Nine
Adelasia
I have not seen Kaius in five days.
Not since he nearly fed on me in the cave and one of his vampire advisors stopped him.
I can’t tell if he’s staying away from me because he’s still ready to sink his teeth into me, or because a part of him feels bad for what he did.
I fear it's the former.
For humans, it’s a horrific violation to be fed on involuntarily.
It’s why we consider vampires such savages and why we fear them so wholly—women especially.
The more uncivilized vampires in the world will raid cities and towns, feeding on the women while violating their bodies.
We’re nothing but vessels for food and pleasure for them.
I’ve never understood why some humans choose that life.
They offer themselves to the vampires, and they get nothing in return.
Kaius told me they’re called cattle, and it’s just another sickening way they dehumanize us.
Though I haven’t seen Kaius in days, I have explored the palace a bit more.
I found an empty, unused room of mirrors on the second floor covered in cobwebs, and with the limited magic Kaius gifted me, I was able to turn it into a dance studio, and that’s where I spend most of my time if not in my room for sleep or meals.
No one ever bothers me here–not even the servants.
It’s just me, and the enchanted instruments I conjured to play music for me while I dance.
They’ve become somewhat friends, in a very sad, lonely sort of way.
They seem to be in tune with my emotions and always play the perfect accompanying music to my moods.
Lately, I’ve been nothing but melancholy.
I miss the sun.
I miss my bed.
I miss my friends at the company.
Most of all, I miss my mother.
My heart aches every time I think about her, worried sick about me.
She has no idea if I’m alive or dead.
The last memory she’ll have of me is the way I screamed when I was kidnapped right in front of her eyes.
I imagine that’s a parent’s worst nightmare–to have your only living child go missing without a trace.
The instruments stop their tune and tears prick in my eyes as I land a leap in the silence of the room.
My shoes echo loudly off the cold floors, and I pinch the bridge of my nose to keep myself from sobbing.
I hear the door open behind me, and I huff in frustration, expecting it to be Kaius.
I turn to find a small woman standing in the doorway with a silver tray in her hand, and a ceramic bowl no bigger than my palm in the center.
Steam rises from the bowl, and the woman’s face grows rosy from the heat. A human!
“Miss Adelasia,”
she says uncomfortably under my stare. “Lord Kaius asked me to bring this to you.”
She gestures down to the bowl. “I promise it’s not as bad as it smells.”
I take a few steps towards her. She’s a tiny thing. Standing at least a foot shorter than me. She’s young, barely twenty if I had to guess. Her hazel eyes are warm and friendly, perfectly accompanying her golden blonde hair.
I look at the steaming bowl. “What is it?”
“Just some herbs and spices, nothing dangerous. It smells horrid but you don’t need to drink it but once a month.”
I give her a strange look, and she realizes she didn’t answer my question. “Oh…”
she chuckles awkwardly. “It’s for the women. So we don’t…bleed.”
My nose turns upwards in disgust. “You mean so we don’t get pregnant when these immortal men take what isn’t theirs.”
The thought of Kaius sending this to me so he can prepare me for mounting causes bile to snake its way up my throat. I want to find him right now and drive a stake through his heart. How immortality destroys any sense of right and wrong disgusts me to the point it makes me dizzy.
“No!”
the woman gasps as if I’ve said something inappropriate. “Our monthly cycles…they can smell it. It drives the vampires mad, and this keeps them docile. Vampires can’t breed with humans.”
I blink in confusion. “They can’t?”
The woman shakes her head and gestures towards the cup. She’s right, it does smell horrid, but I take it from her and swallow the contents in three big gulps. I purse my lips as the unpleasant mixture runs down my throat.
“Male vampires are infertile,”
she explains. My cheeks turn pink on their own accord for thinking so lowly of Kaius. In all fairness, he’s never caused any harm to me that I didn’t ask for by provoking him. The young woman smiles and curtseys to me. “I’m Iphigenia. I’m to be your personal servant.”
“You’re a human,”
I point out. “Did they kidnap you?”
