Disclaimer: If it belongs to Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, it obviously doesn't belong to me!
First Blood... Maegith got off of her bed quickly, but then doubled over in a spasm of pain. Cafell stood to the side, compassion written on her face. "Do not fret, child. It is your mortal body dying. It will pass, and when it does, there will be little that can then hurt you."
She was correct; after a few minutes, Maegith felt better, and also felt human wastes leave her body for the last time. She cleaned it up, put on a clean dress, and went out to face the world for the first time since her rebirth.
When she walked out, it was as though Maegith had never felt before. The spring air was cool and clean, and brought with it the smells of the manor. The moon was a silver globe above her, and the stars diamond pricks of light. So entranced was Maegith with her surroundings that she barely noticed when her mother ran up to her.
She did notice, though, the smell of her mother's wonderful, sweet blood when her mother hugged her tightly. "My baby! It is a miracle!" Maegith's cynical smile at that misnomer was missed completely by her overjoyed mother. Her mother than turned to Cafell, and looked as though she'd hug her too.
"How can I ever thank you, good Mistress Cafell? You have brought my child back to blessed life!"
Cafell's smile was also a bit cynical, but not enough to be noticed by the jubilant mother. "I have already said." Once more, Cafell became as a priestess: mysterious and distant. "I shall take your daughter to learn my craft. Never fear, she will be able to visit once in a while, but my lifestyle is busy, so it will not be often."
Maegith's mother gave her daughter a last hug, and then nodded resignedly to Cafell. Then began Maegith's first lesson.
Cafell took Maegith's arm and led the girl away from her house. "Now, the first thing you must learn is how to control you mind, and that of others. When you are proficient at this, you will be able to transport yourself anywhere in the blink of an eye, read another's soul like parchment, and shield your own from prying eyes. For tonight, I will transport both of us, but you will start to learn to see others' thoughts. Now, we go."
Maegith held tightly to Cafell and squinted her eyes in fear. However, it was over in a second and Maegith found herself just outside the gates of the manor. Suddenly, terror gripped her.
"Mistress Cafell?" Maegith's voice was tremulous. "We must not go out here; especially at night! There could be raiders, cutpurses, all manor of evil men!"
Cafell smiled at her ignorance. "We have nothing to fear, dear girl. It is we who are the predators now. We bring justice to those deserving it. That is why you must read minds. Only take those who are murderers or have committed other atrocious crimes, or those who are about to commit suicide and have lost the will to live anyway. Never take the innocent, for that is truly the unforgivable crime."
Suddenly, it what Cafell said clicked with Maegith. "Take? What do you mean, take?" Her voice took on a panicked note.
Cafell rolled her eyes. How dense was this girl? She managed to keep her annoyance under tight control. "Dear, we need blood to survive. We are vampires; the top predators. The night hunters. We hunt humans. Enough talk, now. You need to feed, else you will weaken."
Cafell led the way to a campsite outside the manor gates. She spoke to Maegith, keeping her voice so low that mortals would never hear. "Look, Child. Those men have just ambushed a caravan of merchants. The killed the men and children, and after raping them, the women too. These men will be our prey tonight.
"No, don't look at me as though I'm raving. We can read minds, I've told you already. Look," She pointed to one of the men, more richly dressed than the other. "That is their leader. Concentrate on him, and let your mind float. You will find yourself in his mind. Probe as long as you wish; the night is young."
Transcendence came easily to Maegith, and within seconds she found herself within the raider's mind. What she found there disgusted her. Cafell had been correct; they had just raped and killed a caravan. The leader was thinking only that it was a shame that none of the women were pretty. Suddenly, Maegith drew back. It was more than she could take.
As soon as she was out of the man's mind, she started running. Maegith had never been so terrified; it was more than a poor serf could handle. Cafell let her run enough to get worn out, and then transported herself directly in front of the terrified teenager.
Authority took over Cafell's voice. "Enough! I told you before I made you that neither way was easy, and you could not run away from either choice. I have had patience enough with you. Now, you will come."
