5 Chapter 05

She lit a lamp. It rested on the bedside table, and as the light from the window began to lessen, dimming the room, she felt the acute need to keep some form of illumination.. Not that the meagre light offered by the oil lamp was enough to calm the taste of fear that had begun to make itself known. Her tongue was heavy with it, her skin crawling with it. The light felt like a cheap kind of barrier, one for comfort but not for function. There was no way to stave off the inevitable, but the waiting was close to driving her insane.

Pacing around the room in agitation, she tried her best to calm her nerves. Swallow back the growing sense of dread. It only got stuck in her throat, a lump that began to choke her and impede her breathing. The air was thick with it now, even as it grew darker and darker, the last light of the setting sun quite gone. Cold sweat beaded on her forehead, but she did not bother to lift a hand to wipe it away.

Then she heard the door creak. In a whirl she turned towards it, heard the click of a key in the lock. With a sickening creak it slowly opened a slit, and she felt bile burn the back of her throat as she set her jaw and faced towards the opening. There was a rush of air, a moaning sound like the wind in the chimney before she felt a hand from behind her rest upon her shoulder.

The scream that left her throat was unrestrained as she spun on her heel to face the man who towered over her. Though she made an attempt to pull away from him, his hand easily gripped her and kept her in place, which was much closer than she would have liked.

He was every bit as handsome as he had been, perhaps more, pale skin complimented by black hair and bright eyes that glowed in the dark. He was beautiful, but in a dark and sinister kind of way, the allure to which frightened her. He was smiling, an eerie grin that showed just the hint of fangs beneath his perfect red lips.

"I was glad to hear you had awakened. I am told you have questions. Why don't you sit?" He gestured towards the bed, pulling her shoulder with a firm grasp that suggested his words were more than just a friendly invitation. His voice was pleasant and polite, but the undertone carried a note of warning. The understanding that he would not be quite so pleasant if she did not obey. Panic welling up within her, she cast a glance towards the door before allowing herself to be led to sit on the edge of the bed. He took a seat opposite from her, though his height was still impressive even seated.

"Now then, Miss Lenore, I hope that you are feeling well rested?" The polite inquiry after her health almost made her laugh, it was so incongruous with the situation in which she had been placed, but something else caught her attention.

"...You know my name?" The first question, her voice shaking as she vocalized it, her body stiff as she sat, straight backed, facing him. She would not allow herself to relax.

"I do make it my business to know about my own property." The indulgent smile was almost condescending, as though it had been a silly question and one he was merely humouring. That however was not as alarming as the idea of ownership, which she realized now upon reflection she had heard him say before, though she had been too overwhelmed at the time to take notice of it.

"Who are you?" She blurted the question out, knowing the answer already but wanting to hear the confirmation. His knowing smile was understanding, and as he inclined his head towards her she felt a shiver down her spine.

"My name is Lord Eldon Talton, though you may address me as Master. And I own your village, and everyone in it." As he spoke she felt herself beginning to calm, his voice laden with a richness that overwhelmed her senses. It was deep and inviting, though the understanding of his words were less than comforting.

"But that is not the question that weighs upon your mind." The sympathetic observation sent a chill down her spine. The acknowledgement of the more pressing matter caused her to second guess herself. The feeling of dread within her returned with a vengeance, her stomach doing flip flops as she breathed what was truly nagging at her.

"What are you?" Hey eyes lingered upon his perfect lips. They were bright and vibrant, and carried a sensual appeal that she found rather compelling. But she well remembered the fangs that the creature in the cellar had bared, the horrible hiss of animalistic ferality. The inhuman way that the two had fought each other, and the terrible feeling of teeth breaking her flesh. He laughed then, a deep sound that at once frightened her. He nodded as though pleased the question had finally been breathed, breaking the invisible yet very potent tension that had lingered between them.

"My kind have been known under many titles and monikers over the centuries. None of which would mean much to you. We are in between death and life, as you understand them at any rate. We are..." He leaned towards her, a hand darting out to gently caress the side of her cheek. She felt a sudden chill fill her body at his touch, and flinched away from him, at the same time as she focused very intently upon his words.

"...the Masters of this world. We rule from the shadows, beyond the borders of your villages. It is my duty and responsibility as the Lord of your village to make certain that you and yours are safe, in good health, and satisfied with your lives."

She frowned, her mind going over what she knew of her life in the village. And then, the image of that terrifying creature in the cellar crept upon her again and her lips parted to question him.

"Is that why people died at the hands of that.. that... whatever it was? Whatever you are!" She stood up swiftly, wanting to put distance between them. She didn't like where the conversation was going, or the answers that she felt were inevitable. He did not react to her outburst, simply watching her intently with a smile of the utmost patience worn on his marble features.

"That was... regrettable. I came to deal with the problem as soon as it came to my attention... I do apologize for not having it dealt with in a more timely fashion. He was a subject of mine, and his actions were selfish and rash. I assure you that your villages safety is one of my utmost concerns."

She felt herself shaking as she listened. He was not denying that he and the other were of the same kind. She felt a pit growing deep in her stomach, tasted bile in the back of her throat as waves of dread washed over her. Slowly she began to back away from him, not daring to steel a glance at the door behind her. His gaze followed her movements carefully, like a wolf gauging its prey.

"My... my best friend died because of him! And you... what did you do to me..." She grasped her wrist in her hand, feeling the bandages rub painfully against the healing wounds beneath. He stood then, his looming figure moving closer to her, her breath hot and loud, filling the silence of the room. She looked up at him, resolutely facing him even as her voice trembled. "Are you going to kill me?"

