Vampire Island
They were the last to arrive to the vampire family reunion, and when they did, there was a huge uproar. All the vampires were arguing right outside the cave they always used, with expressions of utter fury.
“I can’t believe this has happened!”
“I know! I thought that at least here we would be safe from their grasp!”
“What are we going to do?”
“We can’t let it be! I say we initiate a hunt!”
There was a roar of approval from the rest, as Cassius inquired, “What’s going on?”
A cousin yelled out, “Cassius!” Everyone turned their attention towards him, most of them with, for vampires, warm, friendly smiles, the rest showing cold irritation. “How’s it going old boy?!”
Another person interjected, “We’ll get to the pleasantries later; right now we have a slight pest problem.”
The atmosphere immediately turned sour once again. Pricilla impatiently asked, “What sort of pest?” She waited about five seconds before she continued in an irritated voice, “Well, spit it out!”
“A human has come to our island. From what we’ve gathered, one injured human has been staying in the cave, but we’re not sure.”
“Although I have to say it made some nice improvements to our dank abode.” The woman that spoke giggled. She could never stay serious for long. “We now have access to an unlimited supply of fresh, continually circulating, spring water directly from the source, welling up in two places. The smaller one appears to be for drinking, and the bigger one appears to be for bathing. At least, that would be my guess from what seems to be homemade toiletries beside the big one, such as soup and sand scrub. I dare say that if I find it first, I’ll be thanking it before I kill it.” She smiled with cold humor.
Cassius ignored her, “Do we know how it got here?”
There was a general shaking of heads as one replied, “No. We looked all around the island. We couldn’t even find the human, let alone what brought it here.”
Pricilla sniffed haughtily, “Could it have left?”
“No. Everything is too fresh, and little Mike here, caught a glimpse of it before it disappeared.”
Cassius lifted an eyebrow, “Disappeared? So, we would be dealing with a highly skilled magic user…”
Pricilla scoffed, “I think that was obvious from the fresh springs appearing in our cave. I say we hunt it down now, instead of talking about it so we can quickly get back to our reunion. If we play our cards right, we could have not a pest, but a delicacy.” She smiled, showing her enlarged fangs with a small hiss.
The rest quickly followed suit; blood pumping in their veins from the excitement of a hunt. Some took to the air, while the rest scattered about the island. Cassius sighed, boredom evident on his features, as he walked towards a nearby enclosed beach. “Why must it be day time?”
Violet was taken by surprise when she saw a bunch of vampires land on the island after only being here for three days. She had been gathering food, and was heading back when she saw them land at the entrance to the cave. Well, this wasn’t the kind of rescue I was looking for, was the first thought to race through her head. When the numbers continued to increase, she decided it was about time she made herself scarce. She started to, as quietly as possible; pick her way back towards the cove. She was so busy checking around her for any sign of an approaching vampire, or something that would make a lot of noise, that she didn’t see the hole. Next thing she knew, it was completely dark with a basketball size circle of light showing above. She had fallen into quite a deep pit, scraping herself all over on the jagged walls, and falling on something softer than rock, but still hard enough to hurt. With a sigh of relief Violet thought, thank you, pile of rotting seaweed! She looked around, not seeing much at all.
Well, it’s too damp down here to start a fire, and even if I did it would alert those blood suckers. Violet looked around herself while she tried to get up, but a sharp zinging pang flared in her right leg, and her lower back protested with a monstrous stabbing throb. This made her instantly go limp with a yelp and small whimper. Holly cow of all cows that hurt! First a cut on my right arm, now my right leg! Violet let out a tired wheeze as her thoughts wondered aimlessly on. They say that emotional trauma brings misfortune… Her face shifted into one of pain filled sarcasm. If that’s true it must be from my dead-beat father.
Violet stared up at the sky, while she slowly moved different parts of herself to assess whether or not there was any more damage. Thankfully there wasn’t. She then worked on how much she could move. After continually moving a little at a time, she found that the pain either lessoned or her tolerance increased. Either way, she could soon sit up and move slowly. As she was slowly exploring and searching with her magic, she found that the place she was in had a pool of water that connected to the outside. Violet knew she wouldn’t be able to climb her way out, so she used her water sensing abilities to see whether the tunnel was big enough to let her through. Except it being an extremely long tunnel for a total submersion swim with one breath of air, it was just wide enough for her body, and the best route possible for getting out.
