718 BC
Her name was Janaline. That was not the name that she had been born with but that was no longer important. Her master had given her the name the night that he became her master. She shuddered at the memory. She had met him one night and was immediately taken with him. His hair was a yellow color like none that she had ever seen before. All the men in her village of Kemet along the Nile had black hair like her own. He had a pale complexion. It was several shades lighter than hers was. She could get lost in his eyes. He father was a local priest and she had been betrothed to one of his acolytes. The man had disappeared one night. In fact several of the local men had gone missing. Some said that there was an evil spirit about. Others thought that they had just sailed away on along the Nile to another village down stream. People feared to go out after dark and even when they were locked within their homes, some would go missing. She was 21 when she met him. He had a most unusual name. He called himself Emetrius. She was fearless and because of that she would go out during the night when no one else would dare to. The night that she met him, the moon was full and she could feel more so than see him watching her. Briefly she felt like a prey animal being watched by a predator. He had been perched in a tree, watching her as she drew water from the Nile.
'You there!' she had cried out. 'What business do you have watching me like that?'
His smile had been chilling as he said, 'What business do you have out here when it is not safe?'
She had stared defiantly up at him and said. 'There is nothing amiss out here. Only you.'
He climbed down out of the tree like a cat. (Funny how she used to think that cats were gods.)
He stood before her and looked into her eyes. She felt as if he were staring into her heart instead. Part of her felt as if she should fear him but she was filled with indignation instead.
'Do you know who my father is?' She had asked.
'I do not particularly care who your father is.' He had replied in a matter of fact way.
She studied him and could sense no bravado. Everyone knew who her father was. He was the local high priest and all feared him. All of the younger priests had wanted to marry her. When her father had chosen her fiancé all other would be suitors went about their business. None of the men could look at her because of her demanding father. Any who defied him would meet with an unkind end and everyone in the village knew it.
'All I have to do is cry out and it will not go well with you.' She had said. His visage had changed with that comment. Only for a brief moment but it was there nonetheless. His eyes had emanated a red light and fangs had appeared in his mouth. Then all had returned to normal.
'Is that a fact?' he had asked, staring at her. She had felt like Death itself had brushed up against her and yet she felt no fear. None whatsoever. It still amazed her to the present day the total lack of fear that she felt. She didn't answer her but stared defiantly at him. He had reached out and touched her and she could feel something profound take hold of her and yet she could not quite describe it. He released his grip on her and turned and began to walk away. When he had walked a stones throw away, he looked over his shoulder at her and said, 'You intrigue me.'
***
As she was reminiscing about the past she became aware of the man that was stalking her. He was looking at her with undisguised lust in his eyes as he lunged at her. She shrank away with feigned terror in her eyes. He grabbed her roughly and pressed a knife to her throat.
"Don't make a sound." He commanded. He shoved her through an open doorway into a room.
She fell to the floor and looked down, not meeting his gaze when a voice behind her said "What have we here?"
"Tonight's entertainment." Her assailant has said.
"I hope that she struggles. It makes it better for me." The newcomer said.
"I'm going first." Her assailant said as he reached for her hair. She looked up at him and he froze.
"Save some for me." his friend said as he took a drink from his wineskin.
The first man was horrified as he looked down at her. Her comely face had transformed into a terrifying visage as her teeth turned into fangs and her eyes glowed crimson. He had begun to turn to run when she pivoted on her one hand and swept out the second mans legs out from underneath him with her own legs. Completing that maneuver, she sprang to her feet and grabbed the first man by his throat. He stabbed wildly at her with his hand just before she grabbed him by the wrist. The knife fell from his hand as the bones in his wrist snapped under the pressure that she had grabbed him with. With shock and pain he grappled with her, desperately attempting to free himself from her grip. She tore open his neck and fastened her jaws to the wound. He was twice her size and yet she was able to restrain him with as much effort as a very strong man would exert to control a small child. Finally he succumbed to death and she allowed his lifeless body to slide to the floor. The second man had begun to back away from him as a tortured moan had escaped his lips. She turned and looked at him with his friends blood still dripping from her chin. With his back up against the wall he said, "No! Please don't!"
"I hope you struggle." She said as she reached for him. "It makes it better for me."
