Chapter 21

Chapter 21

The next few days were awkward. Orrin avoided me as best he could while keeping Lenora close. I wasn’t able to talk to either of them, I couldn’t explain what I was trying to do. I didn’t even know what I was trying to do. Altyr frequented my bed nightly from then on. Several times I asked if I could see his room, but he would nuzzle himself into me and disregard it.

We worked every evening cleaning and prepping the place for visitors. Every conversation I had with the others was when Altyr was around. They were normal, jovial conversations. Lenora always gave me looks of wanting. I needed her companionship, but Orrin was being strict about her leaving his side to join me again, not after what I did the last time.

I sat in front of the flower most the days when I wasn’t helping with prepping for the ritual. Sketching its details out in a small notepad, I was trying to learn all I could about it. I didn’t know enough about magic to analyze anything on that front. It very rarely gave off the magical sparkle that got me in so much trouble. I was never quick enough to grab one of them when I saw it, I couldn’t attest for what those sparks could do and if they were as potent as the ones that fell upon me that fateful night. It seemed to follow the moon as it arched through the night sky.

I regretted not paying more attention to the ramblings of the Lightbringers. Maybe if I had, I would have more insight into its power. I couldn’t ask Lenora anything else right now and I couldn’t ask Altyr without giving away what I was studying. He accept the idea that the moon revived me, I don’t know what he’d do if he knew it was the flower and that we now had that power here in the garden.

I felt Altyr’s hands on my shoulder as I stood in front of the flower causing me to jump. “Learn anything interesting?”

His hands didn’t stay on my shoulders for long. I felt them caressing my back, rubbing it. “It follows the moon.”

“Follows?”

“Yeah, when it’s open and blooming, the bloom changes direction of the moon. When the moon is smaller and not to its full strength, it only blooms once that night and very briefly.”

His hands wrapped around my waist and I felt him pull my body into his as he held me. I could feel him nuzzling his head into my neck. “It gets its life from the moon. Just like you, you little, moonchild.”

I gave an awkward laugh at the accuracy of the statement and pressed my head into his. “Apparently so…”

It didn’t take long for him to be pushing me into the tree and taking me under its leaves. He couldn’t help himself once his hands started to roam. Passion and him were synonymous at this point. I couldn’t complain about it because he was incredibly good at making sure I felt incredibly good. I wondered if Orrin and Lenora knew what we were doing under there and avoided interrupting.

A similar scene played out near daily for us. He would find me after we got our work done, woo me with his handsome looks, avoid talking about anything of importance, and we would indulge in each others bodies. It wasn’t the worst time but I couldn’t help we were just waiting for something to happen. Every time I would ask about my turning or the magic involved, he would give me brief explanations that just gave me more questions. It almost gave the impression that it bored him to discuss it and he would often change the subject.

I was often lost in thought mulling over everything, ruminating on it all. The darkness that swirled across my hands was incredibly distracting. I found myself watching it move from time to time. I hadn’t attempted to use the magic it held again, I would not risk being found out. At one point I explained my concern about it spreading to Altyr. He had said it wasn’t entirely unusual for it to happen to a not yet turned hollow, but that if I was bothered, he would procure me some gloves. The next day, there were long elegant gloves for me to wear with my dress.

Sliding off the edge of my bed that evening, he said, “There should be arrivals today. I need you to keep quiet and keep to yourself.”

“You want me to hide?”

“Yes.”

I furrowed my brows at him as I was combing my hair out. “Are you ashamed of me?”

“Of course,” he said nonchalantly, “you’re a mortal.”

I wasn’t expecting him to be so blunt with me. “Is it because I’m a hollow with sentience?”

“No, it’s because you’re a mortal. Hollow or not, you’re really not worthy of attention normally,” he said as he slid his pants on.

“I take offense to that,” I said while slamming my brush down onto the desk.

“It would surprise me if you didn’t,” he said with a bored tone. “Hollows, humans, they are lesser than us. You will be seen that way by nearly every vampire that arrives at this event. If you thought they would give you any respect, you were wrong.”

“Even though I have this… sentience?” I had almost mentioned my powers, it nearly slipped in.

