Begin
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
"Well...so far so good." Shakes said quietly as we got within a couple dozen feet of the first gate.
The gate was guarded by two menacing looking stallions that towered nearly twice as tall as me and Shakes. Each one armed with a deadly looking sharp spear in their hoof, but these were different than the ones on the other two we had seen; these were pure black from handle to blade. In addition to their different looking spears, their armor also differed in size.
We tried to keep a steady pace, despite their intimidating stature and weapons, and pulled it off for the most part. I had little trouble putting on a stoic face, but I had a hard time holding it under one of the guards piercing gaze. Shakes seemed to have a problem with putting on a stoic look at all.
Half way through the gate I could feel my heart pumping and practically jumping out of my chest; I swore that we had been found out, but the guards didn't move at all and allowed us entry without a word.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
The inside of the castle was just as black as the outside, the tiles on the floor as black as the walls and the only way to tell were you were going was by the torches that rested on the smoke colored columns that lined the inside. There was, however, a lavish looking red carpet that was rolled out in front of us and led up to a large door at the end of the room. In each corner of the main room were other doors that presumably led to other rooms.
Shakes collapsed on the other side of the door, sitting down and leaning up against the wall while breathing heavily. I was at first worried, that her injuries had gotten too bad for her to carry on, but all that faded when I saw that she was just acting in an over exaggerated manner.
I gave her a glare, and she dropped her charade, but she didn't do it without telling me what I already knew.
"I sure hope the rest of them aren't like that," She said, nearly whispering.
"I mean, I went to Hunter camp and they told us stories about the elites, but no one told a personal encounter with one. When we asked about someone having a tumble with one, not a single pony in that entire camp had ever even seen one of the elite," She paused. "or seen one and lived at least." She finished before turning back towards the room ahead.
She was right, those two were nothing like the two we saw.
"So where do you think this 'side entrance' thing that we need to find so badly is?" She asked, knowing full well that I had no clue.
I took a look around the room, taking second glances at all the doors in the room to see if there was any indication of what, or who, they might lead too. I eliminated that door with the carpet rolled towards it, figuring that it probably led to the throne room, and turned my attention back towards the four doors tucked into the sides of the room.
"Hey! You two!" My body went stiff and tense at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, and I was sure that Shakes's had done the same. Slowly, and synched perfectly, our heads turned towards one of the corners of the room we were in just in time to see on of those intimidating elites from before walking over to us with a sturdy look on his face and a clipboard in hoof.
"Night Watch, what took you two so long?" He asked quickly once he got over to us, eying us both with a piercing gaze that nearly broke me right there.
"Uh..." Shakes stuttered.
I couldn't blame Shakes in the slightest, she had done exactly what I would have done. Maybe even better than me. Heck, we didn't even know which one of us he was talking to. Luckily, the stallion shook his head and let out a disappointed sounding sigh.
"Whatever, look, while you two were out there slacking, or doing whatever it is that you two always do when you get sent on scouting duty," He eyed us suspiciously, "you both got put on two different assignments." He finished, pulling the cliff board up and skimming down it until his hoof landed on what I could only assume was one of our 'names.'
"Night Watch, you got put on weapons duty; report to the barracks." He said, turning his attention to Shakes.
Shakes could only smile sheepishly, causing the tall stallion to let out an annoyed sigh while he mumbled:
"Why do I always get the dull ones?"
He raised his hoof towards one of the doors that I had looked at from earlier and sent her on her way. She took a quick glance back at me just before she went inside the door, a look of fear for me painted on her face just before she scuttled into the doorway.
"Alright..." He spoke up again, this time to me, as his hoof skimmed down the clip board, "Ah! Here we are, Dark Heart. You got..." He stopped and leaned in a little bit closer to be sure he had read right. He gulped a bit before looking back up at me with his own look of fear.
"You got...a meeting with him." He turned and looked towards the door that the red carpet had led up to.
Not only did my confirmed suspicion of the being the throne room and the fact that Shakes had left me to face it alone send me into a state of mild panic, but it was the fact that this intimidating stallion nearly twice me size had a look of fear on his face when he wasn't even the one going in there.
He stood there expectantly with a rather empathetic look an his face. It was clear he wasn't going to leave until I went through those doors, and he might get suspicious if I hesitated. I couldn't leave now, I had to face this 'him' that had left this stallion feeling bad for me and who had also sent Vinyl out to kill me.
Wonderful.
I took a gulp and gained some courage that I was sure would be crushed to dust as soon as I got to the other side of those doors, but I managed to gather it. I took a few shaky steps forwards before turning, hoping that by some stroke of luck and fortune, the stallion had left. But he was still there, the same look on his face as he spoke up:
"Good luck." He said.
