I sneer at them.
The giant snaps his fingers. Two men step ahead, carrying a bleeding human body, and throw it in front of me.
The smell of fresh blood passes through my nostrils. My mouth feels parched, my fingers and toes get a certain tingly sensation, and a strong hunger pang makes my stomach growl. I set my eyes on the dead meat in front. A strange instinct takes hold of my conscious mind, and I find myself crawling towards the bloody feast. I try to regain control of my limbs, and halt. But I’m no match for this new, insidious instinct. My eyes blink a couple of times and, like a starving lion, I pounce on the dead body.
Almost five minutes later, I stand up. My face is soaked in blood, and some of it trickles from my mouth. The body below my feet is drained out white.
“Welcome to the family, son. These are your folks now. I’m the head of this clan. You shall call me Dredger.” The towering giant, Dredger, with blunt face and open arms, gestures for an embrace.
I’m confused, and I’m angry too. I flex my arms and chest inwards, trying to muster all of my strength. A strong force gushes through my veins.
With lightning speed, I pounce at Dredger. In a single leap, I cover the ten feet distance between us. But Dredger springs high in the air and counters me with a powerful kick on my chest, throwing me far behind from where I had leaped. I pick myself up. The guys behind Dredger step forward.
I leap at one of them, identifying him as the weakest – based on his body frame. But even that one proves to be stronger than me – I learn that as I land on my back, on the ground, with a thud.
Dredger walks towards me and crouches down. I raise my head. Dredger moves his face close to mine and grins. I almost stop breathing for a second, watching Dredger’s corneas transform from forest brown to bloodshot red, and the sharp fangs growing out from the insides of his upper jaw.
I turn my face away. Dredger snaps his fingers for the second time. Someone hands him a mirror. Dredger brings the mirror right in front of my face. This mirror has strange symbols on its frame. I focus on the reflection in it. My eyes are same as Dredger’s, and I have fangs too. I take a careful look at the others around. We all look alike.
“NO!” I yell and punch the ground hard with my fists. They all walk away except for a bald man, who looks older than the others.
The old man slumps down next to me.
None of us utter a single word for hours.
Finally, the old man breaks his silence. “We’ve been sharing this world, with humans and some self-righteous Heaven Flyers, for centuries. Our clan needs blood to survive. We adjust between humans and animals. That’s our way of living. Heaven Flyers consider it wrong, and attack us, to right that wrong. Humans, too, hunt, breed and slaughter animals for food. Killing is killing. So who gets to decide which life is important, and which is not. We are just following the food chain.”
“Fine. Not judging you fellas. But what’s the deal with me? Why am I not dead? Why am I not the SERVED FOOD? Why am I looking like you guys?” I’m badly pissed.
“You’re a replacement,” the old man says.
“Sorry?”
“After eons of on-going war, the count on both the sides – us and the Heaven Flyers – has reduced to fifty. Even one warrior less, on either side, makes a huge difference. They’ve lost all their guys who had the power to convert, or as they say ‘grace,’ the humans as one of their own. So now they are unable to grow their numbers. On our side, we were left with one ‘converter’ only. And that converter wanted to get out of this war business! The Heaven Flyers got whiff of this weak link and did everything to corrupt the converter. Eventually, they succeeded and our converter made some sort of a deal with them and walked away from the whole game. Now, both the parties are left with the last few survivors. None can add anymore. And yet we keep fighting to wipe out one another. Survival!”
“So who the hell got me in?” I ask.
“With our converter gone, the count was imbalanced; we at 49, they at 50. Somehow, Dredger found one last opportunity to add one warrior to our clan. It was tough even for Dredger to do what he did, but he is a true leader.”
“Which bastard is responsible for me? Dredger?” I’m desperate for the name.
“No, not Dredger. And even if he had done it, I wouldn’t tell you. It’s our law, never give out the hunter’s name to its catch,” the old man says.
