Between Two Blades

Playground

-Wanna play in the dungeons? -

-Zhou Guozhi-

Currently, all warriors are coming back from hunting these bloody monsters. As always I see my wife lean against the balcony, surrounded by purple-looking flowers. Those flowers must be the only colorful thing in this world. If it hadn't been for Acrae, I'd already have destroyed them, too. "Loving a dead man is like loving the flowers.", she once said to me, while walking in the garden. Still, I have no idea where she got that from. Our marriage came quite quickly. The two sides were supposed to rule together. As the daughter of the old king and queen, she had a lot of lovers, living, or dead. But their kingdom hated vampires for their cruel behavior and bloody killing sprees. Citizens left in masses after our marriage had been announced. Since then, we never really considered our marriage as a real relationship. More like an advantage if a war breaks out. The living and the dead have made a strict rule about this specific situation. You will have to fight for your royal king and queen. If you fail, you'll probably end up in a burning pit of fire with other corpses. If succeeded, you are granted one wish by the royals themselves. Most people either wish for money or increased health. As for the recent war, I wished for the hand of the princess. What I didn't know, was that the same pure princess was tied into this war. And since then, a damn curse hushed over our world.

It all feels like a bad dream. My mission is to find out what her powers are and if she's behind all the new monsters in this area. Acrae left her spot and now sat next to me on the bed, hovering inches away from my face. I studied her face. She had grey skin, already a sign she's a member of the dead.

Her white eyes pierced through mine. "What are you thinking about, vampire?", she asked in an almost mocking way. "About how I want to slit your throat open and hope you die painfully, Deathbringer. "

She flinched for a second, then snorted and stood up. I watched her as she slowly walked out the door without looking back again. I am stupid to think I could ever undo this tragedy and put down the royals of the other land before all this ends with the end of the world. But as a prince with almost no guards and warriors left to start a war, we wouldn't stand a chance. I have to wait and play along for a while longer. I have nothing to lose.

***

Crack. Crack. Crack. My eyes shot open and I found myself grabbing my blades, laying on the ground. But I didn't feel anything. Instead, the noise got louder. I felt a hot breath right next to me. Then another sound came from the window. f**k. Shadows swarmed through the shattered glass from the window and surrounded me. Whispering one last prayer before I force my body to turn into claws and fangs.

Slashing through the shadows, the room was covered in dark blue blood. Another swarm came flooding in and soon it looked like I have just painted the walls again. I felt my body weaken as I got slammed to the wall. Then, silence. Something else might have caught their interest. I got up and looked at all the mess around me. "Seems like I have to sleep in another room." I wonder who else the shadows found more interesting than a strong vampire.

-Rhen Xiaodan-

Waking up, my eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light in the room. My mind was empty but full at the same time. While I tried to recall what happened yesterday, a servant came through the door, opposite of the bed that I am laying in. I watched her every movement as she made her way towards a small nightstand right next to me. "Master Wenyan wants to see you," she uttered. "I'll bring your lord fresh clothes now." Then she disappeared through the same door as she came in. I got up from the bed and wandered through the room. I hate to admit it but his mansion is really admirable. To keep it in this form while a horde of unknown hybrids and monsters roam around in this area is really neat. I stopped in front of a long mirror with a symbol showing a bat baring its fangs into a mouse, at the top. Looking at my own reflection I noticed that the wound on my leg got stitched and almost healed perfectly. The hit of the cross was way too fatal. Only an expensive witch with immaculate powers could heal such a bad wound. While inspecting the wounds, the woman came back in and set down a fresh pile of clothes of which I assume are from the vampire's wardrobe. The lady vanished like a quiet rat.

