ARRIVAL AT THE CASTLE

FREDA

“Get up” I heard a voice trying to disturb my sleep but I ignored it. I just wanted to sleep and….
“Get up!” The voice sounded more urgent and I grudgingly opened my eyes only to see my father’s blue eyes staring at me. I suddenly felt very irritated as I rubbed my eyes with my palms.
“What is it?” I spat out. I probably didn’t mean to say it so disrespectfully but I was still pissed at everything that was going on and I wasn’t in the mood to play nice to anyone.
“We have arrived.” My father regarded me coldly and he turned to look out the window.
I followed his lead and stuck my head outside the carriage. The sight I saw was so grand that I couldn’t tear my eyes from the imposing silhouette that dominated the approaching landscape. The Vampire castle loomed like a black monstrosity. It’s midnight spires clawed at the sky and around the castle, gargoyles were sculpted with fierce expressions that would make you think they would come to life anytime soon and attack you. The castle was surely the stuff of nightmares.
This was it, The Vampire castle. The place I would attend the alliance meeting together with my father and other Alpha’s with their daughters.
I heard a hiss that jolted me from my daze and I turned my head only to see pale faces, red eyes and long fangs staring at me with as if I was a tasty snack. I was initially confused until I realized, we had already entered deep into Vampire territory, and of course we would be surrounded by red eyes and pale faces.
I quickly put my head back into the safety of the carriage. I thought about the castle I had just seen and I suddenly realized something. That castle had an uncanny resemblance with the castle that I had saw in my dreams. No, it wasn’t a resemblance. I was sure that was the castle.
My heart started to beat rapidly as I began to wonder what the implications of this dream was. What about the pale man I saw? There was no doubt to me that he was a vampire and I had the strange thought I was going to be seeing him too.
Suddenly I felt the carriage shuddered to a stop and I knew that we had arrived at our location. My father stepped out of the carriage without a single word to me but I wasn’t bothered. I hopped down from the carriage and my eyes widened as I behold the grandeur of the vampire castles courtyard.
All around me, the courtyard was bustling with activity as several carriages similar to ours were parked in neat rows, with their horses neighing and stamping. I didn’t need a soothsayer to tell me that these were the carriages of the Alpha and their daughters that had also come for this meeting.
I turned to my father, but he was already striding towards the castle entrance. His long coat was billowing behind him and I followed quickly. I didn’t know my way through this large castle and no amount of hate would make me not admit that I at least needed my father’s protection in this scary place.
We approached the entrance and two vampire guards stood as they studied us with their characteristic red eyes.
“Alpha Winston of the Crescent pack. I’m here for the meeting.” My father introduced himself briefly
The guards nodded curtly and their eyes flickered briefly to me before returning to my father, they stepped aside and one of the guards beckoned for us to follow him and he opened the heavy oak doors that revealed a long, dimly lit corridor that stretched before us like a tunnel.
The guard walked down the corridor with us in tow. I looked around and I saw that the walls were adorned with paintings. Every single painting had two things in common, pale faces and red eyes.
I felt a chin run through my spin when I walked through these paintings because I genuinely felt like their eyes seemed to follow me as I moved. I walked closer to my dad but I didn’t do anything like grab his shirt. I still hated him after all.
We continued to walk for what seemed like an eternity, I was already getting exhausted and I almost stopped to take a breather but I wasn’t in the mood to hear any comments of how weak I was from both the vampire guard and my father so I sucked it up and continued to walk.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity, the guard stopped before a set of double doors. I looked at the carvings on the door and I saw gargoyles carved with exceptional detail and other creatures I really didn’t want to know.
The guard pushed the doors open and we stepped into the meeting hall. The meeting was large, I mean very large, at least four times larger than the meeting hall back at the pack. The ceiling vaulted high and as I looked up, I felt like I was looking into an abyss of darkness. I quickly shifted my gaze back to the meeting hall.
Seated on the far end of the room on raised dais, were the alphas, each one of them were flanked by their daughters. Each alpha was radiating and aura of power and it felt very suffocating to me. I hid my discomfort expertly as I followed my father towards our seat. The other alphas stared at us with curious eyes but my father trudged on with his head held high and I had to stare at my shoes
My father took his seat on the dais and I followed suit, sitting by his flank. I allowed my eyes to roam for a little while until suddenly someone caught my eye and I widened my eyes in disbelief.
It was Licita. The bully that made my life miserable in school. What on earth was she even doing here? Could this trip get any worse?
Licita snarled at me and I could see there was no love lost between us. I just ignored the bitch and continued to stare ahead thinking of well many things.
The silence in the meeting hall continued to stretch, almost reaching a breaking point when a deep, booming voice echoed through the hall, making me to almost jump off my seat.
“Welcome werewolves