After testing her limbs some more; she finally decided to take the plunge into the absolutely freezing pool of water. Her open wounds stun ferociously, but it helped to numb the pain in her leg and back tremendously. Though it helped dampen the pain, it also made it hard for her to move by making her limbs stiff. She took a couple breaths in and out, then inhaled deeply and dove. The trip wasn’t that hard. There were a couple of times when she jarred her leg, and her back started to feel stiff and knotted from the little strain it was receiving. By the time she arrived her lungs were about ready to burst, take in water, and make her drown. It was night time, and the place the tunnel lead to was none other than the protected cove.
With a quick sweep of the area, not that there was much to see in the dark anyway, she quickly went closer in to where she could just touch the sandy bottom. Feeling exhausted, she hopped on her one good leg, reluctant to go ashore.
Cassius had lounged in the shade on the beach, napping on and off while enjoying the breeze coming off the water. There were a couple of encounters with family members on the hunt, but they only stopped to ask if he’d seen anything; of course there had been no activity, and, quite frankly, he didn’t care.
When night fell he took a deep breath with an illusion like smile, before he got up and started to walk along the beach. Since he lived in the city, he always kept his powers in check and suppressed, but he was here on the island so he decided to let it all out to ‘stretch’. His powers slowly oozed out of their cage while he stretched his arms back, stiffening mid way. He slowly turned his head towards the sea, and sure enough, a human head bobbed in the water. “Interesting.”
The head started to move towards the shore, so Cassius blended into the shadows, watching it’s every move. He continued to watch as it slowly crawled, and then dragged itself ashore. So, it’s a woman… A badly injured one too. She was sprawled out on the shore, high enough so that the waves only reached her waist, shivering uncontrollably and breathing heavily. As he watched he became ever the more curious about her situation, especially how she appeared out in the water.
It took her a couple moments to actually realize that he was sitting next to her, but when that happened she tried to get up fast, which resorted in her collapsing with a sharp gasp and rugged breathing. “It would appear that you have a broken leg, severe swelling in your lower back, and a festering cut on your arm along with lots of fresh ones.” Cassius announced as he gazed at her from foot to head.
A small, gasping raw voice uttered, “If you’re going to kill me, please don’t toy with me… that’s all I ask vampire.” Cassius could see in her drenched salt water state, tears of pain sliding down her cheeks.
“How did you get here?”
The words seem to take a while to penetrate her mind, “I was… out fishing when mmm… a berserk storm hit.” She was panting slightly, “Got… washed a… shore here.”
“How long have you been here?”
Again, there was a long pause before she answered, “Three… days.” Towards the end it was as if she ran out of air, but she continued to speak, “Do you always… interrogate your meals before you feast?”
Cassius ignored her ending question, and scooped her up into a cradle hold. She let out a short exclamation from the pain of being jostled before going limp. “How troublesome…”
He carried her back to the cave and made good use of what she had gathered and stored there. By the time she came to, he had set her broken leg, treated the swelling in her back, and attended to most of her cuts. He was just finishing with the festered one when he heard her speak, “Thank you.”
“No need. I like having my meals in good health; otherwise the blood isn’t that filling or tasty.”
There was a short pause before she continued, “Oh. Well, anyway, you probably don’t care, but my name’s Violet, Violet Assarda. What’s yours?”
He stared at her with a the-poor-girl-must-have-gone-daft look, “Cassius Dormante.”
“That sounds like one of the age old family vampire names. Does that mean you’re a pure blood?”
Cassius ignored her chatter, finished with her medical treatment, and then leaned against the wall near the cave opening.
Hmph! Go ahead and think I’m not in my right mind, but the least he could do was entertain his wounded meal a bit. Violet shivered. Although at this rate I’ll die of hypothermia before anemia, even if he did fix up my wounds. “Excuse me.” Her teeth chattered as she spoke. “Is there any way I could get warm?”
“We didn’t move anything, so you should find your fire pit and wood pile right where you left it.” He didn’t move or open his eyes, if anything he looked even more relaxed and asleep than before.
