BLOOD COVEN: GABRIEL'S AWAKENING
PREFACE
In the Blood Coven, there is only one rule that must be obeyed and that is that humans are like cattle, they should be eaten and relished, turned if you wish but never loved. Affections are for the weak and Love is just another sad excuse that mortals make. Vampires do not have morals or values. Vampires are just like any other beast or monster as they call it. Once blood is served, the beast takes over and being a vampire only means that you should trust this instinct and submit to it. Basic rule of survival: The weak shall perish and the strong shall survive…
I.
Gabriel never thought of himself as a weak person although he knew that he may look like one. For years, he strived to look healthier and fitter than he's always been but he has always failed. The only consolation that he deems fit for his lacking is his intelligence but it didn't matter, he was still a geek in everyone's eyes. He often daydreams of becoming one of the jocks or one of the most sought after person in his school. He craved for attention. He craved for what he believed he can never have. He never saw himself fitting in any crowd. He was always rejected and alone. With this, he was always lonely.
Every day is a random day for him. He does the same things day after day. He had a routine that he didn't strictly follow although he always does them. Why? Because he had nothing else left to do. Being weird meant having less friends. Most of the time he just stayed in school and immediately went home after that. His life was nothing but the ordinary and he hated it. He felt compelled to change it but how? His huge brain and his knowledge can never make up for anything. It can never even change him. His existence, to him, was rather pointless.
He often found himself at the brink of things. With his new found views of his life, he often put himself in risky situations and unnecessary dangers. He wanted attention and so he often brings it to himself. Most people did pay attention to him but only because they thought he needed it but once he's made his intentions known, they all leave him and go back to their secured little lives. Poor Gabriel! He was a lost soul trapped in a world full of self centered individuals. With a defeated look on his face, he slumped lower than before. He was determined but broken.
Being normal and co-existing with those who perceive themselves as normal and yet think they are better than him, do their best to avoid him. To them, he was a freak and because of that he was a laughing stock. With his face filled with shame, he rolled his hands into fists as if they were balls and swore to himself that he would do everything he can just to alter his life and he was dead serious with it. He vowed that he will get his revenge and when he does, he'll make sure he'll enjoy it and that those who mocked him shall suffer a fate worse than death itself.
There was an evil glow in his eyes. His grin was in fact menacing. The darkness within him was unstable. His plans were malicious. He had doubts of them ever happening but he knew one thing or another, they will pay and repent. He was falling. He was succumbing to evil even if he knew that he shouldn't. His anguish, his desires and his pain were all intertwined in his deadly dreams. He remembers most of them when he wakes and he finds himself obsessed with it. His thoughts and his being are becoming distraught and disturbed.
Madness – that's what it is! There was no salvation, no point of return. He wasn't turning back. He knew what he had become and loved it. The feeling of being powerful was all that he felt inside him. It may not be real but it was in his delusions. His fits remained to himself as he stifled the urge to hurt anyone. All he knew was that he was turning into a monster. All because his depression was killing him and that the way he was being treated wasn't helping. There was no reason left within him. He was darker than ever.
Then one day, his plot unfolded. He wanted to get even in his own way. He wasn't afraid anymore. He trusted his heart to turn to stone leaving no room for anything including kindness. He had never felt loved in his life. He had a life full of misery and hate. What more can one endure? He was spent and weary of it. He had to do what he must and so in an alley he waited. He knew that those who tortured his teenage life often pass by that place to go to their favorite hang-out. He plans to merely do anything that will rattle them.
He dressed in black garments and made his skin pale. He pretended to have fangs and to have blood on his face. He was there waiting by the corner, waiting for the opportunity to pass him by. Little did he know that he was already being watched and that it was liking what it saw. He conjured it somehow with his negative thoughts and feelings and this being fed on it. This dark being was not alone in this journey though, she had with her a friend. He was darker than her for his heart was cold and black.
When it was time, he did was he must and he gave them the fright of their lives. They scurried away and ran, never looking back. He was proud of himself and so with his new found victory, he laughed hard. He was caught off guard when it came upon him. He was their prey. With his eyes that widened, he was frozen and felt too weak to scream. The bite was fast and swift and with the creature's mouth on his neck, his eyes grew heavy on him. Darkness befell him. It was all over in an instant.
