When I awoke from my sleep it felt like days had passed, but I wasn't for sure. However I was pretty certain that my situation wasn't much better than what I last recalled. I was no longer bound by ropes, but instead large black bars surrounded me, and it seemed as if I was now inside the log cabin as opposed to being by the door. I felt a rush go through my body. A very unpleasant feeling. I knew it well from my past life. Hunger pains, but this was slightly different. Not so much that I wanted to eat meat, but that I needed to drink blood. It didn't matter to me where the blood came from either. Anything would work. I climbed to my little feet and took in a deep breath through my nose. "Ah something smells delicious", I thought to myself. Just as I thought it I heard the pitter patter of feet walking through the cabin in my direction. My first thought was to get to the back of the cage, but my grumbling gut told me to attack the first thing that got close enough to reach. "Hey there little guy you're awake. Are you hungry?". A girl walked into the large room I was in carrying a plate that had some sort of chicken on it. She had long blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. She seemed very young, maybe two years older than me. She sat down the plate and nudged it into my cage through a small horizontal cut out just high enough for the plate. "Eat up little guy". She said with a rather sweet tone. I looked down at the plate and the next thing I knew any blood from the meat was completely gone. I didn't actually consume any of the meat. It wasn't much but it was enough to ease the hunger pain in my small stomach. I grabbed the plate to slide I back out to the girl, but as I slid the plate one of my claws snapped it in half. "Oh dear are you ok?". The girl asked. I wanted to speak to her, but instead I simply nodded my head and crawled to the back of the dark black cage.
"Enough chit chat with that thing Alice! Get out here and get some lunch ready! It's my turn to interact with that beast!". Alice said goodbye and quickly ran back toward the front of the cabin when a large man passed her coming toward my cage. He stood in front of me and began to do some sort of ritual. He said some silly line. Something like, "tame level 1 vampire". After that a purple magic circle would appear under my body, and after a few seconds the circle shattered. The man then threw a tantrum and stormed off like a child.
This went on for years. Alice learned quickly that I don't eat the food, so she would bring me freshly slaughtered chickens instead. I grew in level from drinking the blood of so many of them over the years. I was now level fifteen, and much bigger than I was when I first arrived. Alice and I grew to be close friends. We would chat for awhile ,after she completed her chores, about anything she wanted. She would tell me stories and inform me as to what was going on in the area. I learned that I was under the care of Zach Tamebard. He was the large man that ran this place with Alice his daughter. He was a beast master who trained monsters to fight for the kingdom, or to fight in death matches for sport. After being there for so long Zach named me Dracul Bloodfiend. He said that it captured my love to suck blood directly from anything I could sink my fangs into. I began to actually like the place and stopped trying to escape ever since Alice and I became friends. Her old man however took a lot longer to warm up to.
"Alice is there anyway you could get a bigger cage for me? I would really like to stretch out my wings". " I'm sorry Dracul, but I don't think my dad will open your cage. I can do my best and ask him for you". "Thank you Alice you're the best". She ran from the room, but was on her way back after only a few moments of leaving. Both her and Zach walked towards me as Alice had streams of tears falling from her face. "Dracul I need to tell you something". Zach said with a grim look about him. "Don't worry Zach I already know. I heard your discussion with what I'm guessing was a knight yesterday outside. I heard a horse ride up and the sound of armor clinching around. I also heard that I am to participate in the arena next week". "Boy those ears are really something else". Zach said as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I tried my best to tell them that you weren't a hostile creature, but they think you're a monster. A cold blooded monster". "It's ok Zach I have come to the understanding that I am not normal here. If this is how it is then so be it. Hey Alice don't cry. Promise that you will come see me sometime ok". Alice raised her head and nodded. "They want me to deliver you into Falmon this afternoon. I am going to let you out so that I can load the cage". Finally even if it is only for a little while I will be free from the cage free to spread out my wings. "Zach what happens if I run when you let me out?", I ask curiously. "Please don't run Dracul. If you run Alice and I will pay with our heads for letting you loose in the kingdom. His majesty would surely kill us both". I looked at Alice and told them I wouldn't run. It sounded strange to me that I had been in a cage here for so long and didn't have the will to escape. I definitely had the strength to now that I had leveled up, but these two were basically family. Alice had never treated me poorly or like a was a monster, and even Zach came around to care for me. As I pondered Alice reach over and unlocked the gate that held me in for so long. She swung open the door, but before I could walk out she ran and wrapped her arms around my waist. She rubbed my left wing as tears still fell from her eyes. "Don't die Dracul. Don't let them kill you. Kill anyone they put you against". She whispered to me. Then I whispered back, "don't worry Alice I won't die. I will kill so many foes, and gain so much strength that even the king will fear me". She smiled and then we went began to walk toward the front of the building. Zach began his preparations for moving me to the capital, as Alice and I would go for a walk outside for the first time in my new life.