The Vampires Pet

Chapter 25

The nerves didn't leave me as the minutes passed of Nicholas examining the dagger in his hands. It didn't look normal and I got a bad feeling from it, it was creepy. Even though he didn't turn and head in the direction Karter left in, my heartbeat was still drumming in my chest like it was performing a solo.

Nicholas suddenly tore his eyes from the dagger, to bring them to mine. I flinched at his stare and stumbled backwards a step. He started forward, taking long strides and reaching me in only a few steps, each step he took, I took one back until I was stuck against a tree. 

His eyes flicked between the dagger and me, my eyes widened, wondering if he thought it was mine. 

"It's not mine." The words fell from my lips. 

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "I know." 

Relief washed over me, but not enough to calm my nerves entirely. 

"What is it?" I questioned, breathing deeply to calm my heart. 

"A dagger." 

Even with the nerves racking my body, I gave him an exasperated look, to which he c****d his eyebrow at. 

"Obviously." I muttered. "But is it special? Is it what made those marks on them?" My voice quietened at the end. 

He studied me for a while before nodding his head. "It is a possibility. This isn't a normal dagger, I feel magic in it. I just can't be sure which kind." 

I stared down at the dagger, a strange feeling coursed through me, making me feel uneasy. I furrowed my eyebrows slightly and unconsciously clutched onto the necklace under my dress. The feeling instantly started to settle. 

Then I snapped my eyes up to Nicholas who had been studying me the whole time. A small smirk formed on his lips. 

"It's dark magic." He said. 

"How did you figure it out?" I questioned with my eyebrows raised. 

"I have my ways." He said arrogantly, before turning and heading towards the rest of the council men. "Hurry up Fairy." 

I took one last glance at the direction Karter went in before jogging after Nicholas. As we got closer, Nicholas slipped the dagger into his pocket, I furrowed my eyebrows. 

"Why did you do that?" I asked quietly. 

He looked down at me. "I've told you before Fairy." 

I pursed my lips but quickly remembered when he had told me he did things differently than the other councilmen. Nicholas didn't trust them and worked closely with the Lord instead, to get things done quicker and smoother. I nodded my head, for once I agreed with Nicholas. He had his reservations against his own kind, I wished it was for the right reason but it was probably just because he thinks too highly of himself. 

We stopped in front of the councilmen, a few of them eyed me for a moment before snapping their attention to Nicholas. I was sure all these men, if not most, had pets too but they didn't bring them on jobs like this. 

We were now standing in the direct center of all five dead vampire, it unnerved me. It was like we were surrounded by darkness, by evil. It sent chills down my back and caused goosebumps to rise on my skin, I shivered involuntarily, an action that didn't go unnoticed by Nicholas. 

"We found something." One of the councilmen said. 

"Well?" Nicholas asked impatiently. 

Hugh scowled at Nicholas's attitude. "Follow us then your royal highness." Hugh seethed out. 

"Watch the attitude Hugh, or we will have another body to deal with." Nicholas growled threateningly as he stepped towards him. 

"It's writing." The youngest looking councilman said, glancing nervously between Hugh and Nicholas. I felt bad for him, having to work with two arrogant pricks. "In witches tongue. We don't know what is says." 

My ears perked at his words. 

"As you are in the Witch department. We were hoping you'd be able to translate it, otherwise we will need to get Gerald out here." The oldest looking man said, his voice was rough and abrasive. 

"I will have a look, but I didn't study witches Jim. I kill them." Nicholas said with hardened eyes. 

He nodded his head, before they turned and led Nicholas over to a tree. I stood frozen in the middle of the corpses, dead eyes on me from every angle. Everything here was creepy, possibly as creepy as the village we hunted berserks in. I felt as if there were a million eyes peering down on me. 

I could just make out the carved writing on the tree but had no idea how to read what looked like letters and symbols combined. Nicholas stared at it, as if sensing my eyes on him, he turned around. His red eyes locked on mine, his eyebrows were furrowed slightly. He turned back around and tried to work out what was written on the tree. 

