The Vampire's Crimson Kiss (Editing)

Chapter 18/A little light reading

I spent my second night without gagging myself and felt both delighted and left with the slightly strange feeling that my tongue was able to dance about my mouth without limit.

The next morning, I was unexpectedly excited as I was to have my first reading lesson. With the possibility that the Duke might return, I decided to get fully dressed, including the near half-hour it took for Cub to work on my face. I was getting used to feeling the weight of my lashes as I blinked. Cubs news from the familiars' dormitories was that the lockdown would be reversed by the end of the week.

As I was getting ready, a heavy writing desk was delivered by four familiars and placed in the corner of the main room. The writing desk, originally designed for reading, resembled an instrument of torture more than an educational tool. Its dark mahogany wood construction, intricate carvings of arcane symbols and creatures, and cold, unyielding surface seemed designed to intimidate rather than provide comfort. Instead of traditional drawers, the desk had hidden compartments that could only be accessed by sliding concealed panels, revealing aged, leather-bound scrolls written in the shadowy, cryptic script of the vampire language. The desk also featured a number of iron chains and a retractable whip-like arm extended over the writing surface, adding to its menacing appearance. There was even a row of whips of differing sizes along the seat back.

Mary noticed my eyebrows raised.

"You see the quill," Mary began. "Normally, you are supposed to supply your own blood for writing, but we're not going to bother with that. Equally, it's traditional to bolt you to the table. We'll skip that part too, but if anyone asks, that's what we did. Also, the whips are traditional, but I won't use them. Just remember, the vampires believe that truth only comes from pain. They are so stupid that they believe if you punch someone, they will tell you the truth. 

Once done, I was ready for my reading lesson. At Mary's order, Cub came in with a casket, which she put down on the table and then bowed as if she were doing the bidding of an elder. Mary reached over and opened the lock on the box.

The parchments, aged beyond centuries, exuded a musty scent that carried the weight of countless secrets. Each scroll, bound in leather that had long since lost its luster, bore intricate patterns of crimson and onyx ink. The symbols etched onto the parchment seemed to dance with malevolent energy, an eerie language that whispered of dark and forbidden knowledge. The pages, brittle and fragile, emitted an unsettling aura of power.

Next to them was a thin knife finely etched with a large number of symbols and shapes.

Tentatively I picked up a scroll, and immediately, the room grew colder, and an eerie hush descended. The air seemed to vibrate with primeval whispers, beckoning the curious to delve into their shadowy depths. The mere sight of these scrolls sent shivers down my spine.

"What are they?" I asked.

Mary sat down and looked at the seals. "Fortunately for you, it's not the Book of Erebus, that is like the vampire bible. No, these are the Scrolls of Thedan. They are a couple of hundred years old, so they are still up to date with the way things are written today. For your first lesson, they have scrolls going back before the dawn of time. The language becomes more archaic the further back you go. You must understand that they protect their archives with a fury at unnatural levels. The archives and archivists are part of the Temples of the Blood God."

I picked up one scroll and looked at it; the edges were crumpled, but there seemed to be no way to unravel it.

Mary looked over. "Put it down. The scrolls, all scrolls, all vampiric books are to be treated with respect. Before you pick one up, you must ask permission of the scroll."