The Vrullerin Chronicles- A collection of Short Stories

Short Story 3- Black Blooded

Talon lets out a low groan as he suddenly becomes conscious. His eyes crack open slowly and he finds himself staring up at the stone ceiling of his throne room. He groans yet again as a pain behind his eyes begins to develop. He closes his eyes once again as he presses the heels of his hands against them, hoping it'll relieve some of his pain. A scoff echoes through the throne room. Talon frowns deeply as the sound bounces off the walls and reaches him, causing his head to start pounding. Talon continues to press his hands against his eyes as the pulsing behind them continues to get worse. This was... odd.

"How pathetic." Sabreal's words echo through the throne room just as her scoff had. "The king of Vrullerin is reduced to a lump lying on the floor. I thought this demon blood was supposed to make you stronger." The sound of a sword scraping against its sheath can be heard just to the left of Talon. Sabreal's footsteps are silent, but Talon can feel her getting closer with each breath he takes. It doesn't take long for her to reach him, and it doesn't surprise Talon that the cool tip of her sword is placed against his throat.

"I could gut you like a pig." It was true. Talon didn't have the energy to defend himself, and he really didn't care to anyways. "You're pathetic. I thought I taught you better than that," she says with disgust as she applies more pressure to her end of the sword, causing the tip to dig into Talon's skin. With a sharp hiss he reaches up and grabs the blade of the sword at his throat. The sharp metal slides easily through the flesh of his palm and fingers as he clutches it tightly. He can feel the warmth from the blood seeping from the wounds as he yanks the sword from Sabreal's hand.

"Fuck you, Sab."

"Oh you so would."

"Not in a million years." Talon tosses the blade to his right. It lands a few feet away with a 'clang'. He sighs deeply as he rests his injured hand against his eye yet again, smearing blood across his eye and the side of his nose.

"How long have I been asleep?" Talon inquires.

"Almost a day." Sabreal replies. Talon can almost feel the grin spreading across his companion's face. "Lucifer said you might be out for almost a week. He was honestly surprised that you even survived the transformation." Talon sighs deeply.

"So I take it this god awful headache is a result of the transformation?"

"Probably. It's probably your body attempting to adjust to the demon blood that now pumps through your veins."

"Fantastic." Talon removes his hands from his throbbing eyes and lays them down on his chest. He slowly cracks his eyes open to glance up at Sabreal. He watches a look of disgust slowly crawls across her smug face.

"I didn't expect it to work so fast. You're a demon for sure." She mutters with disgust. Talon frowns. Drops of liquid land on Talon's face as Sabreal retrieves her blades and flicks the blade to her side.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Your blood is black. It's not golden anymore." Talon grunts as he holds his injured hand up in front of his face. She was right. His once golden blood was now pitch black. He drops his hand back onto his chest and turns his gaze towards the ceiling. A lazy grin spreads across his face as the information finally processes in his head.