Chapter 44: Return
Thralls, unlike vampires, tired easily. However, thralls could also continue traveling in the daylight hours. Thralls traveling together with a vampire compounded the limitations of both methods of travel, leading to an extended return journey. Fortunately for both Cain and his thrall companions, there were no further incidents involving bandits, Fae assassins, or anything else untoward.
Unfortunately, this lull of safety led to long hours of curious glances from the thralls. After several awkward starts of, "So, the moon…?" and "So you're picky about your blood…?" Cain realized that shutting down the conversations was unlikely to gain him anything in the long term, except possibly catastrophic theorizing that would spread like wildfire once the thralls returned to the castle.
So, after finding an inn willing to house them for the day, Cain and the two thralls perched themselves on their respective straw mattresses, and he resigned himself to explaining something, even if it wasn't exactly the truth.
"A few weeks ago," Cain began, "I pursued a traitor who had turned to a temple of Brinn for sanctuary."
"I thought that temples don't welcome vampires," one of the thralls, whose name he had learned was Cara, leaned forward and watched him with undisguised curiosity. She'd been the one to bring up the incident the most, which made sense, as she'd been the one to feed him her blood, and still seemed to feel badly about the fact that it had made him vomit.
"Typically, there's a ward that turns away all creatures of dark magic," Cain agreed. He wondered briefly if there was a pantheon of dark gods out there somewhere that actually watched over the dark and demented souls of the cursed and condemned, then quickly swept that thought aside. Curses like vampirism were considered curses precisely because they caused the victim to be totally cut off from divine help, which necessitated a soul that the accursed no longer posessed. A pantheon of whatever might act as patrons to the dark creatures of the world would, by necessity, be something other than divine.
"So you chased the vampire there, and waited outside?"
"That's the interesting part," Cain said. "I was able to enter. I was… welcomed."
"By a goddess?" the second thrall, Arabella, looked as surprised as the first, picking up where the other had left off. "Has that happened before?"
Considering Cain's relatively young age and lack of experience, he wasn't sure. "Not that I'm aware of."
"So were you able to retrieve the vampire?"
"It was a trap," Cain said, "and I was caught in a purification ritual. It should have killed me, but… it didn't."
The thralls were both leaning forward in rapt attention. "Why not?"
"I guess Brinn has some… use for me," Cain answered. As far as he knew, only a few people in the castle knew that the pup was a werewolf. And even if those people learned about Brinn's favor towards him, the chances of them drawing the conclusion that the two situations were connected… it was unlikely. Obscuring the truth of the matter was his best chance of keeping the full situation under wraps. "But the purification changed me."
Cara looked worried. "How?"
"I can only drink… pure blood," Cain explained. He saw the shared looks of embarrassment passed between the two young women, and realized that unless he clarified, they would walk away with the wrong impression of how blood purity worked. "No, no, not like that. Pure blood is blood that has been sanctified by a holy ritual. It has nothing to do with the sexual activity of the person from whom the blood is taken."
The twin looks of relief the thralls sent him at his statement assured him that he'd been able to correct any misconceptions, though Cara did briefly bury her face in her hands. The young woman was clearly embarrassed at having been so transparent with her worry that it was her unchaste status that had caused him to reject her blood.
Arabella, meanwhile, recovered more quickly from the revelation. "But usually vampires need the blood they drink to be from someone who has never even been to a temple," she said.
"Yes," Cain agreed, and found himself absently wondering if his lie perhaps held a grain of truth. It was true that he hadn't tried to drink a blessed blood since the temple incident. Maybe he should make a short journey to a temple, to see if there was actually some merit to his lie.
"So, normally, purified blood is bad for a vampire," Cara said. "But for you, it's…"
"Necessary," Cain confirmed. He was quite practiced at lying and the falsehood fell from his lips with no effort. "I cannot have anything else."
Arabella was frowning at this revelation. "Isn't that… difficult?" she asked. "None of the thralls in the castle have pure blood."
Cain nodded. "The purification ritual also drastically reduced my hunger. I am able to resist the need to feed for longer periods of time." It would do him no good to reveal the truth - that blood did not affect him in the slightest, as far as he could tell. Again, it might be useful to visit a temple and see if the fact held true for purified blood, but he couldn't risk something so foolhardy with the thralls under his watch. It would need to be the next time his master sent him out. He hoped he would be able to set out before his blood-hunger returned, or he wasted away from a lack of feeding despite never feeling the need for it.
"That's why you haven't fed since we've been with you," Cara noted. "I thought you might still be disgusted…"
"I wasn't disgusted," Cain said, because it felt important for the poor girl's wounded pride. Feeding was a very intimate experience, and he couldn't imagine it would feel nice for the vampire you fed to turn over and violently purge your blood from his stomach immediately. "My body simply refuses to keep it down. It wasn't any more or less pleasant than another blood." Technically, all the blood he'd been attempting to drink lately had tasted wrong, so while her blood hadn't been more or less pleasant, the overall experience had certainly been distasteful. But that sort of knowledge wouldn't be a comfort to the thrall, so he chose not to mention it.
"Thank you," Cara said, her voice a bit soft, though with relief, not embarrassment. She stretched out on the straw mattress, sighing deeply. "I hope you're able to feed soon."
I hope so, too, Cain thought, with significantly less certainty.
-*-*-*-
The next few days passed in companionable silence, the two thralls mollified by Cain's half-truths. It wasn't until they reached the Solveig fortress that Cain realized the extent to which his absence had caused the werewolf situation to go awry. He'd known that Crowe was behind the expedition, and that the man had his sights set on Brinn's chosen pup. But he hadn't realized how deeply invested the elder vampire was. This oversight was quickly rectified, as he had barely reached the wrought-iron gates when he heard a voice calling his name from within the gatehouse.
