Myths: Fatherland

Chapter 5: A Recollection

I laid in bed waiting to be overtaken by sleep, but not because I needed it. Rather, it helped to ease the incessant hunger and kept my senses lessened. As I began to drift into sleep, the recollection of the teenagers in the back of that truck must have directed my usually dreamless slumber into a dream filled one. One that was a memory from my past, a memory from the time I first began life as this damnable creature. My dream began with the memory of myself and six others as we were scattered around the large sitting room of a manor, drinking to our filling the occupants of the small estate in the town of Grey Fall. The other six were the other vampires like myself who had been turned by the handsome face man, our sire, who had also turned Arinze and I. He had put me in their group and commanded us to lay low until we received words from him. It took a long time, and so when we finally did, some eight years later, receive the summon to travel north and to steer clear of trouble, meaning witches, we did just that... well, we tried to.

We went through numerous towns and villages without stopping to feed and only travelling at night for a full fortnight to avoid being burnt to waste by the sun in our weakened state. But when one night, we came upon the town of Grey Falls, the urge to stop and feed became irresistible.

It was a small town, with an oak tree in the centre with inscriptions on it that were indecipherable. An inn was built close to the entrance of the town, and cottages were scattered across. A town hall stood a few feet away from the oak tree, a salon and a church stood side by side a little further down to the left of the town hall. We moved closer into the town, almost like gliding over the path, without making the faintest of sounds. The scent and pulsing of hundreds of vessels from the various inhabitants of the town filled our lungs, making our throats itch and burn for sustenance. Every muscle in our body tensed, ready to spring onto anyone unlucky to be seen by us. But the streets were deserted, with everyone indoors, and it would be unwise to go into a home and feed as the houses were too closely packed, for surely, the ruckus that might unsue was sure to rouse up the whole town, and if there be witches, it would take a lot of efforts to escape. There was no way we could take them on in our extremely starved state. The upper hand would surely be theirs. Though ravenous and impulsive, we remained cautious of these dangers. Therefore, we made to leave, turning on our heels, we began to glide back out of the town, but just a little distance away from the inn, Tom called out in a voice fainter than a whisper but still loud and clear enough for the whole group to hear, "I see a house beyond the trees." We all peered through the trees, and though we were weak, our heightened sense of sight was still strong enough to allow us peer through the trees and see the expansive estate that had been hidden behind the trees. We also found the road leading to the estate and quietly began gliding along it. Moments later, we were standing before the gates leading into the estate. The lawn was green and cut, and gardens of flowers surrounded the house, and we could make out voices coming from inside, some twelve occupants. "We should leave. We we can't be sure it's safe, best to steer clear." Stacy said, worried, her voice lower than a whisper. "No, we mustn't pass on this!" Tom replied instantly. The blood craze was very discernible in his voice, "We better strengthen ourselves for the journey still ahead." "Yes, Tom is right. We don't know what's still ahead and when next we might come upon a quiet abode as this." William said in a much calmer voice, but with eyes already scarlet and fangs already protruding from above the sides of his lower lip.

Our group consisted of four females and three males. I wasn't the only non Briton in the group. There was also Sonia. She was Spanish, two years younger than I was in live, but 30 years older than I was in death. I was the newest member, having only joined 8 years earlier. Sonia had been in the group nearly all her dead life of 52 years. While Tom, a 175 year old vampire, was one of the oldest in the group but still very reckless, although extremely skilled. He had a very dark hair, long nose, and thin lips. They all had thin lips except Sonia and I. Sonia had honey coloured hair, almond shaped brown eyes, and full lips. Gwen, a 140 year old vampire, was a petite and vicious woman and had a relationship with Tom. They both roamed freely before being recruited by our sire. Stacy was quiet, too shy for the kind of creature she was, tall and extremely pretty, and even amongst us, she was easily very admirable. She was 20 years younger than Tom but was the fastest amongst us. Victoria was the oldest, and so, was the de facto leader. She was turned in the 16th century alongside her brother William, who shared almost all of his sister's facial appearance. It was William's wedding, and Victoria had come to celebrate when the village was attacked. Our sire had been drawn by the smell of blood to the c*****e and had gone to feast when he came upon them. Victoria had been clutching William's arms as he stared down at his dead bride in his arms. Both of them had been mortally injured, and both had concurred when offered the power to exact vengeance on those who had done them such harm. And they did wrought their vengeance but eventually came to despise what they had become, soulless blood sucking vampires.

