Part Two
Chapter Twenty-one- 'The Sun Goes Down,
I Feel The Light Betray Me...'
Isaac stared out towards the clear blue sky. It was the first sign of good weather in days. Nobody else was that bothered but for Isaac it meant he could go out for once. No matter what he was told, there was more excitement outside the castle walls and he was going to find it. It wasn't that he wasn't allowed, far from it, it was just he was urged not to after what had happened last week. He was lucky to have come back after the hunters. His memory before that time was patchy but everything seemed to be coming back slowly and gradually. It was two hundred years after all.
Isaac sighed a little. He knew there was something wrong, something plaguing him in the back of his mind but he knew he'd never discover what it was until he went outside and explored. Surely something or someone would make him remember just what it was, as it seemed important enough to annoy him. But for now he had to be cautious of what was around him. Though vampires were everywhere they had enemies, as demons should have. It was just the order of life. Or death.
Isaac walked back inside from the balcony and realised his room had been cleaned since last night's party. Whoever's job it was always made their best efforts in doing so anyway. Somebody had mentioned new hired help but Isaac hadn't paid much attention. He never did, he was always too busy with his friends.
Isaac walked outside and down the corridor. Everybody he passed nodded at him and soon he had found just the guy he was looking for.
"Yo Spite." Isaac said casually.
"Hey Ike. D'you know what I just heard?" They started walking down the stairs towards the gardens.
"Michelle has dumped you?"
"No man that was yesterday! We can't eat the new delivery." Spite said sadly.
"You're kidding! So we have to go out now?" Isaac asked.
"They'll be more tomorrow it's just these new ones are the hired help." Spite explained.
"So? What if they screw up? Can't we eat them then?"
"Afraid not. Only if they're hunters but they've all been checked. So no munchies until tomorrow unless you're allowed out."
They sat down to wait for their friends. "I think I am but you'll probably have to come with." He explained.
"So what? I'm you're goddamn bodyguard now? If you want I could just bring back someone."
"Yeah, I think dad would prefer that."
"Since when did you care what he preferred?" Spite asked, surprised.
"Since that speech last night."
"Another 'you're heir to the throne therefore must be careful' or another 'you're heir to the throne so must keep quiet'?" Spite asked.
"Both. Apparently after two hundred years I should know better. Go figure." Ike smiled. "Anyway I'm a little edgy as well about travelling without anybody else."
"I'll get something for you, don't worry about it."
"You sure?"
"Positive." He saw Isaac was looking hungry. "You want me to go now?"
"Please."
Spite sighed and got up. "Honestly. If you weren't royal I'd stake you."
"Nice to see my status doesn't effect our friendship!" Ike called after him.
As he saw his friend leave Isaac felt that thought plague him again. What's missing? He should be happy about everything in his life but there was one thing wrong, something that changed everything.
"Tay, where are we?"
Taylor looked up at Zac. "I have no clue."
Zac coughed a little. He still felt woozy and sick from blood loss. "I didn't ask for honesty, just tell me anything comforting."
Taylor looked Zac straight in the eyes and sighed. "The only comforting thing I know of is that they didn't kill us. That's the best I can do."
Zac sat back down after trying to look through the window. He was too cold to sleep but wanted to desperately as he knew he needed it. "D'you think these are the same vampires that took Ike?"
Taylor realised just what would happen if it were true. "I really hope not Zac."
"Me too."
Taylor looked at Zac and realised he was just as scared as himself. Maybe even more so. Taylor had to be the big brother in this and so put his arm around Zac's shoulders. It was only then he found out how badly he was shivering. The cell they were in was damp and had no heating. Despite that they seemed to be the only prisoners there that were not asleep, apart from one of two around them who were quietly crying. This was exactly how Isaac had described it, but Taylor wasn't about to tell Zac that. Taylor knew the worst was yet to come. Zac was already sick and Taylor had been beaten while being taken there. They couldn't fight back, they knew just how strong vampires were.
"Are you asleep Zac?"
"No."
Taylor let it fall silent for a second so he could hear. "Are you crying?"
"Why? Can't I?" Zac asked almost angrily.
"No, it's Okay Zac." Taylor held his brother. Zac had obviously worked it out also.
"Where's Ike...?" Zac started to sob. "He has to be here, Melissa said... That he..."
"We'll find him, don't worry." Taylor replied and felt the urge to throw up from worry and fear overwhelming him. He let it surpass as he had to look after his brother for now. Whatever was going to happen would happen later but for the meantime he had to help Zac. If anything it would stop him from thinking they weren't going to get out of that prison. Ever.
The door swung open. Zac automatically grabbed Taylor and let him take charge. After being bitten for the second time in his life, he was scared they might again. Taylor held onto his brother and prayed for the best.
"All of you get up."
Reluctantly most of the prisoners did so, the others who refused were forced up and all of them were hurriedly shown down a long, dark corridor. Zac held onto the back of Taylor's shirt, much like he did in big crowds, and stared at the dim light ahead of them. As they walked on, two by two the prisoners were thrown into separate cells, and every time the doors slammed shut Taylor winced a little. They were one of the last couples to be shown their new rooms. Taylor held back to urge to shape his fingers into a cross as protection and make a break for it. They could be in this Other Realm Melissa had told them about and there was nowhere to run if so.
As the door slammed shut, Zac let himself slide down the wall to the floor. There was little light from the small candle in the corner of the room. Tay brought it over to them and they both sat in silence for what seemed like hours.
