A bird in its cage

The castle is still quiet, it has always been so and it will remain an unshakable truth until the end of the world. In this castle far from everything, in the heart of the forest, perched on a mountain, he watches the clouds in the sky. It's been his only pleasure for over 800 years since he became the new Lord.

800 years of monotony, centuries of solitude, and long and interminable years of deaf suffering. Yet life has not always been there even for him. Not a while ago, not before those long centuries, when his father was still the Lord, once again, he lived a rather happy life for a young vampire. His parents were loving and caring, caring about how he felt and more importantly what he wanted.

They told him all the time: “Son, live your life as you wish and design to lead it fully so as not to harbor regrets later”.

Vladimir believed that he would have had time to apply this advice, but unfortunately, he never could.

His parents, purebloods, people with power and resistance recognized by the whole clan had succumbed to an illness unknown to us vampires. It was so inconceivable that he thought it was a conspiracy.

But who would dare to touch two purebloods? It had become so rare to find them, especially in a world where humans who once were only a small community seem to have proliferated more than they can express. He had barely had time to sleep for two centuries and when he woke up the noises made by humans had invaded his mind. Fortunately, the territory of the vampires was almost sacred and despite their expansion, these humans never dared to violate their territory. He knows that the elders already virulent towards other creatures like werewolves would not have accepted this new intrusion.

So, for centuries, vampires have lived on the fringes of humans and other creatures comforting themselves in this simple secluded life. Either way, he's not complaining either.

So, he wonders what disease could have taken away two illustrious creatures as his parents, but they weren't the only ones who left him in strange ways. His childhood friend with whom he got along like brothers as well as his younger sister who was also his fiancée succumbed to this mysterious disease.

How was it that everyone close to him, everyone he cared about left him so abruptly? So far, he does not find answers even if, to tell the truth, he has never sought to understand as the pain he feels is enormous.

He prefers to forget and focus on the present. Although it is just as exhausting. Despite the days that are longer and longer, he lives his life as best he can even if for several centuries, the elders have not annoyed him with absurd requests. Being the last pureblood of their clan, they ask him to choose a wife from one of the most respectable and powerful families of their clan. In itself an arranged marriage to perpetuate his precious blood. Even if his child will not be a pureblood, it will always be that fact.

He does not understand such haste, he is still a young man, he has not yet reached his 2000 years, and he has so many centuries ahead of him, but the elders urge him to have a son with a woman whom he does not know and want to meet. He still has in his heart the sweet image of his great love gone too soon. And each time, his heart twists in pain that make him want to fall into an eternal sleep too. Why did they leave him alone behind? He would have preferred to go with them….

He puts his hand on his chest and squeezes it, it hurts. The pain despite these centuries of separation since her death is still intense. It is said, when a vampire falls in love, it is all the cells of his body that love, his love is excessive, obsessional, and passionate.

He will love eternally, certainly as eternal as his life is.

So he, Vladimir, is condemned to live in this pain for the rest of his life.

He sighed before getting up from his bed, he looked at his room, the same for centuries. Nothing has changed, neither the decoration nor the colors. Everything is still as dark and sober, with no extravagance, just what is needed in the right place. He heard knocks at the door and a maid came in.

“Master, the elders are in the living room, they are waiting for you”

Vladimir looked at the maid bow down before bringing him a cup filled with a bright red liquid.

“This is the freshest of this morning. »

After saying it, she made a sad and annoyed face and Vladimir understood why. He just smiled at his maid's concern before dismissing her. Once she was outside, he took the cup and put it to his lips. The taste is bland but he prefers to be pleased with it.

Animal blood.

He would rather drink it than take blood from humans he didn't hunt himself. He prefers this because he no longer hunts humans or hasn't hunted in centuries since he lost her. The three of them set off, with his best friend, to find new prey and reveled in it greedily. But since she left him, he no longer finds the strength, nor the will for that matter.

The others say that he lets himself die slowly because the blood of animals is not strong enough and therefore not suitable for a person of his rank. He might think they care about his well-being, but he knows they don't. They are just trying to keep him alive because he's precious to them.

Nothing more, nothing less.

He finished his haircut before walking towards the exit door picking up a shirt as he passed.

"Let's listen to what these people still have to say to me"