Chapter 8: Deep Underground

"You are going to get hungry real soon." He said, standing up. "You must wait here for me. I'll go out and fetch someone for you to feed on."

My eyes peeled open in astonishment. Did he just say he wanted to leave me all alone in that creepy chamber?

"What? You can't leave me here." I protested.

"Well, I can't take you along with me either. It's extremely dangerous."

"I don't care," I hissed. He sucked in a deep breath and took some steps away from me.

His nose flared in annoyance and I knew that I had pissed him off again. Still, I didn't care. I wouldn't stay back alone.

"You can be mad for all I care. I won't be left alone in this place with no idea of when you'll return."

"What do you want me to do then? Take you along?"

"Well, that seems like a better idea," I reiterated.

"Fine. You have two options. Stay here where you'll be safe and wait until I return or come with me to Babel, an underground city infested with vampires, and risk being detected and killed by the others. Is that what you want?"

I inhaled sharply and weighed my options. Sure, a city full of vampires didn't sound promising but he could be exaggerating to stop me from going. If I followed him, he would be sure to protect me from danger, I hoped. But if I stayed by myself in this place, I felt like I'd go crazy. I feared that he would simply abandon me there. And even if he had the intention to return, what if something were to happen to him? Would I die here from hunger and thirst, all alone in the darkness of this chamber?

"You can't leave me here after everything I've gone through. I'll go with you. And I won't take no for an answer." I spoke confidently, without a hint of fear in my voice, even though I was terrified inside.

He stood up taller and nodded in agreement. I couldn't tell what was going through his mind but his eyes were focused on me and it seemed like he was lost in thought. I could sense that something was weighing heavy on him. Perhaps he felt remorseful. I shifted uncomfortably and tried to ignore his stares but they were like needles, pricking my skin and making me really uncomfortable.

"You'll have to stay hidden. Do not forget that," he warned.

I had put on a brave face, but my insides twisted with fear. I was afraid that I wouldn't know what to do. This was all new to me. I hadn't quite gotten used to the idea that I was a vampire now and my whole life had changed. However, I knew that I couldn't let Viktor leave me by myself. I was too afraid to stay on my own but I couldn't admit that to him.

"Come," he beckoned, leading me to a big, old, magnificent door that was hidden behind a curtain on the left of the chamber. The heavy-looking door was made of solid oak and carved with ancient symbols.

He took one of the torches and handed it to me. He explained that he could see in the dark but that it might take some time for my eyes to adjust. I didn't give it much thought as he pushed the door open and led me to a corridor with peculiar, intricate symbols adorning its walls. It smelled of blood and for some reason, it made my nostrils flare.

***

We walked for a while, the passageway seeming unending. The walls were lofty and covered in symbols. I walked close to Viktor, the blood-stained symbols making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I wasn't sure what they meant but I had a hunch that they weren't good. There was a smell of excrement and death, of things long-dead and long-forgotten. The stench of mould and decay. I tried not to breathe through my nose. From the silence that filled the passageway, I could tell that we were alone. The tunnels were undoubtedly creepy but there were no threats anywhere near. Viktor was exaggerating after all.

I wanted to say something bitter to him, but the entire time, Viktor said nothing. He just continued walking straight ahead, slow and steady, his beautiful and stupid back turned to me until we got to the end of the tunnel, where we came out into what looked like a series of natural caves. The air here was stale but strangely clean; the taste of water carried on it. The caves were enormous, their ceilings high and the walls dotted with stalactites and encrusted with a fine sheet of white and grey calcite crystals.

"Where is this place?" I asked, not failing to recognize the eerie feeling. He ignored me and simply looked around the place as if expecting someone to jump on us any second.

"From now on you must be completely silent," he warned in a husky, aggressive tone that bothered me. "This is an extremely dangerous place, Lucy. You shouldn't have come," he said as if regretting his actions.

I really thought that we had gone past that but he clearly had not been able to accept that I had my own choices and decisions and I had every right to make them. Did he feel I was too inept to make my own decisions and be able to stand on my own two feet? Was he afraid I would fail without his guidance in mere minutes?

