CHAPTER 13
Malus felt a small flame of hope, flicker in his heart. Maybe Carrie and the other two that came would save him...Maybe Dracula would be defeated much sooner than he had thought. Of course, Dracula never allowed him to have such high spirit.
They will not save you. He started. None of them have the strength to oppose me.
Liar! That's why you wanted to kill Carrie! And the Fernandez clan! You knew they had the power to defeat you! And they will, I know it!
Malus had run his luck this time. A powerful crushing feeling had overcome him. It was worse than the first time he had felt it. The same bitter cold feeling washed over him too... He was determined not to cry. He couldn't show weakness. He would shut his mouth and listen to Dracula...if only the pain would stop... He screamed. He could hear Dracula's cold and cruel laughter in his head. If only he could curl up into his uncle's warm arms, and know that everything would be alright. If only the village, his village, was still there, and his mother and father were safe. And the other village children would be alright too. He would wake up, and know that it was all a passing bad dream...
You have no uncle. Dracula reminded him coldly. You have no mother and father. Your friends are dead and your village is destroyed. You have nothing.
Malus stared at the ground in front of him, and closed his eyes. He had conjured a setting from his mind. Instead of the usual black darkness, a lake stood in front of him. The dusky night sky filled with stars reflected upon the water as did the silvery full moon. He also imagined grass surrounding the lake, and there he sat on a rock, in deep thought; but as always they were shared by an antagonist. Malus could feel his long, cold and pale fingers clamp onto his shoulders. Malus shivered, and pretended not to notice, but the next question Dracula asked made Malus twitch.
"Do you believe and trust in God?"
Malus hesitated to answer. Of every question that he could have asked, why did it have to be this one...?
"Yes..." But even Malus knew that he'd made a mistake.
Dracula crushed the boy's shoulders. "You are a liar." He hissed.
Malus cried out in pain. His yell brought an eerie chill across the starry night sky in his mind. It felt like Dracula was literally trying to break his arms off...and was succeeding. Malus heard a cracking sound inside his shoulders. Dracula loosened his grip.
"You may pretend to believe, but you know the truth don't you? Your uncle may have poisoned your mind and reformed your temperament, but you know what you truly are. Nothing more than a shadow of darkness and lies. Your God has forsaken you since birth, and you shall never forgive Him."
Malus sighed heavily and looked into the water at his reflection. He refused to confirm whether Dracula's words were true. He was afraid of the answer. He was afraid to question himself. Why did he feel so alone and rejected? What had he done? Tears started to flow from his eyes. He hit the reflection of himself angrily. What would become of his fate?
Satisfied with what he'd done, Dracula traveled to the castle keep, and met the Servant.
"They are coming." Dracula said. "Kill them all."