Game of Vampires: A Reverse Harem Serial (Part Three) Read online

  GAME OF VAMPIRES

  A Reverse Harem Serial

  Part Three

  ROSETTE BOLTER

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  CHAPTER ONE

  Something was approaching.

  Something fearful. Something damaging.

  Her two friends huddled on their knees, twitching and squirming and biting their teeth. The sharpness of Moldark’s steel cutting through the air between them. As Theresa locked eyes with the creature she could see he meant everything implied with his sweeping gestures. It didn’t matter what color his eyes were. There was a darkness behind them. A derangement. Almost as though he was being forced into this corner. Forced to make her choose.

  Samuel…

  Or Maxine.

  As if one friend’s life could mean more than the other.

  Theresa approached Moldark and stood close to him, trying to portray fearlessness. If he wanted her in such an intimate way – if he wanted her consensually – she wondered how he thought this action could be carried out. That she would somehow manage to forgive him. To accept the cruel deed.

  Theresa realized then that he was underestimating her.

  And that was his weakness.

  “That horse behind you,” Theresa said in a soft voice. “The grey stallion. It doesn’t belong to you.”

  Moldark blinked a few times, unsure how to respond.

  “Bring it to me,” Theresa said.

  “Yes, I know I acquired it –” Moldark began.

  “I said bring it to me.”

  Moldark’s expression twisted further. He turned and grasped the horse by its reins.

  Theresa intercepted it. She brought it further a little before Moldark grabbed her arm.

  “What is the meaning behind –?”

  “A private word,” Theresa asserted. “Before you deal with them.”

  Before he could reply she linked arms with him and brought them a few steps away.

  “Executing my friends only serves to satisfy some base satisfaction with your followers,” Theresa said. “But you’re missing the amount of damage you’re doing to me if you were to carry that through.”

  “And who are you that I should respect?” Moldark snapped.

  “If you have no desire to respect me, then you should have no desire to court me either. I don’t pretend to know why you have interest in me, now you know I’m not of the royal blood. But there is interest there. And if there’s interest there might as well be respect. To … answer your question there…”

  “I’ve already compromised enough for you,” Moldark stated. “I won’t allow some servant girl to offer me instruction.”

  “My name is Theresa, and I’m asking for your help. You want my help with something, don’t you? You want me on your side tonight, right? I’m telling you now, if you kill one more person in this village, then I will not do a thing you ask. You’ll have to kill me as well.”

  Theresa calmly turned away from him and lowered herself to her knees. Her eyes leveled with Maxine and Samuel’s. Each of them prepared. Each of them ready. She’d done all she could.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Silence fell around the camp. Only the little things could be heard. The whistling of bushes in the wind. Moldark’s boots twisting on the ground. The atmosphere of the nearby town.

  Theresa continued staring ahead as Moldark’s figure blocked the space between her and the friends. “Both of you. On the horse. Now.”

  Theresa’s heart filled with joy.

  Samuel got onto the stallion first, followed by Maxine assisted by Moldark.

  “Return this to the harem,” Moldark said. “Tell whoever is there that I will be returning myself at the midnight hour. There’ll be no more killing until then.”

  A stir of confusion rose up within the ranks of Moldark’s men as the stallion leapt away from them and out of the village on the way back to the main road.

  Moldark planted the sword across his back.

  “You are to return to camp outside the Warlock’s city,” Moldark announced. “We’ve done enough damage here. The message has been sent. I will meet with our reinforcements the west and determine the best course of action for us. Now. Go.”

  A few of his minions moved in for quiet words with the vampire ruler, while the rest of the flurry immediately complied with his orders.

  Theresa waited until it was just Moldark and her remaining of the horde.

  All around her the cries of the wounded villagers could now be heard in full force. The air was full of smoke and flames. The grass with bodies and blood.

  Theresa coughed into her fist.

  “You have to send help for the rest of them,” she said, approaching Moldark.

  “Your friends will take care of that no doubt.”

  Theresa lowered her eyes. “I don’t suppose you’ll let me go as well. Now that you have me.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “Why would I want to be around you?”

  “Because I’m just a warmongering barbarian, right?” Moldark replied. “And you’re just a pathetic servant girl?”

  “Are you saying there’s more to you?”

  Moldark turned. “Walk with me.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  They did not have far to go. Moldark led them out of the village and onto the footpath which crept along the edges of a forest. They followed the trail along for a bit until they’d gone down a hill in the road and the lights and places around them had fallen out of sight.

  He motioned for her to stop, taking a few steps forward himself. He peered around in all directions. Theresa wasn’t sure what to make of it.

  “If we’re going somewhere, we could have borrowed one of your men’s horses,” Theresa said. “Our feet are only going to take us so far.”

