I was a pet of my own enemy, and despite hating that situation, it was going to get me what I wanted – the vampires in one place. Then I just had to hope their Master would take up my challenge and take me on personally, defeat him and Kathann's Mother would handle the rest.
Don't ask me for her name, incidentally. Kathann won't tell me, and I get the feeling it's probably better that way.
In all fairness, I wasn't treated that badly overall. Their Master was polite about it and treated me fairly provided I didn't try to harm anyone. This wasn't universally shared among his subjects, however. Most were sensible enough to recognise that as a pet, I technically belonged to him, and that like anything else of his, treat it well or face the consequences. Morality among vampires is somewhat brutal.
Those few that ignored that had 'examples' made of them. Those who merely kept to making disparaging remarks about me were mostly left alone as long as it didn't go too far. Some though tried to take advantage of the situation to take out centuries of hatred on me physically. The Master did not take kindly to that, and after a few vampires mysteriously went missing, it dropped off entirely. Some of the missing ones were because of me, but I got told very firmly to stop doing that. It was emphasised by a sharp jolt of pain from the collar, so I decided to go along with it.
I can't really say he didn't look after me, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I didn't like the situation, but I figured I had to bear it, not like it.
I did have to bear some dreadful things though. While I never saw the Master himself feed, eat or drink in any way, I did have the unfortunate pleasure of seeing the others do it. There was a large banquet hall in his fortress where he'd periodically invite humans to gather, ostensibly to announce something. Just above where they milled around were two tiers of galleries, filled with vampires. The Master would thank them for coming, have the doors closed, then would announce feeding time. You can imagine what happened next, and every time he was present, he insisted I watch the entire thing.
There's more, but I won't go into that. There might be some younger readers seeing this, and I don't think it would be a good idea for them to find out about some of the more perverse acts they got up to.
No, I wasn't made to participate, only watch. You've no idea how thankful I was for that.
When the Master made his rare excursions away from the fortress or had simply tired of my company, I was sent to his only remaining daughter.
Remember that innocent Vampire I mentioned earlier? This is her.
She was called Samantha, and she looked young, about the same age as Kairi, and had fair hair. Her eyes were like that of all vampires; red. They would darken as their need to feed again drew closer.
She was considerably older than she looked. She never came right out and told me how old she was, but the closest approximation I could get was seventeen centuries. Can you imagine what she must have seen in that time, and what she had to go through?
Samantha did not share the views of the rest of her kind, and looked on feeding as an unpleasant necessity. She always waited until the absolute last minute possible before going to feed, and even then she'd pick her prey carefully, and try to make it as trouble-free for them as possible. Despite that, she still regretted it every time, and I can't blame her. It is a fairly terrible thing to have to do. The alternative would be for her to die, and she didn't want that either.
Samantha was the only one in the entire fortress that I ever actually spoke to in the human tongue. It was kind of our secret. It took a long time for me to trust her with that secret though. At first of course I thought of her no different to any other vampire, and stayed wary and distrustful. She was patient though, and if I gave any sign of not wanting her to do something, she'd stop. She was incredibly considerate for one of her kind.
I think it was her friendship that helped me bear the long months I had to spend like that. It was her responsibility to keep me clean, tidy and healthy – well, as healthy as I could be with a silver collar burning into my neck. It didn't leave any marks, but it was uncomfortable, and she explained to me that no matter how much her father did to lessen it, he could never null it entirely.
Most of our time was spent with me curled up nearby, and we'd talk. Well... she would, I'd sometimes ask questions, but normally I'd just listen. It reminded me a great deal of the night I'd spent as a wolf with Kairi, and I missed her a great deal. I often wondered what she, Goofy and Donald were up to. They were, of course, looking for me, but I didn't find that out until much later.
It was during one of those wide-ranging conversations with her that I gained some insight into the minds of the rest of the vampires. I'd been sent away by her father again, so had to wait in her room for her to return from feeding.
Her room was not quite what you'd expect from a young-seeming girl, let alone a seventeen century old one. She had status enough among her kind to give her a fair sized room, with a large bed, apparently on the off chance that she ever took an interest in a male vampire, or just to tease human males a bit before feeding on them. She never did do either, of course.
She seemed more partial to white than pink or the depressing black of the rest of the fortress, which made her room seem much lighter than the rest. It was like going from night to day.
Against my protesting vehemently, she'd insisted on getting me a dog basket to curl up in when I had to wait. The only way she'd managed to persuade me to even try to use it was to remind me that the rest of the vampires had no idea about the friendship we had, and if one of them came in without her around it should at least look like I was still the pet, and not a friend, so with reluctance, I waited there. I did not ever curl up in it, I'd sit instead. I wasn't going to let them break me into doing what they wanted that easily, even for her. I used it, but I absolutely refused to curl up.
