Midnight Crusade

Chapter 16

The next day, Vivian scoured the entire estate for Kit, or at least the parts of the estate she was able to gain access to. Locked doors were just one deterrent for Vivian, the other being vampires. Every time she came across one roaming the halls, she turned around and went the opposite way. She knows she should be safe, that's what Kit told her, but she was still hesitant to meet any new vampires.

During her search of the estate, Vivian did find some interesting things. For one, she found a wall with dozens of portraits, one of which was Niccolo's. There was another portrait, one of a family with Niccolo mixed in. She stood in front of that one for a while, gazing upon the faces of what Vivian assumed was his parents and siblings. He looked to be the oldest child in the portrait, three young girls with the same burnett hair sitting on the ground with their dresses billowing out around them. It reminded her of those historical paintings from royalty.

Another interesting thing she found was a library, double doors opening to a ginormous space, bookshelves to the ceiling filled with all kinds of books. It was absolutely amazing in there, and Vivian definitely got a little distracted on her search for Kit once she found the library. She felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast, absolutely stunned by the magnitude of it all. Vivian walked along the rows of books, reading the spines, finding a lot of the books were in different languages. She wondered how long it must have taken to gather such a collection, and then began to wonder how old Niccolo was. If Kit was around four hundred, then Niccolo had to be much older than that.

Leaving the library after spending a good amount of time there, she was back on with her search, going down winding hallways and spiral staircases. Vivian found herself deep in the estate suddenly, no windows to let any light in, the walls a gray stone that matched the exterior. Lit torches were hung on the wall every few feet, the only light in the hallway. She guessed she was in some sort of basement, finding a room full of barrels and what she assumed was a wine cellar. When she reached the end of the hall she was walking down, she found a single door. Vivian guessed it would be locked, as many of the doors she tried were, but when she grabbed the handle, the door surprisingly gave way.

Stepping beyond the door, she was met with another spiral staircase that led downward, lit torches on the walls being the only light source. Vivian hesitated for a second before she began to climb down the stairs. It was a long descent, and by the time she reached the bottom, the torches grew fewer and the area she stepped into was rather dark. She blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the darkness.

What she saw before her made her freeze. She stood in a large room, the walls the same gray brick and torches lining the walls, but what stopped her were the set of huge cages lined up on either wall. Most sat with their doors hung open, the room completely silent except for the sound of her breath and footsteps as she walked down the aisle the cages created.

When she reached the last one, the only one with the door closed, she stopped and peered inside. Sitting on a cot tucked into the corner of the cell was a figure, legs pulled up to their chest and head resting on their knees. A mop of messy blond curls sat atop their head, and for a moment Vivian swore she could recognize that head of hair.

Then the figure looked up, red eyes locking with hers. It scared her for only a moment, because she recognized that face. Rushing forward, she grabbed the bars of the cell. "Elias!"

The man sat on the cot, watching her, assessing. "Vivian?" He finally said, relaxing his body and dropping his legs. "W-What are you doing here?"

"Me?" Vivian asked, the one word ringing high pitched. "Why are you in a cell in the basement?"

Elias looked away when she spoke. "I've been told it's too dangerous to be around the human staff."

The human staff. Because Elias was no longer a human. He was a vampire. "Oh, Elias." She breathed out, feeling the pain in her chest. "This is all my fault."