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I looked up at the imposing castle enshrouded in mist. This was what the last eighteen years of my life have been building up to; finding the vampyre that plagued our village and killing him. I had trained incessantly for years and yet I still felt unprepared as I stood alone in front of the tall wooden doorway. Taking a halting breath, I slung my arrows over my shoulder before entering through the large, pretentious door that barely made a sound as I pushed it despite how ancient and rusted it looked. I felt a shiver pass over my body as I entered the dwelling of the murderer and immediately knocked back an arrow, suddenly feeling jumpy and paranoid that he could he anywhere, doing anything and I breathed again, attempting to calm myself before continuing down the large stone halls that made my footsteps echo all around me. Every door I passed was almost identical to the entrance but on a smaller scale and every single one was barred shut, blocking me out from almost every room in the castle. He could be hiding behind one of these doors. But, strangely, I didn’t feel as though he was and so continued on, getting closer and closer to what would have been considered the servant’s quarters when this place was a grand palace for royals instead of just one cursed man.
I stumbled across a door that wasn’t barred by accident and although there was no sound emanating from it I knew it was where he was lurking, the vampyre. I pulled my arrow back further, my muscles straining with the effort before rounding the corner of the doorway and entering the room. What I saw shocked me; I was expecting an old man in a heavy cloak with a drained victim sprawled over the floor in front of him but what I saw instead was a young man with dark hair and eyes sat casually on a chair, resting his bare feet on the large dining table in front of him. He was dressed finely but at some point had removed his jacket and shoes so he was left looking a lot more informal than he had probably intended when he first dressed. He was swirling red liquid in a wine glass and as I entered his eyes flickered up to me, penetrating right through me.
“Not another one.” He sighed, setting his glass on the cracked and bare table. His voice was crisp and rang through my ears with surprising clarity. I felt for a moment as though I should bow, as if I were in the presence of nobility.
“They attempt this every decade or so, you know. Your people. They never learn.” He explained to me, tipping his head to the side, watching me like a cat eyes its prey before it pounces. He was not in the least bit fazed by my weapon that was pointing directly at his head.
“I suppose if they never hear from their sacrifice again they never know the mistakes that they make.”
I bit my tongue, watching him carefully as he stood up slowly, his poise the very definition of elegance. His shabby surroundings starkly contrasted this air of grace that he held and it made me feel almost… sorry for him. A man so refined finding himself stuck in a place like this, crumbling and falling to ruin around him as he never aged.
“You know those quaint little arrows can’t hurt me, don’t you?” He spoke to me patronisingly as I didn’t chat back at him. “Luckily for you, I’m not very hungry. So, run along back to your village and profess what a horror I was and vow never to return.”
Whether it was the shame of being talked to like a child or my strained muscles, I suddenly let my arrow fly directly towards his head. In reflexes faster than I could observe, however, he simply plucked the arrow from the air as if it were standing still and looked at me with an odd expression, as if he were amused. He snapped the arrow in two and sent the splinters of wood scattering across the floor, all while looking at me intently.
“You see? Your weapons cannot harm me, so flee.”
“Not until I do what I’ve been trained to.” I said through gritted teeth, knocking back another arrow.
“So the kitten talks.” He quirked a smile at me as I let loose another arrow which he caught with ease. “-And scratches. You must stop doing this, it’s going to become tiresome.”
I knew it was only the pull of a vampyre that drew me in so I was determined to stop being tempted before I drowned.
“I’ve been sent here to kill you.” I growled, as if that would somehow drive fear into him.
“And you’re doing a wonderful job, my dear. As good as all of your predecessors, I daresay, but I must admit you’re not what I was expecting.”
He started to approach me and I knocked back another arrow to warn him to stay back. I let my arrow fly as he continued to advance upon me but he caught it again, despite the narrowing distance.
“I must admit, you’ve got skill. Your aim is quite perfect. Tell me, do they pick their saviours at birth or when they reach eighteen?”
“Birth.” I answered shortly as he lowered my bow, never breaking eye contact with me as he drew closer. There was an undeniable attractiveness to his face now that he stood so close to me and I could feel his sexuality exuding from him, making my chest tighten and my breathing grow sharper. This was not in the plan.
“That explains it then. They’ve tried women on me before, but you’re ever so small and frail.” He continued. “I could break you in an instant.”
He impulsively gripped my neck and I inhaled sharply, the muscles of my neck straining against the palms of his hands as I automatically forced my hands against his chest but he didn’t budge. It was like pushing at a lead pipe rooted to the floor; tiring and utterly useless. He smiled mockingly at me and I caught a glimpse of his deadly fangs and I pushed even harder but it was to no avail. There were so many things he could do to me in this compromising position… and yet, he did nothing that I was expecting. He didn’t snap my neck; he didn’t bite me. He kissed me.