She seems perturbed by the assumption. “No! Lord Kaius saved me. My village was attacked by a pack of werebeasts.
My three younger sisters and I were the only survivors. His men fought off the beasts and found us hiding under some rubble, injured and frightened. His men wanted to feed on us. We had no family and no home, and we were just young girls. I thought we were going to die that day, but Lord Kaius claimed us–no not that way–just…he told us he’d spare us and provide food and shelter if we helped take care of the other humans living here. That was four years ago. I was fifteen then. My sisters were all younger than ten. I knew I couldn’t provide for them myself, so I accepted his offer, and we’ve been here ever since.”
Poor thing. What a horrible experience, to lose your family to werebeasts and live under the nose of even worse demons. Though, in a way, that’s what’s happened to me.
“What about you?”
she asks, and by the way she looks around the room, I can see the tiniest hint of jealousy in her eyes at my freedom. Kaius has never asked me to earn my keep. In fact, I’ve intentionally defied every rule he’s made for me.
“I’m a prisoner,” I answer.
“You don’t look like a prisoner to me. Prisoners tend to wear chains, not ribbons and silk.”
“He kidnapped me. Two of his vampire servants stole me right in front of my entire town. In front of my mother.”
She narrows her eyes at me, and then her face softens. “You’re to be his bride then?”
I laugh with genuine amusement. What a preposterous thought. “I’d rather stake my own heart than live the rest of my life tied to that man.”
As I finish filling her ears with that venom, from the corner of my eye, I see a fast movement near my feet.
I look down and let out a squeal as I jump slightly to the side. A large, black snake watches me as I back towards the wall. I breathe heavy in concern, but the viper comes no closer to me.
Iphigenia lets out a quiet laugh. “Don’t worry about Cassius. He’s the Blood King’s companion. He’s friendly,”
she leans over slightly to whisper to me, “But watch your bed. He likes to curl up under the warm covers.”
She says it with such a fondness for the creature that I trust her sincerity and let my guard down.
“Kaius and Cassius,”
I hum sarcastically. “How creative.”
Iphigenia smiles at me and then squats down to gently pat Cassius’ head. “I’ve been here for much longer than you have, Miss, and I can tell you with certainty that Lord Kaius doesn’t do anything without a clear reason. Try not to judge him too harshly.”
I scoff. “Judge him?! What noble reason would he have for kidnapping a dancer? Hm? Is he lacking in entertainment here in this depressing palace?”
“I can’t answer that for him,”
Iphigenia says, and then she and Cassius leave me to my solitude in the room of mirrors.
I dance for several more hours, until my skin is damp with a thin layer of sweat, my muscles ache from overuse, and my stomach cries painfully for food.
I leave the studio and wander through the halls. Empty and barren just like every other room here. These immortals have lived dozens of lifetimes, and it unsettles me that their homes are so lifeless in comparison. They could have beautiful, ancient, ornate architecture, but instead opt for plain walls, plain ceilings, and plain floors.
The outside of this palace is stunning, but the inside is nothing more than a well-polished box.
I hear a commotion and some instinct within me tells me to hide, so I crouch behind a brazier and peek around it.
Down the corridor, I see the vampire that stopped Kaius from feeding on me in the cave, with a leash in one hand and a whip in the other. If I remember rightly from my eavesdropping, his name is Dravon.
At the other end of the leash is the man from the prison. The sickly one. He’s wearing only trousers, his bones sticking out to a disturbing degree. There are scars covering his back from a whip–some new, some old. He’s covered in dirt and blood.
The vampire whips the man while he scrubs the floor clean of dirt that isn’t there and his own blood. Dravon has a vile grin on his face as he tortures that poor man. What could he have possibly done to deserve this?
I can’t just hide and watch. I have to do something. Do I dare stand up to Dravon without Kaius here to protect me?
Before I can talk myself out of it, I stand up and walk towards them.
“Leave him alone!”
