Don't Look at the Moon (Complete!)

Four

There was nothing Virgil could do as the rusted, ivy covered gates squeaked open and Talyn escorted him in. Vigil expected to be met with the stench of blood, cobwebs in every corner, and maybe even a few corpses or skeletons to complete to look.

But instead of a gory entrance hall, what Virgil saw was actually... quite nice. The grand hall's ceilings were so high that his entire house could fit in it at least three times. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, casting shadows along the walls where hundreds of paintings hung.

Virgil almost forgot that he was about to die, until he saw a figure descending the huge marble staircase. Virgil paled at the sight of him, his red cape dragging on the polished steps with a grin on his face.

Even from where he stood, Virgil could see the glinting fangs in the man's smile- no, not a man. A bloodthirsty monster was what he was, nothing close to human.

"Hello, Talyn. I hope he didn't give you too much trouble?" He asked as he reached the bottom of the grand staircase.

"No, not at all. Quite easy, in fact," they laughed, and Virgil couldn't help but look at their fangs while they spoke.

"So," the vampire looked at Virgil. "What kind of terrible crime did you commit that got you sent here to kill me?"

Virgil stuttered in fear for a moment before finally replying, "I-I stole. For my mother."

His answer seemed to surprise the vampire. "Well, that's a new crime. We normally get sent murderers and whatnot. I really hated those guys."

What did he mean by 'getting sent'? Did this happen often? How many people had the vampire standing before him killed?

The vampire laughed. "Don't look at me like that. So, you didn't kill anyone? You didn't even try to murder someone?"

"N-no! I wanted to help my mother!" Virgil defended himself. He didn't want to kill anyone- except for the monster standing in front of him, and only because he wanted to help his mother stay alive despite her sickness.

"Well, this certainly complicates things. How about we discuss this over dinner? Normally we just send the crazy murderers back to their village after they've coincidentally lost a bit of blood, but you're not a bad person, just a good person in a bad situation. Despite the lies you've been told, we aren't going to kill you. We have never killed anyone, not even for blood. And you can't go back to your home, not while your governor is in charge. Please believe me."

"Why can't I go back? All I want to do is to help my mother, and if she dies because I haven't killed you, then it's my fault," Virgil tried to get his arm out of Talyn's grip, but they were too strong.

"Shit, you're cute and you have noble intentions! And if the governor sees you without my head, he'll kill you, and I much prefer being alive, and I think you would, too."

"But you're dead!" Virgil ignored what the vampire had said about him.

"Well, I mean technically, but you don't want to tell Logan that, unless you want him to go on a really long lecture," he laughed. "Now, you must be hungry, so how about I give you a room and I'll have someone call you for dinner? What's your name?"

"My name- my name is Virgil." He said hesitantly. Were vampires like the faeries, who could do whatever they pleased when they knew your name? He had no idea, but Virgil couldn't think how things could get much worse.

Who was Logan? Were there even more vampires in the castle? Virgil had thought he would have been able to use more of his protections he had been given, but if there were more than just Talyn and the one standing in front of him, Virgil knew he was dead, even if the vampire hadn't been lying about not killing for blood. He would be turned into one of them, existing forever with the urge to kill for blood.

Virgil didn't want to think about what the vampires might eat, and where it would come from (Virgil thought he might know where- himself). What kind of room did the leader mean? Virgil felt it would be safe to assume it would probably be something like the jail cell he had left- hard it really been just today? Had it really just been a few days ago when he was caught stealing from the governor's kitchen?

"Alright, Talyn, can you show him a room? Maybe next to Patton and Logan? Don't let Remus near him yet, you know how he gets," the vampire instructed them.

Talyn nodded, gesturing for Virgil to follow. With no other choice, he obeyed.

"Wait," Virgil stopped. "You know my name, but what's yours?" He didn't expect an answer, so was surprised when the vampire replied.

"Roman Prince, at your service," he grinned, sweeping into a mock bow.

Talyn led Virgil down a dimly lit corridor, Virgil watching every shadow move across the walls as if something- or someone- was just out of his sight, the uneasy feeling in his stomach never easing.

Talyn opened a door and showed Virgil inside, and he was surprised to find that it wasn't the kind of dreary dungeon he had expected. Instead, it had the biggest bed Virgil had ever seen- who needed a room that big, let alone a bed?- and his closet-sized room in the village could have easily fit into the room several times over.

Virgil must have been staring around the room, because Talyn spoke up, "he's not bad, you know. None of us are. We only want to live here in peace."