I'm so sorry for leaving this update so long, I kind of lost motivation and fell away from the story for a while but for some reason I was listening to Katatonia tonight and one of their songs really put me into the dark sort of mood that I needed to get back on track!
Same disclaimer as usual, enjoy!
I know Dracula seems really ooc in this but its cause he has his soul back and is feeling human emotions again.
Chapter4
After almost a month of being enslaved Anna and the rest of the village held prisoner were beginning to lose hope and a dark cloud had settled over everyone, any hope of escaping and going home was now just a distant dream.
Anna had even got used to seeing the vampires flying around overhead, now she didn't even flinch when she saw one fly over her. She also found out that as well as vampires there were werewolves imprisoned here, people from all over Europe it would seem had been enslaved by this monstrous warlord and his army. When she had finished her chores for the day Anna would sit amongst the groups of people huddled around a small fire in their cell and talk and share stories from their homelands. Anna had even gotten to know some of the vampires and she had to admit they weren't bad people (some of them) once you got to know them and accepted their curse for drinking blood to survive.
The last few weeks hadn't gone well for Dracula either, after Xerces completed the ancient ritual to give Dracula his soul back, he had been plagued with nightmares of all the people he had ever hurt and killed, his human emotions had come flooding back and he had become consumed with guilt, anger and sorrow. Xerces now had complete control over the vampire lord.
Zeixde'ath had made Dracula work with all the other vampires, sending messages back and forth to Zeixde'ath and his armies in the east, but because Dracula was the king of the vampires he was the most powerful/strongest therefore he was made to work longer and harder than anyone else.
Sometimes he would leave at sunset with whatever message Zeixde'ath would hand him and not return till days later, sometimes having to stop during the day to seek shelter from the sun. The dark mage had given Dracula black leather armour and a hood to wear whilst out in the sunlight, the armour would protect his skin from the sunlight and the hood would protect his face head and neck allowing him to walk about during the day- as long as he remained covered up!
Another job he was made to do was travel between the army carrying supplies back and forth, sometimes with mineral ore from the mines. It was a tough job and sometimes Dracula thought he would not be able to take off with all the weight he was being made to carry, he would often watch other vampires attempt to take off only to plummet to the ground seconds later under the sheer weight of the supply bags, they were just not strong enough.
It was at the start of the fifth week of Anna's imprisonment when she was walking back to the cavern/cell to rest after the days work, her hands were sore from scrubbing the palace floors and her knees ached from the hard labour. There were soldiers everywhere so prisoners were able to walk around quite freely, it was not a good idea to start any trouble around here as these soldiers were more than happy to kill any prisoner who got in there way. She was passing a group of rowdy soldiers who had obviously been drinking that night when she overheard one of them say 'yeah I bet I can hit one of them suckers from here', then the other soldiers began arguing with him over whatever it was those fools were arguing about, Anna did not care she was so tired she just wanted to rest, she did not notice the black shape flying in the sky above her.
'Go on then prove it, bring that one down' one of the soldiers challenged his friend and pointed to the shape in the sky.
Unbeknown to anna, the soldiers had been betting on whether or not their friend could hit one of the vampires flying overhead with a spear, they were about to find out. The soldier who had made the bet picked up a spear lying nearby their other weapons and took aim at the black shape and threw with all his might.
The spear hit the target perfectly, Anna upon hearing the cry of pain from the vampire turned quickly to watch as the creature plummeted to the ground, a spear through its wing. She then watched on in horror as the soldiers began congratulating their friend then began to beat the vampire viciously. She couldn't believe it, they were attacking it for no reason whatsoever, she had to help it, in a moment of complete madness she ran over to the group of soldiers picked up one of their clubs and smashed it against one of the soldiers heads knocking him out cold. The other soldiers stopped their attack on the vampire and advanced on Anna, 'Your gonna regret doing that bitch' one hissed at her then swung a punch, Anna dived out of the way but was soon caught in a vice like grip as two of the men grabbed her arms and threw her to her knees holding her still. One of the men advanced on her ready to take his fist to her face 'go on hurry up before the general comes back!' shouted one of the men anxiously, Anna closed her eyes and waited for the pain.
