A Monster’s Birth: Aris Crow Vampire Legend

by McClellan, Rachel

  I decided against a grand entrance and instead circled the home. Most of the blinds were drawn in each of the windows with curtains over those making it difficult to see inside.

  But there were sounds. The kind that chilled me to the bone. Painful moans and tearful pleas for mercy. The voices of human's suffering.

  I approached the back door and managed to find a crack in the curtains of the window. Three vampires chatted in the kitchen. A human lay naked in the sink bathing in a pool of his own blood. He was too pale to still be alive. The smell of his blood, even at this distance, knotted my stomach in anticipation. I quelled the sensation and focused on the vampires instead.

  One of them dipped a glass into the blood-filled sink and brought it to his lips. The sight and smell of it made my mouth fill with saliva. I swallowed it down. Focus!

  I lowered to the ground and ran my fingers through the earth, letting my senses travel in and around the house to take in everything I could about what lay beyond the door. There was death in this home. That was the first thing I sensed, followed by many new vampires. This again confused me. Where were these new vampires coming from?

  I dug deeper into the soil, dirt stuffing beneath my fingernails. There was also power in this house. I sensed a couple of vamps over a century old. They would be more challenging to fight, but I was so full of rage, I didn’t stop to even question if I should be fighting them. I stood up and peered inside the window again.

  One of the vampires startled and looked toward the doors as if he’d sensed my presence. The door flew open. “Who are—”

  I grabbed the blade from behind my back and sliced it through his neck. His head exploded to ash as it fell to the floor. His body followed a second later. I stepped through it and toward the other two vampires who were already rushing me.

  Pivoting quickly, my blade made a whooshing sound as it decapitated both. I held my breath to keep from breathing in their ashes as I moved into a large living room with cathedral ceilings. A river rock fireplace went all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Three humans, two males, and one female, barely sat on top of a large, wooden mantle. They were shivering and huddled next to each other for both warmth and support. Cuts had been made into their flesh and blood ran down their legs and dripped from their toes into three bins. It wouldn’t take them long to die if they weren't helped soon. In a back room, someone was crying.

  Several vampires rose to their feet at my arrival. Some hissed, their fangs stretching in their mouths. Three of them crouched low as if to spring at me, but the taller of the group stepped forward, his hands outstretched as if to stop any of them from attacking me.

  "What business do you have here?" he asked, his eyes flickering to my tattoo.

  "I come for your death." I readjusted my grip on the handle of the sword.

  Several more vampires poured out of a hallway and circled me.

  "You must be Aris Crow," the tall one said. "My name is Marcus, and I am the leader of this small coven. I answer directly to Bastian. He’s given specific orders if anyone sees you."

  "And what were those orders?" I asked, barely able to say the words. The desire to take their lives was all-consuming.

  "We are to take you to him—alive. There is much he wants to discuss with you."

  "I have no desire to see him."

  Marcus nodded his head to the vampires behind me. "Then we will take you by force."

  13

  Just as I felt the rush of air from the approaching vampires, I spun and ducked, slicing off two sets of legs. Their torsos fell to the ground, and they screamed in pain. Two more leaped at me, but I used my super speed to circle them, severing their heads from their bodies. Their ashes sprinkled on top of the two writhing on the floor.

  I sprinted to get away but hadn't counted on all the blood gushing from the legless vampires. Had they been older, messy, fatty sludge would be in the bloods place. After nearly slipping, I adjusted my legs beneath me, then swiped my blade across both the wailing vampire’s necks. They exploded into ashes, preventing any more blood from coating the floor. Their dust absorbed the remaining crimson liquid, making it more manageable to speed around the room, swinging at anyone who stood in my path.

  When I approached Marcus, he casually stepped out of my way as if I wasn’t moving a hundred miles an hour. He must be one of the older ones, but where was the other? I looked around the room. Only a few newer vampires remained, two had already escaped out the front door. I focused my senses and smelled the air. That's when I discovered him, hiding in the shadows of the hallway watching everything I was doing.