My stomach began to growl as I started to dress myself in the clothes she gave me. The vampire's scent was still on the vesture. The fabric feels warm and feels good on my skin. There are gold patterns at the end of long, white sleeves. A decorative design snaked its way from the neckline to the side of the clothing, which makes it look very royal. I put on the black pants and grabbed the heavily used shoes and opened the door to the hall. Empty, as I expected. No signs of guards or servants running hurriedly around. This mansion was like a labyrinth when I first came here. Now it's like I was born into this place. I know its secrets, its passages, its hidden doors, Wenyan's room. Lately, I've been searching for this vampire to discuss his researches on the new creatures which seemed to just spawn into this area.

That's when I finally heard him snickering right above me. "Heh. Greetings, Sir Rhen.", he spoke while he jumped down from the ceiling and landed in an elegant pose. "Xiaodan, if you please join me in the garden. I have something to flaunt to you.", he announced, sauntering in the direction to the garden.

He doesn't like no as an answer so I followed him. While we strolled through the blood-red garden full of roses, he didn't look back nor did he say any more words. When he suddenly stopped I bumped into his broad shoulders. And in a second he vanished and tapped his fingers on my shoulder, and gesturing to the right with his other hand. I followed his gaze and was stunned. Everywhere the roses turned dark blue and some dried-out flowers laid on the ground. It was a sad sight, seeing such a beautiful garden rot down. "Monsters.", Wenyan whispered in my ear and I flinched. "Something was here last night and attacked some guards. They said it was a large herd of creatures. One of the guards got infected. He's held down at the dungeon right now for further experiments." he continued explaining what happened in detail as we trailed along the walls to find one of his secret passages behind a large pile of climbing flowers.

He spoke in another language and drew a symbol in the air with his long, pale hand. The sign got visible and glows in a silver color before the flowers bent to the side and revealed a pitch-black passage.

With one snap of his fingers, light traveled with us as we slowly stepped down stone stairs that crackled when our feet touched the edges. The eerie atmosphere down at the dungeons, combined with the howling prisoners, made things even more horrible. We walked along the path with cages with monsters, blood donors, and the newly infected guard on every side. He looked with bloodshot eyes right past us, as if he wouldn't behold us at all. He didn't blink, didn't swallow, and his saliva dripped down at an already existing puddle of slobbered spittle. His armor got replaced by a brown, torn coat. "Master, Sun tried to attack us right after he got infected. We put him down with the purple powder mixed with the blue blood and-"Wenyan raised his hand to signal that he should stop talking. He immediately shut his mouth and bowed his head like a little kid that didn't get its sweets. "Give him a few more potions and see how he reacts a few days later." I took a long breath until he started moving again, looking back, and nodded at me to follow him once again.

"How did these wooly creatures come in here?" I wondered myself, speaking my always racing thoughts out loud. "Shadows." was the only word coming out of his thin-lined, dead-looking lips. He caught my lip gazing at him and smirked, then turned to his left, making me stumble forward as I didn't look at the ground for any kind of dead roots. Before even touching the ground, strong hands grabbed my waist and flipped me over as I fell on my back.

I stared into his moon-like eyes reflecting my bewildered face. I pushed him closer towards my chest, my heartbeat racing like a rollercoaster. "I'll draw your blood.", he said, nibbling on my right ear. I slightly moved so I could enjoy his fangs caressing my soft spots. Wenyan continued to move until he was near his mouth. Our mouths crashed against each other as if we were waiting to eat each other for weeks. He stopped, looking at my flustered face. After a while, Wenyan opened one of the golden buttons of my clothing and revealed a bit of my chest. My bare skin seemed to scream to be touched by him.

One single touch by him ignites the deepest parts of my body and instantly warms my soul. We stopped each other before we could go further, as we noticed that we were still in the dungeons. "My bedroom tonight.", he murmured in a husky voice against my warm skin. He got up and helped me so both of us stood on the ground again. Wenyan walked out of the dungeon, followed by me and my blushing cheeks, still thinking about how fast this happened. Back in the mansion, I quickly changed my clothes and looked out the window.

I traced over the hickeys, fang marks, and bloodbond he gave me over and over again until my mind wanted to shut down.

And that's how I realized I made the mistake of falling for the vampire prince, now being bonded to him in a time of war and hatred.