The Blood Born Tales (Book 1): Blood Collector

by T. C. Elofson

  Cerci went on coldly.

  “You have to appreciate how much I relish this moment. It was never an impulsive decision to bring you here. You have been chosen, Kenny. The timing might have been impulsive, but the way in which you will be turned will not be reckless. The method has been planned out in great detail.”

  Kenny began to realize the horrible plan they had in store for him. Cerci looked at him and there was nobody home behind this vampire’s eyes. He was pure animal. His face was drained of all emotion and blood, white as a blank page. He was a killer, a mindless savage, a destroyer of human lives, tearing and cutting and inflicting pain on the world. The vampires ached for Kenny’s screams and his blood. He couldn’t stand to look at the vampire a moment longer.

  Cerci stood motionless and closed his eyes. The four stone slabs only feet from them began to move, only slightly. Then Kenny gasped as they lifted up off of the floor and slid across the room of their own accord. They came to a crashing halt as they crumbled into a pile of broken rocks at the end of the room and dust blew into the candlelight. Kenny looked back over to where the slabs had stood and noticed a grave under the house. A man lay motionless in the dirt. At least it looked like a man from where Kenny hung. The figure was in total darkness. Only bits of his face could be seen in the light of the candles.

  Everything became silent. Kenny felt himself slowly swaying back and forth. His eyes opened and he saw that the room was now filled with people. He had not heard one sound as they had made their way into the room. Then, in his mind, Kenny suddenly felt as if he were not alone. There was a voice slowly waking in his thoughts and Kenny wondered if he might be losing his mind.

  “You are not losing your mind,” the voice told him.

  “Who are you?” Kenny spoke out loud.

  “I am The Origin. I am the first immortal ever to walk this world. I am Cognatus.”

  The voice was confident and assertive to Kenny. It gave him the feeling of someone in control, calm and collected, and Kenny, too, suddenly felt calm. Then Kenny opened his eyes and looked down to the floor. The man who reclined in the earth below him had his eyes open. Every person in the room was on their hands and knees, bowing in respect to this creature and Kenny knew at once that this was the voice in his head. This was Cognatus.

  Suddenly every candle in the house burst with light. Flames exploded on the empty wicks unexpectedly disrupting the darkened house with brilliant illumination.

  Then the words appeared in his mind as Cognatus read his thoughts.

  “No, not just evil, as you label me. Evil is always possible. It is the one constant in this world. It has always been easier to be evil than good. Goodness has always been out of reach.”

  Cognatus lifted one hand out of the grave and placed his red and black fingers on the cold dirt floor. Kenny’s eyes widened as he watched this terrifying being slowly crawl its way from the dirt of the earth, its black hair covered in bugs and mud, its skin smooth as leather with a reddish tint, and its long fangs like pieces of bronze—jagged and sharp. The creature looked about the room as if it could not see and it stumbled in its blindness. Several people rushed to its side. A sense of freedom from an extensive hibernation, the sense of adventure of unexpected events that had shaken the fabric of The Origin of Blood—that is what had brought him out of his sleep. This first immortal experienced a curious quest for an emotional past while a ubiquitous danger kept sensation at a peak of intensity. Things were close to the end.

  Cognatus took several weakened steps forward, his head barely able to be held erect by the fragile muscles in his neck. The surrounding energy of the room was powerful. Although every immortal there had waited their entire existence for that moment, many had not really thought it would ever happen. The smell of blood filled the air. Cognatus caught the scent of it in an instant. Suddenly his heart began to beat again. His entire being ached for it. His yellow eyes fixed onto Jack as he hung there, somewhere between life and death, like a slab of meat waiting to be fed upon.

  Cerci held onto Cognatus with a gentle grip as if Cerci could accidentally hurt Cognatus even though his skin was hard as steel. Cognatus took several shuffling steps across the floor. He needed blood and he needed it now.