“That’s even more of a reason to be quiet. They’ll want to examine you and possibly even harm you. It really isn’t normal. This shouldn’t be something that we even have to discuss. We’ve been over this.”

“No, you just say I’m special and people won’t like it. You don’t tell me to hide away from people and that you’re ashamed of me.”

“Well,” he took a few steps toward me. His hands lifted my chin up to look at his chiseled jaw, his piercing eyes. “You are special. You’re special to me. You’ll become one of us. You being mortal now is just a temporary setback. With your sentience, who knows, you may become a powerful vampire. We don’t need others to challenge your existence before you even become one.”

He had latched onto me joining him in the ritual as one of his kind. Every evening he mentioned it and how thrilled he was to have another vampire to live with here. Every time he mentioned my hollow status, he almost cringed at my mortality. I had thought he was accepting of me in this status, but when I had told him I’d join him as a vampire, he must have been incredibly relieved he didn’t have to live with a mortal.

I let out a deep sigh and said, “fine. Let’s just get through this and then everything will be easier afterward.”

He kissed my forehead before grabbing his shirt to pull over his head. As he pulled it down, he said, “exactly. Let these stuck up fools have their little party and afterward we can move on. If they insist, I’ll give them a basic explanation and we’ll change the subject. You’ll soon leave your mortal life behind and we will work on making you worthy of your new station in life for them before the next party we have to endure.”

With little more to say, he left the room, destined for whatever he did around the castle. The fact that he was so dismissive of my mortality grated on me. I didn’t want to fight him on the subject though. The darkness was too enticing for me to possibly sabotage my own changing. If what Lenora had said is correct, then when I completed the ritual and became a vampire, I would have more control over the darkness. I already had some control over the darkness so if I had even more power, I wondered what it was I could accomplish.

Thoughts of Bazak entered my mind, thoughts of revenge. If I had the power to control vampires, to control hollows currently, and I was going to gain more of that, then I could take on Bazak and his Lightbringers myself. They were a plight on the area, stealing resources and people. Stopping them would be far easier if I could control a variety of forces to do my bidding.

Today we were going to have visitors, visitors that were like Altyr and Orrin, only worse. Lenora had warned me the prior day that I wouldn’t be happy with how a lot of other vampires treated their hollows. Altyr was a generous vampire lord so far. Despite his stinging words about my mortality, he at least provided for me and made sure I was safe. Lenora had said that not all vampires do the same.

Leaving the room in one of the nicer dresses he had provided me, I made my way down to the garden to see if there was anything I could do that would make the place look as good as possible. If I was to meet anyone, I wanted them to know I was capable of something other than just being a food source.

Lenora was looking at the Night Flower again, alone. Orrin was nowhere to be seen. Looking up at me in surprise as I walked up, she said, “have you learned anything new?”

“It is following the phase of the moon. I think you two were right, it is absorbing the moon’s power. It sometimes gets too much, and that’s what is escaping occasionally.”

“Are you ready for the ritual,” she said to change the subject away from the flower.

“Not really,” I let out a deep sigh before continuing, “Altyr seems more excited about my changing than anything. I don’t know enough about any of this to know what to expect. The way he talks about humans gets to me. He acts like he’s so much better.”

“He’s just saying that to comfort himself. He lost his humanity long ago, the last of it dying with his family.”

“Well, he could at least be a bit less condescending, it doesn’t really make me want to be around him if all he does is complain about something I was born with.”

She let out a laugh and said, “you don’t even know. Some of these vampires you’ll meet tonight won’t even give me the time of day and I’m only partially mortal.”

A musical tune echoed across the garden and we both looked around for the noise. It came out of the air itself. Altyr walked up to join us with a forced smile on his face, “ah the ward worked. Someone has arrived.”

Following him out into the ward, we let him open the outer gate. I hadn’t been outside in a day or so and marveled at the now trimmed grass. Altyr and Orrin had said they were going to make the place look a little less like an overgrown swamp but I hadn’t thought it would look that good. The castle actually looked somewhat normal, and not discarded like it was. Maybe after everything, we could try to keep it looking well kept, I liked it.

