Do I REALLY need to say it?

The joys of my new state for a time overwhelmed me. I had nothing to fear, save the sun, which I was used to fearing. And it could not touch me here, not in the Forest of Eternal Night. The thirst did not trouble me, for Walter took care, at first, that it was quenched, and later showed me how I might care for myself. He taught me well, with care in every lesson. And yet slowly I realized that I was not truly his equal. That did not bother me at first, but the more I thought on it, the more I resented his rule, his arrogance, and his autocratic behavior.

At the root of the problem was that in this, as in all my life, I had not truly had a choice. I could have left the Forest, or so I wanted to believe, but there was no life for me in the world outside. Yet by staying, either in the castle or the forest, I opened a part of myself to hear Walter's plea. And so, despite all appearance, he had risked nothing in his revelation to me. This knowledge wore at me, until I saw in that one act everything of him that I was coming to hate.

If he knew of my growing feelings, he did not seem to care. Walter gave me the task of starting his games, of bringing to him the mortals with which he enticed the hunters. He loved to play with the vampire hunters, to torment them through their love for his captives. I saw the game played out until I could quote it, as though it was a farcical play.

My new hate found a focus on the day I brought a small girl to the castle. She was very young, not more then five, with mahogany hair and frightened brown eyes. I cared almost nothing for humanity now, but never before had the prize been so innocent. I used the girl as surely as Walter did, used her to sharpen and heat my hate, used the thought of her suffering to carefully feed my fury with Walter's machination. And then I returned to her house, to the father who grieved for her even while girding for the battle to come. I told him I knew how to defeat Walter.

It was a lie, mostly. I knew Walter believed himself beloved by the night, and I knew the forest had eternal night. I knew that defeating Walter in the cover of moonlight was next to impossible. I knew he possessed something that caused the perpetual night, but that was where my knowledge ended. What he possessed, I didn't know, though I guessed he would keep it about his person. I spoke as though I knew where and what the object was, and I said I would get it for him, and weaken Walter.

Rinaldo, for that was the man's name, was reluctant to trust me, and I could not blame him. But seeing himself without option, he accepted my offer. I told him what to expect in the castle, of the monsters he must defeat before he could even see Walter. I promised that when the vampire stood before him, he would be vulnerable, and said that Rinaldo could easily defeat him then, and take his daughter. I even meant it.

The bargain struck, I went to the castle, to speak with Walter under pretense of watching for the game to begin. Walter was waiting for me, lips twisted in a sneer. "So!" he said. "You, too, would turn against me, Joachim? You would posses this castle for yourself, and with it the power of the Ebony Stone?" As he spoke he thrust forth a pendant, which held a stone of half fist size. "But that cannot be, my friend. My child. Have you forgotten? I sired you! You must obey my will."

I struggled, but was bound by invisible bonds. I was bound to his will? How was that! By the blood he had gifted me? "Go now, to the Dark Palace of Waterfalls! Go to room furthest back, beyond the long bridge! You will fight all who come there, and only when you are defeated are you to be released from my will!" Walter turned from me, and I felt myself drawn to the door.

To anyone who's reading my OTHER fics... they are not forgotten. Next chapter in about a week, okay?

Daneis TooShy: Ah, I was rather unclear, wasn't I? Yes, I'm nocturnal, but for me it's a choice. The sun probably harms me less then most others. Still, I hate it. Strange, aren't I?