8. Have You Ever Flown

Triana fixed her gaze on the angry-looking vampire. Her heart pounded hard because she could feel the dark aura around the vampire even though she couldn't see it with her naked eyes.

"Wh-what exactly happened?" She asked.

"That damn hag used her potion to put a curse on us. I will die if you die, and the other way around."

Triana's jaw dropped and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand. "The witch made our lives interdependent,"

"It's not just our lives, gosling. There is still another curse that will make me suffer a lot," Vlador said while stroking the long hair that framed Triana's face.  

"To stay alive, you must drink my blood at least once every five days. And I… will always crave your blood."

Trianna frowned. She dropped her gaze to digest the condition. 

She must drink the blood of a vampire to stay alive? Then the vampire whose blood she must drink, craved to drink her blood. Meanwhile, their lives were connected so that if she died, the vampire would also die. That meant, the vampire may not kill her, nor could she kill the vampire.

"Is your little brain capable of processing it?" The vampire asked.

Triana raised her gaze with tears coming back to her eyes. "Stop treating me as if I'm a fool! I am an honourable noble who received an education from the best teachers!"

"I can see you look very proud of that. Was it your beauty that got you all the good things?" Vlador asked as he stood up.

"My parents will not let this happen. They will save me no matter what." Triana said confidently.

"In your current state? Didn't you just say that your future is ruined, gosling?"

The hideous grin on the vampire's face gave Triana chills. Her lips trembled and she felt like crying again at the fact that the vampire was right.

With her condition like this, would anyone be willing to help her? What if she was treated like an ugly person? She would be ostracized, and so would her parents.

Then Triana blinked hard and shook her head briefly to pull herself together. She lifted her face, then stood up. "How about you? Are you going to accept and keep silent with your current condition, Mr. Dracont? Yes, you are that skeleton, aren't you?"

"After being freed from the shackles and eternal curse, I have to be stuck with a human girl like you and this stupid curse. Do you think I will take it sincerely?" Answered Vlador, who was sitting at the big window with his back facing the moonlight.

Gulping, Tirana nodded and tried to put on a firm face even though her shoulders were trembling slightly. "Then, why don't we work on removing this curse?"

"Before you say it, I had already thought of the same thing, gosling." Vlador was back on his feet.

The long-legged vampire with broad shoulders blocked the moonlight. Triana couldn't help to take a step back as he stepped closer to her.

"What is…" Her sentence was cut off when a large, pale hand reached out in front of her face.

"There's no point in wasting time," Vlador said. He grinned widely, showing his two sharp fangs. "Let us visit the impudent hag's house,"

With hesitation, Triana placed her hand in the vampire's palm to find that it was much bigger than it looked. But strangely, the hand was not as cold as she had imagined before.

Weren't vampires semi-living creatures? Rumour had it that their bodies were just like corpses.

Preoccupied with her thoughts, Triana had unknowingly taken a step towards the big window facing the big full moon. 

The early autumn night wind blew her blonde hair and tickled her skin. Slowly, she moved her body out of the window, unconsciously holding the vampire's fingers.

"Wow…" She muttered, just realising that she was now in the abandoned castle she entered earlier. 

Now, she was at the top of it which offered a view of a dark forest with a clear night sky lit by a bright full moon.

"Scary yet beautiful," She muttered.

Vlador looked at Triana from the side. "That's a sentence that seems impossible to come out of your mouth."

Triana was shocked out of her daydream. She immediately turned to the vampire beside her. "Um… why did you bring me here?"

"You'll find out very soon," Vlador answered while grabbing Triana's hands.

Then, just in one pull, he had brought Triana to stand in the middle of the window. Triana's heart felt to be squeezed. She used both hands to hold on to the vampire's hand because now, she was standing on a narrow wall. This truly was a tower that was even taller than the trees in the forest.

"God! What are you doing?!" She screamed, trying to jump down back into the chamber but her hands were tightly held by the vampire.

"Don't you want to find the witch who cursed us?" Vlador asked.

Eyes shaking, Triana couldn't focus on the vampire's face. "Please let me down. I could die if I fell down there."

"You said it's better to die than live with an ugly face, didn't you?" A smile curved at Vlador's lips.

Trina shook her head. "No. Please. I was just talking nonsense,"

"First; lying, then now, uttering nonsense. It seems your tongue isn't as noble as your status, correct?"

"I beg you, Mr. Dracont. If I die, won't you die too? Please, let me down,"

"Don't all humans think that vampires are descendants of the devils? Do you believe the devil's words?" Vlador asked with a playful look at Triana.

Her heart was beating harder and harder. Triana felt a chill creep up her back. Again, she was on the verge of death. But now, she would not remain silent. She didn't see any signs that the vampire was going to pounce on her like before. Maybe this time, she could fight back, or at least try.

Without a second thought, Triana jumped off the window to land on the floor of the dark bed chamber next to her. However, she only made the vampire grip her hands tighter and quickly pulled her body instead.

Triana's cheekbone hit a hard, bumpy surface. She turned her face to realize that the thing that collided with her face and body was the vampire's huge body. 

Before Triana even thought of getting away from the tall and hard body, two large and long objects enveloped her body.

Her eyes widened, realizing that they were the arms of the vampire named Dracount. She quickly placed her hands on his chest as a barrier. However, the two arms hugged her even tighter. And, a whisper came to her ear,

"Have you ever flown?"