The Vampire's Promise

We wandered silently over tot he tower, where two men were seated around a fire. Vladimir stopped by a tree, holding his arm out to catch and stop me, too.

"Neither of those two are demons," he whispered, his eyes still glowing violet. "Though they seem to be enthralled by one."

"What are we going to do, then?" I asked.

"I want you to see if you can slip into their heads and cut the connection without alerting the demons," he turned to me and smiled. I stared at him for a moment. I smiled too, though it wasn't a content smile.

"And what if I do alert them?"

"That is why we brought other weapons, and why we're wearing armor, my love," Vladimir pressed a soft kiss to my cheek. "Don't worry. Even if the armor fails, I won't let them hurt you."

"You're doubting me?" I raised my eyebrows.

"I am not, now do it," he commanded.

"Alright," I sighed and turned my attention to the men at the fire.

I focused hard, and a dull ache began in my head. All my life I had dealt with things slipping into my head; I had never slipped into anyone else's before, so this was going to be hard. I pushed harder with my mind toward the man who was closest to where Vladimir and I were.

The metaphorical door to his mind had been shut, but it hadn't been locked. A genuine smile crossed my lips this time. I carefully pulled open the door and stepped into a quiet darkness.

"Vladimir, there's something not right about this," I whispered in the realm of reality.

"Keep going," his voice echoed back. "There's been a slight change in plans; I have to fight off the other one."

"Wait, what?" Vladimir didn't respond. Worry settled in my stomach, and I continued stepping through the dark.

As soon as I had tripped over it, a thread became visible and began glowing before me. I stared at it in confusion for a moment. Within seconds the thread appeared to grow longer, then expanding into a tangled mess that resembled a spiderweb. The man I had been focused on was trapped in the center of it.

"Help me!" he screamed.

"I-I-" I scrambled to get to my feet. "What is all of this?" I ran my fingers along the thread.

"A demon-" the man choked out. "The demon did this to me! Please, you have to help me, before he comes back!"

"Calm down, I'll help you," I told him. Quickly pulling a knife from concealment, I ran over to the man and began cutting at the threads. "Don't worry; you'll be free again soon."

"H-hurry!" he yelled, seeming more panicked than before. "He's here; he's here!"

As I cut the last thread, I turned my head and looked into the glowing, red eyes of the beast. I took a deep breath and knew that I would have to face it.

"I'm going to drag this thing out of your head," I told the man behind me. "And when I do, I want you to lock the door behind me, okay?"

"W-what's going to happen to you?" the man fretted.

"Don't worry about me." I charged at the monster, knocking it over and out of the man's mind.

The realm of reality came back into view, and I let out a relieved sigh. The relief was short-lived: I was sitting on top of the thing I had forced out of the man's head.

"So much for not drawing your attention," I said before it reversed our positions. I let out a scream and grabbed its fist before it could connect to my face. "H-hey, we don't really have to do this, do we?"

The being leaned close to my neck, breathing in deeply. It whispered, "You're the queen."

"S-so what?" I shoved on its chest with my free hand. A golden burst of light filled the area for a moment and the monster went flying backward.

"Carol!" I heard Vladimir's voice.

"I'm fine!" I yelled back, standing up and moving over to the demon. Its eyes were wide.

"And you're a card," it hissed. The locket Vladimir gave me masked my scent after all.

"What's it to you?" I asked, drawing the sword Vladimir had given me.

"You're going to be quite a tasty snack," the demon's head jerked around strangely as it spoke, a grin growing on its face.

"I'm not going to be anyone's snack. Everyone who tries to eat me ends up dying. Well, except Vladimir."

"Oh, no; even Vlad-boy," the demon shot up from the ground. My eyebrows knitted together.

"What do you mean?"

The demon lunged at me, but didn't reach me. Vladimir had run his sword through the monster's back.

"Hey!" I exclaimed.

"What do you mean, hey? I just saved your life!" Vladimir pulled his sword from the demon's back and sheathed it again. He stepped over to me, pulling me into his arms. "Are you okay?"

"He was going to answer my question," I mumbled, though even I wasn't sure of that.

"You're not hurt, are you?" Vladimir pulled back, holding my face in his hands.

"I'm fine," I assured him.

"Good," he sighed. "The other three were a bit much to handle, even with Alen's help."

"Three?"

"The possessed vampire counts, right?" he asked. I ruined the serious moment by laughing. Vladimir smiled a little. "What? What's funny?"

"The possessed vampire counts," I muttered, still laughing. I rolled my eyes. "Of course he counts. Anyway, we're both alive, and I'm hungry."

"Okay, let's go home." I sheathed my own sword and Vladimir took my hand, leading me over to the horses. "I'll have some more men sent over to help guard the tower."

"Good idea," I said, but my mind was elsewhere. What did the demon mean?

When we were safely inside the walls of Vladimir's home, he brought me to the dining room. This time instead of wandering off to his own dinner, he sat with me at the table.

"Are you not thirsty?" I asked, raising and eyebrow.

Vladimir avoided making eye contact with me when he said, "No, I feel fine."

"But we just made it back from fighting demons," my eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you okay?"

Vladimir looked back up at me. It was silent for a long time.

"I-"

Jorslev interrupted Vladimir as he brought a cart into the room, "Dinner is served!" My stomach growled, and all thoughts of what Vladimir had been about to say were shoved to the back of my mind.

"Yes!" I exclaimed. Jorslev gave a nervous smile and set several covered trays down in front of me.

"Jorslev, you're serving food?" Vladimir asked. His eyes were narrowed like mine had been moments before.

"Ah, yes," Jorslev looked anywhere except Vladimir's face. "A little experiment- uh, joke between a few of us. Switching p-positions for a while."

"I want you back in your office," Vladimir said, his tone warning.

"O-of course, your majesty. Just let me finish this real quick." Jorslev uncovered my meal, and poured me a drink.

"A-and some sugar," Jorslev poured the white crystals into my drink. There was just enough left for my drink.

"You'll have to refill the sugar bowl," Vladimir murmured, seeming distant.

"Y-yes, your majesty." Jorslev left the room with the cart.

"Well, I'm starving," I said, grabbing the goblet Jorslev had filled and taking a sip. "Wow, that's good. I hope the food is, too."

"It usually is," Vladimir smirked.