I stared at the vampire in front of me, his body hanging from the tree. I wondered why they wrote 'beginning' in english but not the word on the tree. Maybe they wanted everyone to get the first message, and only some, or one, to get the other message. 

Did they leave a message for Nicholas?

While I stared at the body, the same compelling feeling rose in me again. I wanted to step forward and reach out to the dead vampire. It had me furrowing my brows as shivers shot through my body, my leg began to ache, wanting to step forward. I kept myself still, unable to tear my eyes from the body. 

It seemed as if everything surrounding us had disappeared, just leaving me and the dead body stuck in place. In this moment I wanted to yell for Nicholas, to snap me out of whatever trance I was in but I couldn't and soon that thought was stolen from my mind, leaving me no thoughts but to step forward and touch the vampire. 

I tried to stay frozen in my place, however whatever it was that was inside of me that wanted to go to them, compelled my body to do so.

I found myself taking small and even steps forward, my eyes glued on the vampires hollow ones. I stopped when I was standing directly in front of it, my eyes then wandered to all the different symbols cut into his skin. 

Slowly, my hand reached forward and my fingers gently pressed against a symbol on the vampires thigh. The minute my fingers connected with the frozen skin of the vampire, shocks flew up my arm and circulated through my body. My eyes widened but I couldn't move away. An overwhelming amount of power, hate and evil rushed through my body, the power I felt was horrifying but I couldn't take my hand away. 

My heart started beating faster and my breathing became rushed and uneven, I was stuck consuming all this powerful darkness from the vampire, but why? Why was this happening? My body shook from the amount of evil that was being forcefully pushed into my body, it was like I was feeling everything that was felt by whoever did this to the vampires. 

In one last belt, it all entered my body like a boulder. It slammed into me and sent me flying backwards, landing on the ground with a loud thud and small yelp. Suddenly everything else was surrounding us again but my focus was still on the body as I stared up at it with wide frightened eyes.  

I brought my hand that was connected to the vampire only moments ago, up and stared at it. My fingertips were red, like the force of whatever all that was, was physical. There was a dull ache and slight burning sensation where my fingers had connected with the vampires skin, or rather the carved symbol on his skin. I heard footsteps approaching but continued to stare numbly at my fingers. 

"Faye? What happened?" Nicholas asked. 

I slowly tore my eyes from my fingers and up to his, his eyes narrowed when he saw the fear leaking from my eyes. I glanced back at the vampire. Suddenly, the dagger in its head popped out, causing its head to drop so its chin was against its chest. 

I yelped again as the dagger fell at my feet. Nicholas snapped his eyes to the dagger too, taking a few strides to bend down and grab it. His eyes seemed to furrow further as he held the dagger in his hands, then his eyes turned back to mine. 

I had no idea why that happened, or even what happened. My body was still shaking from it all, my heart working three times as fast from the shock. Whatever it was that entered my body, it sent it into a frenzy but somewhere inside, it felt like something wanted me to feel that power. It was like they wanted me to see what was left in the vampire from the attacker, it all came from the symbol, from the person who put those symbols there. 

I hadn't noticed that all the other vampires were now standing around, gawking at me. Nicholas snapped into action, striding to me and holding his hand out for me. I stared at him blankly, still in a trance from the recent incident. His cold eyes bore into mine, he became impatient and no longer waited for me to give him my hand. 

He swooped down and grabbed my wrist, pulling me to my feet and somehow knocking me out of the shocked trance I was in. It wasn't the action that pulled me back to earth, it was the warmth his hand gave me. Even with eyes and attitude that can freeze you to your core, his hands were so warm that they made my numb body feel something. 

"Get Gerald down here to examine the scenes and bodies. Take the bodies to Abraham, leave that one-" Nicholas pointed to the vampire I had touched. "For Gerald, see to it that that body and only that body gets taken to the church for him. Have I made myself clear?" Nicholas's voice boomed through the trees, authority and power laced in it. 

His royal blood and power seeped through, the arrogant and devilish Nicholas gone, like he never existed. Now Lord Nicholas was standing here, barking orders to vampires that cowered at the force of his voice. 

