Sacrifice Helle

Chapter 31

My heart skipped a beat. Asami! I was going to see her! What were we waiting for?! Come on Vaan, move those feet of yours!! He turned and looked at me a little annoyed, but started moving. Iselin followed after with Darien. The loud music returned and I believed I was going deaf. I started hearing this little thin sound in my ears. Vaan walked steadily towards the stairs we had gone down earlier, pushing through the crowd, the ocean of bodies. We went up and out into the hall. The huge doors closed behind us and the music immediately sounded further away. My head relaxed a bit.

We continued walking, and walking, /GOD I’M SO TIRED OF ALWAYS WALKING AROUND, THIS PLACE IS TOO GOD DAMN HUGE!!!/ Both Iselin and Vaan glared at me. I glared back,/Don’t read my mind if you can’t handle what’s in it!/ I thought I was going crazy, after all this freaking time, would I FINALLY be able to see her?! I tried being patient, really I did, but it was hard.

After some time, up and down, through hallways, passing gates, we got there. Vaan stopped in front of a door and pulled up a key from his pocket. Magic again I figured, doors weren’t known to stop vampires. But before he put it in the lock he said to Iselin, “You two stay outside.” Iselin protested, “I’m allowed to go in there if I please so!” “Okay, so we shall just leave that demon out here waiting for us then? Because he’s not coming in here!” “He’s not going anywhere.” “Oh, you trust him that much now? If you had let the collar stay around his neck, maybe I could have left him waiting.” He turned and faced her, a sign of anger in his eyes, “You decided to let him free, you take responsibility. And I take mine, demons teleport, he’s not going in here.” Vaan eyed Darien. “He would do anything to get to me, even stealing the sacrifice. I’m not letting him in.”

I froze. Darien WOULD do anything to get to Vaan. And… Iselin, she… Vaan said that she hated him. And she was the one who wanted Darien here in the first place. And she had had the collar removed, she… She would do anything to get to Vaan too? I tried shaking the thought of conspiracy off. Being in the underworld made me paranoid.

Iselin gave in, and she and Darien waited outside. Vaan opened the door and we entered. I held my breath as my eyes scanned the room in hope of seeing Asami quickly. I didn’t. Instead I saw a room, rather large, filled with gigantic bird cages. Many of them, all hanging from the ceiling, and inside there were people. I walked closer to the first cage I saw and peeked inside. A little girl, she seemed to be asleep, her arms curled up around her legs. She was pretty, with long black hair, dark skin and beautiful silken clothes. I looked around confused. How many of these cages were there? The next cage: another little girl, as I walked over to her, her eyes slowly opened and she looked at me. She wore beautiful makeup, lovely clothes and had gorgeous silken curls cascading down her back. But she was not Asami. “How many..?”, I whispered. “43.” I turned to Vaan, “And they are all going to the Dark Lord?!” “No. He wishes for only 7. But I haven’t decided yet which ones to give.” “What will happen to the rest?” He smirked. “Don’t tell me.” I looked around the room. “Which one?” Vaan moved over to a cage in the back of the room, I followed. It was her! Asami!

I ran over to the cage, she looked at me as I came over and smiled widely. She too had makeup on, beautifully clothes, they were made of red silk, and her hair hang down, framing in her beautiful face. “Master Vaan!” /huh?/ Vaan came up next to me and Asami reached her hands out for him. “You came to visit me? I have been a good girl, I’ve slept all the time! Is it time now? Shall we go now?” “Not yet, Asami, the Lord will not arrive before another week or so. But you will meet him, don’t worry. He will love you.” “Asami!”, I cried. She didn’t take her eyes of Vaan. “Asami, dear, you have a visitor.” Vaan pointed at me, and Asami’s eyes let go of Vaan.. She didn’t speak a word. “Asami, don’t you recognize me?” She looked at me weirdly, then she turned to Vaan again, “Master, it’s a human…” “I know, Asami, it’s your sister, Helle.” She looked at me again. “Oh. Will she be given to the Lord as well?” “No.” “I like her hair.” “It’s unique, yes?” “Non of the other girls have such.” Asami looked down at her lap then she looked up and smiled at Vaan again, “But the Lord will love me right? Even if I’m not anything special?” Vaan laughed back, “Yes, you are so cute. I’m sure he will adore you.” Her smile widened. I was in shock. She hardly noticed me! It didn’t seem that she even remembered me! “What did you do to her?”, I asked Vaan. “I gave her of my blood. She is my ghoul for now.” “Ghoul?” “Practically my slave. She is bond to me by my blood. It keeps her from human needs like food and such, and she loves me. The effect will ware off in a few days. The Lord would not like it if she loved me instead of him.” I looked back at my sister. It was true, she was not herself. It was no use talking to her. “Go back to sleep, Asami.”, Vaan told her. Then he took hold of me and walked me out of there. I watched the floor as we walked, not knowing what to do. We came out where Iselin and Darien awaited.

