The Pride of a Slave

Here it is everyone, I hope you like it!! I actually love it, and I took everyones advice and not only did I get an editor, but hows this for length?!? Hehe, anyway this one is massive, and I hope you like it. And super thanks to my awesome editor, and once I learn your screen name you are all over these chapters!!

*****************

We threw our graduation caps up into the air cheering loudly. Graduation day, I was one of many but I was the only white graduation robe among all the royal blues. It upset a lot of the families, but I didn't care, I had worked relentlessly to be part of this group. I had not slept a full eight hours since before I turned thirteen, my scores were the result of blood, sweat, and tears, many, many tears.

We filed out of the arena, and I waved up to the third platform to my friend standing with the other white coats. She smiled weakly and waved quickly before dropping her head and shuffling out in the quiet way we were supposed to. As we walked out I began to get rammed violently in the shoulder as the very tall blue coated girls walked passed. Normally when they rammed me, they made sure there were no marks, but I guess since it was graduation they assumed that it would be alright to leave bruises.

"Cattle...slave...disgusting." I sighed at the names and shook my head feeling a bit sad that they were so narrow minded.

A large warm arm landed across my small shoulders and I looked up in the familiar honey brown eyes I had known since I could toddle, "I cant believe you actually lived through the speeches."

I scoffed, "Come now Ryder, the speeches weren't that dull."

A cool breeze stopped next to me and another tall blue coat leaned down, "He meant that they didn't try and kill you for being down there." I rolled my eyes but smiled into the other pair of eyes I had known my whole life, these eyes an deep blue.

"You guys knew I was told to be down there, I earned being down there, I earned the damn coat too." I grumbled and the two smiled and Ryder squeezed my arms and Dimitri patted the top of my head.

"You know the laws, its been this way for far too long." Dimitri was always the voice of cool, calm, reasoning.

Ryder squeezed my shoulders, "Don't worry Sera, that was a big step to have a human down there with us."

"Yes, and a white coat as well, you are breaking the boundaries you spoke often of rebelling against, it is just not in the grand fashion you had hoped." Dimitri grabbed my hand and squeezed it briefly before we were surrounded by very angry amber and blue eyed parents.

"This is ridiculous, a slave, sitting with our children, as if she were an equal."

I looked down from their faces as I was expected to, biting my tongue so hard that I nearly drew blood. Ryder's arm left my shoulders and he growled, "Things are changing you stupid old geezers, there are humans doing amazing things now, including politics."

There was an audible gasp, "The rest of the world will realize how stupid they are being allowing their slaves to have power, but that will not happen here."

Dimitri cleared his throat, "So sure are we?"

"Your father and mother will hear of this insolence to your elders. I don't care who you two are and who you will be, you need to learn your place, and especially

that creatures

place." I looked at the richly clothed legs of the speaker. He was saying what everyone there was thinking.

I reached out and grabbed both the hot hand of Ryder and the cold hand of Dimitri knowing they were both about to spring forward, the gasp around the circle was loud and all the noise stopped. I dropped my hands quickly, but the damage was already done. I had broken a very basic law, I was not allowed to touch them of my own accord. Dimitri and Ryder both laced their fingers through mine and we walked out of the group, the two shoving ahead of me, making a break in the crowd so I could get through as safely as possible.

"Ah, the heat of youth, I cannot wait until it cools." I dared to look up to a very mature looking man.

He was the aged image of his son, they both had black hair that was shock straight, the same pronounced jaw and chin, long slender throat, lean, lithe body, that stood a good six foot nine. Dimitri's nose was his mother's as well as his lips, he had a narrow straight nose that made his face look far more severe than he truly was and below the incriminating nose was a pair of the fullest, pale pink lips that had ever graced a vampire. The older man's hair was slicked back with grey at his temples, while Dimitri left his hair to fall into the side of his face, touching the edges of his lips.

"Yes, well if you had decided to grace us with a little more punctuality we wouldn't have been standing in a lynch mob." Dimitri's voice hissed as we followed him.

