- 2 days ago
When I’m Gone
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:07I died this morning. They haven't noticed.
00:15Good night, sister.
00:17I had been dead for hours. The last thing I remembered was the white ash dick splitting my chest open.
00:24The battle on the snowfield was over. Vampire remains lay scattered everywhere.
00:29Father, Mother and Damien stood around Isabella.
00:33Isabella sat in the corner with a blanket dripped over her shoulders.
00:37She was trembling. Mother was checking her wrist. The blood bond opened on Damien's end.
00:42Where did you go? Isabella is this family's future. You abandoned your post.
00:48Isabella was left to face too much alone tonight. Get back here, kneel and apologize.
00:53Otherwise, your blood right ends tonight.
00:55If I'd still been in my body, I would have thrown the ink bottle at him.
00:59Doubt he did not know I was dead.
01:01A red mark sat on the map at the Western Pass. That was where I died. No one in the
01:09room knew it.
01:10She still hasn't shown herself. She's not responding.
01:15Father did not look up at the report.
01:17Of course not. The attack was aimed at Isabella. She left her post out of spite.
01:24Mother gently wiped Isabella's tears away.
01:28In the middle of Isabella's battle, after everything we've done for her, she couldn't even do this much.
01:35It was laughable. Making myself into a shield protecting Isabella forever. That was a small thing.
01:45But mom, I was your real daughter. The one used as a shield.
01:52Send men to the Western watch post. If she's hiding there, drag her back.
01:56Isabella walked over to her father's chair and knocked down.
02:02Father, please don't be upset with her tonight. Maybe she was just scared.
02:08It all happened so fast. Let me speak to her. She's always listened to me most.
02:21I float above the table. Whispers come from the channel. Soft and faint.
02:28Serafina. An hour ago, House Valeris sent me your finger. I burned it. This is just a small lesson.
02:36Just stay quiet tonight. Don't come back. House Valeris will take very good care of you.
02:42She choked out.
02:46Serafina said she said she was safe. She said she was sorry for running from the battlefield.
02:53She said, please tell father not to wait for her.
03:02My poor child. I know that's not what she really said. She's jealous of you. And yet you're still covering
03:11for her.
03:12That coward. After 300 years, her thin blood is still tainted. She deserves no forgiveness. This is the last time.
03:24Tainted. Coward. Deserter. A trace of silent smile rose from the depths of my soul.
03:34It had taken me seven years to win that council seat. The first woman in centuries.
03:40I had thought father might finally look at me the way he looked at her.
03:46This afternoon, I went to ask for reinforcements. Only a sitting council member could do that.
03:51Before I left, I told only Isabella. And asked her to tell father to wait for me. She promised.
03:59Then she sold my route to House Valeris. All the love in this family belonged to her.
04:05I had never once thought of fighting her for it. That included Leander.
04:10House Feldren had not produced an heir of noble bloodline in 200 years.
04:15Year by year, father's seat at the round table had become more precarious and more marginal.
04:20Leander was the heir to House Valerius. A third generation, pure blood.
04:26A marriage to him would keep House Valerius at the table for another 50 years.
04:31But father, mother, and Damien Jinn all knew it. His bloodline was too exalted. I was not worthy of him.
04:39So when Isabella began sitting beside him, resting her head on his shoulder, no one said anything.
04:44I witnessed all of it. And I said nothing.
04:48This afternoon, I went alone to seek help from the other vampire houses.
04:53Fire riders from House Valerius were already waiting at the Western Pass.
04:58The moment I saw them, I triggered the emergency blood oath.
05:01Father, they're lying in wait for me. Save me.
05:06Enough. 300 years and still you never stop.
05:10Isabella wins one battle and you fake an ambush just to drag this family back to your side.
05:15Do you know what I prayed for the night you were born? I prayed wrong.
05:19I should have prayed for you to be born dead.
05:22A clean grave would have suited me far better than 300 years of you.
05:26If you crave that much attention, then stay out there and die. Do not come back.
