Chapter Twenty-Four-
'I Hold My Breath As I Wish For Death,
Oh Please God Help Me...'
Why are they keeping us alive? Zac thought, turning back to Taylor who had snuck his way into working along side him. They both needed some sort of collective energy from one another and after memorising guard shifts Taylor had made his ways through jobs from one end of the castle to the other where Zac was. They were clearing rooms that had once had visitors, all human when they entered but vampire when checking out. Luckily enough the guards didn't pay much attention to them and so they could at least talk. And sing. That was their biggest joy. Though kept away from the instruments at all costs they could still sing songs quietly that kept their spirits up.
"Do you remember that song we wrote in Australia last year?" Taylor asked suddenly.
Zac looked up from clearing up the broken glass off a mirror. "Um, which one?"
"You started it. That one with the wicked bass line. I dunno, it was about the height of something."
"Height of outcasts?" Zac asked.
"Yeah! Man, that was cool."
"Do you even remember it?"
"What we wrote, yeah, maybe. Maybe we could finish it sometime." Taylor turned back to folding a pile of sheets.
He still has hope. Why? Zac thought almost angrily. Why was he so optimistic? What made him think there was hope? That they were only delaying their death by doing as they were told? Zac shook his head at his own questions and sighed. He knew the number of slaves were dropping after overhearing a guard. He didn't dare tell Taylor that though, let Taylor be optimistic. At least one of them was. Zac on the other hand was still searching for a way out. He had been eavesdropping for the three months they had been there and was trying to figure out how to get out of the castle and the Other Realm. He wondered if there were demons that didn't want them dead, that were good. Maybe witches existed? Or werewolves? Anything that could help him and his brother to get home he would trust and use as soon as possible. He just knew the possibility was slim and a long wait if it could happen.
It wont happen. Zac told himself angrily. To know hope he had to been shown it but for now the only hope he had was to die. And soon. He never thought he'd hear himself give in like that but it was true. He had given up. "It doesn't take two to do this, one of you get out." Taylor and Zac turned to the guard standing in the door frame.
"I'll go." Zac said quietly.
"No, wait, I'll..." Taylor was about to put in.
The guard grabbed Zac roughly by the arm and slammed the door behind them. Taylor sighed quietly to himself. Their collective energy had all but vanished and he was left to stew in his own despair. To ignore the truth was his only way of feeling hopeful. He knew it wasn't working with Zac and it wouldn't work anymore with him. It had to be the end.
"Please God don't make it the end." Taylor whispered quietly.
The door slammed open again and Taylor waited for the guard to take him away too. Instead he saw two vampires holding a girl. She was screaming and crying. Taylor could only look for a second before knowing she was terrified. She was shaking but not struggling. She was too scared to do so plus it was obvious she was overpowered. Taylor sunk into the shadows and behind the wardrobe as they dragged her to the bed. He couldn't stop staring yet he knew he had to turn away. To get away soon before he saw what was about to happen. He had to see a lot of horrors whilst in that hell and wasn't about to watch another. They were going to change that fragile young woman into a bloodthirsty monster before his very eyes. Taylor knew he was going to be sick.
"Stay here precious." One of them laughed and her hands were tied to the bedpost. Only after she was tied did she try to struggle. The other vampire leaned over her and Taylor shut his eyes quickly. He heard her crying before the door slammed shut again. They were alone.
"Help me..." She began to cry. "Help me please! Somebody, help me!"
Taylor stared at her, too scared to move, afraid they might come back and he'd be discovered. The girl was around the same age as Taylor, maybe older but he wasn't sure. She looked Asian with her long black hair falling out of it's clip. She looked like she had been hit around the face a few times and already her clothes were ripped in places. Just then his eyes caught hers and Taylor gasped a little.
"Is..." The girl paused. "Is somebody there?"
Taylor finally stepped forward into the light. The girl mealy struggled more.
"Sshh... It's Okay, it's all right, I wont hurt you." Taylor said as he approached her.
