A Thousand Years

Chapter Two: Hunting and Feeding

Disclaimer: Don't own it. No suing.

I emerged from my tomb into a barren wasteland. There was little plant life. The few trees were barren, with dry and crumbled leaves hanging precariously from the branches. The shrubs were naught much more than matted tanges of thorns and branches, the sparse blades of grass yellow and shriveled. Stone and broken pieces of colored glass littered the area around us. It was a labyrinth made from the crumbled remains of a once-grand piece of architecture. The sky overhead seemed the most beautiful thing about this world, the crescent moon casting a dim glow upon the land along with the stars that glittered like diamonds over the vast expanse of obsidian sky.

I had little time to stop and look around, for Kain impatiently led me through the rubble, bounding with ease over the pieces of rock, barely touching the stone before he was airborn again. It was almost as if he could fly. I watched in awe until he stopped, balancing with perfect ease atop a large crumbled stone wall. "As a vampire," he told me, and even though he was speaking at a normal tone I could hear him perfectly well from a good thirty feet away, "you are gifted with inhuman strength, speed, stamina, and senses. With your strength, you can move stone as if it were paper. With your speed, you can outrun a horse. With your stamina, you can run all night without feeling exhausted. Your eyes are able to pierce through the darkest shadows and make out the finest detail from things far away. Your nose can smell things you would never be able to as a human. Your ears can pick up the sound of a mouse burping from a hundred feet away."

He beckoned me forward and I decided to try what he had done before. I began leaping with ease over the rubble, sharp eyes catching every possible foothold. It was almost too easy. Suddenly one of the stone slabs I had jumped onto shifted beneath me, causing my foot to slip. I gasped and tumbled forward, falling, landing roughly on the edge of the stone slab. The sharp edge dug into my stomach and I temporarily had the wind knocked out of me. The sound of a deep, sinister chuckle caused me to roll my eyes up to look at Kain, who was now standing over me.

"Not bad for a newborn fledgeling, Raziel, but you cannot simply look out for footholds. You have to look out for the places where the rock will slide or crumble from beneath you, and avoid these places if at all possible. And if you happen to overlook one of these particular places, don't panic and take root to the spot. Leap to the next area before you can loose your footing." When it was clear he wasn't going to offer me a hand up, I slowly climbed to my feet, but resisted the urge to clutch my abused stomach. Kain expected me to be strong for him and I would do my best to live up to his expectations. I would not allow myself to appear weak.

Kain appeared satisfied with this and continued through the rubble at a strolling pace while I fell into step behind him. "There are many more things you can do as well as what I have told you thus far. Gliding, for one. If you find yourself falling from a great height or simply want to land from a high jump quietly, spread out your arms and your fingers, like so." He spread his arms out to the side, palms outward, fingers splayed, elbows slightly bent, arms tilted downward. "Doing this will slow your descent, but you must also use your force of mind to help yourself to glide."

I watched him in fascination, eager to learn more. He must have seen my enthusiasm in my face, for he smiled in approval and went on. "Normally humans can jump perhaps a foot in the air, maybe two at most without help. As a vampire you can leap upward eight to ten feet on a normal jump. A high jump will vault you some twenty feet in the air."

"Show me?" I asked him eagerly, but he waved me off with a hand.

"Not yet, Raziel, but when we get into the village I will." He pointed up ahead and I could see the outlines of buildings. There were perhaps one or two candle-lit rooms, but most of the villagers were asleep. While we approached the village, Kain continued his lecture. "Vampires also have what are known as Dark Gifts. Each Dark Gift is unique to every vampire. You will gain Dark Gifts as you age, but you can also acquire them by killing and draining the blood of a vampire that has one."

"There are more vampires?" I asked him curiously. "Will we be meeting any of them?"

"No, Raziel. We are the only two vampires in existence now," Kain replied solemnly.

"What happened to all the others?" I inquired, stepping up beside him to watch him. Kain's black lips were pursed and he heaved a sigh through his nose.

"They are all dead, Raziel. There used to be many vampires, but Moebius, the Guardian of Time, rallied enough warriors together to lead a crusade to kill off every last one of our kind."

"How did you survive?"

"I killed Moebius," Kain said with a nonchalant shrug. "The last vampire that was killed by Moebius's cause was named Vorador."

"Was he a friend of yours?" I was curious to know more about this, and as long as Kain didn't seem irritated or annoyed by playing Twenty Questions, I would continue to ask.

