The Fourth Horseman

The Reckoning

I rose up to a sitting position and looked at my body. My broken, mangled arm was mended and so was my foot. I was no longer skin and bones but slim and muscular. My muscles felt stronger than ever, and looked to be bigger. It was the blood of War that had traveled throughout my dying corpse and blessed it with strength and stamina. I stretched my back and wiggled my toes. I was humming with energy like never before. My vision was sharp and my hearing was excellent. I honed in to my captor in the corner.

I could actually hear his spine regrouping in his neck, pulling and snapping into place. I pulled my legs up to my chest and leaned forward into a crouching position. Both hands touching the table I watched him. He looked up at me and began to scurry into the corner. Death and War were still beside me, but when they saw movement in the corner their attention switched to him.

I felt a tingling sensation like goosebumps trickle down my face and onto my arms, chest and legs. It was tiny black veins, similar to the ones on Death but mine were smaller, more delicate. I subconsciously ran my tongue across my teeth and discovered two new fangs in my mouth. I was vampire. And I could only imagine how much of a monstrosity I had become.

I slowly stood up onto the table, looking down on my prey. My head turned left then right, looking down on my kings. They both were staring in awe at the creature I had become. "What will you have us to do him, princess?" Said War.
All I said was "slow" and they understood clearly. They turned into monsters themselves when they looked at the vampire scared shitless in the corner. Death took one side and War the other. The vampire stood, ready to fight his last fight.

I don't know how he was able to come up with the courage to stand off with my Kings but he did. Another mistake. They ambushed him. Pulling arms from sockets and then legs. He was nothing but a torso with a head when they were done, screaming and sniveling on the floor. They began to pull flesh from his body, exposing muscle and bone. Ripping slowly with every shred. I tilted my head and the smell of blood entices me.

I jumped from the table and walked to his ravaged body. I knelt over him and he whispered, "kill me, kill me now please" I smiled into his pleading face and said "well where's the fun in that sweetheart?" And dove into his neck. I pulled blood into my mouth and it tasted good. It was my new drink of choice. I would never get enough, never be satisfied. I pulled more into my mouth until no more would flow. I stood up and blood dripped from my mouth down my naked body. He was still alive. Vampire flesh still trying to reconnect and reform. Skin trying to regrow and wounds trying to heal.

I walked around him slowly and both Jay and Ethan watched me with a smirk on their faces. Proud creator's of a rare monster walking among men. I bent low and took his head in my hands. I put one hand inside his lower jaw and curled the other around his top. I pulled slowly and he began to scream. He tried to close his mouth but my strength easily overpowered his. I pulled his bottom jaw from his skull and tossed it to the side.

His eyes were wide looking up at me, filled with fear. I grew annoyed at them so my hands subconsciously reacted, pulling both eyes from their sockets. I tossed those to the side as well. He was hideous, but it could be worse. I tucked my fingers under the shreds of skin still covering his face and pulled, revealing a beautiful white skull. He was still alive. I looked to Jay to signal I was done and he walked over and smashed his skull in with his foot. War came over and pulled whatever remained of his head off his body. It was finished. Now what.

It was silent in the room as both brothers watched me with eager eyes. I felt like a spectacle, some animal on display to paying visitors. I snarled at them both. "Look what you've done to me, masters. Look at all you have created. I held my hands up like I was nailed to an invisible cross. " you have brought me back from death, despite my plea to let me go. Did you think I was ready for this Jay? Did you even wonder if I wanted this, War? Who am I now?"

I looked at both brothers, eyes lingering longer on Death. His face fell as he realized I was not proud of myself. I despised this body and hunger I would never escape. I had become something not meant for this world, and now I was forced to walk the path of the living, even though I was dead.

I looked down at my perfect, naked body dripping in blood. What the fuck had I become. I panicked at my circumstance. My choice to die had been disregarded. I had accepted my fate and now here I stood, a demon. A bringer of death and war.

"Nic, please forgive me. I couldn't let you go. I told you I needed you. I've been out of my mind with worry these past weeks. When I finally found you, and saw you, I made a split second decision based on my own greed and sorrow. He walked quickly to me and hit his knees in front of me, hugging me hard and buring his head to my stomach. He sounded like he was crying. Vampires don't cry.... do they?

I grabbed his hair and jerked his head back to look in my eyes. "You made a mistake Death. And I am prepared to show you the error of your ways." I loved him. I truly did. He was the king of my heart, sitting on his throne inside my chest. But I was still mad. Mad he had made this choice without my consent. Maybe I had prepared myself for death and was ready to cross into the afterlife. Now I was destined to roam the earth, taking life and drinking blood. A lost soul, bound to her creator's. Wandering, forever.

Because both Ethan and Jay had turned me I was fiercely loyal to them both. Not by choice however, by blood. Another decision I had no say in. I would do as they say and follow them wherever they might go, no matter how much I wanted to turn and run. I began to think my captors who had tortured me and brought me here were merciful, at least I knew there was an end to my suffering. With Death and War, there was no end in sight.