Prince of Lies [COMPLETED]

Chapter 13

A week, maybe more may have passed, but Frederick did not see his wife again.

He thought he could almost sense her somewhere in the innards of the castle but she never appeared. Her sneers, threats, and dinners were preferred to this silent disdain. He almost felt foolish for what he'd assumed, but he fought against the misguided need to atone for it. He hadn't known he'd see babies being maimed. Hadn't expected to stumble upon anything like that when he asked Errand to take him to her.

Don't feel guilt for this, he constantly chided. You were right to be enraged. If you let it get to you, you'll be weak. You'll be nothing. Don't humanize her-she's still a monster.

And now that he knew about her no-drinking law ... he was more confused than ever. But it didn't change anything. Not really. One good act did not redeem a nefarious vampyre. It was only right that she make and enforce a reasonable law. The vampyres didn't need humans when there were other opportunities for nourishment-like the changelings. If they gave birth in the hundreds, then the vampyres wouldn't starve.

You don't know how many vampyres are here.

So far the answer was four: Arabella, Vignolo, Viscon, and Gheorge. And the last on his list was becoming a great nuisance. Their training had commenced, and Frederick listened to the advice he gave freely, memorizing every word before he retired to his suite and wrote pages and pages of notes.

"Think about it," Gheorge said, waving his sword with flourish, "a vampyre is faster than a human, stronger than a human, and possesses more power than a human."

Frederick dragged his wrist along his brow, finding it soaked. Rest would be coming soon, he just had to listen a little longer. "Humans don't possess power."

Amusement crossed his face. "Some possess power-like your priests and priestesses and healers and-"

"Some humans possess power," Frederick corrected. "But the majority of us don't."

"Yes, you do. Especially you, my angry friend."

Frederick shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

"Humans possess powers, but not in the typical sense. You have an instinct that guides you well, but you can choose to ignore it. You are inherently good as a race, for the majority of you work for a better world. You nurture life, reward it, help it grow. And of course, you breed like changelings."

He grinned at Frederick's displeasure. "All right, not exactly like changelings. But what I'm trying to say is that you breathe. Your body is more responsive to pain than a vampyre, warning you of when you've reached your limit, whereas we realize we're dying far too late. And your senses are accurate-your race just learns to ignore it."

"Ah," Frederick said, sheathing his sword. "So we are still working on the senses."

"They're important," he said in a singsong voice. "Vampyres train to be adept at controlling their senses, to have restraint instead of being a slave to incurable animal instinct, and above all, vampyres must train to use their senses without being overwhelmed-sight, sound, touch, taste, and above all feel."

"Yes, so you keep saying, but why."

"Because it will make all the difference-so start learning the differences. Like humans, we have the same brain as you, the same parts, but we produce a hormone that stops us from decaying-which is produced through?"

"Drinking blood," Frederick answered.

He tapped his temple. "Another fundamental difference is how our brains receive and action information. The sensory experience-the visceral-is unregulated in newborn vampyres. The thalamus is the part of the brain that reads the sensory and relays impulse, which both humans and vampyres have. But that part becomes grossly incapacitated during the vampyre transformation."