“How could you guys? I have a family. I have a girlfriend,” I yell.
“You have only us now. Believe me. Even if we let you walk away, you wouldn’t be able to handle the fear and hatred on the faces of your loved ones and the people you know – once they find out what you’ve become. And no matter how careful you are, something like this can never remain a secret. YOU will be the biggest threat to your loved ones, if you decide to live with them.”
“All right. So how do I kill myself now? I can’t live this life.” I ask.
The old man runs his hand through his bald head. “Give yourself time. Time can heal the deepest wound within us. And, I think you will do just fine. I saw the way you handle conflict. Fight first and ask questions later. You have a warrior’s heart – the fastest to heal. We’ll teach you our way of living and also train you to fight the Heaven Flyers. Call me Lucius. And before I forget, here’s lesson number one: Stay away from sunlight.”
Lucius proves to be right. Time heals my wounds but it doesn’t take away all the pain. The pain stays.
In the following nights, I struggle a lot to escape but I keep failing. It takes me good amount of time to accept my new, twisted fate and the nightmarish destiny. Soon, I become a part of their rituals and go under rigorous training; learning to hunt and survive. Later, as I begin to bond with them, they allow me to roam outside, alone. However, there’s always someone keeping an eye on me.
I often rush to go see my loved ones, hiding in the creepiest corners invisible to human eyes. I watch my family and friends mourn, and remember me often. The girl, whom I loved, no longer belongs to me.
One evening, I peek inside my old house through one of the windows. Can’t find dad and mom anywhere. So I go to the window of what used to be my room. Dad’s sitting there with a glass of his regular whiskey in hand, and staring at a poster on a wall. Mom’s right next to him.
Dad takes a swig and says, “Will I ever get to tell him what huge surprise we were planning? Will I ever get to see that twinkle in his eyes when he checks out his gift? Will he ever know that we knew he was coming to surprise us?”
Mom says, “I wanted to be the first girl to ride behind him. But who knows I might still have chance. I haven’t given up. We don’t have to give up. Our boy will return.”
They sit there crying, inside the house, and outside I stand silent.
After a while, they leave the room. I sneak in. There’s a poster of my then favorite bike; it’s a limited edition of Harley-Davidson – hard to get hands on even one. ‘Dad had gone through the trouble of arranging that for me?!’ At the bottom of the poster, there’s a small note in dad’s handwriting: GUESS WHAT YOUR CHRISTMAS GIFT IS!!! I feel a strong urge to rush to the next room, hug them, and tell them I’m alive – but then that would be a lie. So I walk away.
Years pass by. I don’t age while, on the other hand, my human folks grow older and die. The only thing I take from the house, after their demise, is the poster.
Then comes the day when Dredger summons me for a battle. I unleash my wrath and anguish on the Heaven Flyers. I reduce their count by five, exceeding Dredger’s every expectation. Proud Dredger grants me a prize: freedom. I don’t have to participate in any battle again – that’s called my freedom, my prize.
I live with my prize, alone.
I wander from city to city, country to country. The world around changes. Technologies advance and so do my skills. I master many professions and arts. I come across loads of attractive women and spend long nights with them. But before the start of every new day, I end all the not-so-old affairs.
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br /> Then, one early morning, eight minutes before the first sunlight is to hit my side of the world, I stand by the shoreline of a beach, with a death wish. And that’s when, I see Shiera for the first time.
7. I LOVE YOU
Imagine having a real, mind-blowing orgasm after centuries! I have been with the strongest of men, but I could snap their biggest bones with the same effort that an average person would require to snap a twig. With Marc, physically, there were no limitations. His physique, his strength seemed tailor-made for me. I sensed a strong connection with him emotionally too. However, emotional-bonding needs nurturing. And first I had to find out a few things about this guy, whom I had already given my heart to.
With his head in my palms, I took a journey with him down his memory lane. I learned what I wanted to. Wish I hadn’t.