I closed the distance between me and the large black doors with a shaky and slow pace, a feeling of fear rising in the back of my head with every step. I eventually reached the doors, not even bothering to take a second glance back at the stallion who I knew was still there, and place a hoof up to them. I felt that the massive doors that I had assumed were made of metal were actually made of a smoothed and shined wood, but I didn't give that much though as I pushed inwards on the left door. It creaked open slowly, and painfully so for my fear, just enough so that I could squeeze through.
*~~~*~~~*...Shakes...*~~~*~~~*
I looked back and gave Octavia a look of fear before turning and shutting the door quietly and quickly behind me. I wanted to help her, but there was nothing I could do for her without getting us both eventually killed in the progress. Even if we did manage to take down the stallion and ran out of the castle, it would be near definite that we would attract some attention from someone else.
Who knows, maybe she will just get off easy with something like bathroom duty.
The door I went through led to a set of stairs that led straight downwards into a room with a dim light resonating from within, giving it a pretty intimidating appearance, but admittedly, I felt a lot safer in here than when I was out there standing in front of that elite.
"Well, at least I got weapons duty. Maybe I can even sneak some out to Vinyl and sis..." I said to myself as I started walking down the stairs, "assuming that there even is an entrance for me to sneak 'em out of." I mumbled.
I walked through the doorway at the bottom of the stairs to find myself in a large room filled with to the brim with beds and chests at their sides, the occasional personal item laying on top of the bed. Things ranging from pictures to little trinkets that looked like they belonged in a pawn shop or in a yard sale were scattered across some of the tops of the beds.
It took me by surprise really; I had always been told that these vampires, especially the elites, were nothing but mindless and bloody beasts that thirsted for nothing but blood. Of course, I knew that wasn't the case for all of them, I even had a living example of that, but I had thought that those stories might check out with the ones in this castle where the elite reside. Never did I imagine that they would have personal items of presumable personal value on their beds.
One of the beds was different however, it was filled with the body of a stallion whose chest was slowly moving up in down with every breath.
I stiffened at the thought of another one of those elites in here, but upon further investigation my fear and panic faded and was replaced with a barely containable anger. Resting in the bed was Bigs, his hooves lightly tucked down towards his body for warmth while his mouth was cracked open the slightest. I began to get mad, since he was the primary cause for taking Vinyl to this stupid castle and getting her all messed up, which led to her coming after Octavia, me having to protect her, and then me getting a chest full of magic that sent me a few feet up in the air.
I grit my teeth in an attempt to calm myself, feeling them clench up until the point where the risk of me grinding down into them was probably becoming a serious concern.
But not to me right now.
I had the primary source for most, and maybe even all, of the problems that I had faced up until this point right in front of me asleep and a perfect opportunity to get some revenge.
I spotted a weapons rack not too far off to the side of me, a sharpened looking blade lying there innocently and in wait for someone to use it. I trotted over silently and slowly, trying my best not to wake the bouncer, and picked the small blade up, taking time to admire its sharpness and pristine looking condition; it's black metal even shiny enough to reflect my image.
I turned back to Bigs, trotted over, and hovered the blade over his neck; lining up a deadly line with his vital spots that ran down his neck. One cut, and this could be over before he even knew it.
"For Vinyl..." I whispered, ready to plunge the blade downwards.
Something caught my eye.
The reflection of glass glinting in the corner of my vision stopped me for some reason, and my eyes seemed to wander without my permission over to a small night stand near the chest at Bigs's bed.
His personal item was a picture, a aged looking wooden frame with glass on it that looked like it hadn't been dusted in a long time.
My curiosity got the better of me, and I moved away.
'What could he have done that he would want to remember?' I wondered as I trotted silently over to the nightstand and picked up the picture.
I gave it a silent blow, sending the dust off of the glass and down to the floor.
My eyes went wide as I made out the picture.
It was of me, him, Sweeps, and Vinyl all standing at the bar table. I took a second to look at my ditzy looking face and his meek smile with my hoof wrapped around his neck, pulling him further into the picture. I remembered the picture well, despite my drunk state at the time, and how it all happened. Sweeps bringing in a camera and floating in front of all of us. She claimed that she wanted something to hang in my office and figured that this would be the best fit.
I took a second to look back at him, sleeping innocently, and then back at my knife.
I lingered on that decision far more that I should have, going back and forth between "Yes, I'm killing him" and "No, I'm not." I had known Bigs for awhile, he was there only a few weeks after the bar opened and I was hired. He was a kind stallion, or so he seemed, but it was clear that that was nothing but a lie. He tried to kill me.
A voice in my head finally won, and I set the knife, and the picture, down on the nightstand before trotting quickly out of the room and into another that was branched off to the side.
Maybe, just maybe, he has motives that I don't know of. If there is anything that those stupid Hunters had taught me, it's that Vampires are nothing that they appear to be, for better or worse.
