Getting the small human to the castle was a feat in itself. She was a pure blood that's for sure. I had caught a whiff of her scent blowing through the breeze. Even the smell of the burning buildings and flesh in the village couldn't mask it. When I caught up to her, she had ran herself to the point of exhaustion. She was crawling by a dying tree attempting to cover herself in ash flowers, to conceal her blood.
When I got closer to her, it took everything in me not to bite her and suck her dry. When I couldn't take her smell much longer, I threw her down and dragged her behind me hoping it would help the wind from sweeping her delicious odor straight to my nose. Any vampire could smell her blood from miles away. She was very potent and I myself was even having a hard time not succumbing to her scent.
When the girl fell out of the carriage and busted her knees on the gravel, guardsman Smith tried to attack and it was me only doing my duty when I stopped him, slicing him from his stomach up. The girl is to be a blood slave for the lord, she is not to be tasted by any other vampire because of that fact and also because her blood can cause us half bloods to go crazy. The half bloods are those who were created by the regal bloods. We do not stem directly from Satan's bloodline like they do but we were created by his kin.
The pure blood's life force is exactly that, pure. Their maker creating them with light in their hearts. It's true some humans are disastrous creatures but no doubt they were sculpted in the light of their god. When a half blood like myself gets ahold of pure blood, the light of their being combats with the darkness of ours. Driving us mad as our bodies try to retaliate against the light. The literal definition of internal conflict.
It has been told that when God created Adam and Eve, Lucifer fell madly in love with Eve. He was tortured everyday with merely her existence. Since he was bound to the underworld he couldn't leave the place meaning he couldn't touch Eve or be near her. When he had enough of his torture and the unrequited love, he created us. Giving flesh to his demons and releasing them onto the world when God created the human race. We were to be the humans' undoing. As the centuries rolled on with many of God's children being murdered by our hands, God created the light. Storing it in each human's heart to pump through their veins able to destroy the darkness that ran through ours.
There is a theory as well, more of a tall tale of what really happened, that Eve did return Lucifer's love. She separated herself from Adam and descended to the underworld through a portal. The portal was said to be a large tree with a hallow center that was deep in a dark forest. Eve had found the tree and entered the underworld to be with Lucifer. It turns out the forbidden fruit was not an apple it was love and all acts of it. After Eve and Lucifer had their affair, God had shunned Eve.
Eve supposedly conceived a child through her affairs with the ruler of the underworld. When God discovered she was baring the child of Lucifer's, he threatened to cast her out of the heavens completely. Afraid God would take away her entry to the golden kingdom above, when Eve delivered the child, she sent him through the tree to the underworld and renounced herself of her sins. This caused Lucifer to hate the humans which then led to him creating the vampires. Even turning his son into one of the creatures.
Each story ends the same with God making his humans stronger with the light hoping it would help them against the darkness.That's why we have the tonic. The humans believe it simply attacks their immune system but it doesn't. It combats the light in the humans, making it submit or completely burning it out so their blood doesn't destroy us when we feast. We ruin the very essence of their being to be able to feed and empower ours.
When taking the girl through the gates, she would stop here and there for a few quick moments until I yanked on her shackle chains. She would almost plummet head first to the ground each time but would catch herself before she lost her footing. Me and the girl continued this pattern through the castle until we reached the sun rooms of the east wing. Lord Thelios wasn't like the other lords of the other kingdoms. He didn't do much of his business sitting in his throne, no, that was reserved for balls or region meetings or councils. He much rather preferred his sunrooms.
The rooms were framed by at least six tall windows letting the sun cascade through. Each had two long sofas facing each other while a lone chair sat in the corner by a small table. There were handcrafted rugs that laid under the furniture and large shelves that housed any book your heart could desire. When I pulled the girl into the east wing sunroom, we were welcomed by the sight of Lord Thelios fangs deep into the forearm of his blood slave Anna.