Dimitri's father looked at me, "You understood what would have happened when you sat there."

It wasn't as much a question as a statement but I nodded anyway, and he looked back to Dimitri, "She cannot always be under your protection."

Dimitri scoffed and looked at Ryder who shrugged and smiled at Dimitri's father, "That's what I'm here for, taking up the slack."

Dimitri's dad winced, "How did you graduate with such an inability to speak properly."

"Just lucky I guess." There was a howl and Ryder smiled into the crowd before it parted and his mother walked towards us grinning ear from ear.

If Dimitri was a spitting image of his father, then Ryder was a spitting image of no one but himself. His mother had strawberry blonde hair, she stood six foot three, short for her kind. She was thin and lithe, her muscles visible on her arms as she strolled towards us. Ryder stood six foot nine as well, and was big. His body bulged with muscle and his gown was unable to hide the strength in them. His shoulders were wide and intimidating, but what his body did in intimidation the rest of him countered it. He was a bright red head with curly hair that looked frizzy and crazy all the time. His face was splattered with freckles that made his already bright amber eyes even brighter, especially when his perfect toothy grin took over his face.

"Oh my rides here, oi Di, take Sera home, Mom's throwing a very non-human friendly party in the woods, and we are going straight there."

Dimitri nodded and I waved as Ryder released my hand and bounded off with his mother and half of his family right on their heels. Dimitri squeezed my hand softly and smiled down at me as we walked to his ridiculous car and got in, me sitting in back with him and his father.

"I am sorry to hear that your mother was unable to make it." I absorbed Dimitri's father's kinds words.

"Yes, well, that's how the Administration works, she couldn't get clearance to leave even though we are supposed to get clearance for graduations automatically."

We all grew quiet as the sleek, black car glided through the streets. I looked at the city, hating it and hating my part in it even more. Once upon a time I would have graduated in a class of all humans. Vampires and werewolves being nothing but a legend and I would have had the whole world laid before me, open, and waiting.

I hated the scientists, the ones who just couldn't leave well enough alone. Why did they have to find the elixir of immortality? Why did they work on cell splicing, on genetics, on things that should have been left well enough alone? They didn't, however, and after a century vampires and werewolves took over everything. The world's most brilliant, talented, scientific or political minds had been given the elixirs.

I understood why they had done it, the threat of biological warfare was intense. One part of the world ready and willing to kill the other part and biological was the only way to destroy the people but leave the land. So, science pooled together and created vampires and werewolves. It was a crap shoot when the First had taken the elixirs of immortality. It was a blip in the genome that decided whether they turned into a vampire or werewolf, but once the First were turned, their children, subsequently, were automatically vampire or werewolf.

The world's leaders were not only immortal but were smarter, bigger, faster, and stronger. That had changed everything. Suddenly to be a vampire or werewolf made you better than the humans who were never able to take the elixirs. And as the world went along everything became segregated, and the funniest thing was, it wasn't the immortals who had segregated the humans away, it had been the humans.

We became the fragile race, we could be killed by an immortals child's tantrum, we were no longer safe to be mixed with them, that's what they believed and instead of adapting, they hid themselves away and allowed their rights to be taken from them. But then side effects of the elixirs began to spring up, vampires required the energy of a human in order to maintain their immortality past the age of 40. They laid their lips to the throat of a human and the humans energy, health, and emotions would be drained from them. It could leave a human incapable of fighting off a simple flu or cold, bed ridden, and catatonic.

The werewolves had it rougher, they required the actual life force of a human to maintain their immortality after 60, they required blood, consumed in their Lycan form. Suddenly humans became important and needed. Humans began to build a hierarchy among themselves. The "Important" humans began to sell off the poor, the weak, the familyless humans to the immortals as slaves. Thus creating the cast system I was in. One was born into their cast, and were taught to believe they could never exceed it.

