Cyré: A World Beyond Maya

Chapter Fifteen to Twenty

Chapter Sixteen

"That's totally sick! Why didn't he just say he'd chop off both hands?" Filinia interrupted.
"Agreed. And to answer your question, I believe he would have taken immense pleasure in watching the two boys trying pick up things or work without their thumbs for the rest of their lives. I suppose you don't know how much you use your thumbs until you don't have them anymore. Now, may I continue?" Tuluc asked.
Filinia nodded, her head having found itself resting on Tuluc's thigh.
"Still quite proud of himself by the next nightfall and pleasantly surprised that Her Ladyship's men didn't personally execute a punishment the moment they had witnessed the massacre, but then again, from what I've heard about Lady Josephine, there was much that went on in her household that she didn't know about. Perhaps her men were present to confirmation of his actions. Regardless, Romi knocked on the widow's door with great confidence. He patiently waited for her answer before letting himself in. Oblivious to where Lady Josephine sat in her room, Romi walked over to the basket meant for kindling to refill it. It wasn't until he had returned that he observed how far into the fire's light she was.
"Radiantly and elegantly sitting in a cherry bowed chair, her mustard yellow gown with gold embroidery flowed and subtly glittered, untainted by dirt or blood like his garments were. It was such an unusual sight that he couldn't stop himself from taking her all in. When he got to thinking about it, he couldn't remember ever seeing her in person, not in this light, anyway. Moving his gaze upward from the ornate brass goblet in her hand to voluminous flow of her brown hair to the angelic symmetry of her face, she looked to be no older than her early twenties. Though she uttered not a single word as he continued to enter, Romi could feel her staring at him with contempt.
"Such a look humored Romi that he fantasized taking the poker and jamming it into Her Ladyship's heart, followed by slitting her throat with the same bloody knife he had used on all the boys. However, he didn't hold such an ill impression of her as he did his other victims. Longing to have a reason to, nonetheless, he went about his duties until the time came.
"As he stoked the fire, a metallic glare winked at him under the logs that had yet to char. When he had brought forward the object that caught his eye, the bloodlust blazing from within—extinguished. His hands caked with soot, Romi mulled over the object in his hands until he was quite certain that what he was looking at was the partial remains of a compass—one that could arguably be Harold's. The wind seemed to be knocked out of him because it was just profoundly curious. Turning the charred compass in his hand, it took him some time to realize that the reason the boys had never returned, all those long months ago, was because Lady Josephine had killed them.
"Yet the realization was just too ridiculous to be true. From what he knew of Her Ladyship, she was a respected member of society who took in troubled boys. Then again, if he were in her position and wanted to get away with murder, he would take in unwanted people, too. But where did that leave him? He enjoyed every moment of the massacre, but he in no way wanted to switch from predator to prey.
"He was never allotted time to answer before he felt the delicate icy grip on his shoulders that felt both sinfully powerful and lethal. Startled as Romi was by this sudden gesture as he turned to face the widow, he became more so when his turn was stopped by the soft plumpness of her lips on the nape of his neck, which was as cold as the Avon river at this time of the year. When Lady Josephine parted her lips, her unusually long canines playfully brushing along his skin, she whispered an offer that seemed too morbidly good to be true. Eternal life with the promise to never repeat any level of carnage like the one he had done to the other boys without asking her permission first, and pledging his ultimate fidelity to only her—or die.
"Both choices were ones she had never offered prior to acting solely on the latter and required her to drain him of his blood. It is universally known, even today, that no one wants to follow death. But one also cannot be offered eternal life without consequences. Regardless of Romi being a survivalist, first and foremost, this was still a hard decision to be made. He did find Lady Josephine very beautiful, but the thought of staying by her side for an eternity with her ruthless and egotistical persona, most likely because it matched his own, seemed unbearable. However, did he want to be dragged to the same fate as the boys before him? Not particularly. And thus Romi agreed.
"With film, television, and literature aside, the relationship between a vampire and his sire is a very romantic, tightly-knit bond. Well, romantic for the first couple hundred years, usually. Charlaine Harris got that part accurately, among a lot of other things. I'm not going to delve into the details of Lady Josephine's and Romi's particular relationship because it is not one I like to think about. For a few decades, they were completely inseparable and Romi enjoyed the dominance Her Ladyship displayed.
"While Romi never grew tired of the power to manipulate, the slaughtering of mortal lives, or the strength given to him, his new life became too limiting for his liking. Especially when he had to obey all of the widow's demands and having to ask her permission for every devious ploy, whether he wanted to or not, was exhaustingly frustrating. Her murderous jealousy he had once found arousing, was predictably pathetic. He had unmasked what was lurking under her façade and knew he learned all he could from her. He held a belief that all mortals should bow down to them for the fragile morons that they were and had thought she held that belief, too. However, she lacked in seeing the infinite and grand scale possibilities that could come with being a vampire.
