I've been tossing around the idea of this story in my head for a little while and I rather like the idea of it. It will focus on Eric's life before the present and follow his evolution into the Viking everyone knows and loves on True Blood. I'd love reviews just to know if I should continue or not.
I have posted a picture of Camilla on my profile, so that people can get an idea as to her looks.
Enjoy.
It is a very strange thing for one my age to try to remember the beginning. There are those who would much rather forget. And those that only remember the day they entered into their "higher life". Very very few remember their true beginning, the one that included a mother and a father, and growing up in the light of the sun. I am one of those few. I was once called Camilla Flavia Deconisys and I died in 1183AD in the Roman province of Thracia. Nearly a millennia since I was made and I can still remember the scent of my mothers hair, and the warmth of my father's embrace as I sat on his knee at dinner. The taste of a fig picked fresh off the tree in our gardens, and the smell of morning glory flowers that bloom only when the dawn breaks and retract back when the dusk comes. I never wish to forget my life that I lost so long ago, so in my efforts to hold on I must remember how I died, and the long centuries that followed.
The sun shone through through the windows of the white stone villa. The air was warmed but the light and the air was rich with salt from the nearby sea. Grapevines crawled up the side of the building and snaked around the large window. I could feel the sun warming my face as I rolled over to greet it. I outstretched my arms and stretched cat-like across my large feather bed. I sat up and walked naked to just before the window, taking in the beauty of the surroundings without giving way my modesty. I walked to my dressing table and stepped into the light white linen gown that hung next to it. I used the gold facets on my dressing table to secure the gown at the waist and at the shoulders. The linen dress was long and dipped low between my breasts, and at the back, it allowed me to stay cool in the heat of the Roman summer. I padded softly through my bed chamber and down the stone hallway and the small stair case.
My home was one of the largest in Thracia a province of the now crumbling Roman Empire. I knew my happy days here were numbered, there were rumors swirling of the Emperor losing power and the treasury was low. I was living in a world of fleeting moments. But I was happy, I had a loving family and for the time being we were enjoying ourselves. And I had the faith of knowing that if my world were to crumble at least I wouldn't be alone. I had no fear of what was to come, I only knew the present and I made myself blissfully ignorant of anything else.
The servants were bustling around the lower level of the house, preparing the mornings food, baking bread and cleaning the house. I greeted them as I made my way out to the gardens, this was my favorite place. My father had taken great care when we designed our gardens He wanted to mimic the vast gardens of Rome here in our own little seaside haven.
The air outside seemed to buzz with a strange sort of motion. There was an almost cold breeze blowing from the North, it felt strange on my bare arms and foreboding. I looked out to the sea and the horizon and saw strange sails in the distance. A feeling of dread crept over me and I raced back into the house.
"Father! Quickly outside" I raced into my father's study and found him pouring over papers and weighing out silver on his scales. Father was an important merchant, one of the only ones importing directly from Rome to Thracia.
"What is it my dear?" He asked looking up over his desk, father was an older man, grown rather portly in his old age. His cheeks were always rosy from wine and his eyes were kind and still held the spark of the impishness of his youth.
"There are strange sails on the horizon, ones I have never seen before, and there are many of them."
His face immediately became grave, his brows furrowed and the color drained from him.
"It is as I feared, they have come." He rose quickly and bolted from the room and I trailed behind him my mind racing with questions. I had never seen my father lose his composure before. He was always calm and collected, never letting down his outward shell. Even one summer when I was young, a storm hit and sunk three of his ships laden with goods and he lost almost a years worth of income, he still stood strong and rebuilt, never once losing his good nature.
Yet now he here was, drained of color and running blindly down to the shore line. He stopped abruptly as he reached the cliffs. He looked at the sails in the distance, it looked as though they had not moved, they were still pin pricks on the horizon, but I knew they were coming and they would arrive by nightfall. As I stood a few feet behind my father I watched him drop to his knees and his body began to rack with sobs. At this sight genuine fear struck me and I ran to his side.
"Father, Father! What does this all mean, what is going on who are those ships?" I asked my voice cracking with fear.
"Help me up," He said gravely "We must get into the house we must prepare."
I helped him to his feet and took his arm as we walked slowly back to the villa. As we entered the kitchen my father cleared his throat and spoke to the servants working diligently.
"My servants, I come to you now to tell you that I have valued your years of service, and I state now that I release you from your servitude. I do not do this though out of happiness but rather out of a last act of kindness. You see, now on the horizon the invaders are upon us. They come to wage war and destroy everything we have built here. I doubt many of us will live through the night."
Here is where the servants who had been sitting slack jawed started to brake down, there were wails of sorrow from the kitchen women, the men stood silent and grave.
"So in the spirit of my final goodbye I would like every one of you to come to my study to receive a sum of money, and I would like every one of you to go and buy your family the finest dinners you can muster and enjoy yourselves."
