+ 1.3 Breeding Hate

Davrin Sinestra sat watching the fire, transfixed by its flickering flames which stirred up a kind of tension in him. He could still taste her warm, wholesome blood on his lips. It had been so many years since he’d sunk his teeth into living human flesh that he’d almost forgotten what it tasted like. He sat back allowing the room to swallow him in with its familiarity.

The mansion’s grandeur emanated from the thick blankets of dust covering the furniture and floors. It was still like how he remembered it centuries ago. He still remembered the passages, the rooms, and the basement with its concealed doorways. But a chill mingled with the familiarity. The old stone mansion had grown cold – much like him – from being deserted.

Davrin heaved a heavy sigh as these memories and more flooded back to him. His mind was now whirring with images of an angry mob, his parents fleeing before being caught and roped to giant wooden stakes in the middle of the forest. And then he saw it almost vividly – they were burning in the harsh sunlight, withering into dust. He had escaped – barely. At that moment, as he was running through the dark underground corridors beneath the basement, he understood. He understood that his parents knew that such a day would come when they would be found out. They probably didn’t know that their only son would have to flee on his own.

Since that day he’s been nothing more than a roamer. Procuring money wasn’t a problem. He took most of the stashed fortune when he fled. It was covering his tracks that proved difficult. He had to be careful not to make the same mistake his parents had made. He could no longer hunt as freely as they had done in old Bridgeport. Instead, he survived on filthy animal blood. Sometimes he’d scour graveyards, waiting for fresh corpses before the blood turned cold and poisonous. And sometimes, on very rare occasions, he drank the blood of living humans.

Humans

He spat the word out with loaded contempt. Bending over the fire place, his face was clouded with violent shadows. Those pitiful, ignorant mortals were only good enough to be part of the food chain. He watched them over the eras as their bodies became riddled with old age and diseases. They would never know what it would be like to be untouchable by death.

He laughed at their meek existence, their unchanging mentality. It was an evil laugh that bounced off the walls and reverberated throughout the stone mansion.

“Sir... The girl... Shall I dispose of her?” Jeeve’s voice startled Davrin. He spun around, the fire on his back.

“No she’s going to be of good use to us, Jeeves.” His voice was silken and drenched in malevolence. He smirked as his plan was slowly materialising.

The old butler stared at his master, mild confusion etched on his face.
“I shall leave her in the master bedroom then, sir?” Jeeves enquired. The master bedroom was a dummy bedroom, if anything. In fact, all the bedrooms were except for Jeeves’ bedroom which was down in the basement, along with Davrin’s crypt. Davrin recalled only ever using the ground floor and the basement.

“You mean you will lock her in the master bedroom, Jeeves. Lock.” He made it perfectly clear at the moment what his intentions for the girl were. He planned to keep her enslaved for as long as he needed.

Jeeves nodded and set off to the living room, where the girl lay. Davrin watched as his faithful butler sauntered off without questioning his motives. He always admired that about Jeeves. He was obedient. He had served Davrin’s family for decades. When the Sinestra’s were hunted and burned, Jeeves stayed in the old mansion waiting for the day his master would return. He waited ten long years before setting off to find Davrin. He eventually did and resumed his servant duties. For such loyalty, Davrin rewarded the old man with the gift of immortality.

He was now standing in front of the tall bookshelves that lined the library walls. He pulled out a book and ran his long slender fingers over its yellowed pages. The time had come for him to exact his revenge on Bridgeport.