The Vampires Torment

The Manor in The Forest and The Cursed Troll Butler

Oh, do leave it to Finn Wilde to look for the most remote place on this earth to run and hide from his duties. If you’d asked her, he was acting like a big crybaby. He had traded his life to become immortal. The first of his kind, he had made the underworld his domain. He was the king but now the king decided that he was done playing with power and went into hiding.

If only the rest of the down walkers can see him now, running away like a coward.

To them, they knew that their king was on a secret mission of some sort, that he was above world trying to free them from hidden existence. How pathetic really, Sabrina liked the underworld as it was, a different dimension from the human realm. Yes, the human realm had music, but so did the sirens and they were far better at it. Sabrina understood why down walkers loved to visit the human realm frequently it was lots of fun, that is if you can blend in, fortunately for her Sabrina was a great witch, and fitting in came naturally, with the help of magic of course.

Their king was in hiding, near a little village on the outskirts of nowhere. Sabrina had to hire a donkey cart. On arrival to the small village, she thought that the manor should be the one in the town square only to be told by a nice lady selling some homemade jams that that was the local law enforcement office. Her day got worse when the said woman told her that the place that she was seeking was deep within the woods, the lady also begged her not to go, that there was a demon that lived in the house, a demon that fed off the blood of humans. Finn Wild had made a name for himself.

A donkey cart had to be acquired since there were no modern means through the forest. But the man who owned the donkey cart refused to take her even farther up after he had seen the large house appear through the shadows of the trees, Sabrina rolled her eyes Humans were so superstitious, but then again the man had every right to be scared, the dark essence surrounding the house was thick in the air, like the stench of death, it made the hair on her neck stand up. Sabrina had no other choice she had to track the rest of the way up with her luggage in tow one full mile of walking in the woods.

No magic Sabrina, No magic, stay strong, think about killing him.

She gave herself a small pep talk. Not having to use magic had been the most challenging thing. She had spent two months getting rid of all the traces of magic on her, taking baths in deer's blood, drinking cerisvale potion to musk her magic. Even the most mundane tasks she had grown accustomed to became a challenge for her.

Humans hadn’t been quite far off with the whole vampire stories. That whole Dracula myth and how he lived in a castle or was it a mansion? Sabrina couldn't remember. But Bram Stoker was right about Dracula, but then again, Dracula was Finn Wilde but just a fictional version of Finn Wilde, it was too complicated, Finn’s wild adventures had bled into human society too much, no pun intended.

One of her knee-high boots had succumbed to the tension, the heel broke and was lodged deep within the sticky mud beneath her feet and she let out a growl. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. Really? It broke.” She screamed, her voice echoing through the cold forest. she was so done with all of this, mentally done with this, why wasn’t there an easier way to kill this vampire! Never mind, she just has to persevere, she’d do anything to watch him burn even this.

Slowly Sabrina climbed the coble staircase towards the large medieval-like door in front of her. She had finally made it to the manor after a very long and treacherous journey. This was it, she was in front of the door. She finally made it.

About a year ago Sabrina had been lounging lazily in her, New York apartment, just slowly perusing the daily newspaper in her peach nightgown and a glass of Henri Jayer Cros Parantoux in her hand, each item gifted to her by Aymer Tumas, a lovely warlock who had been her lover for a few decades but Sabrina had broken it off when he wanted more and she simply wasn’t the settling down type, not since what happened the last time, never again will she love and fall like that. He still gave her presents now and then, the warlock knew her taste.

It had been in the classified section. A help-wanted ad for a therapist. At first, Sabrina just read through it, and then Sabrina noticed it at the bottom of the help wanted ad, the most remarkable thing. It was a small little circle with a dot in the middle. In truth the thing was so small it could be just an ink error, but Sabrina knew better, she had years of experience and it was right there in front of her. Vampires had a knack for making servants, taking unsuspecting or willing victims and turning them into their servants. They were different from blood slaves, they were their master's companions. Only experienced vampires were able to bond another creature to them, that’s why it had taken her so many years to notice it.

