Lady Dhampir
Chapter 20

"You look worried, my lady."

In the House De Pristin tent, Milena was very quiet and her friends had noticed. Chartiana was looking at her with concern, and so did Briseis and the two other ladies present. "I'm fine, Lady De Pristin, thanks for your concern. I just wish this hunt would be over soon."

"I'm sure our brothers will come back with great prizes," said Helena.

Milena couldn't care less about what they brought back, as long as they came back safe and unharmed. She had a bad feeling about all this. She sighed and got up. "Excuse me, I'm afraid I'm a bit too unsettled to sit and have tea. I'll go take a walk if you don't mind. Lady De Pristin, thank you for the tea."

Chartiana was a bit sad to see her go, but no one held Milena back. When her purple eyes were determined like this, no one could stop the Duchess. As soon as she stepped out of the tent, Olivia put a warm coat over her shoulders. The place was very quiet now that the men had left.

All the ladies and gentlemen had gathered inside the tents, looking for warmth and higher-ranked nobles to please. With her status, Milena could have walked into any of those tents and been welcomed, but she didn't feel like it. Instead, she wandered around the tents, thinking long and hard about the probability of her brothers getting shot. She knew it was a high risk. A hunt was just a reason to give guns to men, and in those woods, any accident could occur.

As well as planned assassinations. "My lady."

Ruby had come back and put a knee down in the snow.

"I'm listening, Ruby."

"The Baron was scolding his niece, my lady. It seems the Baron wants to use Lady De Verheim's personal connections to grow his business, but the Lady is against it."

Milena knew Astra De Verheim had lost her father the previous year. The young Vampire Lady was now left with only her mother and a title she was too young to shoulder on her own. No wonder her uncle wanted to use her... Astra De Verheim was barely old enough to receive the main title instead of her uncle, or else Milena was sure he would have gotten rid of her. Actually, it was impressive that the young Baroness was standing up against the man's greed.

"So that's why she is so close to Rachael..."

"You think she is backing her friend up, my lady?" asked Olivia.

"That's for certain. Lady De Verheim's family is not rich but they have some properties and they are smart patrons. Rachael probably would have helped her anyway, but she secured her friend's assets to make sure she would stay an ally and not give in to her uncle." "You seem happy about it, my lady."

"I am. It means we can get rid of that pig without angering the House De Verheim or House De Nova."

"My lady?" asked Ruby.

Milena knew her servant would kill the man without a doubt if she only asked.

"No, not now. I want to confirm if he belongs to the Supremacists. If he does, I want to get to the others through him."

"The Baron is a smart man, my lady. It won't be easy to uncover the truth..."

"He is greedy. That's enough..."

Milena knew an opportunity would arise sooner or later. She kept walking, thinking long and hard about how to get to that man. Actually, she was sure this man was one of those who wanted Prince Ellias dead. Baron Verheim couldn't hide his haughtiness whenever a Human or a woman spoke to him.

"Lady De Crescent."

She turned around. Unannounced, the Queen had arrived, only escorted by a few servants and two Royal bodyguards. Milena immediately did her reverence.

"Your Highness. I was wondering if you would be attending the Hunt today."

Queen Lyriana sighed. She was wearing what looked like a very heavy dress, with lots of layers, and her long black hair was braided over one shoulder. Whenever she saw her, Milena thought this woman looked older than she really was, because of the bit of white hair and wrinkles she had already.

"I guess it doesn't hurt to take a walk from time to time. Rayan and Ellias were eagerly waiting for this as well. I will never understand how men love to kill innocent animals at random... Anyway, since you're here, Lady De Crescent, accompany me for a walk." "Certainly, your Highness."

The two women started walking side by side, slowly, followed by all their people. Aside from them, no one was outside because of the cold. The Queen was a Vampire, however, and did not care about the temperature.

"I never see your father outside of the court, Lady De Crescent. Is he still so allergic to public gatherings?"

"I fear so, your Highness. My father is not fond of social events and will only attend when necessary, or required by their Highnesses."

"Your father is a wise but sad man, Lady De Crescent. His Highness values his opinions greatly."

Milena didn't answer that. The House De Crescent and the Royal Family were related and had been close allies for a long while. But like any other noble family, they had to put their interests first at times. She knew her father wasn't afraid to disagree with the King and was respected for that.

