"Well, I'll leave it here in case you get hungry," he replied, and set it down on the nightstand beside the lamp. He stretched out his hand and felt my forehead. His mouth turned down in a frown. "You're rather cold. Are you feeling at all better from this morning?" he wondered.
"I'm fine, just a little chilly," I admitted. Actually, as the warmth of his blood had faded so had all the warmth in my body. I felt like I'd plunged into the depths of an icy river and couldn't climb out.
"Pack on your blankets for the night, and you're not to leave this bed tomorrow," he ordered me. He stood, looked forlornly down on me and shook his head. "I feel I'm to blame for letting you go on that hike today. I should have suspected that the skeleton would have given you quite a shock."
"I'm fine, just tired," I persisted.
"Well, tired or not you're staying in bed will be for the best. I'll have Stacy look over you and get you whatever you need," he told me. He strode over to the tent flaps, but paused and turned around. His eyes fell on the shadows where the prince had stood only a few moments before. The professor shook his head and smiled. "Strange, I swore someone was there, but no matter." He turned to me and his smile faltered.
"What?" I wondered.
"It seems the village elder at least was right about one thing. You are certainly ill from being in those chambers," he mused. He ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. "There does seem to be a curse on that place," he commented.
"I'm sure it's just the air," I replied.
The professor sighed and shrugged. "Well, get some rest and I'm sure everything will be fine in the morning."
Chapter 7
He slipped out of my tent and left me alone. Outside my peers retired for the evening, each to their own dreams without vampires stalking them.
I both hoped and dreaded that the prince would return, but I didn't feel his presence. He had gone to satiate his unnatural hunger. I reached up and touched my fingers to my lips. Some specks of the dried blood was still there. I flicked my tongue out and winced. It tasted like rust. I used the prince's handkerchief and hurriedly cleaned myself with assistance from a bottle of water. I tried to take a drink of the water, but I gagged and spat it out. There was something wrong about the taste and texture. It wasn'tI froze. The water wasn't blood. That's what I was going to think, that because the water wasn't blood I wasn't thirsty for it. I shuddered and wrapped myself in the blankets on my cot. This wasn't happening, none of this could be happening. I hadn't just sold my soul to the devil for a blood cookie. Tomorrow I would wake up and this would all be some strange nightmare, a product of my crazy imagination. I shut my eyes and willed myself to sleep.
It didn't work. My will-power was apparently not as strong as the vampire blood flowing through my veins. So long as the night ruled over the part of the world in which I lay I wouldn't be able to sleep a wink. On the contrary, the longer I stayed awake the more energy I felt. My own heart betrayed me as it pumped the vampire's blood through my body and energized it with the ungodly liquid.
The new energy was very useful an hour later when I heard the scream outside my tent. I sat up and so did the hairs on the back of my neck. People cried out in fear and panic, and I heard the professor's voice above all the others. "Calm down! Calm down! There's nothing wrong!" he told them.
"What the hell was that?" I heard Stacy shriek.
I stood and strode over to push aside one of the flaps of my tent. My fellow students stood near the dying embers of the campfire holding a variety of flashlights and propane lanterns. The professor was in the center and counting heads. "Six, seven, eight," he finished. He glanced around at the frightened faces illuminated by the flickering lights. "Where's Mary?"
"Right here," I called from my tent. I stepped out, but he waved me back in.
"That's fine, just stay there. We don't want more trouble with your weak health," the professor ordered me.
"Ed's missing," Stacy spoke up.
Everyone looked at each other, and sure enough the missing person was Ed. The professor cupped one hand over his mouth. "Ed! Ed!" he called out.
A groan from Ed's tent answered his calls, and everyone rushed to his temporary home. The professor hurried inside with Stacy close behind. With my newfound energy I easily rushed over and joined the crowds at the closed flaps.
"Ed!" we heard Stacy gasp.
"My god!" the professor exclaimed.
Stacy stumbled out and turned to us with her face ashen and her hands trembling. "S-something attacked him!" she choked out.
