Like Horse Feed

"M'lady, you smell like every bloodsucker's favorite midnight snack." Ida said, handing Misa a flowery teacup filled with that familiar murky liquid she'd had to force down a week ago. "Except, your particular stench is something else entirely for us to endure. So, I hesitate to say every bloodsucker. I take it back."

Reluctance halted her movements, but in the end, Misa took the cup. She replied dryly, "Wow. How romantic your words are, Miss Ida. I'm blushing."

"Indeed, my diction has become a force to reckon with. After all, I have been trapped down in The Vault with you nightly, reading novel after novel. I have never read so much literature in all my days."

"And hasn't it been lovely?"

"I have once or twice fallen so dry at the mouth that I considered quenching my thirst with M'lady's very own blood while you lounged on the impeccably soft cushions of His Highness's favorite chaise."

"...So?" Misa inquired.

Ida, exasperated, replied, "So, no. I would sooner be staked through the heart than willingly choose to be your 'audiobook,' or whatever it is you called it."

Misa laughed, "Hey, you learned a modern-day human term!"

"Oh, glee. My excitement is hardly contained. Now stop stalling and take the potion before someone eats you."

Alarmed, Misa whipped her head around at the statement, expecting to be two seconds from getting pounced on by a flock of the fanged undead. Instead, her eyes fell on nothing but the beautiful red, pink, and purple chrysanthemums in the vast shrubbery surrounding her. 

In the week since Misa suddenly found herself transported into this fantasy-like world, she and Ida had become accustomed to spending their afternoons in the garden. It was a magnificent area that could be accessed from the back of the castle's keep via an elegant, curving staircase wide enough to support a troupe of five walking side by side. Vibrant green shrubbery groomed into a large archway acted as the entrance to the lavish garden; a tall, gushing fountain recessed behind a small but lovely pond occupied the garden's center. 

That first day Misa had decided to explore the courtyard of the castle, she'd felt jittery and nervous, excited to discover more of the castle's incredible beauty and terrified of what atrocities she might find in a vampire's yard. To Misa's (honestly relieved) delight, what she had found was a peaceful sort of beauty that she had never expected to encounter in a world divided by creatures of the night, near immortals, and the living. 

She had found that the skies above always seemed overcast by puffy, white clouds, offering a layer of protection against strong sunbeams. She noticed that the courtyard was "alive" with activity as servants completed various chores around the castle while guardsmen stood vigilantly on lookout at various posts. She wondered about what other beautiful sights she might see beyond the looming walls of the castle's inner courtyard, as she had not yet been allowed to venture too far, even under Ida's supervision.

It all helped Misa feel like she might never stop being curious about this place (and fear that she might become used to it sooner than she had hoped to.)

Misa returned her attention to the gnarly-looking potion in her hand, and grimaced. "You know, Miss Ida? I'm feeling like I could take a really good nap right now. Doesn't that sound--"

"Drink the potion, human."

"Ah!" Misa shouted, tossing most of the liquid from the cup in her hand as she heard a deep voice speak suddenly from behind her. Before her eyes, the liquid froze in midair and returned to the cup with a resounding plop. It made bile involuntarily rise up to her throat.

She frowned, Damn. He saved it.

"Nice try. Now drink. We have somewhere to be off to and yet you smell so strongly it's seeping in through the windows. Your stench." Prince Ran added as if Misa wouldn't be sure about exactly what smelled if he hadn't made the distinction clear. 

"Oh, come on! Halfway through the courtyard?!" Misa cried, "I can't smell that bad..."

"Horrible." Ida said.

"Unbearable." The prince agreed.

Fifteen minutes later--after just narrowly winning her mighty battle against the revolting potion that tried to not-quite kill the human out of her--Misa crossed the drawbridge into the outer courtyard with Ida, Prince Ran, and a prince's guard named Isel whom Misa had only seen once before. He was a quiet sort who never spoke unless spoken to, hence why Misa had no memory of having heard his voice.

"It's amazing out here." She said breathlessly. This was the farthest out she had been since entering this world, and the sight of it left her in awe. Misa looked left and right, her head on a swivel. "Why haven't I been allowed out here until now? I see horses! I could've been riding horses instead of being all cooped up!"

