Vampires of Rome: Vampires of the World by Geoffrey Knight

Author:Geoffrey Knight [Knight, Geoffrey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Squid INQ Press
Published: 2020-09-30T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

With a sudden start, Tyberius’ eyes shot open.

He was confused, disoriented. He had no memory of anything, no idea where he was, what had happened. And then—

“Mateus!”

He had been lying flat on his back, on some kind of altar, and now he sat bolt upright, his head spinning so fast that he lost his balance and swayed, almost toppling off the flat surface.

Hands were there to catch him.

A face suddenly appeared next to his, words whispered in his ear. “Be careful. You will be unsteady for a while. But you’re safe now.”

He tried to focus on the face. Handsome. Kind. A face he knew. “You. You’re the one who was whipped.” He recalled the young man had been so close to death at the time, yet now he looked very much alive and well and—completely unscathed.

As Tyberius looked down over the young man’s body he saw the man was naked, his flesh untouched. Only yesterday the whip had cut deep into his torso and ripped out countless chunks of his flesh. But now the smooth brown skin of his sides, his stomach, his chest and shoulders showed no signs whatsoever of injury or mutilation.

“Are you not the one?” Tyberius muttered, confused. “I remember you. I remember you from last night, and from the Emperor’s pool. You spilled the wine…”

His words suddenly triggered another memory.

“The wine! Mateus! He drank the poison!”

Tyberius struggled to climb off the altar again, fighting harder this time, but Zachariah was strong and kept him for forcing his way off the stone slab. Tyberius threw an arm at him, beating his fist against Zachariah’s chest and shoulders.

That was when his mind told him to brace for pain. This much exertion should have caused him pain. The last thing he remembered was the pain. Excruciating pain. And blood. Yes, his body had been hacked and butchered, there should have been more pain than he could stand right now.

Yet there was none.

Tyberius stopped struggling and looked down over his own naked form to see that Zachariah was not the only one whose body was no longer sliced and slashed. As his eyes wandered down over his shoulders, his chest, his bare body, which by all accounts should have been bloody and brutalised, he saw no sign of a single wound. Not a cut, not a single nick. His muscled skin was nothing but perfect.

“How long have I been here? Mateus!” Once more his fears leapt into his throat. Had he been unconscious for weeks, months, years? Was his lover already dead? Confused, frightened, he began to struggle once more.

“Keep still!” echoed a deep, commanding voice from somewhere beyond Zachariah. “Your body is still undergoing the Healing. You must give it time to repair.”

“I have to get to Mateus! Is he still alive?” Tyberius was looking beyond himself and Zachariah now, searching for the voice, taking in his full surroundings. It was a sight that made his heart hammer even harder in his chest with uncertainty and suspicion.

He was in a chamber, a cave, a catacomb.

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