Titus Valerius

44 b.c.

I had been in pain for an immeasurable amount of time, but the pain was receding. I was beginning to lose the pain in my fingers and toes. I wasn't sure how long ago it was, but I had discovered I could hear everything. My world had been nothing but pain for however long it was, only for me to suddenly hear everything for miles. I could now hear horses coming through gates. I could hear men and women making purchases and talking politics. The news of the day was Julius Ceaser. He'd been murdered from the sound of things.

I could even smell everything now. I could smell sweet smells and foul smells all at the same time, and I loved it. I could even smell the small dusts that showed themselves in the light. I could smell things that were close to me and I could smell things from a mile away. It was almost blissful to be able to smell so many things.

Eventually, the pain left my forearms and calves. The mid sections of my body continued to burn. I waited for the pain to go away completely, not sure how long I'd been waiting. Eventually, the pain was beginning to center in my heart, which was beating furiously. I could hear that too. I feared anyone could. It was loud and exuberant. Impossible not to hear.

Within moments of the pain centering my heart, it became impossibly hotter, more painful. I don't know how I didn't scream from the pain. But then, suddenly, my heart made one last sound then went silent and the pain was completely gone. I breathed in relief and was delighted by the experience. I tasted everything. There was sun, lavender, silks and fruits engulfing my palette. Everything in the world that could be tasted blessed my mouth.

I opened my eyes and saw a ceiling. Then I lifted myself up, and was taken aback by how quickly that all happened. I looked around the room I was in. It was small. There was a bed at my left indicating a bedroom. It had curtains available for privacy. Then there was a distance between that and the table almost in the middle of the large room.

I also saw a woman at the far right of that room. She looked beaten and her wrists were covered in blood. I took in a delicious breath and felt my throat burn. I followed the smell. It led me to the dead woman in the corner of the large, one room house. My throat burned like I was drinking fire. I walked ever closer to the dead body and followed the smell until I found out what it was from. It was her blood.

This took me by surprise. I forced myself to back away from her, not sure what was going on. I looked to my right and looked into a mirror that was on the wall. What I saw could be no less than a god. The man in the mirror had olive skin that was still pale looking. His hair was a dark, dark brown and his face was squared and chiseled as if made by a master craftsman. He looked like he could be a man in his early thirties who the years have been very kind to. What took me by surprise were his eyes. They were scarlet red and monstrous.

"Perseia!" I looked in the direction of the sound. I'd heard so many footsteps outside that I hadn't been paying them any mind. Whoever it was began coming closer to the one room house. I ran in the back so whoever it was wouldn't see me.

I hid in a recession in the wall and waited. She reached the house within seconds of me hiding. It surprised me how quickly I reached the recession since it was on the other side of the one room house.

"Perseia, are you in?!" After that, the person calling the name walked into the house. She took a brief look around the house before she saw the body of the woman drenched in blood on the floor. "PERSEIA!!"

She ran the short distance to the body and began to examine her, turning her over and trying to look at her face. The burn in my throat became impossibly worse when I breathed in the air that came in with her. And the burn continued after the doors had shut. The burn was too painful. My instincts were telling me to follow the smell and to drink. I walked out of the recession in the wall and began walking to her. I could hear my feet touching the ground, but evidently, she couldn't. Finally, she looked around at me and her eyes became shocked, then angry and overflowing with tears.

"You killed her. You monster, you killed her!" I was taken by surprise by her reaction, but I ignored it for now. The scent of what would relieve the burn in my throat was coming from her. I walked closer and she started backing away from me. "What are you doing?"

I ignored her question. I kept moving closer to her. Then, a wind blew from outside that lifted the cloth that was over the windows. When they lifted, a beam of light came into the room. I saw something shinning and noticed from the corner of my eye that it was my skin. The woman in front of me gasped and practically ran backwards away from me and into a wall. Now her face was free of any anger or sadness. Now, all I saw was fear. She looked at my eyes, and she looked like she might have been frozen solid if it weren't for her heart beating and her heavy breathing.

