The Flashback

Drained the blood and ate the heart, and I'm watching him melt away, leaving little lengthened canine teeth behind for a sentimental keepsake. The blood and gore are all over my chamber, and there's plenty of the little leech left to clean up, but that can wait for later. I can feel the lifeblood awakening my innards, and my vision is starting to blur on the edges. The memories of this bloodsucker will start flooding through me any second now. God, I love this part.

*****

At this, the beginning of my little baby vampire life, I am a deer in headlights, my maker presenting me to the rest of his Lusumi kind as I sit in shock at the prospect of my brand new existence. At this moment, I feel hungry. My maker's blood is coursing through my undying veins and organs, and I want more. I'm feeling sick at the prospect of what I've done in preparation for this moment, and what I have yet to do. I'm feeling horror at what I've become. The air is thick with the amount of power in this room, and I want more of it. But everything is melting away and turning black; the vision is changing quickly. I can feel my emotions deadening.

And now, I've been dead for 50 years, and that is long enough to be a human's entire lifetime. My maker and I are sailing the Mediterranean for the first time and I'm thrilled at the prospect of adventure. I'm feeling excitement, as the little hairs that remain on my body stand on end. He is smiling at me with those same ugly, stained, razor sharp canine teeth. In spite of myself, I still feel a little twinge of fear when I look at him. It doesn't look like it will ever go away. I'm only just now beginning to feel a sense of nausea that I haven't experienced since I was breathing. I vomit on the deck of the ship while he's laughing at me, and saying something about never seeing a seasick vampire before now. And as I'm looking at the black blood that I've just given up, I can feel it rising back up to overtake me. I feel panic for a moment, but I realize (the real me realizes) that its just the flashback changing shape.

I'm close to 100 years now, and I'm falling in love for the first time. Her name is Gretchen, and she's the most beautiful thing in the whole world. I'm feeling hunger, as I long to taste her blood. I feel shame, as I'm trying my hardest not to hurt her. She's offered her life to me, but I don't want to take her light from the world. I'm feeling sickness at the thought of what I've just done to my maker, and all because he dared to threaten my Gretchen; the love of my unlife. And of course, looking out from the inside, the real me feels pity for this little creature. It's sad, really.

Now, I'm 200 years into the blood and discussing combat tactics with a group of elder Lusumi, some of whom knew my maker. I feel fear as I'm wondering if they know that I killed him. I'm feeling sick, as I remember the smell of his charred body, the pieces that we left behind and set on fire. She said it was necessary. These older vampires are talking to me about something that I've never heard of before; something called a, or the, Vovali. (Wait, that sounds familiar, actually) Its something that eats us. (What?) They want to hunt it down. Trap it. Kill it. (Something is wrong)

I'm 200 and 20 years beyond my human life now. I can see the blood in my veins through my marble skin. The others are watching me, but I can't see them. We've traced the Vovali, one that we call the Shepherd, to a city in Mexico. I'm feeling scared for the first time in ages, knowing that I'm bait. (I have to wake up) I didn't want this position, but with my sins revealed to the coven, this was my only option. I feel curiosity, wondering if they knew about it before they ever approached me. I'm... I'm lost in the alleyways now, even though I've studied it thousands of times. This is wrong. (I need to wake up) I feel panic now, and the Vovali is standing before me, tattered cloak and all. And I'm about to die. (Wake up!)

*****

Wake Up. I open my eyes to black splotches in my vision, and I can feel the aching that floods through my atrophied muscles and bones. I don't want to move. I expand my senses across the room, feeling everything living and dead and in-between. And I realize what's happening. I arch my head backwards and see her standing above me, pain and fury and bloody tears in her eyes. I see the blade in her hand. I open my mouth to speak her name. Gretchen.