"Cain!" Evan Baker was back on gate duty, though she sounded tired and her pink longcoat seemed more dull than usual, somehow. "I mean, Sir Einhardt," she corrected herself.
He really needed to figure out who had started that, and tell them to stop. "Don't tell me Gerry's locked the gates again," he said. He might be able to scale it more easily this time, since his injuries had been divinely removed from his body, but there was no way the thralls he had with him would manage such a feat, even if they were relatively whole and hale.
"No," Ev said quickly, her pink boots thumping loudly as she extricated herself from the guardhouse with a grunt. "But there's a rumor going around that you gave a magical item to a human thrall, specifically to keep Mister Crowe from feeding on him, and it's caused quite the stir." She eyed him closely, as if looking for any sign of guilt or indication that he knew what she was talking about.
Unfortunately for Ev, Cain was used to lying to much more discerning and powerful vampires than her, so he did not visibly react to the news. Internally, though, he cursed the werewolf effusively and creatively. "It has?" he feigned confusion. "Which thrall do they say I've given a magical item?"
"The new transfer," Ev said, "the sickly one? Rumor has it he's very weak, and that's why you gave him the protection."
"There have been other sickly thralls," Cain pointed out in a mild, not-defensive tone. Getting defensive would just make him look guilty. "Why would this be the thrall I chose to give some sort of special treatment?"
"I don't know," Ev said, still closely watching Cain as she spoke. "Maybe his blood is special?"
Behind him, he heard the two thralls he'd been walking with inhale sharply, and he could have screamed. Of course they reacted. They weren't in the habit of lying to vampires, so they wouldn't think to temper their reactions.
Sure enough, Ev's eyes shifted from Cain to stare pointedly at the two human thralls behind him. "Looks like they know something," she commented, then turned back to Cain. "Come on," she pleaded, too polite to immediately resort to using the thralls' knowledge against him. "Give me something to work with. The people want to know."
Cain sighed internally, refusing to let his irritation show on his face. "The sickly thrall does not, as far as I know, possess special blood of any kind." He could sense, more than see, the way the thralls behind him deflated at the news. It was sweet of them to be so hopeful, but he knew that there was no chance of bringing a pure-blooded human into the castle. That would be a deadly choice for whoever dared approve such a thing.
"Okay, then-" Ev began, but Cain wasn't finished speaking.
"He is, however, very ill, and if I were to find some manner of protection that could be shared, I might have offered it to this thrall because Crowe specifically orchestrated my early departure from the fortress so that he could feed on the thrall, despite the fact that he has, in fact, been removed from the registry."
Ev was nodding slowly as Cain explained. "Huh. I imagine if you did find a protection charm like that, it's pretty rare, and probably something you'd be unwilling to confirm the existence of, or confirm whether you were the one who brought such an item into the castle in the first place," she said.
"It's quite likely," Cain said, appreciating how quick on the uptake Ev could be when she put her mind to something.
"So it's not because you feel any particular favor towards that thrall?"
Cain allowed his genuine distaste to show on his face that time. "Certainly not," he said. It wouldn't do for any of the thralls to think he was interested in direct feedings again. Johann was probably going to be impossible to deal with after hearing about the failed feeding from Cara; the last thing he needed was to also be explaining that no, he hadn't found a 'new favorite thrall', and that Johann needn't worry about anything of the sort. In all truth, Johann shouldn't be worried about Cain in any capacity, but that matter had been argued time and time again with no real resolution, and he'd long since given it up as pointless.
"Oh, well, that's kind of disappointing," Ev commented, draping herself dramatically against the wall of the guardhouse. "I was hoping for drama."
She would. Cain, on the other hand, could think of nothing he wished to avoid more. "I do hate to disappoint," he said, allowing a hint of sarcasm to bleed into his tone.
"Well, I guess I'll just wait for the next bit of juicy gossip, then," Ev said, waving him and the two thralls towards the gate. "Let me get this open for you," she said, and hopped back into the guardhouse. The towering gates lurched, and then began to creak open moments later.
"A pleasure as always, Ev," Cain called to her as he ushered the two thralls through the gates and into the courtyard of Soveig's fortress.
"Yeah, yeah," came the muffled voice from inside the guardhouse. "Next time come back with a more interesting story!"
Before he had a chance to retort, the gates began to swing closed once more, and he was forced to hurry through, allowing the lower-ranked vampire to have the last word. He chuckled to himself, and let it slide. Ev wasn't exactly the best-behaved vampire in the clan, but it was part of her charm.
The two thralls with him were gazing around the courtyard in awe, as they'd never been here before.
"This is the Solveig Clan's fortress?" Cara asked quietly.
"This is where we'll be staying?" Arabella asked at the same time.
"Yes, and most likely," Cain answered. "Now, if you'll follow me, I'll introduce you to Morgan, the Senechal of the castle and the one who will decide how you will serve the clan while you live here."
The two thalls nodded absently, following him with wide eyes as they took in their new surroundings. They would get used to it, eventually. But for now, he couldn't fault them for feeling overwhelmed by the grandeur. He'd been a new resident of these halls himself, once, not too long ago. He still remembered how he felt, the suffocating feeling of the walls towering over him, the sensation of confinement so great he'd almost screamed.
Cain hadn't been a thrall, the first time he'd been dragged through the gates and deposited at the feet of Lord Alaric Solveig. Though he could no longer make such a claim by the time the night sky burned red with the threat of sunrise, he still remembered the burning desire in his heart to stand on the battlements, and let the sun take him.
He'd been ordered not to do it, of course. And the enthrallment had been too powerful to resist. He still thought about it sometimes, though he didn't truly wish to go through with it. For as much as he wanted to flee from this hellish unlife, there was something he wanted even more than escape.
He wanted revenge.
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