by Pet TorreS
Several melodies paraded through our eardrums until the hour came and we had to go to bed.
Then everyone was sleeping in their bedrooms.
I was the only exception. I stayed in the great hall for a few moments.
Silence reigned in that dark place.
I walked toward the balcony of the castle. I saw nothing in that darkness but an uncontrolled wind. Soon I closed my eyes to feel it with more spirit on my face.
I opened my eyes when I felt a cold breath blow into my ear and then my heart ran in a hurry at his unmistakable presence.
Eros was behind me.
In the first moment, I had no reaction as I kept my gaze straight ahead.
“You’re still awake?”
I recognized his voice, and then I turned to face him.
“I thought ...”
“This could be Eros,” he completed.
Bizak looked at my face and noticed my disappointment by not being who I expected.
Actually, I went to the balcony in the hope Eros would appear and I could reveal my love for him. We could be alone, just he and I.
I lowered my chin being disappointed at not being true when I felt the presence of Eros there, behind me, breathing into my ear. All I wanted at that moment was to be with him.
“Everyone is asleep ... Even ... Eros,” Bizak said still looking at me.
“I think we should do the same,” I said, trying to escape.
But I was prevented from moving forward when I felt his cold hand clutching my arm.
“If Eros was here you wouldn’t be in a hurry to sleep,” he said and released my arm.
“I do not understand. Why do you rely on Eros and suspect me?” he asked.
“I’ve known Eros the longest,” I responded.
“Eros knows perfectly how to dazzle people,” he whispered.
“What do you have against him?”
“Me?” He put his hands on his head and took two steps forward, going against the wall. “Nothing against ...just I see he is featured in everything he does. Everyone notices him!”
He raised his arms up into the air.
I approached the wall, remaining close to Bizak. Our conversation became interesting. After all, it was all about Eros. I longed to know more about him.
We stared into the darkness, as we remained silent for a time. Both had different thoughts. Then, I felt his hand on top of my head. It was sliding through my hair with the greatest of care.
“He'll make you suffer ...” he said, looking at my expression without any reaction on his part.
His assertion challenged my expectations about what Valeska made clear to me hours before. I was again unsure in relation to the feelings of Eros.
Bizak turned into a snake and it was dragging on the floor of the balcony. Its swift movements made it disappear immediately. I stayed there for some time, hoping Eros would wake up and come to me.
Chapter 14
I spent my last few hours of rest in despair. My doubts and concerns chased away my sleep.
I was lying on my back, watching the ceiling of my bedroom with precision, where I deposited several images of Eros, several scenes imagined by me.
In my imagination Eros corresponded all I felt for him. How easy it was to love that way.
***
I got up the next morning. My window curtains were open. I changed my clothes and I was in my long, wine -colored dress.
I walked through the castle. Everyone was sleeping.
I decided to take a ride in the vicinity of my father’s dwelling. The overcast sky punished my vision. I walked to the edge of the lake. It was one of my favorite places, since everything there was so adventitious. I looked at the lake’s water. I could no more see my reflection on it and at that moment I realized I was no longer human.
I was condemned for all eternity to never again be able to see my own image. I did not exist any longer...
I moved away from the lake as I was anxious and then I walked toward the forest of dry trees. They were burned by the snow. The landscape consisted of dark colors. I was standing on a rock and I looked up at the immense sky.
Seconds later, my vision had detected a black figure coming down from the heights. It was so fast I had no time to follow its movements ... This same thing was already at my side. It fell on its feet upon the rock. Our eyes met and there was a silence.
“You’re awake so early!” A male voice said, breaking the silence between us.
“I could not sleep last night,” I said retracted as if he could know the reason I could not close my eyes last night.
“What disturbed your sleep?” he asked looking at the lifeless trees.
His question sounded unimportant to him. It was a way to continue our conversation.
“Oh…I...in fact ... I went to bed thinking about how ...”
I looked at his face and he stared at me waiting for me to finish my sentence.
I became dumb. The courage fled from my heart.
“I would talk to ... you.”
I kept my head down as it was difficult trying to declare my love for him.
“What's so important that you have talk to me about? To the point it has made you restless.”
He proved to be compassionate.
“The love I feel ...for you ...”
I felt a strange reaction in my body as I said those words. It was kind of relief mixed with despair.
“So that's what you wanted to tell me?” he asked looking to his left. His indifference shattered all my expectations with regard to his feelings.
“I already knew ...” He acted with more coolness.