No one responded to her as they continued toward the massive gatehouse that separated the kingdom's royalty from the outside world. Her feet crunched under sediment and grass, her nose smelled nature on the wind. She closed her eyes to enjoy it for a moment more. 

Then, she cried, "Hello?! Earth to Prince Ran. I know your vamp ears hear me."

"Can't you tell when you're being ignored, hu--" The prince cleared his throat, forcing himself to stop. Misa guessed since they were out of the castle walls, he couldn't carelessly let slip that she was human. 

He continued, "You'd have been sucked dry the moment you exited the gate, you weakling mutation who can't hide your idiotic mannerisms. It's not only about your smell, it's your hideous posture."

Suddenly, Prince Ran's open palm clapped the small of Misa's back. She yelped and darted angry eyes up at him. 

"Hey!"

"And the ghoulish way you walk. You're to be a princess soon, for goodness' sake. At least make believe that there's something noble in you."

Misa's anger dissolved at once. Instead, she focused a teasing smile at Prince Ran and sang, "Ooh, so you accept me now? I'm 'wife-able?'"

Without skipping a beat, the prince replied, "Not a chance," but his normally stoic face looked surprisingly pleasant for someone who had been so against marrying her on day one of all this. Misa had totally expected him to sneer at the thought.

She chuckled and skipped her feet along the path they walked with Ida who was, as always, simply listening, and the new guy who did the same. "Okay, vampire prince. Whatever you say--AH!"

Something--no, a whole body--had dropped out of the sky and landed right beside Misa whose actual soul had almost left her body. Clutching her heart, she scurried behind Prince Ran's tall figure, seeking protection. "What is that?!" She cried.

The prince, of course, didn't answer her. Instead, the figure stood and immediately drooped itself into a deep, deep bow. When it stood back upright, Misa realized it was a male vampire who then announced himself in quite a soft voice for his bold appearance. 

"Your Highness, Leto at your service. I ask to accompany you on this journey to the human village of Copperwood."

"Your company is not necessary." Prince Ran replied instantly and continued down the path. 

As they neared the gatehouse, Misa noticed others becoming aware of the prince's arrival. A carriage and saddled horses were being prepared, runners with bulky wheelbarrows were beginning to load them with sacks of what Misa assumed were horse feed. And...

Misa trained her eyes on someone she noticed was wearing a tattered and stained T-shirt which hung off their bony shoulders. Their arms were clasped behind their back, apparently secured by chains, and they swayed on their feet as if tired, dizzy, or drunk. She watched the way their head lolled back and forth as their feet unsteadily moved toward the carriage, ushered by an attendant.

Horrified, Misa thought, Is... Is that a... human? 

Her nearly still heart pounded hard in her chest, echoing in her ears, the pain yanking her to her knees. A pulse so angry it sounded external to her own body beat once more against her very being and a tremendous bout of air burst forth around them.

"Misa!" Shouted Prince Ran's voice, but Misa was groaning, thoughts swirling through her head, and could hardly hear him.

They're loading up a human the same as horse feed. That's sick. That's evil. If the roles were reversed... That could be me. It could be me!

Misa snapped her head up and shot her gaze forward. Her glowing green eyes zeroed in on the carriage and its wooden frame combusted, fragments flying in all directions. The horses reared up, whinnying loudly, and dashed around the square in a frenzy, chased by their vampire guides.

The human--

Misa couldn't see the human. Her eyes darted every which way, trying to locate the person she'd seen before, but Prince Ran's stern face slipped into her line of sight. He knelt down before her, blocking her view and, more kindly than Misa had ever thought possible for him, took her cheeks in both his hands and stared at her. Looked directly into her eyes.

"Misa," he said, "enough now." He swiped a thumb across her cheek. She had been crying. "Enough."

Breathing heavily, Misa looked into the prince's eyes and found a softness there that shocked her--and that she wanted desperately to hold on to. This world is too cold, she thought, and closed her eyes to lean her forehead on Prince Ran's shoulder.

She breathed in his rose-like scent, slowly. And exhaled. 

I'm going to change it. I'll stay by his side.

And change everything.