Take Courage, My Heart

Chapter Seven

Days blended together. Between being on strict bedrest and becoming Vincent's new favorite chew toy, I lost track of time. The sun would rise and set, again and again, almost taunting me each day that went by. It was laughing at me; I could feel it. I had managed to look outside my bleak room and the sight had been disheartening, to say the least. This estate was beautiful, but I would never be able to escape it. Not without help that I knew I would never get.

The Vampire Mansion of Despair seemed to be set on a hill in the suburbs of a city. It didn't seem familiar, but then again I hadn't traveled much in my life. Past the high wrought iron fence that surrounded this place were houses, but getting from the building to the fence unnoticed was close to impossible. The grassed area between the mansion and the fence was large and protected by five large dogs that had been taught aggression.

I was sure I had seen at least once every vampire that lived in the house, but most faces were fleeting and too generic to memorize. Other than Vincent, I could recognize Seraphina, Duke, and Jonathan who had turned out to be the one to call me a brat that first day. Seraphina stayed away from me, Vincent's words proving to be accurate. She never bit me, but every now and then she would slink in the room when Vincent was feeding off me and make out with him, licking any stray droplet of blood off my skin. Duke was a completely different story. He didn't come into the room, but whenever I stepped out of it, he would find me and sink his fangs into me. And Jonathan... Well, he didn't care where I was, if Vincent was feeding off me he joined.

I didn't like any of them. And none of them seemed like they would help me. The rest of the vampires kept away, either too scared of Vincent to try and bite me or too disinterested after he had claimed me. In a way, by claiming me Vincent had helped protect me, but also kept away anyone that could potentially help me.

The humans in here were all but useless. Seraphina's humans were dedicated lap dogs that would rather die than go behind her back. Jonathan's humans were extremely withdrawn and traumatized and Duke's humans didn't last long enough to be of help. As days flew by I kept seeing new people be introduced as Duke's and old faces disappear forever.

With time, my arm healed enough for sutures to no longer be needed. The new skin was tender to the touch and occasionally it still hurt to move it. I must have damaged or irritated some kind of nerve, because now and again spots in my arm would go numb and tingle. By that point, my ribs also felt better. When someone pressed against them, I still groaned and flinched away, but breathing was no longer painful.

Vincent would often come and sleep in the same bed as me. It would usually start with him coming late at night to drink blood only to fall asleep with his arms wrapped around me in a grip I couldn't get out of. The first time it had happened, I had fought against his hold and he had responded by biting down on my neck again and not letting go. The result had been what the physician said was an overdose of vampire venom. For the following couple of days, I was unable to move a muscle, my lungs just barely expanding for air to go in. It had felt like it lasted forever, but my body metabolized the venom fast enough for Vincent to not get too hungry. The experience had been so horrible I decided to never fight against him again, at least not too much. I was not ready to give up yet.

It was an unusually sunny afternoon when he came in and shut the door with more power than what was needed. I was sitting on the armchair and looking out at the light blue sky with a thick comforter pulled up over my shoulders and around me. The sudden noise made me jump and turn to look at him with a scowl. Despite his domineering and biting personality, he very rarely was loudly angry. Most of the time he got creative with his frustration.

"What did the door ever do to you?" I asked, not hiding my dislike of him.

"Shut up," he huffed, surprising me with the sharpness of his tone.