He opened his eyes. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
My eyes had welled up. “Nothing, I don’t know how to say it. Your pain. Your struggle. Your anguish. I…”
“Hey, come on. That’s way in the past. I had no idea that you could get into my mind and go through my memories. You guys are loaded with powers. Is there anything you can’t do?” he said, holding me in his arms.
Can’t find the courage to tell you the truth. I don’t know how to do that, Marc. I wanted to speak out loud. But he had just come into my life. One word, about his converter and my relation would take him away from me forever.
Marc kissed my forehead. “Honey… sorry… too early to call you that?”
“Just kiss me, Marc. Just kiss me,” I said
He did. With one hand he concealed my waist, with the other he cushioned my head, and planted a gentle kiss and then softly nibbled my lips. I closed my eyes to relax, but simply fell asleep in his arms.
After a while, I woke up. He was gazing at my face, and gently kissing my cheeks, trying not to wake me.
“Sorry. I couldn’t resist. You’re so gorgeous and wonderful,” he said.
“Marc, I need to tell you something. And after this whatever you choose to do with me is fine. I so wish I could keep it away from you, but I can’t keep you in the dark.” It just came out!
“Does that have something to do with you being you and I being… me?” he asked.
“Yes.”
He held me tight. “Then forget about it. I don’t care. First of all, there’s nothing that you can say to make me leave you. Secondly, let’s say, even if there’s something which you can say to really piss me off, I’d say – chuck it! You are here. I’m here. We can have whatever life we want. I care a damn about my horrible past or yours – in case you have one too.”
“But, Marc…”
“Hey, do you really want to get rid of me? All right. Go ahead. I’m all ears. Shoot!” he said.
Say it! I pushed myself. But I couldn’t. I didn’t have the heart to lose him, so I sat there silent.
“Hungry?” he asked.
The moment he asked, I realized I was. “Sure. What do you have in mind?”
“Pizza.”
“Where?”
“Rome. I’ll shut my eyes and kiss you. And when I open up, we’d be there. I know the drill quite well now.”
“Well, there’s just one problem, sir. You aren’t wearing anything!”
“Damn!”
We both laughed. And Marc rushed to his clothes, which were damp by now.
“Are you sure? I mean I don’t think pizza would do anything for you. Do you even like it?” I said.
“With this, I do.” He fetched out a shiny, white-gold stickpin.
The Sanguiser. I instantly recognized it.
“Do you know what this is?” he asked.
I didn’t want to lie. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“This thing is called Sanguiser. My mentor, Lucius, had given it to me as a parting gift, after Dredger granted me freedom. Because of this I don’t require to feed on blood. Of course, it reduces my strength and powers – that’s why Lucius didn’t hand it over earlier. Lucius knew that in spite of living for years as one of them, I was never completely comfortable feeding on blood. Good guy. Sometimes I do miss him. He used to say that the Sanguiser seemed absolutely useless to him, but he kept it because it belonged to someone close to him, just like I had become.”
“So ever since you had this, you haven’t tasted blood at all?” I asked.
“No. This works just fine for me.”
“Oh, Marc!” This fellow was making me fall deeper and deeper in love with him. His response gave me some confidence; it was possible that whenever the day would come, when the truth would be out, he’d forgive me and the converter.
“So are we going to Rome or not? Come on. Let’s move! Chop-chop,” he said.
“Marc?” I had made up my mind about our relationship.
“Ya?”
“Is it too early to say?”
“What?”
“I love you,” I said.
“Early? Let me think. The first time, we met on a beach. Then, we met again just a couple of hours back. We had a dance. You abducted me, by transporting me to this unknown place. And here you got physical with me. Then you also invaded my mind, saw the most troublesome part of my life. Plus, I kissed you a few times. Hmm. Tricky situation. Don’t you think we should wait for another century or so, get to know each other better, and then move ahead?” he said with a blunt face.