***
Her father had been adamant about her staying indoors once the sun went down. She defied him as well. She was rebelliously independent and yet she did not openly defy her father where others could see. He always would reluctantly agree to let her out after dark, even though more and more people would go missing. Every week a report would come in that someone else had disappeared without a trace. She sometimes would see her mysterious visitor and sometimes not. They had talked for hours on end. Sometimes he would describe his love for someone named Elizabeth and then he would mock her saying that she was the child of privilege and would not know real struggle or work. It had been four years since she had met him. She never saw him at all during the day, only at night; a fact that she found odd. Then came that fateful night. She had come out just after midnight as was her custom, and there he was in that same tree once again.
'Well isn't it the daughter of privilege.' He had said, mocking her.
'Well isn't it the man who would be a cat god, sitting up in his tree. Frightening little children and making people disappear in the night.' She said with her voice dripping with sarcasm. (She didn't even suspect that he was indeed the reason that people went missing.)
'I have had enough of you.' He said as his eyes glowed red. He leapt down from his perch in the tree and landed on his feet. Guards that her father had assigned to keep her safe sprang forward in her defense. One grabbed her and began to draw her away to safety while the other two grappled with Emetrius. One of them drew out a dagger and plunged it deep into his chest. Emetrius cried out and pulled out the dagger and blood poured out from the wound. He grabbed both guards and held on to them. Then it was their turn to cry out. At first they struggled and then they both sagged lifeless to the ground. The wound in his chest seemed to have disappeared as well.
'Run!' the remaining guard yelled at her as he drew out his sword.
She turned and began to run to the temple where her father was. She looked back as the remaining guard cried out has Emetrius had grabbed him. She turned the corner and burst into the temple where her father was performing a ceremony designed to keep the village safe from the evil that was besetting them.
'Father!' she cried out urgently. 'It's him!'
'Get her out of here!' he cried to his acolytes, enraged by the distraction.
The doors of the temple we flung open when four figures entered in. All four of them had glowing red eyes.
'These are my minions.' Emetrius said as he gestured to the other three that were with him. 'The priest and his daughter are mine you can consume the rest.
The other three herded the acolytes toward a corner as they drained their blood one by one. The priest interposed himself between Emetrius and his daughter.
'Kill me if you must but spare my daughter.' The priest said. The fear was evident in his eyes. Emetrius grabbed him and tore open his throat and drained him. (That was the only time that she could ever remember him doing that.)
'Are you ready to die?' Emetrius asked her as he approached her. She stood her ground and stared defiantly at him.
'No fear even to the last.' He said as he gripped her by her arms. She continued to stare at him as the life flowed out of her. Hatred and defiance were in her eyes but there was no fear. He almost let her go completely to death and then he paused. He began to give her his life force. There was a red vapor that enclosed about her and then there was fear in her eyes. That was the only time, up to that point, that he ever saw fear in her eyes. He made her stronger than the others. He had given her all of the life force that he was going to give her and she tried to get even more from him. She was aware that her heart had stopped beating and that she had stopped breathing and yet she could keep her feet. Emetrius struck her with a backhand and said, 'Henceforth you shall be known as Janaline. Your previous existence had ended and now you may call me master. You may not fear me now but you will.'
***
Emetrius was right about one thing; she did learn to fear him. He did tend to have that effect on people when he chose to. He would one day be so warm and charming and the next he would be so cruel. She has had a long time to get to know him. It had been 200 years since that night in her father's temple. Emetrius tended to have 5 minions at any one time. She and 4 others, none of the others ever survived longer than 10 years. As was her nature she asked him one time why he allowed her to exist and none of the others.
'You intrigue me.' He answered. She supposed because she could read and write was also a reason but it was wise not to push Emetrius. She had learned that lesson the hard way. One night after he had been particularly cruel, she had snapped at him, 'Did your master torment you like you do me?' He had grabbed her and began to draw out the life from her like he did on the night of her death. When she was almost gone, he had buried her in the floor of a dungeon and left her there. By her best estimates it took her the better part of a year to recover. When one of their ilk were unable to draw the life from the living, the pain is beyond description. She had to resort to first worms, then insects, and then rodents and finally she was able to come up out of the ground. She had looked skeletal. One of the prison guards had the misfortune of opening the cell door to investigate the hole in the floor. She quickly took his life and only then was she able to regain enough of her strength to leave the prison. She went to him to confront him, kill him if she could, or otherwise end the miserable existence that she had. When she found him she was completely surprised by his reaction. He was genuinely pleased to see her. 'Janaline,' he began. 'You completely exceed and surpass my every expectation of you. I'll make you my lieutenant.' With that he embraced her and gave to her more of his own life force. He made her 4 times more powerful than she had been. The experience was pure bliss. For a brief moment she was connected to him and was able to see inside of him. He caused fear inside of his victims because he was empathic. He felt what they felt and fear is what made him feel like he was alive like they were. At that moment she both loved him and hated him. After the embrace ended, he looked her in the eyes and said, 'If you ever cross me, I'll make your death so slow and painful that it will seem like it will never end.'
