Kiriel 3

I seemed to crawl out of a hole when I woke up the next time, I felt the sun on my face and realized that it was late evening. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and pushed myself off walking down the corridor to the balcony.

As I stepped onto the balcony Nyx turned around.

"How are you feeling?" he asked

"Like shit." I replied standing next to him.

"I’m sorry about the marks." He apologized.

"Don’t worry about it, once Cain held me so tight I thought he might kill me by accident."

"Well I’m glad he didn’t, otherwise I wouldn’t have had the chance to…" he stopped himself and I sensed that he hadn’t meant to say that.

"Chance to what?" I asked teasing him

"Nothing." I looked down at his fingers and realized that not just his hand but his whole body was tense.

"are you nervous or something?"

"No, why?" I peeled his fingers off the railing to find he had made slight imprints. "I’m just a little tired."

"being tired doesn’t make you dent iron." He looked at me and sighed before running his fingers through his black hair.

"you wouldn’t understand."

"Try me."

"You’d freak out."

"So it’s about me?"

"Yes." He admitted

"Please tell me?" I pleaded with my eyes and he ran a finger over my lips and turned away sighing.

"Fine," he turned to me and flexed his biceps for a moment before grabbing me by the shoulders, with the muscle I had just seen I could tell he was only using a fraction of his strength. "When ever I see you or smell you my body temperature rises, my heart beats faster and my finger starts tapping." He was incensed "course I have to control my heartbeat cause other vampires can hear it but all the rest of it is out of my control." He ran his hands nervously through his hair again "your sent drives me insane, it’s like some one constantly shouting at me to…"

"To what?" I asked nervously. "Bite me?" I took a step back.

"The other day when I said I could find blood in other places I was just trying to get out of it, I was so nervous and so excited." His voice broke a little and I felt like running for some reason.

"But why?" I squeaked.

"Cause your blood, your sent, just your whole person is so intoxicating I can only barely control myself."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well you asked" he turned away probably embarrassed and I took to slow steps towards his and leaned on the railing. Then I did something I would never have considered had he not just had that outburst. I ran two fingers over the main bone in one of his wings. It flexed underneath my hand and suddenly I found myself against the wall with his lips hovering over my neck. He tried to push himself away but I grabbed hold of his arms and pulled him back. He blinked.

"Was that somehow attractive to you?’ he asked timidly.

"Like you wouldn’t believe." I replied, I noticed that all his muscles were standing out. "let yourself go." I said not believing that I had just said that.

"I can’t"

"Why?"

"I’ll kill you."

"Well let yourself go a little bit then." He lowered his head a little and was just about to kiss me when. Shit, chaos transported me.

I let out a scream of frustration.

"You bastard,"

‘I know just when things were getting interesting." He sat on a wooden chair in the middle of the dungeon absent minded twirling a cane in his right hand.

"You said two days."

"I couldn’t let you and Nyx hit it off that would be evil of me."

"God!" I waved both fists in the air, "I would hit you if I could."

"I’m sure." He got up and appeared behind me taking one of my hands and twirled me around puling me into a dancing hold.

"Can you dance?"

"What does this have to do with magic?"

"Can you dance."

"Kind of." Pulling me even closer he started to dance with me. "Why are we doing this?" I asked

"Well I cant actually teach you anything until you come of age so you’ve got to have something to do." He broke off going to the exit of the dungeon. I followed him.

"Why take me now then?"

"Well if Nyx placed a claim on you then I’d be screwed." I didn’t understand the whole process of claiming.

"Why." We walked into a stone corridor.

"Cause if you touch a vampires claim then him his whole house and all the houses of vampires related to him have to go after the offender and punish him."

"There can’t be that many vampires who would do that."

"Its not so much Nyx’s house it’s Cain who would undoubtedly get involved and I would rather avoid a confrontation for as long as I can."

"Why? What have you got to be afraid of?"

"Nothing."

"You don’t make any sense."

"Your room." He opened a door and I walked in trying to keep my mouth closed. It was like a dungeon but with tapestries and a huge bed. Everything was either dark red or black but what really astounded me was the window. It was massive looking out over green country, it was summer here.

"Where are we?"

"The southern ranges." I gasped we were so far from the castle where I had grown up, then I realized, I would never see that place again while I was chaos’s apprentice, I would be here for years.

"I can’t go back."

"No," Chaos said turning to me "You will see how I have saved you from that fate." He walked out of the room and left me staring northwards towards the only place where I had felt truly at home.

Six years later

Nyx had been sent by Cain to talk to the people and vampires of the southern ranges that had no leader but now he looked at the dancing hall he could tell that someone was in charge.

Surveying the room he saw aristocrats but also guards, it looked like people were expecting trouble. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something black swish out of sight, someone was watching him and he intended to find out why.

"If anyone asks I just went out to get some air." He said to Dreven his second in command.

Nyx followed that elusive piece of black silk down two flights of stairs until he came to a corridor, he glimpsed a slim body entering a room and followed it.

As he went through the door the woman turned and froze her eyes wide under a black silk veil. He knew those eyes.

"What are you doing here." She asked in a frightened voice whose identity was on the tip of his tongue.

"Who are you?" he asked.

She hesitated for a moment before lifting a hand to the catch of her face veil and it letting the material fall to the side. On her hand he saw an engagement ring but also a wedding ring and he lent on the door for support.

"That’s not possible."

"Nyx he took me as an apprentice."

"Kiriel…" he realized what the wedding ring must mean."You’re married to him."

"I…I." Tears rolled down her face. "He wouldn’t take no for an answer, he tortured me but then in the end he made me."

Nyx stepped forward to comfort her but she stepped out of his reach.

"You can’t, he’ll know, he’ll know, you have to leave." She tried to compose herself but it was hopeless. "Please Nyx, just go." He looked like he might grab her anyway but instead he left leaving the door open in his wake.