by Pet TorreS
“I didn’t know Vincent has a daughter!”
He said then, looked into my eyes and smiled again with his terrible dark teeth. His image was so horrible and hard to keep someone looking at it. “What's your name?” he asked.
“…Valkyrie!” I answered soon after, as I was suspicious of him. My eyes ran silently on his bizarre image.
“Valkyries are respected goddesses of war!” He explained and smiled kindly to me.
So I smiled weakly, compensating his unnecessary comment and remained quiet subsequent to that.
“Why do you appeal for my help if you're the daughter of Vincent?” Finally he asked me, sounding very curious with my presence in his residence.
“Because my father would never consent to my desire,” I answered without doubt as I needed to give him an idea about my bravery.
The sorcerer nodded delicately, “What is your wish?”
“To quit being a vampire,” I responded after I had exhaled noisily.
“Are you aware of what you are asking me?” dubiously he asked me as his eyes monitored my body for some time.
“If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” I said, ill-mannered and squeezed my dark lips. I was there to be helped and not questioned that way.
He smiled reduced as his eyes were fixed on my image as a rude vampire. “Now you speak like your father.”
My eyes met his one more time. “If you know him so well, then you know what it costs me to come here.”
“He does not know about your whereabouts,” he commented and looked away. Some mystery looked to be part of his purpose.
“Why did you say that?” I asked him, becoming frightened at his eccentric words. My head kept up as remained waiting for his reply.
“Do not take into account what I just mentioned,” he said and shook his head at himself.
“In relation to my wish, can you help me?” I insisted with a serene voice. My eyes did not go away from his figure.
“Ex-vampires don’t exist.” he affirmed with great wisdom and stared at my pale face for some time. His eyes ran over my gray eyes and continued facing him.
“So you cannot help me,” I assumed, discouraged at all and then looked at the ground. My optimism had been put into the earth as a dead body. I imagined I had gone there just for nothing. The host could not help me in fact.
“Well... I can try,” he said after an instant and gave me a short grin.
“What will you do?” my head moved up after hearing his words. Now he looked to want to help me. I got a little happy at it.
“I have to prepare a secret formula, but it will take hours to get ready. It might be ready when night falls,” he explained as his fingers moved to one side in slow way.
In my countenance remained an eccentric concern. If I stayed out all night, my father might miss me and maybe Valeska would not be able to foil him in time for my return.
“Some problem?” the wizard asked me, seeing my worried expression before his eyes.
“I hope this can be done in the time you mentioned” as a result I responded with my decisive voice.
His fingers put in motion in my direction. “So come on, I can start the process.”
“Where will you take me?” I asked questionable as I glanced around. The dirty dark walls drew my attention to them at this instant.
“I will take you to a safe place.”
He grabbed my arm and directed me to a circle. Seconds later, a steel cage from the top came down and I got stuck in it. I could see everything around me.
I was frightened as I was imprisoned in that place. I gripped the cage bars and touched my face against it.
“Why have you imprisoned me here?” I asked loudly.
“Take it easy! Being here, you will be safe from my dogs,” he said quietly and didn’t grin at me.
“This is not comfortable!” soon I whispered, glancing up and about.
His index finger went toward his wizen lips. “Be quiet! I need concentration to prepare your formula.”
At this moment I felt within me a prognosis there was something wrong with that wizard. I wasn’t sure about his true intentions, if he really had some intention to help me.
CHAPTER 25
Night came quickly. Everyone was present in my father’s castle, except me.
At that moment my father requested my presence in the mysterious living room. A few torches burnt smokily from sconces on the dark walls.
“Go get Valkyrie! I haven’t seen her today.”
“Valkyrie hasn’t returned yet from her walk,” Valeska said to my father, with her wide eyes, she was afraid of being discovered by him. But her fear could be hidden by her prudent attitude.
“Walk?” he insisted. His forehead compacted.
“She mentioned ... the woods,” Valeska said slowly. Her words stumbled in her mouth. Her eyes looked full of fear. Our secret had been kept with her and me. But she didn’t know how long it would remain just between us.
“She should already have returned,” Vincent murmured, concerned about my absence there. My father knew I had no habit of acting that way, going out of his castle without letting him know. I also imagined I was always close to him or to the castle rooms.
“We can go after her,” Bizak mentioned as he was standing alongside Eros. His arms were crossed over his chest under his wine shirt.
“Do it!” Vincent ordered them and his fingers stroked his lips in immense nervousness.
“She might be back?” Valeska questioned and made an effort to smile serenely at her master.
“You two go to look for her now!” Vincent ignored Valeska’s useless comment and not even he did look in the direction of her.
~~~
After some time, Eros and Bizak were looking for me immediately. They entered the woods since Valeska had mentioned I went there. They took hours exploring the dark place, walking through several trees. They two were separated. They followed different directions, to facilitate their searches.
Bizak jumped from one tree to another. It was better to see the entire region. His vision was broad from the top.
He had no clue as to my whereabouts. After much searching, he returned to the castle with a vague answer.
