Aleron: Book One of Strigoi Series (Stringoi Series) (2 page)

I wondered if she had disappeared into the darkness of the corridor, and I walked toward it in search of her. I entered the first room to the left, where a naked lady was sitting in a chair, waiting. She watched me as I took in the room and then closed the door. I then opened the next door. A woman stood in the middle of the room. She motioned for me to enter and take her. I closed that door as well. The unknown voice in my head began calling out to me as I continued looking into the rooms in the corridor.

When I came to the last room, I was certain she had to be inside, for
no doors remained and there was no other way out without passing the guards, whose job was to prevent the women from leaving. I swung open the door, but to my surprise, I saw no one. The room was empty. One of the guards had been observing my curious behavior, and from the doorway I shouted, “Where did the concubine go who was occupying this room?”

“No one has left the room, my lord,” he replied.

How strange, I thought, and reentered to investigate. A women’s nightgown lay on the floor in a heap in the far corner of the room. I reached down to pick it up. It was sheer and white with a few scarlet drops resembling red wine smudged on it. Nothing else was in the room. Suddenly the door slammed shut. Startled, I swiftly turned around, only to see the hanging mirror on the inside of the door reflecting me standing in the empty room. I sprang to the door and tried in vain to open it, but it had somehow locked when it shut. I turned, hoping to find something I could use to pry open the door. Instead, standing in the middle of the room was the woman I’d seen in the corridor. She watched me, silently.

“Hello, my sweet,” I said.

“Hello, Aleron,” she replied in a sultry voice.

As soon as I heard her speak, I recognized hers as the voice that had been in my head those many nights as I slept, and the voice speaking the words I had heard moments before, while I was searching for her.

Strange. Women didn’t speak in this manner to men. Furthermore, how did she know my name? I walked closer to her and found myself immersed in her gaze. I couldn’t speak. I don’t know if it was her perfectly proportioned body or her stunning brown eyes that seemed to change hues reflecting the candlelight, but I was utterly consumed by the beautiful goddess who stood before me. She had a petite stature, one I imagined an Egyptian princess might possess. Her face seemed absolutely innocent, accentuated by large, childlike eyes, even though I could sense that her intentions were anything but. Her lips were the perfect complement to her beautiful face. Her skin, an unblemished olive, seemed almost to glow. She held her head completely motionless as she moved gracefully across the room with perfect posture and preternatural precision, like a feline fixed on her prey.

Her dress was of another time, and it was made from the finest and most expensive silk that I’d ever seen. Clearly, this woman had known wealth. She couldn’t be more than twenty years old, five years my junior. She was perfect. Inhumanly perfect. Heavenly perfect. Instantly I was drawn to her.

Come to me, my love. Don’t fear me. I’ve chosen you above all others. Come to me, aleron
.

She was at least six feet from me, but in the blink of an eye, I was in her tender yet powerful embrace. What happened next, I couldn’t quite comprehend at the time. Before I knew it, we were soaring over the building and then high above the neighboring rooftops. Closer and closer to the moonlight we flew. I was frightened, yet her embrace made me feel secure and calm, like the calmness a child must feel after he has been separated from his mother but is reunited as she guides him to safety.

“Close your eyes,” she whispered and pulled me closer to her. I didn’t know what was more chilling, the brisk night air or her hardened body that felt as if it were made of stone. Nevertheless, I drew closer as she guided us to our distant and obscure destination.

After some time, we began to slow and then to descend. I kept my eyes closed for I was uncertain of what was to become of me. I wondered where she was taking me and why I could not resist her. I finally gathered enough strength to utter, “Put me down at once.” Before I knew it, I was free-falling on what seemed a bottomless journey into darkness. Screaming, I pleaded with God to spare my life, promising to do only His bidding from that point on. The ground was drawing closer, and I could see it plainly. Memories and thoughts of my family, friends, loved ones, and the various women I knew flashed through my mind.

I felt I was going to die, until something abruptly stopped my fall. I opened my eyes and saw her holding my leg from one arm as easily as if I weighed nothing at all. I dangled upside down, suspended in the air. I looked up at her and saw that she was amused by my cries and prayers for forgiveness. Then, she dropped me! My heart almost burst with fright, but before I was able to scream, my body hit the ground.

And with a smirk she inquired, “Why do you pray for God even though God doesn’t care about you nor your prayers?”

Completely ignoring her question, I demanded, “What manner of being are you? Why did you bring me here?”

“Because I chose you,” she replied. “You will be my king. You will give me what he refuses to. You will be mine for all eternity.”

Instantly she had me in her powerful embrace again. I struggled this time, even though I wanted to be near her. My desire for her was overwhelmingly strong.

“Calm yourself, my love. I know how you long for me. I know what you desire from me.”

She was right. I did long for her. Her voice was soothing and irresistible. I wanted whatever she brought me there for. I resisted no more and was soon calm again, wanting only to hold her close, to embrace and love her.

As I looked into her brown eyes, I closed mine and began to kiss her lips. Unnaturally cold they were, yet soothing and satisfying. It seemed my body heat had no bearing on her freezing touch. But however cold, I couldn’t stop, and I didn’t want to stop. I felt as if I were in a beautiful dream. I couldn’t remember a dream so vivid in its interpretation of human senses and desires.

