Chapter 2:

Discovery

"Do you see how it's done now, Daniel?" Alexander asked, raising a bloody hand to his forehead. He wanted to wipe the sweat off his brow, but he had no desire to leave the filthy peasant's fluids all over his face in the process of doing it. The lower dungeons were usually cold since they were below most of the castle, but the burning torchlight nearby and the preciseness that was required of the labors at hand made him grow hot as he commenced the task.

His apprentice nodded, and then he lifted a little cloth to his superior's temple in order to clean it for him.

"Why, thank you, Daniel," Alexander replied, with a smile on his pale, white features. "You certainly have become useful in the past few days."

Daniel trembled suddenly, the convulsion easily shaking his entire frail body. "Anything…to be rid of the Shadow," he whispered, mostly to himself although his elder had heard. Yes. Anything. Even this. The man's screams had finally died with him below Alexander's sharp blade a moment later. The old man had considered using a saw, but he didn't have any that weren't so dull they'd cause too much of a mess. Besides, a knife was much easier to control.

"Are you ready to try it next?" Alexander inquired calmly. "We only need one more, and then we can retire to our respectable quarters for the night." He put his sharp weapon down onto the table, and wiped his hands on the cloth that he took from his student.

"Y-Yes." Daniel dragged the body off the table by its feet, and let it sit in a corner before it was to be transported to the morgue later.

Alexander, meanwhile, had brought in the next prisoner, who was ready with a sack over his head and the glowing, mystical green lines painted on his mostly naked body.

"It shall be just as I have done and instructed. The lines are painted for you, so your only task is to cut along them with the dagger."

"Yes, Alexander." Daniel felt the words slip through his lips quite easily. He didn't want to think twice about what he was going to do, and he didn't want to question Alexander, either. The baron had promised that if he did this, the Shadow would recede a little more. Besides, the man whose life he was putting an end to was a murderer. It was only right to use his death to prolong his own life. Daniel was unaware of Alexander's sinister smile as he stood behind him, and instead he tried to focus on the employment he was given that now occupied his energies.

"Begin the warding ritual," Alexander commanded in a booming voice merely a moment later. Daniel was hesitating too much, and he had begun to shake and breathe heavily in the characteristic way he did whenever his sanity was crumbling away from his poor, muddled psyche.

Daniel tried to start, he really did, but the prisoner under him began to speak.

"P-Please, I can sense that you do not want to do this, a-and I have not even done anything! Let me go, I entreat you…"

"Ignore him, he is lying and he is attempting to play on your weakness. Show him that you aren't weak," Alexander demanded loudly. "Show him, Daniel, and the Shadow, too! You aren't weak anymore. You aren't that cowering boy in the closet, or the child who had stones thrown at him…You aren't weak anymore, Daniel. Do it!"

Daniel felt his hands seemingly move on his own as a sudden, blind rage took over his will and he plunged the knife deep into one part of the man's chest, letting the blood spurt out and then raking the blade down the lines in large gashes; the cuts were much deeper and bloodier than the ones Alexander had made earlier. The baron was a little agitated when he thought that Daniel had killed the man faster than he should have, but upon further inspection, he saw that his passionate student still harvested the vitae successfully, regardless of his haste. Blood pooled everywhere faster than all the previous times; Daniel's arms were completely covered in it and he was smiling contentedly.

"I will bring these bodies to the morgue, and you would do well to go up and take a bath. By the way, Daniel, as you can see, it just as I promised. The Shadow is ebbing away," Alexander said, delightful that Daniel had discovered the joys of torture and was asserting his power and dominance. Daniel was a much better apprentice than he thought he'd be, and with the young, strong body he possessed, he may very well surpass his master at what he was doing. Those final musings were very bitter for the baron. Well, no matter, he thought. The boy was going to die soon, anyway. And for a noble cause.

Daniel wandered up the stairs in seeming bliss, repeating the words over and over again, "The Shadow…is disappearing? The Shadow is disappearing. The Shadow…it is disappearing," like a raving lunatic.

Although Daniel saw that he had quickly been developing a knack for torture and performing the warding rituals perfectly, he found that some days he craved the fresh air outside of Castle Brennenburg. The stifling atmosphere was too much for him in the dungeons; the screams of the prisoners became deafening to his ringing ears, and the smell of blood was clinging to the very pores of his skin and the threads of his clothes no matter how hard he washed either. Daniel wanted to ask Alexander if he would allow him to go out, but then he remembered that the baron had let him leave earlier very easily and without a catch, so he didn't think it would be a problem at all this time.