05:31Then the thought cut off. The blood bond faded, then vanished.
05:35Look at this thin-blooded trash. A mongrel masquerading as a Valdron noble.
05:40You're just a dog someone bit by mistake. No fangs. No pride. No right to walk among us.
05:45Die in the mud where you belong.
05:46He put holy water over my face. The skin on my cheeks split open.
05:51Black smoke rose from my jaw.
05:53Wash her first. Then let's see whether there is even a shred of purity underneath.
05:59Vampires do not bleed to death. So they took me apart.
06:02Bit by bit, I was torn from myself. And I stayed awake through it all.
06:07Until a sharpened white ash stick pierced my chest and pinged me into the mud at the bottom of the
06:14ditch.
06:14At last, I died. In ten hours, the sun would rise. There would be nothing left of me.
06:22Below me was the underground hall at the bottom of Valdron castle.
06:27Tonight, the entire family was holding a victory celebration.
06:35Sepathina did not appear before the council to receive her seal. Where is she?
06:39She rode out this afternoon. She has not returned.
06:43By law, if more than six hours passed, the head of the house may name a successor on the spot.
06:50Isabella. She held the western pass through the final wave tonight.
06:54That honor belongs to her.
06:59Mother, this should be Serafina's.
07:01A bloodline like hers deserves it.
07:05In three hundred years, has she ever once made this family hold its head high at the round table?
07:12That seal would be wasted in her hands.
07:16Then, I'll keep it for her for now.
07:20When she returns, I'll give it back to her.
07:23My poor child.
07:25You are this family's only hope.
07:29All of this should have been yours.
07:31Seven years.
07:33I won that seat.
07:34The first held by a woman in centuries.
07:37And all it took was one sentence.
07:39A bloodline like hers deserves it.
07:42Not one person in that entire hall spoke for me.
07:45The doors were thrown open.
07:47Leander had arrived.
07:48He crossed the hall and dropped to one knee directly before Isabella.
07:52This was the gift I had prepared.
07:53Tonight, I give it to you.
07:55No one fought more beautifully in this battle than you did.
07:57Leander, this should go to Serafina.
08:00No.
08:00She will have other gifts, but this night belongs to you alone.
08:03He slid the ring onto her finger.
08:06Mother clapped her hands.
08:07Isabella has already received more gifts tonight than she can carry.
08:11Serafina's resting chamber is standing empty anyway.
08:13Burn those mildy old records and clear it out for her as a second private room.
08:18Serafina still hasn't returned.
08:20Do you think she could have been hurt out there?
08:22Sol Sol's wept too.
08:24Only then did the three of them seem to remember there was another daughter named Serafina.
08:30If she were truly hurt, the blood bond would have sounded by now.
08:33It didn't.
08:34That means she ran.
08:37She is nothing but a spoiled child.
08:39Mother, please don't say that.
08:41Serafina worked so hard for that seat.
08:42And in the end, the honor still came to me.
08:45The crimson eyes gleamed with barely hidden triumph.
08:55The servants were moving things.
08:57My records were carried out bundle by bundle.
09:00My wardrobe stood open.
09:02The robes inside folded one by one into wooden chests.
09:13Mother, Serafina's room is this large.
09:15It is wasted on her.
09:17Anything that can be moved, move it.
09:18Anything that cannot, burn it.
09:20Clear it out for storage.
09:23Isabella turned in a slow circle, then went to my bedside table and pulled open the bottom drawer.
09:29She took out a palm-sized wooden box.
09:32Inside was a lock of silver white hair coiled into a ring.
09:36The hunter's silver herring passed down through generations.
09:40Every strand was cut from a beheaded pure-blood noble and steeped in sacred fire for a hundred years.
09:47Any vampire who touched it would have their flesh rot at once.
09:52Article 7 of the Old Covenant, to secretly keep such an object is punishable by eternal sleep.
09:58I had taken it 200 years ago from the body of a dead hunter in the hunting grounds.
10:04I never turned it in. I kept it.
10:06I wanted to know whether, if that day ever came, I would have the courage to use it on myself.
