Nocturnal

by David Paul

  Love,

  Chloe

  My heart stopped when I read the letter. My Katerina was alive, and she was being held captive just as I. But how? I saw her dead and heartless with my own eyes. Was it another illusion? Regardless of what the reason was, Katerina was alive! Maybe I should forget about all of the questions and be grateful that she was still breathing. More importantly, I needed to escape with her and bring her to safety.

  Inside, I was going crazy with joy because of this news. Granted, we were still held captive in this madhouse, but there was a chance to escape. That chance was all I needed. The servants were making their usual rounds in the morning, and I heard voices close to the door. Quickly, I put the letter under my pillow so none of the servants could see it. Svetlana and Chloe walked in with a grand breakfast.

  “How is lover boy today?” Svetlana asked smugly.

  “Actually I’m doing fine.”

  “That’s not what I heard,” she said. “I heard Regina snickering at you because you cried while fucking Chloe. Everyone knows about that, and it has been a source of amusement all morning long.” She laughed hard to herself. “What kind of a little bitch queer does that?” She asked. Svetlana was really pissing me off. “I’m sure that penetrating a man’s ass would have been more to your liking.”

  “That’s kind of funny,” I said. “Regina laughed at you and called you a worthless peasant vampire.” I lied to get a rise out of Svetlana.

  “Wh…when did she say that?”

  Svetlana sounded perturbed over my comment and stumbled on her words.

  “She said it when I asked her why you were still a servant.” Chloe hid her laughter and pretended to be in awe of what was said.

  “She didn’t say that!”

  “Of course she did,” I said. I reacted quickly to make what I was saying seem more truthful. It felt good to hurt her feelings. “You know this to be the truth.” In so many words it was the truth, and Svetlana knew it. “Why aren’t you one of Regina’s trusted comrades?” I asked. Her face grew wicked. I kept prodding her. “Do Onya and Daniella serve food to the prisoners?”

  Svetlana snapped and grabbed me by the throat with barred fangs. I could feel my windpipe about to be crushed into pulp.

  “When she no longer has use for you,” Svetlana said, “then you are mine.” Svetlana appeared to me in her vampire form, which was intimidating. “I’ll see to it that it is you who is ritualistically sodomized every night until your insides fall out. Being queer, you would probably enjoy it.”

  “You might not want to harm him, Svetlana,” Chloe said. Chloe tried being the voice of reason, and she probably saved me from a beating. “Remember what Regina said.”

  “You are right, bitch. We wouldn’t want to hurt her little pet.” Svetlana released her grip on me. Her fingernail made a small nick on my throat. The vampire stole a small taste of my blood. I gasped for air as Svetlana laughed at me and walked out. Chloe tried to hide her concern for me, but I could tell that this bothered her as she followed Svetlana.

  Everyone had left my chambers, and I ate a hearty breakfast in solitude. After eating, I was quite tired and decided to take a nap. Before I slept, I quickly burnt the letter Chloe had sent me over a lit candle. I slept for several hours, and my dreams were bizarre like they had been recently. Sometime later, a thudding door awoke me, and a still agitated Svetlana served me lunch. I had hoped for Chloe to be the one who served me.

  “Here’s your lunch, you pathetic excuse for a man.”

  “At least I’m not a pathetic excuse for a vampire,” I said. I was sick of her and this place. “Shouldn’t you be out drinking the blood of cows and dead horses?”

  “Just wait, Davide,” she said. Her eyes burned with fury. “If you think Regina is evil, then my wrath will be ten-fold. When that day comes, you will pay for your arrogance.” Svetlana really disliked me.

  “I’m already paying for it. I have to watch you fumble around like a heinous mockery of a real vampire, and that’s punishment enough.”

  “Watch your mouth, Davide.” Svetlana looked like she might attack me.

  “Or what? Are you going to torture me?” I asked. I had enough. “You are Regina’s errand girl, and you are nothing. To top it off, you know it too.”

  Rage took over.