"What do you want?" She screamed.
"I'm not a vampire, I swear." Taylor promised her.
The girl stopped moving and stared at him. "You're not, are you? Why are you here?"
"I'm..." Taylor paused and sighed. "I'm a slave. They're going to eat me someday but not for now."
"They're going to kill me! They told me!"
"It'll be Okay, I swear. I'll get you out of here, all right?" She nodded. "What's your name?"
"Kadijah." She said. "What's yours?"
"Tay." Taylor picked around in the bin till he fond a piece of broken glass big enough. He started to untie her and she cried.
"Why do they do this? What did I do?"
"Nothing. They're evil, it's just like that." Taylor replied then scorned himself. There was one good vampire left, though he knew he would never see her again.
"Oh." She paused. "Where are you from?"
"Tulsa. How about you?"
"South Wales. I've lived there with my family for about seven years now. I used to live in Pakistan before though."
Taylor nodded and he ran the glass over the ropes hard once again. He didn't know what he would do once she was free but for now he had a cause to help her.
"Where are your brothers?" She suddenly asked.
Taylor looked at her quickly before he started cutting at the ropes again. "Here. Zac is a slave like me and Ike..." Taylor stopped altogether, almost forgetting once again that his brother was dead. "They... They killed him."
She looked at him for almost a minute in silence. "I'm so sorry."
"Those bastards, they didn't care at all, they did it to him, they..." Taylor suddenly felt tears pouring down his face. He hadn't admitted it out loud. Not like Zac. He had still been hopeful for all that time and only now had he realised the truth.
Kadijah felt her hands split apart and she immediately embraced Taylor. He began to sob loudly as she rocked him back and forth slowly, feeling grief and fear herself that she now knew they did kill. She felt herself begin to cry too as all they were doing was torturing him and were about to kill her. She suddenly felt very scared and very alone.
"We have to get out of here." She whispered.
"We can't, there's no where to go. Its hopeless." Taylor cried, now being the one who needed reassuring and help.
"There must be something that..."
The door opened. Taylor and Kadijah looked up and saw somebody step in. Kadijah didn't notice the terrified look on Taylor's face as she stared at Ike. He walked in calmly and shut the door behind him. Taylor grabbed Kadijah and stood in front of her almost spontaneously. Kadijah didn't understand why Taylor had said his brother was dead when clearly he wasn't. By the way he stared at the two of them though, she knew it was a different story.
"Well if it isn't the little maestro and a girlfriend of his, I see. So I get two now, or are you just here to give me a sporting challenge?" Isaac asked Taylor, smiling a little.
"Go away Ike, don't you dare hurt her." Taylor said, his voice wavy and Kadijah could feel him shaking.
"Since when were slaves allowed to use formalities? You call me master."
"You're not that guy's son, Ike! You don't belong here!"
"No, you don't. And neither does your little friend."
Kadijah gasped as Ike grabbed her so fast Taylor couldn't stop him. Taylor ran for Ike as he was about to bite her. He wouldn't let him kill her or even think of changing her into a monster. Not another, he wouldn't let that monster put her in the same fate his brother was once in.
Isaac grabbed Taylor by the neck, dropping Kadijah. Taylor tried to speak but only a tiny cry could escape his lips. Isaac smiled and threw Taylor against the wall where he crumpled to the ground. Isaac turned back to Kadijah who was running to Taylor. Isaac picked her up and threw her onto the bed.
"He'll be fine. But as for you..." Isaac pushed her head to the side and Kadijah whimpered quietly as she saw in the corner of her eye Taylor getting up slowly. He once again ran for Isaac but he was ready. Isaac kicked Taylor to the ground. Taylor felt the wind being knocked out of him as he was picked up and taken to his cell. As he was thrown in another blow was administrated. He cried out loudly as more and more blows were thrown by a swarm of guards and vampires all wanting a turn. Before long he was completely beaten and awaited his punishment for putting a vampire off of his meal.
