Bree expected that Zane would bite her right then and there.But he didn’t.He took her by the arm and walked with her to the end of the hall and into a long corridor.The corridor was dimly lit with small sconces shaped like arms with fists holding the torches from which the light came. It was so long and narrow that Bree had trouble seeing the end of it.There was so much more to this castle that she didn’t know about… and Zane killed one or two slaves a week.Did he take them down these same corridors, never to be seen again?Was Bree now looking at the last walls those poor people saw before they were tortured and drained?
“Zane?”
Zane stopped and then turned to face her.
“Yes?”
She expected once again to be hit or slapped or kicked to the ground.Zane had never abused her in this way, then again, she hadn’t seen him since she got to this place until today.She had heard stories, though, about how he could beat the living hell out of his slaves, and he did not discriminate by their sex.Male or female, he’d abuse them all in many, many contrived and torturous ways.It was monstrous, how he would do this even though he didn’t have to prove his power to anyone.
Everyone already feared him.
“I – I’ve heard…”
“…that those who go down this long corridor never come back?”
“Well, something like that.”
“Are you afraid?” He then stopped and turned to face her completely.He looked down at her, down his nose at her, and she could see the contempt he had for her in his eyes and face.She replied by looking down.What else could she do?Begging and pleading never seemed to change his mind once he had it made up.He was insensitive to even a mother’s pleas for her child’s life.He would never listen to her, a mere replaceable slave.
“I wish people didn’t have to hate you.” The words then escaped Bree like a flood.“I wish you didn’t have to hate us! You’ve been around for so much longer than any of us can imagine, you know more than we do about life, about love, you must have felt love once? You must know that living like this will never make you happy!”
Zane slapped her.Hard.She careened back into the wall then fell to the floor.She rubbed her face where he had hit her, then barked at him. “Why should I care what I say now!” He glared at her but waited for what she had to say.Why?Why did he suddenly care about the thoughts and feelings of a stupid human? Yet, he wanted to hear what she had to say.“I know that these corridors lead to death.You are going to kill me anyway, so why shouldn’t I speak my mind to you!” Bree got to her feet and faced Zane, suddenly furious. “You are like an adult who claims to never remember being a child!”
“Oh, and how is that!?” Zane’s eyes were red with fury.He was too angry now to act, to frozen in his surprise that this little, weak, inferior thing, his food, would dare talk to him like this.After witnessing what happened to sweet Megan today Bree just couldn’t hold back.
“All vampires were human once.You are betraying the very race in which you once belonged.”Her voice cracked and she began to break under her exasperation.“You must remember! Megan will never speak again because of you.How would you have felt if you had so much to say and could never say it, ever? She can’t even write.She has never been taught.You won’t allow it!She will never speak again!”
Bree broke down and fell to her knees and sobbed.She waited for Zane to awe her with his inventive ways of torturing humans. But, nothing happened.When she lifted her head to look at him, he just stood there, glaring down at her.Finally, he seethed between his teeth.“Get up.” The way he said it, even though his voice was low and even, she knew she dared not disobey him.
