It was early one morning, not long before sunrise, and Zane had retired to the smaller bedroom in his quarters.Bree had waited up and followed him silently, staying back so that he wouldn’t hear her, and when she heard the room’s door click shut, she scurried back to her room and shut the door.Once safely out of Zane’s earshot, she threw open the closet doors and rummaged through the many dresses and gowns that Zane had brought in for her.She picked out a simple gray dress, she didn’t want to stand out when she got to the kitchen.
Bree ran down the long corridor.She had vivid memories all of a sudden.She stopped about ten steps in and thought about that day that Zane had taken her down this golden passageway so that he could eat her once he had gotten her to his quarters.Zane had said that he preferred to drain his victims in private, but since Bree had been staying with him she assumed that he was going to the dungeon now to feed, where every other vampire was expected to go.He had to go down there anyway at times to torture his slaves.Bree shook off the thought.She didn’t want to think of that side of Zane anymore.She hoped that she could eventually convince him to be nice one day, but Jasmine told her that the worst thing she could do would be to try to change that part of him.It would take time, a long time.But Bree knew that with his new love for one human, there could be another and another and the walls around him would begin to crumble.Until then she would be married to a vampire that still harbored cruel intentions to his human slaves, eating at least one or two a week.She vowed that when she became a vampire that she would learn right away how to feed so that the human could enjoy it, too.
Pushing these thoughts from her mind, she ran as fast as she could down the long, long narrow corridor.Once she reached the end, she cracked open the big, heavy wooden door.She was half expecting it to be locked.She exerted a hard push and the six inch think door opened and she stopped to listen if she could hear anything.She then stepped into the great hallway and pushed the door shut behind her.It clicked, it must have locked from the inside.Bree cursed at herself but tried not to worry about it right now.Hopefully she would run into Zane at some point and he would let her back in.
The hall was empty.The last time she had seen it from here was when her little bucket and rag still lie on the floor.Now they were gone, the floor was shined and perfectly smooth.It must have been recently washed.
Bree ran across the expansive marble floor.She stopped once to look up at the cathedral ceiling.She felt so small in this hall.On either side there were smaller halls, separated by arches made of finely chiseled stone.This great room was used sometimes as a ballroom.Fine chandeliers with hundreds of thousands of prisms sparkled in the dazzling morning sunlight that spilled through the stained glass windows that extended to the ceiling.
It was a shame that Zane never saw when the hall was like this.She wondered if he even knew that it could be so beautiful.She made it a point to show him sometime.
When Bree pushed the metal door to the kitchen open a crack, she could hear the familiar sounds of the slaves working and talking as they performed their many chores.She could see the butcher block that Megan had lost her tongue on.But it was clean and sparkling as if nothing had ever happened.Bree then pushed the door open the rest of the way and stopped as everyone turned to look at her.They must have been expecting Zane or another vampire, because they became deadly silent, but when they saw Bree the room erupted into a chorus of cheers.
The first one to Bree was Megan.She could still speak Bree’s name, and with a shout she ran to her and into her arms.Bree was nearly knocked over by the girl’s exuberant welcome. She was thin and pale, she looked malnourished, but Bree accredited it to her having no tongue, thus no taste buds.Soon others were next to Bree, hugging her.
