassinations, illegal trading across the country, turf wars between rival gangs and ours, high stake robberies, you name it. So, yeah, I’m pretty sure by now you’ve gotten a not so pretty idea of the kind of life i’d lived so far.   A pretty pathetic childhood.

After pleading with cassius for a final time, he finally let go of my arm, and my mother sighed. But i could still feel the burning sensation on my forearm as he squeezed it. But My body had grown numb to the pain. I was certain it would have bruised by the morning.

There was not a single tear in my eye to be shed as i stared into his, But the way he held my gaze with such steely coldness always sent shivers down my spine. Warning me not to step out of line again, because my mother might not be there to rescue me next time. I hated him so much, yet I feared he would keep me away from her again.

His grip loosened When he gave the guard a knowing look, and the buffed vampire male let her go and she came running to me. Grabbing me by the hand, less harsher than he had done, my mother tugged me along with her and we left in a hurry, thinking cassius might change his mind again.

That night, I was forced to skip yet another meal. But mother was there to rescue me, she had my dinner brought into the room without Cassius knowing about it. It was a simple meal of mashed potatoes, some meat and a few vegetables. I sighed as I looked at the plate. I wasn't really hunger, but I still ate. For her.

She wasn’t like the others, my mother, she was a kind woman who loved me dearly. And even if she was a vampire herself, she adored every fibre of my being. Maybe it was just because she was my mother. Whatever the case, she was the only one in this damned world to accept me. Cassandra Aloysius, the “blushing” bride of Cassius oberon.

Perhaps the most beautiful woman i had ever known. Elegant, poised, a lean figure, with Curly brown hair that flowed down her back,and vibrant red eyes.

But despite she being a vampire, she never for once drank blood in my presence, especially human blood. She truly deserved more than what life gave . And Sometimes i wondered what kind of life she would have had if only she hadn’t married cassius, because despite having all the riches, i could tell she was unhappy.

Even when she tried to hide it with a smile, i just knew she wanted the same thing that i did, to be free.

What’s my name? Right, i haven't told you yet. My name it’s, Oya,Oya Oberon,Oya meaning storm. They all just called me little storm.

“eat up darling..” my mother said to me with a kind smile as she brought me dinner. Her voice was reassuring and soft, just like she was. She made me feel all manner of things. She made me feel loved, she made me feel safe. My mother was tender and loving. She never rose her voice, even when she was angry. Carrying herself with an elegant grace that whenever she walked into the room people had no choice but to turn and stare, asking who she was.

In my eyes, she was like a breath of fresh air there, even when she wasn't near me, I thought of nothing but her.

The complete opposite Whenever i was in the presence of cassius. I often found myself putting up this cold front to act though before him, to show him that i was not just some weak human and was worthy of his acknowledgement, but there was only just so much a child could take all at once, especially from their own father.

“why does he hate me so much,mother?” i asked her, genuinely wondering what my sins were. Even as a child, i had asked that same question over and over again. Was it because i was no longer a vampire like the other children and was instead human? Or was it because of the circumstances that revolved around his marriage to my mother? Or was there a third reason that no one told me of? Was i not his blood as well? So many questions i wanted to ask, but could never find the answers.

“shhh little storm…you don’t need to worry yourself about that right now…just eat, regain your strength.” Cooed my mother with a solemn smile, as she pushed back a loose strand of hair behind her ear, revealing the beautiful pearl earrings she had on. They seemed to sparkle in the glowing lights of the room. she was a good woman, and i knew she wanted to best for me.

“i’ll get you out of here, i swear it…” there was determination and a hint of surpassed anger in her tone as her striking red eyes held my gaze for a moment. I said nothing.

She sounded so sure, it almost gave me hope, but i had come to understand a long time ago, that hope was a dismal and wasted thing to hold on to when it came to the oberon family. But if my mother said we’d get out of this, then i would trust her. My mother was perhaps the only person I ever trusted.  

That night I went to bed, with hopes of a better future with just my mother and i.

By the next day, 5am on the dot and before the morning sun could break through the horizon, i was already out of my room, headed for the gym which was located at the lower level of the villa.

Another day,another session to get my ass handed to me by an old man. You would think that they would get a human trainer for me, but on the contrary, my, or rather, our, trainer was a rather old veteran vampire instructor skilled in all forms of vampiric combat. I wouldn’t say that i completely flopped in it, but training with vampires as a human was strenuous. I might not have been as strong as a vampire, but i was definitely stronger, faster and more agile than an ordinary human was. And what i lacked in vampiric combat skills, i made up for in knowledge of guns. I tell ya, there was just something so poetic about a gun in my hand that just made sense to me.

“miss oya,you must learn to let go of all thoughts when you are up against an enemy!” mister Damon,the trainer barked his orders in my face and i groaned silently. _could he be any louder?_

A tall and slender man, Standing at nearly five foot and seven inches tall with a bed of salt and pepper hair on his head, the old vampire was a pain, but he was good at what he did, i’d give him that.

The familiar face of the dark stoned ceiling glared down on me as i counted the dents and grooves in it as i laid down flat on my back after getting knocked off my feet for the umpteenth time that morning by him.

Somehow, i always thought it was a bit unfair for a vampire who was maybe over a hundred years old kicking a fifteen year old’s ass. Okay,he probably wasn’t as old as that, but for a vampire, he was pretty old.