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(Outskirts of New Atlantic City)

(Castle Eden- Underground Prison Cell)

Mary slowly got up from the ground and walked towards a small rock that had been placed near the wall.

She picked up the stone and scratched another line on the wall. It was hard to keep track of time in this strange place.

The monotony of each day meant that unless she kept track... it was easy for every passing day to slip into an endless blur.

There were nine scratches on the wall which meant that little over a week had passed since she had been sold in the auction.

The little hope and optimism that had been in Mary\'s heart had all but vanished as she returned to the soft mattress and stared at the grey walls and ceiling.

The only source of light came from the lit torches that lined the corridor outside and the dark shadows that were cast on the ground made the atmosphere inside the cell quite creepy.

​ "And I was so confident that I would escape," Mary muttered quietly to herself as she idly played with her fingers.

Thick metal bars surrounded her prison cell, and the door was tightly locked using a large chain that was too heavy for her to move.

A small opening was present at the bottom of the door, and it was used by the vampire guards to push meals inside the cell.

Well, if there was one bright side to this whole ordeal... at least she had not been mistreated so far...

Outside of the whole locked up in a cell thing.

Meals came regularly and they included dishes such as fresh salads, high quality meats and nutritional milkshakes.

She had been provided with warm clothing and the temperature inside the underground section of the castle actually wasn\'t that cold.

But despite these comforts... Mary knew the reason why she was being treated so well.

She was nothing more than a pig being fattened up for a banquet.

The hunger in the guards\' crimson eyes as they passed by her cell made it all too clear how the vampires saw her.

She was nothing more than livestock.

Mary tossed those dark thoughts to the back of her mind and jumped off the bed. There was little she could do except keep working out and searching for an opportunity to escape.

She dropped down to the floor and began her regular routine.

First, she would do a series of push ups, then some jumping jacks and finally she would run in place.

Occasionally she would mix in some squats or sit ups depending on her mood.

Mary could feel beads of sweat running down her brows, but she kept going even as her body screamed at her to stop.

It would take at least a couple of months before her body was properly in shape thanks to a lifetime of poor nutrition and physical abuse.

But would she have that time?

There was one thing about her imprisonment that Mary couldn\'t figure out. Why did none of the vampires even attempt to taste her blood?

The vampires in this place were highborn which meant that they would be able to feed without losing control and killing her.

Why was she still being left alone?

Mary was not one to recklessly question good fortune, but she could not help but worry about this strange detail.

It may sound ridiculous, but a thought popped up in Mary\'s mind. What if she was being saved for a special occasion or ritual?

Not matter how hard she tried, thoughts about her potential fate kept resurfacing in her mind especially after seeing what she had seen.

Vampires were monsters.

That was clear from the moment she had witnessed one draining the blood from a young man\'s body until he was nothing more than a shrivelled-up husk of flesh.

Despite her low mood, Mary kept exercising until she finished her daily routine.

There was a clean towel in the corner of the room which she used to wipe the sweat from her face.

The towel was next to the toilet... well if one could call a raised platform above a hole a \'toilet\'.

Mary pinched her nose as she returned the towel to the rack and then walked over to her bed to lie down.

Tap... tap... tap...

She heard footsteps coming from the end of the corridor and finally a figure appeared in the corner of her line of sight.

It was a familiar person.

An elderly man approached the bars of the cell and looked at the human who stared back at him with piercing green eyes.

The vampire had heavy wrinkles on his face and arms but none of the fragility that one would expect with age.

He wore a simple black uniform with the emblem of a wilted rose printed on the front of his outfit.

Count Pearce reached for the heavy metal chain that blocked the entrance to the cell and used one hand to easily tear it apart.

He opened the door and walked into the room. There was a clear expression of weariness and mistrust on the young girl\'s face as he got closer.

The steward of House Volantis roughly grabbed the human by her arm and pulled her along as he walked out of the cell.

Mary struggled slightly but the vampire\'s grip was impossible to break.

Even if she was a fully grown adult man, she doubted that she would be able to escape his grasp.

He was capable of ripping apart an iron chain as easily as one would shred a piece of paper!

Eventually she stopped struggling and allowed herself to be led along a corridor until they arrived at a long flight of stairs that descended downwards.

Was he taking her even deeper underground?

Mary could feel goosebumps rise up along her arms as the elderly vampire walked down the steps.

There were no torches on the walls, so she was forced to travel in complete darkness with only the firm grip of the vampire\'s hand to use as a reference.

Time passed.

It could have minutes, but it felt more like hours.

Eventually the elderly vampire stopped, and Mary almost crashed into his body. She could not see what was happening but felt the grip on her arm tighten.

"Arghh... fuck!" Mary cursed in pain as she felt something slash across her right arm. There was a wet feeling on her arm, and she felt a stinging sense of pain.

She heard the sound of a door opening and a sudden burst of light forced her to close her eyes.

Mary felt her body being dragged in the direction of the door and before she could react, she was tossed inside the mysterious room.

The door slammed shut and then the sound of footsteps rapidly got fainter as if the vampire was running away.

Mary slowly opened her eyes and looked at her right arm. There was a long thin wound that was bleeding slightly.

The wound appeared to have been made by a sharp object like a knife. Why would the elderly vampire cut her before tossing her inside this...

What the...

Mary looked around the room and was taken aback by what was inside. Large white crystals grew out of the walls and the ceiling.

These crystals shone brightly which illuminated the interior of the room.

The floor appeared to be made from glass and one could see expensive paintings and artworks hanging on the walls.

Massive stone columns rose up from the ground and connected to the ceiling.

This place resembled a magnificent hall in a palace rather than a room located deep below the castle\'s dungeons.

But what really drew Mary\'s attention was the wooden coffin in the center of the room that had been engraved with gold carvings.

There were symbols and writings etched onto the coffin\'s wooden surface written in a language that she had never seen before.

Mary gritted her teeth in pain and ripped off a section of her shirt using her teeth. She carefully bandaged the wound on her arm to stop the bleeding.

It didn\'t really work, and the fabric was soon stained red with blood.

Mary let out a heavy sigh and was about to explore the room when she heard a sound that made her heart skip a beat.

The coffin\'s lid was slowly opening...