Page 24 of Theoden
CHAPTER EIGHT
REGRET
I began to become aware of the sensation of two bodies, naked bodies, beside mine. My eyes shot open and I looked around, only to see the vampire King, Ara, and the dragon Knight, Tylendel, beside me. I scrambled out of the bed as quickly as I could, my mind racing, trying to recollect everything that had happened.
I was no longer human… I realized that right away. I could smell the blood I had spilt on the rug when I had killed Samuel. I remembered the rage and hunger that had taken over me the moment I sank my fangs into Samuel’s flesh. And Ashur, god, I was so angry with him. The things I said, it was as if I had already been a blood dri—vampire all my life. What I’d said to him and about him had been so heartless. His fate was left in my hands and I all but made him my slave with a few words. How could I say such things, even in anger? Was what the priests had always told me true? Would giving into the pleasures of the flesh have opened myself up to corruption? Or was it because I was no longer human?
It was all too much and entirely too much at once. My transformation into a beast that fed off human life to the painful betrayal of the Church, and having fed on someone I had considered to be my brother, and discovering how wonderful real physical pleasure felt, had left me reeling.
My mind was swimming with these thoughts even now as I took in the aftermath of my decision to kill Samuel. Would I have done it if my body was not thirsting for his blood and my heart had not been so broken? The wound was still fresh and festering. I had loved Samuel. Loved and desired him. Maybe it was the fact that none of my affections were ever returned that made me lash out at him so.
If that were not enough, I had lost my virginity. Something I was taught would ruin me and condemn my soul. Perhaps the priests were correct in that prediction. I didn’t feel connected to God the way I did before I learned of the Church’s betrayal. The only connection I felt now was to the two men still laying in the bed. The desire was stronger for the vampire King, Ara.
I remembered what he did to me, the words he had said to me that shattered the world I was living and believing in. He left me confused. And with all that had happened, the pleasure of the flesh that held its own control over me, and my hunger for blood, made me feel emotions for them that, as of right now, I didn’t trust.
Before I slipped into slumber, I had said that I loved Ara. Did I really mean that? He had told me the truth, and I was still conflicted on whether or not I should be grateful for it. For now, I lived in an even harsher reality. Was the love I said I felt being muddled by the connection I was feeling to him? I knew in my blood that I belonged to him. I had been remade from his life essence. I would never be free of him. All of this I knew to be as true as the fact that his blood flowed in my veins.
Then there was the other connection, the one to the dragon. It was not nearly as strong as the one I felt for Ara, but it was ever present. Making me want to crawl back into bed and impale myself on his rigid member and ride him as hard and fierce as I had ridden any steed until the moment came where the pleasure exploded from me. Seeking this pleasure was a driving force within me. I wanted more of it, and the desire felt insatiable.
Quickly, I looked around the room for my clothes. I had to flee this place. Staying would only sink my soul further into the depths of hell. I had to find Ashur and we both had to leave this place. The Church had not prepared me with everything I needed to know in order to destroy the vampire King, Ara, and he had conquered me.
I couldn’t find the clothes I had been wearing before I was stripped of them. But I did see the clothing the dragon had been wearing. I reached for his gold tunic, but then a strong grip tightened around my wrist, forcing me to drop the garment. It was so sudden, it startled me and I had gasped right before I turned to see that it was Ara who had stopped me.
“Where do you think you are going?” he asked me.
“I made a mista—”
“Silence,” Ara snapped, and I actually found myself unable to speak. I wanted to tell him he would never own me. That I would free myself and Ashur from his palace, but the words refused to leave my mouth as if they were trapped in my throat.
He released my wrist and took hold of my chin, forcing me to drop to both knees before him as his grip tightened. I winced in pain as my bones began to crack. I grabbed his wrist with both hands in an attempt to break free of his grip, but to no avail. Tears poured from my eyes as the pain intensified to excruciating levels. I felt my bones began to break and splinter. My teeth shattered as blood gushed from my mouth, pouring down my chin and chest. Still, I could not scream, though in my mind, I was screaming for dear life. The pain was unbearable and the menacing and callous look in Ara’s eyes let me know he would not show me any mercy.
“You are correct, my son, I will not,” Ara said, then he snatched his hand away, ripping the lower part of my jaw with it. White light flashed before my eyes as I registered the immense pain that racked my body. My entire lower jaw was still in his hand. I looked down in shock as blood poured from a wound that would have killed a human. I knew I had a gaping, bloody, grotesque hole in my face where the mouth used to be.
Tears soaked what was left of my cheeks while my body shook uncontrollably from shock. What was left of my tongue hung limply from the crevice in my face and squirted blood all over my torso and the carpet. I was rendered helpless as my body began to heal itself from the trauma. I gasped for air and felt as if I was choking on it at the same time. I had never felt such agony, not even when he was draining me of my life’s blood. As great as the pain was, I was relieved to know that it wouldn’t last long. Muscles were knitting themselves back together as more grew into place. My tongue, which had been severely damaged, was starting to reform itself along with the bones of my jaw.
It was both a horrendous and miraculous experience I had to endure.
“Yes, you do and you will,” Ara said, then he tossed the remains of my jaw at me.
I was nearly paralyzed by the pain, but my body involuntarily jerked when my jaw hit my chest and fell to the rug-covered floor. I looked down, seeing the shreds of flesh still clinging to the white bone of my shattered jaw with its destroyed teeth. I felt sheer terror at seeing a part of my body so carelessly discarded. This was what Ara was capable of, this and more.
“You will begin to learn that the gift I have given you comes with many blessings. Blessings only I could give you, not God. Though you feel pain now, it will all end soon and your jaw will be perfectly healed. I have preserved your beauty, Théoden. You will be forever as you are now, free from all disease. You can be injured, but as you see, you will heal. I have given you everything you have desired and you will learn to accept my gift and my love, my son.”
I heard his words, but their impact on me was not as strong as they had been before. I was done letting people manipulate me, control me.
Ara laughed. “Is that so?”
My cheeks had healed and the last bit of flesh had reattached itself to my jaw, leaving me perfectly healed at last. The pain I had to endure while the healing process took effect varied in levels of intensity until it faded away completely. I scooted away from my gory jaw on the floor and rubbed the new one that had replaced it. I could feel stubble on my chin, but not the full beard I once had. However, everything was exactly as it had been before Ara had injured me. It was truly astonishing.
“Yes, it is, my son.”
“I had hoped to wake up to both of you in this bed, where I would fuck you into the sunset. Unfortunately, I see you have some disciplining to do,” Tylendel said as he began to climb out of the bed.
“It would seem that my son is reconsidering his position on whether or not he is grateful for what we did to him,” Ara said as he gazed at me. “He is feeling…regret.” He said the word as if it was something pathetic to be scorned.
Tylendel laughed. “We freed him and gave him clarity and pleasure.”
Ara nodded, his eyes never leaving me. “That is true, but he has proven himself to be quite impudent, which is a shame. I had hoped to avoid such insolence, but alas, I have to discipline him.”
