Eternal Nights

Sweet Escape

Roxanna’s POV

As soon as the door shut behind me I sank my body down to the stone below me. I needed to escape before he had the chance to do anything else to me. I retraced the events in my mind. It was far too easy for him to turn my body against me. He had barely touched me, yet he made my body tremble with anticipation, my voice betrayed me as his hands explored my body, even my own thoughts were turned against me where I not only considered allowing that monster violate me further but wanted him to. It was disgusting. I had to find a way to free myself from this prison. But what was I supposed to do? Would it be stupid to try to run now when there was nothing more than a door separating us? Should I wait an hour or so and then try to run? Could I risk waiting a day or even a week so that I could throw him off guard giving myself a better chance to escape? No, that wasn’t an option. I have to get out of here today, no matter what the cost.

I began rising to my feet, took a breath and found my way to the staircase that I had descended from earlier. “Up or down?” I muttered to myself, “I really wish that I had a coin right no to make deciding easier.” To my surprise, I suddenly heard a clinking noise bouncing on the stairs, then the gold coin became visible as it fell down the last few steps in front of me before spinning and then landing in place. I stood there baffled for a moment staring at the coin before running to the railing trying to see the source of its origin. Unsurprisingly, I was unable to find its source. I let out an exasperated sigh. “Damnit. Obviously there’s only one smart choice at the moment then,” I said aloud before ascending the stairs up towards my prison.

By the time I had made it up the stairs I was completely winded. I was uncertain on how long it took me to climb them but the stairs felt unending. “Finally,” I said as the door came into view, “there’s got to be an easier way to get up here.” As I caught my breath, I realized that I never saw anyone on the stairs. “What the hell? Where did that coin even come from?” I thought to myself as I pulled open the door. My thoughts were immediately interrupted with the smell of tomato, bread and cheese. I quickly began to investigate to satisfy my curiosity and found a bowl of tomato soup and grilled cheese cut into fourths, still hot as if it was just taken off the stove. I picked up a corner of the sandwich, dipping it into the soup before taking a bite. The next thing I knew, tears began pouring down my cheeks. Inside the grilled cheese were bits of chicken, something my mother used to put into grilled cheese so that I had some protein in my diet growing up. In the soup was a bit of honey, and my mother’s words echoed in my mind, “just a bit of honey so that you’ll grow ever sweeter.” I quickly took a seat and ate the meal.

Once I finished I began glancing around the room and found myself taken aback once more. Sitting in the corner of the room near the desk was the piano that I had played earlier. I was already over by the piano before I even realized that I had moved. I ran my finger over the keys, not pressing down enough to strike the strings within, eventually bumping my finger into a folded up note. I picked it up and read what it said, “Dearest Songbird, I arranged for this to be moved here for you as it serves a better purpose to you within your chambers. If you have not noticed it yet there is a meal for you here, I expect you to eat. I am allowing you time to collect yourself but I will see you again very soon. Your Master, Raforian”.

“When did he have time to write this, let alone get this up here?” I asked myself. I glanced around the room once more to see if there was anything else that I missed upon reentering the chamber, seeing nothing new from earlier. I looked at the piano once more. I desperately wanted to get lost in the music once more, slipping into the depths of my mind, bringing the melodies that constantly played in my head to life. If I could, I would play for days on end, until my body gave out from hunger or the need for sleep. It was my true passion in life. It was my escape from the darkness in my life. It was my dream to someday make my ultimate masterpiece. But I knew this was not the time for me to be distracted by my art.

I took a breath to clear my thoughts. I had no way of knowing how soon he would return. If I were to escape, this would be my only chance. I quietly opened the door and glanced around before continuing downward as unsuspecting as I could. If I was going to make it out of here, I needed to draw the least amount of attention to myself as possible.

I stopped in a few rooms for a few moments to hopefully deter some prying eyes upon me. I eventually found my way to the balcony on the second floor. The sky was clear, a full moon providing me with some light. I knew I had to be careful to not draw attention to my intentions. I walked to the railing, pretending to admire the moon as I took several quick glances down trying to gauge how far up I was.

Suddenly an arm wrapped around my throat as a familiar voice that I couldn’t place spoke into my ear, “looks like I’ve caught you trying to escape the Master.”

“Who are you?” I asked with a surprised gasp. I struggled against the strangers grappling on me to no avail.

“Awww, does the pretty lady not recognize me? Shame, I thought we hit it off yesterday,” the mystery man spoke.

Suddenly I remembered the vampire spawn on my way to the Hot Snow Tavern yesterday, “you, the one under the streetlamp,” I said, still trying to fight his grasp.

“So you do remember me,” he chuckled, “how sweet of you. But I digress, it looks like I caught you trying to sneak around Little Nightingale, one might think you were trying to escape. I’m pretty sure that would be a death sentence if you were to be caught. I’ll tell you what, let’s make a deal,” he grabbed my jaw and forced my neck to tilt, I could feel my heart racing as I could sense his fangs inching towards my neck, “I’ll let you run, in fact, I won’t even tell anyone that I even saw you, all you have to do is be a good little human and give me a taste. It’s not fair that the Master gets you all to himself, is it?”

