Hadrian actually took care of the boy Lucian,it was easy to full Viktor and Death dealer guards with slight illusion spells.
Lucian was happy to have a father figure in t
His life,but as time went by Hadrian taughh him different things to survive in this world.
At the same time Viktor had created a dungeon for William away from everyone.He belived it to be safe and away from Marcus and Hadrian.
When Lucian was a 15, Viktor wanted a demostration of his abilities, so in Castle Corvinus was carved into the very face of a craggy black peak rising high above the surrounding forests and countryside. Its forbidding turrets and battlements stabbed upward at the starry night sky. The light of myriad torches and lamps shone through the fortress' lancet windows, making the isolated mountain stronghold appear to glow from within. Crimson pennants, the color of freshly spilled blood, streamed atop the watchtowers. Sculpted grotesques, in the shape of writhing plague victims, perched upon the eaves and ramparts. Flanking towers abutted the sturdy guardhouse defending the front gate.
Armored Death Dealers patrolled the tops of the high gray walls, which were more than ten feet thick in places. Rectangular stone merlons jutted up from the parapet like a bottom row of teeth. Flying buttresses reinforced the walls. Massive siege crossbows the size of catapults were mounted upon the outer palisade. Steel harpoons more than ten feet long were loaded into the formidable weapons, which were also known as ballistas. Steel winches were required to draw back the bow arms.
A slender youth, no more than fifteen years old, stood poised upon a parapet overlooking the drawbridge below. Dark brown hair fell past his shoulders. Coarse woolen clothing testified to his lowly status in the castle's hierarchy. His dirty brown tunic and breeches were torn and frayed. Piercing brown eyes peered out from a handsome face that had yet to require the touch of a razor. A brisk autumn wind rustled his unkempt locks.
He took a deep breath to steady his nerves, closed his eyes, and stepped off the parapet. Gravity seized him and he plummeted downward at breathtaking speed. The night air rushed past him, roaring in his ears. His eyes snapped open in time to see the hard wooden floor of the drawbridge appear to surge up at him like a battering ram.He braced himself for death, only to land nimbly upon the drawbridge in one piece.
The impact didn't even knock the breath from his body, let alone kill him. He glanced down at his intact flesh and blood in astonishment. He gasped in relief and thought "I did it!" he rejoiced.Just like his father promised! His jubilation was cut short, however, when three armed figures emerged from the shadow of the castle's high front gate.
Lucian recognized the men as the labourers
employed in the ongoing expansion of the fortress' dungeons.
Their unwashed hides had been baked brown by the sun, compared to the paler complexions of the castle's more nocturnal inhabitants. Dried mortar splattered their filthy garments. Iron bludgeons in hand, they charged at the unarmed youth.
Angry shouts and florid red faces made clear their hostile intentions. Their breaths reeked of strong spirits. Lucian had done to incur the men's wrath,he knew this was Viktor's test.His father told him about this.
But he did not intend to be beaten senseless by the likes of these.
They were just mortals, after all, and mere commoners to boot, not vampires whose harsh discipline he might be expected to submit to without resistance. Although he was nothing more than a serf himself, Lucian owed no deference to these drunken louts. A growl escaped his lips as he dropped into a defensive crouch. His brown eyes turned cobalt blue.
The men spread out around him, clearly intending to assault him from all sides. The first man—a bald-headed lummox with a neck like an ox—came at Lucian from the front. He swung his club at the youth, who ducked beneath the blow and butted his head into the human's chest hard enough to crack the man's ribs. Gasping in pain, the man staggered backward. His club flew from his fingers and Lucian effortlessly snatched it from the air. He smacked it against the man's skull, dropping him to the ground, even as he heard the second man—a sallow-faced brute with bad teeth—lumbering up behind him. A backward kick sent Bad Teeth flying off
Two down, one to go, Lucian thought. He spun around to confront the third man, who had attempted to waylay Lucian from the right,but he quickly took the last on out as well.
Lucian stood triumphantly over the fallen bodies of his assailants. He wasn't even breathing hard. Before he could fully savor his victory, however, the boy's keen ears alerted him to another threat. Something came whistling through the sky behind him and he whirled around just in time to pluck a speeding crossbow bolt from the air, only inches from his face.
The silver glare of the arrowhead hurt his eyes, so he tossed the offending missile away. It rattled harmlessly onto the floor of the drawbridge. A smattering of light applause came from the castle.Lucian looked up proudly to see Viktor and a small group of vampire courtiers and ladies gazing down at him from the grand balcony upon the central keep.
A part of him hated Viktor,while on the side he saw his father giving him a nod.
The aristocratic vampires were clad in all their finery, wearing elegant gowns and robes of the darkest silk and velvet. Legend had it that the bite of a bat had transformed Marcus into a vampire; the flowing black raiment of his kind draped over their slender forms like folded wings. Viktor lowered the crossbow. He nodded in approval, plainly pleased by Lucian's prowess. Of course, Lucian was taught not to show his anger for now.When the time is right,they would strike back.
It was another of Viktor's tests. The regal Elder had taken much interest in the young man over the years, despite his bestial origins.
Lucian knew why this powerful a monarch concerned himself with the bastard child of a dead werewolf,he was thankful for his father figure,who taught him everything regarding the werewolves and vampiers.
He knew that many in the castle wished to have his so called status,they made little effort to disguise their contempt and suspicion when they passed him in the drafty corridors of the ancient fortress.
Nor could he blame them for their disdain. Despite his best efforts to prove that he was not an unreasoning animal like his savage forebears, the taint of the wolf still flowed through his veins…. "
Viktor's addressed his small daughter"What do you think, Sonja?" who stood beside him behind the railing. The girl's birth, eight winters ago, had been a time of both celebration and mourning. Her mother, the Lady Ilona, had perished giving birth to Viktor's only child. "Shall we make more?"
The little girl was spellbound by the handsome youth below muttered""Of him?"
Her curly brown locks framed the child's angelic features. A black satin kirtle clothed her diminutive form.A crest-shaped pendant, centered around a polished turquoise gemstone, dangled on a chain around her neck.This was in future be one of the pieces to so called prison fo William.
Viktor built it in secrecy and made sure to keep the place out of sight.But poor man didn't know William was already free.
Sonja wide chestnut eyes peered down at Lucian.
Viktor clarified"Like him,Lucian will be the first of a new breed. The first of the lycans."
Sonja nodded absently, seemingly more interested in the boy himself than her father's machinations. "Lucian," she repeated, trying the name out in her mouth. "Lucian…"
Pure-born vampire children were rare in the castle. Lucian wondered what she would be like when she grew up.