I'm going off course describing all this again. You really shouldn't let me keep doing that you know.
When she came in this time, she looked distinctly uncomfortable, the way she always did when she'd had to feed. She was distracted, and didn't notice me at first, instead taking one of the many chairs in the room and staring out the window. She clearly needed cheering up, and that was something I considered to be my responsibility.
We'd long ago conveniently arranged various tables and surfaces near most of the chairs so I could sit on one beside her. I was a bit big to actually share a chair with her really, so I took the nearest one and got her attention in my favourite way, licking at her face. I have a very wet tongue, and I found it always seemed to tickle her, which set her to giggling almost instantly.
"Stop that," she told me, humour restored easily, wiping at her face. "Did you have to wait long for me?"
I came as close as I could to shaking no. Even though she knew I could talk, she also knew I didn't like to. More than once in the past I've accidentally bitten my own tongue because of it. You can do it, and it'll pass without incident, but have you ever seen wolf teeth? Yeah. It's not just something that can be put aside so easily.
There was a question that had been on my mind for some time, so I went ahead and asked. Once I figured out how to put it to her, that is.
"One wonders why it is that you have not sought a mate."
"You mean a boyfriend or something? He'd never allow it, that's why."
"Why not?"
"I'm his daughter," she shrugged. "I can pick who I want to see, but anyone I want a relationship with, he has to approve of. If they're not a vampire, they're made into one – and that always turns out to make them as bad as the rest." She sighed, then in a sarcastic tone went on, "Look at me, I'm immortal now, I can do anything I want, and if people refuse I'll just suck them dry... it's the kind of stupid, arrogant attitude that makes everyone afraid of us... and made you what you are."
"You do not share the dislike the others have of me?" It was as close as I could manage. Certain words it was safer to avoid saying because of my tongue, and while I remained a wolf, I thought like a wolf, which influenced how I said things. If I tried to write all this from that perspective, you'd definitely notice the difference.
Samantha sat for a long time in silence before she answered, and as was her habit, she'd brush my fur down to try and tidy it. It's like my hair though, naturally untidy.
"I don't hate you," she told me eventually. "and I like you, Sora. But I don't like werewolves." She looked away, staring out the window again. "When I was young – when I really was young, that is, not just looking like it – I had four brothers and two sisters, all older than me. Father had already been made a vampire before I was born, so all my family were already vampires. I was the only one born into it. Each of them had their own families by then, and their own children, except me. At the time, there was a pack of werewolves living not far from our home town. This isn't it, we moved here after that. We were constantly losing vampires to their pack. They took ridiculous risks, but they paid off a lot of the time, and we suffered.
"Then one of my brothers went to Father. My family were among the oldest vampires, and he reckoned that would give him all he'd need to deal with this pack if Father would let him, my brothers and sisters try. Father refused to let me go, and insisted on letting Mother go with them."
She broke off her account again, looking down at the floor instead with tears in her eyes. She wiped them aside, blew her nose, and continued with an ages old sadness in her voice.
"The pack killed them all. They were ready for an assault led by any vampire, and it didn't matter to them who they were, or how old they were. I never saw any of them again. I thought at the time you were horrible creatures for taking them from me, and then when Father got the news he uprooted all of us that were left, and we fled because we couldn't match you. That's when we came here. Father deposed the human who ruled the town, and we took over. They give us what we need, and we give them what they need to keep a growing population. To hear any other vampire say it, they're just a source of food, like cattle.
"For a long time, I kept my views on your kind, hating them all and wishing they would finally be defeated, but then Father started changing the orders, going to new lengths. He started using fire to burn them alive, poisoning their food and water sources, and other nasty tactics. I started to feel sorry for them after that. Then really recently, you came on the scene. I knew there was only one village left, and I'd heard you were there. We know a great deal about you, Sora," she told me, finally looking back to me seriously. "Father was so determined to turn you before they did, and when he failed to, he ordered that everything be done to kill you all, including you. If he couldn't have you, he wasn't going to let them have you. I'm sorry that he did all that, and took them all from you... I wish I could have done something, but he's my Father, and the only vampire old enough to force his will on me. If he tells me to do something, I have to do it."
Now I felt sorry for her, and what she'd had to go through. If the legend about our creation was true, all this was caused because two knights had disagreed with each other, and tried to resolve it by fighting. How many years have passed since then, I have no idea, but no matter how long, it's a long time for either side to hold a grudge. Most vampires are too set in their own superiority to change, despite everything that happened, and treat my continued existance as a threat worth getting rid of, so naturally I have to respond in kind.
Samantha was clearly unsettled by recounting her tale, and I'd caused it because I asked that one question. I spent the rest of that day with her keeping her company to try to make up for it.