~O~
Shun started laughing. "You really are mental, aren't you?" he asked the stranger. "Vampires? Really? There's no such thing." The stranger rolled his eyes and waved a stepped away from the still-laughing teen. "Humans…..Despite their fragile beauty, their ignorance is unparalleled. What would I have to do to prove to you what I am, and what you are now?" asked the stranger.
Shun calmed his laughter for a moment and said, "How about turning into a bat? Or standing in front of a mirror to see if you have a reflection?" The stranger narrowed his eyes down at the human. "Hollywood stereotypes of Vampires. We don't transform into bats, and we do have reflections like any other creature on this planet," he said brusquely.
Shun had calmed down enough that the sheer thought of these people thinking they were Vampires didn't cause him to burst out into laughter, but it still brought a slight grin to his face. "Alright, then. Do you sparkle in the sunlight?" he asked and couldn't help but chuckle at the end of his sarcastic question. This was all just too ludicrous for him to believe.
The stranger's expression was border-lining with rage. Behind him, the gray-haired youth that had made Shun drink blood a couple days prior, looked back and forth between Shun and the golden-haired man, a look of worry and anxiety on his face.
He cautiously approached the stranger and said nervously, "Um, Sir? M-maybe I should be the one to elaborate and explain everything to him, seeing as your temper has been a bit unpredictable lately. We don't want you doing anything to-"
The golden-haired stranger's eyes suddenly flashed violently, and he swung around, connecting his arm with the gray-haired youth's body, and sent the boy flying across the room. He slammed in the cavern-like wall and landed in a heap on the floor. Shun stared, wide-eyed and in shock, then quickly looked up at the stranger.
His eyes were ablaze with sudden anger that looked as if it had been bundled up for a while. Shun was trembling slightly now; what if this maniac turned that anger on him? The way the stranger had flung that boy, and with that much strength would have been impossible for any human to do, no matter how strong.
This stranger's strength could pretty much be called….Inhuman, Shun thought to himself and a shiver traveled down his spine at the word. The golden-haired man straightened up and squared his shoulders back; the rage in his eyes seemed to have died down a bit, but it was still somewhat visible.
"Loran," he said calmly and looked over at the boy he had flung across the room, "I do apologize for that. You just got caught in the crossfire." Shun stared in disbelief. This guy might have killed, or seriously injured that boy, and he was apologizing as if it were nothing?
On the other side of the room, the boy struggled up to his feet, holding on tightly to his right arm, the one that had made contact with the wall, and bowed. "It's quite alright, Sir…..I shouldn't have been standing so close," he said calmly, but Shun could hear the fear still lingering in the boy's voice.
The stranger nodded, then said, "Now, if you would be so kind, Loran, get our guest back situated so he can continue to rest and regain the rest of his strength before we show him around the enclave. It shouldn't take him more than a few hours to fully recuperate, seeing as how quickly he started healing after the Transition."
The gray-haired boy, Loran, bowed his head again and said, "Will do, Sir." The golden-haired stranger nodded and turned on his heels, then strode out of the room. Shun was still on the floor where he had been stopped while trying to crawl away. Loran, still clutching his arm, knelt down before the raven-haired teen.
Shun's eyes fell onto the injured arm and saw a small bloodstain on the shirt sleeve. "That…..That impact should have killed you," Shun muttered in disbelief. Loran glanced down at his injured arm and said calmly, "It takes a lot more to kill one of our kind. You'll learn about that eventually. But for right now, there's no need to worry about me. We heal rather quickly. Do you need help standing?"
Shun thought for a moment, then tried to see if anymore of his strength had returned to him; he was able to get to his feet, but his legs still wobbled beneath him a bit. Loran nodded and said, "Looks like you might recuperate quicker than a couple more hours. I'm thinking more along the lines of within the hour. But that doesn't make a difference. You still need adequate rest after the Transition."
