Vampire King: Escape Part 3

"Did I hear correctly?" Her silver eyes bore into me. "This one is a domina?"

I glanced over my shoulder at Samuel.

"Yes. She's a domina, and if you're mad about that, then talk to your idiot husband."

Ty dropped to the ground. Red stringy liquid splashed around his feet. "Look at the girl, Victoria. She's not the money-hungry type like most dominas."

"I can't believe you brought her here! Didn't we all agree we wouldn't save anymore dominas?" Victoria raised her hands. "She'll get us all killed. There will be guards all over the city tomorrow. Dogs will be sniffing the sewers."

"They won't notice for at least a month," I a.s.sured her. "The Quiet King left the city. The guards don't do nightly bedroom checks or perform a roster when he's gone."

"I'm well aware of what the guards do." Victoria narrowed her silver eyes at me. "I used to manage the castle. How long will the king be gone?"

"Two or four weeks."

No one said anything. Candlelight danced around us. Our shadows bounced and wavered off the moist walls. I clung to Samuel's shirt that I was wearing, gathered some of the material into my hands, and tightened it around the new scars on my palm. A baby cried on my right. The mother stuck her dirty nipple into the wailing baby's mouth. The little one latched on and closed his eyes. His hands formed into tiny fists and rested on his mother's breast. He must have barely been two months old.

"The domina will get us killed," Victoria said in a low voice behind me.

"Darling, we won't get caught," Ty countered.

Samuel clasped onto my wrist and guided me around the others until we were several feet away from them. He led me to a wall adorned in a mural that resembled the Statue of Creation. The Quiet King sat on a throne of skulls just like the real statue, but this time the skulls were very tiny, suggesting they came from infants. On the real statue, the two moons lay in the king's lap. In the mural, it looked like two mounds of brown c.r.a.p piled on his leg. Instead of adoring dominas lovingly gaping at the king, naked women were covered in scars and chained to his feet, violence and horror etched in their eyes. Well, I don't think this group supports the king.

"If they catch us and she's with us, we'll die." Victoria put her hands to her face and rubbed her eyes.

"We always run risks." Ty shrugged.

"Rest your feet," Samuel instructed. I sat down and strained my ears to hear Victoria and Ty's conversation.

"No. If we are caught without her, then we would just be slaves to the kingdom," Victoria cursed and walked off into a darkened pa.s.sageway. "You're not a royal guard anymore, Ty. Stop trying to protect dominas and-"

"Now that's quite enough." Ty marched after her and slammed a black steel door.

The other humans whispered to each other. Raggedy clothes hung off their frail bodies. Most of them were women and children. The few men in the group had wrinkles on their faces and graying hair.

"Are they all The Quiet King's slaves?" I whispered.

"Pretty much. The women were born into slavery. The men were imprisoned in the castle dungeons for petty crimes."

"How did they come up with the money to-"

He held up his hand to stop me as he remained standing. "I never charge slaves."

"Dominas are slaves." I stretched my legs. "You charged me."

He smirked. "Dominas are willing slaves. Human women hoping for fame and luxury."

"You're wrong. Not all dominas desire fame."

"Are you hungry?" Samuel seated himself down on the bloodied ground beside me.

"No." Things crawled in the crimson liquid, but I couldn't tell what they were, just that it was something smaller than an inch. I took comfort in the fact the creatures were tiny and tried to think about anything else.

"Is Victoria right?" I asked. "Will these women and children be murdered if the guards find me with you?"

"Don't think about it." Samuel focused on his thumb as it circled around his index finger.

"That's not an answer." I leaned back on the wall behind me.

Minutes pa.s.sed. Samuel stayed next to me in silence. All the humans lowered themselves onto the ground and fell asleep one after another, not caring about the things swimming in the liquid on the floor.

"I have a room in the back with a bed," Samuel said, still not facing me. "You could sleep in there if you want. I will stay out here."

