The Torture of Midnight

Strogoi

A dripping sound woke me from the eternal blackness that I felt bound to. My head spin, and ached. But the thing that hurt most was my body. My muscles felt like they were on fire, and my mouth was parched. I opened my eyes to look at my surroundings.

All around me was stone walls, like the bricks on castles. They looked old, and ancient. Mold, and soot jammed into the cracks, along with whatever had died, and left it's awful stench. I sat up, wrinkling my nose at the putrid smell, but brought my hand up to my forehead, trying to rid myself of the rush of pain flooding through me.

When the pain ebbed, I swiveled my head to get a better look around me. It looked like I was in the basement of an old fortress. There were weapons, and boxes up against, and on the walls everywhere. And they were all old looking, medieval almost. Axes, and crossbows, swords, and javels. The boxes had nothing on the outside but dust to indicate what was inside. There were no windows, and only one door with a torch next to it, stood on the other side of the rather large room.

I stood up, and dusted my dress off, noticing that my jacket, and shoes were missing. All I had now were my nude colored undergarment dress from my costume. It was only meant to keep me clothed as I dressed, not to wear out in public. It was thin, and wispy, only reaching to just above my knees. It had wide shoulder straps, but dropped down low towards my cleavage area. Like I said, not I dress I would wear in public, which is why I had a coat.

Forgetting the lack of clothing I had, I ran over to the door, my bare feet making small smacking noises on the stones, and reached for the door handle. To my surprise, it was unlocked. I pulled it open to reveal a staircase. Without thinking, I rushed up the steps, winding to the left in a spiral, going on, and on.

When I reached the top, I pushed open the wooden door, and stepped out into what looked like an olden day living room. There was a red velvet arm chair next to a ginormous stone fireplace. The floor was still stone, but the room was covered by a large, black carpet. Again, without thinking, and rushed through the room, and around the right corner, and continued down a long hallway. I opened several doors leading to many bedrooms, but closed them again, and continued on. I needed a way out.

The hallway turned left at the end, and into a huge dinning hall, a large, wooden dining table in the middle, with 16 chairs seated around it. Ignoring it, I ran past, adrenaline rushing through my body. I ran through another corridor, and many more turns later, I came into another room, only this time, it looked like a very ancient throne room. A red carpet went from the seat up on the steps, to the giant double doors to the right of me. I walked out into the middle, swiveling my head to survey the room. I saw the huge Crystal chandelier hanging from the mural of beasts that I did not recognize, snapping, and biting, and clawing at each others bodies. It was so grotesque, and vulgar, that it made bile rise from my throat.

"Where am I?" I thought out loud.

"You," A musical voice sounded from behind.

I turned in horror to see the strange man with Alexandrite eyes, walk out of the shadows. He came to stand a few yards away, probably knowing I would run if he came any closer.

"Are in the Dacian kingdom." He finished.

I stared at him for a long moment before I could say anything. "The what?"

A small smile touched his lips, looking away, as he started to circle me. "In Romanian mythology, it is a old empire made by their gods. Lost to the known world because it was made so by a goddess, one not known to their people, whose name was Osai. She cursed the ancient kingdom, condemning it to a world of darkness and turmoil, and used it to punish those who had done her wrong." He glanced up at me, then continued. "She was known commonly by your people as a witch, a sorceress, and she cursed those who did evil in her sight to a world of eternal suffering. We are known by the Romanian people as strogoi, but you know us by another name. A creature you do not believe to exist." He came to stand in front of me. "A vampire."

I let out a shaky breathe, but said nothing.

He continued his speech. "I am not, however Romanian, I am in fact native American. Osai cursed me to live an immortal life in this world. Now, once every fifty years, I am aloud to leave this world, the Dacian kingdom, and return to your world for one day, to feed on the blood of humans, and take back with me what I can. That is why you are here." He was now very close to me, his final words blowing his breathe across my face, and ruffling my hair. "Do you have anything else you would like to know?"

I was so overwhelmed by all the information, that I was having trouble processesing it. Only one question, though, came to my mind that I could form a sentence for.

"What is your name?" I whispered.

He seemed taken aback by the question, almost as if he hadn't expected it. But he answered it anyway. "Lonan. My name is Lonan."