Maegith felt with sudden horror Cafell invading her mind. Against her will, she felt herself turn around and walk back towards the campsite. "I did not want to have to do this to you, but it seems you have to be taught things the hard way. You, and only you will fight those men. Try not to kill them." Her eyes suddenly softened. "I did not want to have to do this to you, Child, but you make it so hard for me."
Cafell loosened her hold on Maegith's mind. "But Cafell! I'm just a girl! You saw what they did to the women in that caravan. Do you want the same to happen to me?"
Cafell's eyes were sad. "Is that truly what you think of me, Child? You have nothing to fear from those men. You now have strength and speed equal to that of ten fully-grown men! If you are having a problem, I am here. However, I want you to learn the extent of you powers. Off you go, then." Cafell gave Maegith a small shove.
Maegith contemplated running again, but found herself aware of magical boundaries that Cafell had set up. With no other choice, Maegith gritted her teeth and walked closer to the bandits' camp. Within seconds, the leader had spotted her.
It was apparent that he was now quite drunk. "Well lookee here boysh! It sheemsh ash if shomeone heard our thoughtsh! Now that looksh like a tashty morshel!" The man was swaying in his drunkenness.
Maegith, revolted, took a step back, but felt Cafell's strong, reassuring presence behind her. She clenched her hands into fists and stepped forward once more. Feeling a gentle mental prompt from Cafell, she spoke.
"What you did to those merchants and there families was evil. I am the angel of death; here to avenge them." She was amazed to hear the strength of her voice. The words seemed right, though no one told her what they were.
Much to her growing anger, the men just laughed at her. The leader got up. "Playtime beginsh now, boysh!" The others got up as well, and started to circle around Maegith like hungry wolves. Suddenly, Maegith started to lose her nerve again.
She was unable to stop two of the men from grabbing her hands and pulling them behind her back. The leader was reaching for her dress when something in her rebelled. She tried pulling her arms from the two men holding her, not really expecting to be able to do anything. However, when she pulled with all of her strength, the two ruffians shot across the clearing, mowing down two others in their path.
For a moment, Maegith could only stare, as could the bandits. Then, the leader sprang into action, charging the young woman. Maegith stepped out of the way, not sure what else she could do. She was unprepared, however, for the fact that she could move so fast that the leader ran strait past her into a tree.
Within moments, much to her surprise, Maegith had knocked all of the men unconscious. Cafell emerged from the trees where she'd been standing in wait. She had a pleased smile that looked just slightly smug.
"Now, Child, was that really so hard?" Maegith colored, embarrassed by her cowardice.
However, she could not keep her voice from shaking at her next question. "What... What do we do now, Mistress?"
Cafell looked upon her gently and lovingly once more. "We feed. Dearest Child, our kind lives off of the blood of humans. Do not be afraid, and never should you fight it. When in doubt, think of the great wolves and bears. Do they starve or deprive themselves because they feel their prey is beautiful and special? No, they understand that the last stage of the circle of life is death, and to some that death is a benefit to others. That is the way of the world, and you must never forget it."
Maegith swallowed hard, and then her face hardened in determination. "So," She tried to figure out how to put it delicately. "How do we do ... you know..."
Cafell smiled slightly. "By now, your fangs should have grown in, at least enough to make a clean cut. All you have to do is bite them on the neck, and then drink. You may have first pick."
Maegith grimaced, and then went over to the unconscious leader. She clumsily pulled his head to the side, and he stirred slightly. Maegith paused, but he was still sound asleep. Slowly, ever so slowly, she bent down and opened her mouth. She bit the man, and was amazed to feel her teeth slide easily into his skin, like a knife in freshly made butter.
However, no matter how much shock she felt initially, nothing could dull the rush of the first mortal blood she'd ever tasted. It was sweet, and thick, and warm, and Maegith felt as though she'd never get enough of it. Within minutes, the man was dead and his blood completely drained. To her surprise, Maegith was quite satisfied. She looked up to see Cafell drinking from the man's second in command.
Somehow, after her first blood, killing to live seemed less disturbing to Maegith. She politely waited for Cafell to finish before she spoke. "Mistress, now what do we do?"
