A/N: It feels good to update. Let's put it that way.

Chapter 6: To Draw

I was very excited for my university entrance exams as well as Afanasiy's test. The extra classes I had take on and the diligent studying I had performed left me confident and well prepared. I knew the format the university test would have; cold blooded facts and information. Afanasiy's test was more abstract and would contain more written short-answers about moral and ethical value.

Before I could take the exams a letter had to be sent to Afanasiy, whose visits to the academy had become rather infrequent, for his approval. It was irritatingly hard to write to Afanasiy, as it was so easy to let my thoughts run and pour out my questions on to the parchment.

What I did end up writing was curt and polite, and the message I received back from him was of the same tone. He said he knew I would do well, and that as per usual he had placed much faith in me.

The letter meant nothing to me, and I entered my isolated examination room with only the thought of university on my mind. I had 45 minutes to complete each section of the test, each test being 3 hours with a break and small dinner in between. The first test was the university's, and I flew right through it without hesitation.

It wasn't Afanasiy's test when what I like to call 'the interruption' happened. First of all his exam was full of questions that were either wild goose chases or so abstract that I didn't know where to begin. I developed a headache quite soon, and grew irritated with the test. It was at that time the interruption began.

Amidst the solemn quietness of my examination room the glass of the windows suddenly shattered, shaking me out of my concentration.

An instant after the shattered glass settled with a twinkle on to the floor, a blurred form dashed through the empty window frame. Predictably it was Afanasiy, whose eyes were wide and crazed, hair flustered and unkempt.

"Mihael!" he shouted.

I stared at him still relatively in shock of the window being destroyed and Afanasiy's dramatic entrance. Disregarding my lack of response, Afanasiy lunged forward and, to be blunt, slung me on his back. I tried to protest and get off but his grip was too strong. He ordered me to be still and that was the end of it.

I questioned Afanasiy's motive and what he was doing, but what made me question his sanity even more was that he promptly jumped out the shattered window. Out of instinct I shut my eyes tight, and there was a dreadful dropping sensation in my stomach as I knew we were falling.

But then miraculously it stopped. My heart was pounding furiously against Afanasiy's shoulder. I was about to open my eyes, but Afanasiy's voice sounded in my head. Do not open your eyes, my child. Be still. We are going very high now. Though I was still unaware of what was going on, I did was Afanasiy told me. He had control over my life, and the only thing I could do now was trust him.

Next thing I knew I do believe we were rising upwards, but the sensation was alien to me. It soon grew very cold, so cold that I quickly grew numb. Afanasiy whispered to me in my head, an ability I found quite unnerving at the time, that I would be warm and safe soon. The cold made me grow drowsy, and I did not

When I woke up it was still night. I was laying the bed of a fine bedroom. Afanasiy was leaning up against the far wall looking at nothing in particular. He fit in with the lush room, dressed in a cher looking fur-lined coat.

"Sire, where are? Why did you take me from the academy?"

Afanasiy smiled, sighing. But the sigh was tense, and he looked pale and ashen as he sat next to me on the bed. He cupped my face in his hands another one of peculiarly intimate gestures. "Mihael," he told me. "The Academy was being raided and destroyed. Many of the boys were killed. I did all I could to get you out alive. We are at my estate on the coast of Normandy, France."

"But sire," I gushed. "Who would want to raid the Academy? And how did you get us to Normandy so quickly?"

Afanasiy chose not to answer me. "Look at you." He said, stroking one finger down my cheek. It gave me shivers; he was so cold. "So young."

"Sir," I said firmly. "I have nineteen years. I am a man."

My words made Afanasiy smile, though it was distant. His facial expression suddenly changed and became bright and animated. "Well then, now that you are a man, my dear boy, I do believe now is the time that I can confide in you a great and horrible secret."

His hand trailed from my cheek to my shoulder, moving down my arm to take my hand. I became entranced by his eyes, which were blazing with different shades of blue and silver. He took me out of the bedroom, through tall and drafty stone corridors, and eventually up to a mezzanine.

Afanasiy pointed upwards. "Look at the moon, Mihael. See how great it is, how it lights up this dark and vast sky."

"Yes, sir." I agreed amiably. There was a stirring in my body, something that made me want Afanasiy.

"And yet we know that sun is ultimately many times more great. The sun brings life and warmth, and the moon gives only coldness and death." He then turned. "Look at me now. Am I not the moon? And are you not the sun, so full of light?"

"Sir, I do not have the right nor mind to pass judgement."

