Desire of the Soul (12 page)

Before I could ask Aness how she knew about the Energy I’d given away, or Energy in general, I fell into the soft arms of sleep.

---

My eyes opened to the familiar blackness, the blackness that I’d come from not long ago. The blackness that he was in, the mysterious man with the golden eyes. This dream felt different though, I don’t know how but it did. I felt more in control of, of well everything.
 

“
That is because you are in control,”
 
a voice, the voice, his voice, said from the corner. It sounded different, not its normal deepness, richness, but raspy as though it has been without food and water for a long time. “You are seeing me as I really am. Or rather, you are hearing me as I am. They do not feed me often here, so my power is slowly diminishing. I wonder though, I wonder how you managed to invade the protections I have set around myself.”

His golden eyes looked sharply at me, sending a shiver down my spine. Something told me that being on his bad side, well it wasn’t fun. Thoughts flitted throughout my mind, one staying constant. Who was he? And if I was in control, did that mean I was able to make him do what I wanted him to do? “I-I don’t know. I was just like really, really tired so I fell asleep. Then I woke up and I was here. But what did you mean when you said that I was in control? Aren’t I always?”

He laughed, a sharp bark that seemed forced out of his cherry red lips. “No you are not always in control. In fact, you are never in control. I am the one who brings you into the dreams, and so I am the one who controls them. But somehow, somehow you pushed your way here. Somehow you found your way to me in spirit, and so now you are in full control of what is said and done in this dream.”
 

I felt a lightness fill my body, and a small smile tugged at the corners of my lips. If I was in control of everything, then I could make him tell me the truth right? I could make him tell me who the hell he was, because this not knowing was bugging the crap out of me.
 

“
Oh, uh, okay. So then, tell me who you are,” I demanded, the command tasting sour on my tongue. The man twitched, his eyes clearly showing the battle he was fighting to keep control. I repeated my command with more insistence this time, staring right into the man’s bright gold eyes.

“
My name-my-name-is-” a gasp escaped his mouth and his eyes flashed red for a moment. I saw the fight within him continue as he forced his body to not let go of its secrets. Secrets I now knew that I had to know. The need to know feeling kept pushing at me until a thought blasted its way through the confusion that was my mind.

Red eyes. He had to be an Amatores Sanguinis! But, I’d have to actually see more than his eyes. I’d have to see him, because something told me that if I saw him I would know who he was. My eyes closed and I imagined sunlight pouring in as though through a window, and immediately felt warmth fill up the room.

When I opened my eyes, everything was bright and in view, including the man. He had honey blonde hair covering his head in a dirty tangle, and tan skin that under normal circumstance would probably have been soft and perfect looking, but now looked nothing more than tired.
 

A chill filled my body, and I shook my head from side to side. I don’t know how I didn’t figure it out earlier. It was obvious, who else could it be? The memory floated unwillingly into my mind, something Duke had said but hadn’t really stuck to my mind.
 

‘He stunned the woman, my mother included, with his tales of the world and his looks. He had thick blonde hair that went to his shoulder, tan skin, and golden eyes. Still today, he’s the only man I’ve ever met with golden eyes’.

It should have been obvious the moment I saw his eyes. Duke had said that no one else had gold eyes, and yet this man did.
 

Maybe-maybe it’s not him...he’s supposed to be dead. I shook the thought from my head. I could tell with my whole being that this was him, and there was no point in wasting my time to try and deny it.
 

Whoever told Duke that he was dead, they’d lied. Because Dracul was most definitely alive.

Finding Him

Dracul lifted his head as if he just noticed the light, and looked at me with anger deep within his eyes. Dracul, the man who had killed Duke’s mother, the man who had obviously hurt Duke too much for him to want to admit.

“
How do you know who I am?” he demanded, his voice rough and filled with fury. “You have never met me other than when I saw you in your dreams. How do you know who I am?”
 

