They did not throw the flowers.
They stared and stared. They hid their children. They made signs on their chests. Some females hurried away as soon as Nikolai was out of sight.
I did not care. I did not buckle under their stares. Let them look I told myself. Let them rebel. I walked ahead. Not caring that I was going the wrong way. They parted for me but did not throw the flower they held in their hands. My ladies followed me. I walked with my head held high and stared right into their eyes.
No female looked away from my stare. Their gazes held contempt and disgust. Some held disbelief and outrage. Some mouths whispered.
Miorisi.
Cursed.
Marked.
Vampire.
They knew I could hear. They knew I could see but they wanted me to hear, to see. They wanted me to feel. And boy, did I feel. I felt like shooting their disgust and contempt right back to them but I had cold acceptance in my eyes. My face was regal and uninterested. I did not want to give them what they wanted.
And they wanted to tick me off.
Nikolai had warned me. Maybe I would make his death quick.
We walked into the forest. The trees were dusted with snow. Their leaves gone. A lone crow sat on a branch and cawed. I wish I could caw back. I could feel the tingling in my arms. The tingling of the change but then I felt a sharp pain in my neck that flowed through my body.
I faltered. Estela put her hand on my shoulder. I shrugged her hand off and breathed through the pain. I would not make Nikolai's death quick.
I continued walking. "Where do we stop?" I asked, to no one in particular as we passed by the crow.
"It's a two hour walk to the Twin Hills and from there we take a horse to the Evernight. We're going to the Dark Castle." Estela answered.
The Dark Castle was a first. My dungeon had been on the castle at the Twin Hills but the Dark Castle was the main base and the Evernight, the capital. I had heard a lot about the Night castle.
Nothing good.
---
Lady Yula was a 7 feet tall half women half horse. She had black hair and an albino horse's body. She was only wearing a leather bra and had a bow strung over her shoulder.
Nikolai bowed to her as a greeting she bowed lower, flashing him her ample cleavage. It did not do anything to Nikolai. He was not one for centaurs.
"You are late, Demon King." She said, her voice sounding ancient.
Nikolai nodded, "My bride was poisoned on our wedding day. We were stalled."
"Poisoned? Your wife has already made enemies. I've heard news of her far and wide. Not all is good. Nothing I've heard is good, infact. They say she is cursed with sight. That she is a vampire? A demon marrying a vampire. It is unheard of. " She said, awed at the news, immediately getting to the point, huh?
Nikolai signed as he sat on his throne. The throne beside him was empty, always had been. But soon, Lunia's graceful form would fill it.
"Unheard of but true. Lunia Vel Miorisi is the new queen of the Demons."
She gasped, her eyes widening. "You married the Vel Miorisi? But she is cursed! From childhood. Nobody gets the sight from childhood. She brings bad luck with her. The Vampires lost the war because of her!"
Nikolai signed. "That's not true. Lunia is innocent. Always has been. If your worried about-"
The Centaur cut Nikolai off. "You will lose this war with her as Queen. You will fail miserably. I'm telling you, Nikolai Shizkov. The Centaurs will not fight on your side. We will back out of this war. We are known far and wide for our wise decisions. Fight your war without our help. I hope your happy with your wife. " She stormed out of the court room with that, her hooves left an echo behind and Nikolai closed his eyes, feeling hopeless.
"There goes another ally." Dimitri signed.
"We have some good news though." Alexei said, making Nikolai's head whip towards him.
"What's the good news?" He asked, rising out of his throne.
"It's waiting for us in the dungeons. " Alexei replied, his eyes lighting up in excitement.
They both walked ahead and out of the throne room towards the dungeons.
"I do not think it's good news though." Dimitri said, nervously.
"What is it?" Nikolai really wanted to know. Maybe it was an ally note from the technotrites or the dragons...no no...that was too much to hope. But he hoped it was something good.
They reached the dungeons in about five minutes and Nikolai couldn't believe his eyes at what he was seeing. His dungeon master Borya stood in front of one of the most heavily guarded cells.
Inside the cell was a female. A bald, heavily scarred female. Heavy iron manacles around her wrists and legs. Her body was naked. She was severely malnourished. Confusion filled Nikolai.
"What is this." Nikolai asked, gesturing to all of her. Dimitri looked away but Alexei kept watching the female.
"Who's permission did you take and bring her in? What is she? Why is she here?" Nikolai asked again when no one answered.
"She is an elder female." Borya answered.
"Elder as in old or...." He asked, hope filling inside him.
Borya nodded. "Elder as in...Werewolf Elder."
----
I collapsed somewhere along the way to twin hills. We had to stop for a break as Munroe fanned me and Lucelle and Estela made arrangements for our horses to be brought earlier.
"She has just recovered from a poisoning..." I heard Lucelle' s voice tell a guard who mysteriously appeared from the forest when I fell.
Gods, I felt horrible. My hands were shaking, and my body sweating. I coughed, and Munroe gasped at the blood that came with it.
"Quickly! She's coughing blood!" I heard a screech. My vision went dark for a moment. I wanted to smack Munroe for screaming in my ear.
"We should have her rest in one of the villagers house." Alicia suggested. "But they hate her!" Munroe argued, leaving a sour taste in my mouth.
Maybe it was blood. But that stinged. I heard a satisfying smack and hoped as hell that someone had finally made my wish come true.
A few minutes passed in a haze of dark dancing spots. I wasn't quite aware of what was happening and when I opened my eyes again we were in a homey smelling place. The ceiling was greying...looked a lot like stone. A properly focused look confirmed that I was in a stone house...what do the demons call their houses?
Wenghs.
Or Wengis. Something weird that starts with 'W'.
I felt a presence near my right side and looked straight into a pair of golden eyes.
It was a female demon. A mirage demon to be specific. For a moment her appearance shimmered and looked a lot like Hanes. I almost called out to him. But common sense kicked in.
What would Hanes do in the demon relm?
Get slaughtered.
The moment passed and her form shimmered to look like Nikolai. I blinked again and shook my head.
"Stop that!" I said, my voice sharp.
The demoness smiled. "You don't like illusions, my Queen? Neither do we. " She said, her voice was low and feminine. The voice meant for lullabies.
I did not get what she said. What exactly was she implying?
She smiled at my expression. "My name is Umaya. I am the representative of the commoners. The speaker of the people. I healed you when you were ill and now I expect payment. " she declared.
I huffed. "You want money, then you come to the palace and ask Nikolai I'm sure he has some to spare. Don't ask me, I only have, scratch that, had four dollars with me. I don't think that is appropriate for Dinhae currency unless you have banks and seeing the state of your houses, I don't think you do. So yeah, ask Nikolai for your 'payment'." I said.
God, I felt tired just from saying that.
Umaya she-didnt-give-me-a-last-name smiled again, flashing her shiny fangs to me. " I do not need money. And our wehs are the symbol of closeness to the earth mother and not signs of poverty. " She explained.
So they were called wehs. And demon's were tree hugging hippies. Wow. Hey, isn't Earth mother evil? So they worshiped the evil earth mama.
What's next, demons are secretly cousins to cats? What? I love cats.
Anyway, back to the hippie demoness . " You shall answer my questions as payment."
"Okay, so you want to play twenty question when you could just have Nikolai pay you like a thousand whatevers. "
"Gold coins. Yes, I could have the King give me a thousand gold coins but you see, I have to put what's best for the people before what's best for me. And I want to know if you're will to do the same. So, my lady, I am going to ask you a few questions.
One wrong answer and you die."