by Ian Haywood
I felt the rope burn onto my wrists as I pull down and exactly to plan, I break free and I take the first available opportunity to remove the gag from my mouth.
I throw it to the floor and turn my attention towards the man with the bloodied face and I can see the terror in his eyes as I make my way towards him, completely showing no attention whatsoever to the other man.
Whatever had happened to me in the last few minutes has now changed me from a weak almost helpless young woman to something a hell of a lot more sinister.
But also powerful enough to start putting the fear of God into someone who moments ago had me on the back foot.
And now I was in control of what was happening and every inch of me was preparing to make both of the men pay for what they had done to me.
I breathe in and instantly picked up the sweet smell of the blood and it made me hungry for its taste again.
And as I leap forward towards my first victim, I was suddenly knocked out of the way by an unseen force.
The two men took this opportunity to make a break for freedom and I watched them run out of the door like two scolded cats, neither of them looking back as they did so.
But what had stopped me in my tracks?
I looked around the room and only saw the other women who were tied up, but a newly found instinct within me felt some kind of presence moving around in the shadows.
And as I was trying to work out exactly where this being was hiding right now, something suddenly came from nowhere and came to a sudden halt inches from my right shoulder.
I spun around to see what was there and I almost passed out with shock to discover the thing that was moving around so quickly was none other than my flat-mate Tanya, who had disappeared into thin air the night that I was attacked in the alleyway.
I had longed to see her since that night, but I knew that suddenly meeting her here under these circumstances, our reunion was not going to be as happy as I had hoped.
Tanya just stared at me for a few seconds before breaking the silence between us.
“So nice to see you again, Naomi. You were kind enough to let me share your humble home, so now it is my turn to return the favour to you! I do apologize for the hospitality that you have been shown so far, but mortal women are considered to be the lowest of the low within our world. You only have to look around you to see how they are treated! Those who are chosen are brought here until their souls are ripped from their bodies, taking the very life out of them. You may think that is evil, but that is how my kind continues to exist. Your kind is just as barbaric!”
“What do you mean by my kind?” I asked Tanya as I had no idea what she meant.
“To you it may have seemed as if we were the best of friends in the mortal world Naomi, but in reality we are far from it!” Tanya replied, still not answering my question.
“How can I be your enemy when I don’t even know what we’re supposed to be fighting about?”
And with that, Tanya walked across to one of the women who was tied up not too far away from where we stood and without any warning, she thrust her fist into the woman’s chest and pulled her heart out with incredible ease.
She held the heart in the palm of her hand just feet away from me and I watched it almost hypnotized as it continued beating outside of the body.
“That’s what drives your kind!” Tanya yelled at me in anger. “The beating heart – the very thing that gives you what you need to survive!”
The smell of the blood oozing from the heart was the sweetest scent that I had ever experienced and the urge to rip it from Tanya’s hand and drink the goodness that was inside it grew stronger as every second passed.
Tanya could see how much I wanted it and she let out a laugh before tossing it across the room.
The animal instincts within me had now taken over completely and I found myself diving to the floor to retrieve the heart in order to feast on its sweet nectar.
Tanya looked on and laughed.
“What a pathetic display!” she mocked, “Your addiction for blood means you have no shame when it comes to feeding times! It’s almost like watching a dog feed – mind you, your kind has the same moral standing as an animal anyway! You vampires make me sick!”
Vampire.
Is that what I had now become?
The lust for blood is not a normal thing for anyone to ever have and I knew that something was not right for me to act in this manner.
But the word vampire just seems surreal.
A few days ago I would have considered someone to be insane if they had called me a vampire, but what I had been through could only be described as supernatural and what I had seen in such a short time could send a normal person insane.
People have fought over me.
People have died defending me.
Some consider me the daughter of a man called Gereziac.
That makes me some kind of martyr to some people where others see me as some kind of enemy.
But all that seems completely irrelevant right now as I come to the end of my feed and every part of my body feels refreshed and full of life.
Maybe I am as powerful as they say I am.
There is something within me that has never risen its ugly head until now and it seems almost impossible to stop it.
Arrogance.
I may feel like I could take on the world right now, but I am no different from anyone else that I have encountered so far.
In fact, I am just as bad as Lucius and Zephal.
I have seen them both feast on the blood of others and that is exactly what I just did.
But what scares me right now is that they may all be right and the life that I had lived so far may be nothing more than a lie.
