Dark Dominion

15.5 - Phoenix

Phoenix

[There is too much important information in this chapter to be called a side story – don't skip it!]

He let the door gently close behind him with a soft click. Phoenix's body was controlled, but his mind seethed, barely able to keep his anger in check. The boy knew how to stay composed. In this life, it was never wise to show the real emotions lying deep inside.

Isaac had dismissed him and forbade him from seeking him out in the future. This was going to be a problem...

"– oof"

Turning around to walk off quickly, Phoenix collided into a body. He stumbled back, but hands steadied him on his shoulders.

"Careful there." It was Ian.

"I'm sorry, sir." Phoenix lowered his eyes and slightly bowed his head in respect. The boy didn't think much of Ian, but he was still a vampire, even if he wasn't a noble.

Ian was exceptionally handsome – beautiful even, like all vampires, but he wasn't much taller than Phoenix himself, maybe just an inch or so. He also didn't exude the same kind of power that other vampires did. Simply being pretty shouldn't have been enough to be chosen – maybe that's why the secretary annoyed him. In his eyes, Ian didn't seem to possess much merit, but he supposed the man was efficient at his job.

After the obligatory apology and bow of respect, Phoenix simply walked on, and Ian resumed his path as well. It seemed they both wanted little to do with each other.

There was still some time before the sun would rise, and Phoenix wasn't tired yet. Most thralls slept during the day, as duty often occupied the night.

He decided to make his way to the thrall's common area, where a constant supply of delicious foods provided nourishment at any hour of the day. Hunger pricked at the boy, the usual side effect after being fed from (even if his master had only taken a dismal amount).

The place should be quiet and empty, with the others busy, and Phoenix preferred it that way. People were just too tiresome to deal with, and he had much to think about.

As he walked through the circuitous halls, his mind wandered to the other thralls Prince Isaac had had, the two that overlapped with his own time in the palace. The first was a woman that had been a thrall for five years before Phoenix's arrival, and the second was a boy that only managed to last seven months – he'd been almost fun to play with, shattered too easily...

They were like all the other high-end slaves – beautiful with good quality blood, and to Prince Isaac's taste, with eyes of blue. They'd also been mindlessly servile and completely uninteresting. The vampire prince had become bored of them and coldly released them.

Phoenix shuttered at the thought. The anti-venom was known amongst thralls, and feared. Uniquely formulated, using the master vampire's blood, its injection essentially disintegrated the venom within the thrall's body. An agonizing experience, taking days to recover from.

When the process ended, the thrall would be an ordinary human slave, with no chance to become a thrall again. It was strictly taboo to have another vampire's thrall, even a discarded one.

Phoenix was determined to avoid such a fate, by any means necessary.

He had worked hard for his stay thus far, keeping his master's interest by being brazen and unexpected and utilizing his life's training to the fullest extent.

He refused to allow an uncouth farm boy with no pedigree to ruin this.

Phoenix grew up in the Capital's finest breeding facility. His mother had been a pet to a noble, and his father was once a popular courtesan. The boy was crafted for aesthetics and taste.* He couldn't be compared to some accidental find who, by some fluke, nature bestowed rare blood and blue eyes.