The Heart Of A Vampire

chapter 14: bats

"If you believe that I am such a horrible person, then why are you still here?" Vlad responded.

"Do you want me to leave?" She asked, cocking her head and raising an eyebrow in a questioningly cocky manner.

Vlad paused, his facial expression becoming slightly colder, more reserved. "Why would I have invited you into my home only to ask you to leave?"

"Fair point," she murmured.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"What else would you have me?"

"Something of more substance, perhaps?" Vlad said with a sigh. "More than two words, maybe."

"Oh, would you rather I make a speech?" She retorted.

Vlad didn't respond this time, turning on his heel and delving back into the shelves of books, leaving Evangeline standing on her own in the dim light of the library, Vlad having gone to search for the spell he came for.

She rolled her eyes and approached one of the suits of armor. It was shiny, a light silvery color, with a brightly painted shield accompanying it. Suddenly, she saw what appeared to be movement inside the suit. She got up on her tip toes to look inside the eye-holes, curious as to what was going on.

She yelped in shock, teetering backwards and almost falling when at least ten bats shot out of the suit, right at her face. Bringing up her hands, swatting at the bats in defense whilst stumbling up against a book shelf, she managed to send one of them crashing down to the floor.

The others flew off, leaving the fallen bat lying limply on the floor. Immediately, Evangeline felt guilty. She quickly knelt down besides the small animal, her brow furrowing and guilt flashing across her expression.

She had always had a soft spot for animals, and she couldn't believe that she had just hurt one- it hadn't meant her any harm, after all. Picking up the little bat, she stood back up and immediately rushed out of the library, not even bothering to bid Vlad farewell.

Intending on returning to her cottage to feed the bat some milk and nurse it back to health, she began making her way through the long corridors of the castle.

She was lost within a minute.

Left was right and right was left- she was surrounding my hundreds of doors, some of which led to nowhere, the light of the torches slowly fading as she ventured deeper into the castle, casting her into pitch black darkness.

Until she stumbled upon a mound on the floor, suddenly causing the torches to reignite, lighting up her pathway once more. She found herself standing in front of a small door. Pushing her way inside, she found herself standing in what appeared to be a kitchen.

It was surprisingly humble compared to the rest of the castle, which wasn't a surprise to her since it's inhabitant was a vampire who didn't need to eat- so why would he spend money on having a fancy kitchen?

Luckily, there was some food, for reasons she couldn't seem to explain. Not that she cared though, as the bat was her biggest concern. She searched through the small kitchen until she found a small jug with a white liquid.

"Milk," she whispered breathlessly as she set down the bat on the counter, breathing a sigh of relief as she wrapped her hand around its head, propping its mouth open, hearing it let out a whine as she did so.

She gently guided the jug to the bats mouth, watching as the white liquid slowly trickled inside. Her brow remained furrowed the entire time, her grasp on the animal loosening as it began to gain enough strength to hold its mouth open without her help.

She sighed in relief once more as she let go of the bat completely. It flapped its wings slightly, seemingly grateful for its freedom, but didn't make any move to get away, continuing to drink the milk.