“To the Vampire Kingdom.”
The fabric of the cloak slipped through her fingers, leaving Violette flabbergasted. The pinch between her brows became clearer.
“I hope I misheard you. Don't want to sound rude but are you out of your mind?”
He looked over his shoulder, not showing any concern, well, like almost all the time.
“I will remind you because maybe you forgot but I am a human. You know. The mortal,” she pressed.
“You have nothing to worry about.” Then he added after a little pause, “Pretty much.”
It didn't sound relieving or earnest, not for her, not for any human who was about to go into the heart of a vampire lair. And he surely understood it by her worrying expression.
“As I said, we have rules over there. Vampires indeed do not respect people but they respect the laws and other vampires, even if they don't really like them. If a human was claimed by one vampire the other can't do anything about it. It's become forbidden,” he tried to explain. “A claimed person belongs only to the one and others can't encroach on them.”
Violette didn't like how it sounded.
“You are talking about people like they are property,” disgust surged in her voice, her nose bridge creasing.
“Welcometo the vampire world.” He threw his head back and continued the walk. “A human's voice means nothing there, they're just toys in their bloody hands,” he said with an impassible tone.
Violette grimaced.
“You broke the rules and don't live with them, where's a guarantee they will respect you? Respect me?”
“It's not about respect. At least not to me. But they won't go against these rules. It's too risky. As I said, nobody wants to be an outlaw.”
Violette's face turned bleak. She lowered her eyes to the snowy ground thinking about everything Dante said. She knew vampires were no good but she couldn't believe they could be so arrogant to claim people as if they’re something that can belong to someone. It can't be true.
“They were humans once…” she said with disbelief, bitterness filled her voice.
“They don't remember how it is to be a human.”
Chapter 21
IN THE VAMPIRE LAIR
Snowflakes fell softly on Violette's eyelashes. The shoulders of her cloak were dusted with snow and the cold, giving her cheeks a slight rosy blush, making her thankful that she'd worn the long gloves today.
As they passed an empty snowy clearing they came to two tilted weeping willows bearing a resemblance to an arch, further – a land of bones and stones.
Old stone graves looked like they belonged to someone who died a long time ago, long before this kingdom started blooming. Violette's gaze was following each grave they passed; Most of them didn't have anything on them except for the name and year of death. Almost every stone shared the same date, sometimes in a span of a year or two. The stories which died here and were put in the ground were more thantwo hundred years old.
Dante was making his way to the end of the cemetery, not paying attention to any of the stones like they weren't here at all.
Each grave was graced with a glorious angel statue. Some wield swords, others were depicted in tears, a few were crowned with flowers. One angel was kneeling, resting on his sword with his head.
Violette took a glimpse of the inscriptions engraved on stone:To a guardian and protector who…as she passed by. She didn't discern the secondpart.
Another winged warrior, with a chalice raised up, was guarding a stone with the wordsTo a dreamer who was never meant to make it. Gone again. Next one was praying to the snow beneath. All of them were looking down. Not to the stars. But into the cold ground.
As they got to the end of the graveyard, Dante stopped and reached for something under the thin layer of snow on the ground. He pulled the doorknob, opening an old stone door, leading somewhere down. As Violette already guessed, it was an entrance to the realm of the dead souls –vampires.
“It doesn't look promising…” Worry clouded her features.
“Promising? It is an entrance to the place where vampires live, what were you expecting?” A line between his brows formed as he stood up.
Violette looked into the darkness hidden behind the stone doors.
