Page 2 of King of the Damned
I take a deep breath as the music begins for my next number and I step out into the town center. The satisfying sound of my pointe shoes hitting the stone ground echoes off the buildings nearby as I leap and turn. At the end of my number, I raise tall in a tight first position, my arms delicately poised above my head.
The applause begins before the music ends, and in a truly dramatic beginning to what I guess is the worst night of my life, the torches lighting the town center burn out. The crowd gasps in confusion.
Two sets of malicious red eyes appear in front of me, and they don’t even bother to cover my mouth to hide my scream.
Two
Kaius
The night is cool, a recent storm leaving the ground damp and the sky covered in thick gray clouds. These nights have always been my favorite.
The way the grass smelled so fresh, and how my home was always a bit cooler after a hot summer day. The first sip of crisp water from the basin. When I was a boy, the hours after a thunderstorm were always serene.
I swirl the thin layer of remaining blood-spiked wine around my silver goblet before bringing it to my lips. I stare out to the horizon, past the jagged rocks that rise high above the valley, towards the East.
I have done this every morning for centuries. I stand here in the hours before the sun crests over the valley, hoping that this will be the day the caress of the sun doesn’t burn my skin.
I’ve never had such luck.
My people know not to disturb me in these hours. It’s not forbidden, but the last person to do so ended up as ashes on the balcony, left to die in the dreaded sunlight.
Recognizing footsteps is a skill I’ve become far too good at. Though I can see perfectly fine in the dark, I’ve learned to rely on my other senses just as much as my sight. A keen ear sometimes reveals more than a keen eye.
It’s Dravon approaching. My long-standing ally. My right hand. Someone I trust.
“Dangerous game you’re playing this morning,” I murmur, only half-joking.
“Two worms in the prisons are requesting you meet them there. They claim it’s a matter of some urgency,” Dravon says, and I can hear the disgusted curl of his lip when he mumbles something about not being a messenger boy.
I tilt my chin in acknowledgment but don’t move my gaze from the horizon.
“They had a human with them,” Dravon adds as he steps to my side. “A tall, thin thing. I did not see her face, but she smelled–” an exhale of breath “–divine.”
I raise a brow. “They want an audience with me for new livestock?”
“Curiously, they were requesting livestock in reward.”
Finally, I let my eyes drift to the man at my side. I hand Dravon my goblet, and for the first time in nine hundred years, I turn my back to the sunrise.
Three
Kaius
The cattle cells smell of human waste and death. The mortals foolish enough to wander into vampire territory are captured and kept here until either they die or are claimed by one of my kind.
For some humans, to be claimed is the hope. Being kept as a blood slave has been fetishized, especially amongst those who have no roof over their heads or no food in their bellies.
Vampires keep their cattle well-fed. Malnourished blood leaves a foul aftertaste. Healthy blood is sweet, like fresh fruit, and savory, like slow-roasted meat.
Not that I can remember what those things taste like.
It’s been so long since I’ve tasted anything other than blood and wine. Sometimes I gaze at the human food in the kitchens, and as I do, my mouth salivates with the ghostly memory of a ripe berry or a well-seasoned duck.
I’ve spent the last millennium longing for the things I took for granted as a human, and the only reason I’m in this fetid dungeon is because, for the first time in all these years, there’s hope that I can have them back.
The air grows more stale with each silent step I take deeper into the tunnels. I can hear whispers echoing off the walls, but more importantly, I can hear the panicked flutter of an unwillingly captive human’s heart.
I hear a small whimper and the clank of human bones bouncing off the thick iron bars of the cells. I stick to the dark and pause behind a corner to watch two sallow, greasy vampires accost a woman in the cell.