Tears threatened to escape my eyes as fear gripped tightly at my heart. This man, he was capable of anything. He was the First after all, and didn’t that automatically mean he was like extremely powerful? “Duke told me about you,” I whispered, biting my lip nervously. Dracul’s eyes were starting to glow Red again. “But how did you know who I was? You’re supposed to be dead!”

Dracul’s head snapped toward me, a feral snarl erupting from his mouth. “That is the lie they are feeding him? I am not dead. They are keeping me captive; if I even try to escape I am shot. It is easy to recover from the shots, but it takes blood that they barely supply me with. I don’t have the energy to leave now. And you-well you know how I know you. Is it not obvious? Think of the prophecies.”

The revelation was quick to come, and a gasp escaped my mouth. “You wrote the prophecies, didn’t you? That’s how you know all about what the Lucis and Ater Council are planning.” I exclaimed, the fear turning into wonder. “You can see into the future?”

Dracul looked at me with guarded eyes, his lips pursed as if debating in his mind about something. Apparently he deemed me good enough to share whatever was going on in his mind, because he nodded. “That is one way of putting it. But I would rather call it by its true name. I am a tempus viator, as are you.”

“
Uh sorry, but latin isn’t a language I speak. What does tempus viator mean?” I asked, the words sending a spark throughout my body. I wonder why I had such an effect to latin words, I mean really they weren’t that special. At least as far as I knew they weren’t that special.

“
Tempus viator means time traveler. We are both travelers in time. Actually, you and I are the only time travelers ever to be,” Dracul said, his voice matter of fact. My mouth dropped, my eyes no doubt open as wide as they can be.

“
What do you mean we’re the only time travelers? There has to be more out there! And-” I stopped short, feeling a warmth radiating throughout my body. No that couldn’t be good. Guilt flooded me, attacking from all sides until I felt on the verge of exploding. I shouldn’t be here talking to Dracul. He ruined Duke’s life, Duke whom I loved more than anyone else. “I have to go.” My voice was emotionless as I got up from the dirty cement ground.
 

“
What do you mean you have to go? Yes, this is not how I planned on you learning my identity, but now that you have I have much to tell you. Although I admit that it would be much easier if I was no longer trapped. The things I could tell you, the things I could show you...” Dracul’s voice sounded wistful as he talked, his golden eyes faraway.
 

I felt myself falling into his spell, lightness taking up my whole being. “I know you are afraid of me, as you should be. I did many things I now regret. But in my time trapped here, I recovered important parts of myself. I need you to see them so that you believe me when I say that you have to rescue me from this prison. When you awake, I need you to ask Time to take you to me, take you to me right before I became this,” Dracul said, and it sounded almost like he was pleading.

Men like him, leaders, they aren’t supposed to plead. They’re supposed to just get what they want without having to work for it. But he was pleading, and damn he even said that he regrets the things he did. Does that mean that maybe...just maybe he’s no longer the monster who had hurt Duke so badly? The guilt pulled at me again, rooting me to the ground with painful swipes. I wasn’t supposed to be thinking thoughts like these. I was supposed to despise this man, but yet I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t force myself to despise him.
 

I don’t know why, but I felt connected to him. Maybe it was because he turned Duke, so technically his blood was in me right now, but I felt...warm around him. Once more the guilty claws hit, and I winced inwardly. I wasn’t supposed to be thinking these thoughts about anyone but Duke.
 

“
Time doesn’t listen to me,” I blurted out, then sighed. Okay, obviously my body was not going to listen to me today.
 

Dracul chuckled, a deep and full chuckle that sent prickles up my legs. “You have to listen to Time, only then will Time listen to you,” he answered back, and I rubbed at my head with annoyance.

“
More cryptic shit? Why can’t you people ever give me anything straight!” I raked my fingers through my hair in frustration, fighting the urge to punch the thick wall that I was leaning on. Dracul’s eyes turned a bright red, and he grabbed me tightly by the wrist. I squeaked, feeling the fear that had evaporated before come back full swing. My body tensed up, my arm aching from how tight he was holding it.
 

