A Thousand Years

Chapter Three: Rebirth of my Bretheren

Disclaimer: Just the ideas are mine.

As the night wore on, I had learned many things about my abilities. I had mastered jumps, high jumps, gliding, and feeding. I had learned many ways of how to kill. But as the eastern part of the sk y began to grow gray, I felt a strange uneasiness within me. "Kain?" He turned his head to look at me and I said quietly, "I think there's something wrong... I'm beginning to feel very ill at ease."

"It's the sun, Raziel. Night is turning into day." He motioned for me to follow as we left the city and headed back to where my tomb was. "The first hundred years of your life, you will have to take refuge during the daylight hours. If you are caught out in the sun you will ultimately burn and die. That is one of the three greatest weaknesses to vampires."

"And what are the other two?" I asked while we walked. The sky kept growing lighter and I, in turn, more edgy and tense.

"Water is one. Water to vampires is like acid, and it will eat away at your flesh. That is why it is wise to never get caught out in the rain, and to be careful when crossing streams and rivers. Oh and for goodness sakes, never try to feed on a bathing human." He must have seen my odd expression, for he chuckled. "I knew a vampire that had tried that once, long ago. Thought he could get a bit of sex out of his food before he killed her. She grabbed him and dunked his head in the water. When we found him, his body was whole but his head and neck were nothing more than bone."

I made a face of disgust. "I'll remember that. And the other weakness?"

"The other weakness is fire. It will burn at your body as if it were dry kindling. Some vampires have had the power to control fire as part of their Dark Gifts, but although their power may entitle them to use fire and not be harmed by doing so, this fire is made up of their own energy. Normal fire will still burn them."

We were at the tomb now, as the sky began to turn purple and pink along the eastern horizon. We slipped into the safety of the engulfing darkness and I looked to Kain. "Can you survive in the sunlight?" He had said that the weakness to sunlight would only last for the first hundred years of a vampire's unlife. I wondered then how old he was.

"Yes, I can," Kain replied. He sat cross-legged atop the coffin of Melchiah, watching me.

"How old are you?" I couldn't help but ask, sitting on the edge of my own coffin, trying not to yawn and failing.

"I'm not entirely sure, to be honest, and I don't really care." Kain shrugged and motioned for me to lay down in my coffin. I did so, settling down on the sparse padding, lying on my side with my head cradled in my arm. "As soon as the sun rises, I suggest you get some sleep. You need your rest."

"May I ask one more question?" At Kain's patient nod, I asked, "Will I be able to make vampires of my own?"

"In time, Raziel. You are much too young right now. You won't be able to create your own fledgelings until you are about three and a half centuries old." Kain stretched out atop Melchiah's coffin, lying on his back, arms pillowing his head.
Another yawn nearly split my jaw, and I decided to close my eyes. Sleep took me quickly into its embrace.

As the sun set, I awoke, taking several moments to remember everything that had happened the previous night. I sat up slowly and saw that Kain was still asleep, lying on his stomach, his cheek rested against his folded arms, eyes closed. He somehow managed to retain his look of cold arrogance even in his sleep.

As if sensing my gaze, those slanted Husky blue eyes opened and regarded me with a wariness that startled me. Why would he be wary of me? Did he think I was going to attack him while he slept? I then wondered what kind of life he must have led to leave him so cold and uncaring. Well, I would try to show him I could be trusted with anything. I could never betray him.

He sat up and slipped down off of the coffin. "Tonight I will resurrect another of your brethren as a vampire and I will go through teaching him as I have taught you. You may follow us into the village and stay with us if you like, or you may go off and feed at your own desire, but try not to get caught."

I nodded to show I understood and stepped out of my coffin. "Which will you be resurrecting tonight?"

"The second strongest of your brethren, Turel." He walkd over to the coffin with Turel's name on it and slipped the stone covering aside as if it weighed nothing. A plume of dust whirled up in the air as well as the horrid stench of very old death. Out of curiosity I looked into the coffin and felt my stomach jump up into my throat at what I saw. There was a skeleton in battle armor with wisps of hair still sticking to the skull. Bits of withered flesh were still clinging in a few places to the bone, and there were dust and cobwebs within. He had been buried with a long battle axe, which was rusty and looked as if it would crumble if I touched it. The grinning skull was what repulsed me the most, with the empty gaping eye sockets.

