Reborn

Reborn a god, she had said. At the time her words did not even register in my mind, so I did not think to ask what she meant. It didn’t matter. She was there, I was her love, and for me all that mattered was that we were together.

I got to my feet, and as I did I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. It looked like a boot. I turned my head to see that it was a boot, on the ground beside me. My boot, on someone’s foot. I frowned in puzzlement as I turned, my gaze following the leg upwards to the body laying on the ground beside me. Then my eyes widened in horror and I felt my insides freeze into ice as I saw the face, and it was mine. My body, my corpse, pale and dead on the ground beside me.

“What is this?” I cried out, gesturing at the body. I looked back at Ordala, trying to comprehend. “What have you done?”

She had an indulgent look on her face, as a mother trying to explain some complex idea to a small child. “You don’t need to be concerned about that any more,” she purred softly, her tone meant to calm me. “That is but a piece of dead flesh now, you are free of it. I have given you a great gift, Lovan. The gift of immortality. You never have to worry about cold, or heat, or illness or old age, or anything that afflicts those of the flesh. You are free, to be with me for all eternity.”

Her tone did nothing to calm me now. As utterly enthralled as I had been the previous night, and even when I had first awoken, the sight of my own corpse was like a bucket of ice water doused over my head. “What have you done to me??” I yelled, both terrified and angry.

Her indulgent look melted away, replaced by a colder look in her eyes. “What’s done is done, Lovan. You’re going to have to get used to your new existence with me.” She moved closer and put her hands on my shoulders. “We are vampires, both of us now. You have powers you could never have dreamed of as a mortal. I will teach you how to use them, and we will travel, and feed, and revel in our immortality. You will love it in time, you’ll see.”

I stared at her, unable or unwilling to believe what I had heard. “You turned me into a vampire?” I croaked out. “You made me into a… a monster!” I pulled away from her grasp, tore my gaze from hers, turned away from her and fled into the woods.

I could feel my heart pounding in my chest in fear as I ran. How could I, if I were an undead monster? I ran as fast as I could, at random through the trees, and somehow they were a blur to me. I was running faster than any human could, faster than most animals as well, and though the forest floor was littered with dead leaves there was no sound of my passing.

I don’t know how long or how far I ran before I finally slowed and came to a stop. I didn’t know where I was, somewhere deep in the woods. It was very dark, yet I could see everything around me more clearly than the night of a full moon. The grinding in my stomach had grown worse, and I had the urge to find food… to hunt. I heard my heart pounding again in my ears, but no… it wasn’t my heart at all. I turned my head to look through the trees, and I could hear it like a siren song. A strong heartbeat, then two. The sound got louder and louder to me, and I was drawn to it. I followed the sound for a bit, then I caught a scent on the night breeze. The scent of blood. Not like on the battlefield, where the smell is like a sickening stench mingled with sweat and offal and death. No, this smell was sweet and intoxicating, like the scent of a fine wine, or an expensive perfume.

My nostrils flared at the scent, and I felt dizzy as I followed it. I could hear whispered words before I actually saw them, a young couple sitting together along the shore of a small lake. As soon as I laid eyes on them I was filled with conflicting feelings. Overpowering hunger, and horror as I knew what I was about to do, and knew that I could do nothing to stop it.

Swift and silent, I attacked. I leaped upon the young man and smashed his head against the stone he had been sitting on. The girl screamed and tried to run, but I turned and dove on top of her before she could get more than a step away. With an animalistic snarl I sank fangs I didn’t know I had into her throat and fed as she gurgled and tried to scream.

Her body thrashed and shuddered in my grasp in the throes of agony as her heart pumped all of her life’s blood into my waiting mouth. The taste was utter bliss to me. It was sweet and pure and warm, it made my insides sing, and my head buzz with pleasure. I could feel its warmth spread throughout me, and the more I drank the stronger and more powerful I felt. Eventually her body stopped moving and went limp in my grasp, drained of life. I dropped her corpse to the ground and turned once more to her lover, to drain him of whatever blood he had left in him.

When I finished, I sat on the rock where they had been sitting and breathed deeply of the night air, now filled with the scent of their freshly spilled blood. My hands and face were smeared with it, my body trembled in pleasure and my mind spun as if I were drunk. I just sat there for a long while enjoying the feelings, until they began to fade. Then sanity returned to my mind, and the realization of what I had just done began to sink in. I looked down at the blood staining my hands and howled out in anguish and horror into the night. I was a monster, and would be forever.

I felt her presence a moment before she laid her hand on my shoulder. “Come, Lovan,” Ordala said softly. “It will be dawn soon, and we must sleep. Tomorrow things will be better, you’ll see.”

I nodded numbly. What choice did I have? Where else could I go? I rose and took her hand, and she led me through the woods to a hiding place to wait out the daylight.