“I will be plain and direct, as we have precious little time. You’re dying,” he says gravely.
I stare at my palms. I’ve been patched up. But my hands ache in a way they haven’t in years—like the first time I was in the forge. No, worse. With every movement my fingers go numb, my hands threaten to lock up, refusing to open.
“All right,” I say, finally. I’m not sure if I’m ready to fully believe him. But something does feel different in me, down to my marrow. Arguing with him might also prevent him from giving me further, precious information.
“You don’t seem bothered by that.”
Healmostsounds like he cares. What does the monster who’s hunted me and my kin care about my feelings toward death? He doesn’t. It must be a trick to lull me into a false sense of security.
“I imagine it’s hard for you to relate to the emotions that surround one’s own mortality.” Hatred seeps into my voice.
“You don’t think I know of mortality?” He raises his brow, haunted eyes shining.
“The eternal vampire lord?”
He snorts softly. “Eternal…if only,” he murmurs and looks to the window, wrinkled and cracking lips slightly parted to display his horrific fangs. Am I to believe the vampires are not long-lived?
“Why am I still alive?” I ask pointedly. “Your kind has always been very good at killing mine.”
“I’m willing to keep you alive long enough to let you leave.”Thatgives me pause. “If you agree to help me.”
“Help you?” I echo. “What could a vampire possibly need a human’s help for?”
“Vam-pie-err.” He sounds out the word slowly, echoing me with a bit of a sneer. “You humans butcher our kind in name and body.”
“Are you not a vampire?” I don’t know why I’m asking. His nature is as apparent as his yellowed teeth, all-black eyes, and withered flesh.
“We are vampir.Va-m-peer.” The word jumps from his lips with a flourish I’ve never heard before. It’s softer, more rounded. As though the sound comes from the back of his throat and then fades softly off the tip of the tongue. It’s a more elegant sound than I would’ve thought he could produce. “Vampireis a human mispronunciation.”
“Ah, but you’re still life-draining monsters, regardless of name.”
He’s at my side faster than I can blink, looming over me. “We are not the ones who drain life,” he snarls. “If you want to know who the monsters are, you should look no further than your precious hunters. You saw what they did to you.”
“Whatyoudid to me,” I insist.
He scoffs. “I met you in the state you were. You saw yourself in the mirror. Your precious hunters turned you into an experiment. If anything, what I am offering to you is a kindness by comparison.”
I ignore his remarks. He’s trying to confuse me—to turn me against my own. The mirror in the hall must have been tricked with vampire magic. After all, it had made his hair look silvery white, not greasy and clumped as it is.
“Forcing me to serve you is not a kindness,” I say.
“You will serve me in one area alone.”
However that is, I’m not sure I want to know. Yet I ask anyway, “And that is?”
He levels his eyes with mine. “Help me break the curse. Do so and I will free you.”
Curse?I’ve never heard anything about curses. “Inventing curses is quite the elaborate way to convince me to your cause.”
He scoffs. “I’m shocked you don’t already know.” He leans away, looking down on me. “I speak of the same curse that your hunters placed on us and that has plagued my people for centuries.”
“And you thinkIcan break an ancient curse?” I decide to play along with his delusions. He’s keeping me alive because he thinks I might be of use to him. But if the hunters actually possessed the ability to lay a curse on the vampire, they would’ve done so long ago, with an affliction far worse than whatever he thinks is ailing him.
“There is a door, deep within this castle, that can only be opened by human hands. I need you to get me inside, for within is the anchor of the curse.”
“Very well.” I continue to pretend as if I know what he’s talking about. Why would the anchor of a curse be within the vampire castle behind a door that only opens to human hands? How does he really think that, after all he’s done to my people, I’d actually help him? I don’t have the answers, but if I allow this ruse to continue long enough, I might find a way to kill him or free myself in the process.
“Very well?” he repeats. “You’re going to help me?” He’s cautious and on guard. Perhaps I should have shown more ignorance. Perhaps I should have hesitated more. I’m not made for this and am leagues out of my depth.