There was a groan from inside the tent, and the professor's soothing but strained voice. "Easy there, Ed, don't move too quickly." The suspense was too much. I hurried inside and was in time to see the professor help Ed into his cot. Ed's neck was covered in blood and he looked as pale as the sheets in which the professor covered him. His breathing came out in harsh gasps and his shirt had been torn open to get at his neck. His body shivered from the loss of warm blood, and his eyes were unfocused as they lazily rolled around the room.
Ed's eyes stopped on me and regained their focus. His mouth opened in a soundless scream and he thrashed and kicked at the sheets beneath him. The professor grabbed his arms and pinned him to the cot. "Calm down, Ed! Nobody's going to hurt you!" he tried to console the young man.
Ed furiously shook his head and turned away from me. "He's come back! He's come back!" he shrieked.
The professor turned to grab a bottle of water from Ed's nightstand and caught sight of me. He frowned and pointed angrily at the flaps. "Get out of here and get back to your own tent!" he ordered me.
I didn't have to ask what happened to him. The prince had happened to him, and all because I'd taken his blood. He'd needed to rejuvenate his own and attacked Ed. Now as I stood here listening to Ed's shrieks I knew that he knew I was something else, something like the thing that had attacked him.
I stumbled back and shook my head. "I-I'm so sorry, Ed. I didn't mean for this to happen," I whispered.
The professor raised an eyebrow. "For what to happen?" he asked me. When I didn't reply he strode over and grabbed me by the elbow and roughly shook me. "What do you know about this?" he questioned me.
"I-I-" My voice caught in my throat. I wanted to explain to him, to explain to anyone what was going on, but I felt a tightening in my neck that wouldn't allow me to speak. It was his doing, I was sure of it.
"Well?" the professor angrily asked me.
"I'm sorry! I can't!" I yelled. I easily broke from his grasp and fled from the tent. The others let me pass through their ranks, and I couldn't look at any them. What if they had been the victim instead of Ed? What if I became a vampire, and attacked and killed them myself?
I couldn't do this. I couldn't let that happen. I had to end this terror before it got worse, before it actually took a life. The professor burst from the tent soon after me, but I sprinted down the lane between the tents toward the path that led to the tomb. My feet pounded against the hard-packed dirt and the world flew by me in a haze of dark colors and shadows. I could believe my incredible speed because I knew what I was, or what I was turning into.
In a few minutes I broke from the path and stopped at the edge of the dig site. The silhouette of the tarp over the tomb glistened against the light of the moon overhead. A small breeze blew past me, but I didn't feel a chill. I didn't feel anything. My skin was as cold as the night air and as pale as the moon that glimmered in the night sky.
I took a deep breath and strode over to the tomb. Under the professor's guidance the others had built a more permanent, movable tarp structure to cover the hole. It was fashioned with tarps and long sticks gathered from around the meadow. There were a few sticks left over, and I picked up a sturdy one that had a sharp end. This would work.
I pushed aside the structure and didn't need a light to see the way as I stepped down the stairs. The tomb's stagnant air stifled me. I wanted to escape to the clean, cool air of the night, but I forced down that dark desire. I
t was the blood inside of me, the unclean blood making those demands. I would remedy that illness, or die trying.
I passed through the first room and saw the professor and the others had placed large boards beneath the entrance to prop up the frame to the tomb room. Mirrors were set up along the walls to direct sunlight into the underground chambers, but now they cast the eerie glow of the moon into the space. I slipped into the tomb room and saw some of the items were marked with tags, and I guessed pictures were already taken of the magnificent treasures. My only focus was on the stone sarcophagus in the center. I walked quietly over the dusty floor and paused for a moment by the platform beside the coffin.
My eyes fell on the skeleton with which I'd tussled yesterday. I recalled the warning from the old man in the village, and how he told us his ancestor was buried with the demon he created. This was the skeleton of that foolish enchanter ancestor who broke the boundaries of life and death for a small treasure from the prince. He didn't get a chance to enjoy the reward.
