The chilly mid-fall winds brushed against a young woman's cheek. She stood at 5'5 with smooth chestnut brown skin and shoulder-length curly hair stuck into her red beanie.
She kept herself warm with a thick brown jacket which hugged her frame and was worn over a faded white T-shirt tucked into some jeans and worn out sneakers that barely kept her feet warm.
"Man, I can't wait to get home and crash in bed," Sasha muttered, keeping her hands in her pockets to stay warm.
Having worked a twelve-hour shift, her feet hurt, her legs felt heavy, and her back was screaming in pain. A familiar pain she has grown accustomed to, having worked in fast food since high school. Working in the fast food industry wasn't for the faint of heart.
'The customers have poor attitudes. The pay is trash. My boss is an asshole, and every time someone calls out at the last minute, I'm the one forced to cover their shift. Which begs the question-why am I doing the job of three people, while my boss does nothing but sit on his ass?!'
Sasha vented to no one but herself.
When she clocked in, the sun had risen with streaks of red and orange blended into the pale blue skies. But now, the sun had retired for the day, and a full moon now took its place. The skies were a blanket of darkness, with no stars visible.
'Good thing I followed my gut instincts and grabbed my jacket.' Sasha tugged her jacket tighter around her.
After another cold gust of wind hit her face, and relief washed over her when she saw the bus finally squeal to a stop next to her.
Climbing aboard, she swiped her card and slid into a window seat. It was midnight, and there weren't many people aboard—those who were either halfway asleep or busy on their phones.
Wanting something to occupy the time, Sasah reached into her pocket and pulled out her smartphone. Part of her was eager to jump back into a popular web novel that had been blowing up all over her FYP on StarTok, called 'Bloody Kiss'.
A steamy dark romance involving two drop-dead gorgeous vampire kings and their obsession with a fragile human girl, who serves as the story's female lead.
Honestly, after reading halfway through the book, Sasha felt tricked!
'This book is honestly dogshit with more porn than plot. I love a good smut book, but this? Straight-up ridiculous! In almost every chapter, the stupid female lead is getting her back blown out for the dumbest of reasons. Point in case: When other men look at her for too long. Sex. When those other men died for looking at her too long. Sex.'
'Punishment for talking to other 'blood-pets', especially males, when they told her not to. Sex. When they argue. Make-up Sex. A bloody massacre that killed about nine people? A smut scene that stretched into seven chapters with long and very descriptive paragraphs- are you fucking kidding me?!'
Sasha shook her head, scrolling to see where she last left off.
From the time she was a teenage girl and growing up, Sasha had always been a book lover, reading a wide range of genres, including comic books, manga, romance novels, epic fantasies, action-packed adventures, heart-racing romance, and panty-dropping smut about blue alien men.
She has read a large share of books, and sure, some characters have annoyed her in the past, but never to the point where she wanted to literally insert herself into the book and strangle both the male and female leads!
'I had never read a book that pissed me off this bad! The male leads? Cruel and Bipolar. The female lead? Indecisive and Whiny. In every chapter, she is crying about something, like, Man up already! Where is your boss bitch attitude? By the time I had reached chapter twenty, the female lead showed zero signs of improvement!'
Sasha found this story exhausting to continue, wishing she had friends to vent to and unload on. But sadly, she had none. Yes, she was cool with a few of her coworkers, but not close enough to hang out and talk about their likes and dislikes.
The most they did was vent about their shitty job and a good place to grab lunch.
By the time she clocked, all she had was herself and her books.
Nobody else.
Not wanting to linger on herself, Sasha returned her frustration towards the book. A book that, besides its numerous smut chapters, lacked a solid foundation or background. All the readers knew was that vampires held the reins of power in this plot.
Constantly stating how humans were nothing but cattle, playthings, and disposable objects, used and discarded by vampires. Any time a human had appeared, it was always gruesome.
Such as beheading, limb severing, and being forcefully drained, all of which were done by the hands of vampires, showing off their cruelty towards the weaker species.
But other than that, the story remains stuck on the female lead and her lovers.
In this dark and humorless world, another thing that is stated is that humans owned by vampires were labeled as 'blood-pets'. Meaning they had no control or free will over their lives. Just living and standing juice boxes for their vampire masters to feed and treat however they feel.