I only hoped that Bigs was for better.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
The room I walked into appeared to be the real armory; large spears and swords, shields and a variety of other weapons that I had no idea what they were or how to use them lined the wall in organized rows.
I never taught that I would get giddy over the sight of weapons, but I did at that moment.
"Oh my..." I said, at a lose for words, taking slow and awestruck steps up to this first of the many weapon racks and plucked a spear from the wall.
It was long and sturdy looking, resembling the spears the guards had at the front entrance of the castle perfectly. I gave it a few firm thrusts and felt confident with it, even though I had never been trained in the art of the spear, but just the feel of it felt great enough to make me feel as though I had been trained to wield it my entire life. I set it back down on the rack gently and went down the entire line of weapons, giving each one it's well deserved attention and swings. Surprisingly enough, each one gave off the feeling of years of experience with it, which got me thinking if there was something else with these weapons that I didn't know, but I decided not to dwell on it and move onto my actual goal.
"Now where would I be if I was a secret entrance to a well protected castle..." I whispered to myself in contemplation as I walked around the room , eying nearly every corner and wall.
A light went off in my head.
"Book case!" I silently exclaimed.
"No, no, That's a stupid idea," The light went dim and a continued my pacing,
"I'm in the barracks." I mumbled, returning to my circling and eying.
*~~~*~~~*...Octavia...*~~~*~~~*
There was a hallway directly after the door leading to this supposedly widely and extremely feared "master" that the stallion had mentioned, but I had yet to see anyone else in the dimly lit hall that only led to room with nothing in it but an empty chair sat in front of a big window. I had begun to build hope that the "master" was simply not here and I could get a chance to look around the room. I figured that the best place to put a secret entrance and exit would be in the most important room, and I also figured that this was the most important since it held someone who went by "master."
I reached the doorway and paused, taking a minute to scan across the room, only to find it seemingly empty. I still wasn't trusting its lack of presence, so my steps were light and cautious as I entered through the door way.
I instantly began to search for anything that could be considered the slightest bit suspicious, anything from an off centered picture that hung on the wall to a book that just looked like it didn't belong. I even gave the chair a firm pat down before moving on just to be sure I hadn't over looked it. I was about halfway through one of the many bookcases that rested on the wall when I heard the door down the hall close, and the sound of steady hoof steps moving down the hallway.
I began to panic and my mind began to race as my eyes quickly darted around the room for a place to hide. I didn't think about the repercussions and risk of me getting caught if I did find a place to hide, but I didn't really care at that point since my nerves had begun to crack down on me.
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, there was nowhere to hide in the open room; the only things in the room being a few bookshelves that were slid tightly up against the wall and a couple of paintings that I was prepared to look behind in search of an exit. But judging by how close those hoof steps sounded, I would only look extremely suspicious if this "master" walked in on me.
My body stiffened up and braced for impact instinctively, leaving me as still as one of those guards outside the castle as my ears seemed to twitch at the sound of each and every hoof step.
They grew closer and closer, and then they stopped.
"Oh, hello Dark heart. So nice of you to be waiting." I heard a clam and smooth voice say.
I cracked open my eyes quickly in the hopes of not looking idiotic.
To my surprise, the "master" wasn't remotely close to the way I imagined him to be in the few minutes I had even know about him. I imagined him as some sort of large and buff stallion with serpentine like eyes and a mane and coat as dark as night. Maybe even a cape or something. But no, standing in front of me was an average, about the same height as me, stallion with dull red eyes and a fairly average build.
'This is the master?' I thought, giving his body another thorough look to see if I had missed anything.
I hadn't, this stallion was completely average in almost every way and could be mistaken for a regular pony in a heartbeat; he wasn't even one of the races considered to be "special races" like a Unicorn or a Pegasus even, just a regular looking earth pony with some dark red eyes that one could easily mistake for a pair of brown eyes at first glance.
I realized he was still waiting for a response from me.
"O-of course." I winced at my shaky response, but he didn't seem to notice.
"I suppose you know why I called you here?" He asked, trotting past me and lingering at my shoulder for just a bit before making his way to the chair at the center of the room.
This was the question I had been dreading.
"No sir." I nearly trembled, but recovered and tried to make it sound a bit more confident and convincing.
He turned and raised his brow the slightest.
"Really?" He said, sounding perplexed, which resulted in my beginning to stammer. I was prepared to try and backpedal my way out of the situation I had fell into, but he beat me to any form of actual response.
"Well, it's simple really. I called you in here to discuss you joining our ranks, you did, after all, just return from your test mission." He said simply.
I decided to go along with his story, since he probably knew the real one after all.
"Are you ready to begin then?" He asked, taking a seat in his chair and motioning for me to join him at his side. I nodded and quickly moved to the side of his chair, preparing myself mentally for the questions ahead of me.