“I didn’t find her,” Bizak told Vincent, who was sitting on his armchair.
Valeska was at his side and she remained silent all the time, hoping that no one would find me in time.
During that, tired of exploring the woods, Eros stopped walking in the middle and he was motionless. Eros did not know what direction to take, where to look for me. After all, he and Bizak had looked everywhere.
He had a strong connection with my thoughts. This happened a few times. It was imposed telepathy.
In his mind came a scene in which I was next to the dwelling of the wizard.
Then he concluded I would be there.
CHAPTER 26
My throat was dry, as I was agonized to be imprisoned in that cage. The sorcerer hadn’t honored his word. The hours imposed by him to be ready the formula had been exhausted, it was more than necessary.
I'd be lost if he didn’t remove me from the cage.
Odik had prepared no formula yet, it was all swindle. He returned to the site after an extensive time away, with his empty hands.
“Why did you imprison me here?” soon I questioned him. My body was exhausted as I remained in the hard cage.
“Aren’t you accustomed to it yet?” he scoffed at me. His irony came over.
“What have I done to deserve this?” my elevated voice insisted as my fingers surrounded the iron bars.
“You, nothing ...but your father....” His voice affirmed and his stare looked angry at something.
Immediately I frowned after his act. Things were starting to make sense. He wanted to avenge my father by using me.
“What has my father done to you?” my voice insisted.
“The problem ...is... he ‘hasn’t’.”
My eyes narrowed. I couldn’t beli
eve what was happening there.
His eyes stared toward me. “I wanted the immortality of the vampires,” he said, approached the cage and put his terrible face next to mine. “I would just need to drink your father’s blood ...nothing else.”
Odik walked around the cage slowly.
“And he denied it with all contempt. I had to resort to another method of immortality. I invented a way to live for long. Up until now I have had no success.”
He stopped walking and focused his attention on me confined in the cage.
“You will be my new attempt.”
He laughed long and it startled me.
“And when it finally happens, I will need you no more. Then I will throw you to my dogs to satisfy their hunger.”
“So you do rapidly what has to be done and finish it!” I pleaded and blinked in fury.
“I have no hurry and seeing you in this state. ...I think it compensates all my wasted time,” Peacefully he affirmed and removed his eyes from my image.
“Destroy me soon!” I yelled at him and tried to agitate the iron bars with my hands.
Even so the wizard ignored my screams and walked to the next room, leaving me alone over again.
~~~
Minutes later…
I had used all the force of my mind as I had invoked my vampire powers to try to step out of there.
Thereafter I contracted a vast fatigue and it made me powerless. The circle on the floor blocked all my powers, nothing happened.
Onward, I heard a noise from the corridor. I thought the wizard was returning to the site. A dark creature approached me. Finally, I recognized it.
“Eros!” I exclaimed and stood up. My gaze shone in the direction of him.
“Valkyrie!” he said smoothly, his gaze met my pale face. Eros perceived I was tired and I was imprisoned in the cage for some extended time.
“How did you know I was here? Did Valeska tell you?” ingenuously I asked him. Eros gave me a grave quick look.
“We have no time for conversation.” He needed a way to get me out of that cage. Then he walked away and took several steps back, in order to use his powers against the cage.
“Protect yourself!” He ordered before unloading a wave of lightning against the steel cage.
Two dogs came up behind him.
“Take care! They’re behind you!” brusquely I screamed when I saw the dogs moving toward him.
Eros turned his body back and was surprised at the sudden jump of two dogs over him. Then Eros was thrown on the floor. They advanced on him with the instinct to devour him.
At that second Eros was fighting with two dogs on the floor. He used his vampire powers to get them off him.
Odik returned to the site and saw Eros in the fight with his gigantic dogs.
“Devour him!” The wizard screamed at them.
I felt a deep desperation watching that scene and I could not do anything to prevent the dogs hurting Eros. I shook the cage with all the force that came from my distress. I had to save him. He was there for me. I put him in danger.
“Let him go! Do what you have to do to me!” I cried deeply, as if my prayers could save him from some danger.
Suddenly Vincent appeared at the scene, flying over the room. His wine long cape flew in the company of his body.
When I stared up and saw my father, hope painted the face of defeat. I thought everything was not lost yet. At that split second I nearly smiled.
“Father!” my voice cried.
Vincent flew up to the wizard Odik and held his throat firmly with his hands. His intent was to strangle him.
“I'll do to you what I should have done centuries ago!”
Vincent raised his hand and a metal bar flew up his hand. He pulled out the head of the wizard with it. The body fell to the ground without its skull. The wizard’s head rolled on the ground like a ball.
Vincent looked at Eros struggling with two dogs on the ground. Energy went out of his hands and hit the dogs, throwing them onto the wall. They were destroyed and dissolved like ashes.
Eros got up from the floor. His clothes were torn, and there were several bites on his arm. He was very hurt.
I fell to the ground, relieved to see everything ended well. That wizard no longer existed and those devouring dogs were gone. Eros was safe.
“Stay down!” my father ordered.