"There are few families like ours... Vampires are fewer and fewer nowadays. Humans fear us because they think we are stronger than them. Many Vampires think so too."

"... But Vampires cannot live without Humans," said Milena.

"That is right. We need Humans to feed and have children. While some are conspiring in the dark to reverse the odds and use Humans as livestock, we are to seek peace between the two races and protect it."

Milena nodded in silence. There was a tacit rule that the Royal Family should never be only Human. For that reason, every year the King had to marry a lady that was of the other race, and that had been so for the generations. Hence, Prince Ellias should marry a Vampire, while Prince Rayan was expected to marry a Human. Milena was the only woman who could supposedly marry either of them...

The Queen suddenly stopped and turned to face Milena, an enigmatic look on her face.

"I greatly admired your mother. She was a friend of mine and a very graceful and generous woman. Her loss was a tragedy...."

Milena couldn't hide her surprise hearing the Queen talk about her mother. She didn't even know the two women were close. At the De Crescent Manor, they barely spoke about the late Duchess at all.

"You look more like your father, but your eyes... of course, hers weren't purple but blue. Even the way you express yourself, your movements, remind me of her, young Duchess."

A warm feeling grew in Milena's chest as she heard this. Somehow, it felt good to hear about the mother she couldn't remember anything of.

"Thank you, your Highness."

"It also means I have great expectations of you, young Duchess. And my friendship with your lost mother will not help you if you come to disappoint me."

"I understand, your Highness," said Milena.

Even if the Queen's tone was ice cold, Milena couldn't blame her. She was royalty and probably couldn't afford to trust anyone too deeply. Moreover, Milena didn't trust the Queen just because she knew her mother either... Suddenly, the first gunshots were heard.

Both women turned their heads toward the forest. Milena felt her heartbeat quicken a little. She silently prayed for her brothers to stay safe. She knew Lucian and Valentin were great hunters, but... Next to her, the Queen frowned.

"I will leave you now, Lady De Crescent. I guess I can wait in the Royal tent for this to be over with."

She left after Milena gave her greetings, and she watched the Queen go with mixed feelings. How did her Highness feel with her sons competing for the throne? Did she have a preference already? Milena felt empathy towards that woman. She already felt burdened as a duchess, she couldn't ignore what a queen should feel...

"My lady. It smells like blood," said Ruby. "Human blood."

Indeed, her two Vampire servants were covering their noses, frowning because of the smell. Milena felt it a second after they did. Someone was injured. Seriously injured, for the smell to be that strong. She grabbed the silver hawk on her shoulder and helped her fly away.

"Blanche, look for them!"

The shape-shifter immediately flew over the forest, and after a while, screeched loudly. She came back to Milena and shape-shifted into a silver wolf.

"My lady, you shouldn't go!" said Olivia.

"My lady, it's too dangerous!" insisted Ruby. "We don't know what happened!"

But Milena ignored both of them and ran after her wolf. She didn't want to take a chance. If it was either of her brothers, if one of them was hurt, she had to go. She couldn't bear to lose one of them...

She ran after Blanche in the forest, using all her strength, as fast as she could. At some point, the silver wolf shifted into a horse, and Milena climbed on her without hesitation.

"My lady!"

Olivia and Ruby couldn't match a horse's speed, and she soon lost the Vampire servants, Milena completely ignoring them. She was in a total state of panic. Was Valentin injured? Or Lucian? If anything happened... Blanche kept going deeper into the forest. They didn't see anyone, but Milena figured the hunters had all split ways long ago. She heard gunshots, but they were too far.

Finally, Blanche stopped. Milena hopped off and ran towards what was clearly a corpse, her heart beating fast. A couple of wolves were leaning over the body, and the Duchess took out her g*n, shooting once to scare them away. With Blanche, back in her wolf form, growling, the two beasts ran away.

The Duchess ran to the body, but once she was close enough, she immediately saw it wasn't one of her brothers. It wasn't even someone she knew. Judging by his clothes, the young noble was of a lower-ranked house. More importantly, she saw the two bullet holes in his chest. This wasn't an accident. Someone had clearly shot him intentionally, and the blood had spilled all around his body, splattering the closest tree...

