MY SUGAR MUMMY IS A BEAUTIFUL VAMPIRE

Chapter 170: An old friend [ 1]

Rose hadn't eaten anything since being banished to the knights' quarters the previous day. Her stomach growled hungrily, the pangs of emptiness only amplified by the life growing within her womb. She knew her mother wouldn't allow the castle servants to feed her, so she would have to venture out to find sustenance elsewhere.

Pulling a large, baggy maternity gown over her clothes to conceal her small baby bump, Rose quietly slipped out of her room and made her way through the dimly lit halls. She passed a couple of snickering maids who instantly averted their eyes upon seeing her. Rose ignored them, holding her head high as she exited through a side door leading outside the castle's main walls.

The inner city streets were bustling with vampires going about their business. Many turned to gawk openly at Rose, their supernatural senses detecting the unmistakable scent of pureblood nobility wafting from her. Hushed whispers and furtive gestures followed in her wake.

"Isn't that the Shelly mistress who ran off?"

"I heard she's been cast out, made an outcast..."

"They should chase her from the inner city, force her to live with the rabble like us lowly commoners..."

Rose did her best to tune out the disdainful mutterings, keeping her eyes straight ahead as she navigated the winding streets towards the city's central blood market. Despite the heavy gown, her hunger was becoming more pronounced by the minute. The life inside her seemed to share her ravenous yearning, kicking fitfully against her straining belly.

At last, Rose reached the open-air blood market, an expansive courtyard lined with stalls and vendor carts peddling a grisly array of wares. Behind the counters, grizzled sanguine vampires - fearsome hunter breeds - hawked their fresh acquisitions of human blood and...less savory remains.

Wrinkling her nose in distaste, Rose approached the nearest stall, trying to appear as unobtrusive as possible. Perhaps if she was fortunate, one of these cretins would simply take her coin without comment or complaint.

"You, merchant," she said coolly, keeping her voice measured. "I require two pints of your freshest human provision."

The sanguine's gaze swept over her dismissively before huffing a derisive snort. Without a word, he turned and began brusquely closing the shutters over his stall.

"Hey! You cannot simply ignore a paying customer, you wretch!" Rose snapped, her temper fraying.

The sanguine paused, fixing her with a look of utter disdain. "I don't serve your kind, outkast," he spat the words like a curse. "Best crawl back to whatever dirt you were kicked from."

With that, he slammed the shutters closed, the clang of wood on wood ringing out like a death knell. Rose's hands clenched impotently at her sides as humiliated fury blazed in her breast.

"How dare you address me that way, you filthy leech!" she raged at the shuttered stall. "Don't you know who I am?"

Realizing her outburst was drawing unwanted scrutiny, Rose bit back her diatribe and turned on her heel, marching towards the next nearest vendor. Surely this lout was simply a fluke, an aberrant wretch who would soon learn the folly of denying a Shelly noble.

But the same scenario played out at stall after stall - rude dismissals, sneering insults, and slammed shutters in her face. Each resounding rejection was like a slap across her reddening cheeks, stoking the fires of her outraged humiliation ever higher.

At the fourth stall, Rose could no longer contain her fury.

"You putrid reprobates!" she shouted at the vendor, slamming her fists on his counter hard enough to rattle the glass containers of blood. "How dare you deny services to a lady of my esteem! Do you know who I am?"

The scrawny sanguine behind the counter merely sneered at her tantrum.

"We know exactly who you are, casta." The words dripped with contempt. "You're the Shelly whose vengeful mother has made it painfully clear - you are an outcast, a vicious disgrace no longer welcome amongst polite company."

Rage and shame warred within Rose, choking her until she could barely force words past the lump in her throat.

"Th-that's absurd! I am a noble, a lady of the ancient Shelly bloodline! My pedigree demands respect and services, not this...this blatant discrimination!"

The sanguine barked out a harsh laugh, his eyes glittering with malicious amusement.

