Something different from me, inspired by a rather ... morbid mood. A thanks to my beta; SunandShadows!
Now mind you.. this is NOT Phantom as I've been writing lately. The main character, Meuric, is inhuman. You'll be hard pressed to find any redeeming human qualities. He isn't cruel for the sake of being cruel, or for pleasure. It's all for psychology, and psychoanalysis, in which he has a cold, cynical and detached interest.
What is God?
Who is God?
I've often asked myself these questions. So simple. So easily answered. Or are they? There are ways to look at things; subjectively, and objectively. Opinions are taken and given in the same discretion.
At any rate, this is not why I've decided to speak to you. I wish to speak of my life, and how I came to be what, and who I am. Don't look surprised, childe. Come, sit. Savor a drink from my servant. She is of... priceless specimen. I shall start with my natural birth instead of my... Spiritual birth, if you so wish to hear. You do? Excellent.
In the rich countryside of Romania I was born, long ago. Long before you, long before your own sire. And even long before your sire's sire was semen staining his mother's skirts. Mother loved me dearly, though father cursed the day I was born. I was... different, you see. Not different because of the color of my eyes. I wa–... hm? My eyes? Oh, yes, now they're a rather affluent blue, aren't they? No? Oh yes, they're green. Well, my eyes during my birth were rather contrasting. One, a rather dark brown, the other a pale, almost translucent green. But my eyes are of little importance. It is how I was born. Like now, I was neither male, nor female. But both. Does that surprise you? I hope so. It sure did surprise my parents. I was unnatural, according to my father, a spawn of a demon. I remember being dropped as a child. Often now you hear jokes about such things, though if I even so much as hear a chuckle from you I shall rip your spine from your left nostril. Not your right, your left. And yes, there is a difference.
I grew up slowly, my bones as brittle as crystal. I had little to no education. And seven other siblings before me. At least seven living ones. My mother lost perhaps five other kids within childbirth. Hm? Yes, it was a lot of children. Nowadays you have women having perhaps one, two. Then, you had to have numerous children to help with house work, farming and such. Well, that's the way I saw it anyway. Also, back then, none had contraceptives. I was always teased, taunted, struck, and badgered. Though I paid them no mind. No mind at all. Each name I took to stride, they didn't bother me. Freak, demon, it, beast. So on so forth. It never ended. Well, not until my third eldest brother accidentally slipped and fell on a gardening tool. ...Did he actually fall? Good question. Let me elaborate. Since I slammed a hoe into his cranium. Better?
I remember not only his cries of pain, the light fading from his eyes, but the whole death of my blood. I enjoyed watching his blood spill upon the freshly turned soil. I took a small tool to his skull, studying the cracked fragments. Safe to say I was rather annoyed when I as drug from the scene. Ah. C'est la vie. But here I am, chasing rabbits, going away from what I really wished to speak about. How is your drink there? Still warm? Ah, by all means, refill your glass.
Somehow, some way, one had seen my fascination with my brother's death, and watched me since. I was... hm, five I believe. Yes, five, when I destroyed that worthless piece of flesh. How I wish I had my crafting abilities back then. I would have loved to seal closed the mouths of the annoying youths. Yes, I did say that I didn't let it bother me didn't I? Cease using my words against me, I just may get annoyed.
He came to me during the night, you see. A man of most intimate nature. What do I mean by intimate? Ah, yes, you are still young. You still think upon the sexual level. I'm afraid that is not what I mean. The man, Demitri, was...irrevocably insane, yes, though he was not a pedophile unlike some men in my time. Oh yes, it happened often. Simply ask my older brother of my father. If he was alive, that is. Demitri was a priest, a Godly man, though not a God you would once savor. He was... absolute perfection. He was a childer of Mekhet. He stole me away in the night. I hardly believe I was missed by my parents. What happened to there rest of my family? Hm, well. You see that ghoul over there. Yes, the rather malformed szlachta? Say hello to my mother.
I grew up under the tutelage of Demitri and this other youth. The other was perhaps... ten years older than me. His name was Yveyn, if I remember correctly. And here I was, six years of age. I could tell the hate in this person's eyes at seeing me. His jealousy was refreshing, brought the first smile to my face to a long, long time. Yveyn was Demitri's ghoul, had been for about ten, or twenty years. How often Yveyn used to attempt to lie upon my behalf. Thanks to him I have an uncanny sense of deception. It was easy finding out what he lied about, and what didn't. Of course I should know considering I was the person he was attempting to tell falsities about. Demitri purchased, or stole, me a set to work upon various chemicals and elements. I had always been a scientist in nature. Though instead of wanting to know of things such as that, I took a morbid interest in death. He and I used to get within so many fights, and he bested me in most. Others, he couldn't land a strike with how dexterous I was. Demitri paid us no mind. Demitri seemed to have slaked within his interests concerning Yveyn. Truly, I do not believe the ghoul much liked this. Did I care? Not a bit.