“Did you know all this time?” I asked as I stared at him. However, he continued looking in the other direction.
“I always knew ... from when we were on Earth,” he confessed to me.
“And why have you never told me anything?” I asked, crushed.
“I thought it was not necessary for you to know I was aware of it,” he explained.
“It would have made things easier ...I would not have lost so many nights of sleep trying to find a way to tell you this,” I revealed.
“It would have been worse.” His voice was insensitive.
I frowned at him as I was confused.
“You would not only lose your sleep at nights ... but also would have lost your taste for life!” His voice sounded aggressive.
“What do you mean?” I asked and negativity came over me.
“I cannot return what you feel for me.” His voice was filled with anguish.
I sensed it hurt him to say those things. He did not want to see me suffer. So he did not let it show that he knew everything. He, being impartial, would have been easier for him than trying to convince me to give up that platonic love.
“Why?” I demanded.
Things were not clear to me yet. What was his objection?
“Only humans are attracted to me,” he answered coldly.
“I was human ...” I whispered unhappily.
“Now you aren't any longer,” he replied impatiently. “You have to forget me!”
All I saw in that moment was Eros as he made a giant leap and his body of vampire -man turned into an owl. Then it flew into the sky and disappeared rapidly.
I lowered and crossed my arms over my chest as I was clinging to my despair and my pain.
What I feared had just happened.
I was not in him as he was in me.
Chapter 15
I arrived at my father's room without his consent. I went in the direction of his bedroom door. I was furious. My father was surprised at my presence, and then he rose from his chair in a hurry.
He knew I was not well.
I stopped walking in front of him, in a position to defy him.
“What happened?” he put his hand on his chin.
“You told me I could have it all!” I mocked him.
He wrinkled his nose.
“Everything I wanted would be in my
hands!” My voice became elevated.
“Do you doubt it?” He asked and took his hand away from his chin.
“Then why can’t I have ‘the love of Eros’?” My voice sounded angry at this moment.
“You are angry because of this!” He smiled at it all.
“You never gave yourself the luxury of feeling it! You’re a monster!” I shouted at him.
“Valkyrie, love is the compassion of mortals...We do not need it,” he confessed and sat back on his armchair looking quite annoyed.
“You shouldn’t have done this to me!” I shook my head. “You commanded Eros to come after me.” I lowered my head, crying.
“You ruined my life ... now I'm a monster!” I said between my teeth.
“I had no choice. You're my daughter,” he responded.
“Now I am condemned to this hell!”
I screamed and shook my head from side to side in the manner of denial, as I made my way in the direction of the door to step out. My father stopped me, closing the door quickly, using only his thought’s force. I stopped walking and turned my body to face him. I saw him sitting waiting for me to be calm. I held back my tears. I did not want to cry in front of him.
“That’s how you repay your father?” He asked, rose from his chair, walked to his open window and looked up at the cloudy sky.
“I gave you immortality!”
“And you took my happiness!” I screamed again.
This made me release all my anger at him.
“Is your happiness found in a trivial love for a vampire?” He asked sarcastically.
“I lost my mother ...”
“It's not her who you're thinking about now!” He affirmed to emphasize my bitterness.
He looked at me. “You're too young, you'll have many passions,” he confessed.
He turned back and snapped his fingers, making the door open.
“Now go!”
His voice sounded like a vampire master and not like my father's voice.
“One day you will thank me for everything I have done for you,” he said, still keeping his back to me.
I crossed the passage without saying anything. My silence was the correct attitude on my part.
Chapter 16
Staying at the castle at that time, it was something irrelevant to me. My desire was to fade away and disappear forever from that place and never see anyone, not even Eros.
My life had lost purpose from the moment Eros told me those things, telling me to forget him, as if that were possible. The only way I found to destroy that love that was killing me was to leave. I had to leave to exist.
I walked against the lake. All my despair I deposited there, staring at it. That dark and still water...my life looked exactly like it.
A strong wind touched my pale face. My hair followed its steps, wildly. I felt like I was anesthetized. I did not pay attention to what was happening around me.
My first tears of blood rolled down my face and I didn't feel them.
I took several steps forward to dip my feet into the lake water, where I moved on, walking slowly. My body was consumed unhurriedly by the dark water of the lake. It came up to my waist, but I continued walking and it covered my face ... my head…
Afterward I disappeared completely.
Hours passed by and I did not react in the depths of the lake. I wanted it to make me close my eyes forever.