"You have no right to tell me what to do, especially not after… It doesn't matter," I stopped myself from blurting out something awful. He heaved a sigh as if frustrated at me.

But I should be the frustrated one. Just a few hours ago, I was turned into a blood-sucking monster and told that I would never see the light of day again. And yet I was there, determined to make the best out of my situation, even if that meant risking being captured or slain by strange creatures. Everything happened so fast that I hadn't had time to process it all yet, but in my few moments of contemplation, I realised my life had taken a dramatic turn in an unreasonably short amount of time.

The day before, I was just a girl who simply dreamt of getting fucked by her husband. My thoughts were consumed with the thought of him all day long. I imagined him touching me and bringing me to orgasm over and over again. When he eventually fucked me, it felt like happiness was finally within reach. I remembered Viktor's big cock, banging me and bringing me to multiple orgasms. I wished that I could savour the feeling of such pleasure, but my happiness was over too quickly. I wanted to snuggle afterwards and bask in the afterglow of our lovemaking but, instead, I had... this.

Viktor's groan reminded me that he was still there and we were in this strange place which felt like death. "Be careful and stay close," he chided in an unfriendly, harsh tone that really pissed me off, and began walking down a path.

"Well, I won't move an inch until you talk nicely to me," I yelled. The acoustic of the cavern amplified each sound, making my voice audibly louder. Viktor hurried towards me and pushed me to the wall, his hand pressing my mouth tightly.

"Don't yell unless you want to get yourself fucking killed," he warned through clenched teeth.

I swallowed and stared deep into his eyes. Quickly, as if burned by my skin, he took some steps backwards and began walking down the road.

I followed behind him, equally afraid of being caught and of Viktor being rough with me again. As we walked down the road, the cold, unfeeling Viktor which I met the first day at the manor began returning. It made my blood curdle and, for a moment, I wished that he would become the man who snapped the head of his maid for me in an instant without caring about the consequences.

We walked for a while before I perceived... movement, a shadow somewhere ahead of us. I blinked twice in disbelief, convinced my mind was playing tricks on me. But then I saw the bald head of a hunched vampire emerging from an adjacent tunnel. It caught me off guard and I squealed. Viktor was swift. In the blink of an eye, Viktor swooped me into the shadows of an alcove, muffling my scream with one hand as he pressed me against the wall with the other. The heat of his body on mine was all too familiar.

Unfortunately, it was too late. We had alerted the vampire. Its long, pointy ears twitched and its eyes scoured the tunnel with keen precision. I felt my heart skip a beat as I watched the ominous silhouette start to sniff at the air, searching for us. Unlike Viktor, the creature was unsightly, almost revolting. Its bald head was covered in ugly scabs and warts. Its shoulders were drooping and its body was hunched in a primitive way. Its fangs were long and protruding and its eyes cold, almost expressionless. The stench of death and rot emanating from the creature was almost unbearable.

I stared wide eyed at the vampire's shadow, watching it and hoping that it wouldn't see us. I felt my breathing becoming laboured, my heart pounding wildly in my ribcage. The shadow was approaching our hiding place. Viktor realised I was panicking, so he moved his body closer to mine. It might not have been his intention, but his forearm brushed against my tits, making my nipples hard, his hand placed in a way that was almost cupping my left breast. His warm breath was dampening my neck and my fear turned into arousal. His smell was intoxicating, and I could see part of his chiselled torso through his shirt. Not wanting to feel this way, I tried to wiggle away, but Viktor's grip tightened around me, holding me in place. I moved my legs slightly, making some friction. I shouldn't have done that, because soon I felt Viktor's shaft growing and pressing against my inner thighs. His cock was hard and pulsing against my body; I could feel it through his trousers.

Unexpectedly, Viktor looked me straight in the eyes and his hand slid down slowly, freeing my mouth. Viktor licked his tasty lips, wetting them, and I shook remembering those very same lips sucking my clit. I shut my eyes, expecting him to kiss me.