I demand. Dravon looks at me and then down to the man. With a grin, Dravon spits and kicks him before dropping the leash and walking towards me. We stand at the same height, yet his coldness easily overshadows me. My cheeks heat as my false bravery crumbles. Dravon gently hooks his finger into the high neckline of my leotard, examining the skin underneath.
“Curious,”
he says quietly. With another grin, he steps around me and disappears down the hall.
I rush to the man curled in the fetal position on the ground and kneel next to him. He whimpers when I touch his temple, where a soft stream of blood drips into his eyes.
“Here,”
I say quietly, using the magic Kaius gave me to conjure him a goblet of water. His parched, chapped lips tremble as he takes a careful sip before drinking the rest. I refill the goblet again. “Drink as much as you need,”
I tell him. He eyes me suspiciously over the rim of the cup.
“You’re a human,”
he croaks, his voice hoarse and strained.
I nod. I shimmy out of the skirt I have on over my leotard and use it to soak up some of the blood on his face as he drinks. “What’s your name?”
“Saddiq.”
“Where are you from, Saddiq?”
“The Cambouri Desert. The westernmost part of the al-Abadi region.”
“My father visited the Desert once, before I was born. He told me that the sand is the most beautiful shade of orange, and there are strange spiky plants in the ground that hold water so crisp it could quench any thirst.”
Saddiq gives me a half-hearted smile, and behind his eyes I can see the way he misses his home. “I’m Adelasia.”
“Why did you help me?”
he asks. “He could have killed you.”
“He won’t,”
I answer, even though I’m unsure of how true that is. “The Vampire Lord has forbidden him from touching me.”
Saddiq eyes me suspiciously at that but continues to drink. My eyes trace along his skin and bones for legs. He’s so frail. I attempt to conjure some food for him, but I’ve not yet mastered this strange magic Kaius gave me, and my attempts are, quite literally, fruitless.
“I’m going to bring you some food. Stay here. Drink,”
I instruct, before standing and rushing towards the kitchen. My nose carries me to the smell of roasting meat and sauteed vegetables. When I step into the kitchen, the vampires and human servants alike pay no attention to me. They walk past me as if I’m invisible.
Laid out on the long center table of the kitchen are trays of cheeses, fruits, and nuts. I pop a grape into my mouth and take a few handfuls of food.
As I reach for a thick slice of warm bread, a cold hand snatches my wrist, causing me to drop the cheese and fruit I had in my fist. I gasp and look up to find a particularly vile-looking vampire staring at me with distaste. His face is sallow, just like the vampires that kidnapped me.
“What do we have here?”
he asks rhetorically. Some of the servants look over their shoulders at us, but most still pay no mind. “Looks like one of the cows has wandered out of the pen.”
I try to tug my wrist free. “Let me go,”
I demand forcefully.
“You know cattle aren’t allowed in the kitchens.”
“It’s a good thing I’m not cattle then. Let me go!”
I shout. The vampire only snickers and drags me across the kitchen until my back is flat against the wall. He holds me by my neck so forcefully I can only take shallow, unsatisfying breaths.
“Kai…Kaius said…”
“‘Kaius said’? Did you hear that?”
he shouts over his shoulder, drawing the attention of the rest of the kitchen staff. “Disobedient and disrespectful. Lord Kaius won’t miss you, I think. He’ll like you better mixed in with his wine.”
My head feels like it’s going to pop from the pressure of being choked, and the vampire laughs. “Or maybe I’ll just have you for dinner myself.”
His fangs grow longer and he releases my throat only to tug my head to the side and give himself access to my neck.
The vampire lunges for me, and I scream as I brace myself and close my eyes for the pain, but it doesn’t come. The room goes silent. No more clattering of pans. Even the roasting fire seems to go quiet.
I peek to find Kaius clutching the vampire that’s holding onto me by the neck. His face is the picture of indifference. His body is loose, the only sign of tension at all is the bruising grip his fingers have on the other vampire.
The rest of the servants have all knelt to the floor, their eyes locked on Kaius as if awaiting instruction–or punishment.
