CHAPTER 4
SOPHIA
“Show your arm, human!”, one of the guards twice my size says to me, and I hasten to stretch my arm towards him.
The man holds some kind of machine equipment that can scan the device on my arm, the machine makes a sound and I look at the screen next to the gate seeing my name on the equipment.
“What is the reason for your entry here?”, the man asks me to see that in my information it says that I am not a daily visitor to this place.
“I have come to apply for a job vacancy. “I say and the man nods before asking me to enter through the huge open gates.
For a moment I thought that my entry into this place would not be allowed today, but I was wrong, and I quickly force my feet to start walking into the city.
It's been many years since the few times I came to this place and everything looks completely different, many people are walking in all directions, many humans working and vampires...
Vampires...
I stop walking and my eyes fix on a couple coming out of one of the stores, the woman is wearing a long cape that looks very expensive and the man is holding her hand.
I would say she is human, but she is a vampire when I see her red eyes, I hug my own body realizing this is the first time I have seen a vampire before me.
The woman has skin as if she were made of porcelain, she is looking at the man when her eyes are fixed on me, I keep looking noticing the way she was dressing as if she had come out of another century.
The man is also a vampire and keeps walking with the woman, now I can understand a little bit when my mother said to be careful with them because they seem to be like us, but they are cruel monsters with a thirst for human blood and sharp teeth that can kill you quickly.
I try not to think about the last part when I see more vampires among the humans, all of them have red eyes and scary expressions on their faces, I'm not enjoying staying here, but I keep walking trying to find the place where humans can try to find jobs in the city.
A sign indicates the right place and I enter seeing that many humans are waiting to be served, I take a kind of waiting ticket and lean against a wall waiting for my turn to be served.
I wonder if my mom is still asleep feeling sick at home while I'm doing this, I feel my heartbeats speed up more as I look at the man sitting next to me.
He's wearing clothes but his body is completely riddled with vampire bite marks, this means he's had to donate blood many times to keep surviving and that makes me feel really bad.
There are too many humans, and everyone is too desperate to get a job because everyone needs to stay alive, it's a long time before I'm finally seen.
I breathe a sigh of relief as I sit down and look at the woman across the table seeing that she is human, I would feel more than nervous if I tried to talk to a vampire right now.
She asks me to stretch my arm and I see the device being scanned again, she starts writing various things on paper looking at the computer, I guess this is the only place computers are allowed.
I've never touched one because I grew up in a world where it became too dangerous.
“I see you've recently reached 18 and you don't have any jobs registered in the system...”, she says starting to type on the computer keyboard again.
“Yes, it's my first time and I need a job...”, I whisper, seeing that the woman looks at me with a 'sorry' expression on her face.
“You are too young, you have no experience in any job, and the system is too full and with limited vacancies, but all of them do not fit your profile.”, she says, and I frown feeling confused at this moment.
“What are you saying?”
“This means that unfortunately there are no jobs available for you at this time, but you can try again in two months.”
My mother is not two months old.
“I'm sorry, but I need a job, I need to help my mother who is sick, check again and see if there are any vacancies available, it can be anything, please...”, I ask seeing that the woman starts typing again.
“No. I'm sorry, but there are no vacancies available, there are no jobs for you, but you are a young girl, and you may have more options.”, she says looking at me and I know what that means.
“Blood donor?”, I ask as she hands me a piece of paper.
“Yes, you are old enough and this kind of job is always in need of more people, you can apply for this if you are really in dire need of money fast.”
There are always vacancies available because human donors are dying daily, and they need more humans to feed the vampires.
“I know it sounds very scary, but this is the only option we have for you.”, the woman says, and I look at the paper in my hands.
“And it looks like you came at the right time because the harvest is going to happen in a few days and humans are still being recruited.”, she says smiling as if this is a good thing.
I know what vampire harvest means; it means that they organize a party where many young humans attend to be chosen to become a special donor for some member of the vampire monarchy.
Girls and boys are chosen and must become special donors, this is slightly different from the regular blood donor because this type of donor receives more rewards.
It also means they need to serve the highest-ranking vampires, become like a toy for a royal monster.