Violet felt slightly annoyed at her capturer/rescuer? Even if I was a meal for later, the least he could do was make sure he finished what he started instead of walking away half way through! Geez! She slowly dragged herself towards the wood pile, stacked as much as she could on top of herself, and carefully returned towards the fire pit. With careful dedication, she arranged the pieces of wood, putting the tinier pieces she had brought underneath for tinder. Violet could feel what little levels of strength she had draining away, but she was determined to get this fire started, even if it was the last thing she did. With great effort, and what seemed an eternity, she finally made the pieces of wood catch fire. She was sweating and panting from what little effort it took, and steadily losing consciousness. No! No! No! I must stay awake! I must… stay… awake…
Cassius could hear her breathing go steady and even as she fell back into an unconscious state. He opened his eyes a crack, studying the girl. It was evident that she had used the last of her strength to just start a fire, which meant she was either in a more serious physical condition than he thought or she just sucked at magic. He was more inclined to think that she had, practically, no magical ability to speak, and not because he disliked admitting when he was wrong.
Even though she wasn’t in the best of shape, he could tell that she would be considered someone with average looks; maybe even pretty. Her long, loosely curled, copper hair was ragged, and her already pale skin was even paler. She would make a decent amount as a pet in the vampire market, if sold to the right person.
A group a vampires entered the cavern, crying out in alarm and rage when they saw the human by the fire.
“What is going on?!” The vampire in front exclaimed.
The second one to enter quickly followed with, “Quickly, go get the others!” The one closest to the back left in a flash.
Cassius practically had a vein popping out from extreme irritation, “Will you be quiet. She’s no threat, and won’t become one anytime soon.”
The first vampire balked back, “Why is she here? Did you help her? Why? What were you thinking? She’s a human, and any human that comes to this island must be killed!”
Cassius raised his eyebrows, “When was it made a rule to kill any human that came to our island?” His voice could have made icicles form in an instant. “As far as I’m concerned I found her, therefore she belongs to me. I will decide her fate, no other.”
The second vampire tentatively interrupted them, “We can’t possibly let her live. What if she tells other humans about this place?”
“From what I’ve learned, she doesn’t even know where this place is, and as long as that stays true, I think we can risk it, especially if we bind her. Besides, she has the potential to make me a killing at the vampire market.”
They stared at him with unease, and were slightly fidgety. The Cassius they knew at present was never like this. He was always indifferent, never making promises or any kind of attachment to anyone or anything. Maybe he was finally going back to the way he was, in which case, would upset the balance within the entire vampire society.
Cassius could feel their anxiety and smiled within, “You don’t have to worry. I have no intention of changing my lifestyle anytime soon. I was just feeling slightly dull… bored even… and thought she could liven things up for a while.” He practically heard their silent sighs of relief, and only he heard his silent laughter.
The other vampires started to trickle in and soon the cavern was full of them. None would get any closer than a yard to her, but all were curious or disgusted. They formed groups, whispering council to one another so as to not disturb the sleeping human. Their whispers were as such, that it sounded like the rustling of tree leaves on a mildly windy day. Pricilla marched over to Cassius, taking no care to adjust her pitch of voice, “Dear Cousin, have you degraded to such a degree after spending such a long time among them! Hmph! You’ve grown weak over these recent years, and turned into the scorn of our entire civilization! Kill her. Kill her now to prove to use that we should still care for you in any way or form!”
Some of the younger vampires were nodding in agreement, but most and all the older ones were still, like mice before a cat. They were the ones that knew Cassius well, and knew that no matter how he acted, looked, or what he became in life, he was still who he was many years before; someone never to trifle with.
Cassius didn’t budge from where he was, but opened his eyes, which where clouded over with annoyance. He was about to reply, when a small voice echoed throughout the chamber, “Man! You guys are loud enough to wake the dead. I thought vampires were supposed to be like one’s own shadows. I guess I’ll have to add that to my secret book of vampire observations, which I’ll be publishing soon, to make the entire world a better place for humanity. It’s a good thing I came to this island to spy on you lot and write down all your secrets.”