"I understand master,' she had said and then she kissed him. For one brief moment, he passionately returned the kiss and the bond was reestablished. (Elizabeth.) Then he pushed her away. 'I cannot return your love as my heart belongs to another.' He said. She knew that whoever Elizabeth was, she was lost to him. When she tried to kiss him again, that look reappeared in his eyes that made, (and still makes) her shudder. After that night their relationship grew. He confided in her the story of how he became what he was. He told her of Austriel, Nooroo, Death and the unnamed one. He told her of how the unnamed one still communicated with him from time to time. She paused in her reminiscing as she stripped down and redressed herself from her victim's clothes. She suspected that some of the garments that she had found had belonged to their prior victims. She had to change clothes because what she had been wearing was soaked in blood. Ignoring the two lifeless bodies behind her, she was busy changing clothes. Even in a city as decadent as Nineveh it would not do well to walk down the street with blood soaked clothing. One of the rules that Emetrius had established is that she would not come to him unbidden. Tonight she had to break that rule and she was not sure how he would react but she needed to see him. Satisfied that she had not been seen, she left the two lifeless bodies to keep each other company.
***
Emetrius sat alone in his study. Earlier in the month he had sent his minions out to gather more written material from the various temples through out the Assyrian empire. He sat in near darkness with only the light of a single small candle casting its weak glow. Despite that he could see as if the room had 1,000 of the candles. One of the things that he noticed after his transformation was that he could see in the dark as if it were bright daylight. He also, as a result of his transformation, had an eidetic memory. He could recall with painful detail that first night after the assault of Austriel the effects of the sunrise. The pain had dreadful and unbearable. Somehow he had managed to bury himself in the sand only to emerge two nights later. The One with no name had attempted to find him and could only seem to do so when Emetrius would respond to his mental communications. Emetrius did his best to avoid all contact with him until he became aware of a burning desire, a compulsion. Finally he acquiesced to contact. He took to calling him the One because he was not forthcoming with his name. When he had asked about his name, the One said that it was not important. He had been horrified to learn that he was going to have to kill people in order to survive. That went against his very nature and he did the best he could to avoid it. The One simply let him be as the pain became worse. It finally go to be too much to bear and he chose a victim at random. He snapped the young mans neck and did not feel any different.
'I don't understand, I killed him like you said I needed to be free from this pain!' he had lamented.
'I didn't say you had to merely kill people; you need to take their life from them. The end result is death but the means is necessary. You need to drain the life from them. Focus on your teeth.'
'My teeth?'
'Make them turn into fangs like a dog or cat has.'
'How?' Emetrius asked as he realized that his teeth had already changed. He had bitten through his lip.
'Now you need to pierce your victim and consume their blood. Their life is contained in their blood and in that fashion you will add strength to yourself.'
'That's barbaric!' he cried.
'It's necessary Emetrius. Your pain will increase until you do so.'
The One left him at that point and Emetrius dug himself into the sand and hoped to die. Several weeks went by in this fashion and the pain seemed to double in intensity with each passing day. He was going insane as a result. Finally he reached the breaking point and emerged from the sand. Off in the distance, he saw a lone herdsman tending his flock. The man never even saw Emetrius coming up to him. Emetrius bit him on the neck and held his mouth over the wound. The blood squirted into his mouth and he instinctively swallowed. The pain began to subside as the man died in his arms. Because of his eidetic memory he could still see the man's face, frozen in horror as his life left him. Emetrius was changed that night. He cursed what he had become and the manner in which he needed to survive. There was a certain thrill to it as well. He buried the man deep in the ground and went in search of a new victim. He went inside a house and saw a bed with a lone occupant. It was a child of the man he had just killed. When he had been killing him he realized that there had been a bond between them and that was how he knew how to find his way to this house. He beheld the sleeping child and was aware of her mother in the next room. Tears of rage slid unnoticed down his cheeks as he put his hand on the girl's head. The same bond was established as before and he experienced her dream state. He watched her play and became disturbed as her dream turned into a nightmare. The girl opened her eyes and looked at Emetrius and froze that way. Emetrius almost panicked as he realized that the girl had died and he took her life from her. The girl's mother had appeared in the doorway and screamed at the sight of her daughter's lifeless body and the intruder. Emetrius grabbed her and attempted to comfort her. 'I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I don't know what is happening to me.' He had said as the telepathic bond was established with the woman as well. He was still apologizing as he realized that she was dead as well.
