"What are you?" He asks me, breaking the silence. I am quite shocked by this question. Mostly because I don't even know how to answer it.
"Werewolf. I think... And you are a vampire," I state. He nods.
"You don't smell like a werewolf." He lifts his...
"I'm going to head back now, see you guys later," I say with a sigh as I stretch my arms over my head. Farlan nods in response and gives me a pat on the shoulder.
"Have fun," he says in a low voice and gives me a wink, causing me to chuckle and lift my hands in defence.
"Alright, alright, ye caught me," I laugh and take two steps backwards before giving a short wave to Alasdair, Isobel and Farlan, then turning around on my heel and zooming back to the bed and breakfast.
I couldn't focus on hunting, my mind has been hazy with flashing images of Athena ever since we had sex. I see her eyes, her hair, her smile, but mostly her body as a constant film tinting my vision. Right now, all I can imagine is her lying waiting for me in the bed. I've never been known to let a willing woman wait on me, so why would I start now?
I'm almost at the front door with the string lights when I'm rendered momentarily stunned by a sudden and intense pain in the back of my head. I put my hand up towards it, as I stumble slightly and try to shake my head clear.
"I've missed you, dear boy," a way too familiar and unwelcome voice rumbles into my ear, and I freeze up in intense terror, running chills of ice through my body. Before I have any chance to gain my composure and shake off that lingering fear from my childhood, a bag is pulled down over my head, and thick and cold chains are tossed around my body and locked in place.
"Take him," Slayer commands as two hands drag me backwards before sprinting as only a vampire can. By the resistance in the wind and thereby presumed speed, I gather that Slayer must have quite the horde under his command, which doesn't help to cool my nerves in the slightest.
I feel us slowing down and then hear what sounds to be a huge slab of stone being pulled over concrete, and then we descend. It's almost like the darkness presses in closer around me, even though my vision is just as limited as before. It's almost an assault on my senses, as they fight to gather every piece of information, while fewer and fewer hints are offered to me, leading me to fight that harder.
My mind is struggling between returning to that intense and debilitating fear I had felt that long time ago when I lost my parents and Slayer found me, and then maintaining my composure and reminding myself that I'm not that kid anymore and that I will not let him break me.
I feel myself being hurled and falling heavily on the hard and cold stone floor. The chains weigh me down and grind against my bones, making every movement painful, even though I know it can't hurt me. Again I damn whoever designed vampires to be so resilient and durable, only to let them feel the same amount of pain as they did when humans.
While lying on my stomach and gritting my teeth against the pain, I hear the sound of a chair being slowly pulled over the floor and against me. A snap echoes in the room, and then I'm pulled upward by my arms, with only the tight chains preventing them from being pulled out of their sockets. I groan in pain, as I'm then forcefully placed on the hard seat of the chair.
To my dismay, another thick chain gets tightened around my body, nailing me to the chair. Must think I'm dangerous if they are being so thorough, I think cockily to myself, needing something to keep my nerves under control.
I hear heavy footsteps approach me, and then the bag over my head is ripped off. I don't need long to adjust to the light since only a single oil lamp on the floor in front of me is illuminating the room. It's so dark that I can barely see the walls. One thing, however, is very clear to me - Slayer.
He stands just on the other side of the oil lamp, his feet spread at shoulder width and his arms folded over his chest. Those eyes that have haunted my nightmares for years staring right into my soul. I fight hard to repress the shudder demanding to course through my body. I will not let him break me.
"Hello, boy," he says, spitting the last word out as an insult. His voice cuts through the air demanding respect and reverence. I lift my chin in protest, gritting my teeth against the innate instinct to submit under his soulless and terrifying stare.
"I've been wondering, whydid you try to kill me?" he asks, going straight to the point, and I swallow as his directness takes me aback.
"Why do you think?" I spit back and to my surprise, he lets out a sudden and loud laugh.
"I can't imagine why anyone would be angry with the gift I bestowed upon you," he answers, sounding almost amused at the notion, which only helps ignite a fire of rage in me.
"You were nothing but a weakling when I found you - cowering in that cellar as everyone around you died. But look at you now! How can you be anything but grateful?" he gloats and I can't help myself.
"I never fucking asked for this! Why would I ever degrade myself to thank you for anything?" I watch in horror as his eyes turn even icier and deadly as he almost towers over me with his horrifying presence.
"You know what I never got to tell you?" he asks me, leaving a long pause that I dare not fill.
"It wasn't the wendigos that ate you dear Mama and Papa that night. It was me." I'm stunned as it feels like my dying heart is ripped out of my body and shredded into pieces right in front of me.
"They were weak - they wouldn't have survived the change, so really, I did them a favour. If you can't live as vampires, why even live at all?" he asks me mockingly and I feel the burning rage take over the empty space in my chest.
"YOU FUCKING MONSTER! I should have ripped you into a million chunks and set fire to the remains, you piece of shit. But you will suffer a more painful fate than that before long, trust me," I seethe out between clenched teeth while fighting against the chains to spit the words into his face. I don't even feel the pain as my collarbone snaps under the strain.
"Come on now, I'm no worse than a farmer. Do you think them a monster for slaying and eating their livestock? Or for killing off the weakest of the flock?" he asks unfazed by my threat before bending down and getting all up into my face.
"Humans are no better than sheep. If they can't survive as a vampire, then they are food. Simple as that. I don't care if you loved your pathetic parents - they were weak and deserved death," he hisses out while staring me down, but I refuse to give in. I will not let him break me.
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