Betrayal (6)

6: Back home

Veax sat on the rooftop of the old Bloodrain manor overlooking the city. It was a beautiful view. The cool night air flowed through her loose red hair. Veax rarely let her hair down like this now. It was just to troublesome out in the country to let her hair down.

"You look good with your hair down." a smooth voice spoke from behind Veax. She turned around. It was Vance. The image of him covered in blood flashed across Veax's mind, but she shook herself from it. "Thank you." Veax said lightly. Vance would have to settle for that.

Vance came and sat beside Veax. "Your city is beautiful." he said. Veax smiled. "Yeah, it is." memories of running through the city streets and sneaking into the castle flowed through her mind. It was fun living in the city. "Care to give me a tour tomorrow?" Vance asked, looking over to Veax, a sort of gleam in his amber eyes. Veax shrugged. "Why not?"

Vance was called away before he could say anything else. That was a slight relief to Veax. It was so much easier for her to think alone.

Jasperain had not tried to talk to Veax since their last meeting, four days ago. Why did Veax want to see this Werewolf so badly? Veax looked up to the sky. It was slowly dimming with arivial of night.

Veax smirked as she thought of the Human myths about Vampires. They said that Vampires preferred the night because they burned up in the sun. But those beliefs were quite wrong. In fact, Vampires liked the day-time better. The wolves had night as their domain.

That brought Veax back to Jasperain and the Werewolf pack. The previous night Veax had been out and she had heard the far off sound of howls. She dismissed it as the howls of some wild wolves, but now she knew it had been the pack. What had they been doing? Veax almost did not want to know.

The city tower chimed midnight. Veax had many happy memories of this city that had taken place at midnight. Most of them were sneaking out of the house to go and play with the 'bad-boys' of the city. Those boys were grown, married, and perfect gentlemen now. Or at least, that was what Veax was told. But, Veax's best memories laid in the Obsidian castle. A castle in the center of the city carved of a black stone that had fallen from the skies thousands of years before. It was called the Obsidian castle because that was what it looked like. But no one had come up with a name for the mysterious stone that was stronger than diamond and steal combined. No one but Elleron.

Veax stood. She would visit the castle tomorrow. And maybe bring Vance along for the ride. Yes, Veax would give Vance a tour he would never forget.

Veax stood in the main hall of the Obsidian castle. She was out of breath. There was a young man standing beside her. Veax could not see him clearly. "Where can we hide?!" he asked frantically. Veax looked around. Where could they hide in this huge open space? Then she remembered! "This way! Quick!" She ushered the man towards a tapestry. Behind the giant carpet was two doors with a big solid space between them. "Walk into the space between the doors." she hissed at him. The man looked uncertain, but Veax pushed him into the space. Veax had found this secret entrance when she leaned up against the tapestry and fell through. The 'solid' space between the two doors was in fact a opening that was cleverly made to look like a real wall. The two of them ran down the stone stairs. But wait, Veax had remembered the stairs leading up. What had happened? Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs. It was a huge library under the castle. There was a tall caped man standing in the middle of the room. He had platinum-blond hair and wore a crown of the same black stone the castle was made out of. "King Elleron...." Veax voice was so quiet, she might as well just thought the words. The fabled king turned around, a sly grin across his lips. "I was waiting for you, Veax." he said in a voice as cold as ice, but still as smooth as honey. The man she had run down the stairs with was slowly backing away as Elleron approached Veax. He took her up in his icy embrace and......

Veax woke up in a cold sweat. She had dreamed? Vampires never got the deep into sleep to dream. But dream Veax had. "I have to see if that passage leads down." Veax said, getting out of bed and getting dressed.

Veax was quiet all through breakfast. Nasya chattered on as usual. Carthem was also quiet, but obviously bothered by something. Veax finished eating and quickly excused herself from the table before Carthem could say anything about whatever he was thinking to her.

After packing a small lunch of a ham sandwich and a small keg of wine, Veax headed off to where Vance and the other clans were living as of right now.

It was not hard to find Vance. He was the 'bad-boy loner' of his clan and was patiently waiting for Veax in the center of the little circle of houses that his clan was living in. "You're here earlier than I thought you'd be." Vance noted as Veax came to stand a few feet away from him. "I want to see something in the castle. Pack some food and c'mon." Veax said, itching to get on with her search.

Vance came out a moment later with a small bag slung over his back. "Ready?" Veax asked. "Ready." he responded. "Good." with that, Veax showed Vance a easy way out of the circle of houses. She could tell that Vance had questions, but she wanted to get away from everybody else before she said anything else.

They finally reached one of the city's four main squares. It was flooded with Humans and Vampires going from place to place. "So are you going to show me around the city, or are we just going to go to the castle?" Vance asked, a smirk on his face. He found Veax amusing. Veax giggled. "Since you asked, we are going to the castle first." she said with a smile. Vance chuckled and dashed after Veax as she sped through the crowd, headed for the Obsidian castle.