We were also taught never to be tempted into the arms of an Immortal, that every Immortal had the one human they required, although sometimes two, but never more than two. We were taught from birth that we were essential to our government surviving because if humans went extinct, so did the Immortals. We were taught that proper Immortals were trained to take what they needed and never more, and that if they did take more than they needed that we were to report them to the Administrators, so that they could be reprimanded and that we could stay protected.

Since I began school I was told a Werewolf would not become a Vampire, a human would not become immortal, and a slave, no matter how smart, beautiful, educated, could be nothing but a slave. It was lies of course, the elixir still existed, and humans who were brilliant or valuable would be required to take it, thus keeping the gene pool of immortals fresh, and bringing the valuable to their group.

As time went along, the democracy became unable to govern the unique needs of the different immortal groups. Werewolves required a close knit pack, usually the bigger the better, while Vampires required their families to be small and hated to be ruled by a group that simply couldn't understand the value of solitude. So, a group rose up of Vampires that became the leaders of the Vampires, a King and Queen of sorts, and an Alpha rose up that was agreed upon by all the separate Alphas and their packs, to rule for them. The humans, however, had no ruler. We had an administration: a group of leaders who sat together and decided the life of all the humans. They took their orders from the two Immortal leaders, usually. To keep war from brewing among all the different races, it was agreed that the rulers and administration was a group that one was born into. It was a job handed down from parent to child.

I closed my eyes and felt myself drift away on my thoughts. My body still recovering from the week I spent with little sleep, studying night after night, preparing for the final examinations. I felt a cold arm wrap around my shoulders leaning me into his hard, lean, shoulder. I snuggled into the familiar feel and scent of my best friend and fell into the deep sleep I got only from being with one or both of my friends.

Dimitri's voice woke me but I kept my eyes closed unwilling to release the delicious feeling of a restful sleep.

"What will you do when you go to Univeristy and she doesn't?" Dimitri's father was being quiet but his deep satin voice was distinct against Dimitri's velvet voice.

"You know as well as I that she will more than likely go to the University."

"You know as well as I that she will be paired to a mate or a family or pack very soon."

Dimitri's body stiffened, "It is not set yet, the University could still see her as having potential beyond her cast."

Even I knew he was reaching, it was rare that casts were broken and I was no prodigy nor did my mind easily comprehend things, all I had going for me was determination. The University was fickle though, and times were beginning to change, more and more families were teaching slaves beyond the basic education and in other parts of the world humans were shattering the cast system that kept me so bound.

"Perhaps."

"You could influence it."

"Yes, as well as could Mariah, but neither of us will."

I listened to Dimitri grind his teeth, "Why? Why would you raise the three of us together, why didn't you pick an Administrators son to be my play mate rather than a slave's daughter?"

"Well, partially because your mother was dying Dimitri. She wouldn't take the energy that would have kept her alive. Anna's energy was sweet, innocent, and more or less untouched thanks to her being mated instead of being paired to a family. She was my best attempt to save your mother. She was still nursing Seraphina. To be honest, I couldn't help but like a slave that had the strength to name her daughter a queens name, and I wanted to see what the little slave with the queens name would grow to become."

"And now with your curiosity satisfied, are you going to dispose of her?"

The car stopped and I began to stir and sit up as the doors opened. The servants bowed low as Dimitri's father stood out of the car, "Your Highness."

Dimitri's father dipped his head back down to the car and looked at Dimitri, "Who said it was satisfied." He straightened and walked into the Palace.

*********

I jogged behind Dimitri as he walked, with his long legs, fast ahead of me, "Dang it slow down Dimitri."

The servants were used to my relationship with their heir apparent so the gasps and silences and glares I would have received anywhere else at addressing Dimitri that way, were no where to be found. Dimitri slowed down and waited for me to catch up, "You always forget it's like two of my strides for one of yours."

"I am agitated Sera, my apologies."

I smiled at him, "I heard."

The corner of his mouth quirked up, "Yes, I was aware you were awake."

I chewed the inside of my cheek, "What if I'm mated to an unbearable man, Di?"

He froze and glared at me, his blue eyes glowing, "You will not be mated."