  Jack could feel his end was close and his thoughts drifted to a place of peace and happiness. He focused his mind on his family. Jack thought of his loving wife in Washington D.C. and how she sat silently in a chair by the phone, hoping that he would call to chat even for a moment, his son playing at her feet. He remembered how she would look at him—the look of someone totally in love. He knew he did not treat her like she always deserved to be treated and he wished he had been able to touch her just one last time.

  Jack moaned as the steel shackles were unlocked and his body fell to the dirt floor. He was a lump at the feet of Cognatus. The old vampire stood, decrepit and weak, as he looked down at Jack. Insects fell from his hair and landed in scurrying piles on the ground.

  A young vampire grabbed Jack up off the floor. Bones crunched and snapped under his strength. Pain seared throughout Jack as he was lifted to his feet. His eyelids slowly parted and Jack’s fatigued eyes gradually focused on Cognatus. The horrible two million-year-old half-demon, half-human creature stood before Jack with eyes of gold and skin of pale red. His mouth hung open, his teeth were long and sharp and drooling with saliva, ready for blood.

  Jack screamed out as the sharp fangs sank into his flesh with such power that the bones in his neck were crushed under the force. It had been close to a million years since Cognatus had fed and he no longer had the gentle kiss he once had. He was a furious killer, an animal at heart. Jack turned white as his blood was sucked from his body in an instant. Then Jack fell back to the floor in a lifeless pile of dead flesh.

  Cognatus was the happy hunter; he had taken down the big one. The blood of a vampire hunter was like a fine wine, smooth and intoxicating.

  The chilly entrance hall was dimly lit by moonlight that seeped through small cracks in the decomposing wood of the house. The sounds of death had stopped and only the crackling of the flames could be heard now. Kenny closed his eyes. A tear rolled down his cheek at the sight of Jack.

  If there had been one single doubt in Kenny about the severity of this situation, it was gone at that moment. His nightmare was indeed very real. His muscles ached and his head was throbbing. His heart was still beating loudly and every vampire in the room was well aware of it, especially Cognatus. The Origin turned to Kenny, no longer needing the assistance of Cerci. He stood tall and proud as the great father of The Family and moved closer to Kenny with a kind of grace and elegance.

  Cognatus had liked Kenny from the beginning. He had not called Kenny here but that made no difference now. Kenny was present now and Cognatus knew what he wanted to do with this one. Instead of feeding on him like a mere victim and treating Kenny like a child, as any vampire would have done, Cognatus knew he wanted him in His Family. Kenny would make a great addition. He would be the perfect one to hunt down and kill Tim Anderson.

  Kenny closed his eyes. He could hear low grunting and it sounded like an old man clearing his throat in the midst of a debilitating cold. Kenny tensed as he hung—he could feel Cognatus close to him now. The creature’s breath was like a sticky mist as he felt it drift over him. His mind simply floated like a boat caught in a current going down a stream of thoughts. Cognatus was in his mind now, speaking to him. The creature’s mouth opened again and Cognatus grunted, but by then Kenny was not sure if this monster was going to take his life or not. Maybe it would be worse. Maybe they would make him into one of them.

  “I’m in your mind now, Kenny,” Cognatus said. “There is much pain. But I can take it from you. Would you like that?”

  Kenny realized that his teeth were chattering. He held his jaw stiff and tried to silence his mouth.

  What kind of monster are you? What kind of devil?

  What do you want from me? What tricks do you play in my head?


  His mind was rambling now.

  What the hell am I going to do now? I never should have let Tim leave.

  Kenny said all this in his thoughts, but of course they heard it all.

  “Why are you frightened?” Cognatus asked, his voice soothing.

  “I… I am sorry,” Kenny said. He was ashamed at himself for letting the situation get the better of him. He knew that he must keep his head.

  Cognatus stepped towards Kenny. He looked voracious in the glossy red skin he wore as a coat with a demon soul underneath. His long black hair hung in tangled strands over his face.

