by Pet TorreS
A bite of bitterness
Book 2
In the Vampire Descendants Series
PET TORRES
Copyright © 2018 by Pet Torres books
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This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental
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SYNOPSIS
Valkyrie returns to the planet Earth.She goes back to live together with her mother and with human kind.What she doesn't know is that her existence on Earth will never be the same after she has become an immortal.She’ll have to choose between remainig on planet Earth or returning to the planet Neptune. That is, where her father the Vampire King, reigns.
CHAPTER 1
Surprisingly, after a while, the journey to Neptune started to lose its novelty. It took a long time, and after a while all the stars began to look just the same as all the other. Neptune, I recalled from my science class a few years before, was the furthest planet from the sun, save for the dwarf planet Pluto. It was named after a Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.
As I watched the stars swirl by, I tried to remember as much as I could. I knew it would be cold since it was so far from the sun and composed mostly of hard rock and ice. Supposedly, it had winds that whipped around at high speeds, stirring the cold air and forming dense, gray clouds.
Just as I was pondering what it would be like to live in such a desolate place, our journey ended rather abruptly. I saw the planet crest the sky in front of me when Eros put his hand over my eyes. Then there was nothing; I descended into unconsciousness.
When my eyes fluttered open again, I felt as if all the energy had been sapped from my body. My exhaustion made me feel like I was still dreaming, like everything around me was fuzzy and unreal. I blinked a few times, trying to banish the grogginess from my eyes, but it didn’t seem to be working. I was still part human, after all, and the interplanetary trip was not something that my body had been fully prepared for.
After a few more minutes of fuzziness and confusion, both my eyesight and my head began to clear. I was finally adjusting to the strange atmosphere; at least enough to where I could see and my breathing was no longer as labored.
As soon as my vision cleared enough for me to begin making out forms, I glanced around slowly, trying to make out where I was. I was in some sort of enormous cave-like room that could probably house up to a few hundred people. It was dark, but once my vision adjusted, it seemed to account for the darkness somehow. The walls and ceiling of the cave were a combination of ice and sections of rock. There were lit torches lining the walls, casting an eerie red glow along the sides of the otherwise blue and white cavern.
Only when I suddenly began moving through the cavern did I realize that Eros still had me in his arms. He was walking along, following the curve of one of the walls. I couldn’t tell whether or not he knew I was awake, but he was making no effort to ensure that I was comfortable in his grasp. I wiggled slightly, trying to shift into a better position.
If Eros felt my movements, he ignored them. I heard a sound and turned to see two people approaching from a hallway that broke off of the main cavern. Eros stopped at the entrance to the hall when he saw them and waited patiently for them to approach.
When Eros spoke, his voice held an air of crisp authority. “Valeska, Bizak. There you are. I’ve brought her.”
The woman (Valeska, I assumed) gave a squeal of delight and ushered Eros into a small, low room off the side of the hallway. Bizak shut the door behind us while Valeska lit the torches in the corners of the room. Eros lowered me down carefully, placing me on a table of smooth, cold stone. I laid there groggily, still not awake enough to form a complete sentence. I glanced down at the beautiful patterns in the granite-like stone. I traced my fingers over the small details.
“I can’t believe you managed it!” Valeska gasped, the amazement clear in her voice. She pushed a lock of fiery red hair over her shoulder and leaned in close to inspect my features. “I thought it would be impossible. How did you find her?”
Eros sighed. “It’s a long story. I’d prefer not to tell it just now.” He glanced down at him and leaned over the tables. He stroked the top of my head and said, “She’ll be like this for a few hours. It’s a protective state of half-sleep as her vampire half is brought to the forefront, since she won’t be able to survive here if her human half dominant.”
Bizak stepped toward the table next to Eros, tracing his eyes across my body. “She’s very beautiful,” he noted, speaking mostly to himself. “It’s strange, the way her features mingle. Both vampire and human. She really is a rarity.”
Eros turned to Bizak, narrowing his eyes. “That she is. Just, keep your head about you while you’re in here, would you?”
Bizak shrugged nonchalantly and Eros pursed his lips. He pulled his gaze from the other vampire and looked back down at me. From across the room, Valeska put her hands on her hip and shook her head. Her eyes shot coldly in Bizak’s direction.
“She’s just barely arrived and you’re already swooning over the girl? God, Bizak, have some restraint!” Valeska urged, a twinge of jealousy apparent in her tone. She pressed her lips together in a thin, uncomfortable line.
Eros laughed during that, a sardonic sound that emanated from the back of his throat. “I don’t think you have to worry all that much, Valeska. Bizak here’s forgotten whose daughter it is that’s lying here in front of him.”
