Chapter 2
998 Words
2
The room was surprisingly lovely. Myckah had led me there and told me not to leave it. Though I don’t know how I could even if I wanted to. And I did want to. But I didn’t have super lock picking skills, so I just sat on the luscious bed and studied my surroundings.
Not one window in sight. There were three sets of heavy red curtains though. I’d checked behind them in the hope of some lovely sash windows, but there was just the brick blocking them.
The wallpaper was exquisite and I didn’t even like wallpaper. It was sort of oriental and done in black with swirls of red every now and then and some sort of tree done in soft gray.
Underfoot was the most luxurious carpet I’d ever seen. I hadn’t felt it yet and yes, I’d thought about discarding my shoes as soon as I’d seen it. On second thought I’d detained myself incase I needed my shoes to run.
Now there was no hope of escaping so I kicked my boots and socks of and slid off the bed.
The carpet was everything I’d thought. My toes sunk into the soft cream and I enjoyed the sensation perhaps more than I should have.
I paced around the room studying the art. They were expensive looking but then my eyes were no art critiques, how did I know. They could be straight from a market. Somehow Myckah didn’t strike me as the cheap, fake art type. Nope, it was labels all the way.
There was a heavy looking oak wardrobe against the far wall. There were tigers carved into the doors. Beautiful.
I wondered how much the interior of the place cost. More than my apartment I bet.
Just as I reached out for the ornate handles of the wardrobe, I heard a faint knock.
On turning I met a slender man. Not a vampire. So I frowned.
He laid a tray of food on the bed. And stood back straight, pushing his dark hair back.
“To keep up your strength,” he said simply.
“I’m not hungry” I replied indignantly
He shrugged in his silk suit. “It’s your choice but I think Myckah would prefer you to eat” then the man ran his eyes over me. I felt the need to cover myself.
“You could use the meal” he commented.
“Hey” I said.
He raised an eyebrow. “It was merely an observation. I meant no harm”
“How about you make no comments about me and I won’t comment on you”.
He frowned at me, “what is there to comment on?”
“Yeah, like your perfect” I pushed away his snide remark. “You’re not exactly Casanova”.
“Very well. We have a deal”
I nodded in agreement. The man turned to leave.
“What are you?”
“What do you mean what am I?”
“Well your not one of them, that’s for sure. But you’re not human either and you talk like them” I said.
“Very perceptive” I wasn’t sure if he’d complimented me or meant it as an insult, so I ignored it.
“I am Myckah’s familiar,” he explained
“I don’t really know what that is”
The familiar sighed and took a seat in a pretty armchair.
“It means I serve Myckah as his eyes and ears in the day time when he cannot go out. A familiar lives longer as does his master and gains power as well as giving power. A familiar ages quicker however than a servant”.
“Do you like it?” I questioned.
“A little personal don’t you think” he commented
I gave him a shrug.
“I bet you know quite a bit about me. Isn’t it fair I know something about you? I mean I don’t even know your name”
He watched me for a few moments then nodded.
“You can call me Ajax”
“Like the Greek hero?”
He chuckled “If you like”
“I’m Acacia like the flower, but I guess you already knew that”.
Ajax tilted his head and looked at me like I’d done something interesting.
What?” I asked
“You may ask your question again”
“Wha-oh. Okay. Do you like being a familiar?”
“Sometimes. It has its benefits, though it has its downsides too”
“Like what?”
“I had a family when I was given to Myckah. My wife and my son, they died and I live knowing they are gone” Ajax looked at me, his eyes haunted by a terrible past.
“Oh. I’m sorry” I replied a little lamely.
He smiled, “’twas many centuries ago”.
Ajax stood. “Eat something, it will make you feel better”. Then he left, locking the door.
I sat in silence for a while slightly befuddled. I’d never met a familiar before and now I’d had a personal conversation with one. What was more it wasn’t my personal stuff; it was his. I felt a little guilty about making the expression of sadness appear on his face and for making him remember his past, so I tried to eat a little of the food.
It was good soup, but I couldn’t really enjoy it knowing some one was looking to turn me out there. How did life get so complicated?
- Writer