I could hear the girl's pulse quicken as the lord looked up from his breakfast and directly at her while he was still enjoying his meal. It was no secret he could smell her even before we entered his sunroom. She stood frozen in place at Lord Thelios wiped his mouth with a piece of Anna's dress and dismissed her.
"Surly you can unshackle the girl Elias." He said while straightening a cuff link that had unclasped itself during his meal.
"Yes but I'm afraid the girl will run as soon as I do." I replied which caused the girl's heart rate to accelerate a bit more. Thelios chuckled slightly and crossed his legs as he reclined himself against the sofa letting both arms rest on the top. He appeared casual and harmless but the girl new he was anything but.
"What is the young lady's name?"
"No clue. I marched my men into the village, destroyed it, found pure bloods and brought them here for you. I didn't have time for introductions." My response was sharp, not letting my irritation go unnoticed.
"So I gather. Please darling, what is your name?" He asked the girl who at this time had almost made her way to stand completely behind me. Using me as a shield to separate Lord Thelios and herself. Not in the mood for the games, I spun around and grabbed the girl by the waist. I practically threw the girl at Lord Thelios when I spun back around, this time bringing the girl with me. I plopped her in front of the lord and watched as she immediately fixed her gaze on her feet and crossed her arms close to her chest, hugging her own shoulders.
The girl looked pitiful standing there. Her long brown hair was tangled in places and had twigs and leaves sticking throughout it. Her bare feet were covered in mud that cascaded up onto her white nightdress. She refused to make eye contact with the lord until he was standing directly in front of her lifting her head by her chin.
"Don't be shy darling, I asked your name?" He said with a fake smile. He was irritated with the girl's unwillingness to cooperate. When Thelios smiled large enough to showcase his fangs, the girl spoke.
"Amily...Brown." She said with a whisper so soft no human could ear.
"Nice to make your acquaintance Amily. I'm certain you already know who I am so no need to introduce myself." Lord Thelios released the girl's chin and returned to his seat.
"Now, you are a pure blood? Is that correct?" He asked with no response. Lord Thelios' impatience with Amily was growing the more she remained silent. "You don't really need to say a word do you? You know I can smell it on you. You know I can tell you haven't had a drop of the tonic run through your veins." Again Amily kept her head down and didn't speak a word.
His impatience had finally wore thin enough to snap when Thelios was back in Amily's face, this time inches away from her. He had moved so swiftly, she hadn't had time to realize he had grabbed her wrist and dug his nails into her flesh enough to brake the skin. A few drop of crimson began to trail down her arm but before they could drop to the floor, Thelios licked them up. Cleaning the blood from her arm completely and tracing his tongue across the wound to heal it.
"Too much of that can be dangerous my dear. You do taste delicious." Thelios said with a grin. Amily was shocked. Her bright emerald green eyes were beginning to swell with tears and her breathing was speeding up. "Now, you answer me from now when I speak to you. If you do not, I will make this unbearable for you, do you understand?" Amily feverishly shook her head in agreement. "Good."
"Elias, take the girl to her chambers."
"She won't be staying with the others?" I was astonished at the fact that he was going to allow Amily to have her own chambers. All the blood slaves share a room. What makes this one different?
"You heard what I said." With that I grabbed Amily's arm and escorted her out of the sunroom. Her eyes stayed fixated on her wrist. Every now and again they would shoot between her arm to me. There was no doubt she was terrified about what had happened and about what's to come. If her expressions didn't give her away, the pounding of her heart did. Anyone, vampire or human, could hear her heart at this rate. She was scared and nervous and I take it she will cooperate now from here on out. Good, that'll be less I'll have to deal with the lord and with her.
YOU ARE READING
Atherian Tales: The Blood Slave
Vampiros"You are to be a blood slave to Lord Thelios. No one can taste you but him and it's my duty to make sure no one tries." His deep voice sent shivers throughout my body that had nowhere to escape, making me shake where I sat. The Amily Brown that I w...