As the soldier raised his fist about to strike he felt an incredible pain shoot through his shoulder, he cried in pain as he looked down he saw his own spear being thrust through him an awful feeling of the vampire now standing right behind him.
The men released Anna and fled taking their injured friends with them as they ran back to their camp, the vampire once again slumped down onto the ground breathing hard. Anna looked over to where the vampire lay motionless on his back, she got up and walked slowly over to him, a sense of panic rising in her as she started to recognise his face, it was Dracula!
Dracula had been returning to the prison camp that evening after having completed a rather gruelling flight across the north eastern provinces to deliver supplies to a neighbouring allied faction, when upon entering the camp he swooped down low preparing to land when an incredible surge of pain shot through his wing, turning his head he saw the spear tearing a hole in his wing, he was going down, with a cry of pain he plummeted uncontrollably to the ground.
He had no idea what had happened or why he couldn't get up, all he could feel were the blows to his body keeping him pinned to the ground, he could hear soldiers laughing around him, above him.
Then as soon as it started the beating stopped, 'your gonna regret doing that bitch!' he heard one of the soldiers shout.
Dracula mustered all the strength he could and forced himself to his feet, he saw the group that had obviously attacked him advance on another victim, anger boiling up inside of him he reached around to his injured wing and pulled the spear out, cringing as he felt the pain shoot through once again.
He saw the soldier raising his fist in preparation to strike, Dracula raised the spear and drove it through the soldiers shoulder with ease.
The man cried as he saw the weapon protruding through him, his buddies grabbed him and their other injured comrade and retreated back to their camp to the sound of screaming and shouting.
Dracula felt dizzy from the attack and still felt weak from lack of blood consumption these last few weeks that he slowly dropped to his knees then lay on his back, he also felt exhausted from the flight he had just returned from, all he wanted to do was rest then think some more on how he was going to escape this prison. He hadn't noticed the woman looking down on him.
'We killed you…how can you be here?, its not possible!' anna whispered in disbelief at the figure lying on the ground before her.
Dracula, still suffering from the effects of the attack and feeling quite rough in general, heard the familiar voice of a princess he once knew from a land far away from here, somewhere in the darkness of his mind he heard the voice speak to him. But it couldn't be her…could it?
Dracula, slowly and with great effort opened his eyes and tried to focus on the blurry shape standing over him, the shape finally becoming clearer until he could see none other than his sworn enemy, the princess Anna Valerious standing over him looking down in fear and hate at him.
'I should have just let them kill you…if I had known it was you I would have joined them!' anna screamed with tears in her eyes. How dare this monster still be alive, hadn't she, Van Helsing and Carl destroyed him? She thought Van Helsing had ripped his throat out during the fight, why hadn't that killed him once and for all?
Dracula just lay there and let anna vent her anger out on him, normally (in the past) he would never let anyone speak to him like this or allow himself to be in the situation where he was the submissive and not the dominant one in the room.
But after all the emotions he'd been made to remember and had to learn to understand once again, had taken its toll on him, his soul was probably the greatest/most powerful weapon against him. Anna's words were filling him with…what was this? guilt? Yes it definitely felt that way, her entire family destroyed by him, anger because…well he hadn't asked for this life had he? He didn't ask to be murdered all those years ago did he?
They both just looked at each other in silence, neither making a move, the princess and the vampire.
Anna didn't know what to do, she had expected him to jump up in a rage and grab her by the throat, taunt her mercilessly then kill her…but he didn't, he just lay there and took all the verbal punishment she was giving him.
'I hate you…I wish you were dead' she whispered softly, sadly and with tears in her eyes before turning away from him and walking in the direction of the cells.
Dracula lay there for a few minutes more after Anna had left, he sat up slowly his ribs were sore from the beating, they would most definitely be bruised in the morning.
'You're not the only one princess' Dracula whispered sadly to himself.
To be continued