I silently waited for Lucious to speak about our blood bond but he continued to lay there with his eyes closed. Would I hear any explanation from him? Does he even know what a blood bond means himself?
Eventually, after watching and waiting for any motion from him, I decided to break the silence that filled the room.
"What was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"When you became a vampire?" I clarified.
"It was the greatest thing in the world," he huffed.
"Then... tell me more about your creator."
Maybe through his past I can find out more about him and if he's truly this vampyre of light?
"I'm not very good at stories." He sighed. "And besides, I'm bored to death."
Lucious breathed out a slight chuckle to his comment,then went silent again.
Fine then, I should figure it out on my own.
I sat up on the bed hoping that Lucious would speak again but he just lay there. I didn't know what to do if he wasn't going to explain anything to me about our blood bond or about my denial. Should I stay with him or should I leave?
"I was a reject," Lucious said suddenly.
"Hmm?" I glanced at him as he lay there with his eyes closed.
"My family rejected me." He added as he peered back at me under half-closed eyelids. "It was 1894. I lived in an orphanage until I was fourteen when I was able to escape the grounds and find home on the streets."
"After I ran from the orphanage, I would stand and wait for evening to arrive, then I would enter small merchant stores and pocket whatever I could fit into my vest. I hadn't quite perfected being a thief and was often caught by the shop's owner. Or I got away with the goods. Sometimes I was chased by the guards straight out of the city.
"I frequented the square a lot and even lived there,sleeping in the small alleyways where the shops kept their debris and extra wares. I never knew what it was like to sleep in a warm bed or have hot meals with family. Even the orphanage always felt cold so that was all I knew. I sometimes wished for death but didn't know howto carry it out. Should I allow the shop keeper to shoot me down?Maybe steal the gun from his hands and do it myself? Something more grotesque, perhaps?
"Finally one night as I was resting alongside a building, a woman approached me and stood there with a quaint smile on her lips. I thought she was just passing by so I made no attempts to even glance at her, but she stood for quite a while examining me...
***
"Poor soul," she had drawled. "Would you like a warm bed to sleep in?"
"Warm bed? But the cold is so comfortable."
"What is such a handsome young man doing out here anyway?" As if she didn't understand my predicament.
"This is my bed room for the night, ma'am."
"Hmph, I can offer you a better place to lay your head, young man."
At last, I glanced up at her and took in her pale skin and long, dark black hair. She wore a long, red and black corset dress. So long that her feet were hidden underneath the fabric.Wealthy, indeed. Yet, her fiery red eyes shone down on me as if the devil had a proposition for me, life or death...
"All you have to do is take my hand."
I stood from my resting place and reached my hand out.She extended her dainty hand just then, but I froze.
"You don't wish to stay here in the cold your entire life, do you?"
"But I don't know anything else," I murmured.
"You want to know what it's like. I can see it in your eyes, boy." She stated the fact. I did want to know what it was like to sleep in a warm bed for at least one night.
She had convinced me indefinitely. When my fingers brushed hers, the skin was as cold as the frigged air. It's all I remember of that night.
My memory begins again when I awoke in a dungeon like room. She was in front of me, hands on her hips, waiting for me to awaken. The jail cell was completely empty except for a haystack beside me and a set of bloody handcuffs hanging from the stone wall above my head.
"Where am I?"
"This is my castle. Trust me, it's much bigger than it appears from down here," she said, and I shuddered.
She knelt down with her knee between my legs, wrapping her arms around my neck. "Are you sure of your fate, or would you like another day to decide?"
My body quaked. I wasn't sure if it was the cold surrounding me from her dead hands or because the dungeon was freezing, but somehow, I whispered, "Yes."
"Good. You must be mine, my property, my slave, my butler, my everything and I will provide you with a warm bed and warm meals for the rest of eternity."
Tired and hungry, I shook my head yes once more.
She untied my arms from behind my back and held me in her cold arms. "Hmm, does your blood taste as sweet as I think,"she whispered in my ear.
Exhausted from not having anything to eat for days, I didn't understand her at that moment. I was like putty in her hands as she lowered her head and bit into my neck with her sharp fangs.
From that moment on, I was hers physically, mentally,emotionally.
The upstairs was surprisingly warm considering the temperature in the dungeon. I received an unsoiled set of clothing and she helped me brush my long, brown hair after a warm bath. She preferred me this way as she said that I looked very handsome without the dirt on my face.