With suffocating intensity, he captured my lips onto his, keeping one hand on the back of my neck while the other scrabbled at my waist, pressing me closer to him in an arch as he was so much taller than me. I never felt so unprotected than in the arms of a vampyre as I was completely and utterly falling for him and the only person to blame was myself. His sexuality, his passion, his face was drawing me in like a deadly flytrap and I was about to become its victim if I stayed much longer.
I was breathless as he released me and I could hear my pulse in my ears, loud and monotonous against the burning lust in the vampyre’s eyes as he very slowly lowered his arms.
“I can hear your heartbeat.” He whispered, licking his lips. I tested the water, stepping back slightly and when he didn’t lunge after me I ran back down the corridors as fast as I could. I thought for a moment that he might play a sadistic game of chase with me but I made it all the way to the main entrance and out of the door unscathed and didn’t stop running until I returned to my village.
*
I woke with a start in the middle of the night and thought I could see a pale, masculine face at my window but when I blinked it was gone. Just a figment of my imagination. When I had returned to my village without the head of a vampyre they all turned on me, believing that I hadn’t actually faced the vampyre and I had been insistently heckled and jeered at. Every shred of proof I had they tore to pieces and I was forced to face the daunting prospect of visiting the castle again, this time with a mob of angry villagers following me in a grim procession. They were normally too scared to even go near the castle but an opportunity to humiliate someone was just too good to pass by.
So I stood the next morning in the dewy mist with all of the villagers surrounding me as we stood at the door of the castle. They had restocked my depleted arrow store despite my protests but had provided a small consolation for me as I was being forced back into the killer’s abode. I trudged up to the doorway, hiding my fear as best I could, but turned just before I entered, surveying the bloodthirsty crowd.
“Know that it is all of you who have killed me.” I spoke darkly before entering the castle and closing the door behind me. The peace was actually a pleasant repose from what I had to endure in the village and my fears actually calmed slightly because of it. Then I remembered why I was there. I could feel the vampyres’ pull emanating from upstairs this time so I ascended the grand staircase embroidered with cobwebs before turning left and continuing down the lengthy corridors. Similarly to my last visit, all of the doors were barred, save one and I entered this room with little to no apprehension.
I realised my fatal mistake however, as I took in my surroundings. It was an opulent bedroom swathed in red velvet and, standing out like gashes against a scarlet canvas, were four pale figures occupying the four-poster bed. My target was reclining on the centre with his arms outstretched and I was loathed to admit that he was naked from the waist up. He was being fed some kind of deep red liquid from a wine glass by a young beautiful woman, but the consistency was thicker than wine; blood. It dripped out from the side of his mouth and left a mar on his perfect porcelain face that shone in the candlelight.
There was another woman, equally as stunning as the one before and she was resting her hands on his bare chest, drawing lazy patterns over it with her fingernails while staring intently at him drinking. The third woman was sprawled sideways across the bed, her wild, untamed mess of hair fanned over the sheets and she rested her arms over his pelvis, just at the hem of his trousers. All three girls were dressed in identical thin cotton tunics and all seemed to be infatuated with the vampyre.
The moment I entered the room all three of them hissed and I could see their profiles clearly; one was dark haired with dark eyes, rather like the vampyre himself. The other was the complete opposite with blonde hair that shone in the candlelight and blue eyes which made her look the most innocent of the three, meaning she was definitely the most lethal. The final one had wild, untamed red hair and barely glanced at me before turning her adoring gaze back to the vampyre.
The creature in question merely stared at me idly, a smirk pulling at his lips as I hesitated, deciding what to do next. My mission this time was not to kill him; I was not still so naïve as to believe that my arrows could hurt him. My mission this time was have him kill me. So I drew back my bow and let my consolation fly; the silver arrow was difficult to control as I’d never handled it before but I aimed it at his head and by some fluke it flew towards its target. He caught it when it was within mere inches of his forehead, no doubt trying to impress the ladies around him.
“A silver arrow?” He mocked me, throwing the object to the ground with a clatter. “We’re not werewolves, you know.”
Silently, I knocked back another arrow and he sighed, looking to the ceiling. As he did so, the woman to his right licked the side of his mouth to catch the remaining blood that had been lingering there. He didn’t seem to notice.
“I thought we had been over this. Your arrows can’t hurt me.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” I asked desperately, gesturing with my bow. “They don’t believe that I’ve faced you because you haven’t killed me. I’m not leaving until you kill me.”