He chuckled and shook his head, eyeing her with a playful kind of amusement. "That entirely depends upon your behaviour..." His voice was barely above a whisper, a tantalizing wisp of a sound, drawing her in and forcing her to pay close attention to his words. "But no, I don't think I will.... not unless you displease me very, very greatly." He cast a playful wink that only served to disturb her further, the languid smoothness of his voice doing nothing to calm her now.

"Why am I here?!" she demanded, her hand reaching behind her to feel for the doorknob. Felt herself backed into it, his hand reaching out to run idle fingers through her dark locks.

"In exchange for my peoples protection, my dear, we must exact some form of payment. I have put down that which threatened the lives of your fellows. They will sleep easy now, and soon forget that there were ever any untimely deaths. In exchange for my protection, your blood is forfeit. It belongs to me. It always did, and now I claim it." As he spoke it seemed as though a darkness grew across his face, causing his beautiful features to twist into something much more menacing.

The doorknob rattled in her grasp. He didn't seem to notice... or if he did, he wasn't trying to stop her, which only made her fear all the greater, her throat constricting around a hard lump of dread. His hand placed firmly on the door beside her head, boxing her in and keeping her in close proximity to him. "You are here to be my blood slave. To sate my appetite and my thirst. My pretty, pretty prey." His hand moved to touch her, fingers lightly grazing the curve of her shoulder where her neck met her collar bone, and in that moment, she screamed.

It was a guttural, primal kind of wail of fright as she helplessly twisted her fingers around the knob behind her, throwing the door open backwards with all of her weight as she spun out of his grasp and crashed into the hallway. It wasn't graceful, and it wasn't planned. It was a movement that sent her careening and stumbling, her feet barely keeping her upright as the door swung open. She had half expected it to be locked again, or at least to offer up some form of resistance, but it had opened in an easy and fluid motion that took her off guard.

He did not seem surprised, and betrayed no reaction upon his face. It was maddening how he watched her, so impassively, and it worried her. Her face grew flush with frustrated anger as she stumbled out into the hallway, taking off at a full tilt run. Her throat burned from the effort, as she launched herself down the corridor to the rhythm of her own heart beats, feet pounding in time with each thrum of blood pumped through her veins.

He did not seem to be following. Why wasn't he following? It perplexed her even as she ran, finding herself at the beginning of a large and ornate staircase. The rest of the mansion was every bit as lavish as the room she had been confined in, she realized, but she did not have time to admire the architecture. Her mind raced as she gripped the railing, her feet pattering in a flurry of motion down the steps as fast as they could move.

When she reached the bottom, several flights of stairway behind her, she stumbled into the corner of the banister and heaved, her stomach rejecting the turmoil of emotion and adrenaline as much as the food she had had earlier. The half digested meal tumbled up in a lurch, but did nothing to quell the nausea she felt as she made her way through the house. A door loomed ahead of her, the stairs having apparently lead straight to the front entrance. Her heart skipped a beat as she ran towards it, hands reaching out to forcefully push at the handles.

Locked. Of course. She felt another wave of despair induced nausea as she spun around, eyes casting about the room in a desperate attempt to find another escape route. That was when she heard the steps on the stairs.

He was descending with slow and even steps, with a nonchalant air that told her that he fully considered himself to have all the time in the world. And she believed it. His even, unconcerned progress only made her heart beat faster, as though a countdown had started to her imminent demise and her own body was alerting her to passage of time.

Thump thump thump

Run! Run! Run!

Each step he took made her stomach turn. Her blood felt cold in her veins as she took a sharp, painful breath and ran again, darting down a side hallway. There was a splitting pain in her side now as she forced herself to keep going, running on pure adrenaline as her weak body protested the unusual amount of physical exertion. Within minutes she had found a door to a side passage. It was not locked. Not locked, good. She wasn't even thinking anymore about finding a way out, just of the instinctual need to keep moving.

The air was darker here. While the rest of the mansion was dimly lighted, strange fireless lanterns that she hadn't had a moment to pause to consider, there was no light source down this passage. It sloped downwards, and the air felt colder the farther down she went. She began to feel that she had chosen the wrong direction, but when she turned to go back the way she came, she found that she could no longer find the door she can come through. It was gone, swallowed up by the darkness around her. And then, as she turned around again to get her bearings, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and she screamed, once more face to face with Lord Talton. She pulled away, and ran blindly, but this time he was upon her in seconds. His grip on her arms held her quite close, his fingers clenched hard enough to bruise flesh. Screams of terror became gasps of pain as she struggled to free herself, attempting to wrench herself from his grip to no avail.

"Let go let go of me!" She screeched, a shrill voice that shook with a heady mixture of rage and hopeless fear. In the dark all she could see were his eyes, bright and compelling, an almost soft and comforting quality to them, and his teeth. Sharp fangs, light from his eyes shining off of their bright white surface, a menacing horror that made her quake with despair.

"Husshh..." he breathed, "You have made a good attempt, nobody could possibly fault you. But there is no escape for you, not now..." His lips pulled a sinister grin across his teeth, and she found herself staring into his eyes. His eyes were comforting, unlike looking at those horrible, horrible fangs... Yes, his eyes were soft. She could trust those eyes, not the teeth, but the eyes...

As she gazed into those eyes his voice wrapped around her like a lullaby, warm and inviting. His honeyed tones were like music, and she drank it in, relaxing in his arms. Relaxing made the pain go away, his grip no longer quite so punishing now as she did not fight it. She felt the world slip away from her, the darkness around her was so soft, and soon not even his voice was apparent.

For the second time in a very short period of her life, she felt darkness envelop her.