I could see the sparking of the gates as they pulled themselves open. A large caravan made its way through, several carriages were being led into the bailey. I didn’t expect them to all just park themselves out here in the ward. Who knows, maybe they’d put them outside the gates later and leave the open yard for the ritual. The safety of the walls was probably preferred though.

A fair skinned servant with dark circles under his eyes went to the door of one of the carriages. It popped open and a long slender hand pulled itself out. A tall woman with long dark hair that fell around her shoulders like ink crawled out of the entrance. She waved the servant away as he offered his hand to help her down the steps.

She was hauntingly beautiful. Even the way she glided down the steps of the carriage was careful and precise. Her gown fell around her in a light fabric. As she moved, it swayed like wisps of smoke. I had only seen the two male vampires, and they were themselves were enticingly beautiful. Now that I met a female, there was no doubt in my mind that something during the ritual process made these creatures even more gorgeous than normal. It would make sense, they would need to hunt for their victims and what better way to do that then to lure them in with their appearance. They were like birds, showing off their colorful feathers to attract a mate.

I watched as Altyr greeted her, kissing her hand as she looked around at the castle with disgust. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but she was nodding along to his words. Lenora leaned over to me and said, “That’s Morina Naelin. She makes it her mission to be at every single one of these things, she’s the one in charge of setting the schedule of them up in the first place. Self-appointed, of course. Her words influence the other vampires on if any of their hollows are worthy of becoming one of them. She is very much invested in the purity of their breed, whatever that means. You need to be careful around her. She will come to inspect you to see if you are worthy. Try not to bring any attention to yourself with her. Just be polite, obedient, and thankful that they’re allowing you to be in their presence.”

“If she doesn’t like me, will Altyr not let me become a vampire?”

Lenora let out a small laugh and said, “Well you can’t order that man to do anything, even if you’re a well-connected vampire. He tolerates her, just like most everyone does. She has a lot of connections in our world and isn’t the type of person you want on your bad side, but if he still goes along with it even after she expresses her dislike, it won’t be the end of the world. Altyr isn’t held too highly in the circles anymore since he decided to avoid these gatherings. They won’t be any more offended than they already are at him.”

I watched as another carriage came to a stop. The door flew open and a frail platinum haired woman was thrown out, stumbling and falling to the ground below. Slowly she stood up and continued to stare out into the darkness, oblivious to her fall. A lanky man with dark hair exited the carriage. His clothing was dark, not a single patch of color to signify a sigil.

“That’s Nathaniel Kruse and what I’m assuming is his newest hollow.”

“That girl is a hollow?”

Lenora shook her head as they watched Orrin and Altyr walk up to the man offering him some type of greeting. “He’s known for not treating our kind well.”

“I thought they couldn’t hurt their hollows.”

She sighed and said, “Oh they can hurt us, they just can’t kill us. They can definitely kill each other’s hollows too. These creatures you’ve chosen to live with are incredibly cruel and dangerous. You need to understand that.”

The rest of the evening we were perched on the side wall as we watched more and more arrivals. Lenora did her best to inform me of all our guests but I was getting lost in the amount of them. Some vampires brought several hollow servants with them, some even had normal human servants, while others were mostly by themselves as Morina was. They were all beautiful and elegant. Altyr looked extremely common compared to many of them. Lenora explained this was only the first wave of them and that there would be more arriving.

As they all disembarked from their traveling arrangements, they started mingling with each other. We watched as different groups greeted each other fondly while others were rigid and stern. There was so many simple social politics at play that I knew nothing about.

Eventually they made their way toward my garden. I heard Altyr guiding a group through it, explaining the importance of the various plants as I had instructed him only days prior in preparation. My words echoed out of his mouth as they nodded and followed him along.

“So only a few of them seem to have fellow vampires in their houses,” I said to Lenora as we followed the crowd inside. “Is that normal?”

“Oh, yeah. They will tell you it’s something about the purity of their position but really it’s because becoming a vampire is really hard, actually. Many hollow don’t even make it through the ritual. The darkness wins the battle in those cases. Some vampires are just arrogant though and don’t want competition in their own homes.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Bewilderment couldn’t be hidden on my face. “I could die in the ritual?”