“Where would be the fun in that?” He started to get up and all of his women whined in protest but he ignored them, coming to kneel on the edge of the bed as I tried desperately to keep my eyes on his face instead of his naked torso. He could sense my struggle however and grinned, baring his teeth simultaneously.
“Of course, you’re still very close-minded aren’t you, little village girl? Come here, let me expand your mind.” He spoke sensuously, deliberately playing to the weaknesses I had in his presence and he extended his arms inviting me onto the bed with him. I twitched, nervously glancing to the three women who were now draped on top of one another and were staring at me like I was about to accidentally step on a poisonous snake.
“Drop your weapons. Come on.” He urged me, his mouth parting as he stared at me expectantly. Reluctantly, I dropped my bow and quiver and approached the bed, taking his cool hands as he helped me up onto the plush surface. He led me onto my knees to match his position and held me deliciously close, his hair tickling my forehead and his beautiful torso a breath away from mine.
I blushed deeply before my senses returned and I surreptitiously reached into my holster, wrapping my hand firmly around the knife that I had slipped into my pocket upon my return to the village. I knew those useless arrows wouldn’t work so I had stolen something more effective; well, I presumed it to be more effective. He would probably intercept my attack and I would die for my arrogance but I’d rather that than become one of those three women whom he adores for the first few days but barely notices once he’s had his fill.
“Are you worried about the girls?” He asked, wrongly placing my anxiety. “You needn’t fear them, they’re only curious. They don’t see people often. Well, alive, anyway.” He breathed, his apparent sexuality starkly contrasting the brutal connotations of his words. He lunged at me abruptly, kissing me fiercely while I tried to squirm away but he spread his hands over my back, keeping me firmly in place. Forcing me to kiss him against my will was the test and I was now determined to go through with my plan. Impulsively, I pulled the knife out and plunged it into his abdomen, an obvious target as he was so close to me. I could feel the skin slice beneath my blade, plunging it deeper until I had it buried up to the hilt into his chest. He hissed, pushing me onto my back and I simultaneously pulled the blade out, my hand now soaked in his blood.
“Why you cheeky little…” He scolded me but not angrily, it was as though he was telling off a small kitten that had bitten him.
I attempted to flee from the room but I only managed to reach the doorway before being accosted by the blonde women who threw me onto the floor and pinned my hands behind my back. She pushed her knee against my back also so that I was arched over it and my chest, but more importantly my neck, was exposed fully to the vampyre who was still on the bed, now being suckled on by one of his women. She had her head over the wound that I had inflicted and from my lowered vantage point I could see his fingers curled into her hair, gripping it tightly as his head was inclined towards the ceiling with closed eyes. When she removed her head the wound had completely vanished and the blood along with it. The only proof that I had stabbed him was my bloodied hands and blade that was now discarded onto the floor.
“She’s got guts, hasn’t she?” He asked the ladies surrounding us. “What shall we do with her?”
Please god, don’t let my judgement be decided by these heathens.
“Can’t we just drink her?” The crazy redhead kneeling next to him whined and he smiled, tipping her chin up to face him. I struggled against my captor while he was distracted but she didn’t budge.
“We said we weren’t going to do that, didn’t we?” He said softly and she pouted her lips. “Verona, why don’t we take her downstairs?”
He turned to the dark haired one who smiled evilly before glancing down to me with contempt. Downstairs? No-one ever kept anything pleasant downstairs. Especially in castles such as this.
“Downstairs? We haven’t taken anyone downstairs in ages!” The redhead clapped excitedly before rushing towards me, slapping the blonde woman off and scooping me up into a bridal carry. I struggled as we travelled but she pulled me tighter and stared down at me sweetly, pushing the hair from my face with a motherly gesture.
“Shhh, don’t struggle. That won’t help you.” She spoke down to me, grinning maliciously. She absently licked the vampyre’s blood that still stained my hand as we travelled through the lengthy corridors, going deeper and deeper into the bowels of the castle until we came across a large antechamber with bare brick walls and cold air that caught in my lungs. There was a solitary chair at the centre of the room and chains hammered into the walls, all looking ancient and grim like this was some kind of elaborately decorated torture chamber. I had a feeling this place was genuine though, these chains really were ancient and used for grim purposes. This certainly looked like a place to die instead of in that elegant bedroom where my blood would have stained the sheets.
“Be good and you won’t end up there.” The crazy redhead woman said, noticing that I was eying the chair warily. She set me down against the walls and chained my arms so that they hung above my head before stepping back and admiring her handiwork.