I didn’t respond.
He came closer, carried me in his arms, looked deep into my eyes and said, “Next time, when we do it, I’ll be on top. Fine?”
“Asking permission to be on top? Oh, how manly!” I mocked.
“FINE?” he repeated.
“All right.”
“In that case, I love you too,” he said and kissed me.
…And then we were gone from there.
8. MERRY CHRISTMAS
Shiera and I had been together for almost three weeks now. It was Christmas time, once again. I was going to celebrate it after ages, because of Shiera. With her, life felt complete. I was so excited that day, absolutely clueless about the uninvited guests, who were on their way, to have a BLAST with us.
In the same mountains, where we had fallen in love, we made a house for us – all by ourselves. With the two of us together, nothing seemed too difficult.
Carrying a huge Christmas tree, I entered the house. Shiera was in the air, literally, busy decorating the top half of the walls.
“Show-off!” I playfully yelled.
“If you got it, flaunt it,” she said, spreading her wings wide.
I put the tree down and leaped to grab her leg. She flew higher, flapping her wings.
“Come here, you brat!” I leapt, as high as I could, and got hold of her right foot. I tugged her down a bit and took her toe in my mouth.
She moaned as I sucked her toe.
“Marc! Decorations!” she said.
I teased her a little and then let her go. As I started moving towards the tree, she swooped in from behind, grabbed me by my chest and lifted me in the air. In mid-air, she had me turn and face her. I locked her lips into mine and dominated the kiss.
We were floating around in the house; teasing, playing, and making a mess of the decorations already done.
“I like it when you call me a brat. Oh, Marc, I keep falling in love with you again and again,” she said.
“I know! With you, every kiss is like the first kiss. It’s only been three weeks with you now and I can’t remember the times when I was without you. It’s…”
“Four! Four weeks” she interjected.
“Four, really? That’s counting this week, right?” I asked.
“No, this weekend we’ll be reaching five,” she said.
All right, just a minor correction. Shiera and I had been together for almost four to five weeks now. It was Christmas time, once again.
“Wow. I don’t know what to say, honey. I just can’t keep track of time when I’m with you,” I said.
I was kissing her ne
ck and she was ecstatically fluttering her wings, when suddenly, the blissful sound of her flapping wings turned chaotic, as if there were more than one pair of wings around.
“Greetings!” A huge man with enormous, bright wings appeared. Until now I was used to thinking of Dredger as a giant but this man seemed a bit bigger than him.
Just the way this man had appeared out of thin air inside our house, five more appeared. But they weren’t as big as him.
“I guess these are your folks, probably dropping by to wish us Merry Christmas!” I whispered to Shiera, as she landed us both on the ground.
“Greetings, Abbas. How are you?” Shiera bowed to the huge man.
“Is he your Dredger… sorry… leader?” I asked Shiera.
The moment I mentioned Dredger, the other five winged-men moved forward, but Abbas gestured them to halt. They obeyed.
“Marc, let me handle this,” Shiera said.
“You sure? They look hostile and the KILL alarm inside me is going crazy,” I said, reflecting back the glare I was receiving from the five guys.
“Marc, please,” Shiera said.
“All right, I’ll shut up. But here’s a tip to help you. Maybe you should lead with Christmasy jokes,” I said.
“Ha! Funny fellow,” Abbas said. “Mocking us, aren’t you? The proud Blood Sucker, who slayed five of my children, thinks he’s invincible. Resist tempting me, Boy, for a minute here. Got to speak to her. Want to know what made her go back to the sewer from where we had got her out. And after that, you’ll have my undivided attention.”
Shiera pulled me back and stepped ahead, covering me. “You talk to me. No one touches him.”
Anticipating trouble, at that moment, I was so desperate for human blood. With the Sanguiser’s diet, I didn’t have much chance against any of them. I tried to focus, to come up with a quick strategy to handle the situation. I thought if I…
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