A scream escaped me as I felt my skin being pierced. His bite was much more ravenous than Raforian’s was, it was uncaring of my pain, he had no care of I lived or died. I could feel my life draining from my body and there was no sign of him stopping or slowing his assault. I felt helpless. A single thought went through my mind, escape. I pulled my body forward, ignoring the pain as best I could as his fangs ripped through my flesh and I let my body fall over the railing. I heard a c***k as I hit the snow covered stone below me. I watched as pair of feet landed beside me, but then they started backing away abruptly, I heard two voices, one angry, the other fearful but I couldn’t make out the words. I could see a blur of motion then felt my body being lifted up. My jaw was forced opening as a liquid was fed to me. I felt cold and I began to cling to the stranger as I fell unconscious.

Raforian’s POV

After my Songbird had left the room, I listened to her movements for a moment. She had barely shut the door before she slid down the wall collapsing on the ground clasping her head into her hands. Even through the door I could hear her blood pulsing and could smell her sweet scent; a very clear sign that I had gotten into her head and she was retracing the moments before in her mind. I smiled to myself once more knowing how easy she would be to make mine. After a moment I heard her get up and move towards the stairs before proceeding upward shortly after someone had dropped a coin down to where she stood. A small wave of relief washed over me as I decided to take this opportunity to rest in my coffin to regain some of my fleeting strength.

I quickly wrote a note and ordered that food be brought to her chambers. As much as I craved to join her in her bed, as much as I was aware that she would try to flee, as much as I detested the thought of being apart from her, I knew that I needed to rest. In my preparations for her and the sudden need to bring her here before I had intended to I hadn’t found the time to recover my strength in three days. All I would need is one hour and my strength would be restored in full, but there was a nagging in the back of my mind too persistent to ignore. Alas, I had no choice but to make my way to my coffin and hope that she wouldn’t stir up too much trouble while I rested. I made my way to the crypts and began to find myself in a deep trance.

Nearly an hour later I heard the faintest scream in the distance. At first I thought nothing of it, as it was far too common of a sound within my castle, but it sounded far too familiar and unmistakable. I threw the lid of my coffin open, uncaring of breaking it, and began to locate where she had screamed from. I soon found myself on the second floor balcony only to watch her fall over the railing as a spawn lept after her.

“I like it when you try to run, sweetheart, it makes you all the more appetizing,” it said as it stood over her bleeding and mangled form.

I lept down after them, taking an opportunity to get a better look at my Songbird. Her right leg was clearly broken and her expression was that of one who had already accepted their death. My rage was indescribable.

“What do you think you’re doing exactly,” I growled, bearing my fangs to the spawn.

“Master!” It expressed, clearly just now aware of my presence, “Master, she was trying to flee, I was only trying to stop her!” It was backing away from me, trying to prolong its pathetic life as long as possible.

“Really,” I said as I dashed forward taking its throat into my hand, “is that why your teeth marks are in her neck?”

“What? No, she begged me to keep her attempts to escape a secret and offered herself up in exchange for it! It wasn’t my fault, Master! I swear it!” It lied while attempting to free itself from my grasp.

I threw it against the stone of the castle, hearing a satisfying c***k as the wall shattered at the impact. Before it even had a chance to react I went in for another strike, this time relieving it of its left arm, a hissing scream escaping its body. It attempted to swipe at me with its remaining arm, but I claimed that appendage as well. It attempted to back away only to bump into the wall behind it fearing for its life.

“Kneel, now!” I ordered, watching as it fell to its knees before me, unable to resist my orders. I turned and walked to a nearby tree, snapping one of the branches before turning back around to face the waste of space before me, “I’m not certain what is worse, that pathetic fabrication of a story you attempted, or the fact that you admitted that you would betray your Master,” I snapped the branch in half, leaving two very sharp, stake like pieces of the wood, placing both into one hand, “either way, you have stolen from me,” I lifted its body up slamming it into the wall before driving one of the makeshift stakes into its shoulder, earning a agonizing scream as I pinned its body to the wall, “not only that but you nearly killed her bleeding her like that. Even if I were to kill you a hundred times over it would not be enough of a punishment,” I drove the other half of the branch into his free shoulder, earning myself another pathetic scream, “instead you are going to stay right here, starving, unable to heal yourself until eventually when the spring comes the sun rises once more where you will slowly burn until the wind carries away your ashes. Even then that will be too good for you, however, I have to fix what you’ve done and I would rather not have to waste another moment on you, so this will have to do. If anyone tries to free you, you are to beg them to leave you here, if you find yourself free then you will stay here until your last moments. I hope I’m understood, because if not, you will regret it.”

I quickly turned and pulled Roxanna into my arms. She was trembling and barely conscious. I had to act quickly before I lost her.

“Damnit,” I growled before biting my wrist and forcing my blood into her mouth before my wound closed. She swallowed my blood, then seemed to cling to me as though her life depended upon it before falling unconscious. She reeked of blood and death. Even in this state the scent of her blood was difficult to resist. It was a matter of time before other spawn would try to seek her out to feed. I quickly made my way back into the castle with her.

“I see why you’ve claimed her for yourself Master,” a blonde haired female spawn spoke, eyes dark with bloodlust, “though even I am currently finding it difficult to resist disobeying your orders at the moment. What can I do to help?”

“Bring bandages and something to help reduce the fever to her chamber door. You are not permitted inside. Feed if you must but keep all others away as well. Am I understood?” I ordered.

She looked over at Roxanna for a moment, “would you like some rags as well, Master? Or possibly some healing potions?”

“Bring everything you deem appropriate for dealing with her current state,” I said as I began to ascend the stairs. I could feel Roxanna’s temperature beginning to rise from a fever. I had to get her in bed quickly before too much damage could be done.

“Consider it done,” she said before disappearing to complete her tasks.