He did not give me time to think about what would happen to me in that new "situation" that his hand with long pale fingers gripped my arm with excessive force, so much that it made me moan in pain. He dragged me down the corridor of that unusual prison until I reached a small flight of stairs and then a semi-open door.

I was like a doll in his hands, I was so tired that he could have done anything to me, I would not have reacted and I would not have objected, at least physically. I could barely keep my eyes open, even walking was difficult: I tried not to trip over my footsteps.

My hopes that all this had been a simple dream, or rather nightmare, had been obliterated by the pain I had previously experienced from the bite, pain that continued to haunt my neck and part of my shoulder.

All of this was true.

As soon as we passed the door we found ourselves in a very small room: a dark and bare closet. There was another door in front of us.

We passed that too and this time we found ourselves in an almost immense, illuminated and elegant environment: quite the opposite of the one before.

It was so big ...

In comparison, even the man next to me was tiny and I even smaller. Candelabra, furniture, paintings, busts… every inch of that room was meticulously decorated. The whole was enclosed by the ivory walls. But there were no windows. The light came from the large cascading chandelier attached to the ceiling.

Finally, two large flights of stairs led to the upper floor. And that was where he was leading me ...

We climbed the stairs so quickly that I stumbled more than once and each time that man pulled me to him with a tug, forcing me to get back on my feet and climb, the alternative was to be dragged.

We entered another corridor, much shorter than the one before and on each side, there were three doors.

We entered the first right and there, I was thrown without any delicacy or kindness as if I were a sack of potatoes. Unable to stand up, I fell to the ground and met the cold floor with my chest still bare. I turned to him and met his stern gaze for the first time since we had left what must have been a sort of basement. Until then I had only seen his back and his long black hair.

"Don't you dare go out of this room, if only I find the door even just ajar I'll bite your hands off!" he ordered without giving me any choice.

I nodded, unable to do anything else.

Without saying anything else, he left the room and closed the door, but not locked, perhaps he wanted to see if I would obey his orders. I would certainly have done it: I was afraid of him, I was afraid of what was happening to me and then I was so tired that I would not even be able to escape.

I didn't even know where I was.

Now I was alone… again. Maybe it was better to be alone than with him.

I took a better look at where I was: it was a bedroom and it was spacious ...

There was a large double bed right in front of me, attached to the wall, it was covered with a very inviting red duvet; next to it there was a small wooden bedside table, in front there was a gigantic wardrobe that occupied the entire wall, it was one of the ancient ones, in wood, but very elegant. Finally, there was another door.

I was curious to see what lay beyond, what it hid. But at the same time, I was scared of it and not just what was behind it… the thing that scared me the most was that vampire. If he found me in there… I didn't even dare imagine what he would do to me. I was now nothing more than a caged animal.

There were no windows there either. Again the light source was a chandelier. The fact that there were no windows made me uneasy, this was a cage.

With no small effort, I got off the ground and threw myself on the bed with a dead weight. It was so soft ...

Had he really given me a room of my own? It was better than what I had before ...

But… hot, salty tears rolled down my face… I was so scared. What did he want from me? Why me? I wanted to get out of there and run away, but what good would it do? He would be able to catch me again. What if I even ran away? Where would I have gone? I didn't even know where I was ...

I curled up in the centre of that vast and soft bed and continued to cry, until, in the grip of fatigue, I fell asleep, sinking back into the darkness of which I was so afraid. But waiting for me there were no dreams, but only nightmares.

Nightmares embroidered with a thin veil of darkness that has accompanied me for a long time. By now I recognized its forms.