10:14Mom, look at this!
10:17At the very instant, they exchanged it. Isabella let go.
10:23The ring of silver hair just happened to graze the back of mother's hand.
10:28Then bounced back into Isabella's own palm.
10:31Black smoke burst from her entire palm.
10:34And her flesh began rotting inward, inch by inch.
10:37Mother, it hurts!
10:45What is that?
10:47A hunter's silver hair ring.
10:51Serafina! She hid this in her room!
10:55Article 7 of the Old Covenant,
10:57To secretly keep such an object is punishable by eternal sleep.
11:01Damien slammed his fist onto my desk.
11:04The corner split open, and my journal fell to the floor, exposing the number 99.
11:10Damien glanced at it once, then kicked it away.
11:13Three centuries of Valdron purebloods!
11:16Only to spawn a walking stain like her!
11:25Father, please don't speak of Seraphine that way.
11:27She was probably only curious.
11:29She's always had a fascination with things like this, and I'm sure she never meant to hurt me.
11:35Being thin bloodlined is no excuse for harming her family.
11:40I drifted beneath the ceiling, hearing once again my family's disgust for my bloodline.
11:45My mind went back to the bloodline awakening rite, 300 years ago.
11:50That was the day that determined the rank each child of House Valdron would hold.
11:55Damien stepped onto the platform first, and awakened Crimson Dominion.
11:59The pride in Father's eyes was not concealed in the slightest.
12:03When Isabella's turn came, she awakened the rare blessing of holy blood, soothing the bloodlust of every low-ranking bloodthrow
12:11around her.
12:11Mother held her and wept through the night, calling her a treasure not seen in a hundred years.
12:17Then I stepped onto the ritual platform, full of hope.
12:20I wanted so badly to make Father smile, but the instant my bloodline revealed itself, the entire ritual hall fell
12:27into deftly silence.
12:29Atriacal bloodline, lowest rank, a stain on the Valdron name.
12:39At the time, no one told me, and no one knew, which ancestor, that so-called atavisan, had returned to.
12:46Leanda arrived at two in the morning. He did not look at anyone else.
12:51He went straight to Isabella, half-kneeled before her, and took her bandaged hand into his own.
12:56How is your hand?
12:59Leomin, please don't blame Serafina.
13:02She probably didn't realize it was a hunter's relic.
13:06With a bloodline like hers.
13:08She wouldn't even be able to sense anything holy.
13:15Serafina.
13:17I didn't think you could be this vicious.
13:20Are you so jealous of her?
13:23You'd put a hunter's relic in her hands?
13:29On the other side of the crystal, I had already been dead for hours.
13:33Our engagement had not yet been sealed by blood oath, so there was no death bond between us.
13:38He did not know.
13:39I had planned to give you the Valerius family heirloom ring tonight, but I've already placed it on Isabella's finger.
13:45I think you understand what that means.
13:47He walked up to Isabella, dot his eyes, which had just turned cold, soften at once.
13:53Don't cry. I'll stay with you.
13:55He had never once half-kneeled and held my hand that way.
13:59He had never even remembered that I could not drink high-concentration pure blood.
14:04Every time he came, he had the servants bring Isabella a cup of blood warm to the perfect temperature,
14:10and me a goblet of pure blood I could not absorb.
14:14I've argued with him time and again.
14:17Every single time, he'd say the exact same words.
14:21Seraphina, you're overthinking it.
14:24I only see Isabella as a younger sister who deserves respect.
14:27And back then, I believed him.
14:29Leander really does care for her.
14:33Such a shame the Valerius bloodline is too exalted.
14:37He and Isabella are the true perfect match.
14:41Once Isabella's affairs are settled, we'll find an excuse to break off Seraphia's engagement.
14:46And what about Seraphia?
14:50With blood like hers, some mid-ranking outsider will do.
14:54Damien, she has been running wild all night. Enough.
14:58Take two blood thralls and go to the Western watch post.
15:01If she is hiding in the tower, bind her and bring her back.