  “Don’t worry queer,” she said. She seemed to cool off a bit. “We have surprises in store for you that will scar your soul.”

  She left the room in a frenzied shuffle. If I had the chance to kill her, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. The day dragged on, and I couldn’t contain myself in anticipation of seeing Katerina. Out of boredom, I counted stone tiles in my chamber to pass time. After I reached about sixty-five thousand and thirty-two tiles, Chloe unlocked my door and brought me dinner.

  “How are you, Davide?”

  “I’m alright, and you?”

  “I’m a little bit sore,” she said, “but I’ve had way worse happen to me in this castle.”

  She downplayed her condition, or so I thought. I wasn’t sure just how bad she had it here.

  “I’m sorry, Chloe.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she said. I still felt like I violated Chloe. “Let’s worry about getting you and Katerina out of here.”

  “You should come with me.”

  “But Regina will kill my entire family if I attempt to leave.”

  “Then why are you helping me?” I asked. “You are putting them and yourself at risk.”

  “I’m doing it because you don’t deserve this life that you have been given.”

  “Neither do you, Chloe. No one deserves to live like this.”

  “I have to figure out a way to get the drawbridge down,” she said.

  She changed the subject.

  “Seriously, I cannot leave you here to serve these vile creatures’ perverted whims,” I said. I didn’t want to leave Chloe here. “We’ll find your family and take them to safety.”

  “You would do that for me?” She asked.

  “Of course, I would. You are helping to save my life and Katerina’s.”

  “Alright, then we will devise a plan together,” she said. “Before I forget, take this.” She handed me a map that she drew of the castle.

  “You are very clever. I will hide this in my chamber.”

  “Let me go now, so I don’t arouse any suspicion amongst the others,” she said. She brought her voice down to a whisper. “Neither your door nor her chamber door will be locked. I wrote her a letter to make her aware of your presence. She’s expecting you. Be careful because Onya and Daniella will be on this floor sometime after dinner.” Chloe kissed my forehead and carried away dirty plates from earlier meals. The door thudded shut, but I didn’t hear the lock engage.

  I waited silently by the door until I heard the vampires on my floor talking in their usual gibberish. They passed my chambers and went down the corridor conveniently in the opposite direction that I had to travel in. Shortly afterward, the screams began, and I knew that they were occupied. Slowly, I pushed my chamber door open trying not to make it creak, and I shut it without making a sound. I couldn’t believe that I was out of my chamber.

  As I walked down the long corridor, I could see into other chambers. Both men and women were held captive in these cells. Everyone prisoner was of the finest stock in the world. All of the women were shapely and beautiful, and all of the men were well built and handsome. It was as if Regina had a modeling competition that she wanted to win.

  I couldn’t get over how many people were held captive in this massive castle. The number was far greater than I had thought. All of them had a look of tiredness and hopelessness in their eyes. No one spoke to me or even tried to get my attention. They must have been here so long that all hope was crushed in their minds. Finally, I arrived at Katerina’s chamber, and I entered. There she was with her bruised face waiting for me.

  “Katerina, it’s me,” I whispered.

  “Davide, is that really you?” She
asked.

  Even though Chloe told her that I was alive, Katerina couldn’t believe that I was in front of her. “I can’t believe it’s you.” She began to weep. We held each other for what seemed to be hours, but was really a few minutes.

  “Come with me,” she said. Katerina pulled me toward her bed, and I followed her without hesitation. She took off her garments, and I saw bite marks all over her body. The beasts had their way with her. “Make love to me right now. Don’t waste any time. I don’t want to go to my grave without sharing our bodies at least once. I’ve never loved another man, but you.”

  Katerina pulled me on top of her and began to kiss me ever so slowly. I looked into her eyes and felt the warmth of her stare. I remembered how beautiful her eyes were. It felt like I hadn’t seen her in years. Katerina kept kissing me until she put me inside of her. “Deflower me, my love,” she said so sweetly.

  “I love you more than life itself, Katerina.”