A low snarling sound escaped from Sonia as someone inside the house began to laugh. "Let's go in, but be sure to silence and round them all up before anyone begins to feed," Victoria was saying, "and we'll try to make it look like a murder." Victoria had always been cautious and wary to never displease our sire, and so she intended not to leave behind any trail. And with those words, we splitted up. Tom and Gwen sped to the back of the house to begin their hunt, Victoria, Stacy, and William leapt into the air, landing soundly into one of the rooms through the open window. While Sonia and I remained outside to ensure no one left through the front doors or came in through them. After a few minutes of thrashing and crashing from within the house, we were both called in in a low whisper. Breaking the locks, we went in and moved towards the sound of beating hearts and found everyone in the large dining room, with the occupants of the house seated.

I looked over at our seated meals. It was a family of six with 4 servant girls and two males, a butler and a gardener. The rest of the group stood by, just awaiting Victoria's order to dig in. The children all sat still, looking across to their parent with the youngest of the children still looking sleepy. The rest of the household were shaking in their seats but kept quiet, with tears pouring down their faces and looking confused as to why they could neither move nor raise an alarm. They had been impetrated! "What are we going to do with them?" I asked, looking up from the children to Victoria. "We feed on them, of course!" Tom snarled, "It won't do them any good leaving them orphaned." He added. "No, we can not do that," I countered, facing Tom, "We can not feed on them. Feeding on just the adults without killing them is enough to strengthen us for a long journey again." "And then what? What do we do with them?" William asked. But he knew the answer already, but they were all too hungry to consider it. "We make them think this never happened. Make them never to speak about tonight, not even to one another. That way, we feed and leave no trail behind." I replied instantly. "He's right, let's just drink to our filling and make them forget, and we can hope to satiate our thirst after reaching him." Stacy spoke calmly. 'Finally, some backup.' I thought to myself. But Gwen countered, "Hahahaa!..." laughing sardonically as she got up from the stool on which she was seated behind the weeping mother, "...you say that like anyone of us here has ever managed to have ever done that. Well, everyone here except your sad little boyfriend over there!" She quipped looking from Stacy to me. "We all know how strong the attraction to keep feeding is once the blood touches the tongue. There's almost no stopping it." Sonia added, but her eyes weren't on any of us. Instead, they were trained on the dinner seated in the chairs around the dining table, her eyes now scarlet with her rasping breath escaping her slightly opened jaws.

"We can not just kill them all," I argued back, "Let us just leave. We might come upon travellers as we continue our journey north." Everyone looked at me in shock and disbelieve. Even Stacy tried hard not to look too shocked. I knew the chances of such were slim. In the forthnight we had journeyed, we had not come upon a single traveller! But to s*******r this household and the children, I just couldn't stand for it. Victoria spoke finally, "The journey has been long and hard, and still we know not when it might end nor the dangers still ahead. This wouldn't be the first time we've drained people." She said, looking meaningfully at me. But that wasn't totally true. We've only ever lived off of the very sick or dying or bandits or smugglers, but never on a family, never on children. I stepped forward, moving towards Victoria, but my way was blocked by Tom and William. The air was froth with killing intent. I bared my fangs and snarled, ready for the fight to come, but Gwen stepped up, moved beside Tom, and took his arm, pulling him away.

