The Vampire's Crimson Kiss (Editing)

Chapter 12/A walk with Electra

For days, or possibly weeks, I lost track of time in the dark warren. The process of feeding me venom for my visions was repeated every day and became my only clue to the passing of the sun. Each time, the somber temple guards paid their regular visits. One of them was a dog handler with a rigid black Rottweiler. The dog held a threatening air. One guard held Mary back while I was restrained by another, and more drops of venom seared my eyes. The dose was beyond that used by the Duke for entertainment and chosen to give full rein to my voices.

I would lay back, and my voices would be released like the hounds of hell. I would babble and jabber, sometimes in English and Latin, but other times in some unearthly languages on the edge of speech and screeching. When it sounded like the black tongue, Mary transcribed my howls. Most of it was senseless babble. I said random things like 'wand of whitethorn' and 'Veil of Eternal Shadows', 'Sadismann kislat Ough' recured. I doubted the guards could read or write—there was no time for schooling in this vampire apocalypse, leaving most of the young people illiterate. To my shame, I was no different.

Mary had told me many people talked when new to venom, so I was less uncomfortable about my voices being related. At night, I would ban her from my room and secretly put the gag on to stay silent. Then I would dream a kaleidoscope of terrible images; some would recur. I dreamt of a horrible image of a large black blind horse dropping down dead, a strange marriage with the couple's backs to me, the bride was shot. A couple on the roof of the black tower kissing, a book in a library, a hidden doorway being opened. A blonde woman sitting a throne made of bone and skulls. Nothing that made particular sense.

In the morning I would hide the gag under the loose floorboard. Today it was obvious Cub would find it, I needed another location. While no one was looking, I stole to the largely empty jewellery box and put it there.

As the day's effects wore off, I found myself in partial control of the voices. "'Sadismann kislat Ought,'" my voice kept saying. It was strange and deeply disturbing not to control my mouth. It was a phrase which had been repeated previously for several days. I remembered it because it sounded like Sadismann.

Unable to move, I would lie on a chair and feel like I had melted into it. In the first weeks, I lay back, my mind kept returning to remembering the Duke's features and replaying our conversation over and over in my head. He was like an itch I could not scratch, and I wanted him to return so we could continue to talk and I could win again.

Alone I found myself watching a nearby spider. Like a mountain of meat the coven was a beacon for flies and spiders,. For no reason, my voices let a word out, like a verbal belch. The unknown word was as sharp as a knife and jagged as broken glass.

This caused the spider to wobble and miss the point it aimed for. The spider wove another ring, and I repeated it, causing it to fall. I found some dark pleasure in it and chortled. The spider caught itself on its own thread and returned to work.

As the days passed, on occasion, it would amuse me during the passing of my voice back to my control to play with a spider. Whispering my unspeakable words, throwing it off course. Then one day, I felt sorry for the creature and its now haphazard cradle. I noticed a fly resting on a picture out of reach of the web. I found myself whispering another word I did not know I knew. The fly just dropped dead into the spider's nest. At first, I wasn't sure if this was real or just a mirage induced by the venom in my eye, so unconcerned, I forgot about it until I had another dose.

To their credit, the venom doses offered a reprieve from the monotony of being trapped, practicing how to walk in the dress and court pumps while receiving corrections from Mary.

Every time I voiced complaints, I was always informed that the Duke was away on business.

After the second week, I no longer feigned resistance when the guards administered the venom. The venom, for a short while, stopped me from wondering about the Duke and his charming eyes.