Chapter 8
698words
My cover: apprentice from the town's finest tailor shop, delivering Lady Anna's wedding gown.
The castle gates creaked open, releasing a wave of musty opulence.
I knelt before Anna, arranging her dress hem.
My fingers, hidden by fabric, stitched two miniature holy water bombs and a tracking rune into her petticoat.
Anna looked down at me, superiority oozing from every pore.
She leaned down, whispering venomously: "See the difference? You kneel while I stand. After tonight, I'll be this castle's immortal mistress, while you'll be fit only to carry my shoes."
"Indeed," I yanked her waist sash tight, making her gasp. "This dress suits you perfectly—like a custom-made shroud."
"What did you say?!" Anna's face contorted with rage.
"I said your beauty takes my breath away." I stepped back with a respectful bow. "I wish you... get exactly what you deserve tonight."
Anna snorted coldly, preening like a peacock as she lifted her bomb-laden skirts and swept down the dark corridor toward the inner castle.
Watching her retreating figure, I began my silent countdown.
Night fell as storm clouds gathered.
The castle wasn't lit by candles but by glowing red crystals.
"Blood Crystals"—forged from human flesh and blood—casting an eerie, murky glow throughout.
The entire hall resembled a massive internal organ.
Red carpets, red curtains, air thick with the metallic scent of blood.
That wasn't wine I smelled.
I crouched in the second-floor ventilation duct, peering through the grate.
The long dining table was set not with plates but with finely crafted steel torture implements—bleeding troughs, deboning knives, skull saws—all polished to mirror brightness, reflecting the Blood Crystals' crimson glow.
Guests arrived in steady procession.
They wore luxurious formal attire, but their faces were deathly pale, their eyes ravenous.
Each took a deep breath upon entering, momentarily revealing jagged fangs.
"Smells divine," an ancient vampire sniffed. "Pure maiden's blood, marinated precisely three months."
"Countess Bathory's craftsmanship remains unparalleled," another agreed.
In my hiding place, I gripped the detonator tightly.
Anna would be in the dressing room now, savoring her final delusions.
She didn't know that downstairs, there was no chair awaiting her—only that massive silver platter.
Just as I prepared for the banquet to begin, an urgent note arrived from my insider.
[Emergency: Pig has entered wolf's den.]
I frowned, adjusting my mirror to view the tower in the castle's deepest recesses.
The Count's son's bedchamber—the most heavily guarded location in the entire castle.
In the reflection, I spotted Anna there.
Wearing her semi-transparent red gown, she slipped through the heavy ebony door like a cat in heat.
An enormous double coffin dominated the room's center.
"God almighty..." I whispered under my breath.
The fool.
To secure her "rise to power," she planned to force marriage through seduction.
She imagined a handsome, pale prince sleeping within—believing if she offered herself, she'd receive the Embrace and become the castle's true mistress.
Anna climbed atop the coffin and pushed open the lid with trembling hands.
She stripped naked—a pale, fleshy worm—and slithered into the pitch-black coffin.
"AHHH!!!"
An inhuman shriek shattered the castle's ancient silence.
Anna's terrified screams followed immediately.
The coffin lid flew off violently, smashing against the wall and splintering to pieces.
A monstrous creature with bat wings and a greenish face bristling with fangs rose from the coffin.
The Count's son.
In blood-frenzy, his body covered in coarse black hair, fangs too long for his mouth dripping with foul-smelling saliva.
He regarded the naked Anna without a hint of desire—only violent rage at being disturbed and... revulsion.
"Ugh!"
The monster retched and flung Anna from the coffin like refuse.
"How putrid! Who put this inferior meat in my bed?!" the monster roared, voice like grinding metal. "The stench of garlic and corpse oil! Disgusting! Utterly revolting!"
Anna crashed naked to the floor, covered in scratches, staring at the monster in disbelief.
"Prince... Your Highness?" She trembled, reaching for his leg. "I'm Anna... your bride... I came to love you..."
The monster kicked her away, wiping his claws in disgust. "Love me? Are you trying to poison me with your rotting flesh? Get out! I need to bathe!"
