Snow Dyed Red

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

That night I slept in Nicollo's room. Nothing happened. He was a gentleman like always, and used the couch. While I do regret that I basically forced him to I'm glad he let me stay. Right now I can't be alone.

Whenever I woke up he was already showered and dressed. "I acquired these from my neighbor," he says as he tosses a bag my way. It's filled with clothes in my general size.

"Thank you,"

He stepped outside while I. He's probably standing with perfect poster to the side of the door with his hands held behind his back. I wouldn't doubt it. He does seem like that type of person, polite to a fault. "I'm done," I yell out to him when I finish. The clothes do fit nicely and are rather fashionable. The yellow summer dress while unfit for the weather lands just below my knees, and the neck line giving me room to breathe without showing of cleavage. As far as being too big, the top had a stretchy material that fit to my figure no problem.

"What do you think?" I ask as he comes in. I twirl around for him holding down my skirt in the back.

"You look beautiful," he says and grabs his phone and wallet. Stuffing them in his pocket he asks me, "Shall we go to breakfast." I agree and we set of for the day, my winter coat protecting me from the frigid air.

"Where are we going," I ask him when were a good ways of the campus.

"The place where I went yesterday. If I remember correctly you liked the food," I nodded in agreement, only to shiver moments later.

"I'm sorry, we shouldn't have come. It's much warmer indoors," he looked worried. As a human my resistance to the cold is much lower than his is.

"Don't worry," I tell him and lean into his arm for whatever warmth I can get. I sit down at metal chair and pull away my legs when they briefly touch, the harsh sting of the metal freezing my bare legs.

Even in the early morning the sun is failing to shine, instead a blanket of grey clouds fill the sky. I breathe into my hands and a clouded mist surrounds them.

Nicollo hands me a hot coffee, "Here, this should help," he says. I thank him and sip the hot liquid.

"How come you're ok?" I ask him immediately aware that my question makes no sense.

"I don't understand," he responds.

I take a moment to think about how I want to phrase it. "You said the other nymphs were getting sick because of the lack of plant life, so how come you seem ok."

He sighs. My guess is he doesn't want to answer but why, I have no idea. "You're aware of the fact that male nymphs are rare?" he asks. I nod not wanting to disrupt him, "I'm one of ten in charge of continuing the population. As there are so few of us, in a way we aren't as affected by the plant life as our female counter parts."

Only ten males in the entire population, does that mean Nicollo has to impregnate all the other females? That makes no sense. "Does that mean you special?" I ask. He is one of few.

He hesitates again, "Yes, in a way I am a Nymph king," he says. I'm about to ask him to explain when he continues to speak. "It's complicated. I'll tell you about it some time, but not now," he finishes the conversation.

We don't say anything else while waiting for our breakfast order to finish, but we don't need to. Silence is ok when both parties accept it, and when I'm with Nicollo I don't feel the need to endlessly talk.

Our order is called and Nicollo gets up to take it.

I look up at the sky not needing to shield my eyes because of the lack of a sun. A snowflake lands on my nose and melts into a water droplet. The temperature noticeable drops again and within seconds my coffee is cold. I pull my jacket in tighter. I find Nicollo still at the counter paying for our food.

An ice cold hand covers my mouth, and a man behind me holds me down by me neck. I struggle to get out, and try to call for Nicollo, but he doesn't hear me. He continues to talk to the cashier. I'm unable to hit the man behind me and he presses me against the chair suffocating me. The edges of my view start to blur and darken as my energy to fight is depleted. Seconds before my vision goes I see Nicollo turn around and scream my name.

"I'm sorry," I want to tell him, but I can't. The man releases me and immediately after I pass out.

-

Chains bind my hands and feet to the harsh stone floor. I try to break free but it's impossible. There is no room for movement, no extra chain to stretch an inch. As it is the hand cuff bite into my skin leaving bruises. I'm blindfolded and can't tell where I am, and gaged so that I can't yell.

What do they want with me? Ionescu. Will I be their next sacrifice? My blood runs cold. I'm going to die. It's not soon any more. The treat isn't of in the distance, it's now. I'm going to die now.

"Your finally awake," an eerily voice comes out of nowhere. I want to scream at him, insult him, threaten him, but he has made that impossible. He rips away my blindfold. I have to tilt my head up to see him.

The man standing before me is beautiful, almost other worldly. He's unnaturally perfect, too perfect, his angular features similar to that of the devil.

He crouches down close to me and blows a gust of wind. My hair freezes and it feels as if my face will to. "Frostbite," he says as he strokes my hair, "It's been known to kill."

He gets back up and starts to pace the room, his hands held behind his back as if he were in an army. "Although, you don't have to worry about it. I have much bigger plans for your death." He smiles, the edges of his mouth could curl up until they reached his nose and it wouldn't see out of place, at least not on his face.

I want to do something, but the bindings won't let me. Instead I glare at him, putting as much hatred and rage behind my eyes that I can manage. The infuriation thing is, he doesn't see bothered by it, as if he gets this kind of reaction all the time. This shouldn't be normal, it's murder. I don't let up my gaze. I refuse to be weak. Even if these tightly rung chains hold me until my last breath, I will fight with everything I have. I won't die easily.

The man leaves with big iron doors closing behind him. Silence fills the air. No one else is her with me. I want to cry, but I know I can't, not before I know that no one is watching. To show them my weaknesses now would be like asking to die, and that's something that I won't do.