Chapter 39
-Crow's POV-
I knew that I wouldn't be much help when it came to morale, because I was generally a person who found it difficult to even have moderate morale at the best of times. Being locked in a dungeon in Italy. I was an idiot, believing that Aldrich had worthwhile connections who were actually willing to help us. I figured that all old-ish vampires were the same; selfish, arrogant, and incredibly bored. I suppose that's something not to look forward to.
Noah was panicking, I didn't need superhuman hearing to know that. Well actually I did, because I was surprised that we could hear each other through a very thick stone wall, but I didn't need to hear his quick breaths, or the tapping of his foot against the wall as he tried to pull free from his restraints. I wasn't sure if I was especially hated, or if Geppetto thinks that I would be more of a threat, but I could barely move my arms, I couldn't even reach the door thanks to the chains on my ankles. It didn't make sense though, as Noah was definitely stronger than I was. You really wouldn't think it judging from our personalities.
"Okay, I can't stand this anymore," Noah said after around seven minutes. I couldn't measure the time very well, but I had resorted to counting, something I did whenever I was bored or anxious. "Can you see anything?" he asked a bit quieter.
"No," I replied quickly. I couldn't see anything in this room, there was just pitch black in front of me. I had noticed that the walls were made of thick stones and there was a fire roaring outside, when we were being pulled in here. I was surprised that I couldn't feel the warmth of the fire, that only worried me more about the thickness of the door and walls. "Can you?"
"No, just the chains and the fact the floor is made of wood." Noah groaned, followed by a bang on the wall and an 'ow'. "I'm pretty sure that Geppetto isn't stupid enough to leave anything with us."
"We have a bad choice of character," I commented. I tried to stand up, but the chains which were attached to my wrists stopped me. "I can't stand up." I was sure that anxiousness was beginning to creep into my voice. I felt like I had acted very well so far, flying to another country and...I shouldn't dwell on what happened in order to land us in this situation, or I would be thinking about it all night. "Should we give up?"
"What?" Noah asked, shocked. The noise of chains in his direction had stopped abruptly.
"It's night," I pointed out. "We're not going to get anywhere. All the vampires will be awake and around, but-"
"Vampires don't sleep," Noah pointed out. "It doesn't matter if we wait until sunrise or not. There's going to be people guarding the place." He sighed. "We won't even be able to go in the sun, I don't think. How does that even work?"
I hated to admit that he was right. It was easy to forget the fact that Noah was a vampire, despite that being part of why we were here. He just didn't act like one. I wasn't sure I acted like one either, even though I definitely liked the aesthetic of it, which I did channel on most days. I forgot that we were the same creature as the threats in the castle.
"Right," I agreed. "Sunlight just irritates us because our senses are heightened. That's really all there is to it. It's why our eyes feel like they're boiling in our skulls and our skin feels like it's going to peel off immediately."
Noah gave a small hum in acknowledgement. "I didn't feel that." I would've told him that I thought that it was due to him not being a vampire for long, or that the experiment had done something to him, but I didn't have time. "What are vampire's weaknesses?" I was pretty sure that we had gone through this already, but maybe he was just trying to come up with a plan.
"You know that wood through the heart would be fatal," I said, beginning to think deeply about the question. Even though it probably wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to think about. "I think that's because we can't heal more natural wounds, and if you stop circulating blood then a vampire would die."
"Metal is natural," Noah sounded confused, and I didn't blame him. It made sense, but it didn't exactly correlate to the results of vampires being injured with metals versus wood, which I only had a little experience with. I wondered if there were any mad vampiric scientists who made academic papers on the effects of torture weapons against vampires, that would be worth a read in case we were in another situation like this one. "I've got wood here."
"That's something," I replied. I pulled my hand down, to feel a wooden floor. "Me too, but it hurts to reach it." I could do it, but the chains which wrapped around my wrists dug in like handcuffs, which they were, but I'd had experience with toy handcuffs, and they felt pretty similar. They weren't exactly shaped for my particular wrists, so they dug into the inside of my wrists by my prominent veins. If I moved the wrong way, I could cause some damage, which would heal moderately quickly. "There's nothing else?"
Noah made a thinking noise, and the noise of chains came again. But so did the sound of a door opening. It wasn't either mine or Noah's doors, but footsteps were becoming increasingly louder, and thus closer. I tensed my shoulders, anticipating my door being opened, but it never came. Instead, the shriek of sliding metal stabbed through my skull.
"Comfortable?" Geppetto's voice rang through the air. His accent was somehow thicker, and his voice was lower than it had been upstairs. Maybe it was a way of converging, to make us more comfortable and at ease. "That's the best room we have down here."
"As opposed to what?" Noah asked snarkily. "A room full of water up to my neck?" I mentally cursed at Noah for giving the man ideas, but I kept my mouth shut because I knew what was good for me. Maybe I could've distracted him from Noah, but listening was smart right now.
