The Vampire Assassin by Marisa Maichel (ereader android .TXT) 📕

Tralisia, a vampire assassin, is tasked with finding the princess of Fakdor. Along the way, she meets a half-vampire half-elf named Lief, a troll who wants to kill Lief, and the princess Annaliese herself.

Chapter One- The Assignment

I always thought that I would die either a quick and painful death, or a slow and peaceful one. A vampire assassin's life is forfeit the moment he or she is born. My mother always told me that life is forfeit the moment a person is born. Unless you're one of the Fae or a Darkling.

Elves, fairies, werewolves, vampires. They all exist. Probably extraterrestrials, too, although no one has seen an extraterrestrial in a thousand years. The year is 2564, and the world is divided between those of the Light, and Dark. There is no Grey. There was once, but that's no longer the case.

There was also the Royal Family. The king, queen, prince, and princess. But the princess had gone missing, so her family asked for me, Tralisia Laurelon. Vampire Assassin. The best in the world. I have killed over one thousand vampires, all of which were either trying to kill me, or were part of an undead army to destroy the human race. Killing the entire army all at once was not easy, but it had to be done.

The king, a tall, thin man with long salt-and-pepper hair and silver eyes, sat beside a beautiful queen with long blond hair and blue eyes. Their son, Orgath, stood off to the side. He was also tall, like his father, but built with more musculature.

"You are tasked with finding Princess Anneliese," said King Ydra. "You will be reward greatly upon your return."

"I don't care about that," I said. The king raised an eyebrow.

"As long as the princess is alive, you will receive one hundred pieces of gold and fifty pieces of silver."

"Fifty pieces of bronze," I told him.

"Fine, then. Fifty pieces of bronze in addition to fifty pieces of silver and one hundred pieces of gold. That is the deal." Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

"I do not require money." Orgath's mouth opened to retort, but Queen Tara put a hand on his shoulder. King Ydra raised both eyebrows.

"No money? It will be a long journey. You will face many dangers."

"I will face nothing I can't handle. Let me remind you of the Battle of the Arrowheads." The battle where I took out ninety thousand vampires all at once.

"I needn't be reminded. You will find our Anneliese, and you will accept whatever we choose to give you." Orgath whispered something in his father's ear. "As you wish, my son. Orgath will accompany you." Queen Tara opened her mouth to protest.

"Mother, I can do this," Orgath said.

"Of course, he can," King Ydra said. "Orgath, you will accompany Tralisia on her journey to find your sister. Once you find her, return and I will reward you as well."

"Having Anneliese home safely will be reward enough, Father," Orgath said.

"Very well."

I was furious but knew better than to argue. My temper is infamous, I confess. Almost as infamous as my heritage; the daughter of a Nagali prince and a Pean peasant woman. In other words, I'm half black. My eyes are dark brown, my skin is the color of powdery cocoa, and my hair is cut to my chin and black.

I understood why the king accepted the fact that Orgath refused payment: he's a prince, a wealthy one. I am a mere assassin whose parentage is questionable.

I was excused and went to the quarters set up for me. I angrily kicked the dresser. Then opened it curiously. Silk clothes filled the drawers. This was the female guest quarters. There are also male quarters and family quarters.

After a dinner of chicken, gravy, peas, lemon cake, vegetable soup, and krill, I was wandering the gardens.

"It will not be easy." I turned at the voice. Orgath was sitting on the wall, sharpening a knife. "There will be many dangers. I promise to protect you."

"I don't need protecting," I snapped. Orgath just smirked irritatingly. "Have you always been this conceited?" I asked him.

"Depends on who you ask," he muttered. I huffed and turned on my heel. "Wait!" I paused and turned. Orgath was running towards me. "My apologies," he said, kissing my knuckles. "I am somewhat conceited, but that is of no importance pertaining to this matter."

"What do you want?" I asked him.

"I want to find my sister. And get to know you better. You puzzle me. What kind of person isn't interested in money?"

"I have plenty of money," I retorted.

"None of which will be useful on this journey. I swore to protect you, and I hold to that."

"Does your father know?" His silence said it all. "All right, then. I will see you tomorrow." I stalked back to the bedroom. I needed plenty of sleep for such a long journey.

Princess Anneliese was being held captive in the Tower of Doom, said to be surrounded by dragons and guarded by a fierce witch with blue skin. It would take a month to get there, and a month to return. We would be provided camels and horses, plus a caravan to cart all the supplies.

As I slept, I dreamed about Orgath. I admit, I was attracted to him. I had to get a grip on myself. He was a prince, and besides, these sort of romances almost never end well. Besides, I had insulted him, and I doubted he would find me attractive after that. I was not very nice to him.

I had been in love before, with a Pean noble named Peter. But he was betrothed to a noblewoman, and he chose money over love.

Chapter 2 - Journey Begins.

The next morning, I woke up early and ate a large rich breakfast with hash browns, bacon, and eggs. Three caravans were set up, and it turned out that we were being accompanied by three servants.

Faris, the lady-in-waiting to the princess, Marou, a soldier, and Ian, the stable boy and servant to Prince Orgath. Camels pulled the carriages and the caravans, and strong horses with thick hooves were provided for us. As it turned out, Prince Orgath and I were to ride in the carriage for the first half of the journey with Faris.

Faris was pretty, with creamy skin and dark brown hair and large brown eyes. Marou was tall and muscular with a thin brown goatee, and Ian was scrawny and looked nervous and weak. This was not my ideal group, but I couldn't do anything about it.

We had not gone a hundred yards when we hit the first snag. A beggar came up to us and started screaming “It’ll be the end of all of you! It’s the end!”

“Move along,” Marou growled, shoving him aside. The beggar still shouted expletives, not pausing to take a breath.

“Our first road will take us to the Crystal Forest,” I said, hoping to distract from the strange beggar.

“A forest of what?” Ian said stupidly.

“The Crystal Forest,” Marou said impatiently. “Tralisia is right. But we must be cautious. There are rumors that the people who live in the Forest are cannibals.”

Faris looked shocked, and so did Ian. I tried not to scoff. I had encountered the cannibals before, and always came out unscathed, except for a piece of my shirt that had ripped on one of the crystals for which the forest is named. The Forest itself is beautiful, but there are dangers in the Forest, dangers of which Faris and Ian had probably never heard of. Beasts that no sane human being would ever conceive, one of which was the Giant Wolf, who protected the crystals ferociously.

Publication Date: 04-03-2019

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