Little kids with blood-smudged faces nestled next to their exhausted mothers. Who am I to complain about discomfort? I shook my head. "No. I'm fine. Don't you need to sleep?"

"Not as much as I used to."

"Is that why you're warm, because you're powerful?"

"Just because I don't sleep much doesn't mean I'm powerful."

"The only warm vampire I've met was The Quiet King." I noticed the muscle in his jaw twitch.

"Maybe you haven't met enough."

"But-"

"You ask too many questions. Get some rest." Samuel stood and headed for the steel door Ty and Victoria had disappeared through. "We'll be walking through the sewer tunnels all tomorrow night and won't stop until dawn."

"Which way would we go?"

He pointed to a pa.s.sage way across from him. "That way."

"Will we be out of the city by then?" I asked as he opened the metal door.

"Yes. It's barely a night journey. When we emerge, it will be beyond the city's gates. Goodnight, Brie."

"Goodnight."

He shut the door behind him.

An hour pa.s.sed. Snoring and slow breathing filled the sewer. I waited and made sure everyone was fast asleep before I silently rose and crept in the pa.s.sageway across from the steel door.

Chapter Four.

When Victoria said people would die because of me, I decided to finish escaping by myself. Those women and children deserved a chance at freedom and I wouldn't stand in their way. I tiptoed through the dark sewer, barely making any sound. I'd stolen one of the women's candles to light my path.

Several hours flew by. The sun was up. Its rays peeked through the tiny holes in the sewer's ceiling. Heat radiated from the stone, painted every air molecule, and made my journey stifling and unbearable. Harps and flutes played above the sewer. Bells chimed through the city. The song of Ressi the sun G.o.ddess rang in my ears.

These tunnels must be under her temple.

Female voices rose above the flutes' melody as they sang, "Two G.o.ds walked the universe never knowing the other existed. But when they met, they spoke no words and just kissed."

I kept on moving forward and stumbled.

"We do the G.o.ddess's work and never cease," the women sang. "We give our blood to Ambi's children to maintain the peace."

I gazed up and squinted hard. I could make out the women's amber robes through the ceiling's tunnels as they kneeled and prayed. Only human women were Ressi priestesses and willingly committed their lives to giving vampires blood. Like them, my mother had served the G.o.ddess when she was young. Later she left her service to the G.o.ddess and married my father.

"The pale G.o.d Ambi was so alone in the darkness," my mother told me one night when I was a little girl lying in bed. "Ambi formed our planet Dos and then created his dark mage children with skin in shades of lovely black and brown. But when he did, the mages rushed away to play and frolic on the planet. They loved him a lot, but didn't return much to spend time with him."

"Mama, that's so sad."

"Yes. I know. Ambi was still so alone." She kissed my forehead. "So Ambi created new children. He fashioned the vampire species in his image and made their hunger dependent on his blood. This way, they always returned to feed and spend time with him."

I sat up in bed and grinned, so excited to hear my favorite part of the story. "And then Ressi came."

"Yes." She laughed. "Ressi the G.o.ddess of the sun, with hair made of fire and burning eyes. She spotted Ambi and they said no words-"

"They kissed!" I giggled and clapped.

"Yes." She covered me in a quilt. "Now Ambi was so in love and happy. Ressi wanted him to go with her and explore the universe some more. She figured maybe there were more G.o.ds lingering around. But Ambi regretfully said no. He had his vampires to feed and they ate all the time, barely ever resting."

"So Ressi made the sun, this way Ambi's kids would sleep and she could spend time with her love." I placed my tiny hand on my chest.

"But there still wasn't enough time for Ressi and Ambi to explore the universe. So what did Ressi do?"

"She took Ambi's blood, mixed it with hers, and created humans so when Ambi's children woke up they could take Ambi's place in feeding his children."

"She also made the elfkins to cultivate the planet so the humans could eat and be nourished." She brushed a few strands away from my eyes. "And so his children would not miss him too much while he was gone, Ambi formed two moons from his skin-one to represent him and the other to symbolize his love for them."

