This story begins as Mitchell awakens for the first time as a vampire after being turned by Herrick. The characters of Being Human belong to Toby Whithouse, all other characters are my own. All errors are my own. This is my first fic and my first attempt at writing, so all feedback is appreciated. But please be gentle, im new to this! Rated T for occasional violence, language and mature themes.
August 1917. France.
Mitchell gasps as air fills his lungs and his eyes fly open as he frantically takes in his surroundings. He has no idea where he is or how he got there. A crow lands on his head and he jerks it away. Confusion and panic begin to mount as he realises he is lying in a pile of bodies. Dead soldiers. He searches their faces and doesn't recognize any of them. They are not his men. Where is his regiment? They wouldn't leave him behind, would they? As the panic begins to take hold he climbs out from the mountain of dead bodies and tries to clear himself off, his mind racing. Where the hell is he and what the fuck has happened to him? Why has he been left alone?
As Mitchell stands a figure emerges from the shadows not too far away. He has been waiting for this moment for days. He approaches Mitchell.
"Need a bit of help their mate?"
Mitchell tenses and whirls around to see who the man is, on his guard. He doesn't want to be taken prisoner by the Germans, the soldiers he and his men were fighting against. As he takes in the figure standing before him the events of the previous few days come flooding back - his regiment's mission to search the surrounding area for enemy hideouts, scouring the woods and stumbling across three men. No, three creatures. With their black eyes and sharp teeth, feeding on the remains of fallen soldiers. Their leader, a stout man with wispy blonde hair and a deceptively unassuming manner, smiling at him through his fangs.
And then he remembers his deal. The deal he made, with this creature, a deal to leave his men alive in exchange for joining them. The sharp pain on his neck, the warm sticky feeling as his blood ran down his shoulder. The corridor full of doors, and the men waiting at the end, men with sticks and ropes. He had wondered what the sticks and ropes are for; he doesn't think he wants to find out. Then, nothing. Blackness. Until now.
That same creature, the man with the blonde wispy hair and devil black eyes, stands before him now.
"I'm here to help you. I've turned you, recruited you, brought you into this world" The creature, holds his arms up to the sky and turns, spanning the whole area. Mitchell looks at him blankly. Is this a trick? What does he want?
"What the fuck are you?" he asks warily, his whole body tensing, anticipating an attack.
"My name is Herrick. Dont you remember? I'm a vampire. Like you are now. Can you feel the hunger yet? Give it time." He laughs, and in that instant seems almost human. Except for his eyes. He has the eyes of a predator.
"I'm here to help you, to bring you into the fold, to show you the ways of our world. There are more of us out there, we help each other out. We're everywhere. It's an amazing world for us Mitchell, and I think someone like you will fit right in. You, have the capacity to be something amazing. I knew it the first time I saw you."
Suddenly Mitchell could feel the hunger. He is ravenous. It's a hunger like he had never experienced before, like a gnawing pain in the pit of his stomach that threatens to completely overwhelm him. He staggers and almost collapses when Herrick, quick as a flash, grabs him and hooks his arm under Mitchell, supporting his weight.
"Ah, so you do feel it! Come on then, we had better get you something to eat. We have a place not far up the road where we've been staying, we wont be disturbed there. At least, not by anyone who will have a chance to report back. Let go sort you out, shall we?"
He begins to steer Mitchell through the forest, and Mitchell is too weak with hunger to put up a fight. If Herrick wanted to kill him he would have done it already. Then he remembers what Herrick has told him and a shock runs through his body. If what Herrick said about him being a vampire was true then he was already dead.
Herrick steers him through the trees and after a while they come upon an old ramshackle cottage. The door opens and man steps out, grinning broadly. He helps Herrick bring Mitchell inside and lie him across a wooden bench in front of an open fire. Herrick tells the other man to go fetch the food from the other room while Herrick watches Mitchell, a knowing smile playing on his lips.
"Don't worry, we'll sort that hunger out for you good and proper. We'll show you how it's done".
Mitchell sits up as the other vampire reenters, dragging a young girl with him. She is no more than 15, and is terrified and shrieking, clawing and fighting against her captor. He brings her over to Mitchell and roughly throws her onto the burlap that had been spread out in front of the bench. She looks up at Mitchell, her eyes wide with fear, tears streaming down her face. Mitchell gets off the bench and kneels down beside her, intending to comfort her, glaring at Herrick and the other vampire.
"What the hell is this?" he demands. He puts his hands on her shoulders protectively, and suddenly inhales. She smells really good. Almost intoxicating.
Suddenly he can hear a pounding, beating sound, and realizes that it's the girl's heartbeat. It's filling up his head, mesmerizing him. He instinctively draws her a little closer. Herrick laughs a little, then comes over and pulls the girls hair back, exposing her neck. Mitchell can see the blood moving under her skin, in time with the beating in his head. He can feel his hunger mounting. A sharp pain runs through his mouth and he brings his hands up. He has two large fangs protruding from his gums. The girl looks at him and seeing his face she screams, scrambling to get away. He doesn't realise it but his eyes have turned black, just like Herrick's did. Herrick and the other vampire hold the struggling girl still in front of Mitchell, urging him.
"Just bite Mitchell. All the pain will go away. Your hunger will be gone. It's who you are now. You can't fight it"
Mitchell without realising starts to lower his face to her neck but stops when he catches her eye. Her face is frozen in fear and she is pleading with him.
"Please, please! Please don't do this! Let me go, I want to go back to my family! Oh please, don't!"
Mitchell stops dead. He can't do this. This girl is only a child. She has a life. He can't be the one who ends it. He staggers to his feet and grabs the girl with him. He can see Herrick and the other vampire behind her, watching like proud parents. Mitchell is between them and the door. He nods in the direction of the still-open door and whispers in the girls ear.
"Run"
She doesnt hesitate for a second, seeing her only chance of survival she takes off through the open door as fast as she can, before anyone else can react. Herrick looks after her and tuts. The other vampire gets up as if to give chase, but Herrick shakes his head and tells him " Leave her go Seth. She wont get far, we'll catch her again in a day or two when she's too weak to keep going. There's nothing around here for miles. Her blood will taste all the more sweet then. We'll just have to go hungry for now."
Seth grumbles unhappily and shoots Mitchell a dark look but obediently sits back down on the chair opposite Mitchell and Herrick. He turns to Herrick and whines "What are we supposed to eat now? Im bloody hungry!"
Herrick gives Seth a disapproving glare but, being rather hungry himself, relents. "Oh all right. We'll get another snack from the town over the valley there. Get the car ready and we'll pay the local village a visit." He turns his attention back to Mitchell.
"Well, that was a waste of good food. That was very inconsiderate Mitchell" He walks over and sits on the bench, sighing.
"You do know you're going to have to do it sooner or later, don't you Mitchell? Its who you are now"
Mitchell begins to inch closer towards the door. "No its not. Its not who I am, its not something I want to do. I wont do it!"
Seth throws his head back and laughs, but in doing so knock over a tankard that had been sitting on the table beside him. The crash of it hitting the floor takes Herrick and Seth's attention from Mitchell, who uses the distraction to make a break for freedom, and he's out the door before Seth knows whats happening. Mitchell doesnt realise that Herrick is letting him leave, knowing that having him come back voluntarily will be much easier and, in Herrick's mind, inevitable.
Mitchell blindly sprints into the woods and away from the house. As he runs he hears Herrick laughing heartily behind him, shouting after him "I give you a week before you give in and come back! We'll be waiting Mitchell!".