Chapter 2 The Obsidian Citadel
Aura's POV
And yet,” he stepped forward , “you haven’t run.”
I swallowed hard,because somehow that was true.I should have been terrified. Actually i am terrified but curiosity kept me in place. I’ve never met a Strigoi before
His eyes drifted toward the lantern hanging beside the well. My eyes followed his towards the lantern, The flame suddenly bent sideways then went out
F*ckkk
Not again
The vampire looked back at me sharply, my chest tightened. gods please let me get out of this alive
The silence stretched.
Then slowly he stepped closer, looking at his fingers like he didn’t have a care in the world
“A witch huh. It’s been so long I had witches blood” he flashed his fangs at me. My heartbeat thundered.
He was walking towards me now, I couldn’t run, what good would that do now. These creatures were faster than light and I couldn’t cast a protection spell for fear that it’d backfire. He was close, close enough now that i could see the silver veins beneath his pale eyes.
Close enough to realize he was impossibly beautiful and completely deadly.
I forced myself not to react. Then a scream tore through the village, i stepped backwards.Another scream followed from more houses down the street. They were attacking the village
The smell hit seconds later.
Blood.
Villagers burst from their homes in panic.
Someone shouted:
“Vampires!”
Chaos erupted instantly. I spun around just as black-cloaked figures descended from the rooftops around me . The man from earlier stood with a smirk on his face
I stumbled backward in horror.
“Why?… we paid the blood tithe” I asked with quivering lips
“I’m looking for something far more important than blood and seems like my men has found it. I followed his line of sight to see Old Maevah dragged out on the snow. The figure dragging her was cloaked head to toe, they held a book, possibly one of Old Maevah’s grimoire. What would these vile creatures want with that and how was it more important than blood to them. Maevah fought harder than I expected.
Even with the vampire twisting her arms behind her back, she still spat directly into its face.
“Rot in the dark,” she hissed.
Then the creature buried its fangs into her throat.
Her scream tore through me.
“No…” i yelled
My chest burned painfully as a wave of energy surged outwards without control. I didn’t cast a spell. None of them felt this way. It just happened. The attacking vampires froze, I could hear the stranger gasp behind me.
Maevah fell to the ground, she had the look of fear on her face. For one terrifying moment, I swore I saw pity in her eyes. the vampires all fell to the ground hissing as though something had struck them.
The village fell eerily still.
Snow drifted through the silence. Then sound returned all at once and with it came pain. The vampires all looked at me now, especially the Silver haired one but not with fear, something worse, interest
His gray eyes never left mine like he’d finally found something he’d been searching for
And quietly,terrifyingly
he said
“Take the girl alive.”
Before I could resist. Someone held my temple from behind
“Sleepppp”
A witch… her voice soothing. Her magic slid into my mind like water ,I fought to stay awake,the more i fought, the weaker the lull of her magic got until something struck the back of my head. The ground rushed to my face and the darkness swallowed me.
Pain greeted me before consciousness did. A dull ache throbbed behind my eyes like something had crawled into my skull and nested there. My body felt strangely heavy beneath layers of unfamiliar warmth. The sheets were soft, too soft, I frowned before even opening my eyes. Ofcourse The mattress I laid on felt nothing like the rough wool bedding back home in Miridia. This felt… expensive.
The air smelled strange too like smoke with a tinge of rain and myrrh?
And something faintly metallic beneath it.
Blood.
My eyes snapped open. Dark ceilings stretched high above me, carved from black stone veined with copper. Heavy curtains covered enormous windows, allowing only thin streaks of gray light into the room.
For one terrifying second, I thought I was dead until voices drifted through the chamber.
“… do you think she is what they say she is.”
“We’re not sure but the Prince seems to be”
I froze. They were women,One voice was older and calm while the other softer, nervous and young.
I stayed still, listening carefully to their conversation
“The prince will decide what to do with her now,” the older woman continued.
the younger one whispered shakily. “ someone needs to check Marcella though We were only supposed to retrieve the book not hurt the woman.”
Maevah.
My chest tightened painfully.
Memory slammed into me all at once, the snow stained with blood,the fearful yet pitiful look on her face, the screaming from the villagers, the strangers eyes watching me.
I sat upright too quickly and immediately regretted it as dizziness crashed into me.
The voices stopped and a moment later, two women stepped through the archway beside the room into the room, One looked middle-aged, dressed in deep crimson robes embroidered with golden thread. Sharp-eyed and graceful and the second girl couldn’t have been much older than me. She looked at me and nervously tucked her blonde curls behind her ears in a bid to look away and suddenly I remembered her.
Not from the village but from the Witches Convocation.
Months ago, witches from across Miridia gathered in the southern cities to discuss increasing supernatural attacks near the borders. i remembered standing beside Maevah while an elder witch introduced a quiet young witch rescued near the southern outskirts after supposedly being attacked by rogues.
The same girl who stood before me now then it hit me she must have been the one who whispered sleep into my mind while vampires attacked my village and kidnapped me
Anger hit me so fast it burned, they were witches in coalition with vampires
“You.”
The girl flinched immediately.
“You’re the one that sleep spelled me”