  His gaze was not short of spectacular. He could have unnerved even the most dangerous of predators in the jungle. He was a real hunter from a time when only the mighty survived. There was something almost chilling to Kenny about Cognatus’ presence. Yes, it was frightening of course, but something else was happening to him. Kenny was not ready for the effect the creature could have on him.

  “I can read your thoughts, Kenny Johnson. There is much that you do believe in, but not us. I feed on the blood of others. We all do. That is how we stay so youthful. Believe in God. Believe in the devil. Then believe in us. We are the closest thing to gods that you will ever come across. We are vampires, all bled from one being. From me. Nosferatu or Verdilak or whatever that dead man over there told you that we were—we are blood collectors.”

  Kenny started to cry but it wasn’t madness that brought him to this. His eyes went small with tears and his face crumbled with sadness. Everything that he had ever gone through in his life that had ever been painful or he had ever regretted was coming back to him in full force. Cognatus was overpowering Kenny’s mind. The hold he had on him was great and Kenny didn’t know how long he could resist. He hoped that if he could just hold on long enough that Tim would find him. Tim would get to him in time.

  “Your friend is not coming for you. He is hiding on the other side of the world with that coward Fabiana. But don’t worry. Soon they will meet their end,” The Origin said.

  “I can see in you that there are many questions about us, about this order. About vampires. Yes, we are a religion of sorts. A religion of blood. Vampires think of themselves as servants of the devil. Or servants of me. I am the devil on earth. They think it is a distinction. They live as blood drinkers but their existence is astonishing and deliberately intoxicating.

  “I am, some might say, a prince. I am the father of all that they know. They are nothing without me. Each of my children would give their lives to save mine. I am the first vampire. If you want my knowledge, I will share what I have with you. I will give you power and everlasting life. Come walk with me forever, my child. Do you want life? Or death? I will make the choice yours. Will you walk forever and join my Family?”

  252

  Chapter 53

  5:00 a.m. in Italy, November 26th

  I walked on only a few steps and saw an open market place. Fabiana and I pushed on through the crowd of drunken Americans and other tourists who should have been in bed hours ago and we stood in an empty courtyard.

  For a moment, the two of us walked hand in hand like so many of the lovers that made Italy a destination for romance. I noticed the subtle softness of her skin. It was so smooth—not like glass but more like a polished pearl. I lifted Fabiana’s face, my thumb pressed into her cheek and she let me do it. It was a gesture of tenderness which, if done to me, I couldn’t have borne. But I was tentative and ready to draw away had she shown the slightest unwillingness. She only looked at me with mute understanding and all her flesh yielded to me gently. The hand that held mine soon moved lovingly up to my neck. I could feel her inner conflict and with slightly tenuous movements, she slipped away from me once more.

  This was the creature I adored and when our eyes met I saw full recognition, a respect and a comprehension of my devotion so profound that I could find no words in the swimming silence. Yet poetry found my thoughts bleeding out like a wound from Cupid’s arrow. Why did I seem to love her so much? What could possibly be so lovable about her?

  Fabiana, a vampire, a destroyer of so much. She was the focus of so much emotion and eternal passion. Her hopeful charms… Who would not love her completely?

  What should I say?

  I didn’t have an answer to my questioning desire. I can’t even tell you totally how beautiful her face was to my flawed human eyes, other than to say her face was still so smooth—without the slightest blemish caused by age. Her figure was much like a flawless sculpture of marble, like polished amber to touch.

  But one embraces such perfection and feels awe over such details and must love her even more. I was never what one would call a romantic or poetic, but now, as I recount my time with her, the bleeding artist in me has seemed to find peace and acknowledgment in my heart’s desire. Call it what you will. Call it soft or wimpy, but I feel true. I feel love.

  Long wooden tables sat abandoned by merchants and traders that would soon return to them. I gazed at Fabiana. There was suddenly a look of worry on her face. Concern troubled her expressions and I knew something was wrong. Her disquiet brought me out of this place of beauty for a moment and then I realized that I hated running like this, hiding myself away in this place. I had to stand there for a few seconds and let my mind cool. Why had I remained here? I should have insisted she take me back. Take me back to the fight. To Kenny.

