Chapter 1: Chapter One - Blood Bond
"We're under attack!" That what the bells, all across the country, were screaming. And that's what the people, in the castle, were saying too. No one thought that the forces could penetrate the Imperial City, except for Lycane.
Lycane struggled to get off his bed. He wondered why was it that he was gifted with intelligence, only to be born with a sickly body. Grasping the handles, he made his way towards the door. He entered the hallway and this was also where his handles disappeared.
'We're short on staff,' he thought to himself. 'But I can't make it anywhere on my own.' The war bells continued to ring. If anyone were to ask why there wasn't a big reaction, their answer would be that war is normal. Especially, if between Vampires and Werewolves. A servant spotted Lycane and after bowing in respect, he offered assistance.
Lycane had learned the hard way that pride was useless to him. He had long gotten used to the shame he felt when others helped him walk.
"Lycane!" His foolish father hugged him in greeting. "Father."
"Is it okay for you to be walking around?" His useless mother remarked when he took a seat at the dinner table. The far-away bells hadn't ceased their screaming, but that was normal. It wouldn't be normal if they had ceased.
"I found a beautiful fiancee for you."
"I don't need her."
"How can you say that without even-"
Lycane stood up and slammed the table. Though the force he used was as much as he could muster, the sound it caused was less alarming to his parents than the fact that Lycane stood up against them.
"I came here to tell you both that this war will be different." He turned away and a servant helped him back to his chambers. His father bared an enraged face against his son but he didn't put it into words. He wasn't able to.
Every one in a while, as it passed in the Imperial Family, a werewolf is born with a weak body but has a strong soul and mind. And they shall hold everything in their hands. Lycane's parents believed that their son was a werewolf mentioned in that legend.
Once the servant left his chambers, Lycane took some of the books he wanted to finish from his personal shelves present in his room. Something told him that this would be the last night he would spend in the room. The handles made walking around his chamber easier.
"Alchemy.....Geography.....History....." Lycane brushed his fingers past the titles of books on his shelves. "Ah! Here it is, Vampire and Werewolf Legends." He pulled the book out and sat on a chair by the window.
He flipped the pages, going through the titles to find the one where he had stopped reading at. The ruffling of pages, the wind whipping through the curtains, and the bells ringing far away were the only noises around.
'Found it. Blood-Bond.' Lycane gave a small smile as he continued reading. He loved Legends. The feelings they gave the one hearing or reading was a different kind of thrill. It made the person want to experience the legend in reality. And Lycane loved that feeling. It helped him escape from the suffocation he felt, although it was temporary.
If Lycane had an ultimate goal, it would be to make the temporary feeling into a permanent one.
"It's said that vampires are never satisfied with just a person's blood but there is a saying that some vampires, especially those pure-blooded, can live off one person, whose blood is the tastiest to them. And they form something called-" Lycane was reading aloud to himself when a bell in the Imperial City began to ring.
The first thing Lycane did was scoff at his parents. "I told you," He laughed, his face of happiness twisting into an evil one.
He looked out of the window, the werewolves were all charging into battle. Most of the soldiers shapeshifted into their wolf forms. But the captains had enough energy and control over their inner wolves and were capable of partial transformation.
The chamber's doors burst open. And his parents stood there, panting. "Lycane..." They huffed as they rushed towards him. "There's a passage behind your bed. We made it in case something like this happened." His mother helped him off the chair as his father pushed his bed. As he got up, a twig which was detached from the chair, scraped his leg, drawing blood. But it was nothing to be paid attention to.
Lycane stared in disbelief. He thought they'd run for their lives and leave him here. His mother hugged him and when she pulled back, Lycane noticed a chain dangling around his neck. He stared at the necklace and noticed the pendant attached to it, was openable. He opened and saw three separate pictures of them.
His mother and his father at the corners with him in the middle. He looked at his mother who was tearing up. He felt his eyes water but didn't understand why.
"Son. I always wanted a daughter. And you were born, so sickly from the beginning. But you looked so much like a girl, I couldn't bring myself to like you because it felt like I was being mocked by God - 'You want a daughter? You, who have committed so many sins? As your punishment, you shall have a son who looks like a girl.' So, I distanced myself from you." Lycane saw his mother's tears fall onto the ground. She made no effort to wipe them away as her hands clutched his arms tightly.
"But it is the one thing in my entire life that I regret the most." She smiled at him. "I love you, my son. But I know you don't want it to hear this now but since this might be the last time I'll be able to-" She began to sob uncontrollably. Lycane's father hugged her.
"Dear, we need to..." He looked at her with serious eyes but his shaking hands didn't escape Lycane's eyes. She looked at him and answered with a nod.
His father's gaze shifted towards him. "You see, I knew that this would happen. Though I'm sure for you, it was instinctual. But to think you would know too." His father flashed a proud smile. "You are my son, after all."