  Moldark shook his head. “I just wanted to make sure we weren’t being followed. Fane’s spies are everywhere.”

  Then he got down one knee. “Put your arms around my neck.”

  “Oh no,” Theresa said. “No, no, no, no –”

  “Do it. Please.”

  Theresa shook her head. “I’m fine with walking, thank you.”

  Moldark glanced back at her. “So you’re a scaredy-boots after all.”

  She frowned. He laughed.

  “Fine,” she exhaled.

  Theresa bent her knees and placed her lower arms around the vampire’s neck. He pulled them forward sharply, forcing her across his back. He made sure they were tightly attached. Then said, “Whatever you do, don’t let go.”

  “Are you going to –”

  Before she could finish her question, Moldark sprang thirty feet into the air, leaping into the forest’s trees.

  Alarmed, Theresa’s gaze swung around in confusion as the vampire navigated the upper branches using his claws as propellers. They began at intense speed and it only increased as time passed. Theresa’s arms strained against Moldark’s neck, but her grip didn’t falter. She closed her eyes and planted her face into his back, afraid to see any more in the chance it would break her.

  After what felt like an eternity had passed, Moldark made a speedy descent from their skyline travels and hit the ground with a thump. He pulled Theresa’s arms apart and brought her around in front of him, her feet spinning on the soil.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Theresa staggered away from him.

  She lurched over as though about to vomit, the nausea rising in her lungs.

  I
t was too much.

  To take on. To absorb.

  To acknowledge.

  She turned and looked up to Moldark’s towering presence as he moved close to her and she felt an impulse to reach out and touch him again.

  “Too fast?”

  Theresa breathed in sharply. Kept her sickness to herself.

  The legs straightened and her shoulders went back.

  “You know how fast it was,” she muttered walking past him.

  There was an estate of some kind facing away from the forest. Iron gates and green colored walls with concrete structures waiting on the other side of them.

  “Where is this?” Theresa asked.

  “You wanted to know if there was more to me,” Moldark said walking beside her. “I’m going to show you there is.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  There was a plaque mounted into the wall beside the gates that had vines and moss growing over it. Moldark cut them away with his sword and used a rag from his pocket to wipe it clean, revealing the letters beneath it.

  “New-Haven Plantation,” Theresa read aloud. She took a step back. “What is this place?”

  “It was just another granary to begin with,” Moldark said. “There was plenty of farmland around that it was in charge of. The family who lived here was well off but they also worked hard for it.”

  “Were you part of that family?”

  Moldark looked at her but didn’t answer. He turned away from the wall and pulled the gates open. “After you.”

  Theresa followed him around and walked through the gates into the plantation. Even in this light she could see the grass was overgrown and some of it was brown. The air was damp and insects buzzed around.

  “Come on,” Moldark said walking past her. “This won’t take long.”

  They continued up to the main building, climbing the steps and then walking around the side of it along the platform. They went around till they were on the other side of the building, overlooking the rest of the grounds.

  Moldark stopped. Put his elbows on the railing.

  “They were a distinguished family. But they weren’t of noble heritage. They were commoners, like you. A father. A mother. Two sons and two daughters. The plantation was part of Lord Fane’s province, but their shipments went all over the land. It was his duty to protect it.”

  Although she felt she should say something in response, Theresa couldn’t manage any words. She was taken in by Moldark. Taken by his story. This place had a feel about it, one she couldn’t easily describe. It was…

  It was almost like the world outside these walls could be anything. Truth or lies. Reality or illusion. But inside the walls, at the heart of the plantation, there was something that did not deceive. Something incapable of manipulation. A truth higher than truth itself.

  Moldark moved by her and they crossed along to the steps leading back out to the grassland.

  “They found it somewhere over there,” Moldark said, pointing. “Right in the middle of this place. Who knows how they figured out what they had. But eventually, word passed…”

  He walked towards the spot slowly.

  Moldark stopped, crouched down. Theresa couldn’t see anything at his feet.

  “I was up there, in the trees when it happened,” Moldark said, pointing. “We were both young then, her and I. It was her brother who found it. A tall black stalk. The crimson petals. Purple centre. The flower was a curse.”

  “Is this before you were afflicted?”

  Moldark nodded. He stepped away from her again and made his way across the grass.

  An open dome shaped structure came into view. They walked through the opening into the blackened area and Moldark stayed in the centre while Theresa walked over to the other side. She looked out across the landscape before them.

  “About a week later I was taking vows with the daughter here,” Moldark said. “Hadn’t given the flower much thought. If only we’d known the destruction it would bring. But alas, there were a few hours on that day that were the greatest hours of my life. I held her here. She was wearing the most beautiful dress. And we danced…”

  He slumped over to the floor.