It only took Veax and Vance fifteen minutes to get tot he castle at the pace Veax was running. The huge castle loomed over them as they approached it. "So how are we getting inside?" Vance asked. Obviously they could not just walk in. Veax smiled slyly. "We get in the same way I got in when I lived here." she said.

Veax showed Vance around the east side of the castle to the gardens that were open to the public. There was more people in the gardens then Veax would have liked. "Pretend that you took me here to see the flowers." she told Vance quietly as the walked into the gardens. Vance nodded and smiled.

Veax showed the way to the secret entrance into the castle discreetly as Vance pretended to show her the various flowers. Veax could tell that Vance was enjoying this. Well he should be smart enough to know that it's just for show. Veax thought to herself. They reached the entrance without notice and Veax ushered Vance inside.

It was dark in the hidden tunnel, but the faint light from outside was enough for both Veax and Vance to work their way down the tunnel. They did bump into one another now and again, but Veax moved away as fast as possible.

After five minutes of stumbling over one another in the near pitch-black tunnel, Veax and Vance came out behind a huge statue of a dragon in the main hall. Veax listened for the footsteps of guards. Nothing. Good. She silently showed Vance over to and behind the huge tapestry. Veax headed for the secret doorway and slipped inside. Vance stood in total confusion for a minute or two, but Veax pulled him in.

Veax gasped. They stairs did lead down. "What is it?" Vance asked, worry lining his words. "Last time I came here, the stairs lead up, not down....." Veax said, still stunned. Vance started down the stairs. "Well lets see whats down here." He said, holding his hand out to Veax. Veax took it and followed him down the stairs, almost scared to know what was waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

The hidden library that Veax had seen in her dream was what her and Vance walked into. But no one else was in the vast space. Veax had to hold in a sigh of relief. She walked around the space, running her fingers across the spines of the old books. Vance followed her, his interest solely on her and her body. Veax almost did not care, books fascinated her.

She walked until she found what seemed to be the center of the library. There was a dusty oak desk sitting the center of the small space with an open book on it. Veax went over to the large high-backed padded armchair and sat down. It was quite comfortable. Veax leaned over the huge book, it was open slightly past the middle. Now what was strange was that the book had not one speck of dust on it. In fact it looked brand new. In dark red ink words that Veax did not understand were written. Vance had come to stand next to the chair and was looking at the book as well. "This is written in goblin...." he noted. "You can read it?" Veax asked, interested in knowing what was written on the parchment. Vance nodded. "Yeah, goblin was a language I was taught along with English." he said, his eyes running across the pages. "Can you read it to me?" Veax asked. Vance nodded and pointed to the top right corner of the right page. "This is the date, it says: Siht yrtne koot ecalp no eht yad, neetenin sthgin morf eht sselnoom yks." he said in goblin. "Care to translate?" Veax asked, jokingly. Vance chuckled. "Sure. I said: This entry took place on the day, nineteen nights from the moonless sky." Vance closed his eyes, thinking. "This entry was written yesterday...." he mumbled. Veax looked to the rest of the page. "Can you read it all to me? In English?" she asked Vance, who seemed to be already reading it. "Hm? Oh yes, may I sit?" Veax got up and motioned to the chair for Vance. Vance sat down and leaned over the book. "Lets see. It reads: Last night I saw her. She came here in her dreams, but with my power I could see her, speak to her, and feel her. She is just like the others. Just right. But there was something about her, something strange. Given that I could see into her mind, I knew her secrets. This woman had befriended a Werewolf. Is that not taboo now? I don't know. I just know that I must see her more, speak to her more. Feel her warm skin on my fingertips. I was wrong about my weakness, the diamond of the Ice Caves only 'kills' me like Haythia had killed me. I know not what can kill me, but this woman might just keep me from looking for that weakness. If I could find a body, a someone I could become to get closer to her, I would use it. I would make her mine. I don't need a kingdom. I just need someone to fill this hole in my being. It is driving me insane to live like this. Hopefully she saw me. Hopefully she will came back." Vance stopped. Veax had to hide her expression of fear under her expression of surprise. "King Elleron wrote this....." she whispered. "Its seems to be so." Vance said, equally surprised.

They left the book and headed back to where they had come into the hidden library. Veax felt out of breath. That was Elleron. He was here. He had taken me into his arms. This is much to much for me. He knows I know Jasperain, knows that I sympathise with them.He siad he would find the body of someone close to me to control.... Vance...... Veax slowly drew up to the conclusion.

Veax and Vance sat down and emptied their bags. Vance had also brought a sandwich and a small keg of wine. They sat and ate in silence. Veax wondered what to do. Should she cut herself off from Vance in all ways? No, Elleron would find someone else. Veax sighed. Maybe she would see him again tonight.