Souls of Ashes

Chapter VI

     We traveled for many days, I knew not how many, for I lost track after the first week. Fresh carriage drivers were supplied every night as they were quickly disposed of, and they surely were under the mind control of my Sire. Victims were lured from neighboring towns and villages, however since the pounding snow accumulated more each night, some were forced to bring blankets for myself, and then clear a path for the carriage to keep traveling.

     It was grueling at times, and even though the townspeople knew not what they were doing, under the control of my Sire just like the coach drivers, some of them succumbed to the cold and collapsed, frostbitten and chilled to their dead bones.

     My Sire and Drusdell seemed not to mind the cold even though I myself was overcome with such, layered under heaps of threadbare blankets that did little to contain my body’s nonexistent heat.

     This lasted for many days, the uniform cycle of having the villagers shovel out a usable path for the carriage all day, and us traveling by it at night. And when one of them succumbed, they were quickly disposed of and discarded. Their forbidden Life-Blood was the only thing that kept me warm. More replacements were picked up from the next town, and thus we always had fresh prey as well as workers.

     Finally, however, one evening I awoke to find my Sire and Drusdell missing from their caskets. Slowly I opened the door of the stagecoach and stepped out into the pristine, timeless ivory of winter.

     What met my eyes was slaughter.

     The villagers that we had held under brainwashed servitude were no now longer of this world. Their cold bodies, frosted over with a light dusting of fine powder, lay strewn about the encampment. Their blood was soaked heavily into the snow and their limbs were twisted about into abnormal angles; a few eyes of the poor creatures were opened wide in their own unquenchable fright, while others were closed as if for sleep. At the very edge of my vision the four obsidian stallions lay, their silken necks all but torn out, thick tongues protruding from their gaping, harnessed mouths much like a mongrel dog’s.

     The sight was horrid before me, and the thick stench of blood settled into my nostrils before my gaze was distracted elsewhere. A majestic, ruined Gothic castle towered over the surrounding lightly wooded area, looking perhaps like a guardian angel. Or Satan waiting with unholy impatience to pick off those of God’s Flock.

     But nevertheless, I was ushered into the Sanctuary by the overwhelming stench of blood as well as the utter massacre before me. Despite the fact that I was inside, the empty cavernous stone walls offered little to no warmth.

     Grand candelabra and torches gave luminescence to the shadowed, cobwebbed halls that looked as if they had been abandoned for centuries. And indeed, perhaps they had.

     Not sensing my companion’s presence anywhere, my thoughts ran amuck in their lonely torment. Perhaps they had finally succumbed to Death’s Embrace, and were sent to the Hell they glorified with their every waking hour. Perhaps they were merely induced into a preternatural sleep, however either way, they would be a hindrance to me no longer.

     I was free, I had thought, free from the bondage of sin to begin to repent for the accumulated crimes I had committed. Surely the foul demons would have made their presence known to me by now, as I explored a maze of hallways that looked the same as the one before it, and surely I would have felt their presence around me.

     But my suppositions were incorrect. I had only just begun to feel a slight tingling about me, before a being slid easily behind me in the hallway, barred my arms behind my back with one strong hand, and with the other held the whole of my body at bay.

     I cried out with shock and anguish, thrashing to get free of my attacker before I both realized who it was, and that abnormal fog had settled into the haze of my mind, relinquishing my futile actions at once.

     So, my Sire’s voice resonated calm and collected within the confines of my mind, Your thoughts remain treacherous to both me and our Clan despite the measures you have taken to deceive us. I will not stand for this. You must be punished for your unjustified actions.

     “Unjustified actions?!” I exclaimed, wrenching out of his iron grasp and turning to face him, “You and your pathetic excuse for a companion slaughtered both my remaining family, as well as my soon-to-be wife! You have killed mercilessly, slaughtered innocent children in their sleep, as well as mothers with unborn infants! You have left their carcasses to rot as mere cattle in the streets, subjected their families to horrid death and disease! You have no recognition of what you have done, you fool, therefore you call my actions unjustified? You foul demonic creature,” I snapped, taking an imposing step forwards, “Get out of my sight! You taint it with its very presence!”

     His eyes, steely chips of flint, glimmered in the dim light provided by the flickering torches before they glanced to my right, beyond me. I opened my mouth to speak once more before suddenly I felt a strong pair of arms grip me from behind; this time I knew it to be Drusdell. My mind reeled uncontrollably.

     “Take him to the dungeons,” my Sire admonished with an impassive voice chipped out of ice, “We shall deal with him there.”

     And for the second time in meeting those Demons, I was dragged off, unwilling and unknowing of where I was to go. However, the latter was quickly absolved. I was led down, down, and still down those treacherous, horrid, moss-slickened stairs until our -their- destination was finally reached. The stone walls here were wet with moisture and crumbling in their agony. Only a single torch bade the pitch darkness flight, and it smelled of mildew and mold that was unbearable to my heightened senses.

     All at once I was dropped to the ground in the corner of a large, open room. My booted foot brushed against rotted feces, and I saw decaying skeletons huddled amongst one another, clumps of filth-ridden hair and dirt caked to their protuberant yellowed skulls.

     My boots were snatched roughly from my feet; I was stripped of my cloak and clothing presently, as well. Now wearing nothing but my trousers, the frigid cold settled in quickly to chill even my bones. I was denied the luxury of huddling for warmth, however, as my wrists were quickly bound in shackles to the grimy wall. I was at a loss.

     “You foolish creatures,” I cried hoarsely, “What have you done?!”

     “Your punishment for your sins, your retribution, has been prepared for by me.” My Sire answered back calmly, gazing upon my half-naked, shivering body as I glowered up at him with pure unrestricted malice, “You will find out how much you need the Blood after suffering for months on end.”

     A lump arose in my throat. “Months?”

     “Yes,” he returned as he prepared to leave, ascending up a few of the crumbling stairs, “Hopefully you will be more accepting of what you are when this is all over. A child of Cain, a blood drinker, a vampyre. You shall see, before the end.”

     And with those cold parting words, he left me to my fate. It was all I could do to keep myself from crying out after him.