He woke up in the same alley as if nothing's happened. Could it be a dream or was it reality? He remembered what had happened before that and was happy to have completed his dream. He went home happily that night, unknowing what had actually hit him. He couldn't remember much of what happened or what came over him. The last thing he remembers was falling into the darkness while being drowning in a pair of red eyes that seem to have gotten him into a trance. He shook the idea and slept over it. Perhaps it's just a nightmare, he said.
The next day, he felt like a new man. He starred at his reflection in the mirrors for hours, looking at the obvious changes. His vision has improved rendering his specs useless. His skin has turned paler than usual and his eyes were turning darker. He felt that his body was changing as well and his insides felt burning. He was in pain and this time, he felt like it would seethe through him. He felt like screaming. The heat was intense deep inside him and it was like being burnt alive. It enraged him. His eyes were changing even more from a darker shade of crimson to blood red!
What's happening to me? He wondered. He wanted to claw his face off as if it will suffice for the agony that he felt. He writhed in pain. He's never felt anything like it at all. It was like there was something deep inside him. He felt it growing. What was it? He couldn't understand but there was something unnatural about it. If this keeps up, I'll self destruct. A thought he didn't want to be dealt with. There was a mixture of other emotions and senses as well. Then his throat felt dry and sore, it was aching while my stomach churned. I was hungry but I didn't want what I want.
The thought of feeding himself brought his feet to the kitchen. He scavenged anything he could find that he thought was edible, all of them tasted volatile. He was frustrated and hungry at the same time. What more can a guy with an empty stomach want that can make this feeling of thirst be quenched? He felt insatiable. As the growing need pressed upon him, he felt nauseous. He needed sustenance and he needed it now more than ever. With a frown on his face, he looked at the numbers on the fridge. They were all delivery hotlines of his favorite fast food chains.
He may be hungry but he will not die of it. I will eat anything else but this. He said as he continued to eye on the kitchen table and the different kinds of food that he tried out earlier. So, he dialed the number of his favorite pizza place to have one delivered to his home. He was feeling desperate now. His hunger was overwhelming. He felt like his blood was boiling deep inside him. The craving was strong and it pains him to have to endure something without being able to do anything about it.
He was feeling exasperated. He gasped and felt like his heart was slowly beating. His breathing pattern changed and a sharp pain stabbed him. He held his chest as if longing for air. Cold drops of sweat formed on his forehead as he felt everything around him swirling. Then, the doorbell rang. The delivery man must be here, he thought. He pretended that everything was okay. For a minute, he looked at his reflection in the mirror and got some cash in his wallet. He couldn't help but feel like he doesn't recognize himself. Who is this man on the mirror?
The doorbell rang again. The delivery man must be getting impatient. He opened the door to hand him the cash and get his much awaited meal but as he did that, he found the smell foul rather than appetizing. He winced. The delivery man shook his head as he saw him react that way. He haplessly looked at him in the face and surprisingly, he felt a sudden surge within me. Like a lion that wants to get loose from it's cage, he struggled to keep himself away from him. He eyed him like he was a predator and him his prey. The man felt afraid.
He shut the door quickly. With a box of pizza in his hand, he hurriedly went to the kitchen to wash his face. The water felt cold but was refreshing. He ran his hand to his face and felt like nothing's changed and yet when he glances at himself in the mirror, he feels different. Then he remembered how he looked at the delivery man earlier. It was as if he was a tempting meal that was laid down before him. To him, he was mouth watering and with that thought, he found himself licking his lips and his newly transformed fangs.
What is wrong with me? He rested his hands on his forehead as he tried to remember the events that passed. Am I turning into something else? The questions continue to pile up in his head. He felt like either he was hallucinating or was totally losing his mind. He needed help badly and he knew it but who will he turn to at this time of need? All his life he remembers being alone in almost everything that he did and does. His parents died when he was still young leaving him in the care of his grandfather who loved him very much.
His grandfather fell ill with a rare disease and is now under the care of his aunt. Unlike his grandfather, his aunt and her family despise him. They say that he is nothing but a mistake that's been brought out to this world because of pity and shame. It's all a lie and I know it! He wanted to shout that on her face but he figured it wouldn't change a thing. He was forcibly evicted from his grandfather's house and was forced to fend for himself. He's 17 now and in high school. It's a good thing that somehow his parents left him a little inheritance before they died.