Dracul."Rise and shine sleepyhead." A voice calls me out from underneath the murky depths of unconsciousness. My eyes open up tenderly at first to the sight of Elena smiling back at me. "Elena." I call out, my vision still a bit clouded. "Where the fuck am I?""Elena's not here." Came the cold voice. "I'm afraid you'll have to make do with me."The coldness of the voice, like iron pikes slithering over my heart, this wasn't waking up to the life back at the castle, the vileness in her tone was the very spike of adrenaline my body needed jarring me awake as well whatever dormant memory laid in my head. "Who the fuck are you?" I growl. "Where the fuck am I?"Her eyes twinkle viciously and a hint of a smile plays upon her face. "Finally." She sighs. "We're getting somewhere, do you need a minute more because by now you'd have begun-""I'll have your head off your bloody neck." I growl rushing up at her only to be pulled back by luminescent chains. "That." She finished her statement
CHAPTER FORTY NINEElenaMinutes slipped into hours which slipped into days which slipped into God knows what, my only comprehension of time seeming to be the constant rise and fall of daylight and darkness and even that slowly began to resemble figments of my imagination.Training was rigorous still becoming even more intense after my little stunt with the fireball, I was a bit relieved Gulliver wasn't around for this bit, though I'd bet he'd gotten tired of seeing me fumble up and landing on my keister on a constant basis, he'd taken a break going back to see how things were being run in Dracul's absence. Dracul, the mere thought of him sent mixed emotions accompanied by a discomforting chill down my spine, I wondered how he was faring, if he was faring at all, of late I'd begun to wonder just if he was still-"You're brooding again and playing with dinner again." Gammy tells me, her eyes sparkling from the other side of the table. "Your one man monologue won't bring you any closer
CHAPTER FIFTYDraculSomewhere in between all those never ending seconds, I finally lost ahold of time, the pain, had reduced me to a slobbering mess, he'd been right, in time as the whispers increased and the pain opened up my mind to susceptibility, whatever resolve I'd had slowly broke off to his will. "Serve!" The malevolent voice roars in my head for the umpteenth time. "No!" I yell right back. Her face filters in my head, it's cracked now, fragmented like my sanity but it's her it's hope, I reach out to her and just like that the figure dissipates into thin air, it always dissipates. "You've been resilient, I commend you on that, your mind still fights." Jacob says with a smile. "A futile fight but a fight nonetheless.""Killing you will be satisfactory." I tell him although very weakly. I can barely see through the pain but my other senses are heightened beyond measure and I smell her before she comes in, hear her footsteps as she walks towards me and feel her gentle touch
CHAPTER FIFTY ONEElenaThe Night howled with a fierceness, a sort of crazed frenzy if one could have said and it absolutely set me on a rage, my entire body and senses tingled with a manic delight if you'd have it that way, one that left my teeth gnashing and my eyes bloodshot, something or someone was coming, I could feel it, smell it and taste it to the point of anticipation and it kept me awake.The wind sieved in through the cracks in the walls and Windows playing a tune and whispering in a strange tongue save for one clear word."Elena!" It roared howling a tune to which the rustling of the nearby trees served as the drums.The old Granny had ordered me stay off the woods at night, 'treacherous woods' she had called them 'filled with even more treacherous creatures', every tale made her believe death came with the night but the woods would not leave me alone eventually it built up roaring into a swirling crescendo that I could no longer take much less contain and before I could
CHAPTER FIFTY TWOGulliverThe moonlight reflected off the clear bowl of water and the spell flowed off my lips, the cool breeze wafting his way across my skin, and the waters rippled as the spell reached it's finality, peeking with one eye open, I let out a sigh of relief, locator magic wasn't really my forte but I seemed to get it right in this instance.Elena sat across from a hunched over figure whim she soothed lovingly, he wondered who that was, it was no shame of him to admit that I had checked up on her at every sparse bit of breathing space I'd got from the constant strain of watching over Dracul's castle and not once had i seen this in my scrying.Grandmother had been pretty keen on her home being protected against scrying forces but I had found a loophole that he wouldn't be willing to tell her about anytime soon, his concentration wavered and just for a bit the images flickered, the figure in question stood abruptly and the blanket fell off, the person in question causing
CHAPTER FIFTY THREEGulliver"Again." She ordered as the stick clatters on the dusty ground, my hands are bruised and malformed from years of intense casting, she stands towering above me, her glinting with a cold spark resonating down her cold dark abysmal heart."I said again!" She roared her stick tapping the ground with a force of magic that sent an unrefreshing shockwave through me, struggling with my shaky legs, I crawl through the wave of pain wracking my entire system as I manage to stand. "Pathetic!" She scoffs her eyes refusing to look at me. "Clearly your father's genes, it's a pity she married him, a pity that is you, the world will eat you up boy, it is cruel to our kind, halfling or not, it is my duty to train you, trust me I despise this much as you do, now Again!"Electricity much akin to a dose of lightning arced from the tip of her fingers and I barely had enough time to cast my shoddy defense magic and I was hurled back my back hitting the wall with a resoundi
CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR Miranda PowerIt felt so good I could barely breathe, a breathe of fresh air, I had to hand it to Denise she really did know how to bring out the perfect burst of energy, a unique sort of blend of energy flowed into my veins, it was a burst of refreshment and her screams encouraged me causing me to siphon her powers with even more joy.It seemed endless, when all of a sudden it all went wrong, the entire room had been silent save from the sound of her constant screaming and Gulliver's incessant but pointless struggling grunt and then all of a sudden it stopped, it was almost as if I'd reached a barrier in her magic, a great unfathomable wall of magic that resisted even my prowess"What in-"My next words fail me as an inconceivable pain slithers it's way across my arm, forcing me to withdraw with a grunt of pain, her eyes open and so does an immense flood of power, my skin positively crawls as I'm blown back by an impeccable amount of magic, the blast does more th
CHAPTER FIFTY FIVEElenaI barely had enough consciousness as we dropped from the endless abyss, with just enough strength to crawl my way to the gates, with a final burst of magic, I let the gates rumble slightly."Help," I groaned against my aching and tired muscles, "We need help." I felt the intense warmth of hands clasp tightly around me just as the firm grip of unconsciousness took a hold of me, finally at least we were safe._____A splash of cold washed over me accompanied by a wave of nausea and I opened my eyes to the darkness, I could tell it was a dream, I'd known that I'd brought us home, where and how the power had come, I had no clue, but simply telling myself it was a dream did not do much to calm my palpitating heart or my frenzied nerves.Something slunk by me, brushing me hard and sending me spiraling into the darkness, making it avidly clear that I wasn't alone, it continued touching and pushing me according to it's whims, each touch bringing along with it the col