A huge snake, seven feet long, came creeping around the lake, entered the water and went to the bottom, moving with agility. It came against my loose body, as I was swaying from one side to the other. The serpent entwined its body around mine and took me back to the edge of the lake where I was dragged back up to the surface. The snake transformed from a crawling animal and took the form of a vampire.
Bizak took me in his arms. I stood with my head down, as I was unconscious.
My loose arms shook with his steps. He could move with such speed. Although he was a vampire, he preferred to walk without haste and keep me in his arms for more time, enjoying my splendid face. Our clothes were soaked with water. Pasted to our bodies, my dress in ivory was stained. The material had darkened due to the lake water.
Bizak took me back to the castle. The dry trees swayed from side to side and among them was an owl which was watching all our movements.
It watched Bizak walking ahead as he carried my body.
The owl flew up in the other direction, against the cloudy sky and disappeared into a gray smoke that appeared in the air.
Chapter 17
Bizak took me straight to my bedroom where I was placed under the care of Valeska. She changed my clothes and put me into my bed to rest. I slept less than I was expected to.
When I opened my eyes, I could see her sitting at my side, looking at me. At a glance I had a vision of my mother as if she were there beside me.
“Mom!” I murmured and looked up at Valeska.
“It's me....Valeska,” she said and approached me, put her hand on my head and stroked my hair affectionately. “How are you?”
“...Well...” I responded with difficulty.
“Bizak took you out of the lake,” she said.
“Was he there?” I asked and sat on my bed.
“Yes.” She looked at me. “What did you want to do? Die?”
I did not answer her question. I put down my face as I realized everything had gone wrong.
“You cannot die ...You are ‘immortal’!” She asserted.
“There must be a way...” I declared, staring at her face.
“Why do you want to die?” she asked.
“My life makes no sense ...” I confessed.
“You're like this because of him?” She faced my unhappy demeanor. “Did you talk to him?”
“Yes, it was even worse than I thought,” I said.
“What did you tell to him?”
“All I feel for him.”
“What did he say to you?” She asked, curious.
“He told me I must forget him,” I responded and my eyes met the ground.
“So you do it!” she said, rose from my bed and walked across my room.
“He does not deserve your love. He does not deserve anyone's love,” she declared coldly.
“Why do you say that? You encouraged me to go talk to him...”
I was confused at the change of Valeska’s behavior, with her assumptions involving Eros. The day before, she seemed to want to join Eros and me.
“I thought it would be different with you...” she finally said.
“Different! What?” I asked, perplexed.
“He would be attracted to you, even though you are a vampire.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”
“I didn’t want to discourage you,” she sat on my bed again and held my hands. “You've fallen in love with him. I had no courage to tell you all that I knew.”
“Why are only humans attracted to him?” I asked in agony.
“Didn’t you ask him this?"
“I had no chance, he flew away.”
“I also don’t know, he never said why.”
“I should have declared my love for him when I was human. Maybe everything would be different now,” I murmured.
“Or not,” she challenged. “You don’t know for sure if he was attracted to you when you were still human.”
“You’re right. If I was human I would not have the assurance of his love,” I agreed.
Chapter 18
We shared dinner without the presence of Eros. It was the first time that his chair was empty after my arrival at that castle.
Inside me, I knew why he didn’t appear at dinner. He didn’t want to face me. Probably Eros thought I was being a
burden in his life. Those thoughts made me feel worse. I had lost not only his love but his friendship.
The zeal he had for me when we were on Earth. All his approaches had always been very important in my life.
Perhaps I wouldn't have them any longer.
&nbs
p; Chapter 19
Vincent requested my presence in the main room of his castle. When I arrived, my eyes widened in surprise in the direction of the wild animals that were in his company.
My father was sitting on his armchair and on his lap was a white tiger. Between his feet was a huge snake wrapped around them and on his right shoulder was an owl.
Well, the snake I knew it was Bizak. The owl also, it was the unmistakable Eros. But the white tiger, which was white in name only, because all the wild animals in the castle were as dark as night, who was it?
They took a human form, so I approached my father.
Valeska was the white tiger.
It was as I had imagined.
The three servants of my father remained standing at his side.
“You have called for me?” I said.
“Yes!” my father said. “Do you like my collection of wild animals?”
“That's why you called for me?”
“Don't you like what you see?” He shook his hand.
“Can you get straight to the point?”
“I want to see what you can become.”
“How can I do this?” I asked.