A Dark Night

Chapter VI

Chapter 6

The blood is life

 

“You seem startled.” The deep voice spoke in a soft, yet demeaning manner. His face unchanged - cold and pale. He was a demon made white flesh staring with eyes colder than a thousand frozen winters.

“W-what are you!? What have you done to me!? Answer me-”

“Silence fool. Your tongue sickens my ears.” He snarled in a dark, monotone voice clenching my face with his hand. It gripped my face with such power it would easily break a normal mans face. Yet, I seemed immune to such vulnerability now. But yet I was scared. Scared that I might die and he would live. He.. He was not human. He was a demon and a demon from the deepest pits of Hell, for no man held a gaze more terrifying than he.

“I-I..” I tried to speak, but no words ushered. All that came from my mouth were the butchered remains of a proud hero. A proud hero who would stop at nothing to destroy evil even if it cost his life. A proud hero who was no more.

“Speak no more wretch. You are nothing but now a mere pawn to me. “

“S-Sire, perhaps-”

“I was not speaking to you woman!” The fiend immediately retorted in his deep tone. This was followed by a firm slap to the maiden in red,  her face turning a side as her head fluttered back. She landed on the floor with her scarlet hair covering her face. In a mess she lay covered in her long, decorative red drapery. I looked back in horror as I saw the man who struck with no remorse to whom I thought was his partner, and a defenseless maiden. She may had been a being of evil but the inner knight in me could not bare this act. I forced energy in me to move up but I felt a strong burn burning my body into oblivion.

Aggh! I yelled in pain. The intensity, the scorch! My body screamed in agony, my tongue screeching forth a symphony of pain and suffering. I dug my nails deep in the wooden floors writhing in the cold winter wind. The searing pain, burning me in a melting fire of horror intensified. My chest was flaming and my screams louder, then it became evident my chest was the source of this. I looked down in my pain.. My cross! My rosary was shining brighter than anything I could comprehend! Perhaps it was my pain blinding my judgement, but it seemed the very light of god was searing into my flesh! I..I knew not why this was happening to me!

“Ah ha ha! It seems you have only realized the true abomination you are! A warrior of light now dying from the very God he fought for!” S-so it was my rosary shining! It was shining, blinding! It was a magnificent blinding aura and flaming judgement upon my skin. Using the last of my strength, I grabbed the cross. It was as if I was grabbing a flaming iron cross melting my gauntlet. The searing pain was quick yet more immense than any stab, as I immediately threw it out once I grabbed it. I gasped for air, my life slowly coming back into me. I could now see clearly and hear clearly. The floor, no longer a blur, the air was crisp in my ear as the sound of winter hymns. I.. I could focus so well now. It even seemed I could focus far greater than before! This power appalled me as I could see the finest detail at the end of this room and hear the yawn of a mountain wolf from afar. The finest stench of burning wax from the candles now felt as familiar to my nose as the cold air that surrounded me.

“You seemed alarmed, almost ecstatic at your new power human.”

“I...I suppose so..” As much as I’d hate to admit it, this was a most joyous gift. But from a man such as he, there must have been some ill will in this gift. Even a faint trace of evil must have lay in this power. “There, there must be a catch to this!”

He simply looked at me and in a soft, yet commanding tone he spoke, “You are a vampyr now.”

I...I...I…

“You are a vampyr, a child of the night. A monster among men and a devil to the men whom serve your god. A bloodsucking horror who will forever walk among the living as undead.”

I...I….I…

I ran. I ran as fast as I could. With my blade still in my hand I gripped it faster. My pain, my anger, my fear, my sorrow! I gripped my blade with a hold mightier than the force of olympus and drained forth all my emotion. But alas, it was not enough. I stopped in my tracks. I had run from the back and heart of the old fort to the very entrance into the cold in mere seconds. What..what am I? What monster had I become? What in god’s name am I!? I was no longer a man, I was no longer the knight I had trained to be for years. All my years, all my hope, all my happiness! All lost because this bloody curse! I hated it! Every second of it! Every moment I lay breathing every moment I lay in the body of an abomination with my soul eternally twisted from the grace of God. Why.. Why have You forsaken me? Why have you forsaken me Father!?

I can feel it. I can feel your hate. No… No! He lingered in my mind! The goddamn heathen monster from earlier? Why was he doing this? Why was he twisting my mind, my heart, my bloody soul?

I can feel it. I can feel your sorrow. Why, why!? I heard him, not with my ears but with my mind and soul! He was as vivid in my head as the winter air before me! Why… Why was he doing this? Why must he had cursed me..

Come to me my son. Seek shelter in me, not He. I will show you the way of the night. His voice was deep, commanding and dark. Yet itself showed a gentle reassurance a father would portray. That a father would portray…

I sense your despair and I sense your fear. Come and I will show you the way my son. I...I...I…

Come and I will show you how to use your dark gift. I...I...I…

Speak no more, no more words are to be spoken. Embrace me and I will make you my own. I.. I knew not what to do. I could return not to the world I came from, but I knew he was a being of pure evil. But so was I. I monster as evil in the flesh as he and a soul as black. But then I saw him before me, in the flesh out of thin air. When he appeared it seemed a small cloud of mist disintegrated in his place, truly a magnificent sight to behold.

“I knew you would not come to me. You are now my son. I have made you my blood and you are now mine. You will serve me and I will show you how to use your gift. “ He then walked closer to me and put his hand atop my hair, ”You were chosen for this not by chance, but because of your skill in combat. With this gift you will become the warrior you were truly meant to be.”

“I..I..d-don’t..” In my stuttered and awed fear his hand glew a bright scarlet and from it came a magnificent force around it. The aura overwhelmed me and I shook, the power surging in my head rattled my brain and almost felt like it grabbed it, as if examining it.

“You are hungry and fearful my son. Go and hunt. I will seek you when you are done.” And without question I got up after he removed his hand. I..I felt an urge to go. I felt something coursing over me, an emotion held inside for so long that it began to consume me. I felt inside.. a great hunger. The blood inside me boiled, lusting for a taste of life. I hungered and I lusted for the life of men, after all, the blood is life.