Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The rest of the evening we tried our best to keep away from the other vampires. Morina and Nathaniel had decided they would pal around for the rest of the evening. Morina drilled daggers into me every time I caught her eye. Needless to say, she didn’t approve of my turning. We didn’t think she would anyway so nothing was lost.

I didn’t know if it was because she didn’t deem my character worthy of it or if what Altyr had said was true. Maybe she was afraid of what I could become. If only they knew what powers I already had, they might be even more reluctant to grant me more. The thoughts of the Night Flower blooming and the glow being seen were at the front of mind. I even expressed it to Lenora at one point.

“Can you move it,” she asked.

“Maybe? We’ve already uprooted it once, I’m not sure how delicate it is. We can’t do it this evening though, there are too many hollow and vampires lurking about.”

“In the day maybe,” she offered.

“Maybe. It’s almost daylight now and there are still plenty of people buzzing around,” the hollow and vampires were moving underneath and away from the open garden, but that didn’t mean they weren’t still milling about.

A noise caught my attention and a sense of pain echoed through my head. The pressure of it was oppressing and made me fall to my knees. A sweat broke out as another assault pushed against me. I grabbed my head, pulling it to my knees to form myself into a ball. Lenora’s hand was on my back as she tried to comfort me.

Just as quickly as the pain came, it disappeared. The door to the washroom opened and Nathaniel strolled out of it. His Hollow followed behind him, blood was dripping from her mouth, her face red from his assault.

Swallowing hard, pushing the pain that was still lingering away, I said, “I felt it.”

Lenora’s eyes flicked to the hollow and back to me. “You felt what?”

“Her pain. It was in my mind, I felt it eating away at me.”

Lenora shook her head and said, “This flower business is just too much. How can you feel another hollow’s pain? She doesn’t even know she’s in pain! She doesn’t know anything!”

“Does she? She might. Did you remember?”

“I… I don’t remember. It’s been so long and I was only a hollow for a few days before the ritual…”

“She felt that, and I felt that. Such a horrible person to do that to someone.”

Lenora let out a depressed sigh and said, “She’s his possession now. We can’t do anything about it.”

“Why can’t we?”

She shook her head and said, “naïve mortals… You can’t take a vampire’s hollow. That would start a war with his people.”

“He doesn’t have people, he just has servants.”

Orrin came around the corner and said, “who do you think runs their castles? We don’t have an army of just hollows and vampires. We have mortals like yourself. They pay us in taxes and we protect them. The same is said for Nathaniel’s land. He has an army, an army of humans.”

“And they will just do as he says,” I asked with my hands out in disbelief.

“Yes, he’s their lord. The same would be said about a non-Vampiric lord. We can offer better protection than any human could, so of course we have humans who want to live in our lands.”

“Do they have to offer up their daughters to monsters like this one,” I said as I motioned toward where Nathaniel had gone.

“For some regions, yes. Sylvia, you are fortunate you live where you do. You haven’t had to experience the fight for life. Those Lightbringers of yours kept the armies away, the vampires at bay. They have kept your region free from the bickering whims of arrogant lords. When they eliminated Altyr’s home, they eliminated the rule he had over them. They’ve been governing themselves for ages. It’s only been lately they’ve been pushing into our lands.”

I felt so dumb. I was so isolated in my own little world, never even bothering to learn about the politics of the world I lived in. All I had done was try to survive in Silver City. The only enemy I had to worry about was Bazak and the occasional thief. I took for granted that their presence was there to protect us from others. I hadn’t even thought about neighboring regions. Those didn’t buy herbs from me, the locals did. I was so foolish.

“We have to save her,” I said.

Orrin laughed and said, “No.”

“There’s nothing we can do,” Lenora said while placing her hand on my shoulder. “I wish there was. She’s bound to him now forevermore. Even if we manage to get her away from him, he’ll find her. He can sense her.”

“He can sense her?” Memories of what Altyr had once said, that he could feel his household die even though he hadn’t been around.

Orrin’s eyes cut to Lenora, but she kept talking, “when you’re bound to a vampire, when they turn you into a hollow, they can sense where you are at all times. It’s part of the connection they have with us. It helps them be able to protect us. We are basically walking magic to consume, they need to know where we are, of course!”

“You sound too happy about this,” I said with a grunt as I picked myself up from the ground. “You’re basically trapped with whichever vampire found you first.”

Orrin scoffed and said, “It’s not a bad thing that I know where she is, I can make sure she’s safe.”