He dashed forward so that I could not see him until he stopped moving, clutching at my shoulders roughly, face close to mine. "Do I not frighten you even the slightest, Mihael? Do I not represent the face of the Devil."

"S-sir," I whispered, quite frightened indeed, though not wanting to express it. "I do not believe you to be so."

Afanasiy sighed, his breath icy and scentless running over my face. "How blind you are, Mihael, to the world around you. I am quite disappointed."

I lowered my head, averting Afanasiy's gaze.

"No, look up sweet Mihael." He tipped my chin back up so that I was gazing directly at him. "Do you find me beautiful, Mihael?"

I blushed, starting to mumble a response, but Afanasiy interrupted me. "No, I already know what you think. Keep looking at me, Mihael. It's pleasant to look upon something beautiful while you die."

I didn't gave enough time to even begin to analyze what Afanasiy said, for it was then and without warning that he plunged his fangs into my neck. Too many strang things happened while I was with Afanasiy, and I sick and tire of trying actively to figure out who and what he was. I relaxed and let him take me without resistance, without even knowing what he was doing.

Afanasiy drank my blood like it was the only digestible substance on the earth. My strength was drained within moments and Afanasiy became the brightest thing. He was so bright that I was powerfully drawn to him, even when I was an inch from death.

My eyes were closed, my heart fluttering weakly, it being too tired to try to continue to reproduce the blood that had been stolen from me. Afanasiy gently rest me on the stone ground and his little acts that showed he believed me to be a person made me cry. Then his open wrist was pressed forcefully to my lips.

"Drink this and be welcomed to the eternal night of strength, where nothing on this earth can harm you, where the moon is your Guiding Light. Be welcomed to the world where the mortals can teach you everything in their ignorance. Follow me to a world of darkness where no soul can properly listen to comfort you, but at least it is a place where you can fall in love with mortal world."

I didn't listen to the words of Afanasiy, just the sound of his voice. Even so, I had bent to his desired will and parted my lips. I drank from the first fount of so many to come, and to this night I can still remember its exact flavor. I drank until I could hold no more. Then Afanasiy took the fount of my life away and leaned down to begin to begin again, reopening the puncture wounds he had created before.

It went on like that so many times. It was like being in the grip of a powerful drug, first came utter bliss and elation, then the mind consuming pain of withdrawal. When the process was finally done it was unbearable at first. My senses had been awakened as yours have been and I could not focus my mind on any particular thing because I was so overwhelmed.

When it was done Afanasiy silently put an arm around me and led inside to a small and bare chamber. I was shivering and trembling, completely engulfed in my new awakened senses so much that I was almost scared of it all.

Once in the chamber, Afanasiy had me sit down and explained to me simply that I was about to begin my mortal death. Soon enough, there was a great and painful wrenching in my stomach, and I looked down to be disgusted at the sight of my bodily fluids flooding out of me.

After that was done Afanasiy smiled grimly and stood up, prompting me to also do so. "Now that you have been Born Into Darkness my child, your true teachings can begin. I did select you for the Academy because of your inquisitive mind, but my ultimate goal was to transform you as I have done this evening."

"Sir," I whispered, disturbed by the sound of my own voice. "You have played with me."

Afanasiy broke into a sly grin and leaned down to impulsively kiss me. "What is life without a game, Mihael?"

"Ironic enough that you say so, sir," I began as I followed Afanasiy out of the chamber. "Seeing as you have stated that we are both dead."

It didn't seem to fit Afanasiy's fancy to reply. He brought me silently down stone corridors, eventually approaching a thick stone door. "See this door, Mihael? The stone it is made out of is as dense as dense can be; no mortal man is strong enough to open it. And yet we are."

I looked at the wheel of which one would turn to open the door- it was made of the same thick stone that the walls and ceilings were made of. It looked impossible to turn, more of a decoration then an actual door that would open.

I glanced up at Afanasiy timidly. "Sir, I don't-"

"Just try!" Afanasiy roared, suddenly seeming enraged. "There isn't much time!"

"Y-yes sir." I stammered, stumbling slightly under my new strength to reach for the wheel. When I did, I turned it and was astonished that it had bent to my will. I had known that it would be impossible and yet it had it had happened.

Afanasiy nodded. "When people say 'it can't be done' they are really saying 'I don't believe it can be done'. Everything can be done, but to unleash that limitless potential we have to clear our minds from a sense of limitation."1

I didn't say anything. Afanasiy entered the room and I followed him. The chamber was large with stained glass windows facing the eastern front. What the chamber held, however, was far more magnificent. It could only be described as a treasure, with chests spilling gold and jewels, ladies' gowns with pearls sewn in, crowns and circlets, jeweled swords and daggers.