(Emetrius the killer) the Ones voice appeared in his head. From that night forward Emetrius was never the same. He tried to sooth his conscious by only targeting criminals. Murderers, thieves, and such he lived that way for months. He could see each of their faces and he also found it distasteful to live these people's last thoughts with them due to the bond that was created. Most of the time his appearance was so sudden that they didn't know what was happening. They just reverted to their base nature and Emetrius would experience the thrill that they would when they committed their acts of violence. Finally he himself changed so that he preyed on the innocent himself. He would allow them to know what was about to happen and he would experience their fear. Since that was the last emotion that he felt as a mortal, he would savor that because it made him feel as though he was alive. He quickly learned the Egyptian language in this fashion. Weeks turned into months into years. He calculated that he had somehow been transported back in time. How this was possible he was not sure but one thing he was sure of. The blue box had something to do with it. He set about to solve the mystery. Time began to pass and he was no closer to finding out the mystery. Days turned into weeks turned into months and finally years began to pass. He created his first minion quite by accident. He had drained a young boy, no older than 8 years old. This boy had been living on the street, stealing what he could to survive. He had the misfortune of meeting Emetrius. Just as the boy was fading, Emetrius gave the boy of his own life force, thus creating a new vampire (although this term would not be coined for several centuries). He had been overcome with grief that he was able to kill a small child was why he even attempted to save him. He called the boy Robert. Robert was with him for 10 years, always in the form of an 8-year-old boy. Robert always seemed to prey on sympathetic women who would have pity on him. During this time Emetrius grew more and more lonely and cynical. He began to despise Robert and finally one night he took back the life that he had given him. It was not easy and Robert had grown quite strong. Emetrius decided that he would eliminate any minions that he created within 5 years or less. This went on for 32 years. He could not stay in one village for long before the disappearance of the people that lived there would begin to draw suspicion. He was thinking of Elizabeth less and less. He shuddered to think of what she might think of what he had become. He cared less and less for the humans that he preyed on. He came to the point that he would prey on them even if he didn't need to feed at that time. He wandered through out Egypt until he ended up in Kemet. That was when he first saw her. The one who would become Janaline. Her youth and beauty took him to the edge of despair. She made him long for Elizabeth. He allowed her to see him. (He had the ability to make a mortal not notice him.) She was so defiant and full of life. He hated her and yet he loved her. He had no choice but to turn her. It was just a matter of time until he did. He remembered the total lack of fear in her as he took her father right in front of her. She was extraordinary. He remembered that day when he almost killed her. He was resentful to the fact that she was not Elizabeth. He was deep in thought on that night. She had been speaking to him and he did not respond to her. Finally, in a rage, she insulted him. 'Did your Master treat you the way that you treat me!' she had demanded. He would not do that to her again. She had to follow certain rules. Still she would break those rules whenever the opportunity presented itself. He was deep into his research when he became aware of her presence. He was instantly angry with her. Part of him knew that he treated her to harshly but another part of him just didn't care. She was valuable to him and there was a part of him that cared for her. Despite all of that he knew that he was capable of killing her without a thought. He forced down his anger and simply ignored her. She stood attentively waiting for him to acknowledge her. The only sound in the room was the scratching of his goose quill on the parchment that he was writing on. When it became apparent that he would make her stand there all night, she summoned up her courage and said, "Master."
He paused in his writing for a moment and then decided to ignore her, hoping that common sense would prevail and that she would leave before he was forced to punish her for violating the one rule that he insisted that she follow.
"Master I need a moment of your time." She said after several seconds of silence.
He paused once again in his writing and as he did so, a drop of ink fell off of the end of the goose quill onto the parchment. He reached into a small dish and took a pinch of fine sand that he kept nearby for just such an event. With his head still downcast he looked up at her from under his brow. His eyes were glowing red with the anger that he felt. His mouth formed a sneer as he said, "What is it?"