"Now, now, there's no need for that." Geppetto tisk'd. "Although that would be incredibly tempting, and very humorous to watch. I'm staying on your good side." He gave a light-hearted laugh, which didn't suit his words.
"By holding me in a dungeon against my will?" As though he would be happy to stay in a dungeon at any point. "By hurting us and our friends? How is that staying on my good side?" Noah growled.
"Just friends?" Geppetto asked with mock disappointment. "Okay, then I'll just kill him." A few steps came closer to my room.
"What the fuck?" Noah asked, clearly not thinking about his choice of words. "Leave him alone." There was a fierceness which I hadn't heard before, which caused my heart to race and my breath to leave my body.
"There's that fire I'm after." I could hear the grin in Geppetto's voice. "I need more of that, lots more, if this is going to succeed." Then, my door did actually open. There was only a shadow in front of me, the glow from a fire illuminating the background. This was probably the most intimidated I had been in a while, but not threatened. There was some ulterior motive here which I didn't understand. He wanted to hear Noah's fire, his fierceness. Was this something else which had to do with Noah's abilities? Or was this just another sick game for Geppetto? I didn't have a lot of time to ponder as I was pulled upwards, causing a grunt of pain to escape me, and for me to bite my lip.
"Leave him alone," Noah growled. My heart betrayed me by skipping a beat, which amused Geppetto, judging by the upwards twitch of his lips. "I'll do whatever, just don't hurt him." I wanted to slap him so badly and then kiss him affectionately.
"Yes, can I have that in writing?" Geppetto yanked me forward causing another gasp of pain to leave me. "I'm a bit saddened by the fact that you didn't react this way when I first came down here, aren't you curious about what I did to Aldrich and Sawyer?" He had to be kidding.
"No, I mean, yes." I could practically hear Noah shaking his thoughts back into a straight line. "What did you do to them? Since you offered to share that information with us in such a kind way." I didn't think now was the time for sarcasm, but I also thought that I would totally say the same thing if I could.
"They're about to be tortured," Geppetto answered nonchalantly. "They're attached to tables on the roof, and it's just about to be sunrise."
I mentally cursed again, that was exactly what Noah and I had been discussing, maybe he had heard us and thought that it was an excellent idea. Or maybe he had created vampire torture devices when he was building the castle some six hundred years ago.
"And what are you going to gain from that?" Noah asked loudly. "Sawyer is exactly the same as me, and Aldrich is his father, you'll get more information out of them then you would ever get out of me. Why are we the ones down here?" I wanted to be angry about the fact that he would rather be up on the roof and ready to be tortured, then watch Aldrich and Sawyer be in that position. But I couldn't bring myself to hate that side of him.
"Because I know them." Geppetto shrugged. "It's a lot easier to torture someone you've been waiting to torture for years than it is a stranger, a lot more interesting."
"Then why Sawyer?" I struggled to get out. "He's just an innocent boy." As though we weren't very close to the same age, I still considered him more innocent than I am.
"He was with his father," Geppetto answered. "It was a package deal apparently, and I wasn't going to argue with him if he wanted to volunteer to be up there." Of course, he was. He wouldn't leave his father because he was caring, considerate, and lost. That seemed unfair to think, because Sawyer was incredibly smart, but he was slightly different when he was with his father, he was more dependant.
"Now, you're both coming with me." Geppetto clapped his hands and then more workers came in. They didn't look like the ones who threw us in here. But I guessed that we could count on Geppetto to have a myriad of servants in his castle.
Two of the people grabbed the tops of my arms, digging their nails into my flesh and drawing blood, quite ironic in a place full of vampires. I could only assume that these guys were vampires, to be as strong as they were. Maybe Geppetto was a good employer, with a very big pay check.
"At least you told me about this strange human thing," Geppetto walked ahead, leaving the dungeons and letting us be dragged behind. I tried to look back at Noah, but I couldn't see much of his face, the shadows not on our side. "We'll have to work something out, if it comes to Italy that is. I don't care too much about what happens in England, because that's nothing which concerns us. Maybe it'll cause your little vampire society to fall." He sounded far too happy about the prospect.
We didn't go out the door which we had come into. Instead, we went further into the dungeons and into colder and wetter rooms, which I wouldn't really call a room. It was more like a corridor made of stone, lined with torches, cells, and tables covered with torture weapons and chains. Of course, Aldrich was friends with a man who had a literal torture chamber.
We were led to a large room with a chair and two tables as the only pieces of furniture. One table was an operating table, and the chair was adorned with chains and spikes. I thought I knew where this was going to go, but I was thrown onto the table whilst Noah was pushed towards the chair.
"This is going to be educational, boys and girls. Get your knives ready."
Hello lovelies!
I hope you're all having a good week :D
The question of the chapter is: what's your lockscreen right now?
I'm sure I've asked this before...but mine is currently the cover of the house in the cerulean sea. It's meant to provoke holiday and summer vibes, because I couldn't find a 'don't you wish you were here?' picture.