Page 8 of Paying The Vampire

“Then I shall. I know how to hunt.”

“The dark forests are not a place for one such as you.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “You told me I wasn’t your prisoner Cassius. If I’m your guest then that means I can come and go as I please. I need to at least try, because I’m not going to sit here and eat those creatures again,” she wiped her mouth. “And another thing, I don’t want you to ever use that magic with me again, okay? If I’m going to stay here then I need to know that you’re going to be honest with me. I won’t accept anything less.”

I inclined my head as an apology. I had not realized she was going to react with such ferocity. “If you do intend to go into the dark forest you are going to need a hunter’s outfit, and some weapons,” I said, although I hated to see her change out of the dress she was wearing. She nodded in defiance and I realized I was not going to be able to tame her easily. Her wild spirit was intoxicating and already I was convinced that I had made the right decision in bringing her here. She looked at me expectantly and so I rose from the table, leading her through to the armory.

Chapter Six

Willow

Dinner had gotten off to a good start, but an abrupt and sickly end. I couldn’t quite believe that he had actually served me that type of food and expected me to be okay with it as long as I had the illusion of proper meat! It was kind of pitiful how desperate he was for company, as clearly this place wasn’t suited for hosting guests. I imagined that in its heyday it must have been far different, with grand balls and galas being held here and the tables being draped with all kinds of delicious foods. This castle would even have been quite beautiful with the golden sun shining through its windows, the radiant light spilling into all its nooks and crannies, instead of the dull and brooding feeling.

At least Cassius was staying true to his word. Part of me wanted to hunt because I was hungry, but another part wanted to test the limits of what I was actually capable of here, and how much resistance Cassius would put up if he thought I was doing something reckless.

He led me through the castle. We walked along winding corridors and I tried to take notice of my surroundings in case I needed to find my way in a hurry, but everything looked the same.

“Have you not thought of putting signs up anywhere?” I asked.

“I have no need for signs.”

“No, but your guest does,” I muttered.

He suddenly stopped for a moment and regarded the question as though it hadn’t occurred to him at all. He had been alone here for so long that he didn’t know how to take other people’s feelings into account. At least that’s what I was attributing it to, it may well have been a vampiric trait. He closed his eyes and raised his hands to his chest, touching the tips of his fingers together. He then breathed deeply and twirled his fingers together. I felt a ripple of air rush past me and then, on the wall, a sign appeared. An arrow pointed towards the armory in one direction, and back towards the dining hall in another.

“Is that better?” he asked.

“It should be. Did you just manage to do that throughout the castle?”

“Oh yes, it’s quite a simple conjuration spell.”

“It doesn’t seem simple to me,” I replied as we set off again. “Can anyone learn this, or is it only vampires?”

“Only vampires I think. This castle is the source of our magic. It’s most powerful here. It fades the farther away we get. It’s why I worry about my brethren who flew away to other worlds. I’m not sure how long they would have been able to hold onto their strength.”

“So that’s another reason why you stay then.”

“I suppose so, although I had not thought of it like that before.”

“What other magic do you have?”

“The usual things. I am sure your stories were accurate for the most part.”

“Including your weakness?”

He gave a coy smile then. “Those… I am not so sure.”

“What do you mean? It looks as though you’re enjoying that.”

I was about to remind him that he had promised me he wasn’t going to lie when he continued speaking.

“The truth is we have played a little bit with people over the years. You see, as soon as my ancestors realized that people were taking note of us and spreading warnings about us we started to influence them a little bit. The truth did slip in, because as any good storyteller will tell you the best lies are the ones that are mixed in with a little bit of truth, but with enough additional material there we were able to protect ourselves against people who wanted to cause us harm. So you see we don’t react to garlic and we don’t need to be invited in anywhere.”

“And fire?”

“Well, that would work on us as much as anyone. I can’t imagine that you are fond of fire?”

I had to chuckle at that. “No, I can’t say that I am.”