  But there was someone else there with him. The presence didn't feel quite right, almost supernatural and yet not. I wanted to focus more on the entity, but the remaining vampires rushed me at once. I easily took care of them leaving only Marcus and the two in the hallway.

  Marcus clicked his tongue. "You are incredibly powerful for your age. Who turned you?"

  He sauntered in front of me. He had more self-control than the others, and this gave me pause for the first time that night.

  "How much do you know about me?" I asked, genuinely curious.

  "Only that you are the son of Jonas Crow, a great man that was once a part of us. I had many pleasant evenings with him before he was killed. As his son, I'm sure we will also get along if given a chance."

  "I am nothing like my father."

  The vampire from the hallway stepped out, a shorter female who was incredibly muscular for her small frame. Her head had been shaved, and she wore a piercing in her right eyebrow. Behind her, trailed a human with a high forehead and equally high cheekbones. He had a crazed look in his unnaturally blue eyes. His hand was to his mouth as if to keep himself from laughing. The female glanced back at the… human, her lip inching up in a snarl.

  "This is my companion, Ophelia," Marcus said. "She doesn't talk much, but she expresses her emotions in other ways. And with her is her servant… Billy." He cleared his throat as if he were embarrassed by the crazy-eyed human.

  Billy giggled against his hand, the sound making a slurping noise. I narrowed my eyes trying to figure out what it was that was different about him.

  "This is your last chance," Marcus said. "Come willingly, or we will force you. You cannot beat us. We are much older than you."

  "I have fought older, and, if I’m being truthful, hotter too."

  "Very well." He looked back at Ophelia and nodded. When he turned back to me, his fangs were long and sharp with his face contorted into more beast than man.

  He lunged for me, but I darted out of the way. I twirled and swung my sword at his neck. His hand shot forward and caught the sharp edge before it could make contact. I jerked the blade free, slicing his palm, but he didn't flinch. A fist crashed into my back, surprising me. The force lifted me high into the air, but I managed to rotate back down onto my feet. Ophelia winked at me. I growled, craving her death so bad I could taste it.

  Marcus slammed into my side, making me lose my grip on the sword, and together we hit the stone fireplace knocking over one of the bins of blood. Two of the humans fell from the mantle hitting the ground hard. I kneed Marcus in the side and undercut my fist into his jaw. He punched me back just as hard.

  Billy clapped his hands together joyfully but returned them to his mouth when Ophelia glared at him again.

  We exchanged blows for several seconds before Ophelia joined the fight. She smashed the front of her head into my face, hard enough to knock me to the ground. She jumped on top of me, while Marcus pinned my shoulders.

  I grunted and struggled against them, but they held me firm. I turned my head to the side, meeting the dying eyes of the woman lying on the floor.

  “Help me.” Her lips formed the words, but no sound came out.

  If there was ever a time to unleash the monster inside me, it was now. This is what I was made to do.

  Anger, unlike anything I had ever felt before, built inside me until it pressed my skin outward. It
burned and fizzled, roared and cried as if I had just woken it from a deep slumber. It was ancient and powerful, and it rushed through my body filling me with a foreign rage. I welcomed it into me.

  "You cannot beat us both," Marcus said, but I saw the strain on his face at having to hold me still. Ophelia struggled, too.

  I sensed movement in a different part of the house. A second later, Rebecca’s scent crowded the room. Marcus and Ophelia also noticed.

  The human, who had been standing against the wall this whole time, dropped his hand, shock on his face as if he too could smell Rebecca, but how was that possible?

  "Go take care of it," Marcus grunted at Ophelia.

  I couldn't let her go after Rebecca. The old vampire would destroy her.