  I complied with her wish. She had to bite my shoulder to keep from screaming. We had to be very quiet to not attract attention to us. Our eyes were locked, and I made love to her gently savoring every thrust. Our session had reached its pinnacle. Katerina climaxed and gripped me inside her tightly until I could no longer hold back. We had an orgasm together, and I collapsed on top of her body while I was still inside her. For a few minutes, we shared an extended beautiful moment together that will always remain boldly engraved in my mind.

  “I didn’t want to wait any longer, Davide. I thought I’d never see you again.”

  “You have no idea what I’ve had to do to find you,” I explained.

  “We have to find a way out of here soon. I don’t want to die in this castle.”

  “We will, my love,” I said. The shock of seeing her still hadn’t worn off yet. “I still can’t believe you are alive and well. I thought I had lost you forever.” I pulled her body close and savored the moment.

  As beautiful as making love to Katerina was, it wasn’t supposed to happen that way, and we both knew it, but didn’t say it. Our stay in Ravenwood Castle jaded our first sexual experience together. The silence became uncomfortable for both of us. No one wanted to ruin the experience by stating the obvious. Before long, we started to talk.

  I told Katerina a brief version of what happened since last I had seen her. She told me firsthand how Zurelda came into the church and abducted her. Zurelda used some kind of spell that made the priests paralyzed. The poor little boy Vito heard the priests screaming and came into the chapel to their aid. That was when Zurelda threw Vito into the confessional and stabbed the poor child over and over while she kept laughing. The priests watched the murder and were unable to intervene.

  Katerina was frozen in terror, and the witch bound her with rope and forced her to watch the priests get their blood sucked out while still alive. The priests prayed loudly trying to dispel the evil in their chapel, but it was futile as their bodies were in a state of paralysis. Zurelda used some kind of primitive siphon to draw blood directly from their hearts.

  One at a time, their skin turned pale white as the blood was pumped out of their pure hearts and into large copper pots. Slowly, each priest’s life just faded away as she bled them dry, and then she performed gruesome ritualistic procedures on their inanimate corpses.

  “I watched their lives wilt away, and then she butchered them.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, my love,” I said, “I took care of Zurelda, and that wicked creature will never harm us again.”

  “Davide, I watched them slowly die while that evil bitch just laughed and spoke in blasphemous riddles and rhymes.” She was horrified. “And that poor boy…the ear piercing screams that he made when she stabbed him over and over…I just won’t ever get that out of my mind.”

  Katerina was a bit hysterical. We couldn’t be too loud. I spoke softly to try to comfort her.

  “She is dead by my hand. Katerina, all that has passed, and we need to be strong.”

  “I know that you are right, but your words do not drown out those visions or what has happened in this castle,” she responded.

  A part of me didn’t want to know anything more, and I changed the subject.

  “How long do you think that you’ve been here in the castle?” I asked. “I’ve only been here for a few days so far.”

  “I’m not entirely sure how long, but I estimate about month or so,” she said. Katerina had an awkward puzzled look about her.

  “Dear God, a month?” I asked. “I’ve been here for far less time, and I feel like I am going to lose my mind,” I said. I didn’t want to imagine what had happened to her. “If they have done to you what they have done to me…I can’t even imagine what your feeling right now, Katerina.”

  “I never want to speak of what has happened in this hell. What I’ve seen here could only be described as unholy. Please don’t make me tell you,” Katerina said. Her eyes were filled with tears. “Please let us not even speak about anything else. They forced me to do so many vile acts and beat me mercilessly when I refused. Those beasts violated me in so many different and perverse ways.” She was embarrassed to say what happened to her like so many other victims of sexual abuse. “I never wish to speak of this again, my love.”

  “I will honor your wish, and I will never speak of these perversions again.”

  “Then, it is agreed,” she stated with a weary smile.

  “I think I should go back to my chambers before anyone gets wise to our activities.”

  “Please be careful, Davide. I can’t lose you again, my love. I love you so much.”

