"Good morning sunshine! Well, as much of a sunshine as you can be in a dark dungeon." A deep voice mumbled. "Either way I'm glad to finally talk to someone, a few more days would have driven me to insanity." 

Selene’s head throbbed as she slowly took in her surroundings. The male voice was right. It was near pitch black in the room. All that she could see was her hands and the metal bars right in front of her. 

"You have been out for approximately 4 days." He paused. "That is if I haven't lost count. Which I must say the chances of that are rather high, so it might have been longer than that." 

How could one person be so stupidly loud and irritating? Was he unable to shut up or sense her discomfort from her silence. 

"No widows, no guards, no food or drink. It's been rather pitiful really." 

"Would you shut up?" She grunted.

"Well that's rather rude for an introduction don't you think?" 

"What I think is that I've never met someone who loved the sound of their voice so much." 

"Can you blame me? My voice is sweet like an angels’." He chuckled. 

"Where am I?"

Selena's mind was blank. Her last memories were of her going to check on the riverside entrance. A place where she should have been safe, the guardian still within reach to protect her. 

"Well I was hoping you could answer that. Don't you witches come with some built in magical navigation or something." 

As if she didn't have enough questions on her mind already, now more of them formed towards who the stranger was.

Even if he saw her while being dragged into his cell, there is no way to tell her apart from a human. 

"How do you know I'm a witch?" Selene snapped.

A low sigh barely reached her ears. "Because you reek like one." 

Vampire. Great. Today really couldn't get better. 

Unlike werewolfs, who had a great sense of smell in a large radius, and great memory of scents of people they met before. Vampires, and their peculiar tastes, could distinguish between races. 

"Well? Where are we? Is it the big, bad werewolves?" He pushed for an answer.

"It's not like that." Selene raised her voice. "It's the spirits that give us guidance, and if you haven't noticed, there is no nature or access to the outside from here." 

For the first time in her life, Selene was completely disconnected. There was no spirit calling her, no nature around that could fuel her magic. Here she was useless. 

Without any contact, there was no way to call for help. No way out. 

"How long have you been awake?" Selene's voice trembled. 

She didn't want the panic to seep into her voice and let the vampire know of that vulnerability, but by the brief silence it was too late.

"As I've said earlier, give or take 4 days." He said. "I woke up in this miserable cell, got dragged out and had my blood drained, till I went unconscious. After I regained consciousness, I sensed your presence in the next cell." 

"Any idea who drained your blood?" 

"No. There was no scent on them." 

Any hope of information was crushed almost immediately. Neither of them remember how they got there, who it might be, or where they are. Honestly the idea of kidnapping a vampire and a witch sounded more like the start of a bad joke. 

Yet the reality was very different. This must have taken months to plan. The identity of a vampire was unknown, but to take out a high coven witch for about 4 days was unheard of. The amount of magic and power that would take is something even the coven leader would struggle with. 

Then there was a question of how did a being have no scent? Everything dead and alive had one. Something a vampire could not miss. If only he woke up quicker, maybe he would have caught something. Vampires and their regeneration was the best of all species, he should have been up in minutes.

"What's your name, witch?" He asked. 

"Nothing you should interest yourself with." Selene knew she was acting cold, but the circumstances they were in did not change the relationship that was between witches and vampires. The less private information they knew of the other the better. They just needed to find a way out. 

"Fine, shall I call you a hag then?" The vampire said coldly.

"As you wish leech." Selene replied. 

How long would it be before the coven noticed she was gone? Days? Maybe even weeks? It’s not like it would be out of the norm for her to wander off outside the border, gathering herbs, or looking into something suspicious. Sometimes it would be days before Selene would send out a message with information of her location to the mother or Esther. 

Maybe the guardian will talk of her disappearance. Yet, Selene wasn’t sure if that’s what she wanted. It would send the coven into panic, searching and most likely accusing the vampires. Which would just result in another pointless war. And as much as she wanted to hope, Selene knew the witches would not consider searching anywhere else but Vralin, the one place she was sure they weren’t in. 