"And when the moons line up, that will always let the vampires know Ambi is thinking about them."

"Very good." She blew out the candle on my nightstand and kissed me on my cheeks. "Goodnight, my love."

Dryness corroded my mouth. I miss you, mama. My stomach growled. Yawning, I rubbed my eyes and ambled through the tunnel on sore feet. Don't think about how long you have. Just put each foot forward. Focus on the steps. Remember why you're here. My twin girls flashed in my mind with each step. Little faces surrounded by auburn curls. They had emerald-green eyes like mine that beamed up at me whenever I looked their way. They'd only been toddlers when I left. The desire to see them fueled my steps and increased my pace.

They must be so big now.

A hand seized the back of my neck. Another hand clasped over my mouth before I could scream. I dropped the candle. Its light went out. Only sunlight seeped through the cracks.

"You smell so good. I'm not sure which I'll do first." A dark and rugged voice hissed in my ear. The scent of mold drifted into my nose. "I may ram my c.o.c.k in you while I feed."

I squirmed in his grip, lifted my right foot in the air, and brought it down hard into what I hoped was his shin. He roared and released me. I fled without glancing back, splashing through waste.

"Wait, sweet domina! Perhaps my greeting was too direct?"

How in Ambi's name does he know I'm a domina?

In an instant, the stranger tackled and dragged me to the wet ground. Boiling-hot liquid splattered across my face and drenched my shirt. The fabric stuck to my skin. He turned me around and got on top of me.

"Help!" I yelled.

His face came into my view. Gray decomposed skin coated his head and body. He had no eyes, just two sunken holes above his nose. He opened his lips. Dust fell from his skin and landed on me. One black fang sprouted from darkened gums. Never had I seen anything like that before. I shrieked.

"Don't scream, sweet domina."

"H-how do you know I'm a d-domina?" I panted.

"How could I not?"

I curled my fingers into a fist and hit him with all my strength. My knuckles crashed into his cheek. Dust burst from the side of his head. My now throbbing fist continued to travel through his face until it stopped and lodged between his jaw. He growled and used both of his hands to yank my fist out. Brown powder exploded as he freed my hand.

"Okay. Let's stop this," he said as a hole replaced the cheek I'd hit. I tried to scratch his face. He captured my hands and pressed them above my head. "You're wasting your energy."

"Rot in the dark realm!"

"I wish I could die, but that's not my fate."

"Let me go!" I struggled to escape his hold on me.

"I apologize for being so cra.s.s earlier, domina." Gray-and-brown dry skin crumpled from his cheeks as his lips formed into a smile. "In my day, I was quite the ladies' vampire. I swooned queens and princesses all over the world."

"Please let me go."

"I'm hungry." His grip tightened around my wrists. His body trembled. I shoved my knee into his groin as hard as I could.

He growled. "I'm asking nicely for your blood, but I'll take it if necessary."

"This is you asking nicely?"

He went silent. Wrinkles gathered in the middle of his forehead. A jagged patch of skin fell off his face. In a blur, he jumped off me and pulled me up. I shook my shirt and wiped blood off my face the best I could.

"Will you please give me some of your blood?" he asked, now a few feet in front of me.

Do I have any choice?

"Ian, I'm sure you smell my scent on her." Samuel stepped out of the shadows with his arms crossed over his chest. He still wore no shirt, but now his fangs were out. "This is my domina that you are talking to. She's in my care until she's out of the sewers."

Ian jumped up to the ceiling and attached his feet and hands to it. "Well, you're not taking b.l.o.o.d.y good care of her, nephew."

"Don't call me that!" Samuel roared. His gold eyes glowed with rage and lit up the sewer. He leaped up toward Ian and dragged him to the ground by his feet. Ian's body slammed into the puddle ground. Putrid liquid splashed.