“She looks delicious, doesn’t she?” A detached voice echoed around the room and I saw two more vampyres enter, the male vampyre’s arm draped around the blonde. The dark haired one was curiously missing from this quaint little scene.
His eyes alighted on me and he licked his lips, sending a shiver down my spine. He let the blonde go and she stared at me jealousy, crossing her arms over her chest as he walked over to me and kneeled over my legs, his knees pressing against my thighs as he pushed my chin up, extending my neck. His lips parted and I could see his fangs glistening in his mouth.
“How old would you say I am?” He asked me, deliberately playing with his food just to torment me.
“I couldn’t possibly say.” Was my attempt at a coherent answer with the killer sitting on my lap and exposing my most vulnerable area to the two of his species in the vicinity. I took a deep breath and tried again.
“You look to be twenty but there are people of eighty, ninety even in our village who have stories about you.”
“Stories? What do they say about me? That I’m a ruthless, cold-blooded killer?” He asked rhetorically, his eyebrows knitting together. “That is partly true. You see, my issue with being kept alive for so long is that I’ve found I can’t really feel things anymore. I only have two emotions; lust and hunger. I’ve come to discover that the two actually pair rather nicely together.”
He leaned down and kissed me fiercely, his hand winding up my arm to rest on my bound wrist while the other pulled at the back of my neck. It was getting harder and harder to remember my training concerning the pull of a vampyre, how they would appear more and more attractive in the time that you spent in their presence so it was better to dispatch them as quickly as possible as to feel no remorse when killing them. While he was growing more attractive by the second I was no closer to even forming a plan to kill him. Then a voice echoed around the room.
“I still think we should drink her.”
The vampyre released me as to look up at the blonde who was still pouting over the fact that he had chosen me over her.
“Would you rather I torture you?” He asked over his shoulder.
“If you call that torture, then yes.”
“Oh no.” The vampyre smirked, getting off of my lap and stalking over to her. “You know how I truly like to torture creatures like you. It would be deeply, deeply unpleasant.” He breathed in a throaty whisper before seizing the back of her head and kissing her roughly while she responded equally as passionately. It was the first time I had ever seen him intimate with one of his three girls and I turned away from the sight, slightly nauseated at the idea that he kissed every girl under this roof in that way.
“Let’s leave her here for a while.” He spoke softly to the blonde, running his hands through her hair. He beckoned for the redhead to join him on his other hip and they left the room side by side.
“Humans are so terribly fragile; won’t she go mad on her own?” One of the girls asked as they exited.
“Not if I only leave her for a few hours.” Was the vampyre’s answer. God. A few hours.
*
The vampyre left me for so long alone in that horrific room with no stimulus that I actually began to fantasise about him kissing me. I was falling for the brutal killer and what was worse is that I knew it was all a trap, a shiny thing to tempt me in before the cage snapped around me. My arms were tingling from the lack of circulation and the left was just beginning to go numb when he returned, now wearing a loose white shirt and un-accompanied by his women. He smirked at me as I struggled. I wasn’t quite sure whether he was planning to kill me; we were quite alone but he had chosen to wear a white shirt. Perhaps he liked to see the blood bloom over it as he fed.
“It’s a shame-” He spoke abruptly and my eyes very quickly focused onto his face. “-to see you so disheartened. There was such fire in your eyes as you were trying to get me to kill you.”
I didn’t answer but continued to stare at him, trying to unnerve him into some action, whether that be violent or otherwise.
“I’m thinking of letting you go.”
The words caught me so off guard that I blurted out the first thing on my mind.
“What?”
“Yes. Although I’ve devised a couple of provisos for you to follow. If you don’t agree, I’ll have to leave you to my girls.”
This was his elegant way of saying I had no other choice than follow his rules or I was to be torn apart by three jealous women. Quite literally.
He took my silence as acceptance.
“Firstly, you must return. I can’t bear the idea of not seeing your pretty face again.” I very much doubted that, but as I said earlier, I couldn’t refuse. “And secondly, I want you to kiss me. Of your own free will. Passionately. Unreservedly.”
‘Own free will’, how ironic. He eyed me with a dangerous and expectant look and my head fell back onto the wall in a resigned manner.
“I accept your terms. Will you free me now or in the foreseeable future?” I asked, hoping to avoid an easily placed trap he may have set.
“Immediately. Despite many other shortcomings, I am a man of my word, Miss.” He said in earnest, but I was still unsure of how much he told me was truthful.
