The Queen's Shadow

The Oath

~~~Rainer November 6th, 1950

I looked at the uniform carefully again, telling myself, this wasn't normal. The normalcy that I try to cope with was thrown out the window. I looked at the blood and finally saw that color could have only been the Queen's. The blood of the wound was still open...but as vampires burst when we die. What was I genuinely witnessing?

I backed up; then I felt something behind my foot. I turned around and looked down. It was a man's face. The eyes were bloodshot red and glazed over as if they had been here for hours. The head was caked with a thick layer of blood. I then noticed something, the color of one of the eyes. They were gold. I don't know how I didn't see them at first, maybe it was because of the shock factor.

The queen had many abilities, and it was improbable that there was a human among us. I don't know if it was her or an imposter. Was this the Queen? 'Yes, it's me.' I knew I was hearing something. A severed head couldn't speak. 'No, I'm speaking to you through your mind.' I was still silent trying to understand what I was seeing and hearing. 'I would greatly appreciate it if you attached my head to my body.'

I picked up the head and did what I was told. As it slowly attached to the body it took some time, within a few minutes the body started to heal. Then with a jolt of energy, the eyes returned to life, they were almost glazed over when I saw them. I wonder what happens when her head is completely cut off and no one is around. After a few more minutes, she began to flex her hands.

I noticed the flesh around her neck had not healed, the skin around her body began to melt and fell off. Shape-shifting could only last as long as you were alive. Otherwise, the skin would just fall off you revealing the true form, shape-shifting wasn't like in a book. Where the user would return to normal after they've been slain or knocked unconscious, no it was much more to it. If someone was slain while they were under the guise of someone else, the skin would be nothing more than a lump of mass decomposing at a much faster rate.

What was the queen? I wanted to keep my thoughts silent but the idea kept one lingering. 'Do you need to understand?' I was so foolish as to let my thoughts be heard. At the same time I had sworn loyalty to the queen, she could have killed me. "Forgive me, my queen, I just need to ask." I said foolishly if I was to die today it was going to be at the woman I serve."What...are you?" I said it almost ready to die for my insolence. She then responded in a calm voice:

'I am something older than you can even imagine, but for right now you can just say I'm immortal.' I see now, this woman was more than just our Queen. I am an Atheist and I always looked at vampires as a sign of deviation from man. That was what I thought it was for as long as I can remember. Modern science only furthered the idea even more.

Before I was turned into a vampire I had threatened the notion of God at every turn. No being could take the credit for all atrocities that Humanity has done. War, famine, hate, segregation, and murder. If a being like that exists, I would be better off an atheist No animal on earth asked to be here for their entertainment.

I came back to reality and said: "I will serve you as a servant must my queen." She was still wearing the skin, and it was very clearly shedding in a lot of areas. The tension I felt had dissipated was she affected by my words? She broke the silence by saying: 'We must find survivors.' She said as she then started pulling skin from her face. "Though before that I must get rid of this skin."

It was only minutes and she was completely done, her hair no longer flowing and fiery like it was before. Instead, it was cut short into a pixie cut, her golden eyes completely present now. If she could survive this what else could she survive? She had been snapping her neck for a few minutes, almost as if we are adjusting it. You could hear cracks happening underneath the rags of dead skin. After a few moments, she was done removing the skin, and I could tell she was still stiff.