Days blurred together.
There was no sunlight in the cellar. No sense of time beyond hunger and pain.
They came only occasionally.
The door would creak open.
Footsteps would descend.
And something would be thrown into the cage.
A dead animal.
Cold. Stiff. Sometimes already rotting.
No fire. No blade. No mercy.
Adrian stopped counting the days after the third time he woke up unsure if he had slept at all.
His body had grown weaker.
His breathing shallow.
His thoughts slow and heavy.
He sat in the far corner of the cage when the footsteps came again.
But this time… they didn't leave.
Several vampires lingered outside the bars.
And then he felt it.
Authority.
The ancient one descended the stairs.
The others moved aside instantly.
He approached the cage and stepped inside without hesitation.
Adrian barely lifted his head.
The vampire crouched in front of him.
"I require answers."
Silence.
"You do not match the description of what killed my people."
Another pause.
"You will explain what you are."
Adrian leaned forward weakly.
Then spat in his face.
The cellar froze.
The vampire's hand shot forward, gripping Adrian's throat and slamming him against the bars with terrifying ease.
"I could remove your head," he whispered coldly.
"And it would require no effort."
He leaned closer, eyes boring into Adrian's.
"Now tell me everything."
Silence.
A vampire outside the cage muttered nervously,
"Perhaps he is too weak to see your eyes…"
The ancient one didn't move.
He simply repeated, quieter this time:
"Tell me… everything."
Nothing happened.
Adrian's lips curled faintly.
"I didn't think someone so serious looking would be into staring contests."
The vampire released him slowly.
"So it does not work on you… interesting."
He tilted his head slightly.
"What does work?"
Adrian wiped blood from his mouth.
"I don't have to tell you anything."
A long silence stretched between them.
Then Adrian asked quietly:
"How about you… what are you?"
The vampire dropped him back to the floor.
"Very well," he said calmly.
"I will tell you."
He paced slowly inside the cage as he spoke.
"There were once humans who feared death more than anything. Through dark magic, they became the first of our kind."
"The Originals."
"The first vampires. The strongest. The eternal."
He spoke of ancient bloodlines. Of immortality. Of power that grew with every passing century. Of the hierarchy of the night and the unspoken rule that vampires ruled the darkness long before kingdoms rose.
When he finished, the cellar felt colder.
"That," he said, turning back toward Adrian,
"is what I am."
He crouched again.
"And now… you will return the favor."
"Tell me what you are."