"What happened to you?" I stopped when I heard that question. I didn't know what had happened. I couldn't remember anything. I didn't even remember what my name was. But at the moment, I really didn't care. The burn was too painful to bear. She made a piercing scream when I threw myself at the source of the delicious scent that she had. I bit into her neck and tasted something sweet and delicious, so I began to drink.

It was blood, I was sure. But it didn't taste or smell like what I thought blood smelled and tasted like. This was sweet and savory and refreshing. It was like eating an excellent, high quality meal, but in a warm liquid form. Her scream became gargled after a minute and then finally was no more. I kept drinking and drinking until there was nothing left for me to take. I tossed her body to the ground and sighed blissfully. The burn in my throat was still there, but it was far less horrific.

I heard more footsteps coming my way. They were probably planning to see who screamed and why. I went back to the recession in the wall that I had taken before and waited. When three men forced their way into the house, their eyes bugged from the sight of two dead women lying motionless and drained on the floor. The burn was there again. I didn't give them a chance to scream. I broke all their necks and began drinking their blood. By the time I was finished with the third man, the burn in my throat was almost completely gone. I could hardly notice it anymore, even with the extra blood that was surrounding me. My clothes were covered in my blood and the blood of my four victims.

I waited in the house until nightfall before I started wondering around. I looked through the house to find a change of clothes that wouldn't draw attention to myself when I went outside. I walked out of the one room house and saw that I was in a housing area. There weren't a lot of people left outside. Most of whom had gone to bed for the night. I could hear everything they were doing. I heard some people fighting over money. I heard children and parents sleeping soundly. I even heard people in a house below me sharing the last few minutes of a sexual encounter.

I walked down the stairs of the building and onto the streets of the city. I looked at my surroundings for anything that might remind me of anything at all. There were people outside. Late night goers doing whatever it is they did. I past a man that smelled heavily of a harsh, deplorable smelling chemical and another man that wore a sweeter smell that was just as unappealing.

"Titus, my good friend." I looked ahead towards where I heard the voice coming from. A larger man approached me. He looked to be in his early forties and was very heavy set. His clothes were no better than mine.

"Hello." I couldn't believe the voice that came from my mouth. I didn't remember what I'd sounded like before, but it wasn't this. Not this musical bass sound that made even me melt. This was the voice of a god. The man continued to walk closer to me with a smile. But when he was right in front of me, that smile faded into envy, confusion, and fear. He licked his lips once out of nervousness and breathed heavily. His scent wasn't a favorable taste, so I didn't bother trying anything. He finally spoke when he'd looked his fill.

"Titus…….you look different." I didn't let my expression change from my polite expression.

"What makes you say that?" He looked at his feet.

"Well……..you're skin suddenly looks paler………..and your voice sounds different. And forgive my saying but, you look……beautiful." I was surprised by his choice of words, but still didn't change my expression. I even let myself smile a little.

"How kind of you to say." He laughed nervously and kept looking at his feet.

"Well you know me. Always noticing every….." His face had been gradually lifting from looking at the ground. He had finally looked into my eyes. "Sweet Jupiter. Your eyes…………they're……..they're red." I smiled at him. I wasn't sure what my smile was portraying, but whatever it was, it made him take a step backwards.

"What's your name friend?" He looked surprised, but quietly gave me an answer.

"It's me…..Evander….I've been your friend for years. We grew up together." I didn't change the look on my face.

"Then you would know a lot about me wouldn't you?" He remained very confused, but answered my questions.

"Yes, I suppose I would. Why?"

"Good. Then answer me these questions. What is my name?" Evander remained confused and started fidgeting by looking around and blinking more.

"Titus, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Answer my question, Evander." He took another timid step back at the harshness of my tone and yet the remaining calmness in my face. Finally, he answered me.

"Titus Valerius." His heartbeat was speeding up as he spoke.

"Good. Now, what is the name of the tan, black haired woman that lived at my house?" Now he looked almost appalled.

"That was Perseia. My sister. Your wife." I nodded in acknowledgement. That explained a lot.

"And the other tan woman that looks a little like Perseia?" His face changed from appalled to outrage.