I was made his ghoul upon my eighth turning. Young, yes, though it was worth it. I was a child still, innocent, or though people thought. It was easy bringing victims to their demise at the hands of my dark Master. Often I would dress as a little girl, or a boy. It didn't matter. I was both. Where Yveyn took his interest within the magics of the Tremere, I found myself drawn to the lore of Kupala. You've no knowledge of Kupala? Interesting. Let me chase another rabbit, briefly.
You see, Kupala is seen as a demon spirit. One that fought the Lupines long before Caine was even born. He, she... it brought these wolf shifters nothing but grief until it was trapped within the mountains which are now known as the Carpathians and Alps. Trapped until the Tzimisce released it from the earth. Those Tzimisce that did was taught the knowledge and power of Kupala and became, what most would say, kolduns. Ah, yes you have heard that word before, excellent, then you're not entirely lost. The Dracons, repulsive childer of the Dragon, hated those of Kupala. I cannot say that they received love either. Shall I continue of my previous tale? Excellent.
Such sorcery was to be taught to me, and Yveyn didn't like this at all. Yes, he had the blood magic and such, though he was never worthy of learning what I have. Jealousy is such a petty emotion. Nonetheless, this had gone on for a good number of years. Ten, twenty, I forgot how many.
"I will kill you," Yveyn always said. I just laughed. So amused was I with him.
Not only did I gain knowledge of the sorcery, but also that of my own crafting abilities. I took full advantage of my hermaphroditic state. I learned to make myself a full woman... or at least a girl considering my lack of age, I did the same with my male counterpart. Perhaps once or twice I had fooled Demitri with my alter egos. Yveyn didn't like this much. Why? Well, he had an affinity with young girls. As such I persuaded him to give away secrets that Demitri stated he would kill him for if they were released. How I remembered the look upon his face just before my sire cracked him across the face with his cane. Matter of fact, it is this cane right here. You just may be able to see a tooth mark or two in the wooden haft where teeth were embedded.
After a time Demitri regulated his feedings to me, letting me age some before I partook of his blood again. He at least allowed me to grow to my full stature of a fifteen year old before Yveyn killed me. Yes, the little bastard finally did it. Or so he thought. Little did he know my sire came home the night he slit my throat. Yveyn believed he was still in Italy. Seeing I was on the edge of death Demitri quickly purged blood from his system through the cut upon his arm and fed me his blood. I remember my embrace as if it were yesterday. The darkness, the pain, and then the rush of frenzy. I 'awoke' amidst a pool of blood and intestines. Poor Yveyn. I knew him well.
My sire wasn't very bothered by his ghoul's death, he was ecstatic, though, about having a childe, his first childe, and he was determined not to let me wander astray. He had yet to see his sire since a few decades after his embrace. If I'm not mistaken, the Excellency Vykos is in Atlanta. He taught me what he could have the Koldunic arts; I even had a little help along the way with a specter. What is a specter? A ghost, childe, a ghost. This... spirit... was Triglav the Three-Headed itself. The African Tzimisce. Hm? Oh, you didn't know there were Tzimisce in Africa? Well, well, someone needs to do their reading, now don't they? The spirit follows me now, guiding, helping in the knowledge that I deem to perfect. Why haven't I become completely knowledgeable in the path of the Koldun? I'll explain that soon, patience, please.
While I learned more of the sorcery, I also perfected my more... natural... abilities. As you see by my mother there. I acquired her after killing my father and my other siblings. It was easy, too easy. Then, just to have a bit of... fun, I melded their bodies together in the most humorous fashion. A few brothers mounted each other; my father was literally fornicating himself. Now that... gained a chuckle from me. My mother was more compliant to subdue to my whims. Hm, she was fifteen when I was born, so she was about... in her thirties or so when I got my hands on her. Yes, it was surprising she lasted for so long. She was always a healthy woman. I worked on her to become my first perfected szlachta. It took a while, a long while, mainly because during that time I was distracted by my other learnings. While I melded her flesh to her bones, turning her to a he, then back again, Demitri was in the background, filling me in on some kindred politics and teachings. He spoke to me of how mages transformed themselves into vampires by using someone of their blood. This angered me, to say the least, and mommy dearest was the target of my ire. I didn't kill her, of course, as you see, but I was damn close.