"Your pureblood means less than rancid swill in these parts, outkast. Now take your self-important airs and be gone...before I take it upon myself to properly educate you in your new station."

His claws extended slightly from his fingertips in an unmistakable threat. Despite her anger, Rose could not deny the frisson of fear that lanced through her at the implied violence.

Drawing what tattered shreds of dignity she could muster around her, Rose straightened her spine and turned away from the leering vendor without another word. If Gladys truly had spread word of her banishment through the city, likely no sanguine would dare cross her vicious mother by serving an "outcast."

Which left Rose in a dreadful predicament. Though her body could subsist on conventional food, her child's growing needs were demanding a diet of life-essence that Rose simply could not provide through mere mortal sustenance. Already, she could feel the faint tendrils of hunger pangs gnawing at her from within, a reminder that the clock was ticking on her child's wellbeing.

Her earlier rage had drained away, leaving only a bone-deep weariness as the physical toll of her fruitless wandering set in. Weaving her way between the bustling crowds, Rose allowed her feet to carry her aimlessly in the vague direction of the castle gates.

What was she to do now? Slink back to those dismal knights' quarters with her hunger unfulfilled, risking further damage to her unborn child? Did she dare try forcing her way past the guards and servants into the inner stronghold in search of nourishment, regardless of Gladys's dictates?

Lost in her churning thoughts, Rose nearly collided head-on with another pedestrian hurrying down the street in the opposite direction. She sidestepped at the last moment, her unfocused gaze lifting to find herself face-to-face with...a vampire leading some manner of four-legged animal on a tether.

Blinking owlishly, Rose stared in bewilderment at the bizarre sight. What sort of lunatic would bring a dumb beast into the heart of the vampire city? Unless...

Her gaze sharpened as a dreadful realization blossomed. It wasn't an animal at all - at least not in the typical sense. The figure shuffled along at the end of the vampires' tether was humanoid in shape, its features obscured by a coarse burlap sack tied over its head.

A human.

An involuntary shudder racked Rose's frame as she took in the wretched state of the vampire's "pet." Its clothing was little more than soiled rags, its exposed flesh marred by a myriad of brutal lacerations and discolored contusions. From the sluggish, shuffling gait, it was clear the human was barely conscious, no doubt battered into a state of semi-delirium.

The vampire leading the miserable captive sneered openly at Rose upon catching her horrified stare, his lips peeling back over elongated fangs in a bestial snarl.

"You're in the wrong part of the realm for your sort, casta," he spat, tightening his grip possessively on the tether. "Best crawl back to whatever festering crypt spawned you."

With that, he gave the tether a vicious yank, nearly toppling his hapless cargo as he stormed off down the street. Rose could only watch in stunned revulsion, her previous hunger utterly forgotten in the sickening wake of the barbaric display.

In that moment, she found her mind reeling, assaulted on all sides by a torrent of harrowing implications. How had their society truly devolved so utterly, so completely unto this level of wanton depravity? These were not mere "pets" in the conventional sense - nothing as innocuous as vampires keeping mortal companions in their thrall.

No, these were chattel livestock, human beings subjugated to the lowest, most abhorrent level of bondage imaginable.

Rose after seeing the gruesome scene while displeased by it suddenly thought of something.

"Dumphries!!" The name came out of her mouth.

As Rose retraced her steps with purpose, her mind raced with possibilities. The name "Dumphries" echoed in her thoughts, igniting a spark of hope in the midst of the darkness that surrounded her.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she hurried along the trail, the urgency of her mission lending speed to her movements. Every skip in her step was a silent plea, a fervent wish that her plan would succeed. "

Oh please, let me have this one. Just this one," she whispered to herself, a silent prayer to whatever unseen forces might be listening.

As she rounded another bend in the path, Rose's pace slowed to a cautious halt. She strained her ears, listening intently for any sign of movement or activity. And then, she heard it – the rhythmic clang of metal against metal, the unmistakable sound of someone hard at work.

"I hope he hasn't changed,"