Chapter 9

Chapter 9

His hand tightened around mine before he dropped it. The gate clattered behind us, closing on its own. I jumped in surprise as it clanged together. His head was shaking at me, always annoyed by my actions. I watched as he unsaddled the horse and let it wander into the high grass of the ward. No one had taken care of the place, the wilderness was growing wild. Small saplings were even taking root. It wouldn’t be long until it too became part of the forest.

Without even giving me a second look, he started marching off toward the keep. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. He stopped, turned around toward me, and motioned with his hands in bewilderment of my lack of action.

“Follow.”

I furrowed my eyebrows and stood there contemplating the command. He couldn’t just bark orders at me. Shrugging, he turned around and continued toward the castle. The dark fog pushed in around me, the wind whistled across the spires of the keep, and he left me alone in an abandoned castle’s forgotten ward. I had gone that long with following the horrid creature, might as well follow him inside at least.

Skittering to catch up, I padded up next to him. He shook his head again at my arrival.

“You are safe… mostly… inside these walls.”

“Mostly?”

He shrugged and said, “you never know. It’s not like I have patrols out here. Hollows shouldn’t get in, but they sometimes slip through the wards. It will be the safest if you stay in the keep. Don’t wander too much.”

“There’s nothing inside the keep is there?”

“Nothing to worry about anyway. Unless you’re worried about me.” He took a step closer to me, his body looming over my own. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as he pressed his body into mine, invading my personal space again. In a low tone, he said, “You should be.”

Pulling away from me with a laugh, he continued to lead me up stone steps toward a large door. My blood was still pulsing in my ears as I frowned at him leading the way. He just kept pushing and prodding me, trying to get whatever rise he could from me. Swallowing hard and trying to shake away the frustrations, I brought my eyes back to the door.

It was just as complicated in metalwork as the gate we came through. The metal was twisted to form what looked like roses. I briefly wondered how they would have bent the metal that way, but the fact I was walking into a vampire’s castle was enough evidence. They had magic and ways about them that I knew nothing about. I thought they just ate young girls in forest but apparently they build monstrous castles with pretty metal flowers. He pulled out another ornate key and placed it in another hidden slot.

This time the magic light was more pronounced as it danced across the metal, sparking at the metal blooms before fading into the surrounding stone. More magic I didn’t even know existed. My jaw fell agape at the display. I felt his fingers lightly touch my chin and push my mouth closed. The brief interaction left a warm spark on my skin before he pulled his hand away. The smirk on his face was infuriating.

Inside was an enormous room. Various halls, stairwells, and rooms were connected to it. They could each easily lead a person into more darkness. With a whip of his hands, several dusty candles lit across the room, illuminating our way. That damn smirk was there again as he noticed my surprised look at the move. He continued past the different paths and walked toward the back of the room. I followed closely, not wanting to get lost in the maze that was the keep. We exited through a small door into an open courtyard.

My breath caught in my throat as my eyes fell upon it and I was shaken to my core. I witnessed one of the worst travesties that could ever happen. My heart ached at the twisted fate of what was once considered a beauty. In the center of the courtyard, arched pathways opened to show the horror.

It was an overgrown and destroyed garden.

The rose bushes were devouring the trees while the stone benches laid broken and strung out across the yard. Weeds and vines suffocated whatever plants were originally there. My heart yearned for what was once a beautiful haven. The remnants of what was once a place of refuge was dilapidated and forgotten.

He walked by it without even giving it a second glance. How rude. He was the obvious perpetrator and I was going to dislike him even more for it. I was nodding to myself as I noticed the gap between us was growing too wide.

I tried to keep up with him but his long legs were moving much faster than my short ones. He wasn’t even using his vampire speed and I was still struggling. For every step in his long gait, I had to take two. Why couldn’t the vampire who whisked me away have been shorter?

We came upon a scary, dark, curved stairwell that led up. I stopped at the bottom step. It took him a few moments to notice I hadn’t continued following him. I heard his feet pad back down the stairs. He came back into view and merely had his eyebrow raised at me.

“It’s a bit dark and spooky, and you went around the corner and you are so, so, so quiet and I’m just unsure—“

“Follow me,” he demanded.

I whined, stomped my feet, and continued following him up the stairwell. As we climbed, I couldn’t see his figure in the darkness, but I’m sure he was shaking his head at me again. The man needed to learn about proper lighting in scary stairwells. Focusing on not tripping up the steps in the dark, I eased my fears when we finally reached the second floor.