  “I love you with all of my being. You will not lose me,” I said. I was determined to escape Ravenwood Castle alive with Katerina and Chloe. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m going to get us the hell out of here soon.”

  Katerina kissed me goodbye passionately as I carefully left her chambers to head back to mine. On the way over, I heard the horrible screams of more tortured souls in their cells. The vampires drank well that night. During our reunion, I forgot to tell her that I had found her engagement ring, and that thought came to mind as I crept to my quarters. I laughed it off because I wanted to ask her to marry me again.

  I slipped back into my chamber rather easily and found another letter from Chloe. She explained that there was a way to get the drawbridge down during the day when food was delivered to the castle. The next food delivery was going to be in about four days. Daytime was the best time for this because the vampires would be at their absolute weakest during the sunlight. Mostly at night, Damien guarded the controls to the drawbridge.

  She explained in her letter that Damien was a beastly man-child with little intelligence, but he was brutally strong. He stood over seven and a half feet tall and must have weighed well over five hundred pounds. Damien was stronger than an ox and almost as smart. All Damien did was eat all day long, and he guarded the entrance to the castle armed with a huge double-headed battle-axe that could not be wielded by any ordinary man.

  While I read the letter, I heard my door lock, and Chloe quickly said hello before moving along. She mentioned in the letter that we could possibly slip out in the food wagon or maybe even right through the front door.

  Castle Ravenwood sat right on a waterway by its southern walls, so getting downriver was also an escape possibility once out of the castle walls. The drawbridge allowed passage over the moat and through the huge iron gates into the castle. A murky moat filled with awful slimy creatures surrounded Ravenwood Castle on three sides. There was no way to cross the moat without dying from infection. Large stone, dam-like walls kept the moat from flowing into the river. The fourth side was bordered by the waterway perpendicular to an un-climbable smooth-faced, rock-wall incline leading up to the castle. Against the smooth rock wall, an impressive dock sat on the river. A large, wooden deck pathway led from the dock back to land.

  The half-wit Damien controlled the drawbridge and the iron gates. It took major strength to operate eith
er of those manually cranked devices. I burned Chloe’s letter for safety. The rest of the night, I sat in my bed and tried to block out all of the horrible visions of what Katerina had to endure. The memory of our unexpected lovemaking session kept me calm and gave me some hope. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep, and I didn’t have a nightmare for once.

  Two uneventful days had passed, and I hadn’t heard from Chloe at all. The days went by incredibly slow as I became stir-crazy in the medieval lock-down. Finally, on the third day, Chloe had slipped me another letter after lunch, and it read:

  Dear Davide,

  Your Katerina has suddenly fallen very sick. She appears to be carrying a child. Her belly is extremely large, and she has been crying out in pain constantly. Something must be wrong, and she is hysterical. Katerina has been raving on and on that she is carrying the devil’s child in her belly.

  She told me of her wild dreams of an Antichrist in her womb, and she is convinced that her child is of a demon. No one in this castle is allowed to fornicate with either of you, and there is no way for her to be that far into a pregnancy. I am really worried about her, especially if we all try to escape. I’m not quite sure if we will be able to move her. I am so sorry to tell you this news. I will do my best to help comfort her, and we will talk soon about our plans to leave.

  Love always,

  Chloe

  My heart sunk as I worried for my beautiful Katerina. How could this be? There was no way that could be my child in her womb so quickly. Was she untrue to me while we were together? My mind raced with wild thoughts. That didn’t make any sense because she appeared normal just the other evening. A sickening feeling came over me, as I recalled my prophetic dealings with Capello.

  Capello had said that Zurelda had taken away Katerina’s ability to have children. He also said that the only child that she could bear was that of a demon. Dear God, what have we done? Was it my seed that has cursed us? I jumped from the bed and began to vomit because of a sour feeling in my gut. I was trapped in this room, and there was nothing that I could do to help my love. I burned the sad letter and watched the paper turn to smoke and flames.