Daniel roamed the woods without a care in the world despite what he had done to those people deep inside the castle's walls. He was comforted by the thought that they deserved it, and he was doing God a favor by getting rid of them. Suddenly, he remembered Alexander's reaction when the Briton had mentioned God. He had scoffed at the idea of one and then went back to his work quite nonchalantly, baffling the younger man. Alexander did not believe in God? Then, what in the world did a man like him believe in?

It probably didn't matter. Daniel was content that the baron had been helping him get rid of the Shadow. He was one of the most generous and nicest men that he had met because of this. Alexander sullied his own royal hands in order to bring justice to convicted criminals, and he also used those same instruments to aid Daniel with his terrible curse. Truly, he was one of the greatest men to have lived.

The youthful archaeologist didn't realize he was trekking deeper into the forest. The trees were growing thicker as he went, as did the shadows and creeping undergrowth. Abruptly, the village near the castle was coming up ahead. He hadn't ever gone to the little town by himself; Alexander had always accompanied him as if he needed supervision. It was a quaint little place, and Daniel thought that he'd just stop by for a change of scene from the usual sights his eyes partook in. He pushed aside the long branches in order to clear his own path into the village. Unfortunately, he entered the town as soon as a heated discussion about the nature of the recent kidnappings had been going on between the remaining villagers, and as he listened to their debate, his eyes grew dark with understanding.

Daniel prayed that the shadows as well as his stealth were on his side tonight. It was difficult to move quietly in the castle, since any step could bring an unwanted creaking sound towards him. He tried not to shake; the darkness was already beginning to unnerve him. A dagger was clutched firmly in his hand, and it only helped to further along the sickening feeling in his stomach. He didn't like violence, or fighting. Personally, he was more of a pacifist than anything, but he felt compelled to do this. He went through all the pros of committing to this task in his brain, and attempted to ignore all the consequences of this decision in return so he could advance to his destination with a clearer conscience.

The young man reached the room with no problems, but now he was beginning to fear that Alexander was awake. Just one peek, he reasoned. One peek, and if the man was awake, then he would just make up an excuse as to why he was there, and hide the dagger in his pocket or something.

His heart pounded so hard and loud in his chest that he thought it was going to burst in his ribcage and kill him right there. Alexander deserves this, he told himself. He is evil. This was his mantra as he silently moved to open the door to the baron's chambers.

Surprisingly, although he struck Daniel as the nocturnal type (or generally someone who was always awake at odd hours of the day and night), Alexander was sleeping peacefully in his bed. His body was so pale and motionless, it almost undistinguishable from that of a corpse, but the old man's chest still rose up and down in soft breaths, even if they were imperceptible unless one got closer.

Daniel got nearer and nearer with every step to the person who he had trusted before with his life. He tried to swallow back the bile that was traveling up his throat painfully as he thought about what he had to do. He only had to think about Alexander's previous words ("You aren't weak anymore, Daniel. Do it!") in order to get the courage to raise the blade and then jerk it back down with enough strength to tear through flesh.

A second before the metal bit into its target, the wrinkled hand of Alexander shot up and overtook Daniel's with ease. His eyes snapped open as though he had never really been sleeping, and his previous serene expression molded itself into a livid one within seconds. He rose from the bed as though he was rising from the grave, and the terrified Daniel attempted to free himself from the baron's iron-clad grip to no avail.

"What is the meaning of this, Daniel?" Alexander spat his name out as though it was poison for him to utter. "Have you declared that I am of no use to you, and decided to murder me for it? I will be truthful; I never thought of you as the murderous type. You're much more of a lover of peace."

"I…I…" It took a moment for Daniel to find the guts to speak. He finally stopped struggling with Alexander's grasp, for it was unnaturally powerful. "I went to the village today to get some air, and I heard them speaking about the kidnappings. They said that you are responsible for the maiming of the innocent townspeople!"

"Me? Do you forget your part in the rituals? Do you honestly think you can blame me for everything that has transpired in the dungeons?"

"You told me they were murderers, rapists, arsonists!" Daniel cried out.

"And I assumed you would do anything in order to get rid of the Shadow. I knew you would be appalled with the task of slaughtering, so I thought that if I informed you they were 'evil' people, you would be put in a more favorable position to do it. Humans like you, after all, like to think they are the supreme holders of morals."

"Alexander, you –!" Daniel was cut off, for the baron squeezed his hand so tightly that the archaeologist thought he wanted to rip it off. Suddenly, the entirety of his self-induced valor vanished in an instant, and he was fearful for his life. The look in Alexander's monstrous, yellow eyes told him that he was in the worst mess he could possibly be.

A/N: Woo, so I finally figured out what this story's basically going to be about. Sorry for the ever-changing story descriptions! Next chapter will have some 'wonderful' stuff in it. Alexander's pretty mad.