Vampire: Blood Of The Ancients

Drake followed behind me silently, his bare feet padding across the earth in rhythm with mine. The world itself seemed to hold its breath. Even the wind dared not speak, as if it feared to provoke my wrath.

We walked for some time before a village came into view, smaller than mine, but fortified by crude wooden fencing. At the gate stood two warriors clad in blue paint. They crossed their spears in front of me and narrowed their eyes.

"What do you want here?" one demanded.

I didn't answer. Instead, I stared into his eyes then into the eyes of the other guard. A quiet power surged from within as I called upon the new force I now understood: Hypnosis.

"Open the gate," I commanded, my voice calm but firm.

Their expressions went slack. The spears dropped. They turned and began to pull the gate open without hesitation.

"Feed," I said to Drake.

He didn't question. In a blur of movement, he lunged forward. His fangs sank into their necks with sickening squelches. Blood sprayed as he fed greedily, a mess of crimson running down his chin.

"Hey! What's going on there?" came a voice.

Another warrior was approaching the gate.

I met his gaze. "Where is the Skull Tribe?" I asked, activating Hypnosis once more.

The man's hands trembled at his sides. He was trying to resist. I stepped forward, my eyes narrowing.

"Don't resist me."

His body relaxed instantly, and with a blank expression, he turned and began to walk, leading us past the village and into the wild.

For four hours we walked in silence, save for the rustle of grass and the sound of our feet. Eventually, a village surrounded by thorny brush came into view. It was eerily quiet, too quiet.

Suddenly, the man snapped out of his trance. His eyes focused on me, and he screamed.

I frowned.

"So, it only lasts for three minutes per hypnosis," I muttered. I had administered the Hypnosis every 3 minutes ever since we left the man's little village.

"Kill him," I ordered.

Drake obeyed without hesitation. He pounced and drank the man dry, his shriek echoing into the still air.

From beyond the walls of the Skull Tribe, there was shouting. Then came the pounding of feet. Twenty warriors charged out, spears drawn. Their skull-painted faces twisted with fury as they saw us.

I laughed then with a flash, blurred into their ranks. My hand twisted a neck with a sharp crack. I pivoted, shaped my fingers into a blade, and slashed clean through another's throat. One warrior raised his spear, but I punched him so hard he flew seven meters away, crashing into a tree with a crunch.

Another tried to circle behind me. I leapt, grabbing his face and slamming it into the earth. The bones of his skull shattered beneath my fingers.

A spear grazed my side. I turned and sank my fangs into the attacker's neck, draining him even as his body twitched.

One tried to flee. I chased him down and broke his spine with a kick. Then, I dragged the last warrior close and drank from him slowly, my eyes never leaving his as the life drained from them.

Laughing again, I stepped through the gates of the Skull Tribe's village. It was time to return their pain.

I picked up a torch and lit one hut on fire. Then another. And another. By the tenth hut, the flames had grown wild, crackling and devouring everything in sight.

People began to scream.

Men, women, young adults and children burst out of the huts, frantically trying to smother the flames with cloth and dirt. The panic clawed at the air.

I froze.

"Why do you get to survive while my mother didn't!" I roared.

Grief twisted in my chest as I blurred into the crowd.

I struck down the men first. Bones cracked, blood spilled. I tore through them, a creature of vengeance. But then I stopped.

Before me stood a woman, trembling. In her arms, she held a crying child. She didn't speak. She didn't move. She just stared, eyes filled with terror.

My hand was raised, ready to end them both.

But it didn't fall.

I looked around. None of them were armed. None of them fought back. They were simply... afraid. My arm dropped to my side. I turned and walked out of the village, my steps slow, heavy. Tears streamed down my face, hot against the dried blood.

Drake followed behind as I blurred away, the firelight fading behind us. We reached the forest infront of the cave where it all began. I stood among the trees and screamed.

My fists pummeled the bark, breaking wood and bone alike. I screamed again, but this time, it wasn't a voice, it was a roar. Something primal, something otherworldly. It tore from my throat and shook the woods.

I fell to my knees and stumbled into the cave. The same cave where my life changed.

I collapsed into the corner.

"Are you okay, Master?" Drake asked softly.

"No..." I muttered. My voice was broken. "They… they killed my father. They killed my mother. And I—"

I broke off, my throat tightening.

"It's not fair. Why do they get to live? Why did we have to die?" I stared at the cold wall. "My clan… gone. All of them."

I stood up, fists trembling, and slammed one into the cave wall. "DAMN IT!" Then, I sank to the ground across from Drake, shoulders slumped, my heart still bleeding. The silence that followed was very heavy.

Drake sat quietly across from me, his form cast in shadows by the faint moonlight that filtered into the cave.

"Master…" his voice was low, cautious, "I don't know what pain you carry… but I saw the way you looked at her body. The way you bled grief into the earth."

I didn't speak. My eyes stayed fixed on the floor, hands limp at my sides, knuckles scraped and bloodied from punching the stone wall.

"You loved her."

"I still love her," I whispered.

Drake nodded, slowly. "Then know this. The ones we lose… they don't vanish into nothing. They're above us now, watching from the stars. Your mother… your father… they're there. And they saw what you did." He paused, his voice gaining strength. "They saw the justice. They saw the mercy. And they saw your pain."

Something in his words cut deeper than I expected. I felt the weight in my chest shift, still heavy, but no longer smothering.

"They shouldn't have died," I muttered. "Not like that. Not without peace."

"No, they shouldn't have," Drake said quietly. "But if vengeance could bring them peace, then you've lit the fire. And if mercy could speak louder than rage, then it would have screamed tonight, when you spared them."

I looked at him for a long moment. "You're getting good at this whole... being alive again thing."

Drake gave a ghost of a smile. 

"I have never felt more alive, I feel powerful" 

That made me breathe out through my nose, a sound close to a laugh.

I turned away from him and stared at the opening of the cave, where moonlight still spilled gently inside. "Try sleeping or something. We leave the moment the next night falls.

"I'll stay close."

I nodded. "Good."

We didn't sleep at first. The silence stretched out, broken only by the soft rustle of leaves outside and the occasional shifting of stone beneath us. Hours passed like mist, neither of us moving much, lost in our own wounds.

Only when the first rays of sunlight spilled golden across the mouth of the cave, slicing through the darkness like a gentle reminder, did exhaustion pull at our eyes. My head leaned back against the wall. I heard Drake's breathing slow.

And finally, after everything, we drifted into a damned sleep.