"Yes Lord." Jim said, his head bowed ever so slightly. "Where are you going?" 

"Since when has that ever been any of your business." Nicholas snapped threateningly, his eyes were glowing brighter than they ever had before. 

They sent chills down my spine, and it was clear they had the same effect on the vampires. They all bowed their heads and remained silent. Nicholas pulled me with him, the dagger that had fell from the vampires head was still in his hands. 

"Why did you bring the dagger?" My voice shook as I spoke. 

"I don't think you're in a place to ask questions Faye." He said sternly. 

"I.. I didn't do anything." My voice stuttered and stumbled horribly, my bottom lip quivering. 

"Then what happened?" He growled lowly, pushing me into the carriage once we had reached it. 

The push was rough and caused my footing to become unstable, I stumbled and fell forward onto the seat. Nicholas didn't care as he climbed in himself and slammed the door shut, I quickly sat up and sunk into the seat. I wanted to be away from his accusing eyes. 

"I...I.. I don't know Master." My voice cracked as I spoke, any resolve I had shattering away. 

"Something happened and you better tell me what or I swear to the god Faye, I will not rest until I make your life a living hell." He seethed, his eyes had darkened immensely and his fangs were now peeking out from his lips. I flinched back and shut my eyes tightly, his rough hand gripped my chin. "Open your eyes and tell me." He said, his voice had calmed down slightly but I could still feel the anger rolling off him in waves. 

I slowly opened my eyes, his hand still on my chin keeping me in place. "I touched him." The words fell from my lips. "And when I did.. I couldn't move." 

My hand that had touched the vampire, clenched into a ball. Nicholas noticed my action and let go of my chin, grabbing my wrist and pulling my hand forward. He pried my balled fist open and stared at my fingertips, a few creases appearing on his forehead. 

His rough hand suddenly became gently as his other hand brushed over my fingertips. I sucked in a breath, his fingers seemed to sooth the strange dull ache and burning sensation I had felt on my fingers after the incident. He glanced up at me, his eyes studying mine. As they did, his softened ever so slightly and he sighed. 

"How did this happen?" He asked, referring to my fingertips. "Did it burn you when you touched him?" 

"I.. I don't really know Master." My voice was still shaking so I took a deep breath to try calm it. "I was in some sort of trance, I couldn't control my movements and when I placed my fingers on the symbol on his thigh, it was like something transferred into me through my fingers." 

His eyes narrowed, his brows creasing once again. "What did you feel?" 

I bit my shaking lip, the thought of whatever had entered me frightened me. I didn't want to explain what I felt because I didn't even know myself what it all was. All I knew was it was terrifying and I never wanted it to happen again. 

Suddenly Nicholas brought his hand up to my face, I flinched but it didn't stop him. He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip that was crushed between my teeth, the action made me go numb and release my lip. When he pulled his thumb away, I saw blood on it. I licked my lip, tasting the iron taste of the crimson liquid. 

"You need to tell me what you felt transfer into you Faye." He spoke calmly, his tone compelling me to do as I was told. 

"I felt a terrifying amount of power, hatred and evil." I said numbly. "It was so strong and so menacing but I couldn't make it stop." 

Nicholas studied me, taking in the information I was telling him. I had become aware of how Nicholas had lately been left speechless, something that was paranormal for the quick witted and knowledgeable vampire. It frightened me more, if Nicholas didn't know what was happening then would I ever find out?

"I think." I started, studying Nicholas's eyes. "What I felt came from whoever did that to the vampires." My voice was quiet, defeat and exhaustion lacing it. 

"I think you're right." He said after a long pause, if I wasn't so defeated I'd be surprised that he agreed with me. "From what was presented in front of us, the killer was either a witch or was aided by witches or infused tools. Like the daggers."  

I pursed my lips slightly, my mind wandering back to Karter. He had no remorse or even surprise for the scene in front of him, I didn't want to believe he could do that but the hatred I felt from him was similar to what I got from that vampire. My body shivered involuntarily, I wanted to believe in Karter and follow him with the 'revolution' but murdering like that with so much potent anger, it wasn't what I wanted.