Two for tragedy. Volume 2

His silhouette, lit by the yellow light of the candles, was so ominous that my voice dropped. My body shook with a fine tremor. My breathing quickened. My heart pounded frantically. As the vampire approached me, I leaned against the wall with force. Grayson towered over me, and I had to lift my chin to look into his face, though it was hidden by the darkness. I felt small and insignificant and defenseless, because I knew that one blow from his hand and I'd be dead.

– Why are you afraid of me? – Grayson asked quietly. He touched my arm with his icy palm, then it slid up my shoulder, crawled up my neck, and stopped on my cheek.

– You're scaring me! – I squirmed, feeling a strong revulsion at his touch. My body tensed with terror.

– But you're not afraid of Cedric?

I couldn't answer him with words, so I shook my head negatively.

– Then why do you think I'm so scary?

But I remained silent and continued to breathe loudly and frequently.

– I can hear your heart beating loudly, like a bird in a cage," Grayson whispered in my ear. – And I know that when I brought you that dress, you wondered where I got it. Didn't you? It's just that you're not my castle's first guest, and this dress belonged to a young aristocrat who ran away with me from her mother's funeral.

"God, so it's a funeral dress! And he killed her!" – ran through my head.

– She was very beautiful, even for a mortal, and it felt good to kill her. – His beautiful ingratiating tone was even more terrifying than when he raised his voice at me. – Remember, Viper, if I ever hear you call me by any other name, you're on your own. You don't like being treated like furniture, do you?

– I'm sorry! – I tearfully exclaimed.

– Do you promise me?

– Yes!" I barely whispered, but that little bit was worth the effort.

He took his palm away from my cheek, clapped his hands together, and the dining room immediately lit up with a bright light that almost blinded me. I blinked quickly and saw that the vampire was already sitting in his chair.

But how? How did he do it so fast… Could Cedric really do all of this too?

– Sit down, or the food will get cold, and I don't want you to starve to death," the vampire smiled at me.

I saw that Grayson had already removed the lids from the dishes on my side of the table. I slowly made my way to my chair and sat down, but I didn't dare touch the beautiful cutlery.

– What did Morgan tell you? – The vampire asked suddenly. He sat back in his chair, his gaze fixed on me.

– About what? – I didn't understand.

– Don't play silly. About us.

– About vampires? Not much… Almost nothing," I lied, so as not to give away my lover.

– What kind of things? – Grayson asked.

– All I know is that you're immortal and you kill people… Well, and you keep it from humans that you drink our blood.

– You expect me to believe that?

– But it's true! Cedric is afraid to push me away. He says I don't need to know.

– That sounds very believable, Viper, but I know you're lying.

– I'm not lying! – I exclaimed in desperation.

– Why aren't you eating? – suddenly asked the vampire.

– I'm not hungry. – I had no desire to touch food.

– If you won't eat, I'll feed you myself. – Grayson's voice was cold: the tone of his voice frightened me, because I'd already realised that this vampire was the kind of vampire who always kept his promises.

He left me no choice: I put the first dish I could find on my pretty white plate, picked up my fork and knife, and silently began to eat. I was so hungry, it turned out, that I was glad to be able to satisfy my hunger with a tasty baked potato with some white sauce.

Grayson grinned at me.

– See, I knew you were hungry. You haven't eaten anything in almost two days," he said with a smile.

– Where did all this come from? – I asked. – You didn't make it yourself!

– Of course I didn't! – Grayson laughed and got up from his chair. – The cook from the nearest hotel was here while you slept, but I don't suppose you'd mind some red wine? You humans are such impractical and predictable creatures. – He took the bottle in front of him, poured the wine into two beautiful glasses and took them and headed towards me. One glass must have been meant for me. – I'll have some too, if you don't mind. – The vampire took a sip from the glass and stopped beside me, placing the second glass in front of me.

I ignored him and enjoyed the long-awaited meal, but the fork in my hand hung in the air as I glanced absently at the glass the vampire offered me, and then at him.

Blood. He was drinking blood.

A vomiting reflex swept over me. I threw the cutlery on the table, jumped out of my chair, and ran to the door, but it was locked.

He was drinking blood! He was offering it to me! Oh, my God, it was someone else's blood! Human blood!

– Yes, Viper, that's the beauty whose dress you're wearing," I heard him say in a calm, mocking voice.

The food I'd just eaten rose to my throat, and I had to cover my mouth with the palm of my hand to keep from throwing up right there in the dining room.

– Her blood is amazing. Do you want to try some? – Grayson appeared next to me and held out his glass to me.

– I'm going to throw up! – I burst out.

– Fine, you may go. But I really hurt that you're refusing to have dinner with me. – His voice was just ice cold.

The vampire unlocked the door, and I ran quickly to my room, stumbling as I went and tangling in my horrible mourning dress. Without fail, I locked myself in the bathroom, leaned over the toilet, and threw up.

"A monster! Could it be Cedric too… Yes, because Cedric drinks blood and kills people too! That's how he behaves in his castle in Prague! That's what he hides from my eyes! What an ugliness! What cruelty!" – I thought.

Soon my stomach was completely empty, and I was sitting on the cold tile next to the toilet, sobbing and wiping my mouth with a towel I'd grabbed before I threw up. Tears were streaming from my eyes. After sitting on the floor crying for quite a while, I found the strength to walk up to the washbasin and rinse my mouth copiously. My head was dizzy and splitting, my body was weak, and my eyes were blurred.

Suddenly I remembered that I was still wearing the dress of the girl Grayson had killed, and a deep self-disgust came over me. I rushed into the room, took off the cursed dress, threw it into a corner, and, rummaging through my suitcase, put on a pale pink, knee-length dress. Then, in physical and mental exhaustion, I lay down on the bed and curled up.

"He drinks blood from glasses… And my blood will splash in the bottle too. Wow, he keeps human blood in bottles like wine. So he exsanguinates his victim completely!" – came into my head, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight so I wouldn't see the image of Grayson drinking blood from a beautiful crystal glass.