“Hmm? Oh yes. Of course. It is a dangerous thing to straddle light and darkness. If your bond with the host is stronger though, they can help guide you through. That’s why your mating with Altyr is actually a great thing!”

“Why did no one mention to me that I might die during this thing,” I asked with a surprised chuckle.

“Oh,” she said with her own merriment, “I guess we never got to it after the incident.”

I shook my head and said, “this is so ridiculous.”

“Isn’t it?”

The vampires had grouped up around the garden, speaking with one another about trivial topics, socializing with their peers like it was any other party. I overheard comments on disembowelments, about taxes, and even someone discussing the merits of blood from a redhead. Lenora and I managed to sit on the stone bench, behind the lavender. It obscured us from a lot of them but allowed us to be present as we were duty bound to be.

Arguing cut through the chatter and before we knew it, there before us stood a glooming Morina. She demanded we stand up and both of us shot up at attention.

“Which one is she?”

“Oh come on Morina, you’ve met Lenora several times now. You know which one she is,” Orrin said with irritation.

“You expect me to remember every mortal? How insulting of a commentary.” She eyed me up and down and said, “It’s this one isn’t it?”

Altyr’s tone was dripping with annoyance. “Yes, that would be her.”

“She had her sentience? How? How did you do that?”

He waved his hand at me and said, “Ask her yourself.”

If looks could kill, she would have murdered us all. With what almost seemed like a growl she said to me one word, “how?”

“Magic,” I responded with a bit of defiance in my voice.

She let out an annoyed snap of a laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”

I saw Altyr’s smile creep up slightly at me before fading away. “I made the mistake of draining her on a full blood moon. Something happened with the moon magic and well, she’s fully awake here.”

Her eyes squinted at me, trying to assess what she could about me. “You’re not planning on turning her are you?”

“Mayhaps.”

“It could be disastrous. You don’t know what forces have control of her now.”

“Agreed.”

“And yet you still think it’s a good idea?”

He shrugged and said, “I’m willing to try.”

The lanky man joined them with a look of disgust on his face, the woman was following behind him in slow, lazy motions. Her eyes were glazed over, her movements were as if she was moving through mud. Bruises covered her body. If that’s how they normally treated hollow, I was thankful Altyr had been so kind.

“She’s obviously corrupted already. You would be a fool to go through the ritual with her,” he said in a tone so deep it felt like it vibrated my soul.

“Then a fool I must be,” Altyr said. “Ladies, if you would go make sure the kitchen is supplied for the servants, it would help our guests settle in.”

Lenora nodded and gathered up her dress. She pulled me away from them and around the edge of the tree. Letting out a deep sigh she said, “thank goodness he gave us that exit. Let’s get to the ki—“

“I want to know what they say.”

She rolled her eyes at me as I snuck back in closer to their group. I could hear Morina’s sharp tongue say, “she’s an abomination. You would do better with letting one of us take her out for you.”

“It’s disgusting is what it is,” said Nathaniel. “She’s not just a hollow but a sentient one. You shouldn’t let such a thing join us.”

“Your thoughts on this matter are null and mute for me. I am turning her because of her sentience. She is different, she has a power we don’t understand. She’ll be an extremely powerful vampire and one that’s bound to me. It’s only natural that you two would be upset at this. It messes up the hierarchy, doesn’t it?”

He only wants me for what I could become, what I represent. He only wants me for the power I have amongst his peers. Lenora says that our bond will allow me to pass through the ritual easier and they said our bond was forever. Now he was saying I would be bound to him. Did this mean he would have control over me? He couldn’t even control me now, if I allowed the ritual to go on, would that allow him to have it then?

Lenora pulled on my arm, and this time I let her. Following her back to the kitchens, my heart was beating fast in a panic. We were weaving between other servants setting up their own supplies in there. My thoughts were bouncing around in my head as we made our way through the people. I was just a tool to him. All he wanted me for was for my unique powers, powers he didn’t even have a full understanding about.

He wanted to use me like every other man in my life had.