  Ophelia released me and turned to run away, but before she was halfway across the room, I exploded out from under Marcus, leaped over the shivering humans on the floor, and crashed down on Ophelia. Before she could react, I shoved my hand into her back, splitting skin and bone until I reached her heart. She screamed in terror as I crushed the tender organ in my grip. Her flesh began to boil and melt beneath me.

  Marcus tackled me from behind, gnashing his teeth, claws extended as he tried to get at my face, but I threw him from me and crouched low. Rebecca and Oz stood in the doorway, their mouths agape at the scene in front of them.

  Marcus leaped high into the air. I waited for him to land on top of me, but he shifted his weight mid-air and landed at my side. His claws scraped across my chest slicing open my shirt and part of my flesh. He spun and kicked my legs out from under me. I rolled away just as his foot came crashing down where my head would've been.

  "Get the humans!" I called to Oz and Rebecca. This spurred them into action, and they disappeared into the hallway where the sounds of someone crying echoed out.

  I flipped up onto my feet and used my super speed to get behind Marcus. My arms wrapped around his neck, but he leaned over, flipping me onto my back and into a wooden coffee table. He grabbed one of the legs and drove it toward my heart, but I caught it in my hand just before it pierced me. I continued to fight against him while Rebecca snuck into the room toward the human still sitting on the mantel. The other two on the floor, weak and barely alive, would be harder to get to, as they were too close to the fighting.

  I shoved Marcus away, the site of the injured humans again adding fuel to the flames burning through me. My whole body hummed with new life, and I felt like I could take on anyone. Is this what Samira had been talking about when she said I would discover new strengths? Had my anger unlocked some part of Elizabeth Bathory’s DNA?

  Marcus charged me again, his mouth foaming. I reached into my jacket and yanked out a wooden stake. He slammed into my body, and we both stumbled. His clawed hand dug into my chest as if to get at my heart, but I surprised him by shoving the dagger into his gut. He sucked in a breath and slowly looked down at the blood oozing from the wound.

  In the corner, Billy laughed again, an uncontrollable giggle that caught even Rebecca's attention as she carried one of the humans from the room.

  "Why?" Marcus asked. "You are one of us."

  I pulled out a wooden stake from my jacket and shoved it into his heart slowly. "I am nothing like you."

  “Yet,” he squeaked. His mouth fell open, and his eyes widened as his body began to crumble and melt to the floor. I stepped back to avoid getting anything on me.

  Billy clapped, his hands uncontrollably slapping together. "What a wonderful show!"

  In a blink of an eye, I appeared in front of him, gripping his throat and lifting him high against the wall. "What are you?"

  He kicked my chest with surprising force, and I lost my grip. I stumbled backward. He was more than a regular human.

  "We are brothers, you and I," he said as if reading my mind. "When I bite my tongue, I can taste your blood." As if to prove it, he stuck out his tongue. It was swollen and bruised with teeth marks.

  "Hurry up," Rebecca said as she took out the last human from the room. "More vampires could be arriving any second."

  “There are two more back there," Oz said from the hallway, as he supported a crying woman in his arms. At least she could walk.

  I turned back to Billy who still had his tongue lolling out of his mouth. "What did they do to you?"

  "They made me science," he said with a lisp, and then he giggled. He pointed to his brain. "They say it's not quite right, but they let me live because I bring them humans."

  I stared at him, appalled. "Who did this to you?"

  "The shadows. They are like ash,” he kicked at the dirty floor, “but smarter and stronger. They will not be happy with what you've done. They will come for you."

  "I count on it." I stepped closer to him knowing what had to be done. There was no helping this human.

  I picked up my sword from off the ground and lifted it high. Just as I swung it through the air, Rebecca yelled, "Wait!"

  But I had already cut off his head. It fell to the floor and rolled a few times. He would not return as a vampire.

  "Was that necessary?" she asked.

  "He was already dead."

  She stared down at the body for a few seconds before shaking her head. "I'm going to search the rest of the house. Then we need to leave."