She suppressed a bolt of fear that assaulted her stomach. If she were still human she would have no doubt be nauseous at this point. To a mortal he would appear to be at rest but to her heightened senses he was about to strike.
"I have information about the blue box." She said. With that his entire demeanor changed. It would almost appear that life was returning to his undead body. He stood up and smiled at her.
"What information do you have? Have you seen it?" He asked with obvious excitement.
"There is a merchant that saw it this afternoon in the market place."
His visage darkened slightly as he said, "Is this merchant still alive?"
"Yes Master, he is."
He smiled warmly at her as he said "Take me to him."
***
He was sitting there in the dark, still afraid for his life. That woman that looked at him so seductively seemed like she was going to kill him. He had followed her willingly and had embraced her with the promise of more intimate and passionate activity to follow. It had been a strange day. He was going about his normal business selling pottery that his mother had made when all of a sudden; out of nowhere a large blue box appeared at the rear of his stall. He wasn't even sure that he would have even seen it if he hadn't been reaching for another piece of pottery to sell. He was amazed that a man stepped out of the box with a woman. She had called him Doctor. That memory had came to his mind as he was horrified to notice that his would be lover had transformed into a monster before his very eyes. Her eyes glowed red and her teeth had become fangs. She was about to consume him; he was sure, as he vainly struggled to get away from her. She closed her mouth and her eyes returned to normal as she regarded him. He made a dash to get away from her when she grabbed him and held him without any seeming effort on her part. She had bound him hand and foot and left him. He had begun to hope that he could work the ropes lose when the door opened. He lost all hope and his bowels as well at that point. He began to sob as she had returned with another. She had scared him and the creature that she brought with her terrified him beyond reason.
"Please…please" was all that he was able to get out when Emetrius grabbed him. His visage changed to that of a monster. Even Janaline was chilled as she beheld him, as he no longer even resembled a human being. She herself had no trouble reading the thoughts of others as when she had been transformed she became telepathic. All of her ilk was telepathic to a certain degree. She could read the thoughts without any effort. The same was not true of her master. Emetrius could not read his thoughts without linking their minds together. Emetrius was empathic; he could sense the emotions of others, nothing more. He began the dark transformation of this man to force the information from him. His victim's pleas fell onto deaf ears. He recalled the events of the afternoon, the sudden appearing of the blue box through the man's eyes. Where the man had not taken notice of most of the events, it was as if he chose to forget them after they occurred. It was as if he had been compelled to forget as if his perception was altered. Interesting. He learned that the man in the blue box was called simply The Doctor. Emetrius broke contact and let the man slump to the floor. The man was still begging, albeit for a different reason now. The transformation was beginning and he wanted more. The man was becoming a vampire. Emetrius looked at Janaline and simply said, "Finish him." Without a backwards glance, he left. Janaline looked watched him go and pondered for a moment what he meant about finishing him. The man had risen to his feet and grabbed her in an embrace, almost as if he was trying to make her his first victim. She regarded him with dark mirth, and the she tore open his throat and finished him.
***
Emetrius was at the market place where the blue box had appeared. He was walking back and forth trying to determine why the Doctor had chose to appear there and what he may have been looking for. He became aware as Janaline approached him.
"Did you finish him?" he asked her.
"Yes."
"Where is he now?"
"I buried him deep underground."
"You didn't feel that he could have been valuable then?" he asked her with a hint of malice.
"I feel that his value had ended Master. You saw from him what I saw."
"So you took my instruction to finish him and an invitation to consume him?"
"I was not sure what he would have became if he had received the dark life from both of us. Do you?"
He regarded her with cold cruel eyes. She tested his patience and he constantly had to be on guard around her as her power of mind reading was intense and growing stronger. He had rapidly decided to test that theory when he begun the transformation of that man. He guessed, correctly it seemed, that she would indeed consume him and the dark life that he had deposited in him. She was indeed growing powerful and he was not sure if he could easily control her any longer.
"I don't what would have happened. Maybe we could test that one day. You have done well this day. Create more of our kind and send them out to look for the blue box. Where ever it appears I want to know about it. You have done well today Janaline. I give you this in return." He said as he took her in a gentle embrace. He doubled her strength and in doing so, earned her loyalty. As an unintended side effect, he could no longer completely block her from his mind.