Cafell smiled slightly, glad that her new daughter had come to her senses. "I think we'd best leave the bodies for the others to find. After that sight, they most likely won't do any more robbing. And if they do, we can always be back. Now, we shall move on, and I will continue teaching you of your powers."
Cafell stood, and dusted off her skirts. "Come here, child. We're going to leave now." Once more, Cafell transported them. This time, they ended up in a deserted meadow a few miles from where they had been.
"Now, child. You still have much to learn about your powers, though you already have a good grasp on the basics. First, I will permit you to ask any questions you might have. You have an eternity to learn of your powers, but less to learn answers to your concerns."
Before she could stop herself, Maegith's biggest fear popped out of her mouth. "Are we demons?"
Cafell smiled sadly. "No, dear. Many of the ignorant believe that, but you must never listen to them. There are several myths I should clear up for you. First: we have not lost our souls. We are able to survive in the sun, though our powers are greatly weakened. Religious symbols do nothing to us. There are no strong odors that will harm us either.
"However, we are not completely immortal. Fire burns us, and badly. Our biggest weakness is silver. Other weapons will do no harm. The blood of a Triste is deadly to us. The blood of witches is intoxicating, and dangerous if it's taken in in great quantities. You will learn to recognize both by their auras, as well as all other kinds of creatures in time."
"There are some who believe us demons, as I've already mentioned. Those, along with some of the witches will try to hunt us down. I don't mean to scare you, however. We have many powers to put us at an advantage, as well as immortality if we're not killed by outside influence."
"Now, child, we shall go back to my house. The night is waning, and you've had a hard day." Cafell had barely gotten Maegith settled into a small cot next to the bed when Maegith fell into a deep sleep...
With the ringing of the school bell, Maegith was brought once more out of her memories. In the front hall, Maegith and Sulene joined a few of their other friends. One was another witch. Raven Smoke. A tall girl, Raven had dark brown hair and bright green eyes. Unfortunately, Raven didn't share Sulene's liberal views about vampires. Maegith was lucky – her aura was actually closer to the Smoke's own than other vampires due to her healing, and Raven hadn't yet realized she wasn't a normal mortal. Raven was a good friend, and Maegith was glad she hadn't yet found out.
One of Maegith's other close friends was a mortal. This girl was not even aware of the secret battles going on in her city. She was distantly related to Turquoise Draka, but most likely had never even met her mother's cousin's daughter, much less talked to her about the vampires' slave trade.
The girl, Penelope, was of medium height, medium brown hair, and had mischievous hazel eyes. She had a funny, but slightly morbid sense of humor, and she went on Maegith's bus as well.
Maegith felt she was fortunate; to these people, she needn't even lie about her identity, because they wouldn't believe her anyway. Many times, Maegith made jokes about being a vampire, but her friends, with the exception of Sulene took them for just that – jokes.
A/N: Sorry that took so long. Don't ask why, because I haven't the slightest. My apologies once more.
Jade: Thanks for the suggestion, I think I'm just going to create someone. Thanks for the compliment also.
Unknownsomeone: Sowwy! And of course we don't have all day – I have to sleep sometime. But I for one, do have all night!
Spage: Thank you so much for the glowing praise. Yeah, sorry about the memory thing. I'd forgotten when I'd written that, but now I do remember. Oops. Glad you're so understanding.
Hermione-Potter-McTaggart: Sorry!
Lively: Thanks so much for reviewing. Hope you do some updating soon as well!
Anarchy101: Okay, first – if you're going to give constructive criticism, please do it in proper English. I know you can. Now, to answer you. Sure she'd have caught it from someone, I just don't say anything about the few weeks leading up to her birthday. And she may've noticed the symptoms, but do you really think that someone in the Middle Ages in a family of three women would have taken 'time off' for some more mild symptoms? She likely wouldn't have even complained about it, which is why her mother had no idea what had happened. Thank you for the correction though.
LittleGreenPerson: Hi! Thanks for reviewing! Glad you liked it. As I'm sure you know, I already reviewed one of your fics, and I am getting around to the others. I promise! LOL about Dracula. I actually didn't like vamps until seeing my school's production of Dracula last year! Talk to you soon!