He approached me, kneeling by my side to unchain my wrists and I felt uncomfortable about him being so close after fantasizing about him freely for so long. As soon I was released I stood up and stepped away from him, shaking my arm to try and swing some feeling back into it. I watched him warily out of the corner of my eye while he merely stared at me expectantly. My stomach knotted as I slowly looked to him properly, noticing his agitated hands and greedy eyes before squaring my shoulders and facing him confidently. There was no doubt he could still smell my fear but I thought it better over and done with than awkwardly tried to escape. A deal was a deal, after all.
The closer I got to him, the more I could imagine his hands running over my naked body and could feel his sexuality exuding from him once again. I bit my lip as I faced him, stopping when I felt I could get no closer but refused to look at him. My face was at the height of his chest and I mentally wondered how I was going to kiss him. Steeling myself from any downfall or embarrassment, I placed my hands on his chest, feeling the warmth and attraction emanating from it and I finally made eye contact with the creature, forgetting for a moment that I feared death and pressed my lips to his. I lacked passion and 'unreservedness’ but he very quickly took over, as I knew he would, crushing our bodies together with insurmountable force. His arm wrapped tightly around my waist and he tilted me back slightly, my eyes widening as I almost lost my footing and pulled him to the ground. Another arm reached to my waist to but started dragging lower subtly before outright spreading over my rear and squeezing lightly. I protested and pushed back from him, my objection enough to send me crashing back to the real world.
“I think that’s quite enough to earn my freedom.” I breathed heavily, noticing that he didn’t attempt to grab me as soon as I let go.
“Is the village girl afraid of a little intimacy?” He teased, drawing a finger over his wet lips. I was repulsed that he thought that might work on me, that treating me like a child would somehow make me want to rebel. His seduction may break me one day, I thought, but his manipulation wouldn’t.
“I think we had a deal.” I spoke firmly and he begrudgingly nodded, but secretly, I think, was rather impressed with my assertiveness.
He held out an arm for me to take and when I didn’t he looked back at me in an accusing manner. I stared back at him evenly, refusing to move, thinking myself strong but then he smirked and I knew he wasn’t going to just stalk ahead and expect me to follow. Instead, he turned to me, bowing ironically before looping his arm firmly around my waist. I intended to pull away but he had already started moving and his grip was firm. My 'strength’ had backfired and caused me to be in an even more compromising position than the one he offered initially.
He led me down the endless corridors which he seemed to know like the back of his hand until we arrived at the large, ominous doorway. He slowly unthreaded his arm from my waist and set me in front of the door. I expected him to open it for me by he didn’t, he merely stared at me as if mulling something over. Then, very suddenly, he swiped and I staggered sideways from the blow that he had inflicted on my neck. Breathing heavily and in some state of shock I held a hand to my neck and felt slightly dizzy from the crimson blood staining it. It stung like hell but the cut wasn’t too deep; for such an erratic move he seemed very adept at swiping to maim but not kill. I didn’t want to think about how he became so practiced.
In a business-like manner he took my pallid face in his hands and tilted it upright, stretching my wounds so I winced. He came very close to my neck before checking himself and quickly drawing back.
“What was that?” My breaths were still madly out of control but I tried to ask him in the most dignified manner I could muster.
“So they’ll believe you.” He said triumphantly, seemingly very proud that he managed to come up with such a clever plan. His hand absently wondered to his face as if he were going to lick his bloody fingernails clean before he started, clenching his fist and placing it firmly by his side again. Then he opened the door for me.
I walked past him cautiously, fearing another assault but the moment I was past him and out of the castle I started running and didn’t stop until I reached my village again.
*
I never intended to go back. I was met with praise and admiration when I returned to the village, I was finally welcome, I slept fitfully and easily for the first time in weeks. This mirage wavered before my eyes for only a few days before reality set back in. After visiting the vampyre everything in the village seemed so dull, all of the colours washed out and faded before my eyes. Then there was the pull of the vampyre on top of that; I’d suddenly get the irresistible urge to trek back to the castle just to see his face again, I’d hear his voice in my ears and sometimes, late at night, I’d fancy I could see a pale face at my window only to start up and find it gone. All of this with our deal niggling in my brain, wondering whether if I left it long enough he’d take me back to the castle by force. Or maybe he’d forgotten me already.
A week passed like this and the urge was becoming too incredible for me to resist. I to see him again. I didn’t care anymore about life or death, not that I really cared before. I was expecting to die weeks ago.
I packed my bag in the middle of the night, anxious to avoid questions or interruptions and travelled to the castle, hesitating when I reached the doors, affirming that this was, in fact, what I wanted. I didn’t bother to knock, I merely heaved the door open and slipped inside.