Fang Four

“Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see physically with his eyes.... 

I tried to back away from him but realized that behind me was nothing but the tower window, unless I planned on jumping off there was no escape.

He stared intently at me, my eyes, in particular, I tried to look away but he grabbed my chin with his sharp fingernails, scratching at my skin. Blood slowly trickled from my chin down to my pulsating neck, his majesty's hungry obsidian black eyes followed the trail, and his loud groans made me uncomfortable.

"Please...let me..."

I never finished what I was saying because he grabbed me by the elbow and tossed me on the bed! I attempted to escape but he was swift and used both knees to cage me, placing me right underneath him.

"I beg you! Don't kill me!" My screams reverberated across the tower walls but never reached his ears. Unlike last night, there was no warmth in his eyes, all I saw was hunger, a primal desire.

While I did my best to scratch and struggle, his majesty lowered his head to my exposed neck, then stuck his tongue out. My breathing became faster as his slippery tongue licked one spot continuously, making me wince under him.

"What did I ever do wrong to deserve this?! Why does it have to be me?!" I painfully let out my thoughts, tears welling up in my eyes, waiting for me to blink them away.

*Sink*

I blinked the moment I felt his sharp fangs sink into my neck, my entire body stilled as though I were paralyzed by a venomous poison. My breathing became strained and shallow, I wanted to scream in pain and kick my legs violently. But the only things that escaped my lips were quiet whimpers.

I could feel him sucking the blood out of my body through my neck, he sunk his teeth deeper and placed both hands on my sides, making sure to keep me in place.

The more he drained me, the weaker I felt, his Majesty showed no sign of wanting to stop, and it was becoming tiresome to even keep my consciousness.

"Stop...please..." These were the last pair of words I believed I said to him before finally passing out cold on the bed, soaked in tears, sweat and blood.

*********

I felt a moist cloth on the side of my neck, dabbing precisely on the spot his majesty had bitten. Memories of what transpired flashed before my eyes, jolting me out of my sleep.

The moment my eyes flickered open, the first person I saw was Penelope, and in her hands was a blood-stained towel. My stomach churned when I realized that was my blood.

"Please lie back down, I still have to apply this, if the other vampires catch a whiff of your scent, it'll be over." She told me in a frigid tone.

As she spoke, I noticed reddened veins across her neck down to all parts of her body, they looked like they would pop at any moment.

I complied not because I trusted her, but simply because I was frightened, if she was like the king, then there was no telling what would happen to me.

"You're lucky Heather." I heard her say, "never has there been a human fed on by his majesty who lived to tell the tale." She said, shedding some light on why I was so 'lucky'

"But, I'm not so certain you'll be able to survive a second round, you're already too pale from lack of sunlight, talk less of how malnourished you are. I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but you're going to die tonight."

I imagined myself having to go through all that again and found myself crying already. "Why does it have to be me here? If it were Daphne would he have done the same?" I didn't know when that question spewed out of my mouth, or when exactly I had started to harbor such Ill intentions toward my sister.

But they were there, at the back of my mind.

"His majesty is going through a phase, it happens once every month and lasts for three days." She said, tossing the bloody rag into a nearby bucket.

"Once it happens, he cannot control his thirst for blood and ends up slaughtering the first human he lays hands on. You're insanely lucky and the first human to have survived his majesty's bloodlust." Penelope explained, rising from my side.

A wave of relief washed over me once she was halfway across the room, it looked to me like Penelope was exercising a great deal of patience around me.

"I'll be back shortly with some food... you're going to need it." The latter part of her speech was said with gritted teeth and stern eyes.

A reminder of what awaited me.

************

He hadn't come.

I stood in the middle of the chamber bedroom waiting for him to come inside and let my suffering end, but his majesty never graced me with his presence.

The next day Penelope arrived with more food, urging me that it was necessary if I wanted a fast recovery. She bathed me and changed me into a transparent silk white ankle-length dress, and helped brush my hair.

I mindlessly stared into the pages of the books she had left behind, till I eventually fell asleep into the evening.

"Tonight is the last night." I mused to myself, staring at the entrance to the tower, which was still missing a door.

Seeing as anxiously waiting for him was pointless I sat on the stool in front of the spinet and rested my fingers on the keys. After taking a deep breath and straightening my back, I began to play.

As I played, flashes of my dark life flashed before my eyes, I got sucked into the melody so badly that I failed to realize when the man whom I waited for walked in.

It was only till he violently gripped my shoulders and licked the healing spot at the side of my neck, that my fingers flinched and missed a key.

I could feel his hot breath fanning on my neck, and his warm tongue swirling across my skin, the pain from the day hadn't vanished.

"Why?" I whispered to myself, my hands still resting on the keys, he was going to end my pitiful life, before I ever got to bask once in the sunlight. Once his fangs sunk into my skin everything regarding Heather Ashenburn would be over and done with.

No! I refuse to give in so easily!

I pressed my fingers against the keys and started to play a song, only this time it was a song that I had never before heard myself. How I was able to play a song I didn't recognize confounded me, but I didn't give a damn!

My playing caused his majesty to flinch, but his hesitation was as brief as my time under the sun. He quickly recovered from it, and sunk his fangs unceremoniously into my neck!

"Ugh!" I gritted my teeth in pain but continued to furiously play the keys, my fingers moving swiftly to this fast-paced melody.

If this would be the last time, then I'd want to do the one thing that I was good at, making music.

He continued to suck my blood and I continued to play through the pain, refusing to shed a single tear at this man's expense.

As the piece and my resolve were on the verge of finishing, the strangest thing occurred all of a sudden, leaving me breathless.

His majesty suddenly pulled away from me and wrapped his hands around my waist instead, then rested his head on the side of my bleeding neck.

"Keep playing..." I heard him moan under his breath, my insides turned stone cold at his words and I nearly missed a note.

"Keep playing the pain away." He declared then kissed the side of my neck briefly.