  Even though that ancient vampire was after me and everything in me said that Fabiana had done the right thing because I would have died, every instinct was telling me to go, to go now before it was too late. Kenny needed me somehow. I knew it. He was my friend, my partner. And he was alone. Only now did the full emotion of what was happening hit me. Kenny was alone, fighting off a horde of vampires, and Merric was alone while I was safe on the other side of the world.

  How could I have been so selfish? I must get back to them.

  Only now did I get the full impression of her. Fabiana knew it as well as I did. I could see it in her face. I knew she was hiding something.

  She turned away from me and would not look in my direction. She watched the coming sun making its way up over the mountains, a sliver of gold climbing over the Seven Hills of Rome. Soon it would be morning and we would have little choice.

  “I have read you already. There is no need for you to say it to me. Much has happened that you are not aware of.”

  “What… what has happened? Tell me,” I said. “Fabiana, what is going on?”

  “Jack and Kenny have been taken.”

  For a long while she regarded me, waiting, and then turned away.

  “No! Not now! What happened to them?”

  I stood before her shakily, brushed off my clothes. I couldn’t help but be distracted by her perfection even now, even as I insisted that she be honest with me. But then she told me.

  “Jack is dead. Taken and killed by The Origin of Blood.”

  “And Kenny?” I insisted. “What about Kenny?”

  “He lives. But not for long,” she said, still refusing to look at me.

  I turned from her. The words cut into me like a knife. Kenny was my friend. I loved him more than most people, in some ways even more than my daughter.

  “Get me to him! I need you to get me to him now, Fabiana. I can’t let him die!”

  “I know. I knew the minute I gleaned this danger from my awareness that we would have to return.”

  Fabiana then scooped me up in her elegant arms. Several people looked at us as if we were quite a sight—this small woman holding me in her arms as if it were nothing. Then, with a mighty jump of her powerful legs, we were gone.

  We were floating in the air like particles of light drifting in the wind, unstoppable and moving fast, up above the terracotta rooftops of Italy. The city below became a blur of lights that soon left my field of vision. The wind pushed against my face and a great cooling sensation filled my mind.

  I could feel Fabiana’s breath on my neck and for a moment I thought she was going to bite
into my flesh. The wetness of her lips was very close to me. I closed my eyes and shuddered. Then she kissed me.

  She held me close. My lips parted slightly and I felt her tongue on mine. It was wonderful. It was not a kiss of passion, more of comfort. It was her way of apologizing to me. Her way of saying she was sorry for keeping me away.

  Before I knew it, the early morning had turned back into night and it was almost nine hours earlier. We were back in Seattle. We touched down with such great power that a blast of dust mushroomed around us. Vegetation and trees fluttered in the gust of wind and then returned to the peace that they had known only a moment before. As Fabiana dropped me to the ground, I looked around and recognized my surroundings. It was the woods around Golden Gardens, a place I used to play in when I was a boy.

  In the light of the moon, the woods did not seem so ominous until Fabiana and I drew closer to the small clearing. Then the faint odor of decomposed human flesh was an awakening for my mind. It would take time and continuous hard rain before the smell of murder and death would be gone from this place.

  “Someone has died here. I recognize that smell anywhere,” I said.

  Fabiana was moving with incredible speed. I was struggling to keep up with her. She appeared and disappeared in quick movements too fast for my human eyes to see.

  A dog as big as I had ever seen stood guard at a closed doorway on the top of a hill. It was a massive beast with short, bloody hair. It had long teeth and yellow eyes. It was a breed I had never come across before. Its power must have been incredible. It stood there only for a terrible moment. Then it was destroyed in a burst of flames. With a mighty explosion, the doorway and all of the vegetation around it blasted apart. A great backlash of dust and flying pieces of wood launched into the air around Fabiana and her hair blew back off of her face.

  I ran to her side and looked down to where the beast had been.