Vampire Queen

Chapter fourteen

I slept peacefully in my bed. Daylight danced behind the windows.

I know I don't need sleep, nor are we vampires tired as humans, but sleep was a nice distraction from life. I liked to waste time immersed in dreams.

Someone put a hand over my mouth. I opened my eyes sharply. I thrashed, but he pressed me firmly to the bed.

"Be quiet or someone will hear us."

In the dimness of the room, I could make out Bael's features. I calmed down a bit, but I still had panic in my eyes. I was confused.

Lately, I have often been confused.

He slowly removed his hand from my mouth.

"Don't scream, Dragomira," he told me.

I didn't even plan to. I could barely find the words; they were falling apart on my tongue. Scream couldn't escape out of my throat.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, confused.

"I need you to come with me now. However, Cassius must not find out, so we will have to be discreet," Bael replied.

"Why? Where are we going?" I did not understand.

"You'll see when we get there," he said.

He caught me in a vulnerable situation where I was still trapped between waking and dreaming. I obediently followed him. Wherever he led me.

He led me through the deserted corridors of the palace. The guards were not at their posts. I didn't know these parts. Bael rolled back a large tapestry that hid a secret door. I followed him there. The stairs led us somewhere under the Red Palace. The thick darkness was broken only by the flickering light of the torch in the prince's hands.

"Where are we going, Bael?" I asked him.

"We'll be there in a moment," he replied.

I looked around the cold dark stone corridors. There were niches in the walls and stone coffins were stored in them.

"What kind of place is this?" I asked Bael.

"Tomb," he explained to me. "All our ancestors are buried here."

"So you come from royalty," I noted.

"Cassius was the heir to the throne. But he's stayed king forever since he's turned into what he is," said Bael.

"How did that happen? How did he become the first vampire?" I wondered.

"I do not know. All I remember is that he was so hungry that he slaughtered our entire family and almost everyone in the palace who didn't manage to escape. I'm the only survivor, and that's only because he turned me by mistake." he introduced me to their family history.

"I thought he turned you because he likes you like his brother," I said.

"We're brothers, we're family, but my transformation was pure coincidence because he didn't kill me," Bael said.

We walked on. We entered the circular room. In the middle were two sarcophagi. I carefully caressed the edges of the polished marble, as if my touch might awaken the dead that rested within them.

"Those are my parents," Bael told me.

I looked at him. Memories of the past were reflected in his face.

"Has Cassius always been like this?" I asked.

"Cruel? Narcissistic? Domineering?" he gave me a fleeting smile. "I have to admit that he was worse as a person. However, he likes to enjoy his power and likes to remind everyone of it."