"These are all the riches I have collected over the many centuries. Afanasiy announced with a sigh. "And as of tomorrow night it will be yours."

"Quiet impressive, sir. I am truly forever in your debt."

Afanasiy chuckled. "Now that you're an immortal, Mihael, forever has a whole new meaning."

After a brief assessment of the chamber of his riches Afanasiy led me around his castle, walking aimlessly as he talked. He explained to me all the things I have you. Of how only the sun and fire can kill us, of our superhuman strength and telepathy. He of course also explained of how we need the blood of humans to survive, and how to get the blood.

By the time he had explained all that it was close to dawn. I wanted to ask so many questions. What is our history? Where do we come from? What purpose do we have on this earth? What about God? But even as early as it was I could feel the sun pricking at my eyes.

"It is good to sleep in a coffin during the day time." Afanasiy was telling me as he was taking me to the room with our coffins. "There is no way the sun can penetrate."

The room we entered was furnished like a bedroom and even had a bed, but it was obvious the room was untouched and not lived in. Placed on a tiger fur rug were two stone coffins, ominous in their silence. The on the right had an intricate 'A' carved into it, and the other had an 'M'.

Afanasiy tore the lid off my coffin without even touching it, presumably by means of his powerful and refined telepathy. The noise of the marble startled me and hurt my now sensitive ears, and I half expected the stone of the lid to break apart.

"Your bed, Mihael." Afanasiy gestured towards the coffin, which was inlaid with the deepest blue velvet.

There was something undeniably depressing about stepping into a coffin. Coffins held the dead, not the living, even if Blood Drinkers were technically dead. It was like stepping into death, thought the velvet was comfortable and plush.

"Good morning, my precious fledgling." Afanasiy put the lid back on, bathing me in darkness. My heart momentarily sped up as a wave of claustrophobia swept over me. I could neither sit up nor move around, and that lack of ability to move was frightening. I would have to get used to sleeping in a coffin if I was going to have to do it for eternity.

I knew when dawn came, for at the moment when the sun warmed the coast of Normandy a deadening sensation came over me. All my muscles relaxed, and my thought process came to an abrupt halt. Unconsciousness came quickly.

The next night, at which upon waking I thought it was morning, turned out to be a tumultuous one. I woke up to the utter blackness of my coffin, and called out desperately for Afanasiy to help me. When he did not come I grew restless and I attempted to remove the coffin for myself, and was surprised that I could actually fling the stone lid easily across the room.

"The impossible is possible for you." Afanasiy had been in the room the whole time, watching me struggle.

Afanasiy explained to me that we were going to go into the near by village and hunt. The moment we reached the outdoors Afanasiy took off in a literal blur. I wagered I was supposed to learn by example and took off after him.

My first kill was sweet. Coarse, but sweet. It was a pretty woman we simply found wandering the outskirts of the village. Afanasiy hurriedly explained the Spell Gift, the ability to dazzle mortals and employed it the best that I could. Sure enough, the moment I stepped out of the shadows she ran into my arms, and then I had her.

The moment I sank my new born fangs into her I was hooked on mortal blood. No, this girl's blood was nothing like Afanasiy's dizzying nectar, but it was sweet and simple and I liked it. I sucked the girl dry, and even though I felt her heart pound a last few times I kept going. I went into death with her, and was united with her heart even as it died.

"Stop that!" Afanasiy cried after the girl had died and I continued to drink. He picked me up like a doll by my neck and threw me away from her.

"Sir…" I mumbled weakly as I retched, the last of the girl's blood spilling from my mouth.

"To follow a mortal past death is to dance upon the gates of death itself!"

I nodded, felling rather sick and disinclined to speak.

Seeming somewhat irritated but loving at the same time, Afanasiy picked me up in his arms and brought me back to his château. When we reached the grounds I saw a massive bonfire being tended to by the servants. When I asked Afanasiy what its purpose was, he only responded with a quiet, "Scatter the ashes."

1 That quote is not my own words. The man who wrote those words is David Icke. The general population would call him a 'conspiracy theorist' but those Awakened to Infinite Awareness call him a 'truth searcher'.

A/N: Expect next from me next an MxN lemony one-shot titled Gasoline, written by request for loochester... Then I'll disappear for a while to work on my novel, then update again.

Thank you for your patience.