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Vampires were too loyal, they would not harm one of their own. 

“Call me Aro.” The deep voice interrupted her trail of thought. “You might not wish to share your name, but I refuse to be referred to as a leech. And saints know I will need a reminder of my humanity while stuck here.” 

“Aro the leech, got it.” 

He gave a sigh of defeat at that, really the vampire should appreciate her acknowledging the name at all. It was only because Selene understood where he was coming from. How long they would be stuck in darkness was unclear. How quickly would they start forgetting parts of themselves or need reminders of their life? 

Honestly, she wished there was a name that could be shared with Aro. That maybe she could have that reminder of home, but the chances of a vampire knowing the names of the high coven daughters was too high. 

“We aren’t so bad you know.” Aro stated. 

“Your kind are a creation of a witch that lived in sin.” Selene replied. “You kill with no mercy and hunt for pleasure. There is nothing that is not bad about you.”

“And am I to be blamed for the way my kind was created? For the way I have to survive.” He questioned.

The emotion and pain behind his voice gave her a moment of shock. Yet, with what she has been through, what every witch has had to live through, the emotions of one vampire did not change that. 

“No.” Selene paused. “Your creation is to be blamed on my kind, and we live with that sin everyday, and every breath we take. As my sisters burn and are hunted for trying to undo the magic placed upon your land.”

After a brief pause Aro started talking in a low whisper. “Is it so bad for us to want to live? That hard for you to comprehend that not everything is bad?”

“Explain it to me then.” Selene demanded. 

So, Aro did. At first he continued to speak in a whisper, some parts so quiet, Selene could barely hear. Almost sounded as it pained him to recall Vralin and its habitants. 

“First is the land itself. You might describe it as cursed, but I think of it as my home. The sun might not bless us, but the moon shines every second of the day. We can feel its light with every breath we take, on every inch of our skin, and so does the land. The earth has adapted, whether it is because of time or some of the magic behind it I do not know, but it thrives. The trees have all but changed colour to their beautiful ash, they have grown strong and filled the land. Other plants too vary in their shades from white to grey, yet the land does not look ghastly or dead, it looks kissed by the moon itself.” At this point Aro started to sound more confident as he spoke. Admiration filled his voice.

“You would think the animals might struggle with no sunlight, yet they remain. Nature still provides all that they might need. If anything it seems as if there are more of them. They live alongside us and are not banished to the forests and out of towns. We are grateful to them and treat them with respect, after all they provide a safe way for us to feed, a way in which we do not have to kill them. The animals that are put to work are well taken care of. You could have released my horse into the wild and it would have come back if only for the sugar cubes and the warm stables.” 

“You are fond of this horse.” Selene noted.

A soft laugh escaped Aro, a sound that was surprisingly pleasant. “I’ve had her for close to two decades. Picked her myself when I first learnt to ride. I was not so creative when I was five, thought she was the colour of night itself, so I proudly declared her name to be Night.” 

“It could have been a worse name.” She laughed. 

The vampire had to be around her age, rather young for his kind. Thankfully, fertility was one thing that vampires struggled with, and with no other means of increasing their population, it has kept them in check. They still have a large population, but that was bound to happen when they could live for an infinite amount of time. 

That was something Selene wished she was not cursed with, but the matron was her mother, so naturally she is part of the high coven. The only witches that time could not take. Selene was still young, but just the thought of watching the rest of the coven wither pained her. 

She didn’t know how to feel about the things Aro had said. That was not how she remembered Vrelin. The ash trees, pale nature and the constant night was a reminder of death, the lack of warmth that comes with life. Yet, his perspective did not paint that, and it was something she wasn’t sure yet if she would try to forget. 

The story did raise unwanted questions about vampires. Topics that Selene refused to think about while her head still pounded. 

“I’m afraid I am too tired to continue listening to your tales.” They might have put her down for a few days, but Selene was still exhausted and needed proper sleep. With a well rested mind, a possible escape plan might become clearer.

Aro did not get a chance to reply before the exhaustion took over.