I stopped caring and went straight over to Darien, throwing my arms around him and cried. He folded his arms around me and hugged me back. I felt so safe with him, but he could not save Asami, I didn’t think anyone could. “Now,” , Iselin said, “return to your home. You have seen your sister, so go back.” I bit my lip. It was true, I had gotten what Vaan had promised me, I had seen my sister. There was no more reason to stay. How I wished there was something I could do. “You don’t have to leave.” It was Vaan. “You can stay here, stay close to your sister, until we leave for the Lord.” I looked at him. “No.”, Darien whispered, “We should leave now. Before something happens.” He was ready to teleport out of there. “If you go now you can never come back.”, Vaan continued. “Leave!”, Iselin insisted. My heart was torn. Vaan moved closer to me and reached his hand out for me. “You can stay here, and from time to time see your sister. Say farewell to her.” “There’s nothing you can do now, Helle.”, Darien told me, “He will never let Asami free.” Still that little piece of hope stayed with me. To stay here. Close to Asami. Maybe after the effect of Vaan’s blood wore off, maybe I could… If nothing else then to say goodbye to my real sister, not the ghoul version of her. I lifted up my hand and let Vaan take hold of it. “No, Helle! Don’t listen to him!” Darien tried to hold me back, but I freed myself from his grip and went over to Vaan. /Just for a little longer. Until I can say farewell. Until she has to go./ Iselin bit her teeth together and turned her back on us. “Remember, Helle, that you could have left now. You could have gone home.” She then walked away. Vaan smiled at me, “Don’t mind her, she’s just grumpy. She’s always been like that.” “I want him WITH me this time. Not in a collar, not locked up. With ME.” Vaan’s eyes hardened. “Fine.” My belly suddenly made a loud rumble and I bend together from the pain. “I need some food…”

Vaan laughed a little, “I’m sorry, I forgot all about feeding you, come with me.” He turned his head to Darien, “Keep up, please.”

We went to one of Vaan’s private rooms, Darien lumped down at the floor in a corner. He didn’t like my new plan at all, and he hated to walk around with Vaan. I was seated on a chair next to a table, Vaan went off to find me something to eat. I looked at Darien, “I… I’m sorry if this makes you feel uncomfortable.” He looked at me angrily, “We should leave. We can still leave. I don’t understand what you want.” A tear fell down my cheek. “I just want… I’m just trying to… I don’t know, just something!” “He wants to turn you. If you turn into… a vampire… I will not be here for you any longer. I swear to you, you will be on your own.” Vaan returned with some bread and water. “I’m sorry you can’t have better, this is the only human food we have around here.” “It’s better than nothing. I guess.”

They both watched me eat in silence. “Please don’t do that, it’s disturbing.” Darien turned his head, but Vaan kept watching me. “You know, there is one way for you to stay closer to Asami.” He paused and I waited for him to continue. It occurred strange to me to hear him speak her name, I don’t think I had heard him say it before. “And a way for you to stay close to her all until she is given away. And maybe even after she is given away, there is a way for you to stay around, perhaps you can learn what happens to her. How she is doing. When we give her to the Lord the effect of my blood would have worn off, if you stay with her until then… And even after... But there’s only one way.” “And that is..?”, I knew what would come, but I didn’t want to believe it, so I let Vaan finish my sentence. “If you become my child.”

His fingers played with mine across the table. Darien closed his eyes. His appearance seemed cold and unaffected, but I knew it was only on the surface. “If not, you can not follow us to the Lord, I will not bring you.” “When will you leave for him, the Lord?” “We stay here for about a week or two, we don’t take the time, in the underworld there are no days, and time is different from above.” I swallowed the last piece of bread. /If I become a vampire… Me? A vampire?/ The idea crazy. I imagined myself with fangs. I thought of Embla, she enjoyed it. And she was just turned. I thought of Iselin, she hated it. And she was 100 years old. Vaan? He seemed okay with it. But to do that to myself, just in order to SEE my sister?! She would be given away anyway! /But as long as I’m just a human, I can do shit./ “I need to think. Alone. Without you reading my mind.”