Melissa looked up at the huge gates that looked own on her like laughing giants. They seemed like they meant for her to turn back. To ignore what she had to do and go home. The Mistress had shown her the way to the vortex that sent the demons from one world to the next, she just didn't know if they would let her pass. It all seemed terrifying to her, knowing only of demons such as witches and vampires; not ones she had heard stories of. Ones that children dream up yet are reassured they are not real. It was a horrifying thing she was doing yet she knew it had to be done. Once again she was cloaked, hidden from those who looked at her. This was it, she was going to pass through.
Melissa kneeled on the ground and drew a circle around herself in the dirt. She placed five candles around her and threw the potion onto the ground. She began to chant.
"Oracles' power, drawn from the purist blood of the wisest soul, I ask to be transferred from this world to the next, driven by love and sent by fate." Melissa drew her sword and struck it into the ground. "Gateway open, forsake I seek, open!"
The gates shuddered and they slowly opened, creaking loudly and groaning as if not used in centuries. Melissa got up and walked through slowly, not knowing what she was going to be admitted to.
Zac sniffed loudly and let out another sob, choking out cries as the night drew on. Taylor hadn't moved for hours. More than that, Zac wasn't sure if he was still breathing. He had been laying still for so long that Zac had nearly given up hope, thinking that maybe Taylor was going to die in his sleep after being admitted to that many beatings. Zac was taken back to his cell at night, only to find his brother wheezing out short breaths and stirring in and out of consciousness. Zac had tried to help him but knew nothing on how to save somebody that badly hurt. He just sat next to Tay, reassuring him and keeping him awake, talking to him softly about anything he could think of, before Taylor finally passed out beyond being shook awake.
So Zac sat there, next to what he thought was his dead brother, ready to plead with the guard in the morning to kill him too, not wanting to live when the only people he had in the world were gone. He cried for hours, just hoping or more praying that Isaac would come and save them.
Zac looked at Taylor once more and felt more tears fill his eyes. He couldn't believe it, no, he wouldn't believe Taylor was gone. It wouldn't be so, he knew his brother was stronger than that. "Tay? Taylor, wake up. Come on man, don't die on me, please, don't..." Zac shook Taylor hard but there was nothing. "Tay, please, just wake up and it'll be Okay. Please, Taylor!" Zac sobbed hard once again, his body racking with cries for a lost hope.
Taylor stirred suddenly, coughing loudly before falling back down again. Zac stared at him in almost disbelief and brought the candle towards him. "Tay? Tay, are you there?"
Taylor didn't open his eyes but nodded slowly. He suddenly pushed himself to the side and coughed up a mouthful of blood. Zac stared in horror at his brother and knew he was dying. Taylor cleared his throat and as he did he opened his eyes ever so slightly.
"Zac?" He rasped.
Zac nodded. "Yeah, come on buddy, don't... Just please, don't..."
"Zac, I'm sorry... I tried to..." Taylor coughed harder than before this time.
"It's Okay, I'm sorry I left you there, I'm just..." Zac bent his head and started to cry again
.
Taylor looked at him. "Don't cry Zac. It's Okay." Once again he exploded with coughs and splutters. "Zac, I can't believe you were right... I can't believe they've finally won."
"No they haven't!" Zac screamed. "They haven't won, Tay because you're not going to die!"
Taylor shook away tears that were now free-falling. He felt so weak yet had to speak on. "Ike wont help us, I know he wont. He did this."
Zac shook his head as Taylor spoke. "It wasn't Ike, it was a monster. He stole Ike from us."
"That's right, Zac."
Zac stared up and saw through the bars who he knew was the master, the one who had ruined their lives, the one who had killed Ike in the very beginning.
"You bastard!" Zac got up and tried to grab the guy through the bars. "I'll kill you!"
"No you wont." He said simply. He looked at Taylor and tutted. "Sorry, young man, I distinctly said Isaac was going to kill you, and I meant it."