"Did I look like that before you revived me?" I asked, repulsed.

He nodded.

I cursed my vivid imagination at the thought and wondered if vampires could vomit.

Kain stood over the body and held his hands out over it. He closed his eyes and I felt a surge of power coming from him. I stared raptly, awed as a portal opened up. A bright orb of light emerged and Kain gathered that orb of light and sent it down into the corpse along with some of his power to fuse it in.

I watched, entranced, as the internal organs began to reform. The heart, lungs, liver, stomach, intestines, kidneys, everything, covered over with flesh, muscle, and tendon. The skin grew back over, and the hair grew out the way it once was, long, thick, and black. Eyes formed in the skull, irises a dark brown, almost black, lidless, staring up sightlessly as the flesh began to grow over the face, and the grinning skull's canine teeth grew elongated and I could see through the gaping holes in his cheeks his tongue forming.

I found out that vampires could indeed vomit.

Straightening up slowly, I wiped off my mouth and looked to Kain, ashamed at having lost my composure. Kain glanced over at me as he worked at reanimating the corpse, and his look was mildly sympathetic - I felt relieved to know that he felt as disgusted by it as I did.

A sudden drum-like noise startled me, along with the sharp intake of breath. I knew that Turel's heart was beating now, and he was breathing... he was alive.

I dared to step closer and saw a strong, determined face staring up at me. The dark eyes flickered between us and he sat up slowly. His voice was deep and filled with an arrogance that could rival Kain's. "Who are you?"

"I am Kain, your master, maker, and father. This is Raziel, your older brother. And you are Turel, my new lieutenant." Kain's voice was sharp and commanding. He knew as well as I did that if he didn't set down the law here and now, Turel would try to walk all over him. And Kain would never allow that.

I stood back while Kain began to tell him what he already told me before, watching my younger brother. He watched Kain with a growing acknowledgement and respect of his superiority, but he did not ask as many questions as I did. Kain gave Turel clothing similar to what he had given me - black leather pants, black boots, and a black turtleneck sweater. As Turel stripped down, I disregarded my first suspicion that he used his arrogance to compensate for something. My eyes grew wide as I found out that he was hung like a horse.

A deep chuckling startled me and I looked back to Kain to find he was deeply amused by my state of shock. I felt my face grow warm and looked down, embarassed. Turel apparently didn't understand what was so funny and finished dressing.

As Kain led us back to the village so we could feed, I watched my younger brother. Unlike me, he was more inclined to be satisfied with the straight facts and didn't care for the details. He would follow Kain and serve him dutifully, I knew. But when his cold, dark gaze turned to me, I knew it would not be so easy where I was concerned. I would have to work to make him respect me.

The following night Dumah was resurrected, and I had to pleasure of seeing Turel have to avert his eyes as soon as the coffin was opened. I gained a small personal victory knowing I had been able to stay and watch while he could not, and I kept doing so. I was even able to refrain from vomiting.

Dumah had a rather boyish face, with large blue eyes and dark brown, brushed back hair. He had a beautiful voice too, and seemed as eager to learn as I. He was just slightly taller than me and had a lithe and graceful body. I wondered if we could grow to be friends or not. I already knew there was little hope for finding a friend in Turel.

After Dumah came Rahab, a pompous bastard who I didn't care for from the start. He was much like Turel. And after Rahab came Zephon, a tall, thin, lithe individual with a rather smart ass attitude and semi-short, red hair, but we got along all the same. And at last, Melchiah: short, bald, and bad tempered. No one, not even Kain, much cared for Melchiah after that first night. He had been utterly disrespectful to everyone and acted as if he were the master and Kain was not. Kain finally lost his temper and displayed his power by blasting Melchiah with ease into one of the buildings of the village and knocking him unconscious in a single blow.

The next two weeks were spent feeding and learning from Kain as he taught us everything we might need to know about being a vampire. And finally, Kain came to us one night with a sword for each of us and told us that now was the time we learned to fight.

A/N: More fun stuff next chapter. Melchiah bashing! Sorry all you Mel fans. .