All the vampires were staring at her in silent shock; even Cassius looked at her with renewed interest. It wasn’t long before an avalanche of enraged voices reverberated throughout the area.
Violet looked at them, and smiled smugly to herself. Screw humoring them and bidding my time! I certainly won’t be a docile kitty cat for them to do as they please. She caught Cassius’s eyes as he was quietly gazing at her. She eternally shivered from his cold stare, but, not wanting to admit defeat, she stared right back at him with a stone mask of defiance. She may hurt all over and feel like she’s about to die, but she certainly wasn’t going to let him know that. Cassius smiled, which made goose bumps crawl all over her skin, and with one word he silenced the entire restless mob.
Without raising his voice he commanded, “Quiet.” The room fell soundless so fast that it left a ringing in the ears. “Don’t be so emotional and easy to string along. It’s pathetic. This girl obviously isn’t what you all take her for. First of all, if she were here to invade our island and tell our secrets to the world, she wouldn’t have been caught nor injured so easily. Second, she’s horrifyingly awful at magic. Third, because of her injuries, if she had an escape route she would have used it to get away from here, instead of coming back. Well, that is, unless she’s a completely brainless human, but from the looks of our cavern I’d rule that out.” He yawned slightly. “Like I said before, she can make me a killing at the vampire market. Case closed.”
Pricilla scoffed, “Heh! Whatever you say, oh mighty one. Maybe you could come down from your lofty throne and spend time with us lowly family members once in a while. It’s not like any of us, except the old who wish to reminisce in the past, want you here anyway, so why don’t you make this you’re last attendance?”
Violet didn’t even blink, but the next thing she saw was him holding Pricilla in the air by her neck. “I have tolerated you’re very existence long enough. Shall I make the world a better place by snuffing out your life like a birthday candle? I may have excluded myself from vampire society, but not because I became weak. I was tired of dealing with annoying existences like you, and could barely restrain myself from wiping them all out.” He threw her aside like she was nothing more than a rotting vegetable. She hit the cave wall hard enough to actually make a dent.
With wide eyes, Violet stared at the scene. If he’s that strong against his own kind, then he’s a monster. The woman didn’t get up, and the other vampires had fear filled eyes. As if they all heard a silent queue they fled towards the exit. One of them picked up the unconscious woman on the way. It wasn’t long before the cavern was completely empty. Great! I’m Left all alone with a monstrous vampire who’s been ticked off. Now I know how a sacrificial goat feels when used to appease the gods.
Cassius turned his attention to Violet as the vampires were exiting, as if studying a rare breed of animal. She was obviously off in her own world. He sat next to her, and startled her out of her reprieve, “What are you thinking?”
He saw her jerk her attention to him, her eyes full of wariness, “I was thinking what a monster you are and how I seem to represent a sacrificial goat.” Her eyes gazed back at him, full of defiance.
“It’s a good thing you have the correct view of yourself.”
Her face turned indignant, “Tch! Is that all you see us humans as? No wonder our races could never get along. I say, you remind me of a nasty old geezer from my village that always forgets everything. I thought he was the most spiteful old man I had ever met, but you top all by a huge lead.”
“You do realize who you’re speaking to?”
“Of course! I’m not inane, and I figured that I might as well get my digs in before it’s too late, whether it brings my end sooner or later, I don’t really care at this point. Besides, I don’t feel that great, and that always makes me cranky. You’re the closest living intelligent target, so deal with it. If you can’t, remember, you’re the one that saved me.” Her face was slightly flushed from her little outburst, and her brows were knitted together.
Cassius chuckled, “You are the most interesting human I have come across in centuries.” He sighed and settled into a more comfortable seated position. “I won’t kill you. Killing isn’t to my taste, even though that is what we’re mostly known for. Although, my word isn’t much to go on is it?” He felt her eyes on him as he spoke.
“No, it isn’t, but I’ll believe you.”
He turned his heads towards her, “You’re known as the village idiot aren’t you?”
Violet scowled, “I may be lacking in certain areas, but my brain is certainly not one of them.”
A formidable silence stretched forth, until Violet couldn’t take it anymore, “Are you really going to sell me?”