And if that is the case, then what does the rest of it hold for me?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Tanya laughed at me as I got to my feet after devouring the sweet blood from the still beating heart that she had ripped from the young woman moments ago and the feelings within me of blood lust turned to embarrassment as I realized that I had blood all over my face after my feast.
“I can see that you certainly enjoyed your little snack, Naomi!” she mocked, “You seem to have discovered one of your hidden talents already! If I hadn’t have come in when I did, then I would have lost a couple of my men!”
“They deserved to die!” I replied.
“It seems that the meek little kitten we once knew you as has changed into a fiery tigress, Naomi – and believe me, embrace it because it may be the only thing that will keep you alive in this world. At least, until we decide when you will be terminated of course!”
The amount of times that I have been verbally threatened so far have been more than I can recall and whereas it used to scare me before, now the words don’t hurt me as much as they used to.
But Tanya had mentioned ‘we’ in her last statement and that got me thinking.
“I am not something that you can just push around and decide what to do with!” I snapped, “Obviously you’re not strong enough to do this on your own, so who is this other person or persons you refer to as ‘we’?”
I had never seen such a smug look on someone’s face as Tanya gave me her answer.
“I wouldn’t mock if I was you, pretty princess! Your father may be powerful within this world, but I can assure you that the man who stands by my side is far more powerful! If you think that Alana and Lucius gave you a rough time – then be prepared because they are completely insignificant compared to us! We are everyone’s worst nightmares – we are pure evil itself and Alana thought that she could just worm her way in and claim a position of power amongst us. She came her begging for our help when she discovered that you existed, but as you know, we already knew about you already and I had been chosen as the one to stay closest to you. After all, I am the Master’s personal favourite. You thought that I had disappeared that night when you were attacked, but I was still there in the shadows keeping an eye on you. Failing that, the
re were enough of us around to make sure nothing happened without us knowing. I was told that mortals were weak, but I had never met anyone as naive as you were!”
Twice I had heard the mention of someone called the Master.
Who was he?
Even more to the point, who were these people who had suddenly kidnapped me while Zephal was trying to escape from Alana?
That got me thinking about what may have happened to Zephal – the last time I saw him, he and his two attackers had fallen onto the beach in full view of Alana and Lucius.
I’m positive that the outcome of their sudden reunion would not have been the friendliest and maybe that would be my last memory of Zephal.
It seems that I have a lot more enemies than friends through no fault of my own and after the incidents with Lucius and Tanya not being what I thought they both were, it was obvious that I have to face whatever other drama life can throw at me all on my own.
Every corner that I turn seems to produce another monster to fight against and now I find that I too have become something just as bad as them – but as Tanya said to me just a few moments ago, I should embrace who I am as it may be the only thing that will keep me alive.
I do want to remain alive – but I also want to be living my life back in my own world.
But everyone arounds me wants to make sure that I stay where I am.
I hadn’t experienced any kind of visions since being Alana and Lucius’s prisoner and I was hoping that I never would have another one again.
But my hopes were short-lived as I could feel my head starting to spin, making my vision blurry but instead of blacking out, I remained on my feet.
But Tanya was gone, replaced by the sight of a familiar place.
It shocked me when I realized that I was now standing in the massive Meeting Room back at Alana’s secret hideout – somewhere I never wanted to see again in my life.
Directly in front of me was Lucius, who was completely surrounded by soldiers – now, this would be expected as he was the Head General of Alana’s army – but these soldiers were wearing a completely different uniform than the ones Alana’s men wore.
It was obvious from the way Lucius was struggling that the men surrounding him were certainly not friendly and he tried his hardest to fight them off while two of them tried to tie him up with rope.
His valiant effort was in vain and very soon I was looking at a fully bound Lucius being held up by two soldiers – and a gag now tied around his mouth to silence him.
I hated Lucius with every inch of my body and I had wished him dead on more than a number of occasions since his true colours had finally been revealed.
But I did not expect such a gruesome demise.
A man suddenly appeared in front of Lucius and produced a sword which he held in his hand for a few moments whilst looking back towards me.
I tried to make out the man’s facial features, but for some strange reason his face appeared blurry - but I clearly made out what he did to Lucius.
I saw the man lift his sword and he brought it down onto the top of Lucius’s head and what I had wanted so much really did happen in front of me.
