The Rise

I’m still not sure exactly how to explain it all. After the long darkness, sort of like an abyss, flickers of light reminiscent of the flashes of steel striking steel sparked through my mind. Scenes of my childhood flew past in the flickers. All of a sudden, a pain blew away all of it, sort of like an injection.

It was just after that I could open my eyes. It took me a second to adjust to the moonlight, it was such a long drop, I was surprised I survived. But, how? The pain flared again and I checked the area with my hand, only finding a spot of blood on the back of my head, and a little more on my neck.

That pain reminded me of the fall, of blood red eyes in the dark abyss. Of her. White hair, white dress. Blood on the mouth… fangs like needles.

She was at my side unconscious, with fresh blood on her lips.

*-*-*

Dark and downhill, made all the more dangerous by the fact I was running with everything I had. I’m still not sure what I was thinking, even now, how do you outrun a vampire? Naturally, recklessly sprinting downhill didn’t go as planned and I tumbled over and into the treeline. Impacting spine first into the oak trunk completely took the wind from my sails, the pain left me wincing. No time to waste on the pain, my feet found their place below me as well as those of a newborn elk. If I was lucky, she was still there, unconscious and unaware of where I had gone.

Within a few hours, and a few risky moments, I was back at the base of the mountain. The moon was still high in the sky somehow, but I could see the gates of Grimoire in the distance, the lit braziers were my lighthouse. The pain in my neck hadn’t subsided, blood still oozed out, even after I covered the wound. In the stories our mother told us, people would be bitten, soon after they’d grow fangs and fear the sun. Maybe I was lucky, maybe it won’t affect me…

“I’ll have to have the doctor check it out”, the thought soothed my anxiety for now at least.

Further down, I had reached the village. It was late, really late. The streets were barren bar the few guards patrolling around that took one look at me and tipped their hats. Hawthorne, the hovel we called home welcomed me. The door was left unlocked, I’d assumed the old man wanted to welcome me home, sure as I thought, he was sat in his seat by the fire, fast asleep. “Stayed up all night, gramps?” With a smile I whispered, “you wouldn’t believe the night I’ve had.”

I left him to sleep. For now, I needed to check on Myra. After that I could visit the doctor and get him started on making the serum, hopefully it would be ready by the evening that way.

*-*-*

Myra was restlessly tossing and turning in her bed, in between consciousness. I could tell she was struggling, even just being by her side I could see that. “Every nightmare of waking and finding you gone was a fear I prayed would never become real.” I whispered beside her, pulling the covers over her. “Just a little longer, Myra. We’ll have you cured before you know it.” As I always did before going to bed, I whispered goodnight while making sure she was comfortable and gently kissed her forehead.

The moment I did so, the pain I’d felt earlier started aching again. It was so much worse that before however, quickly becoming unbearable, I was only just able to stop myself from screaming out. Just as suddenly it hit, it stopped.

I felt as if something else was taking over my body, something that wanted to watch me writhe. Instead of the pain it was an insatiable hunger. I found myself reaching closer to Myra, no longer did I see her as a loved one, the only thought I had was… blood.

No.

No!

It was like an unbearable urge, to embrace her close and pierce her skin, to feel the warm blood flow down my throat. No matter how much I tried to make myself stop, my body ignored me.

I’d become the demon my parents fought against to keep us safe, the demon they were killed by, and now I would put my own sister through that same fate?! Why was this happening?!

Closer and closer to her neck, further and further into the deep dark waters I fell. I could feel my teeth against her skin, along with the uncontrollable desire to bite, fighting against my will to save her once again. But this will was losing despite my everything.

…

“Aster…?”

She spoke. It was breathy, followed by heavy coughs. It was more than I had heard from her in months.

With just one word, “What have I become?”

“It’s okay, Myra. We’ve been through a lot together, lost both mother and father, and at some point I started to accept that I would lose you. I climbed that mountain and I survived the monster so that you could live… I made a promise, and even if it costs my life I will keep it.”