I shook my head and we walked the rest of the way to his parlor in silence. I collapsed onto the bean bag chair that I had begged Dimitri to get. I liked being lower to the ground because I could spread my work out further, that way.

"I should get home soon." I didn't move, but instead stayed where I was, unwilling to leave my friend to walk through the hostile streets.

I knew Dimitri would give me a ride to the human border, but when I spoke of hostile streets, it was the human ones. It was a fact of my life that I made sure never to speak of with my two best friends, but occasionally I was unable to hide the marks, the bruises or the cuts.

"You should leave before dark, at least."

I nodded, humans had a curfew, we were not allowed outside of our homes after nightfall. We were told it was to keep us safe from the immortals and their needs for us, but in all truth it was to keep us from running, or organizing, or doing anything other than what we were assigned to do.

"I hate going home." I had said this almost every time I left and Dimitri did what he always did when I said this.

He sighed, "Yes, well, your mothers there and you love your mother. So instead think of it as going to your Mother."

"I always do, give me a ride then, I'm not in the mood to fight you over it."

Dimitri walked over and pulled me to him hugging me, "I don't know how we will do it, but Ryder and I wont let you get paired or mated okay?"

I shook my head, "You are both the Princes of your people, but even you won't be able to stop this."

Dimitri squeezed me, "You are our little sister, as much a part of our people and our family as our own siblings, or in my case as my father."

I squeezed him tightly then released him and we headed out the door, out of the palace and out of the clean, shiny streets of the immortals city. He stopped at the border and waved to the guards as I got out and dug out my I.D. from my pocket. I handed it to the guard who took it carefully, his brown, human eyes, glaring at me all the while Dimitri stayed where he was watching.

When I finally got through the border I took off at a jog towards the slaves section of the human city. I jogged for Dimitri's benefit, once he was out of sight I ran at a break neck speed. I had learned after many beatings by police and random people, in general, that the faster I was, the less likely bored humans would chase down the pet of the Princes, to take out on me the hatred and frustration they felt towards the rulers and the immortals.

I heard feet behind me and recognized one of the boys I graduated with, he had been on the second tier, in brown, and had taken to beating me as his one and only pleasure in life.

"Leave me alone Joe."

He didn't say anything, his heavy, fat body unable to catch up nor keep up with me. But that wasn't where the danger with him was, it was in the fact that he never ran alone, that he ran in a group of three, and they liked to lay traps for me. I had gotten caught not too long ago, and they had decided that beating me wasn't good enough anymore, instead they had started to unbuckle their pants and rip my clothes from me.

It was then that a guard had intervened. Bruises and cuts would be ignored by the rulers but I was property, and if I were marred in anyway other than by who I was paired or mated to, it would be as if the Administrators had destroyed their property and the punishment would be severe all the way down to Joe and his family.

I didn't want to take the risk and when I got close to the park I ran around it avoiding the trees I knew that hid his two friends. He yelled and they jumped down, and ran after me. I was getting winded and they were fresh, but I was also running on serious adrenaline, I had incentive NOT to be caught, and it was more than they had to catch me because when I rounded the corner of my street they stopped and I could hear them yelling at each other.

I slowed my sprint to a jog and eventually a walk until I was at the door of my little one bedroom house. I opened the door and walked in, opening the curtains and windows, letting the air flow into house. I walked through the living room/ dining room/ kitchen, through the bathroom and into the bedroom, seeing my mother asleep on the large bed that we shared.

I sat down beside her, still trying to catch my breath and she opened her eyes and turned to me, "Did you get chased again?"

I nodded and she sighed, "I'm sorry Seraphina, I wanted to go."

I took a few deep breaths, "I know, I'm not mad."

"Tell me all about it then."

I smiled down at her and described it, retelling the speeches word for word, and then grumbled about my gown, which I had left at Dimitri's house. I told her about the families who had circled us and about Ryder and Dimitri defending me, and about the conversation Dimitri and his father had about me.

My mother smiled a touch wistfully and leaned back into her pillow, "That was probably the best time of my life."