I forced my eyes open to capture the moment. To my surprise, she was staring at me. The rich brown of her eyes became a metallic copper. I tried feebly to continue the passionate kiss, but she slowly pulled her lips away, revealing sharp, elongated canines.

Before I could gasp she punctured my neck, and I felt pain like nothing I had ever felt before. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. I began to feel tears gather and fall. I used my remaining strength to push myself away from her grasp. Then she was on me again, and darkness fell over me. I began to lose consciousness, and I could sense only coldness and silence, save the beating of my heart. And just before the eclipse of death, I heard her voice for the last time through my human ears. “Be still, my love. You’re safe with me.”

CHAPTER 2

awoke engulfed in a malodor that unmistakably arose from decaying flesh. I tried to move, but I could hardly persuade my arms and legs into motion. I lay helpless, in agonizing pain. I felt as if my insides were an inferno and rigor mortis were setting into my limbs. I felt something warm on my skin, and I struggled to raise my head. When I was finally able to see myself, I realized I was completely naked. I then noticed a bloody mass around my buttocks. I was no medical scholar, but I could tell the bloody mass was made of organs. My organs! I could see my own liver, kidneys, and a bloody pouch, which I soon came to realize was my stomach. My internal organs were outside of my body, lying in a fleshy soup. How could this be? How could I live without the very organs that keep me alive? I uttered a scream that echoed throughout the room I was lying in. The vibrating sounds danced off the nearby walls, mocking my withering existence.

I screamed over and over again, “Why have you brought me here? What have you done to me?” When I realized that I had raised my arms into the air reaching for an explanation, I instantly stopped screaming and looked down at my torso again. I could no longer trust my eyes so I began running my hands over my body, starting with my torso, searching for the apparent gaping wound I had seen.

My body was now intact, but I felt the warm, fleshy, almost rubbery substances that were my organs rotting near my buttocks and under my legs. My mind told my body to move. I reclaimed mastery over my limbs. My neck also obeyed my commands. The stiffness I felt just moments before was gone. As I stood, I felt the things that should be inside of me slide down the back of my legs onto the floor below. I stepped away from the mess and realized that my legs suddenly felt strong. My entire body was reanimated.

I surveyed the room. Candles burning around the room illuminated coarse walls made of a dark, clay-like material. The damp floor was made of the same material, as was the arched ceiling. There were no windows. The oversized, stone-framed door seemed fit for a giant, not a man. I walked over to the door, stepping over rusted chains and shackles. I put my hands flat on the door’s warm metal surface. Just from my touch, I could tell the door was thick. I ran my hands up and down along its carved surface, trying to decipher the unfamiliar story depicting the cast of demons and monsters engraved in the metal. I turned around and leaned my back against the door and looked around the room.

This is a dungeon!
I thought. This is where someone is brought who has wronged another and who will thus receive unspeakable torment. Despite what I had been through and where I now found myself, I felt no fear. Though I was naked, I didn’t feel the slightest chill. I reached out to feel the warmth offered by one of the burning candles, and I felt nothing. I began to feel rage. “Why am I here?” I screamed. “What have you done to me? Show yourself!” I demanded.

My voice sounded as if I were speaking through an amplifier, greater than anything my lungs had ever produced. I realized that my sense of smell was extraordinarily keen. The different scents in the air assaulted my nostrils, and I wondered if even a bloodhound had a sense of smell so
powerful. Suddenly, I felt an excruciating hunger of the likes I’ve never known and have yet to feel again. I was completely consumed by this unknown craving. It began to drive me mad; I felt I was going to die if I didn’t find immediate nourishment, something to make the yearning subside. Food wasn’t my desire. I wanted something different from what I had ever known. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but I had to find and consume it!

I turned around and faced the grand door. I looked for a handle. There was none. I began pushing on it. It didn’t budge. I tried once again with both hands, and it still didn’t move. I then pressed my back against it, planted my feet firmly, and used my legs to push and propel myself backward. Though it seemed impossibly heavy, the door began to move, and I was able to push it open enough to allow me to slip through.

I found myself in a long dark corridor. There was a faint flicker of light from the dungeon I’d managed to escape, and even though this hallway lacked the candles afforded in the previous room, I could see everything in it as if it were illuminated by thousands of tiny metallic light-reflecting particles. The walls were consistent with the dungeon. I began to walk away from the slightly open door, and as I walked, I heard something familiar, yet I was unable to determine what it was. It had a steady rhythm that was faint at first and grew louder until it thundered, which is when I came to know it. It was indeed the sound a heart makes while circulating blood throughout a body. But whose heartbeat was it? Were it mine, I would have heard it all along. Someone else was here with me.

I followed the sound of the beating heart as it grew louder and more distinct. I hadn’t realized my pace had quickened until I noticed that each of my steps brought me five yards closer to a candle that had once seemed thirty yards away. The heartbeat grew louder, and the smell filled my nostrils, intensifying my hunger. I stopped outside the room from which the heartbeat emanated. I heard a low moan. I was even able to hear each breath. The thick stone walls should have prevented the flight of these sounds. Logic and reason seemed to no longer exist.