Eros gave Bizak one last cold glance, then turned around and stepped swiftly from the room, leaving me in the questionable care of Valeska and Bizak. Bizak decided to stand guard at the doorway, while Valeska paced around eyeing me with intense interest. Not long after Eros left, the exhaustion began to overwhelm me again, and as interested as I was in my new surroundings, I slipped back into a fitful half-sleep and everything around me went fuzzy again. I could vaguely make out Valeska and Bizak’s muffled voices, but it was all white noise to me.
~~~
After Eros left us, he walked slowly through the corridors of the cavern tracing his hands across the cold, familiar walls. He was heading towards my father’s bedroom, anxious to relay the fact that he had brought me safely back to Neptune with him. When he had been sent on his important mission, he had been worried that he would fail, that he would disappoint his master, Vincent. But somehow, against all odds, he had found me, recovered me, and convinced me to return home with him.
Turning down one last corridor, he took a deep breath and stopped in front of the huge wooden door cut into the ice of the wall. He knocked three times and stood silently, waiting for a response from inside. He wasn’t sure whether or not one would come, as he wasn’t sure if Vincent had yet wakened from his restorative sleep.
After a few silent moments, a deep voice boomed from behind the door, “Enter.”
Eros grabbed the heavy brass handle on the door and pushed it open. He took a deliberate step into the room and closed the door behind him with the power of his mind. He glanced casua
lly around the room, a place he had been many times before. In the far corner of the room was a huge armchair sculpted of gray and red stone and polished to a sheen.
The armchair turned slowly. Vincent was sitting in the chair with a book open on his lap. He appeared to be strong and sure once again. The sleep he had had while Eros was gone must have worked. A smile broke on his stoic face and he closed the cover of the book. “You’re back!”
Eros nodded, serious despite his master’s casualness. He glanced up and down, taking a moment to inspect Vincent a bit further before he began his story. The master appeared to be in good health, clothed in a robe of rough fabric the color of the best Burgundian wine. Sensing Eros’ concern, he stood and walked across the room, sliding the book he had been reading back onto the shelf. “When did you arrive?”
“Just now,” Eros answered quickly, placing his hands behind his back as he watched Vincent walk back across the room. “I came straight here after I saw Bizak and Valeska.”
“And my daughter?” Vincent asked, turning to Eros with anticipation in his voice.
Eros inclined his head. “She is here. She is safe, but she’s in the midst of her transition.”
Vincent strode over and clapped Eros on the back, unable to contain his excitement at the news. He turned away again and ran a hand through his dark, wavy hair. “This is wonderful! I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me!”
Vincent walked back to his armchair and sat back down, leaning his elbows on his knees. ‘You know, it wasn’t by random chance that you were the one chosen to undertake this mission. I knew I needed someone skilled, someone I could trust. I needed someone she could trust.” Vincent glanced back up at Eros’ eyes. “She is well, then?”
“Yes,” Eros said, nodding. “But since she’s in the throes of her transition, in addition to the stress of her human body passing through Neptune’s atmosphere, she may be unconscious for a while yet. It shouldn’t be too much longer.”
“Where did you put her? With Valeska and Bizak?” Vincent asked, raising an eyebrow. “Is she protected?”
Eros replied, “Yes, I left her in their care. She’s in the antechamber off the Great Hall.”
Vincent nodded and clapped his hands together loudly, causing Eros to jump. “Wonderful! Now, I must find something to wear…” His voice trailed off as he glanced over to his expansive wardrobe.
As he was contemplating clothing, Vincent had another thought. He turned back to Eros and kindly told him, “Look at me, only thinking of myself. You must be exhausted. Your job is done here, Eros, and you did it well. Please, go get some rest. You deserve it.”
Eros nodded and backed quickly out of the room, concerned that if he lingered too long, Vincent would delay him with additional questions about me.
CHAPTER 2
I don’t know how long it took for me to open my eyes again, but when I finally came to with any semblance of lucidity, two bizarre-looking creatures with huge gray eyes were leaning over me with surprised expressions. The female, who had fiery red hair and a tight red dressed seemed to be the bolder of the two. She took a few steps toward me from the edge of the table as I struggled to sit up.
As she came closer, I got the distinct impression that she meant me no harm, but I couldn’t tell why. I looked her up and down and quickly realized that she reminded me of Mirta, with her tight dress and heavy, sensual makeup. When she turned to get a better look at me, her curly hair tumbled over her shoulders in waves. Her eyes were a brighter gray than Eros’ and her skin was so pale that it almost looked blue.