Zac finally broke the silence. "So what happens now?"
Taylor shrugged. "We wait, I guess."
Zac paused before he asked. "Maybe it's light outside?"
"Maybe." Taylor answered.
There was another long silence. Finally Zac spoke up again.
"Can we at least talk so this is off of our minds?"
Taylor looked surprised at him, then realised. It would be better to think about other things than stewing in the thoughts of what was to follow very soon. "All right then. Uh..." Taylor smiled. "So what did happen between you and Gemma at New Years?"
Zac smiled a little back. "If I tell you, I'll have to kill you."
Taylor looked around at where they were. "I think I'm willing to take that risk."
Despite a day without contact from beyond the castle walls, it had been enjoyable for Isaac just with his friends. They had all decided on take-in and while half of them hunted to bring back what everybody had ordered, even though there was only one thing on the menu, the rest had settled in the club to relax.
As they waited for the rest to arrive, there was an unusual feeling in the air, Isaac could sense it. It could be that none of them were really speaking to him, only to others or collectively as a group.
"Okay, what's up? What happened?"
Sandia tried to cover up. "Nothing, nothing at all."
"Why aren't you talking to me?" Isaac asked them all. "You're acting like I'm a hunter or something."
Pierce smiled. "Ease up Ike, we're just a little edgy since what happened. You did forget everything about us."
"And I'm remembering. Don't think I'll never get all my memory back. I still remember you owe me thirty bucks."
Pierce and the rest laughed. "Okay, we'll let you off. Don't worry, everybody's gone a little paranoid since the attack."
"What like they made me hate us?" Ike asked, amused. "I am not some vein, you know."
They all laughed. It was good to laugh about humans after something as serious as that to have happened. To them humans were both their source of food and their enemy. Humans knew how to kill vampires and so were not to be trusted. They were all taught to show no remorse or feelings to humans and so they laughed at them and taunted their very existence, as teenagers do. Vampires were superior and would always be superior to humans, which was why they were so against vampires living with and acting like humans. Vampires living the Human Realm were weaker and traitors. Which was why they only went into the Human Realm to hunt. It was no place to live if they were to live in darkness.
"They should be back soon." A girl vampire, by the name of Claire, said.
Though they had been gone for over two hours, it was about half an hour in the Human Realm. The Other Realm's time was much faster, so that all could live a lot longer compared to a life in the Human Realm.
"Hope they bring a veggie." Spite said.
"Yeah, get a minibus of hippies in here, just for Spite." One laughed.
"They have nicer blood, I'm sorry!" He laughed.
"You ever had a cannibal?" Richie asked the group wickedly.
"No way!" Sarah yelled.
"Now they are tasty! Humans feeding on themselves, its like double on your taste buds!"
"When I can go out, I'm heading straight for Hannibal." Isaac laughed.
The door creaked open and all heads turned round for who they were expecting. Instead they watched a girl, a human girl, around the age of fifteen, walk into the room, looking petrified yet determined to do what she was ordered.
"Your friends, um, say they will be here soon." She turned to leave when she was grabbed by the arm. She gasped as she was spun round to face Spite.
"So, you're the new hired help?"
She nodded quickly, not taking her eyes from his.
"So, we can't kill you?"
She shook her head quickly, almost begging him not to.
"But we can still have a small sample." Spite smiled, yanking her head down to the side.
"That's enough Spite." A voice said from behind her. Spite looked up to see the Master.
"Sorry." He mumbled and let her go.
"I'm just testing you lot, as you'd be the first to screw this up." He looked around the room. "No eating, no teasing and especially no 'sampling'." He looked at Spite. "They are just like our usual servants except these ones cannot hurt us."
Ike knew he was talking about him. So that was what it was all about. It was all just to protect him.
"If any slaves fall sick and will recover, you can't have a midnight snack in the dungeons unless you have proof of them trying to escape or fight against us. They will not be tortured or punished unless I say so. I will have any injured or fatal slaves in with the food, end of story. Got it?" They all nodded. "Good. Slave, get back to work."
The girl nodded weakly and left behind the Master, not doubt ready to vomit.
"It'll last a week. Even he gets hungry." Spite smiled, and the group relaxed.
"I'll just frame the juiciest looking one and have them to myself." Samantha smiled.
Isaac was glad none of them were blaming him for that. They probably did, behind his back, but it wasn't his fault. That hunter had come out as if from nowhere...
Taylor looked around at Zac asleep on the floor as he was put back into their cell. It was obvious they had him working for hours on end in the castle too. After almost fourteen hours of work, Taylor was ready to do the same. The room was warmer due to Zac using his jumper to block out the wind through the bars of the window. It still reminded Taylor of a horror show, where the witch kept the princess or maybe of a tacky fantasy porn flick. Anyhow it was all they could have and that was fine. For some reason Taylor had hope that maybe Ike was there and he would save them. It had to happen.
The tray with two plates of food ranging from crummy to barely edible and a new candle had a message written next to it in the dust:
CLOSE YOUR EYES AND THINK OF RUNNY EGGS
Taylor smiled a little, wondering about his brother's knack to be quoting the Matrix at a time like that and ate as much as he could without the urge to throw it up, which was about five spoonfuls. He'd have to eat more but for the moment he wanted to sleep. He laid down and put Zac's head onto his chest so that at least one of them was comfy. Zac didn't even move a little, he was too exhausted. Tay, on the other hand, had trouble sleeping as he thought of a way they could get home. Or find their brother.
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