Shun's mind felt like it might explode at any minute. With all the things that had just transpired, to how Loran could talk about these kinds of things as if they were nothing. The raven-haired teen sat down on the edge of the plush bed he had been given and ran a slightly trembling hand through his hair.
"All of this…..It's real?…..Vampires are…..Real?" he asked, still not fully believing the words. But he had seen the man with golden hair show signs of strength that no mere human should have. And then there was Loran, who had survived being flung into a stone wall at a high speed, and was up and walking around as if he had only tripped or stumbled.
Loran nodded and told him, "Yes, Vampires are real. You seem to have accepted it better than most humans do when they find out. Usually the humans who learn about us think they've gone insane or were drugged by somebody." Shun thought to sound of being insane or drugged was better than this new truth that was standing before him.
He then looked down at himself, at his trembling hands, and at his weakened legs, then said, "And now…..I'm one too?….." Shun didn't think he looked any different, and for the most part, he really didn't feel any different either; except for his vision and hearing being better.
Loran nodded. "Yes, and I fear that it's my fault for this. I am the one who suggested that we Turn you, instead of killing you like some of the others were suggesting. So, I don't blame you if you hold a hatred towards me. It was a choice that was made against your will, and I know how humans like having choices. But I don't believe in killing something or someone who doesn't have to die," he said and chuckled before adding, "I guess that's why Alucard calls me the Humanitarian of Vampires."
Shun adverted his gaze away. How did he feel knowing that before him was the one responsible for making this happen to him? Did he harbor ill feelings, or did it really not matter, seeing as it was done in an effort to allow Shun to continue living, even if it was as something else entirely?
He decided that he would decipher through that another day. Right now, his mind was in condition to try and think through all of this. Shun looked over at the door that the golden-haired stranger had recently exited from. "What about him?" Shun asked, "What's his deal?" Loran looked at the door as well, then sighed. At this point, the gray-haired youth had stopped clutching his injured arm, and Shun figured it must have already healed.
"That was Sinclair, our Clan leader and ruling of the Blood Ring. Please, do excuse his previous actions. He's not a bad guy, but he does have quite the temper from time-to-time. Especially lately, since there's been a lot going on. He's under a lot of stress," Loran explained.
Shun glanced at where Loran had been thrown into the wall and muttered under his breath, "No kidding…." He then turned to the gray-haired youth and said, "You mentioned something a Blood Ring? What exactly…What exactly is that?" Shun felt nervous at knowing the truth, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him; if he was going to be involved with these 'people,' then he at least deserved to know everything about them, right?
Loran ran a hand through is gray hair and said, "It's kind of like a Drug Ring, or organization. We go and distribute a mixture of human and Vampire blood and sell it to whoever will buy it, whether they be human or Vampire." Shun tensed up, but tried to remain as calm as possible.
"So, like a cartel, huh?….How…..How do you get the blood from humans? You guys don't…..You know…" He couldn't even really finish the rest of his question; the thought that people were killed for business made Shun feel sick to his stomach. But it also made him feel fortunate, for he hadn't been killed for profit, which made him wonder why he had been spared. Surely it couldn't have been just because Loran stood up for him.
There had to be something more. The gray-haired Vampire shook his head. "No, no. We don't kill the humans to get their blood. We have a large network of humans we work with. They donate their blood to us, and in turn, we pay them for their contribution. As for the Vampire part of the mix, we either give our own blood, or we pay others to give as well. Nobody is killed unless they have to be. Or, at least, that's how it's supposed to be. Sometimes majority vote rules out what's right."
Shun could hear in Loran's voice how this troubled him. The raven-haired teen then worked up the nerve to ask the question that had been boring a hole into the back of his head for the past couple of minutes.
"Why….Why wasn't I killed, then?….I saw one of your people killing somebody, and he knocked me out, I think…Why didn't your leader Sinclair kill me? He could have ignored your request to Turn me or whatever. So, why?" he asked, his voice rising a bit towards the end.