In a flash the man was inside the cell, staring down at Taylor. Taylor tried to move but with multiple breakage's and a burst lung, he couldn't do a thing. Zac ran for the man, determined to kill the very thing that was killing everybody he loved.
The man turned to Zac and he stopped suddenly, as if he had suddenly realised he shouldn't do it. The man only had to lightly touch Zac on the shoulder for him to pass out, dropping to the floor suddenly. Taylor stared at Zac for a second before the man picked Tay up. Taylor cried out in pain but not for long. He suddenly felt as if he was healing, as if all the breaks and fatal injuries had disappeared. The man smiled at Taylor's fixation on him, in a trance that couldn't be broken.
"Just enough to feel the pain." And with that Taylor was taken out.
Zac woke up suddenly, the spell breaking as the man left. Once again he was alone, only having to think for a second what had happened whilst he was unconscious. He began to cry all over again.
Storm closed her eyes, the candles lit and the room completely sealed from any humans. She could finally see what fate Melissa had in store for her. She had to know how she could help her friend more, despite helping too much already. She had a duty as a witch to save her friend Melissa and the people she was going to realise from that prison. Storm knew of that place, Melissa used to speak of it in the sixties during their hippie years. It was a horrible place for any vampire, and even worse for a human. They kidnapped their hostages and gave them the choice. They had breaded more vampires than could be controlled. Most of them were evil, vicious and most of all hateful towards humankind. Storm knew Melissa was one of the lucky ones; The Mistress had saved her from becoming evil, being one of the last remaining original vampires. She had been freed from a prison and now she had to do the same to her boyfriend. Storm knew it was a risky, almost impossible to do alone, so she had to help her in any way she could.
Storm opened up her spell book and slid her finger down the page until she reached the spell she was looking for.
"Oracles power, drawn from the purist blood of the wisest soul, guardian of air, I ask to draw the blood of humanity and release the secrets of the never land. Tomorrow for today and let me see what it may bring! Oracles power! Seek my plea and make it real!"
The door slammed open and Storm looked up to see three witches before her. One of whom she knew well as her old friend. They were all dressed in black, a sign of secrecy and also that she was in big trouble. Storm got up slowly and realised her fate was already sealed. The candles were blown out and the circle was broken.
"Storm, you are summoned to the Witches Council, the sacred five want to meet the one who betrayed the laws of witch craft. Come with us."
There was no say in it, Storm was taken through the other witches' powers. Before her very eyes the scenery changed to the high court of witch craft. The building was huge, the size of fifty stadiums and twenty times as high. Storm did not look at the splendid size of the place but merely looked at the floor below her as she was taken before the witches council, where the five most powerful witches sat before her.
"Do you know why you are here?" One asked.
Storm nodded.
"You have disobeyed the sacred laws of witchcraft and white magic by guiding a vampire the path to success. For these crimes I have no choice but to strip you of your powers..." The man raised his hand.
Storm knew her fate and punishment had been coming for a long time now but she had to speak up for her friend's sake. "Wait! I had to save her!"
The man tried to ignore her but another witch, a tall white-haired woman with silver blue eyes said suddenly: "Let her speak."
"I had to save her, she was on an Oracles' quest. To defy them would mean higher crimes."
"That couldn't be so, vampires are cruel, evil and hating demons. They would not follow the Oracles' orders even if told directly." The man said angrily.
"But Melissa isn't evil, she may be a vampire but she still holds onto the good in her soul. Her fianc� was taken away and became a cold, heartless vampire just like the rest of them. She is saving his life and many others because she feels if it is right, even if it is the Oracles' wishes."
The woman turned to the other witches. "We can't change fate can we?"
"No, I'm afraid we can't. The future has set its path for that good vampire." The man said sadly.
"What future?" Storm asked.
"She will follow her quest, but, in doing so the vampire hunters will be summoned, that is inevitable, and..." He paused. "She will die."
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