There was a long hallway with more arches overlooking the sad overgrown garden. Several doors lined the hall. He walked past a few before stopping at one. I watched as he had to give the door some force, cracking whatever dusty seal it had, to swing it open into a large bedroom.

I followed him inside, ever cautious I was going to find some other atrocity lurking. Maybe there was the dried husk of a potted plant left alone in the dusty room. I couldn’t handle any more horror such as that.

Various sheets draped over the furniture, trying to protect whatever it was from the massive amount of dirt that sat atop them. With a flip of his wrists, he whipped off one, dust flying everywhere, to reveal an elegant writing desk. More dirt quickly filled the air as he whipped all the sheets off the furniture. I tried to cover my mouth but; it was just too much. The stinging of my eyes and burning of my lungs was causing me to cough in a desperate attempt to breathe. I had to step outside, and back into the hall.

He followed me out and said, “Oh please, it’s just dust.”

Grabbing my knees as I tried to catch my breath, urgently attempting to keep from coughing up a lung. I glared at him through my fit. I finally was able to compose myself before standing upright.

“You haven’t had guests in a while, have you?”

“Been a few decades.”

“Decades?”

“Well, I mean, I’ve had guests but they don’t stay in the rooms. What do we vampires need a bedroom for?”

I took a deep breath, my patience for this man was getting extremely thin. He treated me like I was a fool. Everything he said was presented with a bite. I was tired of him and his biting. Marching back into the room, the dust having settled more. I picked up a stone paperweight from the desk.

“If you don’t stop treating me like I’m an idiot, I will hurt you.”

He stood in the doorway, rolling his eyes at me. “You can’t hurt me.”

“I could if I wanted to.”

He closed his eyes and I could see a snarl of disgust crawl across his lip. Taking an annoyed breath, he said, “You will stay here. Do not leave this keep. You are a burden enough as is, I don’t need you to be roaming in the wilds and getting yourself killed.”

“I’m a burden? A burden? Really?”

“Yes. You are a burden. I don’t want you here and I don’t want you in my life. I don’t want to babysit an ignorant human. Unfortunately, we both have to deal with the situation we have.”

That rage was bubbling inside me but this time, this time I had a weapon. I couldn’t help myself, I threw the stone weight at him. It hit his chest with a thud and fell to the ground with little fanfare. Both our gazes followed it down. Snapping my eyes back to his face in panic, I saw his flash silver and in a quick moment he was on me.

My hand tried to reach for something else on the desk as he grabbed me. My fingers stretched across the wood and I grabbed onto something firm. Not daring to look away from him, I couldn’t tell what it was. His hands wrapped around my wrist and he twisted it. I felt my fingers flex from the pressure and released the item to a shattering noise behind us. He didn’t stop. He kept twisting my wrist. A hot pain flared, spreading across my arm, and I let out a yelp.

“I may not be able to kill you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hurt you.”

I had been taking his behavior for granted. The fact that he was a creature of the night, a hunter, had been forgotten. He had been an annoying man who was demanding and aggressive. I was used to men like that, but this was a vampire.

Pulling me closer to him, he had full control of me with this action and his choice was to get me next to him, pressing my body into his. There was a spark, a heat that emerged from deep within me as he controlled my body. Looking down at me with contempt only increased the connection. Moving his head toward me, I felt his hot breath against my neck as his fangs scratched my neck, dragging up and toward my ear. A sensual tingle rolled across my body at the motion.

In a threatening but quiet tone, he said into my ear, “you will listen to what I say or you will regret joining me in this castle.”

Thoughts of Bazak entered my mind, the images of my wrists being wrenched from me and held in place. Hate and loathing spread through me as Altyr’s hand twisted my wrist further, and I collapsed to my knees trying to avoid the pain. I whimpered as he threw my arm away. It was happening again, my breath came in sharp bursts in my panic. Scrambling as quickly as I could toward the furthest wall, I was trying to get away from him while holding my bruised wrist. He walked to the door, letting me squirm and hide from him. Turning around, he looked back at me with what felt like pity.

“There is nothing to eat so I will have to find you some food. I don’t keep humans here, so I have nothing to spare. I suggest you get some rest.”

With that, he slammed the door behind him. Leaving me alone in the cold, dirty room. My chest heaved and I pulled my knees to my body, holding myself as tightly as I could while my tears fell. In an instant he caused me pain and caused horrid memories I had tried to push away to come flooding back. Swallowing hard, I took a deep breath and tried to control my fears. I would not let another man control me.

Even if he was a supernatural creature, I would not bow down to any man, not again.