The Vampires Pet

Chapter 14

I followed Nicholas down the stairs. A maid walked out of the kitchen with a platter of crimson liquid in delicate wine glasses. I wondered what the liquid was until Nicholas smirked and snatched one, gulping it down in one swift move. My insides churned as my mind realised the only thing that could be. Human blood. 

I shivered in disgust, a reaction that didn't go unnoticed by Nicholas's hawk like eyes. He turned his head towards me, his blood stained fangs on show just to taunt my stomach that wanted to empty its contents. I snapped my eyes down choosing to ignore him for now. 

We walked outside, instantly the cool wintry breeze hit me, making my body shiver. Nicholas's bedroom had always been quite warm compared to the chilly air outside, my body was in shock at the sudden change of temperature. Nicholas suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing me to almost walk into him. I craned my neck to stare up at him with wide eyes. 

"Wait here." He walked past me back through the grand double doors. 

I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to warm up even a small amount. Snow hadn't even started falling yet but the air was beyond freezing, It was going to be a torturous winter. I suddenly felt weight over my shoulders, I turned to the side to see Nicholas. He had placed a simple brown coat over my shoulders. 

"Thank you Master." I said softly, putting my arms through the large sleeves. It was a bit too big for me but it would keep me warmer. 

"I can't have you dragging behind and causing me issues now can I?" His shoes clicked against the concrete as he walked towards the carriage that was ready and waiting. 

I hurried to catch up, jumping into the carriage before the rude coachman closed the door. I settled in the seat opposite Nicholas, pulling the coat tighter around my body. I suddenly noticed how Nicholas seemed anything but affected by the cold. 

"Does the cold not affect you Master?" I asked. 

His eyes snapped to mine, his mouth curled into a smirk. "Does it look like it does?" 

I shook my head. "A cold heart for cold weather." I muttered. 

"What was that Fairy?" He raised his brows, hearing what I said. 

"Nothing Master." I said. "You never appear bothered by the weather."

The carriage started moving and my body had started to warm up a bit. I leaned further back against the cushioned seat. 

"Vampires don't get affected by paltry things like the temperature." 

That was something maybe I was jealous of, how nice it would be to not die of heat in the summer or to not freeze in the winter. I nodded my head, deciding to leave it at that. The gentle rocking of the carriage reminded me of the nights my mother would sway me to sleep on the rocking chair when I'd wake from nightmares. I closed my eyes, humming to myself quietly. 

Now that I thought about it, I had always had very vivid dreams or nightmares and they came often. My parents would tell me once I got older I'd understand them and would be able to use the dreams to find answers, I doubted them then and I doubted them now. If that was true then what did the dream of the lake mean? All it has done is left me more confused than before, I struggle to find the answers in the dream. 

The carriage ride was quiet and peaceful, despite being stuck in a small vicinity with a dangerous predator I was calm and relaxed. The more time passes the more comfortable I naturally become around Nicholas, he was scary and evil still but my body had registered that he wasn't an immediate threat anymore. When the carriage rolled to a stop my eyes snapped open and caught Nicholas's. 

"Don't stray or you'll get killed." Nicholas warned with hard eyes. 

I nodded my head, following him closely out of the carriage. The horses were stamping impatiently, their nostrils flared and eyes alert, they didn't want to be here and after glancing around I could understand why. The village we were in was dark, not a light to be seen, even though it was day time. The thick fog made the surrounding area murky, it had a formidable unwelcoming feeling. I glanced up at Nicholas who was surveying the area with rigorous eyes. 

I unconsciously stepped closer to him, the energy in this place causing my body to shiver and my mind worry. Nicholas's arm came down and pushed his coat away, revealing a revolver in a black holster around his hips. My eyes widened as he pulled it out, it had a dark wood grip and black barrel with gold details. The gun looked impeccably clean and majestic with the golden details against the black metal. 

He pulled some part of it back, causing a curved piece to pop out by the grip. He glanced down at me, meeting my wide eyes with his serious ones. 

"Do you know what this is?" He asked. 

Well I wasn't stupid. "A revolver." I said. 

"Good. Don't get in front of it." I nodded my head as he started to walk into the leaden village. 

I rushed to catch up with him, staying a half step behind him so he was in reaching distance. I did not fancy dying in a place like this. As we wandered further through the dense fog I unconsciously clutched onto the back of Nicholas's coat. What surrounded us was a blood curdling nightmarish scene that sent harsh chills through my body, goosebumps lay all over my arms but not from the cold air but the eerie atmosphere. 

We passed by a few deserted looking houses, the cobble was cracked and windows were broken. Large glass shards lay in the grass looking menacing as they tried to camouflage in the overgrown weeds, waiting for an unsuspecting target to amble in its path. Everything here looked deadly, even the vines growing across the damaged road. 

"Why are we here?" I whispered, unable to handle the suspense of not knowing. 

"Berserk vampires." Nicholas said back, his voice quiet but not a whisper. 

A bird flew out from a cracked window, screaming out at us causing me to yelp and jump into Nicholas. The flapping of the wings echoed until they vanished completely. Nicholas had stopped walking when I bumped into him so I glanced up to see his unimpressed expression. My mind registered what he had said and I made no attempt to move away from him. 

"Berserk vampires?" I asked, a horrified expression overtaking my features. 

"Yes. Now shut up and lets go before you attract more than just vampires." He growled through clenched teeth, walking forward once again. 