I rolled my eyes and turned toward where they had gone, longing to do anything to help her. “We have to do something. I made you two do something, maybe I can make her do something too. Maybe I can make him not hurt her.”

“You’re full of bad ideas,” said Orrin. “Here I thought you were smart and capable, but so far you’ve just made poor decision after poor decision.”

“Well Altyr doesn’t know where I am at all times,” I said.

Orrin shook his head toward me, eyes wide. “Wait, what? How do you know that?”

“Well, you two obviously didn’t even know I existed. Wouldn’t he have felt me?”

He let out a deep sigh and a groan. “You’re right. Damn.”

“So obviously whatever I have going on with this darkness and light power inside, I can sever that connection. Maybe I can sever theirs.”

“And do what? She’s still a hollow. Darkness will still consume her. She still needs to go through the ritual,” he said with an irritated tone.

“I don’t know.”

“Exactly,” he said as he grabbed Lenora’s arm, pulling her away. “You can’t fix this world like that, Sylvia. Now head to bed. Altyr asked me to let you know he won’t be joining you tonight.”

Lenora sighed and said, “She’s just trying to help, honey.”

Looking her in the eye, he held her firm and a spark of light crossed his eyes as he said, “You will not put yourself in harm’s way for this hollow, Lenora. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, sir,” she said with a sadness creeping in her voice.

I already knew that Altyr would not join me, the warmth and energy he gave off, the bond I felt but he did not, was cool and empty. The hole in my chest was massive, digging away at the edges, letting my soul fall further into the abyss. Despite the words he said to me, the barbs about my humanity, I still craved him, still wanted to devour him with my mouth and body. Somehow our roles were reversing. I was the one who could feel his presence, his essence. I could sense his darkness.

The two of them left me alone to process everything. Orrin was being too controlling of Lenora. They both knew I had the power to do something and yet he was willing to let this hollow be abused. To me that was just as bad as abusing her himself. Sure they were other lords, other vampires but his willingness to let such travesties happen was making him just as complacent.

The pain she felt left remnants on my mind as I walked back to my room. I could hear her screams in my head. A dull constant ache was throbbing at me as I tried to lie down, her pain pushing toward me all the way from where they resided again and again. I didn’t know what he was doing to her, but I knew she was in pain, I could feel it. Even if a hollow couldn’t talk, couldn’t act on their own, they could think. They knew what was happening and this poor woman was being abused right in front of everyone here and they were all okay with that. Their cruelty knew no bounds.

It took a while but, eventually the throbbing stopped, the aching left me, and I was able to drift off into sleep. I didn’t sleep long as the sun was still in the sky when I awoke.

I found myself dressing and going down into the gardens to check on the Night Flower. Crossing my legs, I sat down next to it. No one had disturbed it and I had kept a close eye all evening to shield any wisps of light it might release. I knew any evening now it was going to release the light and everyone would know it was magical.

“You couldn’t sleep either,” I heard Lenora’s voice across the garden. “I find myself coming to look at your flower a lot. Something about it pulls me. I find comfort here.”

“As do I.”

She sat down next to me and continued. “I want to help you but I can’t.”

“I know. He’s making you stay away.”

“I don’t like that either.”

Shaking my head, I said, “Are you sure you love him of your own free will?”

She remained silent for several moments before saying, “Yes. I do love him. He’s just trying to protect me. You don’t understand how this world works. It takes a lot of delicate care to not piss off all these highly powerful people. Orrin is just trying to do his best to not rock the boat.”

Sighing deeply, I put my arm around her and hugged her close to me. She was a kind soul and a good person. I had no doubt about that. She wasn’t wrong though; I didn’t know enough about this new world I was in. What I did know was abusing those beneath you was wrong. The fact that I could feel the poor hollow’s pain just made that even more apparent to me.

“I think I could sever the connection,” I said as I stared at the Night Flower.

“How?”

I motioned to the flower. “If we can get her away from him, then maybe it will be weak enough for us to break it.”

“What about what Orrin said? She is still a hollow, she still needs to go through the ritual.”

“It will probably kill her to attempt it. You haven’t felt her Lenora,” I said while grabbing her hand, trying to get her to understand. “You haven’t been feeling her pain all night. The mental anguish she’s being put through. The screaming in my head every time he hits her. Her mind won’t be strong enough to handle the ritual. At least if we break her of his bond, maybe we can help her survive it.”

“So you want to what, kidnap her?”

I stammered, unsure of what I was even proposing, “I guess? I just. We just need to get her away from him long enough to break the bond. He won’t even know! We still have another day or two before the ritual. We’ll just, I don’t know, help her out so she can handle it.”

