From Embers

18 - Come What May Part 3

A once white skull adorned the wall, its head almost taking up the entire side. Twisted horns shot from above its eyes, each one smaller than the last as they trained down the dragon's nose. Inside its toothy mouth, a tangled mess of limbs lay.

"So this is where the lord and his family lay." Sen looked sullen, and he ran a hand through his hair. "What a desecration."

An abomination. How dare they.

The lord and his family lay inside the mouth, legs dangled from the teeth. The humans had skinned the family, using it to replace the dragon's scales. Their eyeballs hung on strings in the dragon's eye sockets. Dark blood had dried dripping down the skull.

The decorations must have been placed just after the victims' death.

It was one of the most humiliating deaths one could have witnessed.

Outside a nearby door, shadows got smaller as they got closer. The holder of the torched neared the ballroom.

"Sorry in advance for this," Sen wrapped a hand around Jai-Jai's waist. In a split second, they were on the other side of the room, hidden behind the door.

Through the crack in the door, Jai-Jai could see an individual approach. The light lingered for a moment before it started to fade down the hall. Holding onto on Sen's hand, Jai-Jai was about to push it away when a loose floorboard creaked as she stepped forward. The light stopped, returning once again.

Scooting back Jai-Jai pressed into Sen, almost trying to merge her body into his to make herself less noticeable. His hand was still around her waist, but it was no time to make a fuss about it.

The torch's flame lingered before entering the room. They couldn't see the human, but his footsteps weren't quiet. More stomping echoed down the hallway. The two intruders stood, holding their breaths.

"What are you doing in here Sergent?" A young man called from outside the room.

"Thought I heard something," The man responded.

Looking through the crack, Jai-Jai counted at least ten soldiers stood in the entranceway. She started to plan out an escape route in her head if they spotted them. Getting away wouldn't be hard. her inner voice commented. But suspicions would arise if no wounds could be found on our body afterward.

Tensing, Jai-Jai dug her nails into Sen. She didn't realize until the vampire used his free hand to release her grip on him. Looking down, she felt almost bad when she saw the five semi-circles in his skin.

"Probably one of those drunk buffoons who's decided to leave his post again," the young soldier stated. A weary sigh left the human's lips. His footsteps stopped at the door before his hand reached around the corner, pulling it shut.

Neither Jai-Jai nor Sen wasted any time in heading towards the balcony doors. Although the humans were leading away from the ballroom, they could not risk having anyone come back to recheck the room. Sen sped ahead, and Jai-Jai saw him looking up. When he went out of sight, she hurried her pace.

Outside, the vampire had already begun scaling the castle side. She could see the window ledge that he was climbing towards and tried to follow; feeling in the dark for a way to pull herself up onto the stone wall. The wall gave her only a few places to and she found it difficult to find a deep enough crevice to get a good grip. Looking up the vampire had already climbed into the window and was nowhere to be seen.

"Prick left me behind," Jai-Jai grumbled to herself.

As sweat dripped down her face, she silently cursed her decision to come on this adventure. She slid the tip of her boot up and dug it into a small hole. Fingers shaking and muscles burning Jai-Jai pulled herself up. At least ten minutes had passed, and she'd only traveled halfway to the window. Looking down her stomach tensed.

Has being grounded weakened your stomach for heights? Her inner voice cackled.

"No," she whispered, "just enjoying the view."

"Why are you always talking to yourself?" A hushed voiced called from above.

Trying to get a good view of Sen, Jai-Jai craned her neck upwards. She glared at him, not bothering to respond to his poke at her. He swung the end an unknown material in his hand.

"Are you going to continue staring at me, or will you help me?" Jai-Jai wanted to throttle him for sitting and watching her.

"Nope." Sen smiled. "Just enjoying the view."

"Didn't know red-faced, sweaty women were your type."

"It's rather self-absorbed of you to think that I was looking at you."

Jai-Jai did not like her own words being thrown back to her. Her teeth clenched, and her mind filtered through all the ways she could kill the arrogant vampire. The twisted curtain swung down and hit her in the nose. Shocked, Jai-Jai's foot slipped from its perch. Time went in slow motion as the feeling of weightlessness filled her. Fingers unable to hold her weight anymore let go.

Jai-Jai reached out and grabbed the curtain. She swung away from the wall and Sen grunted and leaned dangerously close to the window's edge. Jai-Jai could hear his feet shuffling as he tried to get a better stance to keep her from plummeting down to certain death. When the curtain stopped swinging, Jai-Jai was able to balance herself with both feet planted firmly against the wall. She put one hand above the other, pulling herself up.

Feeling hands grab her arms, Jai-Jai let Sen drag her through the window. Sitting slumped on the floor, Jai-Jai tried to catch her breath. "Are you trying to kill me?" she panted.

"Can't kill you yet." Sen dusted his hands off as he too caught his breath.

Jai-Jai kicked him in the shin. "You're an ass."

"Only for you." Sen winked at her.

Rolling her eyes, Jai-Jai held a hand out, and Sen helped pull her to standing position. The areas on her palms that were rubbed raw from the climb burned when he touched her.

"Not getting tired on me now are you human?" Sen had walked across the bedroom, peeking out the door. "We still have several hours before sunrise."

Jai-Jai tripped over something soft on the floor. Catching herself on a mahogany desk beside her, she picked up the teddy. The room had been painted dark blue with constellations patterned in white speckles.

"Who's room was this?" Placing the teddy on the table, Jai-Jai stared at the bed.

The covers were thrown back and disheveled. Whoever had been sleeping there had tried to leave in a hurry.

Sen almost walked out of the room without her, "Probably one of the children. And if you don't want to meet a similar fate to them, let's go. I hear beating hearts nearby."

The two ran with silent footsteps down the hall. Jai-Jai didn't know if they'd find anything about the heart. Her focus was getting away from that ballroom. The farther she traveled away from this place, the better.