Blood Lust

“Here, Steffan, let me show you.” Galan grasped Steffan’s hands in his, stared deeply into his eyes, and sent the images flowing to him like a movie playing in his mind. The room was dark, cobblestone, and old. It had but one door to go into and out of, and two windows that at one time were boarded up, but were now filled in with the same cobblestone and mortar as the walls. The floor was bare and dirt, crawling with bugs, insects, leaves and twigs. There was a single bed, stained and dirty, with only a mattress on it, sheet less. Shackles and chains were attached to each of the four bedposts of the bed. The only other furnishing within the room was a single chair, placed in the center of the room, but close to the bed. Very little light was able to get into the room around the cracks around the door. The room was mostly kept in pitch blackness throughout the day and night. Kattaillia kept me here for many days and nights, chained to the bedposts. After I was turned by her, she kept me chained to each of the four corners of the bed, with heavy chains and shackles around my wrists and ankles, sprawled out like some insect ready to be mounted on a board. There was no way I could break free of the chains, as I was too weak to do so. Even if I did, I could not have survived on my own without the knowledge that she held. I was at her mercy, and she knew it. I was bound to her in more ways than the chains that held me there. I begged for my death before she turned me, but she only laughed in my face. She told me, ‘You are not going to end up like your little precious one. I am keeping you close to me, and you will be mine for as long as this world shall exist. I cannot trust you not to speak of what you have seen and experienced alone, therefore, I will keep you by my side to make sure you are trained in the art of my lifestyle. You will learn to adapt, and with that, you will learn to live again.’ I never understood at the time what she was talking about, until she leaned close to me that one night, and began to whisper in my ear. The realization of what she was telling me was dawning on me slowly, as my mind was still in shock and turmoil of what I had seen her do to my dearest Mircea. I asked her then if she was going to kill me. I thought at the time she was possibly going to give me a release from the pain and misery I was living in every waking moment of my life. I thought she was going to end the pain. She only told me, ‘Kill you? In a way, yes. In another way, no. You will die, and you will hurt, but you will still live.’ I did not fully understand what she was talking about until I saw her fangs. They were impossibly long, longer than either yours or mine are, and she came closer still to me. I knew then, at that moment, what she had in store for me. I begged her not to do it. I am not ashamed of the fact I was begging for my life, what I had left of it. I would rather had gone through the rest of my mortal life in pain and misery, than to be transformed into the evil beast that she is today. I knew that was going to be her plan for me, and I could not bear to be that way. All my pleadings fell on deaf ears. She ignored me, and bit into the flesh of my neck. Her breath was icy cold, like that of a deep freezer. I felt immense pain, and could actually feel the blood being sucked out of my body. I knew then that I would die. I was praying for it as the blackness enveloped me. When I awoke the next night, I was weak, but alive. If that is what you would like to call it. I was not chained any longer, but was left on the bed unhindered by chains, nor any type of bindings. I tried to get out of bed, only to fall onto the dirt floor of the room with all the bugs and scurrying insects. I finally managed to pull myself back onto the bed, completely exhausted, and lie still, trying to regain my strength. I thought I was alone, as I could not see anyone else with me. After a while in the total darkness, my eyes adjusted to the shadows, and I was able to see Kattaillia sitting in the lone chair, watching me. I asked her in a raspy, dry voice if I was alive or dead, and she replied, ‘You are neither, my child. You are the undead. A vampire. Just like me. You will never die, but you will never live like you used to do either. You will also never see the one you cherished so much to love in your life, ever again.’ She then laughed at me. It was a laugh that will forever haunt my dreams until I no longer see the light of the moon at night. It was the laugh of a mad person. A maniacal laugh. I will never forget that laugh, nor the way she looked at me from that day forward. She always looked at me like a small child would look at a pet they love. I think that is maybe what I was to her. A pet. Or maybe she actually thought of me as a child, since she was actually the one that brought me over to this way of life. There is no way I could know, as I could never read her mind. Kattaillia pushed me flat onto the bed and forced some vile tasting liquid from a goblet into my mouth and down my throat. I had no idea what it was at the moment, only that it tasted tinny and coppery. It burnt my throat and stomach like fire, and made me gag uncontrollably. I could feel it running from my mouth, down my throat, and into my stomach, and I think, through my stomach, into the rest of my body. As bad as it tasted then, I could feel with every gulp my strength returning, and energy flowing through me. I came close to throwing up, but managed to control myself, as I knew, on some level, I needed this vile liquid to survive and grow stronger. She finally told me it was blood, and what I needed to survive on from now on. I forced myself to stay conscious, as my vision was blurring from her revelation.