When the male leads were fully introduced, Sasha and the rest of the readers learn they are twin brothers, heartless vampires, who rule the Court of Dusk. Having earned themselves the nicknames the 'Iron-Fist Enforcer' and 'The Mad Bloody Killer.'
'What nice names.' Sarcasm laced Sasha's thoughts when she first read their nicknames.
The brothers first encountered the female lead, Elena, when their female vampire consorts mistreated her after a failed attempt to save a human girl from punishment.
The brothers watched from the shadows, drawn by the female lead's bravery, which made Sasha scoff at the usage of the word, since the girl Elena was supposed to save still died at the hands of the vampire consorts, serving as an example to the female lead not to provoke them.
After the kings finally stopped watching and saved Elena from being killed. They decided to reward Elena by forcing her into becoming their personal maid, after which Elena's life took a drastic turn.
During her time as the king's personal maid, her bond to them grew closer, and it was later revealed that she was their 'soulbind'. This world's knock-off version of a 'soulmate', and can be proven by the symbolic tattoos that appear on the match's body.
From then on, Elena became a pampered princess, while thousands of other humans remained enslaved. In the capital city, under the control of the vampires.
They lived in big mansions, walked the streets in their hand-tailored and rich clothing and jewels, while their 'blood-pets' walked or crawled on all four next to them in nothing but rags or tight, revealing clothing.
Humans who lived in the villages, far from the riches of the gleaming capital city, lived even worse lives. They barely had any scraps of food to eat and worn rags that did nothing to keep their bodies from catching frostbite.
Many humans died from poverty and hunger. Not to mention, this world was notorious for having dangerous creatures known as Hell Beasts, which lurk in the forest and are hungry to devour human flesh.
From all sides, the humans in this story were cornered prey with no protection, surrounded by nothing but predators.
Elena had lived in this world all her life, and knowing the harshness humans are forced to endure, one would think she would have hardened her heart a little, but no.
A weepy White Lotus who preferred her ornamental cage to the harsh reality standing before her.' Sasha could feel her blood pressure rising again as her mind lingered on the female lead.
'From the beginning to the climax, all Elena did was continually lament over her feelings of powerlessness.
Despite enduring constant abuse from her lovers, such psychological torment and gaslighting, all that was needed was a few soft words and a heart-warming gift, and all was forgiven—easily giving into their touch, and melting into their bed, as they take her over and over again in mind-blowing sex.
'It was a never-ending cycle of pain, forgiveness, and lust that leaves readers like me frustrated and pissed.' Sasha fist balled with frustrations.
'Was I the odd one?' Sasha asked herself, because despite her constant frustration with the book, it was still trending as number one, with people throwing praises at it and calling it a masterpiece.
'Masterpiece, my ass!' Sasha rebuked the idea of giving this trash book such high praise. She couldn't understand those people. Did they not love a good, well-planned-out story like she did?
But what really pissed her off was when she got to the part of the book where the female lead, Elena, had gotten into a big argument with the male leads and overheard an escape plan from her personal maid to another human girl who was a palace maid.
After hearing of the plan, Elena begged to join. She said she had grown tired of the king's treatment and wanted to start fresh. Initially, her personal maid was a little hesitant, but in the end, she relented and allowed her mistress to join.
This personal maid would later greatly regret this choice.
The group of escapees consisted of ten humans, all of whom risked everything to break free from their life of enslavement. The person in charge of the plan was the female palace maid, whom Elena had caught her personal maid chatting with when she overheard their conversation.
At the start of the escape, Elena was filled with bravery, but halfway in, she began to miss her lover's protective embrace, their steamy touches, endless gifts, and her warm and silk sheet bed and room. A pleasure she had never experienced before, until she met the kings, and was achingly missing it.
She internally began to blame her feelings on the soulbind and her own lust, and also placed blame on the escapees for having tricked her.
'Now, where did they come from?! Lady, you begged to be part of the plan!' shouted Sasha when she had read that part.
Finding her heart longing for her lovers, Elena wanted to leave the group and return to the castle.
Now, if she wanted to return that badly, she could have just left the group.
But Elena was never a bright female lead, and by this point, Sasha had realized another reason why she hated this female lead so much.
She was utterly selfish.