Chapter 16 - Wolf howl [1/3]
"Go ahead." With his arm outstretched, he approached Vex. "Be good and give paws. Our way of travelling may seem a little unusual to you, but I have no desire to walk the long way with a cripple."
His body felt as heavy as if it were filled with stones. He felt as if the heavy weight was pushing him into the sheets on which he was lying. There was a strange cold running through him. She wasn't uncomfortable, she didn't let him freeze, she was just there.
With difficulty, Vex forced his eyelids to open. Above him, a blanket of roughly carved stone, sparkling in all shades of brown, turned so intensely that he had never seen anything before. Stunned, he stared at her. He was so different, so strange, but he couldn't name it.
A head with bright red curls shoved into his field of vision, red like radiant rubies, like blood. Another, new feeling rose up in him. It reminded him of hunger.
His gaze wandered over the woman's flawless ivory skin, stuck to her eyes, looking at him. They were as bright red as their curls.
Vex closed his eyelids. That wasn't supposed to be true. Was this not a nightmare of new dimensions, but reality? That would mean...
"Arken! He is awake," she interrupted his train of thought with an angelic voice that could not possibly have come from a nightmare. So lovely… way too beautiful for one of the monsters she was obviously counting among.
"I thought he wouldn't be able to come to his senses," a man's voice sounded from the back of the room. No, not a man.
Vex came up only to tremble in agony as sensory impressions from all sides rushed at him. The smell of muddy carpet, old books and candle wax. The dancing lights of the flames on the wall mounts. The bookshelves with the many spines. The man with the long gray hair standing with his back to him above the desk. All of this crashed into him in a split second, too much to process at once. It's like he's really seeing, smelling, hearing for the first time.
At the same time, there was still this heaviness in his chest, a strange emptiness, as if something was missing… Vex grabbed his heart and froze.
It was his heartbeat that was missing. Suddenly, the silent premonition became a terrible certainty. It really happened. His nightmare was true
"How dare you?"" His voice was little more than a powerless hiss. He stared at the man in disbelief. The monster, he really made him a vampire. Slowly the vampire turned around, his eyebrows raised. His eyes were so cold that Vex shivered.
"How dare I?" he repeated in a sharp voice.
"You ask how I dare?« An invisible handle grabbed Vex by the collar in a gesture of the hand.
"Wha…?" he began, but couldn't finish the sentence. The handle threw him forward, past the vampire against the stone wall. The air escaped from his lungs with a tormented wheeze. A stinging pain shot through his head. But the torture was far from over. Vex was torn back, dragged over the floor and bounced against the next wall. The procedure was repeated again, then the handle suddenly disappeared. Vex slumped to the ground.
Every single bone in his body hurt. Before his eyes, white stars danced.
There was a shadow in front of him.
"That should be a lesson to you," hissed the vampire. "From now on, you are my property. I do not tolerate contradictions and demand unconditional loyalty. To celebrate the day, because Maya has finally returned to me, I will not punish you any further. You have a few hours to think, then I expect you to behave as a slave should. From now on you will address me with Master Arken.After a last, intense look, the vampire turned around, offered the red-haired woman an arm, and left the room with her.
Vex lowered his head against the wall. Tears of despair rose in him, turning his field of vision red. He rubbed his eyes, not wondering at the blood on his fingers.
How could all this have happened? Until a few days ago He had lived a quiet, happy life, and now his
Beloved dead. He himself had fallen into the clutches of bloodthirsty monsters and what was even worse: they had made him one of their own.
He was a vampire. One of those creatures that fed on humans and only existed for the sake of killing. Vex felt inside himself, listened to his body and heard… nothing. His heartbeat was gone, he was empty. Was there still humanity in him? A soul? A conscience?
Determined, Vex clenched his hands into fists. He picked himself up as quickly as his tormented limbs allowed. He would certainly not sit around mourning his lost humanity. He would never accept, for all eternity there had to be a way to solve this curse again. Surely there was a remedy for it, an herb, something.
At least Vex had to try. He would not surrender to this fate without a fight! Step by step, he stepped to the door.
One last time he took a deep breath, more out of habit than because he had to, then he pushed the pawl down.
Vex set off on quiet soles. Candles in the wall mounts gave their warm light. He expected the vampire reigns to appear and thwart his escape plan, but nothing like this happened. As time went on, he became more courageous, opened isolated doors and peered into them. Most of the rooms were full of clutter, but nowhere was there even a grain of dust lying around. Everywhere candles burned, the wicks neatly trimmed and big enough to last a few hours. Who would bother to take care of a castle of this size?