Milena looked around. His horse wasn't there, either. Something was odd about this... She stood up and took a few steps back.

"There's too much blood..."

For someone who had been shot moments ago, in the chest too, the puddle of blood underneath was way too large. That's when she understood. This was a trap!

Milena turned around, but before she could take a step, heard a gunshot. It took a few seconds for the pain to pierce her stomach. She didn't look down. She struggled to stay up, and look at the man who had just fired at her. "Ver... heim..." she hissed.

He shot a second time, and she felt the bullet go through her body this time. Milena fell backward, submerged by the pain.

"That's for you, little bitch... Damn, I didn't think you would be stupid enough to actually fall for it."

"So you w...were aiming at me from the start..."

"No, you're actually the backup plan. But that's fine by me if you die here..."

Milena was about to grab her g*n, but he shot again, in her arm this time. She screamed from the pain.

"Too bad, you're more Human than I thought. These kinds of bullets aren't so effective on Vampires... Guess a Dhampir is just a defective one."

She clenched her teeth, trying not to move. The pain was impossible. All of her senses were screaming, driving her crazy.

Suddenly, she heard steps nearby and could tell by the Baron's face that he wasn't expecting anybody. He clicked his tongue and ran away in a hurry. Milena tried to breathe in, hoping someone would come soon, but whoever it was had run in the other direction. "Milena..."

She turned her head. Blanche was leaning over her, in her Human form, panicked. "Blanche, no!" Milena growled.

Her friend shook her head and shape-shifted back into a wolf. Milena took a deep breath in and, leaning on her legs and valid arm, crawled towards the body. It was unbelievably painful, and she had to fight the urge to pass out. Blanche bit on her dress and helped pull her to the pool of blood.

She was repugned to do this, but there wasn't any other option. Milena began drinking the fresh Human blood as soon as her lips could. It wasn't good, and it was nauseating, but it immediately helped alleviate the pain. She knew her regenerating capacity wasn't good, but with Human blood, she felt her wounds slowly close by themselves. The pain having diminished, she got on her knees and kept drinking. She had blood all over her cheeks and chin, going down her neck, staining her dress. "My lady!"

Olivia and Ruby had finally arrived, and they looked at the scene with incomprehension. Blanche growled at the two of them.

"My lady, what hap-"

Suddenly, a new gunshot was heard, a bit farther away from them. Milena looked up. What could she do? She was barely in any state to move.

"Let's get rid of the body!" said Ruby, looking at the corpse.

"No, leave it. We have to go... They'll attack his Highness next."

"My lady, you're in no condition to move!"

But Milena ignored her. He had mentioned she was a backup plan. A backup plan for what? He wouldn't have shot at her without finishing the job if there wasn't a reason!

She suddenly heard a man's scream. She knew that voice.

Prince Ellias.

"Blanche!" she yelled.

But her friend refused, stepping away from her, still in her wolf form.

"My lady, you can't go anywhere in your condition!" insisted Olivia.

Milena tried to run anyway, but she stumbled after a couple of steps and fell. It was still so painful! Blanche ran to her and bit her dress, trying to hold her back from going.

"We... We'll go get help!" suddenly said Olivia. "Blanche, stay with your mistress!"

Olivia and Ruby ran while Milena was still struggling to get up. Blanche was desperate to hold her back. Then, they heard new footsteps. Milena and Blanche froze. She put a hand on her g*n, ready to shoot.

Prince Rayan emerged from the bushes. He looked down at her, not showing any sign of surprise.

"Prince Rayan..." said Milena.

She had forgotten he was hunting too. But Rayan didn't even seem surprised to see her lying there, soaked in Human blood. He took a quick look at the body a few steps away, then looked down at Milena again. He smirked.

"It's unusual to see you in such a bad state, my lady."

Milena ignored his remark. She was more concerned by the fuming g*n in his hand. Who had he shot? Human or Vampire? She was about to ask him to save his twin a second ago, but she kept it behind her teeth. Milena couldn't trust that man.

"What? You're not going to ask me to save you?"

"I'm... fine..." she struggled to say, glaring at him.

"Good. I can only save one i***t today, my lady." He ran off just after saying that.