Luke Pyle

Chapter 6:- Family Reunion

As the drunk citizens began to clear out of the bar, my killer explained,“Killing you landed me in a lot of trouble with the commander. He almost had me executed.”

“Well, I would be angry with you too if you killed me,”I replied.

“But you came back, and gave me a shot at redemption. Thank you. Now, if you would please, co-operate and come with me.”

“Not so fast, Starfish, where is Noire?”

“Oh, 'that girl’,”he said with disgust. “She landed me in even more trouble! There I was, about to consume her blood, when the commander sent his messenger to retrieve me. It seems he was watching our whole fight, and wanted me to bring the girl into the castle. He was furious about me consuming your blood and almost consuming her’s too.”

“But why? Why would he want a normal mortal?”

“I guess he can answer that himself. Now come on, we don't have all day.”

“What if I don't-”I began to protest. Then the next thing I knew, I felt a needle poke through my neck.

“Gahhh!”I yelped.

“Relax, it's not going to kill you,”a young boy behind me assured.

As he said it I lost control over my body. I fell over and was caught by Mr.Canibal. And so I was carried to this castle at the far end of the city.

The palace was huge and contrasted from the rest of the town. It was made completely of what looked like marble, but seemed a bit sturdier. The main building was in a square shape, with towers having pointed, green brick rooves at each corner. To the sides were large towers in the shape of a rook from a chessboard- archer towers. At the front was a limestone bridge over a clear moat, which had the soothing sound of a river flowing under it. Surrounding the castle on all sides, except where we had come from was a thicket of the greenest leaved trees I've ever seen.

When I was carried inside, I was sure my jaw would've dropped if I weren't being carried horizontally. The halls had walls made of light brown bricks, red carpet completely covering the floor with a thin golden border tracing along the sides. There were alcoves in the walls at frequent intervals, each having a golden brazier lighting the hall with a brilliant flame. Loving midevial architecture and pretty much anything resembling 18th century European tradition, I was amazed by everything I saw along the hallways, which included the frequent dormatories we passed by.

When we'd finally reached the throne room, my kidnappers sat me down on a small wooden chair with no armrest. Immediately I felt my control return to my body.

The throne room looked exactly the same as the one on the Arcane Arts side of the Underworld,besides the refugees hiding. I stood up to look around, still amazed. Then I gazed upon the throne. I saw a man of about 25 years, with his head bent as if he were intrigued by the flooring. His hair covered most of the upper half of his face, like the stereo-typical emo haircut. He wore a plain black cloak and cowl, as a commoner would.

“My Lord,”the man who'd kidnapped me called. “I have brought someone to see you.”

The Lord looked up. I was shocked when I saw his face. Every feature of it looked exactly like mine. It was like I was looking at a long haired version of myself.

When he saw me, a tear began to form in his eye.

“Brother…”he said,“is that really you?”

In the blink of an eye he appeared in front of me and gave me a warm hug.

As he said it my eyes widened. I had no memory of having a brother. But I had no other explanation for why he looked like me. And I could sense the honesty in his words, from the shocked yet relieved look in his eyes, as if he hadn't experienced happiness in years.