"Persephone. My youngest sister." I grinned wider. "Titus, why are you asking me all these questions? What is going on?" I closed my eyes and took in another deep breath. His scent was still rather unappealing, so I decided to end the encounter.

"You might want to go to my house, Evander. I think something happened." He looked confused and angry all at once.

"What do you mean something happened?" I grinned from ear to ear and almost laughed. I refrained from doing so. Evander looked as if he would soon have a panic attack, but he also looked dazzled.

"Let's just say that, whatever happened, I don't think I'm human anymore." Evander just stared in horror as I walked past him and made my way down the long streets. I heard him calling for me to explain what I meant, but I ignored him.

I walked along the streets keeping to myself. I noticed several women and men stopping to admire my beauty. One woman even stopped me on the streets for my attention and started talking to me. I assumed the woman was a whore. She smelled of so many scents that weren't hers. Under all those heavy scents, though, she smelled delicious. She kept smiling at me even when she looked into my eyes. I assumed that my eyes looked black to her because of the lack of lighting.

"So what do you say? Will you keep me company?" She smiled flirtatiously and moved sensually as she spoke. The burn wasn't unmanageable, but I wanted her blood. It smelled promisingly sweet. I nodded my head at her with a half smile.

"Of course. Whatever you like." She smiled triumphantly and took my hand. She looked taken back when she touched me, but she didn't let shock stay on her face for long. She laughed nervously, then started trying to pull me in.

"This way, please." She pulled me into the small building and took me to a room that pleased her. I heard moans and screams of pleasure coming from all around me. I smirked. No one would think it strange if she screamed. When she took me into the room, she closed the door behind her and walked back in front of me with a serious, but flirtatious look on her face. "Before we start, handsome, I need you to pay." I chuckled. I should have figured I suppose. I wasn't even planning to sleep with her.

"How much are you demanding?" She smiled lightly at the seductive tone of my voice.

"300 Gerri." I couldn't contain a laugh.

"A bit pricy for someone of your quality, wouldn't you say?" Her face became offended.

"Hardly. If you can't pay the price, than leave now." My smile was humored. I closed the distance between us until I was right in front of her. She didn't even try to fight me away. She seemed too much in awe.

"I think it best that I just take what I came here for." She looked at me dazzled and confused.

"What are you talking about?" I gave her one last charming smile before answering her question.

In less than even an instant, my mouth was on her neck and I bit. She was screaming, then the scream was muffled from the blood in her throat. Eventually she was only twitching, then she wasn't moving at all. I threw her body at the floor and sighed. I walked out of the room and briefly looked around for anyone. When there was no one, I walked out and down the hall. I passed a woman sitting at a little wooden desk that demanded my attention.

"Excuse me, sir, but you don't leave until you pay." I looked at her with a charming smile. Her face became almost shy.

"Don't worry. The woman that took care of me has the money. She'll give it to you." With that, I walked out of the building and walked down the street in the direction I heard the gates of the city.

I had pretty much figured out what I was. Stregoni Benifici they were often called. The name Lamia also came to my mind. A blood drinker that had exceptional beauty. I had seen the looks people on the street had given me. They were attracted to me. But they were supposed to be on the side of good. Blessed by the gods. I couldn't help but laugh at how false that was. It took me no time to find the gates I was searching for. I climbed the wall until I was at the top. I looked around for something that might cause concern, but I didn't find anything.

"Hey you!" I looked at who called to me. It looked to be a soldier in a lookout point at the top of the wall. "What are you doing?" I smiled charmingly. His face became dazzled.

"I was just leaving." I didn't give him a chance to say anything more. I jumped off of the wall and onto the other side. Then I ran into the woods that surrounded the area and never looked back.

1473 a.d.

I was outside a large castle. The smell of human blood flooded its walls. I recalled that a Count used to live here. That was according to the villagers. I'd overheard their gossip. The man's name was Vlad Draculya. Also called Vlad the Impeller. That explained the smell of blood. But the scent was week. The villagers believed that Draculya had committed suicide after his loss to the Turks. I found this extremely unlikely. His scent was here, but it wasn't his blood. Only the blood of his victims.