With that he left to his study and the line started to slowly follow after him. I ran away up to my chambers and laid myself on my bed to weep. This was all so sudden I was so unaware that the dangers that loomed on the horizon would move so quickly. I lamented the loss of my home and the ones I loved. My door creaked open and I recognized the footfalls of Lucretia, she had been my nurse maid and my caretaker ever since my mother died when I was 13. She was my closest friend aside from my father, and my constant source of comfort.
"Camilla my darling, don't you know weeping is of no use now? We must not cry any longer, we must only use our last few hours to live and enjoy the ones we love."
"Lucretia I do not even know what is coming for us! How can you resign yourself to the death these strangers will inflict on you?" I screamed my rage and confusion getting the best of me.
Lucretia gathered me up in her arms, I felt a little silly nearing my 21st year and still being held like a child by my nurse maid.
"From what I have heard down in the village and from listening to your father they are invaders from the North. They have already conquered the capital and are moving fast across the empire. Your father tried to keep you from the gossip as long as he could, but he knew one day they would come. They destroy everything in their wake and care not for taking our riches and rulers, they want only to destroy us."
"Lucretia, it seems so strange to think of myself on the verge of my own death. I thought someday I would marry and have children and grow old." I said sniffling into her comforting embrace
It was then that she broke down and tears began to stream silently down her face. "I am so sorry for your young life my darling, I have loved you like my own and I will be with you until we meet our end."
The fleet was moving quickly across the water, we would reach Thracia by nightfall. That was Appius' plan. He was the leader of our hoard. He wanted to exact his revenge on the Roman Empire. He has waited centuries for the empire to show weakness and now was his chosen time to strike. I was following him diligently as any good childe would a father. I did not approve of his waging war. He did not fight with honor, man against man. He fought to destroy; killing men, women, children. The thought of his blood lust made me think of my own family of so long ago. My father, my mother, baby Astrid, even my own wife, all died at his hands. The hands of the man that I served like a dog. I had requested of him to take my leave when I found a proper companion. He had grudgingly agreed though he would not release me, just simply allow me some space.
I laid in my small compartment. I was in the depths of the large Norse ship in a room with no windows. No sunlight could escape here. I found it hard to succumb to sleep. The sun had yet to rise and I felt the feeling of exhaustion creep up on me yet sleep did not come. My mind was too busy racing around thoughts of the next night's slaughter. I longed to be back in the North lands, back in my old life; hunting with my father in the woods, fucking the milk maids, and the bar maids, and the serving maids, sitting by the fire with my mother and my baby sister.
The rest of that day flowed in a stream of tears. We made our preparations, we released the servants, each with a hefty sum of money, father emptied our treasury completely, every last penny was spent. We had a lavish dinner cooked by what few servants chose to stay behind and they sat at our table with us as equals. It seemed strange to think that we were celebrating in the wake of our own impending ends.
After we finished eating we gathered on the piazza and watched the ships as they slowly moved into the harbor. We saw the hoards disembark and they moved quickly through the village igniting the homes and shops as they moved through. We could hear the screams of those below and we knew that soon enough we would share their fate.
We were all oddly calm. There was a sense of serenity that came from knowing your fate was out of your own hands.
We heard them coming up the road and we quickly moved to the house.
"Camilla, I want you to go to the basement and hide between the barrels, it is a small hope, but they may pass by you."
"Father, I will not leave you. I will only die beside you." With that I gave him a final look and gripped his hand tightly. The heavy foot falls reached our door and the wood was shattered by a tremendous force from outside.
One ragged man walked in first then beckoned in what we though would be a blood thirsty hoard instead two men walked calmly in and stood before my father, Lucretia and I. One was in his middle age, a few years younger than my father, tall, stately, he looked Greek, a far cry from his companion. The other man was very tall, standing well over the other man and younger; he looked only a few years my senior. He was well formed, but very pale and his hair was a curious shade of yellow I had never seen before, nothing like the sandy colored hair of some of the villagers. Both were dressed in plain spun clothes with heavy swords and thick shields emblazoned with strange symbols I had never seen before.
"You are the Master of the house I presume?" The man asked my father in impeccable Latin
"Yes," My father answered cooly "I am Camilius Flavius Deconisys this is my daughter Camilla Flavia Deconisys and her hand maid Lucretia."
"Well sir, it is good to meet you, I am Appius Livius Ocella, and this is my companion Eric, and we" he paused and smirked wickedly "are death."
"I welcome you into my home." My father said and stood straight and tall.
Upon reaching the house we send a grunt in to enter the home and invite us in. Appius and I stormed into the home. He was always terribly dramatic when we entered the largest home of the village we pillaged. He had a little ruse he liked to preform each time.
