The Dead of Night

War Prep

Chapter Twenty Five: War Prep

We walked through several corridors, my arm wrapped around his, and creatures bowed their heads as we continued, at first I didn't think a thing of it. It's what they did when we arrived! However, the corridors drew longer and longer, the bowing began to bug me—it seemed as if I was being taken on some death march of grandeur. I tapped the Vampire's arm and he leaned his head down, so he could hear me whisper to him. "What in god's name are they all doing? Why are they bowing their heads?"

"Because they know" He replied simply. "It's easy to know when someone has been turned—and you, being royalty and just being turned, well, that's what you people would call a 'double whammy'." He explained, and I paused, nodding slightly.

"How do they know?"

"For one, my dear, your eyes are quite red and secondly—" he lifted up my arm, showing my wrist. The crown tattoo which had been blurry when I was only a half, was now clear and pulsing with a white glow. "—That's very much of a dead giveaway." He grinned and my eyes rolled while his laughter continued.

"Where are we even going?" Asked I, quieting his laughter; he cleared his throat, and his tone became a deadly serious one—the smile that once took up a home on his lips, vanished into thin air.

"Since you've been turned and you have already been given your first feeding, you now need to complete a series of tests to be sure that you are war ready." Said he—I guessed that made good enough sense; I had to be ready if I was going into war, but, why would I be given tests if I had never fought before? I opened my mouth to bring this up to the Vampire, but he hushed me, and closed my mouth with one finger. "No more questions now; you think awfully too technically, just let it happen."   

*** And let it happen, I did (reluctantly, at least) . We arrived to a large room where the lights were all dimmed to black, save a few singular candles around a ring used for wrestling and fighting. Inside the ring were two pairs of boxing gloves laying in the middle of the ring, a  green water bottle in one corner, a yellow water bottle in the adjacent corner, and a tall, silhouetted woman leaning on the far ropes of the ring; her back was illuminated, and I easily spotted a black sports bra with black yoga pants, which wrapped fitted around her ebony skinned body, however, the front of her was completely darkened, since that bit of her was turned away from the candles. She appeared comfortable, but I sensed something deeply troubling about her stance, as if on her face she were smirking, for she knew, if I stepped in that ring, she would pummel me. I looked over to the Vampire, tightening my grip of him, almost pleadingly, as if to ask him to not let me go in. 

A sigh slipped between his closed teeth and he gave my hand a pat before leading me to the corner of the ring with the green water bottle, and the woman stepped to the corner with the yellow one. "What's going on?" I asked quietly as he began to unravel himself from my grasp, but he said nothing. However, when he looked to me, his eyes seemed to burn with words that crawled up his throat, and he had to several times, swallow them back down. 

He didn't smile, he didn't hug me, he didn't even breathe--he just stared at me, for a while. Then, he gave a laborious breath and turned on his heel, pulling his cloak around him as he disappeared into the darkness. "Vampire!" I called, running after him, but finding myself incapable of entering the pitch blackness with which he vanished. I could only blink for a moment before turning back to the ring, to find the silhouetted woman who so intimidated me when we first entered, had also vanished! 

Now, I felt...something, something in my chest...it wasn't my heart, because, well, I was dead now, my heart would never beat again! But it was a strange knocking against my rib cage, and as the knocking continued, the more terrified I became. I trembled slightly, my legs jiggling ever so slightly as I made my way around the base of the ring, peeking around the corners until I was sure the woman was not there. I swallowed hard and felt a cold sweat begin, what if she was underneath the ring? There was a skirt around the ring, to...to do something...I wasn't sure!