Wixth Chapter 1 this time in first person

Wixth chapter 1

 

Nobody knew exactly when it had started. It was just that, as long as everyone could remember, Vampires had ruled the world.

I grew up in Rome, not exactly a small town, and I had led a relatively good life. As a child everyone had called me "angel" (although my name, Daray, was practically the opposite). Always commenting on my eyes and my hair. Everyone seemed to love me, and they always said I would grow up to do great things. They had no idea.

    The vampires were always a bit of a thing for me. When I was younger, I admired them so much. Then as I grew older, I realized just what they were doing to people. Like I said, no one knows exactly how they came to rule the world, but one day, the three ancients, Romulus, Sun Tzu, and Attila the Hun (some people call them Quirinus, Chang Quin, and Atli) just announced their existence, and it was almost as if people just handed over power. As I grew older I began to realize what that had done to people. No one believed in vampires, and if so they thought that they were just a small, hidden, weak group.

    When the Ancients took over the world, it drove people mad. So many people were sent to the manicomio (a Roman insane asylum), it would make your head spin. I decided to work there, to help out. Just to see what I could do. I tried so hard, but sometimes I couldn't do much.

    The manicomio was, admittedly, rather spooky. It had dark grey brick walls and all the plants in its "garden" were decaying, dead, or dying. It tended to keep people away.

    Then one day, it seemed like any regular day, they brought in a new man. He seemed different from the other patients. Not only was he one of the worst cases I had ever seemed, but something seemed rather familiar about him. However, when they brought him in screaming desperately, and thrashing against his restraints, trying so hard to bite anyone or anything that went near his mouth, I quickly dismissed the idea and helped out.

    The doctors told us that he had been found horribly injured - a gash in his forehead, several broken ribs, and a broken arm – in an alleyway in the city. Once he had recovered, physically at least, in the hospital, he started talking about people chasing him. Being as full as they were, and how all his injuries were gone (not even a scar), they decided to bring him to our manicomio. They said his name was Rendor.

    I was sitting, keeping an eye on him as the doctor had told me to do, by his bed one night watching him sleep. He was restless, and talked a lot in his sleep. But when he started to talk about Romulus, Sun Tzu, and Attila I was terrified. I wanted to calm him down, maybe so I would be able to ask why he was talking about them, so I reached towards his hand.

    As soon as I touched him his eyes opened wide. He looked at me…it seemed almost in recognition, and he whispered something. I leaned down towards his odd, almost surreal looking face and he said it again.

    "Save me… Angel." Suddenly an electric shock ran up my arm and I saw a flash of white, then black as I fainted.

The next thing I knew I was opening my eyes to plain blue walls and the sounds of medical equipment. Someone must have moved me to the infirmary. I listened and heard voices outside my door.

"What happened to her?"

"Our doctors aren't sure. She seems perfectly healthy! But it is very weird just a few seconds before that man- …." The voices faded away as they walked off down the hall.

Had something happened to Rendor? Why had he seemed so familiar? Why in the world had I fainted? I questioned myself as I sat up and looked in the mirror next to my bed.

As soon as I saw my reflection I froze. What had happened to me? My eyes were blue…but now they were a beautiful purple? It was almost as if I had become a… no I thought. I grimaced at my reflection and almost fainted again when I saw my teeth. I had two pairs of fangs. I, Angel, no, Daray, had turned into a vampire.

~*~

Quirinus snapped his head up to look at Leonardo Da Vinci. "What did you say?" He asked menacingly.

"I said" stated Leonardo "that our scientists may have been successful in the experiment. They may have found a new way to create vampires. Unfortunately there a few…problems with it."

"What are the problems?"

"Well, it needs a relatively powerful vampire-"

"That shouldn't be a problem for us." Quirinus cut him off.

"-it also…kills the vampire that does it."

Quirinus cringed inwardly when he heard that. "…Well, that's a bit more problematic. What exactly is the theory?"

Leonardo read off of a paper "The vampire must be dying, and must have physical, and eye contact with the human. Then, as a dying effort to… continue living, they push their vampire 'entity' into the human, thereby creating a new vampire. They don't know if it will work though. So far it's only a theory."

"Not one that I believe we will have to test" Said Quirinus after a moments thought. "What would be the point in killing one vampire, only to create another, probably weaker one?"

The conversation was over and Quirinus dismissed Leonardo after whispering one more thing in his ear "let's not tell anyone about this little theory shall we? And that does include Chang Quin and Atli. Especially Atli." Leonardo nodded hesitantly and left.

~*~

I was astounded and absolutely terrified. How could I possibly have become a vampire? I haven't remembered my dreams for months! Wasn't that the only way to create vampires? I was also so confused by my purple eyes. I knew, like everyone did, that when a human changed their eyes would changed, but no vampire I had ever heard of had purple eyes. Actually… there was one. But I'd only heard of it once.

    She thought back to that time…

 

"Ever heard about the True Ancient?" the bartender murmured, nudging me.

    "The True Ancient?" I had asked.

    "Oh come on now! The only female vampire! They say even the ancients are afraid of her! Imagine it! I've heard she has purple eyes and is even stronger than Attila the Hun, smarter that Romulus, and more calculating than Sun Tzu! The most powerful vampire in the world!" claimed the bartender in reverence.

"But I thought that the ancients didn't make female vampires?" I had asked, bemused.

"Oh aye, they don't. But she's the true ancient! The first vampire!"

    "That's not what I heard!" yelled out another customer "I heard that she was actually a time traveler! That she went back in time to create Romulus because she knew that if she didn't, she would never be able to exist! I heard that the Ancients don't make women vampires because they're afraid that if they do they'll accidentally create her, and she'll come and kill them!"

    I left them then, thinking skeptically as the bartender and customer continued their heated argument.

 

    Suddenly I remembered where I had met Rendor before. He had been the customer that knew about the True Ancient. I thought back to the moment before I passed out and realized something. When Rendor had opened his eyes they had been sparkly and surreal... and when he had opened his mouth to speak I realized that he had had two sets of fangs. Just like I now did.

    Rendor had been a vampire. Was it possible that there was another way to create vampires? Had Rendor been the one that had turned me into a vampire? If he was a vampire than why had he died? I didn't know… but I needed to find out.

~*~

    "Sir! Update on Rendor Josephson!" Exclaimed Julius Caesar.

    "Yes? What is it? Did you catch him yet?" asked Chang Quin (also known as Sun Tzu, one of the ancients), the leader of the vampire military.

    "Well… not exactly sir. He… he got away…" Caesar said, looking worried.

    He had good reason to be worried, Chang Quin was famous for his temper, and was furious. "What? You let him get away?"

    "I'm very sorry sir! We did all we could!" He begged as Chang Quin banged his hand on the table and shot up, walking towards him. "But there is good news sir!"

    He stopped his advance at Caesar and leaned back against the table "good news?"

    "Yes sir! We have just learned that Josephson has died!" Caesar was now talking rapidly "we're not sure exactly how but we know that died on the 15^th of December, year 1215 at approximately 12:15 pm CET in of the Roman manicomio."

    "Excellent, excellent. Find out which one, and exactly how he died as soon as you can." Chang Quin said, seeming to calm down a bit. "And is there any news from our scientists about the experiment?"

    Julius hesitated for a moment, remembering the threat he'd heard about from Leonardo "No news yet sir."

THE END OF CHAPTER 1