NIGHTS OF HALLOW

Now alone in the hallway as they walked in the direction leading to the dungeon where Mr. Perkin and Mrs. Perkin were locked, Sthena spoke to the tensed Lady beside him, ”Relax your stiff shoulders, Perdita. You have nothing to worry about.”

”What if she knows?” Perdita asked in uncertainty.

”She doesn’t,” Sthena replied. ”The witches she was referring to are Serena and those men. Though she didn’t know about them before, she now knows through her son who had accidentally witnessed what happened in the corridor that day when I killed the fake Daemon.”

”But she wouldn’t stop. She wants me out of the castle.” Perdita said with a downcast look on her face. She had nowhere to go if she were to be chased from staying in the castle. Without her brother, she felt alone in this world.

Sthena gave a reassuring squeeze on Perdita’s hand. He said, ”Why worry about that when you have the protection of your King? You shouldn’t stress your little brain, green eyes. Relax.”

Before long, they arrived at the part of the castle where the dungeon was located. The dungeon was separated from the castle building with guards stationed outside and around it.

Perdita stared at the dungeon building giving mixed feelings as the building felt like something that would consume one with the loneliness of being held in there. The walls were made of black rough stones that glistened at their sharp tips because of the morning sun.

”Come on,” Sthena said as he led Perdita inside the building without questioning why she wanted to see the couple.

The interior of the dungeon was even bigger than she had thought it would be. Perdita thought to herself as her green eyes took in everything she could see in the slightly dark building.

As they walked further, Perdita noticed the difference between the front part of the dungeon and this part which they currently walked on.

Unlike the front side where she saw numerous rooms with metal doors, and also, that part was also neater than this side that reeked of the smell of rusting iron rods wafting from the rooms holding prisoners captive. This part had no metal door, only iron rods were used in place.

They crossed several persons being held captive and she wondered how many people committed an offense every day. The prisoners ranged from mainly young men to elderly men, and in some cases, she saw females too, and then a girl?

Perdita’s brows rose in surprise as she quizzed, ”Why is a girl of that age held captive?”

Knowing the person she was referring to, Sthena replied, ”Do not let the outward appearance deceive you.”

”What do you mean by that?” Perdita asked.

”The girl you see is no little girl, but an old vampiress who got her hands in black magic to turn herself into a child,” Sthena revealed.

”Really? I didn’t know that could be possible.” Perdita said in astonishment. Her eyes went back to look at the girl they had passed. To think she pitied her.

”It is very much possible. That one not only changed her appearance but she also deceived some families into thinking she was homeless. Any unfortunate family that takes her in would end up dead the following day.” Sthena narrated the brief story of the girl that had Perdita widen her eyes in disbelief.

Do such things happen? There were so many things hidden from the eyes of so many people. But then why keep her alive when it was this type that should be set on fire?

There were so many prisoners that she took pity on as they passed. Some lay there without rising while some managed to stand to see the visitors in the dungeon.

All of them appeared in their skeletal frames with little or no flesh attached to their body. The number of times they have been subjected to torture could be seen in their hollow eyes that held no life in them. It was as though they had given their life to their judgement day and the day when the air they breathed now would not belong to them.

It hurt to see so many in pain but then, just like the girl, so many of them could have done something worse than they had experienced here in the dungeon. It made the look of pity in Perdita’s eyes slowly wade off.

They finally arrived at the cell room of Mr. Perkin and Mrs. Perkin where they sat on the floor looking as if they had given up on life and were waiting for death to take over.

Perdita watched them from the outside, the guilt of their current predicament haunting her little heart. She didn’t want anyone to suffer because of her but then, these ones had wanted her and Marco dead as they had always been the thorn in their flesh in the village of Woodbridge.

”Won’t you say hello to guests?” Sthena voiced and rolled his eyes. ”Such a mannerless couple.”

Having heard someone’s voice apart from the wails that always came from people being tortured, the couple was surprised and was quick to turn and stand.

Both of them scowled in distaste at the sight of their supposed visitors. Their black eyes held so much hatred and anger towards Vampires before them that all they wished for was to run a stake through their chests.

”What are you doing here you blood-sucking leeches?!” Mr. Perkin scowled the more as he banged his hand on the iron rods keeping them hostage inside the cell room.

”Is that how you welcome your favorite ex-village member?” Sthena narrowed his eyes on the man.

Perdita stared at the couple without uttering a word. Seems like they haven’t changed one bit. They still wanted her dead. They didn’t even appear like they were held hostage, because, unlike other prisoners, they still looked healthy except for their tattered appearance where they looked like they had aged more in the past month they had been here.

”Did you come here to shame us, Perdita?” Mrs. Perkin questioned, her voice sounding raspy and out of breath for always being the one to scream to be let out before she eventually stopped when no help came.

She can still remember the days when she was tied and kept in Perdita’s house before she was suddenly whisked to this place, only to find her missing husband there too.

The first few weeks she was kept in the dungeon, she quarreled with the guards and also her husband whom she thought had cheated on her from the discovery they made through the red pills they found in his bag.

’You evil man! You cheated on me and made the villagers accuse me of taking birth control pills. They embarrassed me and put me in the local cell. You made me pass through countless humiliations after you went out with another woman!’ Mrs. Perkin had shouted while severely hitting her husband.

’Who is that woman?!’ Her wails continued for several weeks without letting her husband explain what happened. Finding out the woman her husband cheated on her with had been more important than her current predicament until she realized that she wasn’t getting out anytime soon, that was when she stopped quarreling with her husband and it gave Mr. Perkin space to explain how the pills came about.

Learning that the pills were still related to Perdita, it had enraged the village woman almost turning her mad as she screamed curses at the innocent Lady.

”What?!” Back to the present, Mrs. Perkin barked. Her furious gaze strained on Perdita as her head stuck out in-between the iron rods as though she wanted to bite off Perdita’s head. ”You whore, you will die with your breast cut out to be fed to dogs!”

As the words left her mouth so did a hard slap coming from Perdita land on her cheek. The impact of the slap caused her head to fling to the other side thereby banging it against the rod.

The older woman let out a yelp as her head seemed stuck in-between the iron rods.

”Why—why did you hit her you blood-sucking whore?! I’ll kill you!” Mr. Perkin shrieked in a horrified voice. He rushed to his wife’s side and helped her remove her head from the rods.

”Says the one who will die here,” Sthena nonchalantly replied. He stood by the side, his hands in his coat pocket as he regarded the couple in amusement.

”I thought that staying here for so long would get your brain working, but I was wrong.” Perdita’s green eyes hardened as she stared at her former village members.

”You are the whore, Mrs. Perkin. After everything I did for you, this is how you repay me.” As Perdita spoke, she took some steps forward while the couple took some cautious ones back in fear.

”If not for your foolish husband meddling in what doesn’t concern his big nose, both of you wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have so much trouble hanging on my neck!”

”You already got trouble on your neck when you go whoring around!” Mr. Perkin retorted in rage. ”You think I don’t know what the pills you were taking are meant for? They are birth control pills, you whore! Looking so innocent but dirty like a pig.” Mr. Perkin spat out in disgust.

”What did you say?!”