The roof tops were a dark red and the stone walls were a unique white color. I found the color of the castle ironic. It looked like it would have many rooms that would be satisfactory for a large family. I didn't need so much space of course, but I was tired of being a nomad. And I liked Romania. It had favorable weather conditions and Transylvania was a large village. I would never have to worry about killing them off too quickly.

After looking at the castle for a few minutes, I decided it was clear to go in. I ran over to the castle and leaped inside through one of the many windows of the castle and started looking around. The hallways of the castle were narrow down below and were wider and roomier on the upper floors. There were pictures all over the house of families and particularly a lot of pictures of a man with black hair in a large hat. I looked at the captions below those pictures which told me that these were Draculya's self portraits.

I followed the heavy scent of blood in the castle until I found where it was coming from. It was a basement, dungeon area that had dead bodies and bloodied corpses all around. The smell burned my throat. It burned even more when I realized there wasn't enough blood to satisfy me. I would need to go hunting. The castle was close to a favorable village that had a large population, so that was a very good thing.

After I'd looked around the castle, I found a window that was facing the village, and jumped out and started running towards the village. It was the middle of the night, so most of the inhabitants were asleep. I looked around the village until I found scents that pleased me the most. When I found the two I liked the most, I went into their houses and took them away with me to the castle.

One stayed asleep the whole time. The other woke when we got to the castle and was about to scream. I broke her neck before she could and drank her sweet blood. When she was drained, I went to the other girl and drank until the burn in my throat was finally gone.

Over the next few months, I came to like this routine. I came to find that the villagers were starting to call me Count Dracula. They even started thinking that I was making brides of the women I'd taken. They started believing that I could change into the form of animals, like rats, bats and wolves. Those, of course, were just the animals that I had changed.

It'd happened completely by accident several centuries ago. I had changed a dog that had belonged to one of my victims. He began to follow me and would listen to me when I told him to do something. It was a convenient creature to have when there were things I wanted to get done. I tried to keep those creatures to a minimum, though. It was never an easy task to force them away from the villages if they got out.

After a few decades, the Transylvanians had become used to me and tried desperately to think of me as a creature that would leave them be as long as they did the same for me. It was fast becoming dull and routine, but I stayed there for centuries, not sure of what else there was for me to do. I figured this life was better than constantly roaming around and having no place to call my home. Living in the castle was comforting and homey. So I stayed and took two girls from the village every month, only to sustain my thirst. I let the villagers come to their own conclusions about me and just lived my life as the supposed Count Vlad the Impeller Dracula.

1887 a.d.

I was looking from a perch on the castle out onto the village in the distance. It was midnight and everyone but the guards were asleep for the night. The villagers had started coming to expect me centuries before. But for the past few decades, they've been trying to fight me off. They're led by a man called Valcan De La Stigoni. Before him was his father, Ferdinand. But they were never able to catch me or fight me. Mostly because they were relying on wives tales to fight me off. They had crosses surrounding the village and on the rooftop of every home. They had rings of garlic surrounding their windows and doors. Every villager had at least one silver stake next to their beds for protection and of course, every home was blessed and given holy water to throw at me should they see me.

It made me laugh, how aggravated they were with their lack of success. Twenty years ago, they had even sent for a vampire slayer, whose methods were just as inferior as that of the villagers. He was dead and drained within hours of arriving. I was sure to put him on display for the whole village to see. They never saw me. They only saw the slayer the morning after he arrived, crucified to the front doors of the church. Needless to say, the villagers were traumatized. I was surprised they persisted after that. Slayers refused to come back, though.

It was a full moon tonight, so the village was bright as if it were still day. I could see everything the guards were doing even from this distance. There was one guard that had a nasty habit of falling asleep on the job. There was always another guard that would hit him awake every half hour. It was cute to watch. This guard couldn't be any older than his early teens. Possibly sixteen.

