chapter 73

ARIELLA.

It didn't take me long to climb the trapdoor and open it. It smelled funny in there, so I was a bit apprehensive to get inside what seemed to be an attic. But I could sense something in there so I went in despite the darkness. It was spacious inside as expected for the attic of the part of the castle where my room was. I looked around and noticed that I was in a bedroom. The furniture here were all antiques too, giving the room a classy vibe.

There was a four-poster bed in the middle of this dark room. And I suddenly gasped because of what I saw. Someone was lying on the bed. My heart raced as I realized that it could be another vampire that I didn't know. Viel never told me that he was alone in this castle, after all. So this might be another one of them. I couldn't see who this vampire was because of the dark, but I knew that it was a guy. He must be sleeping and this could be his room. Something told me to just leave because of the potential danger, but curiosity got the best of me and I walked closer to the sleeping person.

And when I got near enough, I was petrified when I saw the person's face. It was David! How was this possible? Was he sleeping in here all this time?

Rage immediately got me as soon as I confirmed that it was him. "You... How dare you just sleep here---" I went to attack David but I fell to the floor as something hit my back. Someone had pushed me and that startled me too.

"You are not allowed here," said Viel. He was already here and I didn't even notice. "I just went out for a few minutes and you're already causing havoc here?" Viel was extra furious for some reason.

"You lied to me! David is here!" I yelled, pointing at David who was still asleep on the bed. "I will kill him!" I got up and prepared to attack the sleeping David again, but this time, Viel did something that was both creepy and jaw-dropping. His right hand suddenly turned into a snake... Yes… His hand transformed into a long, green, scaly snake and it lunged into me so quickly that I wasn't able to dodge it.

The snake bit me on my shoulder, and then it started coiling me, catching me off guard. I was taken aback by Viel's ability. It seems like his hand could turn into a live snake that can elongate on its own will. And now it wrapped me so easily and no matter how I tried to get out of it, I couldn't. The snake's body was so strong that I could feel my ribs starting to hurt.

"I was told not to hurt you, but you left me with no choice," Viel said to me angrily. "This isn't a place where you should be, Ariella. Now, let's go back..."

"No! Wait! Why is David here? I thought that he went back to New Forks. And why the hell is he still sleeping?"

"You ask too many questions," he replied nastily. "But I guess I can answer them, now that you have seen the young master."

"Young master?"

"Yes. He is not David. He is Young Master Darius. He's the Vampire King's twin, in case it isn't obvious."

That stunned me big time. "What? Is it not David? And he has a twin?"

"Look at him again and you will notice their differences. The Young Master Darius hasn't woken up from his sleep for over twenty years now, so there are some differences with his appearance from the Vampire King's."

I looked at the sleeping man again. He has the same face as David, but upon closer look, they have indeed some differences. This Darius guy seemed to be a bit skinnier and his jaw is more prominent. His hair was also longer than David's and he was wearing something only a prince from a fairy tale would wear.

"See? Your expression tells me that you now believe that I am telling the truth. Because I am. He is not the Vampire King, but his twin brother."

"There's no way that there is another vampire in their family... Is this some kind of a joke?” I said because if this was indeed David’s twin, then he could also be as formidable as David and that’s a problem.

“I have no time for jokes, Ariella.”

“Okay, but why is he just here? And did you say that he hasn't woken up yet? For twenty years? So he's been sleeping like that for the last twenty years straight?"

"Yes. But I can't tell you the details of why he is like that. Anyway, I'm putting you in another room, as I forgot that the room below that you are using now is connected to this attic room. Now, you have to get out of here."

Viel's snake was still coiled around my body so he was able to take me out of the room. Viel did put me in another room and locked the one that I used earlier so I couldn't climb up again. It seemed like he was instructed not to let me get near David's twin and I got curious as to why that was instructed to Viel.

I was absent-minded during dinner and I couldn't sleep even after midnight, all because my mind was still in that room in the attic where the sleeping vampire called Darius was. I would have gone back to him if not for Viel who kept a close eye on me after what happened. But he already messed up when he put me in that room earlier which was directly under that attic room. It wasn't my fault that I found Darius.

***

It took another day for me to have another chance to go back to that attic room. Viel went out of the castle again probably to hunt for humans and it was the perfect time for me to go back to Darius and investigate his situation. Viel was confident that I wouldn't get back to that room because he had locked all of the places inside the castle that had trap doors that led to the attics, but he forgot that I was strong enough to punch a hole in the ceiling.

It took me three tries before I did it though, so I wasn't really pleased with that. But it was better than nothing, so I climbed up to the attic again and went to Darius. He was still sleeping as always, and this time I looked at his body for any signs of the reason that he wasn't waking up. But I couldn't find anything except for a necklace on his neck.

The necklace looked familiar though and I knew why. It was almost identical to the one that I had with me. The only difference between our necklaces was that the pendant of his necklace was an emerald stone instead of sapphire.

"No... It can't be... Why does he have the same necklace? Does he know my mother?"

And just as I said that, the necklace that I was wearing suddenly shone brightly. The same thing happened with the one that Darius was wearing on his neck. And then the light from the two necklaces created one ball of light that almost blinded me. For a second, I thought that the whole room was going to explode, but that didn't happen. Instead, Darius woke up as soon as the light disappeared. He looked around and then he saw me.