Chapter 19 - The new Home [1/5]

Deprived of any hope, Vex lowered his shoulders. But what was he up to? Leysha was probably dead. He himself is a monster. Death would probably be a mercy.

That is how it would end.

The wolves rushed at him silently.

Blinking, Vex opened his eyes. For a moment he earnestly hoped to be dead, but hope vanished as quickly as it had come. His whole body tingled. Not painful, but uncomfortable enough that he couldn't fool himself: he was still alive. As far as his existence as a vampire could be called alive.

He slowly straightened up. He would have liked to have let himself sink into the pillows again moaning. He was back in the castle. Arken and Maya were in the same room. They were just supervising a strange creature with brown fur that dragged an elongated black box into the room.

A coffin.

Vex pressed his lips together and watched the creature as it cumbersomely lowered the coffin to the ground. It had to be a hybrid of man and bull. Although it went upright and wore trousers, his skin was covered with caramel brown fur.

The strong legs did not end in feet, but in hooves. His snout was adorned by a golden ring, which alone was as large as Vex's head. His eyes were red, of course.

Maya looked in his direction and smiled. "Well, finally. It took long enough."

With her words, she also drew Arken's attention to him. The vampire put on a complacent grin.

"Good morning, Vex. Or should I say good night?"

You lousy pig!" pale rage came over Vex. Helpless rage.

She almost took his breath away and made him straighten up jerkily. He stared at the vampires from his bed. "How dare you? Let me go, damn it!"

Arken grinned broadly, revealing his canines. »Ts, ts. Already in such a bad mood in the early night?"

Vex saved the answer. Nausea rose in him. How much he would give to be able to undo everything. First they took him Leysha, then they forced him to live such a miserable existence…

"Oh, Vex." Maya stepped up to him, smiling. "Accept what you are."

I'm supposed to accept that I've become a monster? "he pushed out between clenched teeth.

She laughed. "Monsters? Through Arken, you have reached the next stage of evolution! You should be grateful to him. Now you are a being of higher power, strong enough to subjugate humanity!"

Vex jumped out of bed. He disbelieved them. How could she say such a thing? It is hard to believe that until recently she was a human being. She spoke as if she had already been born as a creature of the night.

"You are completely insane!"

"Perhaps," said Arken, "but above all mighty! And that's all that matters in this world. The powerful will prevail, the weak will perish. Someday you'll kiss my feet for getting you on our side."

Vex clenched his hands into fists and shook his head vigorously. He looked at Maya. The powerful prevailed, the weak perished… Somewhere there was truth in Arken's words.

After all, he had managed to get her back from the dead. Before Vex could prevent it, a little spark of hope ignited in him. Maybe the vampire could bring Leysha back.

No, Arken would never do that. And Vex didn't want to. He did not want to ask a favor of this monster, did not accept his fate and crawled to crosses in front of him. He would do it himself. There must be some benefit to being a vampire. If he only had a good face for a long time, he might be able to learn enough from Arken to bring Leysha back to life. And then…

Vex clenched his fists. Then he would make Arken pay for all that he had done to them. Maya's eyebrows shot up, but she said nothing. Instead, she exchanged a look with Arken.

"It's time to familiarize yourself with your new life," he said. "You may move freely in my castle, but not leave it without my or Maya's permission. There is plenty of entertainment here for an eternity. Books, books and more books. Of course you can also talk to the ghosts, my skeletal servants or Conan.« Arken pointed to the bull man, who then became so eager bowed that he hit his head against the coffin lid and left a plate-sized dent.

"Follow me into my magic room, and I'll show you what we can do.«Magic

room. That sounded promising. Vex followed the two from his new room. With all the corridors, stairs and branches of the castle, he found it difficult to remember the way. Nevertheless, he memorized everything as best he could. If he found his way to the magic room alone in the future, it wouldn't be a problem for him to spend as much time there as possible. Perhaps he could then find out how Arken had used this resurrection spell.

So many floors deeper that they must have been already inside the mountain, Arken finally stopped in front of a single hinged door.

"Welcome to my Blessed Sacrament, my house of worship and my altar at the same time."

With a broad grin that Vex did not like, he threw open the doors and entered. Vex followed him and immediately pressed his hands on his ears. A horrible whining and howling echoed through the high walls, lit by blue torches. They pressed through his fingers to his ears, stabbed him in the brain, in the chest, wanted to force him to his knees.

"Are they ghosts?" he cried over the noise of hell, without taking his hands off his ears. The howl was horrible! It was Arken who turned to him and replied, "This, my dear Vex, is the cries of souls that I have caught in the course of my eternity." He made a pleading gesture. "Come on. I'll show you."