“Who knows…”
Calm down Violet. Keep your temper. “I would really like to know, because if you don’t have any particular plans for me, I was wondering if you could get me off this island so I could go home.” A pleasant smile was plastered on her face as she talked.
“Hmm… maybe…”
You could practically hear the snap of the final string that was holding back her temper. “Who else would know but you?! You must at least have some idea you blood sucking idiot, so spit it out!” Cassius didn’t move, nor acknowledge that he had even heard her. “Hmph! Even though killing isn’t to your liking, you’re still the same as all vampires with your hereditary arrogance and condescending attitude!” With that she turned away from him as much as she could without feeling too much pain, and drifted into a fitful sleep.
Cassius watched her from the corner of his eye, “Trusting a vampire… Really, you’re stupidity is grade A even on human accounts.”
When Violet woke up, she was deeply confused and disoriented. All of her wounds were gone, not even leaving a scar, and she was dressed in some fancy get up that was too shiny to even look at without burning your retinas. Everywhere she looked was bright and glistening with extravagant cloth, metals, jewels, and more. Did I die? She got to her feet and started to move forward, but was stopped by the collar on her neck, which was attached to the wall. Choking, Violet’s eyes narrowed. Is this some kind of twisted version of hell? The sound of an opening door got her attention. The person that came through matched the room with his extravagant, expensive look. She could tell from the first moment that he was a vampire, and held her ground with a firm stare.
He gazed at her with appraising eyes, “You certainly are a catch Chestnut. Such a rare breed of human you are, which makes you one of my most prized possessions.” His smile could have brought the ice age, “You’re eyes give off such an amusing look that tells me it will be fun to train you. Sit.”
Before Violet knew it she was sitting like an obedient little doggy with him patting her on the head with praise.
Cassius, of course, went back to his regular, mundane, every day/night life. It has already been a month sense he sold Violet, for quite a chunk of cash, and since then he had been feeling agitated. He felt something was wrong and this feeling greatly irritated him. Feeling something period was quite the mystery, and he didn’t understand why what he did to that girl bothered him at all.
Suddenly, after that whole month, he had the urge to see her family. He thought that if he saw them it might give him a clue as to why he was in such an emotional state about the whole thing with her. Thus, he started spying on the Assarda family.
It turned out her family consisted of one; her mother. The mother was always cheerful, bright, and full of smiles. The house was more like a lean-to for animals than something to be inhabited by humans, and, even though she was the poorest of the poor, she always found time to help others. To put it in one word, she was what others would call a good Samaritan, but he also saw something else that only happened when night came. She would silently cry herself to sleep, and once asleep she would sometimes cry out her daughter’s name.
This made him feel even more agitated, and after great deliberation he decided the only way to get rid of this unpleasant feeling was to return her home, he then could forget about all of it and go back to how he was living.
“Chestnut, beg.” The Vampire, also known as Hendrick, was holding out a tempting piece of food. Violet hadn’t eaten for days now from all her resisting, and couldn’t help but easily give in once again to his commands.
Tears of frustration slide down her cheeks, while her defiant eyes gazed back at the merciless vampire, “You won’t ever break me. I will always do everything I can to never fully obey you!”
Hendrick chuckled. It had already been near two months, and Violet had been a great source of entertainment to him. He had never seen a human with so much spirit before, and was curious how long she would last. She had already far surpassed his previous pets who had only taken a couple days to train. “Good girl! Now eat.” He tossed the tantalizing treat, and watched as she struggled to leave it alone. It was little over a minute before she gobbled it right off the ground.
Violet choked it down begrudgingly. When I get free I will make you pay! Never before have I felt like giving someone a torturous death, let alone kill, but you, I swear, I will give you the honor of being the first victim I eradicate. Second will be that no good vampire that sold me to you, him, I will kill with more pleasure than you, so, go ahead, laugh while you can…
One of Hendrick’s servants showed Cassius to where he was currently training Violet. As he entered Hendrick welcomed him with open arms. “My brother, what brings you here? You hardly ever visit twice, let alone, once a year.”
“I just came to see how my merchandise was pleasing you. Is everything satisfactory?”