Once I had taken a look at the entire village, I leaped into the woods and made my way to the village. It took me only seconds to run the three miles to get to the village. I waited in one of the trees for the guards to walk further from where I was before I entered the village. They didn't see me as I ran in and looked through the village for a scent that pleased me. I came across one that was pleasing. I looked around the house for the one spot where the scent was strongest. I found a window that was closed, but the scent was coming primarily from there. I forced open the window so quietly that the girl didn't hear it open. She didn't notice me with her in her room until I was standing at her bedside and she opened her eyes to see whose scent she smelled.

She opened her mouth to scream, but I covered her mouth with my hand to silence her. I kept it there and closed her nose so she wouldn't be able to breathe until she passed out, but didn't die. When she'd stopped twitching, I threw her over my shoulder and jumped out of the window and back into the rooftops and started looking for one more victim. After I had been traveling around the village, I was about to settle for something that was decent compared to the blood of the woman I was holding.

But I smelled something. It was so intoxicating, this smell. I was on the rooftop of one of the larger houses in the village and looking out onto the village. I took in a deep breath and tried to ignore the burn in my throat for the time being. The scent was the most delicious I'd ever smelled in all my 1900 plus years of walking the earth. It was fruity and floral, but so deliciously human.

I began circling the house, trying to find the best entrance that was closest to the scent. I finally found it at one of the higher rooms near the back of the house. I laughed lightly at the window. It was covered in garlic like all the others and was also closed like all the others. But this one wasn't locked. How silly of this person. A lock wouldn't have stopped me, but it seemed odd for a human not to attempt it.

After a moment, I felt the girl I was holding start to stir. It would have been too loud to put her to sleep again, so I needed to work fast and get out of the village. It wouldn't matter if the guards saw me leave. They knew better than to try and chase me to the castle. They'd lost a lot of men when they had attempted that. But I still preferred not to put up with the trouble.

I gently pushed open the door of the window and slipped into the dark room. I saw the source of the mouth watering scent laying in her bed with her back facing me and her breathing was steady as was her heartbeat. I closed the distance between us and took her into my arms with the other girl. She groaned a little, but otherwise didn't wake up. When I had her in hand, I knew the other girl was starting to realize she wasn't at her home anymore and was beginning to get panicky. I didn't care if she got panicky, but this wasn't the place for it to happen.

When the other girl was secure in my grasp, I leaped out of the window and landed on the ground below and started running back to the castle. It took no time to make it to the end of the village and evade the guards that were there. They couldn't even see me run right past them. When I was halfway back to the castle, the woman that had been stirring was now completely awake and was looking around. It took her mere seconds to realize what was happening and scream. That scream hurt my ears, but I ignored the sound. The other woman hadn't ignored the sound, and was now moaning herself out of her sleep and looking around. She didn't scream. I wondered if it was simply shock that kept her silent.

The woman didn't stop screaming the whole time I was running to the house. I heard a man yell at the guards, telling them they were fools for letting me slip past them so easily. I laughed mockingly at their aggravation but continued onward. When I reached the castle, I leaped in through one of the many windows and ran to the small dungeon area at the bottom of the castle. I threw both girls onto the ground and let them look at me. The blonde girl was shaking furiously and trying to hide behind the other darker haired girl. I wanted to save her for last. Her blood was what smelled the sweetest.

I closed the gap between us and grabbed the blonde by the front of her dress and held her in my hands and off of her feet and brought her close to my lips. When her neck was close enough to my mouth, I bit the main artery, and drank in her blood. It was refreshing against the burn in my throat. This time, I heard the other girl scream. She tried getting up and running away, but there were too many bones lying around. Those only made her scream louder.

When I'd drank the blonde dry of all her blood, I tossed her back to the ground and sighed in satisfaction. The other girl had stopped screaming. Now she was cowering in the spot I had originally placed her. She was shaking violently, staring at me in horror. She looked as if she were about to cry. I could smell her tears coming.

I began to walk to her, hesitantly. I felt odd about this girl. Her blood smelled so sweet to me, and yet I couldn't seem to bring myself to kill her. She had a light olive tone to her. Slightly darker than mine. She had dark brown hair and beautiful hazel eyes that glistened in the moonlight with her tears. I felt an odd pain in my chest when I saw one tear fall. I came closer to her and she attempted to back away more. Eventually, she started looking confused, but the fear never left her eyes. Then, I forcefully closed the distance between us until we were face to face and we were looking right at each other. She smelled so sweet. And yet, I couldn't bite her. She was special somehow.