"An acquaintance," Kain allowed. "I'd met him before on many an occasion."

"What was he like?" We were drawing near the city and I could already smell all of the human life within, the warm, fresh, sweet blood. I shivered in anticipation.

"I always thought he was a pompous bastard. He was a very old vampire. He no longer looked human. His skin was a dark shade of green and his eyes were slitted and yellow, like a cat's. His ears grew large and pointed upon his bald head, again like a cat, as well as whisker-like extentions from his chin. His hands were cloven, consisting of two large claws and a thumb. His feet had two large talons to serve for toes. These changes were caused by stages of metamorphosis that we vampires go into every couple hundred years. Eventually, similar changes will probably come upon us - if we can survive that long."

I was fascinated by what he had to tell me about our kind. Like a dry sponge, I soaked up all of that information eagerly, and yearned to know more. But I could sense Kain's patience wearing thin, so I decided not to press him for any more information just now.

We entered the village, and I began to feel dizzy with the heavy scent of blood all around. It was very overwhelming. Kain nodded to me, understanding how I was feeling, and led me into a back alley. He whispered to me, and I almost jumped out of my skin when I realized the voice was in my head and Kain's lips weren't moving. He pointed with one clawed finger and I followed the direction it was pointing, seeing beneath a pile of rags an old man, apparently homeless. This will be your first victim, Raziel. While his blood will provide you with nourishment, you would get far more sustenance from a soldier or other stronger human, but you are not yet ready to take on that sort of challenge.

I leaned in close to Kain and whispered into his ear, my own voice hardly audible, but his pointed ears picked it up easily. "How do I Whisper with my mind?"

Kain replied with a shrug. Focus your thoughts at me. It is very simple.

I decided to give it a shot and looked at Kain, thinking, Can you hear me?

Kain nodded in approval. Yes. You catch on quickly.

How am I to kill him? I asked, motioning with a hand toward the sleeping man.

Go up behind him and snap his neck, quickly. If you do it right, he will die instantly. Too little force, and you will paralyze him, but not kill him. Too much force, you'll tear his head right off and make a big bloody mess.

I made a face at that mental image and silently walked up to the man, careful not to step on or kick anything that would give me away. Slipping around behind the man, I placed my hands lightly on each side of his face, and at Kain's nod, shoved my left hand forward while pulling my right hand back. The man's head snapped back with a sickening crunch, his breathing and his heartbeat coming to an abrupt halt. Along with the scent of blood I suddenly smelled something else, something sharp and foul. I gagged and covered my nose and my mouth, looking to Kain. I cried out in his mind, What is that foul stench?

He walked up as I adjusted to breathing from my mouth. That would be the man's bowels emptying. Often times when a person dies, their bowels loosen, and their waste products are expelled. Now you can drink his blood. You should do so quickly, for it tastes best when it's hot, and blood cools down fast. Instead of sinking your fangs into him, try this way: use your power to force his blood out of his body and into your mouth.

It sounded downright strange and grotesque to me, but if Kain wanted me to do it that way, I would try. I looked down at the body and opened my mouth, using my power to draw the blood from his body and into my mouth. The blood burst in a gush from the man's chest and flooded into my mouth, and I gulped it down easily. My eyes glowed red as I did so, and when all the blood had been drained from the man's body, I licked the remaining drops from my lips and closed my eyes. When the blood had first burst from the man's chest, I had almost stopped, almost backed off. It was disgusting, after all. But when the torrents of blood filled my mouth and coated my throat, I had known nothing but pleasure, ecstacy. It was like a drug, and while I drank that blood, I was in euphoria.

Kain was watching me again, and I could tell he was very pleased I hadn't flinched and backed off. He watched me with pride, and his pride in me made me feel proud that I was his son. I made a vow to myself then. When Kain made my former brethren into my brothers, I would be the best of them all. I would be Kain's favorite son, his second in command, his favored fledgeling. I would do anything for Kain, if it made him pleased. And as we moved off through the alleys to find other homeless wretches like the one I had just killed, I felt ready to take on the world. Little did I know that in time, that would be exactly what we would be doing.

A/N: I promise it'll get better than this. It's kind of a diary, a timeline of sorts documenting Raziel's life. And in my attempts not to leave anything important out, I often put too much unnecessary crap. Any helpful advice would be appreciated, positive reviews will boost my self esteem and make me a happy girl, while flames will be endured, but not without much grumbling on my part. Hope you enjoy it! XD