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Chapter 21

The halls were made of black marble. The slight breeze bit at his naked body. He had no idea where he was, how he got here, or when he arrived. He just found himself walking aimlessly through these freezing halls. He wanted to know where he was going and why he was here. His goal right now was to find someone or something. The most frightening part was not knowing who he was.

So far there had been no doors, windows, or anything...just halls. They were illuminated, but he couldn't determine from where or what. He lost himself in thought again. He tried to remember anything, but to no avail. Where he had been or what he had been doing before was non-existent to him.

He found himself standing in a large room all of a sudden. It was devoid of everything except for a throne. As he neared, something began to shimmer in the seat. He froze in mid-step as fear grabbed him.

The shimmering began to take form. Whatever it was, it was not human. He took a few steps back and stared at the monstrosity. Its torso was of a muscled male. The upper arms were of a male and the two lower ones were serpentine. Its legs were deformed and covered in wool and it stank of old blood.

There were two jaws that protruded to the left and right. They were as close together to the center as possible. The nose was pushed up like a pig's and short steamy breaths escaped it. The eyes were a red fluid that seemed to be boiling like water. The scalp was also covered as the legs were. The ears protruded like a bat's and they seemed to twitch with every sound.

Two serpentine tongues flicked out from between the sets of lips simultaneously. The thin lips parted to allow the forked muscles to lick over rows of fangs, just to slide back in to be sealed into their separate voids.

"Welcome to the Hallway to Hell," it said in a deep guttural voice. The two mouths moved as one. "I am Darkon. You belong to me as I do to you.

It is understood that your behavior is forced and not necessarily by your own free will. Nevertheless, it is your choice.

"You were an exception to the rule. The last stage of your transformation was death. Unfortunately the last step was not completed until recently. What has to be shall always be. You bent the laws of the supernatural. A human is not allowed to possess such powers without sacrifice. You were a living human and yet you lived as a supernatural. There is always loss with gain and you lost nothing until now.

"Don't understand this as that you are going to hell. It may be just the contrary. Although I will do my best to bring you there. You as an individual may fight to stay out. Afterall, death for you now would be a mistake made by you." Hiss eyes began to glow a bright red.

"As mentioned before, death was the last stage, then you should have come here to meet me, the little devil inside you. I could have answered any questions you might have had," Darkon explained.

"I'm not understanding what you're talking about," he admitted. "I don't remember anything."

"You aren't supposed to remember anything. I'm supposed to inform you of facts and it's best when you have a totally clear mind. The reason why you are here is because most vampires end up in hell anyway. This is just to show you what to look forward to.

"Keep in mind that feeding upon something is not a sin, but killing your own kind is. You were human once, but now you are something more...much more. This will all be clear to you," he explained.

It felt as if a radio had been turned on inside Darek's head. His mind was flooded with realizations. He shook his head in attempt to lessen the noise. It didn't work.

He remembered being shot at the airport. He felt no pain now though. "I've been stabbed before and I didn't die," he argued. "So what's the difference in being shot?"