Slave To The Fang

24, The music in our hearts

Gale's POV

Tap tap tap

The leaky faucet in the bathroom not far away from us leaked, the sound carried into my shared room with Elisa by the lack of sound enunciated in the dead of the night.

My mind was tapping right along with the faucet. I couldn't sleep, blast it all I couldn't sleep.

It was the dead of the night and rather than sleeping and getting my rest like I should have been doing, I couldn't sleep. I was wide awake, with Elisa, troubled child that she was snuggled closely to me, her bed lying cold, empty and unused.

It had been close to two weeks. Almost two whole weeks since I met Kyle and since Jaira told me she was going to train me.

Two weeks since I had been a slave to Lady Karayan.

Two weeks of barely getting any sleep, being constantly kept on my toes, and not being able to do anything about it.

One would expect that something interesting would have happened in these two weeks given the eventfulness of the first two days but there was nothing. Nothing really happened and that was why I was even more nervous about this whole affair.

I mean, of course you would expect that something should have happened in these two weeks and while my secret being out made me nervous, waiting put me on edge even more. Jaira had been quiet mostly, that is if at all I did see her. She had mostly been absent from the slaves' kitchen and when she came, she just stared at me, smiled and said nothing more. Then before I could talk to her or ask her anything, she would disappear.

I had settled into some sort of routine already. I woke up, took breakfast, tended to Lady Karayan's needs, taught Elisa, hung out at the library...

I had to admit, despite running away from Kyle that first day, I couldn't help but go back to the library every day after that to search for him. Suffice to say, I had not found him. He didn't return and I didn't have the guts to ask anyone in the mansion about him. If at all, I didn't dream of our meeting. A man as handsome as he who made me stutter and abandon all reason just with one meeting couldn't possibly be real and the fact that I hadn't met with him since then was proof enough that he was probably just a figment of my tired imagination. But why now? I had never cared enough to dream about men before.

Tap tap tap. The leaky faucet continued dripping as Elisa muttered in her dream. I sighed. This was useless. Trying to sleep. Trying to force myself to sleep. These past few days had at least been better because I had gotten a bit of shut eye. Today was different. I could feel it right down to my bones. It was a fading tingling that spoke of happenings that had not yet occurred. I felt like something was going to happen today, that something was supposed to happen. But what? And after two weeks nonetheless.

After a while, I groaned and gave up completely. Gently disentangling myself from Elisa, I crept out of bed and moved to the side where a lamp was kept. The moon was only half full now and it was not at its brightest. The night was quiet, dark and filled with hidden promise. I should have used my magic. Or at least, the most I knew to light up the way but ever since Jaira had confronted me in the hall, I had been apprehensive to even make the slightest bit of my magic make an appearance. What if there were trackers for such things? Magical trackers? Was that how she had known? The thought had plagued me since that first day.

I fumbled a bit with the lamp in the dark till finally, the glow of the burning wick erupted form inside the lamp, encasing the previously dark room with warm, orange light whose shadows licked the wall, bouncing on it like a faraway furnace.

My legs moved on their own accord, pulled by some strange force and I took the lamp with me, tightening my night dress around myself. It was dangerous and risky moving in the mansion at night as a slave, but I still had Lady Karayan's bracelet on my wrist. Maybe the vampire guards would not kill me for fresh blood. Despite this, I felt little or no fear as I gently closed the door behind me and moved through the halls, my legs unconsciously carrying me to the library.