He laughed, “More than satisfactory! Her spirit is so great that she has only just now begun to be fully trained. You’ve really caught a good one this time. Watch this!” He walks over towards Violet, “Sit. Lie down. Play dead. Good girl Chestnut! Now, eat your treat.” He tossed it on the ground and watched her struggle with great mirth.
As Cassius watched he felt even more agitated, which in turn made him even more irritable. She was almost completely trained. He considered it a miracle that she had even lasted this long. “She seems to be training well.”
“She is! She is! Chestnut is the most fun I’ve had in decades.”
Before Cassius could reply, a message came for Hendrick. “I’ll wait for your business to be done, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind. I haven’t had a nice talk with you for ages. Play with Chestnut if you get bored, you can even teach her trick if you want. Well, I’ll see you after my business is concluded.”
“Till then…”
Hendrick left the room.
Cassius switched his gaze towards Violet, and, in a monotone voice, inquired, “How have you been?”
Violet turned a watery glare at him, “Just fine. As you can see, I am cared for quite well, even if it’s highly inhuman.”
Somewhere deep inside, Cassius felt a twinge. What is this? He quickly buried it and tossed it aside. He was having way to many unfamiliar emotions, which was making him quite irritable, “It seems my sense of valuable produce is really good. I’ve never seen him as happy as I’ve seen today.”
Cassius watched as an even more hate filled stare was directed at him, and again a strange emotion assailed him. At that precise moment, Hendrick walked in.
“Your business has been concluded?”
“It was a small matter, but please, you must stay for a while! The human life must be boring you for you to visit, so please stay as long as you wish.”
Cassius did a small smile, “I think I’ll take you up on that offer.”
Hendrick had personally shown him to an extravagant room, with even more adornments. He now lay on his bed, deep in thought.
What was I thinking? Rescue her? Return her home? This is the fate of any human that catches a vampire’s eye. This is normal! So, why should I care or be bombarded by unnecessary emotions because of her?
His thoughts continued on in similar circles the whole night. When morning came he concluded that the only way for this to end was to proceed with his original conclusion… Rescue and return her to her mother.
He left his chambers at first light and proceeded to the dining hall. Hendrick was already there eating a useless nutritious human meal in front of Violet.
He ignored her and greeted his host, “Good morning.”
“Ah, Cassius, good morning! Come and watch how well Chestnut is behaving.” He dangled a lovely piece of sausage in front of her face, “Staaay… Good girl!” He tossed the succulent delight towards her and reverted his attention solely towards Cassius, “If you have no plans for today, why don’t you accompany me on a pleasant walk through the village? I’m sure many will be pleased to see you.”
“I don’t see why I shouldn’t take you up on that offer.”
Two weeks passed as Cassius pulled as much of Hendrick’s attention from Violet onto him without being noticed. Hendrick took him to many places, truly enjoying his company. By the end of those weeks, Cassius had reached his limit of tolerance for such frivolities.
Cassius was entering the library, when he heard a thud and moan from within. He quickly entered to assess the situation.
A cold fury was written all over Hendricks face, while Violet was unmoving on the opposite side of the room, with a scatter of books on and around her.
Hendrick spoke aloud, his gaze still on Violet, “Your attempts on my life and little rebellions I thought of cutely amusing, but you should have known that my tolerance is very short lived.” He switched his gaze towards Cassius, “It turns out she’s a faulty product after all. Sense you are responsible, I will only require you to dispose of her.” He stormed out, slamming the doors behind him.
Cassius walked over to the still form, and prodded her with his foot, “Are you alive?”
“You know full well that I am you jerk.” She replied in a gasping whisper.
He squatted down, “You must have gotten quite close to actually killing him.”
A tone of regret entered her voice, “You have no idea…”
“You sound as if you actually could have killed him if you wanted too, but decided otherwise. I am curious though, how were you going to do away with him?”
Violet raised her head and looked him in the eyes, “I had stolen his most precious object and was successfully using it to kill him…” She looked down, “But I hesitated.”
At the mention of her stealing Hendrick’s ‘most precious object’ what little blood was actually in his face had completely drained away. She could only mean the Bloody Soul Stone. This stone can actually drain away any vampire’s soul and instantly turn one to ash. Hendrick had made it his life goal to collect them and seal them away in a place only he knew about. Cassius looked at her with respect for the first time; for a human to achieve what many vampires couldn’t, had to be what humans referred to as a ‘miracle’.