Lucius was definitely dead.
His skull was split in half and what remained of his brains were seeping out from the hard bone that had once encased it.
For Lucius the fight was now over and seeing his lifeless body drop to the floor ended another nightmare for me, but there would be plenty more of them to take his place.
But I have already witnessed that for some, death is not the end and that very person suddenly came into view as the soldiers dispersed after all the excitement had finished.
And the person I caught sight of was none other than Zephal being helped out by a couple of soldiers through the massive wooden doors that I had been carried through on Lucius’s shoulder when I first set eyes on Alana’s secret hideout.
Alana.
What had happened to her since I was away?
I had just witnessed Lucius’s death and all the way through it, not once did I catch a glimpse of Alana.
Had she met the same fate as Lucius earlier?
She was another person who I also wanted to die a horrible death too and maybe she did.
And who was this mysterious man who I couldn’t seem to make out?
Whoever he was, he was my hero right now for doing what he did and judging by the way some of the men were gently helping Zephal out of the doors, I had an incline who this man might be.
Had I just caught a glimpse of the man that everyone thinks is my father?
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The vision of Lucius being killed in front of me began to slowly fade away and I found myself alone with Tanya once again and she was looking towards me with an expression that I had seen a few times before when we lived together.
But this time she was showing no sympathy whatsoever and she smirked at me as I regained my bearings.
“I can see that you still have your strange episodes, Naomi!”
She may be mocking me right now, but she had no idea how important these visions were.
For the first time in a while, I had found myself free of any restraints and it didn’t seem as if Tanya was even going to attempt to put any on me.
The feeling of some kind of freedom felt good and I was trying to work out some form of escape whilst keeping up a conversation with Tanya not to make her aware of what I was planning.
I know exactly what I am, but I haven’t been able to work out exactly what Tanya is.
So, maybe it’s time to find out – after all, I want to know what I’m facing right now.
“Tanya, why do you hate vampires so much?” I asked.
Just the mention of the word vampires made Tanya scowl.
“Your kind seem to think that they can rule over everyone with their righteous behavior when they are nothing short of animals themselves! My kind have been around for much longer than any vampire and they should be bowing down before us – not expecting us to bow before them!”
“What exactly is your kind?” I asked.
Tanya looked directly at me and I was shocked to see the colour of her eyes change from the blue I knew her to have to pure black in a split second.
Tanya could see my reaction and continued to speak.
“My kind have been around since God first created man and we served alongside him like we once did with the vampires until it was clear that we had been used in order for them to claim all the glory and rule without any say from us. Well, in both cases we haven’t taken it too lightly and each time we have had to settle it on the battlefield. There are many that exist within both the mortal and immortal world who claim to be pure evil – but we are born from the direct bloodline of Lucifer himself!”
I had now discovered that I was standing just a few feet away from a real-life demon.
Tanya spoke once again.
“The best thing about being what we are is the fact that sometimes we can get others to do our dirty work for us simply by possessing their souls and if they do perish whilst doing what we command them, then we just simply jump into another host. There are swarms of us everywhere – more than you could ever believe – all waiting for the right moment to take over some unsuspecting soul. But there are many who exist who choose to follow us voluntarily and sometimes they can prove to be just as useful as any of our kind because it is virtually impossible for anyone to recognize them as one of us. They could be anywhere around us right now – but of course they must bear some kind of mark in order for us to recognize them and spare their lives in the heat of battle. I personally chose that insignia myself to honor the memory of my love’s dead brother – who incidentally was killed by your father!”
Here we go again – being blamed for something that was done by a man I didn’t even know who everyone thinks is my bloody father.
“Tanya!” I shouted, “Why does everyone insist that I am the daughter of this Gereziac? You know who my real parents w
ere – you even came to their funeral after the car crash!”
Tanya just looked at me and replied.
“Your life has been one lie after another, Naomi and now you have to face up to the truth whether you like it or not. I never was and never will be your friend – you really are the daughter of someone that you have never met before. He thought you would be safe hidden away in the mortal world, but he was completely wrong! Those Gallaghers were nice enough people to take you on as their own, but they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. It was such a shame to see that they had to die in such a horrendous manner. I can still see the fear in their eyes as they realized that their lives were about to come to an end!”
As soon as I realized what Tanya had said, I made a leap for her, but I found myself just grabbing thin air as she moved out of the way with lightning speed.