  I straightened and rolled my shoulders back as if to shake off some of the ancient power still pulsing through me, but it only deepened its grip. I shook my hands out and puffed air past my lips. Now that the fight was over, I didn’t know how to calm down.

  I inhaled deeply but instantly regretted it. The smell of blood accosted my senses, and I whirled around to face the source. The bins full of blood near the fireplace stared back at me as big as a highway billboard sign soliciting goods. I stepped toward it until I was directly above one, staring down into the dark crimson liquid. I dropped to my knees and breathed in deeply again. The smell made my head spin as if I’d just injected myself with the best drugs money could buy.

  On the edge of the bucket, a single drop of blood shined in the darkness. I leaned over and licked it up. The taste was sweet, and it tingled on my tongue. This could all be mine. I gripped the edges of the bin almost able to see my reflection in the murky contents. My nails busted holes at the top of the hard plastic. I had never wanted something so much. But this was a dangerous path to go down – drinking from anything other than a blood bag in a controlled environment. It could easily make me lose control.

  But all this blood. It would go to waste.

  "Are you okay?" Oz asked from behind me.

  I spun around, hissing instinctively. He stepped away and lifted his hands in a surrender motion. "Whoa, easy there."

  Rebecca ran into the room. "Get away from the blood, Aris."

  It took a few seconds for her words to register, and when they did, I scurried backward on my bum away from the blood as far as I could get. "Get me out of here."

  She hurried to my side and lifted me to my feet. I leaned into her, my body suddenly drained of its strength from fighting against the bloodlust. Oz followed us into the kitchen but a safe distance back. The man who had been sitting in the sink was gone, which meant he still lived.

  Outside, Rebecca let go of me long enough to open the passenger-side door of the van, but the motion wafted the smell of more blood toward me. I closed my eyes tight, resisting the urge to jump in there and suck the humans dry.

  "Get the humans out of here,” I growled. “Go without me."

  She narrowed her eyes. "Promise me you won't go back in that house.”

  I nodded my head, trying to keep my legs beneath me. "Go."

  Oz walked by me, holding a briefcase he must’ve found in his hands. I expected him to say something to me in passing, but he was oddly silent. This was probably the first time he realized his best friend was a monster.

  A moment later the car was gone. I dropped to all fours, my body shaking like a drug addict who hadn’t had a hit in a long time. I had to get out of here. Rebecca
was right that vampires could be arriving any second, but all I could think about was the blood in the house just sitting there growing colder by the second. My fangs elongated in my mouth, and I ran my tongue over them, the pangs of hunger burning a hole in my gut.

  I could no longer control the desire within me. That blood was mine. I had earned it.

  14

  I rushed back inside and slid onto my knees as I approached a bin by the fireplace. I lifted the square container, turned and lifted it, so the corner was at my mouth. I gulp it so quickly that blood overflowed and ran down the sides of my face.

  When I finished, I turned my attention to the other bins and drank them too until I thought I would burst. The soothing, satiny liquid had quenched my thirst, and I laid back on the floor, the whole world spinning. I breathed in and out feeling as if I was floating. A nagging thought entered my mind. I needed to leave this place.

  I dragged myself onto all fours and crawled toward the back door, slipping on blood I had spilled. At the back porch, I grabbed the railing and pulled myself to my feet, but fell right back to the ground. Everything around me was changing shapes, stretching, and thinning and widening. Even colors distorted, and it was difficult to make sense of objects around me.

  I slipped down the stairs landing hard on my back. I groaned and pulled myself back up and stumbled into the darkness. The backyard bordered the edge of a small forest, and I disappeared inside walking far enough until I thought I would be safe. I fell backward and stared up into the starry night sky through the tree limbs above me.

  I had never experienced anything like this. It was an amazing feeling but tainted by thoughts of knowing how bad I had messed up. And yet, I still thought of blood. Wondering what would happen if I consumed more. Wondering what it would be like to bathe in it. This made me think of the man in the sink, of all that blood just sitting there.