My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 197: Centuries Of Shame

Sonja watched as her daughter followed Kace into the dark passageway. 'At least she'll be safe.' Sonja thought with a smile as she watched the group disappear. She sat there motionlessly for hours stroking Raven's hair. His skin was cold to the touch. 'It shouldn't take an army that size much longer o get here.' A solemn expression covered her face as she listened for any sounds of them approaching.

"What happened?" Raven suddenly asked in a raspy voice.

"You're awake!" Sonja exclaimed happily, wrapping him in her slender white arms. Her eyes were full of affection as she studied his current state. "It seems like it was a success. We don't have much time!"

"What do you mean? What's happening?" Raven was more than a little confused. The last thing he remembered was the wound that should have killed him after they broke the back of the hero army.

"Never mind that now! Come, we have to get out of here!"

Sonja tenderly helped him to his feet. It would be a while before his body would get used to itself after his transition to becoming a full vampire. There was more to it than though and that was what Sonja was still worried about. She looked longingly towards the hidden exit that Kace's group took before shaking her head.

'If we take that passage now we would risk leading the heroes to them. We'll have to take one of the other ones!' Sonja let Raven put most of his weight on her as she half carried him from the room. The corridor was dark and quiet. No sounds were coming from below which had Sonja worried. In the next moment, she realised she had every reason to be.

An unprecedented aura washed through the castle, like a weight it tried to force Sonja to stay in place. She shrugged it off as if it were nothing to her, but she was concerned about the effect it would have on Raven. She eyed him warily only to discover that he was not reacting strangely in the slightest bit.

"Did you feel that?" She asked curiously in a whisper as she helped him to drag himself along.

"Feel what?" Raven tilted his head with a confused expression as he tried to figure out what she could have possibly been talking about.

"It's nothing, never mind," Sonja replied while still be shocked. That force had even effected her so she could not understand why a newly awoken, full vampire showed no reaction to it.

'Is it because of that?' She wondered as she thought about the process she had gone through to turn him. Logically speaking, it was the only thing that could have made a difference. Right now, she was just glad that he could still move. Otherwise, she would be dragging a living statue along behind her.

At the end of the corridor on the wall facing them was a painting. It was a ship lost at sea, threatened by roaring waves. It looked like the ship was barely hanging on and would go under at any moment. Raven had painted it himself as a gift for her. Right after the first time he took her along out to sea. Naturally, the painting depicted how that romantic outing had gone in reality.

She chuckled lightly as she remembered huddling in the cabin, wrapped in fine silk sheets. Terrified that she would be stranded at sea. All the while, Raven strut about in the nude without a care in the world. Pouring a pair of glasses full of wine. For him, it was a normal occurrence. Something that he knew his crew could handle without his presence. 

The contrast between them at that time was a fond memory for her. One that she hoped to relive with him again in the future. She wished that she could take the painting along with them in her heart, but then the exit would be exposed. As they reached the painting, she slid her behind the golden gilded frame's left side and pulled on a catch.

There was a click as the painting became loose from the wall on the same side. She carefully swung it outward on its hidden hinges, revealing a square wooden door inserted at roughly waist height. There was a slight creak which made her flinch as she pushed it inwards. Making space for one person at a time to climb into the tunnel.

She helped Raven in his weakened state to climb inside before roughly pushing him from behind. She was trying to help him to slide deeper inside to make room for her as well. There was a hook on the rear of the painting that a person could slide the toe of their boot into. This was so that they could pull the painting closed behind them.

When Sonja did just that the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard further along the hall. Realising that their time was up, she quickly kicked the wooden square door closed behind her. There was very little room in the cramped space since Raven had barely been able to move so far. Her face was pushed up against his rear end as she listened to what was going on outside.

"Any sign of the traitor yet?" Zornok asked a soldier who was searching through one of the rooms. 

"None yet, sir!" The man replied hastily. He was more than nervous about being standing under the gaze of such a legendary figure in their organisation.

"Hmph, well find the bitch as soon as you can. I want to kill the so-called Queen with my own hands!" Zornok snarled. "She's my greatest shame! If she had been any of my other apprentices, I wouldn't have cared! But she gave up on becoming an elder like me! For what! A shitty castle and some monsters that need to be put down! They should have let me come here years ago!"

The soldier almost soiled himself as he listened to the anger in Zornok's voice as he ranted. 'Your apprentice? But, hasn't she been around for centuries?' The soldier's eyes went wide as he thought about the implications of those words that Zornok had let spill