I slap the goblet downward, spilling its contents over the front of his gray tunic. “I’m not a little girl, and I’m certainly worth more than livestock.”
Once again, he flashes his dangerous teeth. “Prove itand dance, or I shall throw you in with the other cattle and let my coven rip you to shreds.”
Calling his bluff, I ask, “If I’m so expendable, why didn’t you do that in the first place? Why waste your time filling my belly and my wardrobe if you’d rather exsanguinate me?”
This time, instead of smiling, he grinds his teeth as he stares up at me. He stands so quickly that I nearly lose my footing and tumble down the steps. He roughly grabs me by the elbow and drags me out of the throne room, to an adjacent smaller room where a few vampires sit huddled around a table, drinking and laughing. Their merriment ceases when Kaius and I enter the room.
Without so much as a glance in my direction, he addresses the men.
“Gentlemen…” He raises his eyebrows in amusement before shoving me further into the room. “Enjoy your dinner.”
The second the door slams shut and I hear it lock from the outside, I go into pure survival mode. Screaming, crying, running, cowering. Once they corner me, they take turns playfully lunging at me–toying with me–snickering at my fear and my feeble attempts to scratch and hit them.
One grabs me, and that’s when I stop fighting and start begging. As the vampire inhales the scent of my neck deeply, I scream, “Please!”
As soon as the word leaves my mouth, the door opens, and Kaius steps back into the room. At his reappearance, the vampire lets me go, and the others clear a path for him to approach me. As he does, he holds out a hand, tenderly, as a lover would do.
With my pride and stubborn defiance gone, I take it. His fingers wrap around my palm with the softest care, and he walks with me in silence until we reach my room. My eyes are still leaking tears, my body still trembling in fear. He lets go of my hand and then reaches up to let my hair out of its bun. He gently runs his fingers through the locks until they’re draped around my shoulders, and then he lifts my chin with his thumb and forefinger.
“I told you, Adelasia. I don’t ask twice,” he whispers, before using whatever magic he possesses to put out the fires keeping my room lit and warm, and gently closes the door behind him.
Once again locking me in like the animal he believes I am.
Seven
Adelasia
In the morning, breakfast is delivered to my room. I quietly stoke the fading flame in the fireplace as I sit on the floor and nibble on some bread with jam. I bathe, and as my hair drips cold water around my feet, I emotionlessly dress in a leotard and tights.
After I lace up the ribbons of my dancing shoes, I use the vanity chair as a barre as I leisurely warm up my muscles and soothe the chill in my bones.
When I rise on my toes to spin and warm up the left side of my body, I find Kaius standing at the entrance to my room. He’s eerily quiet. Uncomfortably still. Maliciously cold. His raven feather cloak sits heavy and luxurious on his tall frame. His silvery-white hair is loose around his face. Something about him looks troubled.
I swallow. “What do you want?”
“I came to ask you what you knew about vampires.”
I scoff. “My opinion on demons like you shouldn’t be any of your concern.”
In truth, I know very little about vampires and other monsters of the world. All of my knowledge comes from legends and tales from the few survivors that have been passed down through generations.
The Nine Priestesses, the keepers of magic and defenders of the darkest corners of the world are said to be responsible for all demons.
After vampires were created, the werebeasts came next; shapeshifters that favor the instincts of predators–wolves, bears, leopards, hawks. The werebeasts often prefer their animal form over their human form, and many give up their human troubles in favor of living amongst each other in the wilds.
With each new creation, the monsters became more wicked and vile until the world was crawling with horrors beyond imagination. Walking corpses. Giant spiders. Krakens of the deep so vicious that the oceans have been reclaimed, and no human has dared cross the Endless Sea in nearly six hundred years.
There were once ten Priestesses, but our human legends only go as far as to say one simply vanished without a trace, and that shortly after she disappeared, hordes of vampires took her place and quickly became the apex predator.
Kaius grits his teeth, but to my shock, he doesn’t retaliate with violence or try to subdue me with fear. He steps further into the room and takes a seat in a chair set up near the fireplace.
I turn my back to him and continue my technique warm-up. I can feel him staring at me, and his gaze is as cold as this strange palace. As that unsettling thought crosses my mind, my mood sours further when I realize why my dancing feels so lifeless.
I miss music. I miss the beautiful crescendo of the orchestra and the delicate scale of the piano accompanying my steps. I miss the way the music echoes off the floors as my dance shoes do.
With a huff, I stand up straight and eye the black marble wall in front of me with annoyance. No windows, no music, no warmth.
Yet he has the nerve to callmethe animal.