The group had become weary of me when, three years back, I had faced off with a vampire forty years older than Victoria and was still able to hold my own against him, though I still couldn't best him and he was sure to, eventually, dismember me if half the group had not come to take him out together. And there was the one time we had mistakenly stumbled into werewolf territory on a full moon while they were out hunting, and they had gotten a whiff of us. It was a pack of nine werewolves with an alpha female. And while we were faster and stronger, we were no match for those jaws. A good grip from them and the body part they latched on to was gone. And this was the night of a full moon. They were definitely at their strongest and most dangerous. As we ran to stay ahead of them, the smell of blood from a nearby town distracted us long enough for the werewolves to catch up, and a ferocious battle ensued. Victoria and Tom took on three werewolves, amongst which was the alpha. William, Gwen, and Stacy took on 4 while Sonia and I faced one each. It wasn't long before I had taken out the werewolf by wrapping my arms around its torso and breaking a few of its ribs, and as it fell, I delivered the finishing blow. This got the attention of their alpha. She lounged straight at me, but I dodged the bone crushing bite aimed at my head. The other wolves grew more ferocious as we had become too much to handle. The alpha began to circle around me and glared through slitted green eyes, her teeth bared, paws bearing huge claws, and her fangs longer than the others with the furs on her back mane-like and bristle as they stood on end. She leant back on her hind legs, ready to pounce. She lounged at me for the second time, claws stuck out, jaws wide open, and as she drew closer, I detected an opening and took it. With swiftness, I slid low underneath her outstretched forelimb and, using the left limb as leverage, pushed upwards to climb onto her back. I put my arms under both forelimbs, brought them forward and back up to behind her head as she landed on an empty target. And, as if fearing what I was about to do, she let out a low whimper, and with that, I snapped her neck. We both fell to the ground, and I bounded up in an instant, ready to take on the next challenger. But the fighting had stopped, the wolves looked in my direction, different coloured eyes staring, my group had stopped to stare too. The wolves moved closer to where I stood, but never rearing to attack, and as they reached their fallen leader, they began to howl. It was pain filled and sorrowful, and I swore I could see the tears in their eyes. Not daring to linger, we seized the opportunity and ran off, fearing another bout begin after the ceremonial dirge.

Now Victoria spoke, "We will feed, then we can travel by day as well as night so we can end this journey quicker. Then we burn down the house along with the bodies inside, leaving behind no trail, and if anyone decides to starve, then so be it. You would only have yourself to blame." She finished cooly, the meaning clear enough to understand. Gwen was the first to grab one of the occupants of the household and tear open a vein, and as she did so, the hunger in us burned hotter, our eyes turned scarlet, and our ungodly beauty peeled away to reveal the monsters beneath. Everyone picked their victim. Tom shared the mother with Gwen, locking lips in between mouthfuls. William took the butler, Victoria and Sonia took one maid each. The father was now sobbing uncontrollably as I moved to command the children to close their eyes and not to mind whatever they were hearing. Stacy took hold of the gardener and brought him up to me, the hunger visible in her eyes. She said as she bent his head to the side, exposing his neck, "It won't do us any good to argue or starve ourselves. Get your strength back, and maybe one day, we could forget this and leave it behind us." But we could never forget, well, I could not. Her eyes were fixed on mine, pleading for me not to decline, and when I didn't, she took my arm and pulled me closer. 'Oh, she could be fiesty when she wanted.' She brought her lips up to mine, kissed me, and left it for a while waiting to see if I would pull away. But I didn't pull away! I swear i couldn't! I was transfixed! I looked into her eyes. They had become clear again, brilliant, not scarlet like Gwen's or Tom's, the mad hatters! She kissed me again. Although we were neither hot nor cold, we still felt desire burning in us from time to time. And this time was no exception. She withdrew her lips, unhappy that I had still not returned her kiss, but I held her, my hands moving into her hair, she stood still. I brought her head closer and pressed my lips to hers. She tasted of bliss! The gardener was still in her arm, I removed him, and he fell to the floor weeping. I drew her body closer to mine. She was soft against my skin. This was surprising as we were very hard-skinned creatures. With our heightened senses, every feeling was magnified, and every touch sent ripples through me. I wound my arms around the small of her back, running circular patterns on her skin, and she pressed against me, almost melting in. We slid to the floor, carrying... whilst occasionally taking bites off the gardener.

A few hours later, just before dawn, we laid on the floor wrapped around each other, our victim laid dead. I raised my head to look at the others. Sonia was feeding slowly on the father who was growing paler by the second. And though I wasn't supposed to be, I was still shocked to see that Tom and Gwen had both taken the two smaller children while Victoria and William had taken the other two. I wanted to rise and protest but Stacy held me, "Don't, I don't think they want it this way either. But this is for the better."

She rose, pulling on her clothes, she walked over to the two maids left. I pulled on my clothes as well. She held up both maids and was bringing them over when she was stopped by Gwen who motioned over to the two children who laid dead by Tom's feet. She took one of the maids, looked at me and said, "Sorry 'Romeo', but my darling and I need to get our fill you know." And with that, glided back to Tom with the maid in hand. Stacy brought the one left over, kissed me, and exposing the neck of the maid, she beckoned for me to bite. But I took the maid's wrist instead and gestured for her to take the neck instead.

Not too long afterwards, the noises began...