I managed to sit up shakily. Blinking a few times, I glanced over the woman, and then over toward her companion. He was not as overtly attractive as she was, but he also had his charms. Much like Eros, he was tall and looked as though he was incredibly strong. I could see the definition of his muscles when he moved, and his barrel-shaped chest rose heavily every time he took a breath. His face was less angular than Eros’, but it still had sharp lines. His hair was dark brown, nearly black in the torchlight. Like Valeska, his eyes were a lighter gray.
I pulled me knees up to my chest, hoping that one of them would tell me what I was doing here, why I was laid out like this on a table. I had vague memories, distant flashes of things that had happened, but I couldn’t tell how much of it I had dreamed. I frowned, wishing more than anything that Eros was there to tell me what was going on.
Carefully, the woman crossed the remaining space between us and asked, “How are you?”
I blinked at her a few times, trying to decide if I’d even heard her correctly. When I went to speak, my mouth was dry and raspy. “Eros…” was all I could eke out. I ran a hand through my messy, knotted hair and swallowed a few times, trying to relieve the parched feeling at the back of my throat.
“Don’t worry,” the beautiful woman told me kindly, placing her hands on the edge of the table. “He’s the one that brought you here. He should be back in just a little while.”
Narrowing my eyes as I inspected the room around me, I asked, “Where is he?”
Even though the people in the room with me didn’t seem to want to harm me, I was still uncomfortable being in an unknown place without anyone I knew. I wrapped my arms around my body, fixing my eyes on the door.
“He’s gone to talk to Vincent,” the woman said. When I still seemed uncomfortable, the handsome man by the door reiterated, “Honestly, you have nothing to fear. We’re here to watch over you until Eros returns.
I nodded, then let go of my legs. I swung them down off the table slowly and placed them on the floor. Pushing myself off the table I tied to stand. I was a little dizzy and wobbly, but the woman stood next to me to make sure I didn’t fall. I took a few deep breaths, steadying myself.
Once I felt somewhat stable, I hazarded a glance downward. I realized I was still barefoot and covered in dirt from my escape attempts the night before. Now that I was in enough light to actually see my appearance clearly, I felt ashamed of the state I was in. I placed my hands strategically over a few of the larger rips in my dress, and cringed at the thought of what my makeup must look like by now. It had all felt like some wild dream, yet here I was, in the flesh and still wearing my very destroyed dress that I’d worn to the concert.
“Are you okay?” The man asked, taking a step toward me, “You look dizzy.”
The woman turned to me, “How does your head feel? Still heavy and fuzzy?”
I nodded, but before I could offer a full answer, the door opened and an eccentric-looking man strode in. “She’s fine. This is a normal reaction.”
I glanced over to him, drawing my eyes across his form, including the heavy red cape trailing behind him. He seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place the feeling. He took a few more steps in and his eyes met mine. Immediately, I knew who he was. He was the man from my childhood dream. He was the man that haunted my sleep. And there was no denying he was also my father.
My eyes widened at the realization, and we looked each other over, neither of us able to find the right words to say. He was well-dressed under the heavy cape he wore, and gold and silver rings sparkled on nearly all of his fingers. His hair was long and black as night, neatly pulled back away from his face. His skin, like all of his compatriots, was pale and smooth. As much as I hated to admit it, I understood why my mother had fallen for him. He seemed not to have aged since then. He was still young and strong as he gazed at me with a strange expression.
Nearly twenty years before, that same face had seduced my mother and brought me into the world. I looked at him with a mixture of awe and disgust, and a combination of love and hate. I had wanted to know him for so long, but I still wasn’t sure if I was ready. I was on another planet, and my father whose presence I’d longed for my entire life, was anything but human.
He took a few steps towards me and suddenly threw out his arms. “My daughter!” He exclaimed, a smile breaking across his handsome face. He beckoned me towards him, but I remained unsure. Pulling his arms in just a
little, he insisted, “Come on. Give your father a hug.”
I narrowed my eyes and took a deep breath. I took a few steps forward, slowly and deliberately. He took a quick step forward to meet me in the middle. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me against him. He sighed and looked over my face as he mused, “My daughter. Here of all places. I thought I would never see the day. We are one and the same, you and I.”
I didn’t reply to his words, but I continued to hug him. I closed my eyes, sinking into the hug, finally realizing that after all the years I had waited, my father’s arms were around me. He had sent a mission across the stars to find me. Perhaps that made up for the years we had lost.
When my father finally broke from our embrace, he gazed down at me with pride in his deep purple-gray eyes. “You look quite a bit like me, you know.”
It was a strange sensation, listening to my father’s voice. It was low and smooth, and sounded much like I’d always imagined it would be. I remained silent as he continued to smile down at me. “It’s not just me, of course. You have quite a bit of your mother’s beauty, too.”