Dexter

------------

Everything happened so fast that no one even had time to react. All we saw was the bloody body of the maid on the floor.

No one dared to utter a word, everyone perfectly felt the atmosphere filling the small room. Suffocating creepy atmosphere. We have come back to what we have been walking away from for centuries.

He went off the rails.

He just lost myself in this agony of anger and anger. In the agony of pain from loss.

That day can be called the bloodiest in the history of Abion. Plunged into oblivion of his own feelings, Raphael walked with a measured step through every corner of the palace, killing everyone who got in his way. That’s what I thought...

But no, they didn’t get in his way, he was looking for them himself, purposefully.

Not a single human servant survived that day. Someone tried to hide, but the king found them without any problems, someone desperate rushed into the maze, but was torn apart by a carnivorous vine. And in this madness, no one dared to stop Raphael. It’s just that no one could do it, including me. I doubt at all that at that moment he was aware of who was standing in front of him. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

The castle was filled with the smell of blood and death, as well as utter silence.

A more terrible fate befell the Adamanian Princess and her delegation, including her own mother. Raphael left them for last, as if for dessert. She was in full understanding of what was happening, despite the horror that was speckling her, and did not believe that her own husband was ready to kill her with his own hands on the wedding day without blinking an eye. But she was wrong, because Raphael, even in his right mind, was ready for such a thing, and now his eyes were covered with a bloody veil and no cries and pleas for help could prevent him.

The head of Giselle with the spine pulled out, her mother and her father’s adviser Jorel `s now decorated the main entrance to the palace, reminding everyone of the horror of that day, and their bodies lay right under their heads, succumbing to rot and decomposition.

Even for me it was too cruel and bloodthirsty, despite the fact that I did not feel any warm feelings for these people, but I always tried to keep the remnants of humanity inside me and not lose them.

All I could do now was stay close to him and continue to fulfill my direct duties, not letting Abion wallow in darkness. We have already passed this experience and it will get better sooner or later anyway, it only takes time. We can get Raphael out of his own prison.

But despite such a decadent state of the king, there was another person whom I could not abandon in any way, whom I had to take care of.

- Can I come in? - I asked, knocking on the door, but there was no answer.

It went on like this every time. She also locked herself in, refusing to believe in what was happening, hoping that it was just a bad dream. And I just couldn’t bring myself to destroy her illusions on this score, because everything was as bad as it could be.

- I’m coming in.

Until recently, it was a bright room, and now the bard curtains were tightly drawn, not letting a single ray of sunlight pass. On the floor, tables, a screen, and even in an open closet, things were lying and hanging shapelessly, dirt reigned around from food and water spilled on the floor.

- Please, at least you, come to your senses, Amanda. - I whispered softly, addressing these words more to myself than to her.

- I wanted to leave... I packed my things, Dex... - she mumbled with her face in the pillow, and I clearly heard her sniff.

- Do you have any idea what will happen if you leave too? - I immediately replied, trying to reason with her.

She finally stirred and turned on her side, giving me a look wet with tears. Curled up in a ball, she tucked her knees to her chest and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to cope with her own emotions.

- That’s why I didn’t leave. - Amanda wheezed. – You know, I love my brother very much, but I feel like a bird in an open cage, but with a thread tied to its leg. I want to leave and I can’t. I want to get rid of this fear and this pain that have been keeping me awake for several days in a row. I’m so tired, Dexter.

The princess succumbed to emotions and burst into tears with all her might, letting me realize my helplessness, as every time I had to help her, but did not know how to do it.

I dropped the formalities and sat down on the bed, beckoning her to put her head on my lap.

- You’re a good sister. Nice girl. And you don’t deserve all this suffering. - I said, stroking her soft hair, trying to relieve her tension and comfort her a little. – But we can’t change our reality. We need to accept what has already happened and move on. This is the only way we can change something in the future.

She silently blew her nose into a handkerchief and looked at me with her beautiful deep eyes. Even despite the tears and flushed face, she was insanely charming.

- I’m hungry. - she whispered faintly, slightly embarrassed and lowering her gaze.

- Judging by the food scattered on the floor, that food was not to your taste. – I answered with a slight smile on my lips and helped her to get up to take a comfortable position.

- Disgusting. Promise me you won’t hurt me like my idiot brother. – she said, straddling my hips and burying her face in my neck.

- I will do everything possible for this. – I answered honestly, since it would be odd to make such promises in relation to her.

- You’re an idiot, too. – she purred and sank her fangs into my neck, gently touching the skin with her lips.

/ Dexter’s Memories/

I was about five or six years old when I met Raphael. I was still a child, while he was already a mature adult man. More precisely, he looked about twenty years old, but it was only many years later that I found out that our age was radically different.

It was in Raswell. My parents and I did not live richly, but also not on the verge of poverty, the main thing was that we had a roof over our heads and fresh hot food. I was the only child in the family, which at that time was quite surprising, but I did not wonder why this happened. It was enough for me that my parents loved me unconditionally and I felt it.

My father worked on a farm, and my mother worked as a kitchen helper in an influential family. Because of this, during the day I was often left to myself until late at night. And then one winter, when it was getting dark early despite the not so late time, I decided to go out for a ride on the ice slides with the local kids. It was already late when I returned home, as time runs unnoticed for fun games.

When I got to the house, I noticed that the light in the windows was on, my parents had returned. I felt like the fifth point that I would get a slap in the face, that I ran away from home for so long. But I was surprised that the front door was unlocked. I opened it softly and went in. The lights were on, but it was too quiet inside. Going up to the second floor, I entered my room, pretending that I had not left the house, but was just sleeping, but this loud silence bothered me.

I couldn’t pretend anymore and went to look for Mom and Dad.

I found them quickly enough. In their room. Dad was there. He was sitting on the floor with his back to me. I took a step forward and called out to him.

Mom was there too.

On the floor.

In a pool of his own blood, with his throat torn open.

When my father saw me, he smiled, smearing fresh blood on his face, and at that moment I saw his fangs, sharp as blades, and his eyes changed from green to bright scarlet, the color of blood.

Staggering on the spot, I ran headlong. I stumbled and fell, tore my knees and elbows, but I didn’t stop running. I was screaming. I shouted as loudly as I could so that at least someone could hear me. Until I realized that the street is as silent as my home. But this was just the beginning of the horror that I had to see at such a young age.

As I later found out, the city in which we lived was attacked by vampires. My father was not killed by a vampire, but turned into his own kind, and from a mad thirst for blood, the newborn vampire went exactly where he always went, where he was definitely expected. Home.

My mother was his first victim. Or maybe not the first. I do not know if he managed to kill anyone on the way home. And his next victim was me.

He caught up with me in an alley and attacked me, knocking me down in the cold snow. Squeezing my thin neck, I began to choke and could not utter a word while he sucked the blood out of me. I don’t know what came over him, but at one point he let me go, when I already felt that I was losing consciousness, and just ran away.

Raphael was the one who was there, who gave me a helping hand, who saved me from certain death.

He stood proudly towering over my dying body and looked with his piercing scarlet eyes, as if he was looking into my soul. And he looked so sad, as if it wasn’t me who was dying, but him.

- Do you want to live, boy? - He asked in a cold tone.

But I couldn’t answer. I just didn’t have the strength, and swelling began to spread down my neck from the strong pressure of my father’s hands.

He grunted and looked away, looking around the dead city.

- I won’t force you to turn into a monster, so if you want to live, you have to make an effort and say it. You can take revenge on the man who did this to you. - his voice flowed like a river, calm and serene.

- Y-yes ... - I croaked with the last of my strength and immediately grabbed my throat, torn by hellish pain.