Loran shifted his weight from foot to foot and said, "It's because you have Bad Blood. Some of the others suggested draining you, seeing as you witnessed Slay killing an overdue client, and they feared you might give Slay's description to the authorities if we let you go. But your blood isn't exactly highly sought after, thus why it's referred to as Bad Blood. All it would have done was sit in a fridge somewhere and go stale. So, they wanted to just kill you instead, and that was when I stepped up and said that by Turning you, you'd have no choice but to become loyal to the Blood Ring."
Shun looked dead into Loran's gray eyes and asked with all seriousness, "I don't have to become a part of this, do I? The Blood Ring, that is. You were just making something up so I wouldn't have to die, right?" Shun felt a bit of panic rising up inside of him. It had been a lie, right?
Loran looked away, a look resembling shame on his face, and said, "I'm sorry. This is another reason I told you it wouldn't bother me if you harbored hate towards me for causing you to be Turned. You are a part of the Blood Ring now, which means you are part of the Yoru Clan as well. And being that Sinclair, our leader, is your Donor, that makes you loyal to him, kind of like a servant or underling. You're bound to this place now, a part of it. And leaving it or trying to run away can result in punishment fit for betrayal and treason, which is almost always death."
Shun felt like something inside of him shattered. His shoulders slumped a bit, and a wave of despair washed over him. He was stuck here now as the servant to some bi-polar Vampire drug lord? What had he done to anger whatever higher power who allowed this to happen to him?
His life was different now, never to be the same again. Loran sighed heavily and turned towards the door to leave the room.
"Again, I am terribly sorry. I just don't like seeing somebody die when there is another way, and because of that, I sometimes don't think the consequences all the way through. Anyway, please, do finish resting up. Either Sinclair or I will be by later to see how you're doing. More than likely me, if he hasn't simmered down enough."
Loran started out of the door, but Shun stopped him. "Wait," the raven-haired teen called out. The gray-haired Vampire stopped and glanced over his shoulder. "Yes?" Shun tightened his hands into fists, and the area around his knuckles turned white. His question then spilled out of his mouth like water bursting from a dam.
"What about my family and friends? If I'm stuck here now, does that mean I won't be able to see them again, or talk to them?" he asked and felt tears stinging at the edges of his eyes. Shun's life may have been turned upside down, but he didn't want to lose the only things he had left dear to him.
He didn't want to be alone in this strange new world. Loran leaned against the doorframe and said, "You should able to see them, but if you do, you need to make sure not to speak of any of this. None of Sinclair, none of the Blood Ring, and none of Vampires. You also need to do everything in your power to make sure that this new nature you've adopted doesn't reveal itself. If it does, then there is a chance that you might hurt the people you care about."
He started out of the room, then stopped himself and added, "Oh, and if you do happen to go out into daylight, I suggest wearing a long-sleeve or a hooded-jacket. The sunlight won't make you burst into flames, but your skin will be a bit more sensitive to it now, and it will give you a pretty nasty sunburn. Just a little tip."
Loran then left from the room and vanished around the corner and down the hallway. Shun stared down at the stone floor for the longest time, before finally laying down on his side and bringing his knees up, curling into a fetal-position so he could try and hide away from the new life that surrounded him.
He was somewhat relieved that he didn't have to give up the people he cared about, but it still didn't change the fact that he wasn't the same anymore. What would his friends do if they ever found out about what he had been turned into?
Would they think he was crazy, or would they believe him and see him as a monster? Monster. Shun recalled back to when that oddly-dressed boy with the eye-patch said that to him. He was right, Shun thought to himself, I am a monster now.
check out my story I've started on a website called Good Reads; it's called Dead Winter. To get to it you go to the website, go to Extras, click Creative Writing, and go to the Genre of Horror and search for the story Dead Winter by Nikoru Peri. I'll probably post the link to the story on my profile sometime during the day. read and leave a review on the way out. ~Copperpelt~