  Theresa turned. Went to approach him but was afraid to.

  “Lord Fane and his men arrived halfway into the wedding,” Moldark said. “He had a man with him. A man with green eyes and yellow hair. Dressed all in black. I knew there was something not right with him the moment I laid eyes.”

  “Oh no,” Theresa whispered. “Not…”

  “It was the evil lord of the north. The vampire, currently going as Harland. There wasn’t much reason to it. He just started killing people. As quick and bloody as you would imagine. My bride, she perished along with the rest of her family…”

  “And what of you?”

  “I was a coward. I didn’t fight like some of them did. I ran and escaped with my life.”

  Theresa shook her head. “You must hate him.”

  “For a long time,” Moldark said. “And then I became him. And I murdered brides and grooms and families just like he did.”

  “So then,” Theresa said defiantly. “You’re a monster.”

  “Perhaps,” Moldark said. He got up and took a few steps past her into the shadows of the dome. Then he got down on his knees again and uncovered a trapdoor. “Or perhaps you shall redeem me.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Green light glowed from opening now its door had been pulled back. Moldark was already on the ladder lowering himself into the light, as Theresa approached. She bent down trying to see where the light was coming from. But there was no one place.

  “Where does this go to?” she asked Moldark.

  “One of the Warlock’s many secrets,” he answered. “Soon you will finally know the truth.”

  “About what?”

  Moldark stopped his descent. “I’m about to show you. Please. Don’t be afraid.”

  Theresa turned her nose up. She wasn’t afraid. She just wanted to know whether his truth was something she could learn without going underground.

  Still, there was no arguing. She climbed down the ladder just as he had and landed at the bottom of the shaft with a spring in her step.

  Moldark was standing against the wall opposite, a large green curtain hanging over the entrance to the next room. “Are you ready?”

  Theresa snorted. She walked past him and pushed the curtain back, the green light spilling all over her skin.

  The room was small and circular. In the centre of it was a round platform elevated a few feet off the ground. Within it a powerfully bright beam of electricity shot up directly into the roof.

  And there was nothing else.

  No other doors or entrances leading out.

  Just this.

  Moldark brushed past her towards it. He put his hands to a lever situated in front of the platform and pulled it to the right. The light changed from green to blue as the lever returned to its upright position.

  “Do you want to tell me what this is?” Theresa asked.

  “It’s how Fane gets around the land,” Moldark explained. “No one else knows about it that I’m aware of. Not Harland. Not the Princess. They all presume he just teleports himself around, but alas there are limits, even to his powers.”

  He pulled the lever right again and the light turned orange and gold.

  Theresa leaned over and saw a dial on the floor beside the lever. It read: Southern Kingdom.

  “That’s where you live,” Theresa said.

  “Would you like to see it?”

  She looked up at him. “What do you mean ‘see’?”

  “If we go up to the platform now, we’ll be there in seconds.”

  “You’ve done this before?”

  “No, I waited till I had a live subject who was willing to have it tested out on her.”

  Theresa blinked.

  Moldark shook his head. “Here. We’ll hold hands.”

  “Um… I don’t know…”

  “Afraid?�
�

  She exhaled. “You know that’s not going to work every time.”

  “It doesn’t have to work every time,” Moldark whispered. “Only when I need it to.”

  She allowed him to take her hand.

  They both nodded. And walked into the light.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The teleportation was seamless. Almost the very moment her body crossed into the orange and gold beam, Theresa found herself walking down the other side of the platform as if nothing had happened. She let go of Moldark’s hand and whirled around, wondering whether they were in the same room or not. Then she noticed there was no lever or dial in front of this platform.

  “We’re here,” Moldark said.

  “I don’t believe it.”

  “This way…”

  He walked round to the archway leading out of the room, pushing back an orange curtain to gain admittance. Theresa double-taked as she walked underneath the curtain. She was sure it was green before…

  They climbed up the ladder and Moldark pushed the trapdoor up once they’d reached the top. Moldark helped her to her feet and lowered the trapdoor, replacing it with a small carpet to conceal it. Theresa walked round the corner to find herself in what appeared to be an armoury store, closed up for the night. She moved forward a few steps around the counter, Moldark’s presence emerging from behind. She turned to him. “I’ve been here before.”

  “What?”

  “Not here but… When I was at the Warlock’s keep. I found a trapdoor in his kitchen that lead out to some kind of underground maze. I didn’t see any portals or anything though…”

  “The keep’s underground actually sees a bit of traffic,” Moldark said. “He used to have a portal down there but later moved it underneath the harem.”

  “How many portals are there?”

  “About a dozen or so. I’m sure he could build more if he needed to.”

  “And no one ever finds them?”

  “You wouldn’t last long with a secret like that.”