The Cursed Castle

The Devil's Tale

Lucifer the devil had two sons, Ivor and Fergus. Though Ivor was older he loved Fergus the more and when the time came to choose a successor, he chose Fergus, his beloved.

Ivor's fury burned hotter than hell's flames. He had stood by his father all the days of his life and had taken good care of all that was left under his care while Fergus cared less about his responsibilities.

Fergus had always been the irresponsible one of the two. He always left all the tasks of decieving and misleading people from God to Ivor while he partied and got drunk with all the female demons within his reach.

It was only right for Ivor to take the crown of his father but the devil being the devil had never stood for what was right and so Fergus was given power. Ivor was angered, he wanted it all. And because of his fury, lucifer cursed him - He would never in any generation to come be able to return to hades. He was sent away with the power of the dragon as a parting gift.

Fergus' descendants are the demons. These are the rightful descendants of lucifer. While Ivor's descendants are the Vampires. The demons were ruled by Lucifer and Fergus while the Vampires were ruled by the dragon-incarnate, Ivor. The demons had access to their full powers all round the day but vampires only had theirs from twilight to the sun's first reveal. During the day their powers were minimal.

Demons could live thousands of years without eating but vampires had to eat and also drink blood to stay strong. Hence when starved they became weak. Demons generally lived much much longer than vampires. In these ways the demons were superior to the vampires. Both races loathed themselves but somehow... Artemis was born.

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Artemis followed the scent of blood. It had been ages since he tasted human blood. Human blood was the purest form of blood for vampires but all these while only vampires had been sacrificed to him. He even got sick of their blood and never did anything with it. The demon part of him had kept him alive for the past 4 years. But this blood, this blood he smelled was peculiar. It was definitely human but there was also something different and unique about it.

The scent of her blood revived his once undying thirst. Skyler was soon to know this but for now she was trying her very best to get into that room. The door to a room on the second floor of the castle was left ajar and there was blue light carefully seeping through the opening The second floor of the castle looked very peaceful unlike the first and ground floor. It was like the monster king kept all his battles down stairs while the second and third stories were quiet and peaceful like a sanctuary.

Skyler had found the stairs and had also managed to get to the first base of the stairs right above the golden chandelier. She was so focused on getting to the second floor she didn't realize that the chaos in the castle had stopped. The castle was quiet now and the fire was no more. She also didn't notice the vampire-demon following her quietly with a smirk on his face.

*****

Artemis followed her scent till he came to the hallway where she had gotten injured. Her scent was stronger here and just then his silver blue eyes rested on a broken vase on the floor. There was blood all over it which could only mean that his meal was injured. Picking up a blood stained piece of the vase, he brought it close to his nose, taking a deep breath he shut his eyes and savoured the sweet unique scent of her blood. He grinned.

Moving closer he found her trying so hard to climb the seemingly never ending steps to the second story. He was shocked. No one who had come into the castle ever had such resolve to survive. They all almost surrendered themselves to him. But here she was, a weak and fragile human, doing all she possibly could to survive even when she knew most of her efforts were useless since he could always catch by tracing her scent. 'Well... At least she makes the whole killing game interesting' he thought to himself and continued following her quietly.

****

Skyler froze in shock when she realized how silent the castle had become. It could only mean two things. The others were dead and the monster king was yet to find her. 'had he really not found her?'. Doubt arose in her head. She found it almost impossible to believe even though that should have been good news for her. Her fears were soon confirmed when she felt a dark cold aura behind her. Her heart sunk. 'could this be my end?' she thought. With all the energy left in her, she stood upright and turned around.

Atermis watched her, still masking himself in the shadows. He was surprised to see her still stand like nothing happened even after she had suffered a major injury and lost a lot of blood. From his past experiences, she was supposed to be lying somewhere by now helpless and weak just praying and waiting for death by his hands but here she was acting like she was ready to challenge him. He chuckled evily.

Skyler heard him laugh and rather than being scared she shouted..

"I know you're there show yourself".

There was no bit of fear in her voice which surprised her. She wasn't the only one who was taken aback because the vampire demon in the dark had a shocked expression on his face and then it disappeared a few seconds later like he was forbidden from showing emotions.

Seeing that he said nothing nor came into view skyler spoke again.

"Why do you still hide?"

"You couldn't possibly be scared of a woman. A human at that"... She continued.

But it seemed like the god of silence was sitting close because Artemis made no move.

This was really frustrating for Skyler. She was certain he was there but why wasn't he doing anything (not that she was eager to die). Her brows creased in disappointment.

Artemis was once again shocked. 'Did this woman want to die so badly? why?'.

Her next statement nearly made him freeze