Now that she had disgraced herself and gained Hendricks displeasure, it would be a lot easier to escape. He had never understood a human’s positive outlook during the worst situations, but right now he thought he slightly understood what they mean by ‘good fortune’.
He checked her over for any serious wounds before surmising that she was only severely bruised. “Violet.”
She didn’t respond, even though her dazed look was getting better. I guess it will take a while to undo that training…
“Violet,” He snapped his fingers in front of her face.
She responded dumbly, “… Me?”
Cassius ignores her stupid response, “Do you have any more of those stones, or can you tell me where to find them?”
Violet frowned, “Why would I tell you?”
He did a mental exasperated sigh, “Look. I don’t have time to explain or try to convince you. You can think of it as your last resort by trusting for the last time.”
Her face showed great conflict and a multitude of emotions, the most prominent one being anger. After a short while she mumbled something so quietly that even Cassius couldn’t catch it.
“What?”
She cleared her throat, “I said that they are used as decorative stones on the pillars throughout the palace. They’re usually mixed in with the rubies.”
“Where can we get one?” Cassius picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder. “How did you find them, and tell them apart from the rubies?”
“The closest one to here would be the one on the third column, in the antechamber. You put your hand on the column and let magic flow from your body into it. The stone will give off a quick burst of light.”
They quickly arrived and, without breaking their speed, acquired the stone. Cassius kept up his formidable run until they were at the outskirts of the vampire community. He was quite exhausted and knew that if he were to get her to her mother’s without stopping he would have to take a rest.
There was a huge shift in the atmosphere. He knew that Hendrick had perceived something to be wrong, and had set off the alarm. Cassius remembered a church being nearby, and went in that direction. Churches don’t really have any effect on vampires, but due to the past stories, a natural hatred towards them had grown, and Cassius knew that Hendrick despised them.
Thankfully, the church was still there, and the first thing he did when he entered was set Violet down to release her from Hendrick’s vampire influences. As soon as he was done, he felt a solid right hook land on his face, and it didn’t end there. She continued to go after him with a vengeance, until he thoughtlessly said, “Sit down!” Violet instantly sat. “Is this how you treat the one who saves you?”
Her entire being was shaking, “Save me. What do you mean save me?! If you hadn’t sold me in the first place I wouldn’t have needed saving! And why on earth did you save me anyway?! You’re the most confusing vampire I’ve ever met! A walking contradiction!”
“Your situation kept on bothering me even when you weren’t there and it was annoying.”
Violet took in a sharp breath, “What? Your conscience finally pricked you for your evil deed?”
He was silent for a little before he answered, “Vampires aren’t humans. We don’t have such unnecessary emotions or feelings. If we feel anything at all it is just anger or complete rage.” She turned away from him, still shaking, “I’m… sorry.”
Violet instantly whipped her head around, “Excuse me? Sorry? Sorry for what? Selling me? Being deceptive?”
“No. I thoughtlessly told you to sit.”
“Oh, so you’re apologizing for using your vampire influence over me.”
“No. I didn’t use any of my influence on you. You have been trained to some degree, so even without vampire influence it will take time for it all to be undone. Anybody, any race could tell you to sit and you would subconsciously do it. There are probably other commands that you will continue to obey for a while as well.”
Cassius had never seen a human move so fast. One moment she was sitting, the next she was standing, and as if to defy what he just said further she slowly began walking around the church; looking here and there.
He watched her for a short while before he abruptly asked, “Tell me. How did you find out about the Bloody Soul Stones?”
“I listened to the conversations, found out that he was collecting a stone that could kill vampires, and keeping them safe. Every time I visited the library with him I would read books. I tried to find any book that even slightly mentioned it, and after a grueling search I found what I was looking for. So, I kept a small, but steady flow of my magic flowing out of me, hoping I would find something. I was really desperate by then. Each day he would let me walk around for an hour for exercise, and it was during that time that I finally found one when I accidentally brushed against one of the pillars. From then on I spent my walking hour to find as many of them as I could. Today I finally decided to take action so I pried one loose, but in the end I couldn’t kill him.” By the end of her explanation, she was looking at her hands with remorse, “Even though he did all of those horrible things… You know what I thought? I thought ‘If I kill him I’ll regret it’ and backed off.” She softly laughed a little. “Regret…”
“Hmph, you just sound human to me, in fact more human than most humans.”