I turned my attention to the coffin. The slight gap still remained where I'd pushed it open, and I cautiously stepped up to the hole. It was a mystery how the vampire fit through that tiny hole. Perhaps mist, or maybe he changed into that shadow form of his. Either way I leaned forward and glanced inside. I saw-nothing. Not a damn thing except dust.
"Eager to join me?" a voice spoke at my back. I swung around and held the steak out in front of me. The prince stood a yard off, and his smiling face turned to anger when he beheld the sharp stick. "What is this?" he asked me.
"It's me getting out of a bad deal," I replied.
He raised an eyebrow. "What have I promised that is so terrible?"
"Needing to feed on blood, for one. I saw what you did to Ed," I revealed.
"The boy? I admit I was-overzealous in my attempt to feed on him. It was merely an accident, and the boy struggled too much," the prince argued.
I snorted. "Wouldn't you if a bloodsucking fiend was trying to drain you of all your blood?" I pointed out.
He sighed and turned his face away. "Is that what I am to you now? You have seen the worst of what I will do, and you judge me a fiend?"
"You almost killed Ed," I persisted.
The prince turned to me with a flash of anger in his eyes. "It was a mere accident, a slip of the fangs, if you will. I have never allowed another to take my blood, and so I was unprepared for the hunger inside me. It was unlike anything I had felt before. Not since those foolish villagers shut me in here." He strode around the far side of his coffin away from me and ran his hands along the lid. His sharp teeth bit into his lower lip and blood dripped over his chin. "They bound me in this tomb with their magic and imprisoned the only person capable of freeing me. He was an old man then, and unable to push aside the lid as you did. We were trapped together until he perished from the hunger." He paused and glanced up at him. "Do you know what it means to be alone for so long? To know only darkness for thousands of years without anyone to comfort you?"
I heard the pain in his voice, and felt it in my blood. My hand with the steak slowly lowered, and I shook my head. "I. . .I can't really imagine it," I admitted.
"Then you will excuse me when I find that upon awakening with your blood that I find myself in a new and fascinating world, and meet a human who I believe has the same potential as I to join me in this ageless existence," he commented.
"I-"
The prince's eyes whipped over to the entrance and they narrowed. "You were followed," he whispered. I expected him to flee as before, but he remained.
"Mary? Mary!" the professor's voice called from the inner chamber. A flashlight shone on the wall opposite the entrance and the professor burst into the room panting for breath. He straightened and his light flitted over the treasures to pause on the coffin. "Thank god I found you. The others pointed out where you went and I worried-my god!" His flashlight found the prince, and the light caught a glint of red over the vampire's eyes.
The prince bowed his head toward the professor. "Good evening, sir," he returned the informal greeting of my teacher.
"W-who are you?" the professor sputtered.
"Prince Dmitri, former ruler of these lands. You seem to have quite an interest in my things," the prince commented. Dmitri. That was the first I'd heard his name.
The professor stumbled back so he was partially hidden from my view by the door frame. "B-but that's not possible!"
"It is, but I must ask you to leave for the moment. I have much to say to your student," Dmitri informed him as he gestured with one hand toward me.
The professor took a careful step inside and his eyes widened when he caught sight of me. "Mary! What in heaven's name is going on?"
"Professor, just get out of here. Please," I begged him. I couldn't admit to him what I'd done.
He glanced from me to Dmitri and back to me. His wide eyes narrowed and he shone his flashlight on my face. I cringed and backed away. The light was too bright. Painfully bright. "You're with him, aren't you?" the professor accused me.
"It's not like that!" I argued.
"Was it you who attacked Ed? Is that why you apologized?" he questioned me.
"No, it wasn't me! Please-" I took a step toward him, but he hurried back. His hand settled against one of the posts that propped up the ceiling, and he looked sternly between Dmitri and me. "I should have listened to the old man of the village. There was nothing good to be had in uncovering this treasure. I'm just sorry I had to lose a student to do it, but I won't lose anyone else. Not to such monsters as you!"