“I don’t know, Sylvia. Why would they even allow her to try the ritual if she’s not bound to him?”

“Listen,” I was getting frustrated at the situation, at her reluctance. I grabbed her by her shoulders and said, “Lenora, we are going to help this girl.”

Her eyes started to blink rapidly, and I knew I messed up. She shook her head away and let out a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. So we need to get her away from him, far enough away that we can break the bond but close enough that we can get her back with no one knowing. We just need to do it quickly and no one will know the wiser. We’ll be in and out. Then she’ll go through the ritual and not be bound to him. She’ll live and won’t have to endure his violence!”

I nodded at her changed mood. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s do that. We’ll do it during the day, that way none of the vampires will even know. There aren’t that many hollows and at the peak of the day, they’ll be sleeping anyway!”

“She’ll remain clueless as a hollow and he’ll be clueless we even did it, but when they go through the ritual, she won’t be bound to him! We’ve got this,” she exclaimed.

A smile flooded my face. Together we were going to get this poor girl out from the grasps of this horrible vampire and he wouldn’t even know we did it. Lenora jumped up, ready to tackle the task.

“Let’s do it now!”

I laughed and said, “The sun is setting soon and we don’t even know where we’ll be taking her! We need to figure that out first. It has to be far enough away from peering eyes.”

“Okay,” she put her fists against her hips, “I’ll go look for somewhere to stash her. No one cares about me, I’ve been bound to Orrin for decades. If I’m seen roaming the grounds, they’ll not think twice about it. So you stay here and I’ll go check the outer village. It’s falling apart anyway, no one is going to be staying out there.”

Before I could even get anything else out she was already running off in excitement. It might be the most she had had in a while that was completely her own. We were going to save the poor girl. If this worked out how we wanted, she would gain her sentience after the ritual and won’t have to worry about Nathaniel controlling her. She’ll be able to do whatever she pleases.

My eyes fell down to the Night Flower, starting its blooming bulbs as the sun was setting. The petals were just opening up as the sky turned its crimson and tangerine colorings. I needed to move it inside lest the vampires see the magic, the moonlight blood it drips. Everything it had done for me, I couldn’t let those who couldn’t be trusted get a hold of it.

I could trust Lenora. She seemed earnest in her desire to help me, but I wondered if it was truly her choice or if I was just as bad as the vampires controlling everything. She was against it until I forced her to look at me. Orrin had used his magic on her to order her not to do anything reckless for the hollow and yet here she was running outside to find a safe place for us. Did my will overwrite his? The Night Flower did something more than just give me sentience, it gave me power.

The swirling on my hands had extended further up my wrists. I let out a sigh knowing it meant I had indeed charmed her just like her vampire mate had.

The concentrated magic of the moon was being absorbed in the petals of the Night Flower. It would bloom to gather more of it every night. Altyr had striped me of my own light, my own magic, when he had drained me. If what Lenora had said was correct, I should have died when the darkness took over, nothing there to fight the cold abyss. Instead, the dripping magic, the blood of the concentrated moonlight, filled me and brought me back to life.

If it was moonlight that filled me, I should control the light in their souls, not the darkness. Swirls of faint light should mark my skin like it sometimes does for Lenora. Instead, the darkness was taking over. There was so much about the world I didn’t understand and magic was probably the biggest thing that still had massive depths of wonder for me.

I was lost in thought when I heard Orrin’s panicked voice. Lifting my head up, I saw him at the edge of the garden, still under the shadows to hide from the setting sun.

“Where is she?”

“I—“

His fist pounded into the stone pillar, cracking it. “What did you do to her, Sylvia?!”

“She just went for a walk!”

“You did something! I can’t sense her, there’s a void. She’s gone!”

I put my hands out to him to attempt to calm him. “She’s fine. She just went outside. She’s okay!”

“Then why can’t I sense her? What did you tell her to do? What have you done?”

“Nothing! We haven’t done anything!”

Another pounding against the stone, cracking it further. “You will tell me what the hell you’re planning right now or so help me child, I will make sure every vampire here knows about your situation.”

My shoulders slacked, and I said, “She’s looking for a safe place further away from the castle.”

“Why?”

“So we can take the hollow and break their bond,” I finally admitted.

He turned away quickly, throwing a hood over his head and said, “You’re a foolish girl who is going to get people killed.”

He was gone in an instant. I was left standing next to a shattered pillar with a deep sense of guilt etched on my soul.