A muscle in Kaius’ jaw flexes and he tilts his head back to examine the man he has in his grasp with disgust. “What seems to be the problem here?”
The vampire shakily points to me. “The cattle–”
Kaius squeezes his throat tighter. “I seem to recall hearing her tell you that she is not cattle all the way from the other side of the palace. Are you calling my guest a liar, worm?”
“No…no of course not.”
Kaius gives him a humorless smile and lets him go. “Good.”
“My sincere apologies, my Lord. I meant no offense to you.”
“No, of course not. You’d be foolish to purposely offend me,”
Kaius agrees before turning to me. “What about you, Adelasia? Did this worm–”
he glares at the vampire who seems to shrink at the degrading tone in Kaius’ voice, “offend you?”
It goes silent again, and I realize he’s waiting for my response. I open my mouth, but no words come out, so I simply shake my head. Kaius nods, and his eyes catch on the handful of fruit and cheese I dropped that sits discarded on the ground.
He uses a hand to motion towards the table in the center of the room. “Please help yourself.”
I approach the table. My hands tremble as I pick out another selection of fruits, nuts and cheese.
I hear an awful squelch behind me.
I’ve heard that sound before, when Kaius ripped out the heart of the two vampires that kidnapped me.
Just as I was that night, I’m stupid enough to turn my head and look. Kaius steps over the dead body and one of the servants hands him a wet cloth to clean his hands. The dead vampire turns to ash, and the servants return to their duties.
I make every attempt to avoid eye contact as I gather the food again, leave the kitchen, and make my way back through the halls to Saddiq.
When I get to where I left him, he’s nowhere to be found, and the water goblet I gave him sits discarded on its side.
“Looking for something?”
I huff at the voice behind me before turning to face Dravon. I give him my best scowl, and he gives me an insincere grin in return.
“Where is he?”
“What concern is it to you?”
“Where is he?” I repeat.
From down the hall, I catch Kaius in my peripheral vision, and as quickly as we make eye contact from afar, he’s at my side, examining Dravon suspiciously. Then, he looks at me. “What is it?”
he asks me.
“The prisoner, Saddiq. I want to know where he is,”
I tell him without breaking my hateful stare at Dravon.
Kaius looks to his advisor. “Tell her,”
he commands. Dravon narrows his eyes at me. “Now.”
Dravon’s jaw moves from side to side in annoyance. “Dungeon,”
he replies. He barely moves his shoulder to avoid bumping into me when he walks around us. I huff and look at Kaius, who is obviously awaiting an explanation.
“He was hurting him. Whipping him and then forcing him to clean up his own blood.”
“Dravon has always been a sadist,”
Kaius says, then he looks at the food in my arms. “You weren’t in the kitchen for yourself.”
“No, I wasn’t,”
I confirm. “Please take me to him.”
Kaius nods towards the long end of the hallway as a gesture to follow him. He leads me down several flights of stairs and out of the palace, taking me directly to the dungeon in the cool moonlight. When we arrive, I rush straight to Saddiq’s cell and kneel. He looks surprised.
“You came,”
he says, and then he gulps sadly at the food, as if he believes this is a trick and that it will turn to ash in his mouth.
I nod as I push the food through the space between the cell bars. Saddiq grabs the food as if it’s the last thing he’ll ever eat, his body so malnourished that he gags on it as it slivers down his throat. I look at Kaius. “Can’t you let him out?”
Kaius examines the bars and wraps his cold fingers around them. He pulls, but unlike the cell I was in when I first met him, the door does not give. He tries again. Still nothing.
“It’s enchanted,”
he says. “I do not know this ward. I will have to go through Dravon to break it.”
I scowl. Not necessarily at Kaius, but at the thought of Dravon forcing us to leave Saddiq here. I sigh and gently reach a hand through the bars to touch Saddiq’s bony shoulder.
“I’ll come back every day with food or clothes or whatever you need. I promise.”
He gives my hand an untrusting glare, alternating between it and Kaius. “Why?”
I give him a soft smile. “The one thing these demons will never take from me is my humanity.”