I obeyed him not wanting to know what else may be out there waiting for a scrumptious piece of meat called Faye. I stared into the darkness of the window the bird flew from, just as my eyes went to shift away I saw a red shine in the darkness but when my eyes did a double take there was nothing there. I took a deep breath, I must've been imagining things. I had a strong imagination afterall. 

Nicholas's shoes clicked quietly against the concrete road, his footsteps light and careful. He knew exactly how to move swiftly and undetected, while I kept stumbling and tripping over all the damn vines along the ground. I did it as quietly as possible, almost mastering the art of silent stumbling by the time Nicholas threw me his seventh glare. Bet he was regretting bringing me just as much as I was regretting agreeing to come so ignorantly.  

He held his gun out in front of him, his honed eyes constantly darting from left to right searching for even the smallest amount of movement or life hidden in blackness. I knew vampires had the ability to see better in dimmer light than humans so I was sure he could see more than just the darkness my eyes detected. I wasn't sure if being blind to what's beyond the darkness was better than being able to see what lurked behind it. 

I took a couple of quiet deep breaths whispering in my mind. Mother, Father, Gran protect me from everything that's impure, keep me safe from the ever growing darkness. I felt lighter almost instantly, my father taught me to say that whenever I was in possible danger especially if it involved supernatural creatures. I was taught to always envision the light in my mind if there was none I could lay my eyes upon. 

"What did you just do?" Nicholas asked, knocking me from my thoughts. 

I glanced up at him with furrowed brows. "Nothing." I mumbled. "Why?" 

"I felt a shift. It must be the vampires, come on." 

That didn't sound good. Nicholas lead us into a larger house, just like the rest, the windows were smashed and the cobble was crumbling with moss consuming it. The wooden floorboards creaked painfully under our feet, I glanced down at the rotting wood, bugs scurrying away at the sudden visitors. I didn't know if the floorboards would hold us but it was only one of the many worries I currently had, the most important one was that Nicholas may or may not be leading me to my unholy death. 

I felt a weight wash over me as if the ghosts of the village were clinging to me. We walked into what I assumed was a bedroom, all what remained of the furniture was broken desk legs and wood from bed frames. The closet was cracked open a smidge, red flashed through the crack before a blood curdling screech echoed through the room. The closet door slammed open, my eyes could only see a flash of red and grey as the vampire lunged towards us, or more importantly me. I couldn't even scream I was frozen in fear, my wide eyes locking with the vacant eyes of the vampires. It looked like it had no soul. 

Nicholas's coat flapped in front of me as he placed himself in the path of the vampire. His movements were quick and swift, his hand wrapping around the vampires neck before it could get any closer. Nicholas's other hand grabbed the jaw of the vampire, twisting effortlessly. A loud crack resounded throughout the room, the lifeless vampire dropping to the ground. 

"Why didn't you move?" Nicholas snapped, turning to me as he wiped his hands off with a black handkerchief. 

"It was a lot faster than me." My words stumbled out. 

"Next time don't just stand there." Next time? How many vampires were there?

I stared down at the vampire. Its face was contorted into a psychotic expression, black blood was dribbling from its chipped grey teeth that matched the colour of its skin. Its eyes weren't red like Nicholas's, they were fully black with red pupils. The vampire was covered in dirt and dust but among that I could make out what looked like cracks all over its skin, similar to how old paint cracks. It looked like it could turn to dust. 

"Why didn't you just shoot it?" I asked, spotting the glint of the gun back in his holster. He must've put it back as the vampire lunged at me. 

"It would be too loud. I don't want to attract all of them at once. I'll only shoot if I really need to." He walked out of the room, examining each room in the house.

"How many are there exactly?" My voice squeaked in fear at the thought of there being hundreds of those demonic creatures. 

"Anywhere from three to six, Berserks travel in small groups usually." The 'usually' unsettled me, all I heard was that there's a possibility there could be more. 

After the house was cleared we walked back outside, I wanted Nicholas to kill the others quickly so we could leave this pace as soon as possible. 

We wandered into another house thats door was closed unlike the other houses with doors open or just gone. The inside was the same as the other one, creaky rotten floor boards and broken furniture. I followed Nicholas down the hall, an intact painting hanging lopsided on the wall caught my eyes. The painting was of a family of four, a mother a father and two kids, a girl and a boy who looked older. They were smiling happily, their arms linked with one another. I was guessing they were dead, either killed by the Berserks or killed before they even came to this village, by something else. 

Nicholas came out of the bathroom he was checking and started to walk further down the hallway. The sound of the floorboards made my blood run cold, the creaking came from behind me not from Nicholas. This time I moved, I ran towards Nicholas, hearing the screech from the vampire. 

"Nicholas!" I yelped moving to the left as he spun and moved forward to the right sliding past me in the narrow hall.

I stumbled against the wall, watching as Nicholas's hand plunged right through the vampires chest  quickly before it made too much noise, he twisted his hand staring dead into the eyes of the vampire before pulling his hand out. The body fell against the floor, causing one of the floorboards to break. Black and red blood flowed from the hole in its chest where Nicholas's hand had just been. I gulped in the cold air, trying to calm my frightened heart. Nicholas turned to me, his eyes checked me over.

"That was better." He said. 

I didn't expect it to make me feel better but it did. I dodged an attack from a berserk and got behind Nicholas so he could kill it. My heart continued to race with adrenaline, pumping my body with a spark of something foreign. There was something dangerously exciting about it all.