The professor gave a push that knocked over the supporting post and it toppled to the ground. With its newfound support gone the walls trembled and pieces of the stone ceiling dropped to the floor. The professor kicked at the entranceway and hurried back. His last kick pushed the fragile door frame to give way beneath the heavy topsoil above it. The stone ceiling rained down on the entrance and I heard more stones fall inside the empty chamber.
The ceiling above us also became unstable and debris fell on my head. Dmitri raced over to me and wrapped his arms around me as a large chunk of ceiling collapsed into the room. The world went black as the roof collapsed around us, encasing us in a tomb without air or light.
Chapter 8
There was darkness for a long time, and then I slowly came to my senses. I shifted atop a pile of hard, cutting rocks, and moaned when my aching body told me not everything was okay. My eyes fluttered open and I glanced around. My improved sight allowed me to see the heavy damage done to the doorway and room. Half the ceiling had given way beneath the professor's frantic effort to save the remaining pupils. Rocks lay among the golden treasures, and dust covered everything except me. The entrance was destroyed, and that meant I was trapped.
I was safe from dust because Dmitri lay over me. His cloak was gray from the light dirt and as I moved so did he. He pulled back and I noticed one shoulder was at an odd angle while blood poured down one side of his face. Dmitri winced, but drew away from me, climbed atop the pedestal, and lay his back against his sarcophagus.
I sat up and moved to sit beside him. "Are you okay?" I whispered.
He shifted and grimaced. "A stone smashed my shoulder from its socket," he told me. I reached out and gingerly touched the blood on his face. He turned away from me. "Merely a scratch from another stone," he assured me.
"It doesn't look like a scratch," I argued.
"I am fine. These wounds are nothing compared to other times in my life." I cringed when he grabbed his injured arm and gave a jerk. There was a dreadful popping sound as the bone slipped back into bone. "What of yourself?" he asked me.
I peered down at myself. "A few bruises, but I'll live." I glanced around the darkened room without light or exit. "At least until the air is used up," I added.
Dmitri sighed. "There is always a way out for my kind, but for you I do not know," he mused.
"You mean turn into that shadow?" I guessed, and he gave a nod.
"Yes.
This room is not so sealed as my coffin. The professor did not leave incantations to fix the lid, as it were," he explained.
"But I. . .I can't get out as I am, can I?" I asked him.
He looked me in the eye and shook his head. "No. I could try to force a way to the surface, but it could cause the remaining ceiling to give way," he pointed out. I glanced at the roof. He was right. There were large cracks in the ceiling that would dump the remaining stone blocks into the treasure chamber. "You have only two choices before you. Die here, or come with me," he told me.
I rose to my shaky legs and stumbled over to an ornate table opposite the pedestal and coffin. My mind reeled with the decisions. To die, or to die and find a new, dark life. I had chosen to go as far as I had. His blood flowed in my veins. I raised my hand and glanced at my pale, trembling fingers. Would I choose to starve myself, die of suffocation down here where I would receive comfort from someone who was already dead?
I closed my eyes and balled my hand into a fist. I didn't want to die, not here and most especially not now. Not in this terrible manner and after being betrayed by the professor. I straightened and swung around to face Dmitri. "I don't want to die, but I don't want to kill to survive," I told him.
He smiled and slowly stood to his feet. "Then I offer you a path, a choice where you may have what you wish," he replied.
"No killing?" I asked him.
"No killing unless you feel the need to do so," he assured me.
I turned my neck toward him and shivered. "Then do what you need to do. I'd rather not stay down here any longer," I commented.
Dmitri walked over to me and wrapped his arm around me. He pulled me against him and his lips pressed against the trembling flesh of my neck. I waited for his sweet bite, his delicious embrace, but he gently kissed my skin. Then again. He glazed a trail of sweet, delicate kisses down my flesh.
"What are you doing?" I gasped.
He raised his head and whispered in my ear, "I will not take you while you are afraid. Relax and let me welcome you to my world in a more fitting manner."
Dmitri stepped back, unclasped his cloak, and lay it over the dusty ground. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lowered me onto the soft cloth. He covered my body with his own, but raised himself on his arms. One of his hands reached up and brushed over my cheek.