Hardly did it seem like decades had passed. I was no longer a fledgling when I finally changed my once relative to how I wished. Something was missing though, and so I went out to search for this piece of my puzzle. It was winter then, and within the mountains of Romania winters were harsh, but of course that didn't bother me any. While I was out I came across a carcass. Well, not a carcass, but many. They seemed to be sewn together. Why? I asked myself the same question until I saw movement. Under the fur and viscera was a mortal. A female after I checked further. She was starved, filthy, and half dead. I couldn't tell if she would have been perfect for that missing piece, so, placing her to my shoulder I took her home. Young is what she was, perhaps no more than thirteen, maybe fourteen. She didn't have what I wished, but instead of tearing her apart and gorging myself upon her blood, I kept her. Kept her like a pet. And that is what I turned her into. My ghouled pet.
I taught her the basics of my blood-bred ability; she picked it up with utmost perfection. Demitri noticed this, and while he didn't show it visually, I knew he was proud of the fact that not only was I an excellent student, but a teacher as well. Unfortunately, Demitri didn't remain around long after I acquired my first ghoul. I learned a few things during his absence. Attempted the embrace upon one of his ghouls, though I believe something went terribly wrong. The ghoul did not live through the ordeal, and I found something rather unfortunate. That I've the inability to create my own childer. It bothered me then, but now, I hardly even care. Lonely? Ha! Look around you childe. How could I be? I've my ghouls, and naught more.
During the time of my sire's absence I busied myself with my teaching, my own training through the spirit, and my experiments. I became absolutely fascinated with killing, torture, and studying the effects of the body. Where I wasn't able to gain the ability to deal personally with the death, and wraiths, I remained satisfied with what I did have. Demitri left behind his personal library of various notes, rituals, rites and new magics. I have these books still, you see. Old? Oh, very much so, much older than you think. Oh, and if you dare touch them, you will find out that your hand can be melded to your small intestine. Yes, I knew you'd understand. Such a smart childe.
Tell me. During your time of your unlife, have you ever just wanted to lie down for the morning, and not wake? No? Then you are the lucky one. It was a few years after I ghouled my pet when I slipped into that infamous long sleep called torpor. Depressing, really, I know. Especially when one awoke decades, no... centuries later. It was around the twelfth century when I fell into this sleep, and fifteenth or so, when I awoke. Things changed more than I imagined. I was surprised to see mother alive still, as well as my pet who had been looking over me. Though, she was now embraced. Surprising, yes I know. My own sire embraced my ghoul. I would have been angered when I first found out, but my hunger surpassed anything I knew. She had a childe of her own. Unfortunately, he was the first I fed upon when I awoke. Since then I have acquired the taste of Cainites. Did I Diablorize him? Ugh, such a crude term. Diablorie. Yes, I committed Amaranth. And, yes, I enjoyed it.
I came to find out that various things had happened during my sleep. There were now fractions of the vampiric community. The Camarilla, Anarchs, who are different from the Anarchs now. Then they were actually known as the Sabbat, though that name didn't come until later. There were also the Autarkis Cainites. Those who had rather remain out of such politics and games. Inconnu? Hm, well. Perhaps they can be placed within the same category as the Inconnu, but not quite. I had come to find out that we of Mekhets childer were not of the Camarilla. Easily understood. Whelps and fledglings that are led around by their left fang by elders, pretending to be human. Feh. Disgusting. We set out to reclaim what was ours, beginning with the hateful Usurpers. Over the centuries, as you know, our Sect has been claiming city after city. Infiltrating when needed. I, being what I am, have accomplished such feats. I could go on about that, though that would give out much too important information. I do not need you to know all of my secrets. Oh my, you are a glutton. Ah, well, I will just have mother toss her to the hounds. Mother?
Mm, yes. Where was I? Ah, I recall. You are perhaps wondering why I'm having tons of earth shipped, my belongings, as well as other items to the New World? Well. I've a friend there that decided to contact me. Seems a bit of entertainment will be gained in this new endeavor. Luck? No, no. This will not be luck, but plain, unadulterated skill. In the great words of Yoda. "There is no try, only do." And so I shall...
Glossary For Those That Aren't White Wolf Inclined
Szlachta- A war ghoul. Where ghouls are one person bound to a vampire through blood, the Tzimisce have a way of binding flesh and bone together, making a nearly unstoppable ghoul from the parts of many, animal and human alike.
Diablorie/Amaranth - The act of a vampire draining another of its blood and gaining its power, depending on the age or generation of the victim. The higher the generation, the thinner the blood, the less power one gains.
Sabbat - The "evil" vampires, supposedly. They don't believe they should hide their true nature from mortals, who are nothing but cattle to them.
Camarilla - The "good" vampires. A good majority are close to their human ties.
Anarchs - Name sort of explains it. They go against the politics of both Sabbat and Camarilla.