The residents of the house were only 3, an older man, a middle aged woman, and one more. The last was a girl, she looked just a few years younger than I was when I was changed. Her honey brown eyes were wide with fear. She was wearing a long white gauzy gown that dipped low between the swell of her round breasts and fell clinging past the gentle curve of her hips to the floor. her dark curls were hanging down her left shoulder plaited loosely with a gold band. Her skin was warm toned and tanned from long days in the sun. She smelled like ripe fruit and the salt air and the warmth of fresh baked bread, her smell was familiar, a reminder from my days of being human, it was comforting. She looked as if touching her and feeling her touch would be like feeling the sun after almost 200 years in the dark.
"How kind of you," Appius drawled "For this you will die quickly, then I will move on to your lovely little daughter but I cannot say she will die slowly though. I wish to enjoy her first."
Hearing Appius threaten her made me spring into action and my claim came out loud and final.
I knew Appius would not deny me.
"No." A hard voice boomed and I looked to see the yellow haired man looking at me "She is mine." He said with a level of finality
"No!" I cried out "I want to die with my family, don't take me from my family!"
"You will not have a family in a few moments" Appius said coldly as he grabbed my father and instead of taking his sword to him he instead ripped into my father's neck with his teeth. I screamed as I watched blood spurt out of the wound.
I tried to run to save my father but I was stopped by the tall blonde.
"Do not make foolish moves, be a good girl, and come with me. I will spare you" I fought against him and cried as I watched my father slump to the ground. Appius, his face covered in blood looked up and chuckled, "He tasted distinctly of wine, how lovely, I'd nearly forgotten how it tasted." Next he set his sights on Lucretia who was sitting quiet and stoic on a kitchen stool.
"Do with me what you may, but do not harm the girl." She said looking at me tenderly, but I could see the fear in her eyes.
"You sit so bravely, even in the presence of death after seeing what is your fate, you are a magnificent creature. Most would be cowering and crying in a puddle of their own piss." Appius said approaching her "The girl will be unharmed for now, my young childe has claimed her as his, I have no say in what he will do with her. But what I do know is I will make your death easy."
I was blinded by tears and my breath refused to come to me. I could not take in any air as Eric held my arms and kept me tight against his chest. I was struggling taking gulps of air between sobs but it didn't seem to be enough. I felt my vision turning to black and then there was nothing left.
I hitched her over my shoulder and carried her quickly away from the ruin of her home. I could not bear to watch the destruction of her family myself. It brought back too many memories, memories I had been fighting to forget. I ran at my full speed past the baffled men, they were used to seeing strange behavior from their leaders, Appius and I. They knew what they were serving. They called us "beasts" and "demons" "children of Vali" and they were right. Once I reached the shore I wrapped my little one in one of my furs and held her unconscious body to my chest as I rowed us to the flagship.
I woke up in a dimly lit room, there were no windows and it felt strangely like the room was swaying. In my fogginess I was unaware of what had lead me to this place but all at once it came back and the grief of losing my family hit me.
"Please, do not cry again." A smooth voice said from the corner of the room and I became aware of the hulking pale form sitting in the shadows.
"I have just lost everything I love and I was forced to watch them all die so barbarically. What do you care if I weep for what I have lost?"
"I cannot stand tears, simply remain quiet and I shall explain to you." He said standing to his tremendous full height and approaching the bed I laid in.
"Please, keep your distance, you frighten me terribly." I said curling myself up in the bed.
"You will have to get used to my company." He said ignoring my request and sitting at the end of the bed facing me "You will be my companion now."
"I do not wish to be a companion to a demon, kill me and let me find my peace with my maker."
"I am not a demon, and you will find peace with your maker, but that maker shall be myself. I will give you eternal life. I will be your companion, your teacher, and your lover."
"Is this why you spared me? To make me your whore? I will kill myself before I let you touch me." I spit at him, who was this monster, this demon who murdered my family?
"Hold your tongue around me, girl. I do not need to remind you of what I am capable of."
"I welcome your worst. I do not fear death."
"Insolent girl." He growled out and in seconds he had me pinned down to the bed holding my wrists tightly above my head "Can you not see that I do not wish to harm you? Can you not see that I am trying to be kind? If I wanted you to be my whore you would be naked pleasuring me right now, not clothed and swaddled in my own bed linens. Now still your sharp tongue and let me speak to you."
My fear of him kept me quiet and my confusion kept me immobile. What he said did make sense. He did not seem as bloodthirsty as his companion and he had yet to lay a hand on me in harm.
"My name is Eric, and I come from the North lands. I was born over 200 years ago by your calendar's reckoning, and my human life ended when I was 22 summers."
"What can you mean, your human life ended, and how are you over 200 years old? Are you a mad man?"
"No, my svass" He said slipping into what I would guess to be his native tongue "I am quite dead"
Old Norse Words & Meanings
svass: darling, sweetheart, a term of endearment