The next evening, I sat there peacefully watching the television. Lucious stared quietly out the window.
I'd examined his back story bit by bit in my head, from the time he was found to the time he finally became a full vampire, but I still couldn't uncover any truth behind a blood bond from that. What are his true motives?
I did figure out his age, though. From the time he was picked up on the streets at fourteen, to when he was turned, he was probably seventeen. And his immortal age, born in 1897, made him an elder vampyre—though perhaps not a good one.
The day he came, he claimed he could show me light and save me from denial, yet he hadn't done anything but show me just how sick and twisted elder vampyres could be. Maybe someone else could help me?
Lucious finally turned his head away from the window. "Let's go out tonight."
"I'm fine. You go by yourself." I answered, taking a puff from a cigarrette.
"I still don't see why you smoke those, Mikael. It does you no good."
I turned my attention away from him and back to the television. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see he was still staring at me with a grin.
"Is this still about our blood bond?" he asked.
I said nothing.
"The cold shoulder isn't going to work, Mikael."
"Just go!" I hollered at him.
"Fine, but you will see it some day. I have already helped you."He brushed past my view on his way to the door.
"I still don't know how bringing in whores and denying me to feed is helping," I groaned.
His footsteps stopped before he got to the door.
"I've done much more," he explained. "You just haven't noticed at all"
I looked down at the bed and tried to think if I could remember him doing anything else than make my life hell. There was nothing.
The door squeaked open, and just when I thought Lucious had left, I heard him gasp. "Serena!"
"There you are,you son-of-a-bitch!" A woman's voice echoed throughout the room.
I hopped up off the bed. There at the door, she stood with a pleasant, yet somewhat familiar smile. Familiar from the story he told. Though her smile lied. It wasn't beautiful at all, but menacing. Her vindictive aura swallowed up the entire room with us in it.
She stormed into the room, high heels tapping against the carpeted floor, with another vampire following closely behind.
She slammed Lucious on the wall in a choke hold while her assistant pinned me tight on the bed.
"Do you know just how long I've been searching for you?"
"I-I..." he stuttered.
"Of course, you do. I've been looking for you from the day you left my side," she answered for him.
"Serena, I... can explain," Lucious spit out as he was still being strangled.
"Oh, don't give me excuses, Leo."
Leo?
"Lucious, what's going on?" I hollered out, writhing under the vampire assistant's hold.
"Shut up!" The vampire pressed me down harder, smothering my face into the bed.
She mused. "Lucious, is it now?"
Clothing rustled and something hit the floor. The pressure against my neck loosened and I peered out from above the sheets to her eyeing me with a sneer. She strode over to the bed where I was being held.
"Sebastian, you may let go now," she ordered her assistant.
His stern look quickly turned to a smile as he jumped off the bed. Like if she was a queen, he bowed to her. "As you command, my lady."
I tried to move my arms but quickly realized he had tied my hands together while he had me pinned.
"Go take care of Le.. Lucious now, Sebastian." She tipped her head.
"Yes, ma'am."
She knelt on the bed, blood red eyes sizing me up. Her touch on my hands were soft, then she pet the back of my hair.
"You reek of denial. Usually any other vampire would hate the taste of depression in their mouth," she claimed. "But I would love the taste of you."
"Don't touch him!" Lucious yelled, struggling under the ropes tied around his wrists.
His eyes shone, glared over with fury. Nose wrinkled, showing age lines despite his seemingly ageless face. I'd never seen him so furious. Was it because she thought of drinking my blood?
"Whoa, there." The other vampire caught Lucious by the back of the hair.
"Leo, is he someone special to you?" she asked, still enthused with me. "A blood bond perhaps?"
Lucious settled and let out a heavy breath. "It's Lucious now, Serena."
"Lucious, huh? Is that just an alias so I couldn't find you? Remember, you are still my property until the end of eternity!" She leaned in, giving me a gentle kiss on my neck.
When I awoke, Lucious and I were hanging from rusty chains attached to a dungeon ceiling. I examined the steel bars that made the windows to each cell as well as the door. The air was freezing, like a winter's breeze, but it was still summer outside. I could only assume we were in her castle.
"Is this the dungeon you spoke of last night?" I whispered.
"It's fixed up a bit but yes."
I groaned. The rage boiled up inside me as well as my hunger. How could I have gotten into such a mess?
Just then, the door opened and Serena danced inside.
She targeted me first, caressing me with soft, nimble fingers. She stroked my hair and down to my chin, slowly leaning in toward my neck. My hunger bubbled but I desperately tried not to lose my guard.
"Denial. You've been living with it for quite a long time, have you not?" she whispered.
I nodded.
"A vampire who's heart has died yet one who still thinks as a human. It's quite remarkable really. Sadness, love, depression. I can't remember when it was that I last felt this way." She explained. "This is why denial is so hard to bare. You anger over your human death, you lust for blood just like me, yet you feel sadness when you watch your victims die. I love the taste of denial just for that. It's a sweet taste of loneliness."
"I said don't touch him!" Lucious groaned.
She circled me, then turned toward Lucious.
"The one who tried to kill you must have been very careless to leave you in such condition." Her hand dropped away from me as she targeted Lucious, next.
Her comment sparked a somber look in Lucious' eyes and he was quick to bow his head. Maybe he didn't want us to see his feelings?
"Can you... help me?" I asked.
"Oh?" She tipped her head. "I cannot, my dear. Unless you want me to kill you. The one who originally bit you should finish what he's done. Do you know who that vampire was?"
I shook my head. I began to feel cold, lonely. My hunger was boiling but now I was helpless to do anything about it.
"Maybe someday you will find him." She stepped between us, then headed for the cell door.
We continued to hang there in the silent and cold room until we heard footsteps come from the hall.
"It's dinner time, boys!" The vampire servant snickered as he shoved a young girl into the room with us.
After closing the door, he made his way back down the hall. The girl stumbled around with a fearful look in her face.
"You're sick!" I shouted. An echoed chuckle from the hall was my reply.
The girl was frightened but she quickly learned that we wouldn't attack if we ourselves were being held captive. So she went to the corner of the room and sat on the floor, folding herself up in aball.
"You're all sick!" I spouted.
"Hey, don't include me with them. I have nothing to do with this." Lucious scowled.
"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be in this mess in the first place." I stomped my foot. "You have that woman's blood running through your veins. You're as twisted as she. I hate you!"
"And that is why I left her," Lucious announced.
"Hmm?"
"Shortly after I became a full vampire, she found Sebastian. He was so much more like her and so full of energy that she began to change and become more like him. I couldn't stand to watch them together.And I left. I found a way to leave."
"You knew she would find you, didn't you?"
"I did," he answered. "It's the main purpose of a blood bond,Mikael. To find your slaves."
I quieted as he went on.
"Back in the great war, a blood bond was used between a lord and his servants so he could keep track of his warriors and maids.Whether between a vampire and human, or two vampires, that was the primary purpose of a blood bond. Not only does it serve to track your whelp, but also to keep them in line. A bond for eternity."
"And you come to me with this supposed vampyre of light bullshit when all you wanted was a servant of your own," I groaned.
"But it means more than that, Mikael. I can still help you with your denial if only we weren't stuck here," Lucious said as he tugged at the chains.
"Well we are stuck here..."