As if sensing my fear, the Red faded from Dracul’s eyes and he stepped away looking ashamed of himself. “I’m sorry, I cannot seem to control the Red when you are around. I thought I had tamed it completely, but I guess not.” I could tell his body was tight, even if I couldn’t see much of it with all the rags he wore as clothing, and I wanted so badly to just massage away the pain. But then I looked down at the bruises on my wrist, and thought better of that idea.
 

“
I wish-Tammy I wish that I could help you more, but I honestly cannot. Time works in it’s own ways, and just when you think you have it all figured out...it turns around and bites you. I feel the dream fading Tammy, I just need to tell you one thing. Do not ever Travel more than twice a day. Promise me you won’t.” Dracul was begging again, and I wondered why he seemed to care so much for me.

“
I promise.” I heard myself say. “But why?”

“
Because it is said that when you Travel the third time in one day without rest, you will forever be stuck in Time,” he answered back, then he disappeared from the dream without so much as a goodbye.

---

I woke up with a gasp, my heart racing. Duke was still sleeping soundly beside me, and so I made sure when I got up that I was quiet. My eyes immediately went to my wrist, and I felt no surprise as I saw two purple bruises on my arm, shaped like fingers. Dracul’s fingers. They healed within seconds though, neglecting to take with them the warm feeling I got in my stomach when I thought of Dracul. I looked around the room to try and get my mind off him, noticing that we were in a lavish bedroom full of obvious delicates. Everything looked so fragile, I was afraid to touch anything in fear of breaking it.
 

Two female humans were asleep on separate cots beside Duke and my bed; their eyes glazed and mouth slack. Both had plain faces with blonde hair, obviously twins, and wore white nightdresses. They looked like druggies, all though I assumed they were. But instead of being addicted to Cocaine, Meth, or other drugs, they were addicted to Amatores Sanguinis bites. If I was a human I’d probably be addicted too, I mean even for us it was like heaven in a person. So yummy.
 

Duke groaned, and I ran over to his bedside. “Are you alright? Are you awake? Are you thirsty?” The questions tumbled out, my fear for him outweighing the guilt I felt for feeling...things about Dracul.

“Thirsty...” he whispered, his eyes changing from grey to red, to grey and then back to red. I picked up a human, glad that my energy had returned, and then ran back beside Duke.
 

“Here. And there’s another one over there.” I chewed my lip, my stomach turning as I listened to myself. God, I talked like humans were nothing! What happened to me? Disgust at myself weaved itself into me, and I frowned. I really was turning into a monster, wasn’t I? I couldn’t even try to deny it, because what I just said proved it.
 

I didn’t even notice how Duke had started feeding until the moans of pleasure got loud enough to disturb my thinking. That’s also when I noticed that Duke feeding on another girl, it made me jealous. And pissed off too. I was supposed to be the one feeding on him, and him well...He couldn’t feed on me cause that wouldn’t turn out so well.
 

The moans grew louder and louder until I couldn’t take it anymore and stormed out of the room, straight into an obviously pissed off Aness.
 

“What do you mean you can’t deliver? Of course you can!” she yelled into the phone, her wings tinged with black. “You better deliver or I swear to-” Aness cut off when she saw me, her eyes wide as saucers.

“No uh-go ahead. I’m just moving past, sorry.” I stammered, and then rushed away so Aness could continue her yelling in private. I ran past halls that shimmered with color, begging me to stop and stare. But I didn’t have time to stop because I needed to get out of the castle, and now.
 

I felt like the walls were closing in on me, making it impossible to breathe. So many things happening, I just needed a break! I needed to stop and just let go of all my fears, let go of everything that was causing me so much stress! But I knew before I did that, I had to get someone to tell me why the hell Dracul was locked up. That thought made me skid to a stop, and turn around to run back to Aness. She would have the answers, she had to! And if she didn’t, well then hopefully she would know someone who would. If not-no I wouldn’t think of the if not’s, only the wills.