Entertaining the Vampire King

Sorted Past

I had been lonely without Thaddeus' company. Was I that attached to him already? No. I just missed human interaction, and I suppose he was the best second choice.

I decided to take this time to look around his chambers. Surely he wouldn't know if I had touched anything? I would be careful.

There were two large dressers in the room filled with clothes. There were two additional doors not locked like the one being guarded. They were a bathroom chamber and a storage room.

The bathroom chamber was large, nearly as large as the room itself. It was lined with smooth stone that felt soft on my bare feet. There were two tubs, each big enough for two people. They raised a few feet from the floor, deeper than any I had seen in my life. I couldn't wait to take a burning hot bath.

The window was much larger here. It was square, and overlooked the dawning garden. The sun would make its appearance soon, lighting the beautiful courtyard. All I wanted to do was lay in the grass and stare at the clouds. 

It was nearly sunrise and Thaddeus hadn't returned. I couldn't help but worry about him. I laughed at myself, thinking about the monstrous creature I was worrying about. I should have been worrying for myself.

My thoughts trailed to Mary. She was one of them as well, but so different. She kept her human demeanor. She seemed nearly normal.

Was it possible I had met a vampire before? There wasn't much difference. They were beautiful... and somewhat cold to the touch. There was still so much I didn't know, and what ever did Thaddeus mean by nature's balance? The questions plagued my mind fiercely.

"Ayla?" I heard a familiar voice call. I felt nearly giddy inside. What was wrong with me? I walked into the bedroom to see him rummaging through his dresser. His clothes were nearly tattered and he looked as though he'd been in a fight with something sharp.

"What happened?" I asked. I tried to keep calm.

"I told you that I feed on animals as well as humans, correct?"

"Yes..." I was confused.

"Well, some animals fight back." He chuckled. I stared at his shirt. It was stained with blood.

He turned away from me and removed his shirt. I trailed my gaze down his bare body and noticed some odd marks on his lower back. They were solid black, and made a strange contouring pattern trailing down below his pants. I hadn't noticed them before.

"What are those?" I asked.

"What?" He answered, not turning. He rummaged through some blouses.

"On your back. Those marks." He stiffened at my words.

"You see marks?"

"Yes?" Did he not know they were there? Strange.

"Where are they? What color?" He asked, holding still. My confusion grew.

"They're black, and they're here." I touched his cool skin, tracing my hand down his back. He hissed quietly at the touch of my skin. It was all I could do to not continue to touch him. I stepped back, removing my hand.

Thaddeus turned to face me. His eyes were wide, with a confused expression. He stepped so close to me I had to take another step back to brace myself with the invasion of his body.

"Ayla, do you know when your birthday is?" He asked softly. I nodded, taken aback by the sudden change of subject. Perhaps his marks were sensitive to him.

"The 24th of July. Very soon I'll be 18." I smiled. His face was stricken with something I couldn't make out.

"Ayla I am going to tell you a story. A story of monsters." He said, motioning for me to sit. He put his hand on the small of my back and guided me towards the bed. He walked to the window where the sun had started to come up. He stood to the side and pulled a golden rope, releasing a black drape that completely darkened the room. I curled up into the fluffed pillows, trying to adjust my eyes to the darkness.

"I have been around a very long time." He said. I heard him slowly move around the room, pacing quietly.

"I have seen many things, and learned countless more. When I first became a vampire in 1292, I knew nothing of the world I had just become a part of." I held back a gasp. He was centuries old... I shuddered.

"I was a knight in the third crusade. We had finished a series of wars during those times. I had become quite good. I had seen countless amounts of blood, cruelty, and death. I wanted nothing more to do with it." He sighed. I felt his weight sit next to me, and I fought the urge to touch him.

"It was by sheer necessity that I became a monster. I was part of the mass amounts of soldiers sent to aid the Byzantine Empire. We were practically walking into death by thousands until someone changed the tide of the battle front. Over night, myself and a dozen other men had been attacked by a creature in the night. I'll spare you the excess. In short, we had been changed into vampires." I couldn't stop from shaking at the thought. He put his hand on my thigh. I calmed, steadying myself.

"We invaded the next night, creating a blood bath. We killed hundreds of men in a single night, and made way for the next round of troops. And we were left to deal with what we had become." His voice grew hoarse.

"Half of us died from exposure to the sun. The others learned, and came back to England under cover of night."

"The sun?"

"Yes, an unfortunate weakness. We will burn in the sun very quickly if exposed for too much time."

"And those of you that came back assimilated into society?" I asked shyly. Thaddeus chuckled before he spoke.

"Yes. But we were soon finding living after death was much harder than it seemed. We tried to return to our lives. I had a wife as did most of the men." Hearing about Thaddeus with another woman made me sad. Until I realized it was almost 500 years ago.

"What was her name?" I asked. His hand left my thigh and he began to pace again. He remained silent for some time before he finally spoke.

"Isabella. She was beautiful. We lived a happy life despite not being able to bear children. I accepted the fate of never having them." I fought back tears. I was deeply saddened for the life he had... and now here he was alone.

"Isabella learned of what I was, and she accepted me. I drank from animals to survive for many years, and we were at peace for some time. She aged while I remained the same. She died a few years later and I soon found myself alone and without purpose." His voice sounded hollow.

"That's the time in my life when the man found me. It was 1325. I was running a tavern along a trade route. It was small and only opened at night so I could sleep during the day, careful to avoid the sun. Business was decent and I continued to feed on animals. I distanced myself from customers as much as I could, and I made a damn good barkeep." I could hear the amusement in his voice.

"One night I was approached by another vampire. He offered to teach me how to compel and use mind tricks on humans. He taught me nearly everything I know now. His name was Aldred, and he saved my life."