"Unfortunately, Romi was fully aware she would never free him of their bond, for she was still foolishly and madly in love with him. And he couldn't kill her because she had commanded him not to, the moment his transformation into being a vampire had been completed. This infuriated him to no end because she must have predicted a possibility that this thought might eventually cross his mind. Yet it wasn't until around the fifty-year mark of his allegiance to Her Ladyship that she gave him a mission to attend to some of her affairs in Cyré, where he would not only have an opportunity to expand his horizons with other like-minded creatures, but hopefully escape his ties to her for good.
"Soon upon his arrival into Cyré, Romi strangely felt more powerful than he had ever felt back in Maya. He also felt indescribably god-like that he quickly found it difficult to understand why the realm of Maya still existed. Cyré was clearly more evolved and superior. So when he learned of the rising power of the minotaur, Hirclan, with plans to destroy Maya and to enslave all of the human population, Romi decided to travel to the wickedly-treacherous region of Cyré in the West to join the minotaur's ranks. But he needed to find a way around her 'no kill' command so he could truly be rid of Lady Josephine. In two different worlds they may be, there was the morbidly exciting likelihood of Her Ladyship having spies watching his every move, ensuring his safety. He loved a challenge and a good intrigue as much as she did. Playing on her foolish love for him brought a huge smile to his face.
"Roughly around the year of 1582 and during the first week in Hirclan's territory, Romi befriended a chameleon demon (in layman's terms) to take his form and take her to bed. By the time she thought she had outsmarted 'Romi,' the real Romi came out of an armoire with a silver letter opener and jammed it into her heart. Now, I'm not going to bore and gore you with how vampires die their true death because it has been depicted too many times, but as it is said, 'the rest is history.' I will say this though, Romington Masters was Hirclan's third in command for a reason, and it was partly due to how he killed his sire. His loyalty too but mainly because Romi would kill everyone in Hirclan's inner circle, if the minotaur asked him. After the Great War ended in 1585, Romi returned to Maya, though not by choice. Banished alongside the other creatures who refused to switch sides and pledge loyalty to King Urilis.
"And though weakened again by a world he had been determined never to return to, Romi was powered with a new determination—to continue Hirclan's goal of destroying Maya and enslaving all of its inhabitants. However, he has had it in his head that in order to do so, he must return to Cyré. But in order to return, Romi needs to have the Havo necklace and the key, which he has been searching for for centuries. And in the interim of this, he had formed an army of followers, which he has done quite easily, because who couldn't lead an army of followers too afraid to think for themselves?"
The twilight hour vastly approached quite unexpectedly for Filinia hadn't realized how much time had passed. Everything from the books and paintings to the furniture having been tinged with white-yellow filter and now glazed with a muted orange. Reflecting on the story her friend had revealed, Tuluc's forearm across her ribcage, she was a bit more aware of why this Romi guy could be a threat, but still puzzled as to how this correlated to her nightmare and why she was supposedly in danger.
A part of Filinia wanted to tilt her head to look at Tuluc and ask him if that was the end of the story but opted not to. Not only was she fully aware it had ended, the words failed in reaching any further than the back of her throat. Yet, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was an important part missing, hidden under the surface of her friend's voice when he neared the end. So until she could finally regain the will to speak, she allowed the silence to fill the space like a smoke bomb—seemingly small and contained but rapidly spreading in momentous volume. Her snow white curls part with each rise and fall of Tuluc's stomach as she continued to rest her head on his thigh, her eyebrows knitting together, and she tugged her bottom lip with her teeth.
After an antsy and long time, Filinia gradually pushed herself away from the comfort of Tuluc's embrace into a sitting position, brushing aside the unruly curls from her face. Filinia stared into the eyes of the shaggy-haired boy that was her only friend with pensive puzzlement. She then moved her gaze to the rug under their feet, as though somewhere in its many fibers, an answer to her bewilderment would appear. When it didn't, Filinia looked back up at Tuluc, finding the courage to vocalize some of what was storming through her mind.
"So, I get that Romi is bad news, but how does this relate to my nightmare?" Filinia asked, clicking her tongue to the roof of her mouth before continuing. "It is just a mere coincidence! Nothing more, right?"
"Fil—" Tuluc started to say.
"And how in the world—worlds—whatever, does this explain why I am in danger?" Filinia continued. The speed at which she had been speaking left her exhausted.
"I think that is enough history for today," Tuluc said, seemingly ignoring her questions. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"
Though not as much as she would have yesterday with this change-of-subject, and still well within the realm of the Drago's privacy rule of a question, Filinia was completely caught off guard. She felt the weight of her jaw drop and her eyebrows furrow. Try as she might to form coherent thoughts or words again, neither succeeded to do so. The last bit of natural light sunk further down to the horizon and, for a moment, Filinia could almost swear Tuluc's eyes glowed. But she was quick to dismiss it due to how frazzled she already was.
"Don't change the subject!" Filinia blurted. "How does telling me about Romi's origins help answer my questions?"
"For most, dreams are a way for one's brain to process everything that had occurred during the day," Tuluc said with a deep sigh. "For Bellators, dreams can be premonition-like. Romi appearing in your nightmare could signify his coming to Philadelphia or, for all we know, him already being here. However, since you are still very new to your powers, it's difficult to tell which one it is."
"And how it relates to me being in danger?" Filinia asked impatiently.
"I promise I will tell you when the time is right."
"When will that be?"
"Soon. Dinner?"
"Uh, sure," Filinia said both confused and annoyed.