15:05If she has crossed the border and fled, then she has cast herself out of this house.
15:09That was the road I had to take when I rode out this afternoon to seek reinforcements.
15:16Just a little farther west, from the watch post, was the ditch.
15:20If he went that way, he would find my body.
15:24Father!
15:25Father!
15:29Father, please don't send him!
15:32Why?
15:33Seraphina has always been like this.
15:35For 300 years, she lowered her head.
15:38She always comes back once she's done making a scene.
15:41Tonight will be no different.
15:43Damien has just returned from the battlefield.
15:46Let him rest tonight.
15:48And besides,
15:50Seraphina has always been proud.
15:53If Damien finds her hiding there, she'll only resent me more for it.
15:58Let her come back on her own.
16:00Give her a little grace.
16:04This child...
16:06Seraphina has harmed her this badly, and still she speaks for her.
16:11Forget it.
16:13Tomorrow, then.
16:14Damien looked at Isabella.
16:16He said nothing.
16:17Something flickered across his face.
16:19But he sat back down.
16:24My poor child.
16:27For House Valdren to have a daughter like you is the greatest blessing this generation has been given.
16:34At half past three in the morning, Isabella finally cried herself to sleep.
16:39Only then did a father's blood bond come crashing into place.
16:43He called for me three times in a row.
16:45I gave him nothing back.
16:47But he had forgotten.
16:48When I begged him for help, he had blocked me completely.
16:51His face darkened as he kicked the table over in one violent motion.
16:55Damien!
16:56Come with me to the Western Watch Post.
16:58Wherever she is, drag her back.
17:01Mother started to stop him, but father cut her off with a single look.
17:05She swallowed her warts and followed behind him.
17:09Leander came out of the healer's chamber, said nothing, snatched up his cloak, and followed as well.
17:17When they reached the watch post, there was no sign of me anywhere.
17:21On the wind lingered a scorched trace of holy water, mixed with a blood stench, sharp as a rust.
17:30Who was careless enough to leave a blood thrall's body lying out here?
17:35He pushed through the brush.
17:37A ditch opened before him, and in it lay a torso, with only its back exposed.
17:43Its face was submerged in the filthy water.
17:45The dark crimson robe.
17:47The dark crimson robe.
17:48It was the one I had worn when I went out this afternoon.
17:54Enough!
17:55Get up!
17:57You'd even pull something like this?
17:59To lie and play the victim?
18:02You even dared use a stake?
18:04A sharpened white ash stick had been driven through from the back, pinning the body to the bottom of the
18:10ditch.
18:11It sweared gently with the current.
18:14He crouched and grabbed a stake in my chest.
18:18The instant his hand touched it, he stopped.
18:21It was a vampire hunter's stake soaked in holy water.
18:28Get up!
18:30Stop this!
18:32He turned the body over.
18:35Half my face had been burnt by holy water.
18:38The flesh charred black.
18:40My limbs had been torn off at the roots.
18:43At the edge of the ditch, mother let out a short scream and covered her mouth.
18:49Leander stood, nailed where he was.
18:52Her blood.
18:54There's no echo.
18:56Damien staggered backward against the ditch wall.
18:59Mother dropped in the mud by the ditch.
19:01Leander's knees struck the earth without a sound.
19:05Father collapsed into the ditch, water rising to his waist.
19:09He crawled toward my body on hands and knees, as though he could not believe what his own eyes were
19:14seeing.
19:16Serapifina really has met final death.
19:21Father would not let anyone touch my body.
19:25He carried me back to my resting chamber, his movements clumsy.
19:29A man who had held a scepter for 300 years was lifting his own daughter for the first time.
19:35He did not even know where to place his hands.
19:39He laid me on the velvet chaise I had hardly ever slept on.
19:43When I was alive, I preferred sleeping in my coffin.
19:46He had never known that.
19:49There, beneath a paperweight, lay a black leather-bound journal.
19:55On the cover, in my own blood, I have written two words.
20:00The Crimson Ledger.
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