Lothaire helped the young former captive adjust to a life of freedom. For a being of darkness, they helped bring light back to hir heart.
@internutter/challenge-04031-k013-the-most-unlikely-rescue -- Anon Guest
It was a peculiarity that persisted in my head, every time I woke and grew accustomed to this place. I was safe in the lair of a literal monster. Safer than I had ever been in the hands of my master. Four days after my first waking, I was strong enough to shamble around the chamber. Two more days, and I could walk.
Lothaire helped, with frequent reference to hir 'manuals'. Not just with the meals, but also with my freedom.
There was careful work with files and tools to remove my shackles. There was more work with needle and thread to replace my rags with proper clothes. Servicable, they insisted, but likely not fashionable. There was a lot of pork, ham, and bacon.
I didn't mind.
I could go into the sunshine. My gracious host could not. Though my vision was fading, I could still work the garden. Though I had to bend close to check on the plants.
In the third week, there were odd lenses in woven wire frames. They made the world clearer.
I almost wept with gratitude. Lothaire simply devoted hirself to creating better lenses for me. Week after week, working on improvements. I was hir hobby, more or less. Or, I was someone to keep hir busy.
Lothaire was always rail thin, pale, and a little disturbing to behold in dim light. Yet I would trust hir over any more normal being in the wider world. Ze was always cool to touch, and had a habit of sniffing when ze got close to me.
A bloodsucker habit, ze insisted. I smell delicious.
Ze hunts creatures in the night to quell hir instincts, feeds on hir large hogs to sate hir hunger. I am in no danger from Lothaire.
Ze's teaching me to read, when the sun shines. I'm also learning to cook.
I may not have many years left to me, but I much like being a vampire spawn's pet or hobby over being property. It is... enough. We are happy.
[Photo by Cederic Vandenberghe on Unsplash]
If you like my stories, please Check out my blog and Follow me. Or share them with your friends! Or visit my hub site to see what else I'm up to.
Send me a prompt [75 remaining prompts!]