After coming back from losing himself in thoughts that soured his mood immensely, Darius made his way through Zane’s castle to the corridor that would lead out to the north garden. He knew his way, he was a frequent visitor of Zane and his parents.But it had been nearly a year now since he had been here.He knew that Zane was going through some rough times and he knew that Zane needed his space during these times.There was nothing anyone could do about the curse.Zane did not want support from anyone, he did not want a shoulder to cry on.What was the point?Hating humans was his vice, his out.And since Darius had very similar views, he and Zane understood each other probably more than any other vampires did.Zane and Darius sometimes let each other punish their own slaves.Darius loved to threaten his slaves with this.Dying by Darius’s fangs was not pleasant.Dying by Zane’s, worse.Darius could not do to the extremes what Zane could do.In fact, in addition to his power to control fire, Zane’s venom also had the capability to keep someone conscious through any amount of pain he chose to inflict either before or during draining them, or both.Zane had the uncanny talent of making his victims suffer for LONG periods of time, no amount of pain would cause them to pass out.He was known to kill slowly and torturously.
Darius walked stealthily through halls and grand rooms, every slave he came across moved far out of his way when they saw him coming.He had been known to hit them or snack on them randomly during his visits. Finally he came to the door that led out.It was actually a series of doors, or arches to be exact.He passed under them and entered the huge open room that led out to the gardens.There was no wall on the far side of the room, it led straight to the outside, but the weather here never got really cold so it wasn’t an issue.The breeze and fresh air made this room a favorite place for vampires to hang out.They could enjoy all the benefits of being outside on a sunny day without ever having to encounter its rays.
Plants and trees graced the ornate walls.There was a large decorative island in the center with a waterfall.On one side of the room was a great wet bar.Lounging areas dotted the sides of the room.
When Darius walked out into the garden he stopped.Something smelled familiar.He couldn’t quite place it, though.Every now and then a vampire catches the smell of a human and does not forget it.It could be because of blood compatibly, no one really knew.But he knew that smell from somewhere and it intrigued him to find out why he thought he recognized it. So, before meeting with Zane, his wife and child and his wife’s companion, he decided to explore the scent first.
Darius walked around the corner onto a stone path that led around a column of the castle that supported a turret.There were vines growing up it and many of them were flowering.Zane had the best gardeners anywhere and Darius admired their work.The path went down and then curved off, leading into the forest on this side of the castle, the side that was rounding toward the front again.But it was heavily gated and since Zane was on the inside of the gate, Darius knew he wouldn’t be able to get back out to the front of the castle without going through it’s winding halls and passages again.Zane wasn’t expecting him for a while yet, so he could afford this little excursion.
As he walked along the path and into the deep shadows of the trees, the scent of the blood he knew became stronger.It was a sweet smell, intoxicating.It had an allure that he could not seem to get out of his head now.It relaxed him.He would find this person and have a snack before meeting up with his host.
Up ahead was a girl on the side of the path picking flowers from a rose bush.She was wearing a pretty gown.Her hair was flowing down her back, a rich chestnut color.Two glittering bejeweled barrettes held her hair off of her face.And, she wasn’t a vampire.Darius was certain of it.She smelled distinctly human.She looked as sweet as she smelled.He was sure she would be a delicious snack.Maybe Zane would even sell her to Darius if he offered to pay a serious sum of money for her. He would only have to explain the familiarity of the blood.It didn’t happen that often to be drawn to one so strongly like this, and it was taken to mean that that human was destined to belong to the vampire that desired her.
