Chapter 1: Going To Galea

Approximately 2 weeks later

I'm now living in a dorm. I have no idea where it's located, or why Vincent has done this to me. I shouldn't be here, I shouldn't be a new part of the System of Sovereignty. I'm an American girl, I live in the United States, in a small town in Oklahoma. I'm not the SOS type of girl.

It all sounds very confusing. Well, a couple years ago, maybe when I just turned 13, explorers and scientists came upon a large, one piece continent, near the south side of Australia. At first, they thought nobody lived there, it was just a random continent that appeared out of nowhere.

But they were wrong. The whole community was filled with vampires. Yes, there were people there, but mostly vampires. And the actual humans there weren't really regular pedestrians, they were slaves instead.

In Galea, or this new continent, the vampires there made their own system of government, which was well known as the System of Sovereignty. In this, rich, male vampires could become masters to no more than 8 female slaves. Masters could make their own rules, have assistants, and live in large homes. They could beat their slaves, love their slaves, kill their slaves, if they really wanted to. They also held auctions between different masters, to trade these female slaves for others.

I don't know how I know so much. We talked about it once in World History when I was a little younger, but it wasn't like a conversation in depth.

And never did I picture somebody from Galea finding me in America, and deciding to bring me to someone. I was surely frightened. Just listening to the stories of some of these vicious vampire Masters made my heart pump faster, and sweat drip down my back.

So there I was, sitting on a small bed, in a dark, circular room.We were still in America, I think somewhere in Cali. Did Mom know about this? Where was she when Vincent and this black car took me away?

In the middle of my thinking process, my dorm door opens, and the dark figure of Vincent stands there.

"You are ready for your flight." He mutters.

"I don't wanna go." I whisper. My confidence level was really low at the moment.

"You are going to Galea." Vincent growls, and I stand up, and follow him out into the dark, long hallways.

"Why have I had to stay here for 2 weeks?" I whisper quietly as we make our way into the cold night. There's a chilly breeze in the air, and the leaves on the trees rustle faintly, introducing an eerie setting for this one night.

"The System's officials had to get paperwork situated for you and your master." Vincent took me to a clearing, and I noticed that in the middle was a private jet, a small jet, of course. I raised my eyebrows. Was this supposed to be an elegant, superior way to arrive to my destination?"

"Who is my Master?" I asked quietly, and Vincent gave me a glare as he walked up the stairs and opened the side door open.

"You will be knowing that once we get to Galea." He muttered. "Now get in."

The flight took around 7 hours. We took the easy route, crossing over Hawaii to get to Galea there. But during that time, I was freaking out slowly in my mind. Every mile that took me closer to my future life made my whole body tremble, with fear and anxiety.

Vincent and some strange man, that could have also been working with the System's members, sat in the back corner, where they drank wine and talked, about who knows what, while I sat in a front seat, rubbing up and down my arms to stop the frequent chills that formed on my skin. I wanted Mom. I wanted Joel and Derrick. It had been 2 weeks since I had last seen them, and I didn't have any way to contact them.

I knew I wouldn't sleep for a while. I'd be too scared and nervous to close my eyes. Was I even going to meet my master that day? It was around 1 am when I was thinking of this, and I glanced back at Vincent and the man, and realized they were no longer there.

Around 4, three hours later, as my head was tilted back on the leather seat, I felt a firm hand on my shoulder, and my whole body jumped up. I looked up frantically at Vincent, but he didn't show any emotion in his face.

"We are in Galea, Maddie." He announced lowly. "Today is the day you meet your master."

We are suddenly walking down a dark, empty hallway. The floors are made out of cement and stone, and the walls are embedded with cracked concrete and bricks. I was gazing at them, not affectionately. This was surely a dark, ugly place to be. Was all of Galea like this?

I didn't see much when I got off that jet. We landed near a huge, dome like structure, that looked pretty dark and gray and grim from the outside. If everything was seriously like this, I couldn't live my life the same. I was so used to many colours growing around me, and now, my world has been attacked by ebony, and grey.

"Where are we going?" I whisper, filled with fright and curiosity, and Vincent looks back at me, his expression filled with irritation.

"You ask too many questions." He mumbled, and I swallowed. "But all we are doing here is verifying you as part of Master Ivan Wilson's system."

I stop. Ivan Wilson. I've heard of that name before...

***

"So what is that System of Sovereignty whatever thing in Galea?" Nick Schoenbaur asks. Mr. Johnson turns and looks at him hard before clearing his throat.

"It's almost like a slave type thing the vampires do in the community."

"It's so weird to hear him talk about actual vampires." My best friend Heather whispers to me, and I look over at her, smiling, and nod in agreement.

"Aren't they called like, Masters?" Cara asks, and Mr. Johnson smiles at her and nods, clasping his hands together.

"Yes, Cara." He says enthusiastically. "They most definitely are. They usually own up to just 8 female slaves as their own, and they can basically do what they want with them."

"So do they like, rape them and stuff?" Some jock asks, and some people laugh.

"They do, actually." The teacher answers, and everybody goes quiet. "There's actually some famous ones I'm sure some of you have heard before, right? Like Master Liam Fredricks, Master Ivan Wilson, Master William King..."

***

Master Ivan Wilson. My master. I had no idea why he was famous to people around the world, but I knew I would eventually find out when I meet him.

"Is it rare to have somebody like him as my master?" I asked. But Vincent doesn't answer. He just keeps leading me down the hallway.

Eventually, we come into this small, stone, circular room, lit up with dim torches in the corners. There's almost like a large, wooden table that went all the way to the opposite walls, and some official, dark looking men sat in chairs, and looked down at us. They were on a stoop maybe 3 feet tall, so we had to look up to them to directly see them.

"Vincent Gilman." One man with long, black hair declared in a booming deep voice, and I saw the glint of two, pure white fangs in his jaw. "I see you have brought someone."

"This is Maddie Vega, Sir Cunman." Vincent says, looking over at me, sort of in disgust. "She's supposed to go to Ivan Wilson today."

"Oh good, he's been getting quite angry lately about that." I really wanted to speak up and ask him what he meant, but I couldn't build up the nerve to do so.  "I guess he must be so anxious to meet her." Oh.

Sir Cunman suddenly pushes a part of the table, and it comes out, kind of like a swinging door, and he steps down some steps, to mine and Vincent's level. He shoves a document rudely in my hands, his dark eyes grasping my soul and crushing it.

"Miss Vega, you must sign this." He takes a pen out of his pocket, and nearly throws it at me, like he's afraid to touch me because I'm so disgusting. "It's an agreement form, stating that you fully agree to being part of the System of Sovereignty."

I looked down. I really wish I had the confidence to flat out tell him no. Of course I didn't agree to this, I never would.

But I didn't have a choice. So I signed it anyway.