"If you..." Lycane's anger boiled, threatening to surface in an ugly manner. The grip on his arm tightened but Lycane didn't shift his gaze toward his mother. "If you knew, then why didn't you do anything?" Lycane shouted at his father.
"There's no time for me to explain." His father handed him two diaries and looked at him, straight into Lycane's dark blue eyes, which twinkled like the stars in the night sky. "Your answers are there in these." Before they pushed him into the hole, they gave him one last hug.
"You will go through your changing soon. Try your best to make it through." His father whispered, his voice shivering with emotions. His mother's sobs had reduced to hiccups and her tears didn't stop as she tightened her hold around him. "I know you can do it, my flower." She kissed him as they let go of him. A push and he fell into the hole. The last words he heard from his parents made the tears, he was doing his best to hold in, flow like a river that knew no end.
"We love you, our dear son."
Lycane cleared his head. He shouldn't be so emotional over people who had revealed their love for him when they found out they wouldn't be able to anymore. He noticed that the legend book had fallen with him too. He picked the books up and got up from the soft mattress he had landed on.
There were handles placed on the wall of the cave-like place he was in. He followed the handles to see where they would end, collapsing to the ground when he reached somewhere in the between. "Wh-What is this place?" He gasped. His body couldn't move another step and he decided to stay where he was. He had arrived at an underground spring.
There were handles ahead of him, but he had no strength to continue. He crawled closer to the spring and quenched his thirst. He washed his face to refreshen himself. He had no idea of what time it was, how long he had been walking, or about what was happening above the ground. Or about what happened to his parents.
He opened the book of legends and began to read it aloud, to take a break from thinking too much, continuing where he left off.
"And they form something called the Blood-Bond. They share a link with their partners even before forming the bond. Let's say that all vampires are capable of forming a blood bond but it is very hard for an ordinary vampire to find their bond and even if they find them, it takes a long time for them to recognize them as their bond." Lycane read slowly.
Somewhere, in the palace.
A man, wearing a royal tunic, with a cloak flying behind as he stormed the palace.
"Your highness, the King and Queen of the werewolves have been taken care of. They didn't disclose the location of the werewolf heir till the end. May I ask what we should do if we find them?"
"If they are female, I shall make them my wife and if they are male, kill them."
"Yes, your highness."
The man walked around the castle, it's grandeur now, reduced to shambles of ruins. The castle had lost its purpose and even its owners. The man kicked a pile of rubble out of the way.
"This is the room of the heir. They were very sickly-" The man gave the soldier, who was explaining, a glare and he stopped speaking. The man sniffed the air.
"There's blood here. Find it. If I taste one drop, I'll be able to find them," He ordered.
Lycane continued to read. "The eyes glowing and the white around eyeballs turning black is a sign, which was only witnessed in a pureblood."
"Your highness, here." A soldier pointed at the chair. The man touched the twig, which was stained red, and licked the blood on his finger. It was a very small amount as the little that was there had dried. The man's red irises glowed as the white in his eyes turned black slowly.
"Your highness?" The soldier asked as the man tore the bed away from the wall and jumped into the hole.
"It's not something like, a sip and they'll know it's - the one - for them. But for the purebloods, their senses are the sharpest, and as such, with just the taste of one drop they'll know if it's - the one - or not, and to confirm their instincts, a link is formed soon after and the involved will feel its formation.
Even so, it is hard to find the blood of the bond. Therefore, it's said that the reason vampires are not satisfied with one person's blood is so that they'll find their bond, someday." Lycane turned the pages and there were effects of a link.
"This is turning into a textbook." He laughed.
A loud sound echoed through the cave-like place. Lycane knew he couldn't run but to save himself, he tore pieces of cloth from his tunic and tied them around his chest, making it seem like he had a chest of a woman. He wore his upper garments. Thankfully, his garments were more feminine because garments that were made for men were bigger than he needed.
Now, all he could do was wait. Unwanted thoughts began to flood his mind. He began to wonder what happened to his parents and if he would be able to see them again. Maybe, just maybe, if he wasn't born sickly or with feminine features, he'd be able to live a happy life with his parents.
He tried to open the diaries and they didn't budge. He continued to read the textbook of legends.
"Links. The most important thing about a link is that the location of the bond-" Something burned in Lycane and he could feel someone approaching him. It didn't feel like his normal instincts. It felt off. He turned back to the book but the sensation only grew stronger.
"The location of the bond is easily known-" He started to hear the footsteps of someone running towards him and turned to look beside him and saw a man, breathing heavily. He found himself staring into black eyes with glowing red irises.
"-to the vampire."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
CagedbyChains
CagedbyChains Hello dear readers,
The first chapter's long...But the following chapters won't be this long...Sorry! But I hope you enjoy their story as much as I do!
Love,