– Then I'll see you tomorrow," she said, and grabbed her bag without turning round and walked away from the corner of the corridor.
As I watched Viper walk away, I grinned slightly. Strangely, the memory of apologising to her, mortally, and twice, made my grin turn into a faint smile of surprised satisfaction. It was wrong, unnecessary. It was unnatural. But I had no desire to stop the flow of these marvellous thoughts – they didn't threaten me. I could distance myself from Viper at any time, without regret or self-harm. It was so easy.
I didn't think it would come to reconciliation. On the contrary-I was going to humiliate and shame Viper again, but it turned out that I was the one standing in front of her, humiliated and ashamed of my action. Something inexplicable pushed me to tell her about my love of poetry, and even to explain the reason for that love. Why? Do I have to explain anything to her? It was as if my mind had fallen asleep: my contempt for Viper was gone, and I was enjoying her company, for I had always guarded my privacy and my thoughts fiercely, preferring solitude to any interlocutor. I liked this girl's voice – low enough, but soft and enchanting, as if penetrating to the very soul.
Full of these thoughts I went to the next pair, but comfortably seated in my chair, I did not hear the teacher's voice. What he was talking about or how he was explaining the hieroglyphics adorning the blackboard was unimportant. I couldn't concentrate. I looked at that blackboard and saw blurred silhouettes spreading out on it like watercolours on wet paper.
In the afternoon, an unexpected sun peeked out, which brought me some difficulties. Pulling my jacket over my ears and trying to hide in the shadows cast by the university, I made my way swiftly to my car. When I reached it and placed my palm on the door handle, a ray of sunlight hit my skin, immediately turning my palm from young and beautiful to ugly, aged, yellowed like ancient parchment. I was instantly in the car and smiled mockingly at this little incident: fortunately, there were no witnesses I had to eliminate so that no one would ever know what Cedric Morgan was really like.
I arrived at the castle, put the car in the garage and went up to the main hall, which served as our sitting room and, occasionally, our dining room, when we, with goblets full of fresh blood, sat by the huge fireplace and had conversations on a variety of topics.
Although I had at my disposal my own spacious annexe, to which I had to walk across the castle, I occupied only one room. Along the way, I rarely encountered any unexpected visitors, as the castle was empty most of the time. I did not consider the presence of six servants, who travelled through the castle by secret passages, so as not to glimpse their masters, worthy of attention.
For a family as old, wealthy, and honourable as the Morgans, the presence of six servants was something extraordinary, out of the ordinary. But we got along just fine with that number, for with the advancement of science and technology, machines did most of the work. Yes, a hundred years ago servants did everything, and in those days our castles were cared for by no less than fifty servants. Now there was simply no need for them. Naturally, the servants were not humans, but vampires who could not find their place in life and preferred to obey the strongest.