"What is your name?" I asked her in a calm, soothing voice. Her face became even more confused and she gulped.

"What?" I sighed. Her heartbeat was only getting faster and she looked as if she would lose consciousness at any moment. But her voice was beautiful as well. It was the kind of sound that one would want to hear if they wished to fall asleep. The sound was soothing and hypnotic almost and was a high alto sound.

"I said, what is your name?" She hesitated a moment before saying anything more.

"Why does it matter to you what my name is? You're going to kill me."

"Who said I was going to kill you?" Her face started becoming angry.

"Why else would you bring me here?" I brought my hand to her face and held her chin securely in my hand so that she was looking me in the eye. Her eyes never changed from the terror they held.

"You're not answering my question. What is your name?" She was still shaking. The only thing that kept any part of her still was the firm grip of my hand on her chin. Her voice was quiet when she answered me.

"Nicoleta De La Nastase." Nicoleta. Such a beautiful name. I smiled lightly at her and she seemed to shake more. I let go of her and rose from where I was standing. She stayed where she was and didn't stop staring at me.

"You don't need to fear me, Nicoleta. You're the only human that will ever have that privilege." I walked away from her after that and made my way to the window. I needed to get another woman. The burn in my throat wasn't completely gone. But as I was walking away, she yelled for me.

"Please, let me go. I promise not to send anyone after you, just please, let me go." I stopped for a millisecond, then turned around and ran back to her in that same instant. I brought my face close to hers again so she and I would have eye contact. I could feel my cold heart melt again when I looked into her hazel eyes, but I tried to ignore that.

"You're to stay here." Her face became even more horrified.

"Why?"

"Because. You think I can trust you? How do I know you won't go out of your way to send an army? I'm too old to deal with that crap. I need to get more blood. But when I come back, I'll take you to your room." She raised her voice when she answered me.

"You can't possibly think that I'll willingly stay here with you?! As soon as you're gone, I could easily take the opportunity to run away." I didn't bother holding back an arrogant chuckle. I saw her shiver again.

"My dear, you can try. By all means, try. But know that you won't be able to run from me. It's three miles to the village from here. I can run that in seconds. It would take you hours. I'll be able to run to the village, have one more victim, and come back before you even ran half a mile. And on that note, how would you be able to find your way? The trees are high and the village is hard to see."

"I could call for help." Her voice was shaky. I forced myself not to laugh at her this time. I didn't want her to be scared. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why I cared, but I did. I didn't want her to be scared of me.

"If you scream for help, werewolves will find you long before the villagers do." She looked at me with fear in her eyes. Thankfully, that fear was no longer entirely directed at me.

"Werewolves?" I nodded.

"Nasty creatures they are. And I've got news for you. Even if a villager finds you in time, silver bullets won't do a thing to the beast. They have skin thick as steel. There's some slight give to their skin, but not nearly enough to kill them. So I think it'd be best that you stay here."

I lifted away from her and started walking away from her again. I heard her stop trembling at last. I heard her feet move as she stood up from her sitting position in the corner. I heard her heartbeat sped up with anticipation.

"Mark my words, Dracula. You won't get away with this." I stopped again and furry pumped through my dead veins. I don't know why it angered me. It never bothered me before, the villagers not knowing my real name. But now, it was infuriating to me to hear it from her. I turned around and closed the distance between us again. I grabbed her shoulders and held her still. Her eyes stared at me and she began trembling again.

"I am not Dracula. There is no Dracula. I am Titus Valerius. Remember that." I dropped her to the ground and ran out of the dungeon and out a window to travel back to the village. The guards were frantic now and better on the defensive. Even then, it wasn't hard to sneak past them and get into the village.

I didn't search long for a victim. I picked out the first good scent I came across and settled for that, making sure to drink quickly. I wasn't sure whether or not Nicoleta would run or not. If she did, I didn't want to risk her getting hurt. I wasn't lying about there being werewolves in those woods.