Violet looked at him with slightly furrowed brows, “How can I be more human than most humans? A human is a human.”
“Most average good natured humans wouldn’t be able to kill. They usually have the same response you do, the exception being a vampire. They know us to already be dead and unholy, defiled beings, therefore in their minds it’s okay, but you are different. You seem to treat us the same way you would treat your kind, I grant you, human vagabonds, but human like none the less. Such a reaction is unheard of. Now, I am going to get some rest before we continue the journey.”
Without further ado, he stretched out on the floor, and closed his eyes. Violet watched him with a masked face. I don’t really understand him or his ways, but something about him is different from other vampires. He seems like a nice- Hey wait a moment! She shook her head. I trusted him last time and look where it got me! But then again he just said he wouldn’t kill me… That’s no excuse! But technically he didn’t betray my trust, so it should be fine. No! No! No! I can’t fall for this, this… whatever it is! That’s it! It must be some kind of new vampire ability! But that still doesn’t make sense. Why is he here now? Why is he going through so much effort? Argh! Such a confusing vampire! Something in me tells me to trust him, but I desperately don’t want to. Then again every time I’ve trusted that little voice, everything has turned out just fine… That’s it! I’ll trust my little voice, but not him. With that she settled onto one of the pews and fell asleep as best she could with all of her physical pain.
Cassius listened to her movements while keeping most of his attention for intruders around the church. They came a couple of hours after Violet fell asleep. He was up immediately, shaking her awake, when the church doors flew open and off its hinges. Violet was still groggy as he placed the Bloody Soul Stone in her hand, and grabbed her wrist, “This is useless to me, so you can have it. Don’t hesitate to use it.”
He looked towards the door, and saw three vampires in the entrance.
The middle one spoke arrogantly, “You have betrayed your family, and disgraced our community.” The one on the left exited quickly, “I have sent for re-enforcements. You won’t escape.” The two remaining vampires charged forward.
Their fighting was excellent, so it kept a large portion of Cassius’s attention to fend them off and keep them away from Violet, who was still waking up. Their speed increased, and threw a team effort the two vampires broke Cassius’s grasp on her wrist and whisked her away. The one who had taken Violet stopped suddenly at the entrance, his right hand grabbing the left side of his chest. He was gasping as if in great pain. Both Cassius and the vampire he was fighting witnessed this. Using the distraction, he KO’d his opponent, and quickly knocked out the other one.
The look of disgruntled, consternation on Violets face stirred something in him. While he was tossing her over his shoulder, he told her in a gruff, quiet tone, “Good job.”
It took the rest of the day of none stop travel to arrive at her village. She was sound asleep as Cassius placed her near her mother, and took his leave. He smiled what could have been an actual smile, and felt that he had fixed his problem. Now he could go back to his life, and not have to be bothered about her welfare again.
He was just about the take off when a tug on his shirt made him loose his balance and fall to the ground. Che, letting my guard down. He looked at the cause, shock hidden under his stony face mask, “What do you want?”
“I just wanted to say thank you. That’s all, so good night.” With that she went back inside.
“What a strange human…”
Cassius, once again, returned to his normal human-like life. It had already been a couple months since he had dropped her off at her home, and since then a barrage of foreign emotions that should never assail a vampire, kept getting stronger as time went on.
Whenever he had an unusually emotional day, and felt particularly annoyed, he would think about telling Violet. He actually went as far as to ask a coworker what these emotions could possibly be for this particular female. The coworker, with a slight mischievous sparkle in his eyes, asked him a barrage of questions. Do you constantly think about her? Yes. Do you always wish to see her? No. Does she bring a smile to your face whenever you see or think about her? No. Et cetera.
In the end the coworker, looking disappointed, concluded that it wasn’t love, but someone who he thought of as a good friend. Cassius went home thinking, so these emotions are what humans equate to friendship… Troublesome.
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