NIGHTS OF HALLOW

The same day of the hallow ball, in the town of Cuckooland and one of the mansions belonging to one of the pureblooded vampires stood a man in his all-black attire. His black cloak covered his body from head to toe leaving no space to see his skin.

He stood there with a glass of blood in his hand he drank once in while.

Behind him knelt an old man with his wife and their young son. The hands of the old man were terribly shaking under the sleeves that covered his hands. Hot sweat was profusely tricking down his forehead and body which he didn’t dare raise his hand to wipe in fear of causing any movement that might attract the attention of the man whose back was facing them.

This old man kneeling with his wife and young son was none other than Mr. Malphus and his family who together had planned to run far away from their master, but everything turned out futile.

Mr. Malphus with his wife and son had been in this kneeling position for the past four hours now since they were caught. Mr. Malphus thought he would successfully escape from his master not knowing the pureblooded vampire had the game in control.

Some hours ago,

Three men were seen dragging three people behind them. The hands and feet of these people were tied by these men so they wouldn’t be able to escape.

”Please let my family go. I...I did not run away from master” Mr. Malphus repeatedly pleaded with the men which fell on deaf ears.

One of the men sneered ”Of course, you were not running away. You can tell that to master once we get back to Cuckooland.”

Mr. Malphus with his wife and son were almost at the border between Woodbridge and the neighboring village when they were caught by the colleague of Clayton as instructed by their master.

Mr. Malphus had to go to the north where his family was living to get them before they can escape. If not for the delay of traveling to the north and then back to Woodbridge where they would get easy access to cross the border, they wouldn’t have been caught.

They were caught and hurdled up to Cuckooland where their master was staying. His wife and son had no idea why they were running and were suddenly being tied and carried to an unknown place.

”Master, we are back with Mr. Malphus,” The men bowed to their master and made Malphus kneel with his head pressed to the ground.

Their master turned his head to the side just enough to acknowledge their presence.

”Good,” He spoke after a long pause he took after puffing out a cloud of thick smoke from the pipe he was smoking from.

”Malphus,” He called with his hoarse deep voice that sent a wave of terrifying shock down the old body of Malphus.

”Y...yes, m...master” Malphus stuttered to answer.

”Where have you been?” The man questioned with his not-so-good gentle voice.

Malphus slightly raised his head to look at their master who was leisurely smoking and puffing out clouds and clouds of thick smoke from his mouth.

”I’ve b...been nowhere, master”

”Hmm,” He hummed in an understanding tone ”I see you’ve been on the pills I asked you to sell?”

”Y...yes Master. I’m on it as you ordered” Malphus replied in a shaky tone. These past weeks had been nothing but stressful in his old life, and it seemed he had aged more than he did the last few years he turned 70.

Their master stayed quiet again and continued smoking his pipe not caring about the room that had become choking to Malphus and his family. They were humans, so it affected them more than It did the men who were also in the room that were vampires. Smoke and alcohol had little or no effect on vampires, which is why they can go on to take it as much as they like and still be unaffected.

After a while, their master turned around to face Malphus and the other people in the room. He asked,

”If that is so. Why have my men been looking for you? Shouldn’t you be in your old shack?”

Malphus felt a hot sweat trail down his forehead down to his neck and it was soaked by the old and dirty shirt he wore.

”Master. Please forgive me, I...I only went to visit my family in the north, nothing more. I can never leave what you asked me to do and run away”

”Is that so? Then why did you guys tell me he ran away with his family?” He asked the men who became alert on their master’s question.

One of the men went up and spoke ”Master, do not believe this man. He’s spouting rubbish”

”Tsk,” The master clicked his tongue in disapproval ”John is it? You did not answer my question. Don’t make me repeat myself”

”Yes, master” John bowed his head and began ”Master, as you instructed, we went to deliver the pills to your marketers. We spilt into four. While we went another way, Clayton went to the house of Mr. Malphus. But when we came back after the deliveries, we did not find Clayton nor Malphus in the village. We later found out that Clayton was abducted and Malphus ran away”

The man puffed another thick smoke from his mouth ”Did they get it right, Malphus? Lest you have forgotten, every lie you spout has a more severe punishment than you could imagine. So think well before you answer”

The open threat was a clear warning to Malphus not to speak more lies than he already did. Knowing there was no way out of this, he decided to reveal everything that happened since the coming of that red-haired vampire.

Malphus bowed several times, his head knocking on the hard floor. He besieged ”Master, please forgive me. Please leave my family out of this. I’ll answer every question of yours. I promise I won’t lie to you”

”Your answer will guarantee if you, your wife, and your son will get out of here alive,” Their master said and paused. He continued with his questions ”That man who abducted Clayton, how did he know about the pills?”

”That...I...I don’t know Master”

”You can’t tell me you don’t know!” Their master suddenly burst into a rage. ”Do you know who that man is?!”

Malphus shook from where he knelt on the floor.”I...I don’t know Master.”

”Of course, you don’t know. How will your old brain know? When all that is inside is garbage”

Malphus immediately shut his mouth. He didn’t dare open his mouth again. Suddenly, he raised his head ”But I heard them discussing he worked for the king” his voice was almost a whisper in the last sentence. His master had specifically warned him not to make the king or anyone working for him know. But now, someone from the castle who was obviously working for the king knew about the pills. More than trying to escape, he would be buried alive here.

”You’re such an old fool Malphus, you heard them discussing he worked for the king. When he himself is the king! You met the king! The king now knows about the pills! The same king abducted Clayton and has probably gotten so much information about me and the pills from him. What do you think you were doing?!” The man spoke with so much rage inside him that was about to set the building on fire.

He had to applaud the king or probably host a party to congratulate him. He was so smart to hide his identity so he could camouflage and mingle with the lower class to get more information. How was he able to know that Malphus was selling it? Unless!

The man suddenly turned to look at Malphus. His face was covered by the hood he wore. But the dark red eyes shining in the dark could be seen as they peered down at Malphus.

”You said you heard them discussing?” Who were they?” He inquired in a hard tone.

Malphus was still shocked at the revelation he heard just now. The man that abducted Clayton and also gave him money to escape was the king? So Perdita knew the king?! When? How? Why? He questioned in his head until he was jolted out of his confused state.

”Yes, yes, I heard them discussing it, but I didn’t know he was the king, master” Malphus mindlessly answered not sure what his master had asked.

”You damned fool! I asked who were they?!”

Finally getting the question, Malphus turned quiet and refused to speak. No matter how things turned out, he couldn’t implicate Perdita and Marco. He had deceived them enough into thinking that the pills will make them turn into humans again. He knew how crazy and dangerous his master can be so he could achieve his goals. He didn’t have the heart to indirectly kill the siblings.

They were young and were the same age as his son. They could be children too.

Suddenly their master grabbed the son of Malphus by the collar ”You don’t want to speak?! Fine, I’ll kill your son and then your wife, before I kill you!” He continued to rage with a murderous look on his face. He couldn’t lose. He had gone so far to lose so suddenly. He’ll do whatever it took to take what was rightfully his. No one can stop him. Not even the king.

”No! Please, master, leave my son out of this. I’ll speak. I’ll speak, please don’t hurt my family” More than wanting to protect the siblings, he couldn’t leave his family to die in this place because of other people.

”Then who is it?!” He roared.

”It’s Perdita. It’s Perdita. She’s the one that was with t...the king” Malphus finally confessed. It was still hard to believe that the man was the king.

”It wasn’t that hard to say who it was. Was it?” The man released the son of Malphus and signaled to his men ”GET HER!”