Elysian House: Silver Bullet (2)

Chapter 14: Pressure

It was a dark night that night, while I was walking through the woods, after my initiation ceremony into Knighthood. I was 17 years old at the time. I was the youngest Knight, but I was well trained. I just hoped my age wouldn't affect how people treated me. 

The wind rustled through the trees and with it, it carried a certain sense of something. Something I could not, at the time, identify. 

I came to a clearing and in the center of this clearing was a grand tree, that stood much taller than the rest, with a wider trunk, and longer limbs. I thought this was strange at the time and I moved forward, with the wind brushing through my hair, and a compelling feeling in my chest to go to that tree. 

When I could finally touch the godly tree, so strange and so isolated, I touched its rough bark, and saw a shadow. A large shadow passed over me and I looked up, in time to see a pair of inky black eyes before I was tossed into the brush. I grunted as my back hit the ground. I looked up when I hit the ground, ready to defend myself from some unforgiving creature.

But then, I saw what it really was. An owl. A large owl, larger than any owl I've ever seen. An owl that stood taller than me, with large, black eyes staring down at me. It opened its beak and shrieked at me, but that's before I noticed the arrow protruding from its wing, and the blood soaking the ground below him. 

I saw why it was reacting this way. I lifted myself up off the ground and held out a hand, trying to initiate some sort of friendliness toward the large animal. Its beady eyes still looked cold, cut off, and mean. 

As slow as I could, I approached the large bird, with a hand outstretched in front of me. "I'm here to help." It screeched in response, as if I had called war. "It's all right."

It didn't budge, and I heard fireworks go off in the distance. I looked back at the mysterious, and hurt creature before turning my back fully. "If you need help, and you have no where to go, come to the castle. Stay low, in the tunnels. I will help you." With that, I left the bird alone, and headed back home, with the hopes he would come. 

---

The first thing I noticed coming to was how light I felt. My whole body felt as if it had weighed nothing as I woke up, in a bed. It took me a moment to see the bars on the window. When I did, some sort of seriousness entered my brain as I sat up, ignoring the ravenous hunger I felt in my stomach to see where I am. All around me, there were brick walls, with one barred up window and I saw the bars keeping me from the outside. Which meant that I am in a jail cell. 

"The hell?" I said out loud, to express my disbelief. I get to my feet, and I'm immediately across the jail cell, grasping the bars. "Hey, what the hell!"

A male Royal Guard comes forward, with his mask on and his uniform with a bright orange strap on his arm, signifying he's working the prison. "Well, good morning."

"What am I doing here?"

He crosses his arms over his chest and looks down at me with his black eyes. "You were out of control. High on human blood. Don't you know that's illegal? You've been arrested for illegally consuming human blood."

"No, but I had to!" I say, shaking the bars. I looked down at myself and saw that I was wearing a prison jumpsuit, which means that this was real. I had been arrested. "Klark was out of control, he was high. Higher than I was. I couldn't stop him without drinking some of it."

He holds his gloved hands up in defense. "I'm just following my orders, ma'am."

"Where's Viola?" I asked.

His black eyes twisted in disgust at the mention of her name. "The Vampire wannabe chick?"

"She isn't a wannabe," I snapped. "Where is she?"