Quickly I buried my head onto the ground and closed my gray eyes, protecting me from what would come next.
My father stared at the cage. Red rays came out of his eyes, hit the metal and melted the cage.
So I looked up and saw I was free. I got up and ran to hug my father. My face touched his firm chest. My fear was having no power over me now, because I was in my father’s arms.
“How did you get here?” Vincent asked as he hugged me. His hand smoothed out my hair.
“It was my fault!” I replied with my face hidden in his costume. My voice oscillated in alarm another time as I thought of Valeska.
CHAPTER 27
We returned to the castle. For me, returning was faster than the trip there. The three of us were standing in the living room. I was dirty and Eros was much wounded.
My father demanded an answer from me about what had just occurred.
“How did you learn of the existence of a wizard?”
In panic, I cast a worried stare upon Eros, before answering my father’s question. My lips moved slowly on my face. I feared my own answer. But I had no way to avoid it. Things needed to be informed to my father. He was the master, the king and owner of our acts there.
“Valeska told me,” finally I said low and turned my head down. I had no bravery to face my father.
“Valeska!” He said angrily. His eyes met the room ceiling. His forehead packed mutually. “Did she know everything?”
“She only wanted to help me,” rapidly I said, trying to save her. Valeska was just my allied. So I had to economize her from being punished for my cause.
“Be quiet!” Vincent ordered screaming at me. His voice sounded grave, high and cold. I had never seen him like that. He never treated me that way. Soon I curved my head again. My eyes meet the soundless floor.
Vincent felt like punishing me as well. But he thought of he could do it later.
“Bring Valeska here!” he ordered Eros.
In next to no time Eros left the main room, but before it he gazed in my direction. After that he returned in the company of Valeska. She walked slowly at the side of him. Her eyes were with no splendor. Her face was gloomy.
“Does my master desire to talk to me?” Valeska asked, frightened. Her voice was near to the ground. She really feared that something terrible could happen to her.
“Why did you tell Valkyrie about the existence of wizard Odik?” he asked, upset. His gaze scrutinized Valeska in full.
“She asked for my help,” Valeska answered with her head down. She couldn’t face her master after everything that had happened to me.
“What help?” he insisted, keeping his look at her.
“She wanted to become human again.” Valeska responded as she raised her head and glanced toward her master’s face.
“And you put her in danger!”
Vincent threw Valeska against the wall, using his vampire power. Her body slipped on the smooth surface and stopped on the floor.
“I just wanted to help Valkyrie,” she said with difficulty as she was sobbing.
“You betrayed me!” Vincent said and knocked his chair down.
Bizak ran into the main room when he heard the noise. He stopped next to Eros, without understanding what was happening.
“And I don’t accept traitors in our midst!”
Vincent grabbed Valeska’s arm, pulling her up. His eyes squashed in fury.
“You know our rules! Do you know what will happen to you?”
During that Vincent dragged her to other room of the castle.
“Valkyrie, stop your father! I did this because of you!” Valeska ple
aded as she glanced to me over her left shoulder.
Due to that I tried to do something and made a move to leave the place and go after them. I was desperate to alleviate the suffering of Valeska.
But Eros held my arm firmly. My stare met his. So I could not go after them. I stayed in the living room with Eros and Bizak, as we were awaiting the return of my father and Valeska.
“What will my father do to her?” I asked then, scared as I felt Eros’s arms round me. His embrace was very significant on that occasion. Even before a catastrophe, I really looked protected by his arms.
“At the very least .... He will extinguish her,” Bizak said back, with his head down as he looked unhappy about it. Bizak and Valeska were friends since they met each other there in Neptune, just at my father’s castle. I recalled that Valeska had told me that.
Forward, Vincent took her to the shooting room. A small, empty place where there was only a metal chain.
He chained her, with her body hanging down from the ceiling.
She had no defense.
“Vincent, do not do it! I didn’t do any harm!” she shouted as she felt tears come quickly to her eyes.
“I gave you immortality and will take it from you now!” he said holding a metal sword in his unopened hands. His eyes examined her face once and again.
“Don’t do it!” she pleaded with her eyes closed, fearing the worst. Her vampire body vibrated in panic.
“Immortality is over for you.”
Vincent held his sword with both hands and placed it at the head of the young vampire. It took a blow on her neck and her dark blood dripped on the floor. Her head rolled on the ground.
Valeska’s immortality had been interrupted at that so crucial moment.
~~~
After some time, Vincent returned to the main room holding Valeska’s head by the hair. I embraced Eros as I was frightened at my father’s barbarous attitude. That scene was horrifying before my eyes. Even I being a vampire, I was not wholly prepared for that.
“This is the end of everyone who betrays me!” he said and threw Valeska's head down. It stopped near Bizak’s foot. He looked down at it and remained mute. But Bizak looked revolted with Valeska’s death. He wanted to say she had no fault about what had happened to me. The vampire desired just to help me. So Bizak gazed down another time and determined to speak nothing. His words would be useless, because they would never bring Valeska back to life.