Every fibre of my being was pushing me to bite down but somehow I managed to fight against it and walk away, leaving the glass lotus on her bedside table alongside a note for gramps to find.

That night, I left my home, my everything, and started my life anew.

*-*-*

The Nightshade estate greeted me back like an old friend. The sun had begun to rise behind a thick layer of fog.

The girl I had saved before noticed me walking towards the towers and hid inside, blocking the entrance. It didn’t do much good, I already knew how to bypass the door. She ran out, ran away from me, as if I was the demon, not her. She rounded the corner and hid behind it, only her eyes were visible.

“You’re one of them, right?” I asked, pointing at the partially destroyed tower beside me. “A Nightshade”.

Silence was the response, not the one I wanted. “If there’s one thing I hate, it's being ignored! Answer the question” I demanded. She flinched when I shouted and timidly replied with a nod, good enough for now.

“When your brood was attacked 10 years ago, it was by our soldiers. Every single person I know in that village lost someone dear to them because of you. So, I could go back down the mountain, and bring them up here to finish the job. Or you can change me back, here and now.”

Again she didn’t respond, I couldn’t even see her reaction behind the wall. I waited a few seconds more and still no answer. “Well?” I asked, more irritated.

“I, I can’t.” I could barely make out her mumbling.

She seemed to think I was happy with that. All until I rounded the corner and pinned her in place, staring deep into her eyes, all I could see was fear.

“Because of you, I almost killed THE most important person in the world to me. I can’t go back home now, in case I can’t resist the hunger and you think, that saying you can’t, is something, I want, TO HEAR?!”

“I don’t know how!” She shouted out, cowering from me, pushing herself further into the wall.

“Oh come on. Couple thousand years of drinking blood must’ve made a lot of vampires. You’d think at least one of you would’ve made an antidote just in case, right?!”

“It doesn’t work like that!” She shouted. “Humans don’t become vampires from vampire bites…” she continued, fidgeting.

I was a little confused, “okay, so how do you explain me?”

She looked me in the eye for the first time. “I didn’t drink your blood. I gave you mine.”

I remembered seeing her next to me when I woke up, how she looked sort of ill. It’d make sense if she did give blood. “Okay, and why would you do that?”

…

“Spit it out!” I barked.

“The fall. It would have killed you”.

*-*-*

“Have you done it before? Give your blood to a human?”

“No…” she sheepishly responded.

“Then how would you know it would work?”

She was silent for a moment. “My father’s study. When I was younger I used to go in there and read his research. One of his tests was the effects of vampiric blood in human cells. Most of the time the cells were destroyed and the human died.”

“That’s not an answer, idiot. If it didn’t work then why would it now?!”

I could tell she didn’t appreciate being called an idiot. “The original vampire, Lilith, was a human that became a vampire!”

“That’s still not good enough.” I replied. At that moment I remember gathering the information I had been given. “She says she put her blood in me, that’s why I’m how I am. Not sure why she’d lie about that. But she also says there’s no way to turn back…” I threw the ideas around in my mind, trying to figure something out.

“Your father did research, has notes on different experiments. Did he ever try out a cure?”

“I- I don’t know, I don’t think so.”

Once again, I fancied a strategic conversation with my mind. “I can’t go back to Grimoire, chances are I’d be putting gramps and Myra in danger and that’s if they don’t realise what I am as soon as I step foot in town. There’s no guarantee I’d be safer further out either. If there is a cure, I’ll find it here.”

She was trying to sneak away as I was deep in thought. “Monster, your name?”

By the quick glance back at me and the look on her face I could see her surprise. “You made me this way, now it’s your responsibility to deal with it. Like it or not, I’m going to stay here for the time being. Now tell me your name, or would you prefer monster?”

“No” she responded quickly. The follow up was delayed as she fidgeted around a little. “Aiyana. I’m Aiyana.”

*-*-*

So began my life as a vampire alongside the one that made me this way, Aiyana.

Little did we know, soon enough, everything would come to a bitter end.