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The beast lunged at Solomonarul, throwing him on the floor.
“Help me,” a human voice said. Gabriel’s human voice said.
“I cannot help you, my friend. Everything is in your hands now. Please leave my family alone.”
The monster roared in Solomonarul’s face.
“From all the monsters I encountered, your breath is the foulest,” said Solomonarul.
The beast didn’t like what he heard and roared once more.
“What would Petra say to such abominable actions? Where is the chivalrous knight she once knew?” asked Solomonarul.
At the sound of those words, the beast became semi-human. “Petra…”
“You want Petra to see you like this? You better turn back to human and leave this instant, or I’ll unleash a wind far greater than you can imagine.”
Gabriel slowly turned into a human dressed only in ragged pants and ran through the door without uttering a word. I rushed after him, but it was too late. I could only see in the distance how he continued to switch between monster and man.
The next moment, I saw a mob of people chasing Gabriel away. He was but skin and bones. Unable to run any longer, he collapsed on the ground. The mob surrounded him and began beating him to a pulp. It didn’t matter if he was the son of a lord. And it didn’t matter if he was once a second-in-command sitting next to Vlad the Impaler’s throne.
Once he became someone else, they erased his humanity. Even if he held onto it by the last thread. Gabriel pleaded for mercy, but all I could hear were the bone cracks his body produced from the kicks he suffered. From afar, I could see one silhouette from which I distinguished to be Lady Stoica. Her face twisted in pain and despair. But she didn’t interfere. She simply turned around and left the scene. I didn’t think my heart could get even more broken, but I was wrong. This was too much for anyone to witness. But what happened to those who had to live through it?
“Please, stop this torture. It is impossible to bare it. Please,” I pleaded. My wish had been granted. I found myself in the forest, next to a dirty, disheveled man leaning on a tree and holding something in his mouth. It was a squirrel. Next to him, I saw a cage filled with different kinds of critters. Gabriel probably tried his best not to drink human blood, so he went for the next best thing.
But the squirrel must’ve been sick as its blood made him hallucinate. He began talking to someone though no one was there.
“I see you are doing great eating chocolate and cake and driving a car,” he said with a raspy voice. “I’m good too. I miss you sometimes. But it is going away with time. I have lots of it now.” He began laughing wholeheartedly. “I love you, Milady. I hope you are well while traveling to your time. I promise to meet you soon.” Gabriel closed his eyes and began humming. His tune halted when a group of nymphs appeared before him.
“What are you doing, creature?” Ielele said in echo. “You cannot kill animals from the Celestial Forest. It is a sin beyond repair.”
“These are the only ones that give me some power to live. If not for them, what do I eat then?” Gabriel retorted. “I’ve been hungry since the day I was reborn.”
“There is a reason why you are not meant to exist,vampyr. If you are given what you search for, you could destroy all of us. Your death will be your mercy to us.”
“How can I destroy anyone when my own kind has repudiated me?” asked Gabriel.
“They are not your kind anymore. You are the only one. Those before you have met their hungry demise early on. You will soon follow.”
“What can I do to survive? I must fulfill a promise. Petra, my wife. She awaits me in the future.”
“Did someone say Petra?” a voice asked. Behind the wall of nymphs appeared Lia. My sweet Lia. “Are you by chance, Gabriel?”
“Indeed, I am,” said Gabriel exhausted from talking.
“He became this way for love, High Priestess Ila,” said Lia. “Could you please grant him his wish?”
“It is beyond my powers,” said Ila. “The only way he can survive is by drinking an army's worth of blood. It had never worked before. It will not work now.”
“There must be a way.” Gabriel grabbed the hem of Ila’s dress. “Tell me a way.”
“Leave these lands, unnatural creature. For you are not welcome in either of the Realms,” Ila said and vanished along with the other nymphs.
Chapter 4
Gabriel pulled his emaciated body up using the tree as a prop and staggered his way out of the woods. But before emerging into an open landscape, a nymph caught up with him. “Let me guide you, Gabriel,” said Lia. “There is only one place you can go now.”
Gabriel beheld her with a blank stare but didn’t contest. He simply followed her obediently like a hurt puppy. I wished to join them, but a fog rose everywhere, and by the time it dwindled, I found myself in a prison. The prison under the Chindia Tower at Vlad the Impaler’s castle. Why was I here? I couldn’t find a good reason until I scrutinized the area and quickly found the sole prisoner in the tower––Gabriel. Why would Lia bring him here? I couldn’t imagine a place brimming with knights and soldiers being a safe place for Gabriel, especially in his state.