"Let's start off simple shall we? When is the night at its darkest?" He asked with a fairly emotionless voice.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
His questions were surprisingly simplistic and some even elementary, those of which I answered with little difficulty, but others were more personal. I figured since the mare I was pretending to be was, according to him, new, I assumed I couldn't get those wrong either way you look at it. During his questions, specifically the personal ones, I noticed him give a few chuckles and ghostly unnerving smiles. I began to think that this stallion wasn't as dense and scary as the guard made him out to be.
Once he finished his questions however, he held me up.
"So, one last question for you dear." He said with his clam, and nearly nice, tone.
"Yes?"
"How long do you plan on keeping this up?" His tone hadn't changed the slightest, the same near emotionless but faintly cheerful voice speaking in the same calm way, but the question he posed threw me off completely. Not only that, but he had turned to face me with his pair of dulled eyes, which now seemed more sharp and menacing than ever.
I struggled to lie, or even speak for that matter, under the same piercing gaze.
"I-uh." I stuttered as he got up from his chair and began to circle me.
"Did you think you could honestly get by me so easily?" He asked, sounding surprisingly genuine about it.
I hadn't turned to look at him, my body had turned cold and stiff after the question, but I felt him sneak up behind me and and get right up to my ear.
"I can smell her on you." I knew who he was talking about.
Vinyl.
He slid away and walked over to the large window that overlooked some of the forest, but more obviously, the bright and full moon that dominated the sky.
"I can practically smell the venom running in your veins, innocent and docile right now, but I wonder when she will take advantage of it? Assuming she even knows how to. I have to say though, for that amount of toxin to be running through you, she must have really 'bonded' with you over the time you've known her." He spoke to himself as he stood with his head nearly pressing against the glass of the window.
"Ah, but what does that matter anyways? You're here now, and the toxin will only work once." He rambled on, eventually turning to me and putting on a genuinely sorry face that only continued to scare me.
"Oh me, you must have no idea what I'm speaking about, do you?" He expected an answer, and my throat somehow managed a shaky one; his eyes nearly forcing it out.
"N-no..." I stammered.
"Well let me explain something to you then," He said with near glee as he turned and began to walk slwoly, "that toxin I was speaking about is something that only a select few are gifted to carry; a 'one in a million' if you will."
"And you see, this toxin has a rather enthralling and extremely interesting effect on...unturned blood, like your own."
"L-like what?" My lips seemed to move on their own.
"Glad you asked dear. This effect is something very intricate, like a key to a door of sorts. When it flows through your veins, it is similar to the key being put into the door, and all that is left after that, is to turn it."
"Turning this 'key', is much harder than it sounds though, but I won't bore you with that long explanation. I'll simply put it into it's most straight forward form," He looked dead in my eyes.
"You turn." He was deathly serious now, and it made me stiffen even more.
"But just like keys and doors, the process is as easily reversed as it is done, and maybe even easier to undo at that. And again, just as those very same keys and doors, the key can be broken: permanently locking or unlocking the door. Of course, there are some doors that can't be opened from the start, just as there are some that can't be closed." He was beginning to close in on me as he continued his comparison.
I began taking slow steps back.
"It's not nearly as simple as enthralling like I did with that white mare of yours, but a much harder process with much greater rewards. One being a more heavier form of enthrallment, and another that I find the most interesting," He took a second to pause, "is the unlock of true potential.
"You may have noticed that I take a particular interest in that white companion of yours, and you could probably guess why if you've seen what she is capable of when she gets a scent of blood, or when using her more basic instincts. And that interest still stands." He said with a smile creeping on his face as his eyes narrowed in on me and I felt my legs seemingly seize up.
"And I see a new way of seeing that goal fulfilled." He said, taking steps forwards and slowly closing the distance.
*~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~*
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Oh dear me.
He's not gonna turn octavia into a vampire is he?
5156045 Pretty sure Vinyl already did that...
A voice in my head finally won, and I set the knife, and the picture, down o
13bb7
14317
n the nightstand before trotting quickly out of the room and into another that was branched off to the side.
Are those supposed to be there?
5159115
I have no idea what those are, but no, they aren't, and thanks for finding them
5156045 Ya don't say...
5158429
No, he said Vinyl injected the venom, the turning doesn't happen until the key is turned, was the analogy he made.
I'm just wondering if he just turned the key.
5161561 My bad.
Slid.
Wait... Can the evil guy turn tavi?...
Oh sheeet shes gonna turn. Yay!...
I think.
Oh this is exciting, onwards to the next chapter!
This sentence is too confusing, this would make more sense: "I took a few shaky steps forwards before turning, hoping that by some stroke of luck or fortune, the stallion had left."