Unholy

o n e

i r i s eleanor f r e n c h

I stared at clock. In mere minutes, I turned twenty-four years old, meaning my training began. Being born human meant that now, in this dystopian, creature-ruled future, I didn't make my own decisions. My kind - the humans - were used as companions, servants, portable food banks, you know, "the help".

I remember when the nightmares became reality. I was about eight years old, and it was a multitude of different things that led to what currently was the state of the world. First it was bodies being drained of blood mysteriously, then the President being assassinated, and then it was a document sent to the doorstep of every American from the government stating that "non-human entities have invaded".

Seems like the plot to a shitty movie, doesn't it? If only that were the case.

Once the world basically burnt to the ground, it was the Vampires that built it back up, and quickly too. They put in new systems, new rules, and of course, took the power away from humans.

Starting at twenty-four years old, humans were to be sent to training facilities to then be picked and leashed by their new owners. While of course, the Vampires worded it with sugarcoated lies, that's exactly what happened.

The only people safe from these camps were parents with young children and the elderly. The elderly humans got to live out their lives peacefully. Ironic that the generation responsible for the state of pre-nightmares were the ones who got to be blissfully unaffected by the changes.

I stared at the clock again. 11:58 PM.

Two minutes until I turned twenty-four.

My mom was sat next to me, squeezing my hand as we both looked at the clock. My dad had passed a few years before, which I was grateful for. I missed him terribly, but I didn't want him to have to see his only daughter and baby girl forced into servitude for what were supposed to be myths.

"Iris," my mother spoke, her voice cracking.

I turned my head, looking at her red-rimmed blue eyes that matched mine. "Yeah, mom?"

"I need you to listen to me. Keep your head down, do what they say. I want you to live a full life - there are people working to end the training camps. Survive, baby girl."

My eyebrows furrowed. I was aware of the Humans Against Vampires - or HAV - a secretive group dedicated to taking out the creatures in power.

"You know I can't put my faith in them. They're human against powerful creatures, mom. I'm going to find Harley and get her to choose me." I explained.

Harley was my best friend. Her and I were inseparable from birth until teen years, when her fangs came in and she couldn't hide the truth anymore. Harley is a Vampire, and not just a lower level one. Her father is second in command to President Oliver Covington, the Vampire currently running the show.

We ended on confusing terms - you know, the type where you're not quite sure if your best friend wants to eat you or not.

My mom wiped the stray tear that breached my eye, her smile sad. "Okay, baby. You're my smart, precious girl. I know you'll survive this."

As she finished, the clock buzzed. 12:00 AM on November 15th. I'm officially twenty-four.

I was scheduled to fly to the base camp at 8 AM, so these were the last hours I had with my mother. I wasn't sure if I'd ever see her again, as some Owners preferred to cut off their companions from their families entirely. Control equals submission. Submission equals power.

I knew what I had to do. Keep my head down, obey. I always had a problem with authority, I wasn't trusting of the nightmare police - let alone my teachers during school who were replaced by even more nightmares. The crusade I was on wasn't going to be an easy one, but I had to survive, I had to come back home to my mom. I was all she had left, and she was all I had.