Her favorite room in the castle was indeed the library.It was always clean and organized with large statues and beautiful paintings from centuries past. Each book on the shelves were placed in a precise manner by category. She had almost everything from drama and mystery to books about cooking.
Most of the time, I had absolutely nothing to do despite my being her butler. I would stand beside her and watch her read or I would dust off the top of the bookcases. Then at the end of the evening, she would look up at me from her book and dismiss me to my room.
At least I had my own room and my own warm bed, but every night I would sit and think about the decision I made. Was it the right thing to do or should I have shot myself instead? Indeed,it was my own denial.
I still didn't understand her at all. Never did they teach us about these creatures whom take another's blood for nourishment in the orphanage. Of course, my teachings only consisted of how to speak properly and how to hold my silverware at the table.
Every evening, just as I was starting to relax and close my eyes, I would look up and she would be standing in front of me.Her breath heavy and her eyes as red as blood. It was always so strange that every night she would come into my room like that ready to ravage me. Eventually, the pain of constant feedings began to feel intensely pleasurable and often times I was tempted to press her head against me tighter. But she always took just enough to keep me alive for the next evening's feeding.
There were also nights when we would have dinner guests.She introduced me as her butler. If only they knew. I would keep a bandage wrapped around my neck so they didn't noticed my wounds. I also learned how to cook so I could serve food to the guests but she never cared to eat a bite.
And at the end of the party, she would invite everyone for a tour of the mansion leaving me behind to clean up.
Who knows what ever happened to the guests as I never saw the same face twice.
Nor did she come to my room on those evenings either.Maybe she didn't need to.
And then it happened. One morning as I was waking up, I entered the washroom and spotted in the mirror my hair was paling as well as my skin. I couldn't understand why at first but possibly it was from the stress on my body from her constant attacks. I also noticed the small bite wounds on my neck had disappeared even though she had been feeding from me almost every night for a year. I needed to know what was happening to me and quickly.
So that night after she dismissed me to my room, I sat there upon my bed just as I had done every evening for the past year,waiting for her to enter my room. But, millions of thoughts ran through my head as I sat there patiently. What is she? Am I dying?Like a train, the thoughts flowed one by one and I couldn't banish them.
When she finally arrived, she was quick to attack,jumping on me and grasping my head tightly. She pulled me closer to her and kissed me gently, slowly working her way down to my neck. At that point, pain was all so much pleasurable every time she fed upon me. Forgetting the questions I had in my mind, I allowed her to get her fill.
Gradually feeling the life draining from my body, I immediately remembered my questions. I struggled to roll her over and trapped her underneath me.
"What's happening to me?"
She just smiled. "I see nothing wrong."
Nothing wrong?
However, years past by and I continued to see these changes. My hair turned stark white. My skin as pale as hers.Finally, I decided to get an answer out of her once and for all.
She had advised me to stay out of the dungeon since the day she rescued me from the streets and I did follow her orders until I couldn't stand to watch myself waste away any longer. I entered the dungeon that evening with just a small candle in my hand to light the way. It was dark and all of the rooms were empty this time except for the far room at the end of the hall, where she stood just waking from her day sleep.
I was quick to corner her against the wall in hopes that this time she wouldn't avoid my question.
"I ask this once again, what is wrong with me?"
"I can't help you," she said silently. "You're dying."
I stepped back from her. Dying?
"You did this to me," I chided.
I was lost for words. All this time I slowly wasted away when it could have been over in a flash if I hadn't accepted her proposal.
"Normally this wouldn't happen but you're body is stressed," she claimed with a somber look in her eyes. "I could finish what I've started."
She looked at me and grasped my face but I pushed her hands away from me and stood there, still at a loss for words.
I stood disgusted. I didn't know what exactly she was nor what I was turning into until she said, "Let me finish this and complete our bond." She raised her wrist up to her mouth, setting her fangs to her skin.
***
"A blood bond?"
"Yes, a blood bond," Lucious answered. "Damn, I hate being interrupted."
"Like the bond that we have?" I questioned.
"A blood bond could be different between two different beings, I guess. My bond with her was different than ours, Mikael." Lucious explained.
"But what about our bond, Lucious? You haven't shown me anything different. I still feel the same as I did before I met you."
Lucious glanced towards the window. The sun was starting to rise creating rays of orange light that shined into the room. "I'm going to sleep now," he declared.
"And you're going to ignore me again?"
Lucious stood there and groaned. "So many questions,but it's late and the sun is starting to rise. Good night."
He's avoiding the question again! What will it take to get the answer from him?
