The Dead of Night

Infirmary

Chapter Thirty Three: Infirmary 

"...It's those demons" the Vampire said, at length, his breath returning to him, even though he really didn't need to breathe. "The shrieking, I mean." he clarified, beginning to survey the small room which kept us safe with a peculiar fascination; his eyes drew over every nook and outlandishly studied every fissure with an  intricate computation, nearly causing him to take up the air of a snobbish connoisseur of only the finest sculptures. "Surveying the rocks, my dear, it appears as if we are stuck beneath several tons of the cavern walls--in other words--we will not be escaping anytime soon." Finished he, reaching out a snowy hand and gently caressing the rock beside us as one would carefully touch a lover. 

"I'm completely fine with that! You need to heal and I really don't feel like dying today; I've already died once." Said I, more exasperatedly than I would've fancied to say it. A chuckle rumbled from the Vampire's chest before he began to fall limp, resting from such a strain. His eyes remained their drooping, half closed position, and his mask appeared as if it were ready to fall off! His hair was messy and his clothes were either ripped or coated in a layer of muck from the walls and kicked up dust from the debris. "Why do you wear the mask?" Asked I, breaking the 'silence' between us (the 'silence' being screams from both inhabitantance of Vampire Mountain and the demons alike!) 

"Because I need it" 

"Why do you need it?" Asked I, my hand laying upon his chest. Here we go again with the curving answers!

"That, my dear, is not essential for you to know." 

"Oh, come on! Please?" I asked, as sweetly and gently as I could, bobbing my head down a little to catch a glance of what laid beneath the black mask. 

"No" he replied simply.

"Fine....then, what is beneath your mask?"

"My face"

"May I see it, please?" I took pause, a small smile weaving its way onto my lips. "...Master?" Added I; his eyebrows raised at my chance of tone and the smirk from the Emperor's office once again wormed it's way to his lips, twisting them upwards. 

"Well, my dear, when you put it that way.....no." He answered, winking to me, I narrowed my eyes. "I appreciate the sentiment, really, I do." He added, growling the last bit in my ear, causing a rocking chill to shoot up my spine, sending that same chill to all of my extremities. "However, no one owns the knowledge of what is beneath my mask besides myself, and I would like to keep it that way."

"Monsieur Levevre doesn't even know?" I blurted out, this was met with the shake of the Vampire's head. 

"Not even he." 

*** I was dozing on the Vampire's chest, lulled by the up-and-down motion of his breathing; in my mind's eye the vision of a shining beach with perfectly white sand came into view. The water was crystal clear and lapped gently against the slope of sand; Palm trees dotted the farther end of the beach and every once in a while a crab would scuttle from the water into it's home in a dune. The sun was bright and gave everything a glow that could warm even the coldest of hearts! The air smelt of a mixture of sea salt, ocean flowers, and the tropical aroma of sunscreen; all forming together to create the perfect paradise fragrance, which ran about me and twirled through my hair, which was shoved off of my shoulders by a tickling wind. 

I had been standing, but, I wasn't burning! No, I opened my arms towards the sun, with my eyes closed and my face upturned, contentedly soaking up the crepuscular rays which seemed to focus upon me as if they were lights on a stage. 

However, I was broken from such a warm daydream by the Vampire's chuckling, which broke the cycle of soft waves lapping upon my imaginary beach! Opening my eyes, groggily, his smirk came to my vision first. "What?" I groaned, however, I realized, there was more light on his face than before! A-And the air didn't feel stuffy and as if I was sucking in dust every time I inhaled! I brought my head up and glanced about, only to find that, indeed, I did still lay upon the Vampire's chest, but, we were in a room! Not the small room where we were trapped by rocks, but, an infirmary looking room!