When the servants offer their loyalty and allegiance to their master, they had to show proof of loyalty. At first, she thought it to be an old wives tale passed down from generation to generation, down walkers were a bit emotional when it came to tradition. The act of service, the show of loyalty.

The keepers of knowledge didn’t even understand the master and servant bond, nor how to use it. The devil is always in the details. The simplicity of it all was phenomenal. It was as easy as calling their master, master and any message sent from their master should show that it was by the Master. Complicated to explain but easy to understand. For every parchment or note that Finn had written over the years, there had always been some inconsistencies.

The handwriting had always been the same but once in a while at the left bottom of every note, every parchment every page that he had written was a circle with a dot in the middle, sometimes it was clearly visible, and other times you had to hold up the note to the sky to even see it. It was the mark of Service made by a servant, a servant who had written it for his master. Each mark is unique yet still the same.

Sabrina had finally found him. At that moment, when the shock of finding the remarkable thing in a human newspaper she set up her plan.

Over the few days, Sabrina battled with the deep echoing need to just leave, teleport herself and kill him there, and then, her blood boiled for it. Images of him being chopped up, blood soaking her hands while his screams rang through the air as he was dying, choking on his own blood.

She had to remind herself that Finn was not just an ordinary vampire she could just tempt and seduce her way into his bed and then slit his throat. No, he was the most powerful creature in the underworld, heck he was the king, she was planning treason and if any down walker knew of it they’d make sure she hangs once again from the highest branch of the shrieking tree in the middle of the forsaken meadow, she was attached to her neck, better not risk it. She should play her cards right and close. And with that, she had to become a therapist.

Sabrina had acquired the job after a few spells courtesy of Loise, her close friend who thought that Sabrina had needed the reality shifter spell for her little schemes, it paid to be a bit risqué sometimes.

“Can I help you?” The door had opened revealing. Quite an ugly man. Well, ugly inhuman standards. She sniffed the air.

My, my, my, what do we have here?

She was not expecting him. This man standing right in front of her. The Humanoid with a butler suit was half human half-troll. An interesting breed.

I wonder who made him?

He was ugly in human standards. He was pale almost gray, his eye’s were a mix of grey and something metallic, it was a dull silver almost mixed with hues of grey and his hair was white, long and framed his face in an almost godly manner. Sabrina could now confirm that the half troll half human was indeed quite handsome and also a bit familiar.

“My name is Anna. I'm the new therapist. I believe you've been expecting me.”

He looked at her up and down sizing her up, analyzing her. Trolls were fascinating creatures. Despite their fear and detest for sunlight and their natural inclination to the dark, they had sharp senses. They could smell fear or guilt in anyone, an evolutionary feature to survive. Finally coming to a conclusion that Sabrina was indeed a human he opened the door a bit wider, his smile carved upwards a bit, just ever so slightly. Then he let out a smile.

“Yes, Miss Ann, we have been expecting you do come in.”

He extended his hand grasping at the grey muddy suitcase beside her, slightly thrilled that the little burden of carrying her own suitcase had been expelled from her she sighed, only then did she notice it, it was a flick of the wrist, the Troll had exposed the sensitive flesh of his wrist as he rolled the heavy luggage towards him.Sabrina stopped.

What in the Holy Hell.

It was not a rune, that she was sure of, runes did not burrow beneath the flesh and aren’t the color of diseased blood, they were ore of a scar, and the purple-like indention within the confines of the trolls was anything but that. It was a witch's curse, a sign of a hex.

He saw her staring and her eyes darted upwards.

“That’s a nasty bruise, how did it happen?” She asked inquisitively faking the posh upper East side accent that she had spent a while perfecting, with the help of some spells.

“Cooking accident, I’m afraid.”

“It looks like it hurt.”

“It did, but a long long time ago.”

What she’d give for a memory spell right now. The butler was clever enough to see past her facade in an instant, that is if she let her guard down.

But a hex was powerful magic, so what did the poor creature do to deserve such a thing. And what was the curse?