The other man

Majesta couldn’t help but laugh at what he said. She would have said something like that even today. She really hated to have pictures done, and worse, she hated to pay for them. Not only that, but she was rather sure this one would have cost several gold pieces. When she looked back at him, he looked shocked that she was laughing. It was nice to see that she could befuddle him.

“That is something I would say today,” she laughed again, “Tell me you didn’t pay too much for that thing.”

“Well, if you must know I paid ten pieces for it,” Craven told her with such pride.

“You did what?” Spinning around, she glared at him then laughed.

It was his turn to laugh, and she couldn’t help but laugh with him. It was bizarre to laugh with him and seem happy. The truth was that she didn’t want to upset him. They started to move again and headed to the large table. Taking notice of Amèliä who didn’t look happy that she was still here. Majesta ignored her and went to the chair that he steered her toward. It was a straight back chair made of wood and what looked like very rough fabric. The thing didn’t look like it would be too comfortable, but once she was sitting down it was like sitting on a cloud. The tall back only made her sit up straighter; it wasn’t very comfortable in that manner. She felt a little out of place with the outfit she was wearing, the missing corset set her apart from most of the women in the room, but hey a girl could only do so much with what she had. As she sat, she smoothed the skirts so they didn’t rise up and show her pretty much nude bottom. She was rather sure that most of the men here wouldn’t mind seeing her bottom. The napkin that was on the table was picked up and placed on her lap. She didn’t want to ruin her outfit, yes, it was more a costume than a dress she wanted to wear all the time.

“Wine?” Majesta started and looked up at the woman holding the wine skin. She had never seen one in such good condition. She nodded to the wine glass, letting the woman pour the drink into her glass. When she placed the glass onto the table, it made a clinking noise. Everyone in the hall seemed to want to see what she would do with the wine. She picked up the glass and took a small drink, letting the vintage of the wine settle on her tongue. It was old wine, and the body was marvelous.

“This is a very old wine,” A nod toward Craven with a smile after another sip.

“Yes, it is, from the late eighteen hundred,” Craven told her as he drank his own wine.

Majesta choked on the next drink and looked at him like he had lost his mind. There was no way that this wine was that old. She stared at him for a moment, then took another swallow of the wine. The body of the wine was shocking to the taste buds. Couldn’t wait to see the food that would come out. If the wine was this old. That stopped her, and she hoped that the food wasn’t that old, it would be rancid. Waiting for the food to come out, and it seemed like the noise in the room was hushed. Had she done something wrong? Sad something wrong?

After what seemed like forever, the food finally came out. Large platters of steaming food appeared from a large door to the right. The first one had a large pig on it and three large men had to carry it. The pig and all the trimmings were placed on the table, and she thought she would die from the aroma. It was a succulent scent like a breath of fresh air, and she wanted to jump into the food. The room started to get louder as the trays of food appeared.

Another smaller pig appeared on a tray and was placed on another table. Around the pigs were potatoes, carrots, and another vegetable she couldn’t remember its name. Plates were placed in front of people, and they all started to go for the food but stopped when a small tinkling nose reverberated through the hall. Looking beside her to find Craven hitting his glass with a fork. She put her fork down and waited to see what he had to say. A servant girl placed a large portion of pig and vegetables on her plate, the aroma was going to drive her crazy.

“We have cause to celebrate, for I have found my love. The woman that I lost so many years ago to the horrors….” Craven couldn’t find the words to speak them, and no one seemed to want to correct him.

They all seemed to want to have food. She noticed another serving girl going around with another jug, when she poured it a thick red liquid came out. She stopped listening to what he was saying, for she knew that the liquid was blood. It showed her that over half the people in the room were vampires, which worried her. Finally, everyone dug into their food, and she sat there frozen. The aroma of the food made her stomach growl again. Moments passed before the hunger overtook her mind being shocked at the number of vampires in the room.

Picking up the fork and knife she started to dig into the food. Never really having eaten pig this way, so it was hard to figure out what was meat and wasn’t. Majesta took a chance and the meat melted in her mouth and she moaned. Several of the men looked at her, and she couldn’t help but blush. After a few moments, the heat drained from her face and she finished eating the food. It was astonishing how good the food was.

“The food pleased you.” Craven wanted to please her; it was something he craved.

“Yes, it was rather amazing.” Majesta gave a shy smile, but it didn’t touch her eyes. It bothered her that he wanted to know it pleased her.

“I will have to tell the cook that you liked it.” Craven gave a nod to the serving girls.

“Do you not eat?” It was a stupid question, he was a vampire, of course he didn’t eat.

“I eat, but it is in a liquid these days.” Craven held up his glass.

“I see.” In truth, she didn’t care either way, but it bothered her that he might drink her blood someday.

Majesta didn’t want to think of him as a dead man, but it was there staring her in the face. More to the point, he was undead. A loud thunder shook the room, everyone looked at the large double doors. As they slammed open, and a mysterious figure stood in them. Nothing like fear entered her mind, more an urge to run toward those open doors. One of the serving girls screamed, then fainted.

“I see you have found the young woman again,” the voice reverberated through the hall and sent a shock of lightning through her. She couldn’t take her eyes off the man, as if something was calling her to him. Without a thought she stood up starting toward him, but a strong hand stopped her from going any further. The pull to the man who had entered the room was stronger than the one to Craven.

Majesta wanted to be near him and that scared her, but not like the fear she knew the moment she met Craven. Standing frozen like a statue, she knew that this man was the one her soul was meant to meet. A wind picked up in the hall sweeping the curtains, making the fire swirl. Worrying that the fire would go out, but that didn’t seem to be the purpose of the wind. Like Craven, she knew this man. His name, history, everything about him.

“Come to me.” The voice called to her, pulling her toward him.

His voice called to her; she shuddered under the call. Like a machine, body wanted to go to this man. Majesta’s feet started to move toward him, but Craven kept hold of her arm. It hurt where he was holding her, a moment she tried to pull away, but he held firm. He kept her from moving toward him.