Page 7 of Paying The Vampire
“I have not answered your initial question,” I said, diverting the direction of conversation. “You asked me why I stay here when I could go anywhere else. I know that this castle and indeed this world must seem rather bleak to you, and that’s putting it mildly. I suppose another word is empty, and while that is true it is still my home. This is where I have lived for, oh, far too many years to count. These walls are imbued with memories and if I left here and allowed this place to fall into ruin I can only think of everything that would be abandoned. This place is the last bastion of a civilization that only exists in myths now, like the stories you were told as a child.”
“What happened to them all?” she asked.
I pursed my lips and sighed. “A great many things. Vampires used to swarm this world in great flocks and then fly to other worlds, seeking to find new treasures and new knowledge and new…”
“Victims?” she interrupted.
“Unfortunately I do admit that there is a great deal of truth to some stories.”
“Is that why you’ve brought me here? To turn me into a vampire?”
I shook my head. There was a dull ache that gnawed in the back of my mind. I heard the echo of a helpless cry and felt some pain shooting through me. I took another long gulp of wine. I jerked my hand back so swiftly that a few drops of the dark liquid fell and seeped into my cloak. “I have no such intention. I do not want someone in my thrall. I want someone who possesses her own mind to challenge me and discuss things with me, to show me a new perspective on the world. But I digress… as I said there used to be many vampires who lived here, but their appetites got the better of them. They became arrogant and thought they were invulnerable. Vampires have always been stronger when they have been able to hide in the night, but with so many it was easy for our enemies to find us. We had wars, many long, bloody wars that made our number dwindle. Then this world became broken. At one point a great chill set upon this place and it did not diminish. There was a sickness that ran through our kind and killed them off one by one. Some of them fled to other worlds, flittering through the cosmos like dust in the wind swearing they were never going to return, while I watched the others die. I remained the last stalwart, the last defender of this castle, and I shall not abandon my post.”
“So you didn’t get sick? Why?”
I shrugged. “Just lucky I suppose. Or cursed, depending on which way you look at it.”
“So you’ve just been here since then, all by yourself?”
I nodded. “I have often wondered if any of my brethren would return. Either they have all died or they have found better lives elsewhere. I have found no trace of them.”
“But what do you do all day? How do you keep yourself occupied?”
“I read, I play my instruments, I do whatever I can to stave off the boredom. And I search for companions.”
“And you think you have found the perfect companion in me?”
“I hope so.”
“Has there ever been another companion?”
“There was one,” I revealed, knowing that she would find out the truth sooner or later. “But she was not equipped to stay here. At first she was excited at the promise of knowledge. I thought curiosity was the most important thing, but as time passed she grew homesick and began pining for what she had left behind. In the end I had to let her go, because staying here was making her unhappy. I swore that I would not make the same mistake again.”
“So you wanted someone who would never want to go home, is that it?”
I raised my glass to her and nodded. “Precisely.”
She blew her breath through her mouth sharply and tilted her head from side to side. “At least you know what you want I guess.” She cut off another piece of meat and chewed it. She furrowed her brow and looked down at her plate. “This really doesn’t taste of anything I’ve had before. What did you say it was again?”
“I didn’t say.”
“And come to think of it where did you get all this food from? This doesn’t seem like the kind of place where you’d have a garden. How is this even possible?”
I was proud that she had seen the obvious paradox I had placed in front of her, but I feared it would attract her ire. “It is for your benefit. Unfortunately this place does not lend itself to feasts, but I did not want you to be disgusted. The food is real, it is merely the appearance that I have changed.”
“Don’t do that Cassius. I’ve joined you here based on the agreement that you’re going to be honest with me. If you’re going to lie to me then I’ll just leave and take my chances elsewhere. I don’t need you to lie to me. Show me the truth, those are my conditions for staying here. I’m sure you would expect the same from me as well.”
“Are you sure? Because once I lift the veil of deception there is going to be no way to replace it.”
“I’m sure,” she said through gritted teeth. I inclined my head and did as she asked. I waved my hand, dispelling the magic I had used to conjure the illusion of the feast. The air shimmered and what was left were thin and stringy pieces of meat from rats and small birds. The only thing that remained was the wine. “Unfortunately there’s enough wine in the cellar to last generations, but everything else is rather sparse.”
Willow pushed her chair back. The legs scraped against the floor. She looked in horror at what she had been eating.
“I did try and make it more palatable for you,” I said.
She rose to a standing position and her milky skin became flushed with a crimson shade. “You don’t even have proper food for me? Why would you bring me here? Surely there has to be something in this forsaken world to eat properly. I’m not going to exist on rats,” she said.
“The only animals with enough meat to nourish you properly are in the dark forests, and I did not wish to go down there.”