The Grecians
Germania 978 b.c
After Zoë was born, I couldn't remember a time when I'd been happier. She was so sweet and she always managed to brighten my day. It wasn't long before she was already crawling. She'd been on her back staring at her hands when she noticed Sören start to leave, so she tried following him. I just smiled and watched until he turned and noticed her doing that. It just put a huge grin on his face and he held her and praised her for it long enough to make him late to talk to Lord Heidbrier.
Of course, Lord Heidbrier had been hoping for a boy. So naturally, he wanted Sören and me to try again. But we didn't want to. When it was just us, it wasn't hard to find time to have sex. But with Zoë around, I never wanted to risk her ever seeing us like that. I'd seen my parents do that before and it never ceased to sicken me whenever the memory crossed my mind. Sören had those same memories and was just as adamant about avoiding that as I was. We would let Aleida take her sometimes so we could try, but I never wanted to be away from Zoë long enough to put any real effort into having another child. The few times we did it weren't enough to get me pregnant. Neither of us were all that concerned about it anyway.
I knew that Lord Heidbrier wasn't thrilled that we had a daughter, so I tried to keep her away from him as much as possible. The last thing I wanted was for Lord Heidbrier to tell my daughter that she should've been a boy. I wouldn't hesitate to confront him if that ever did happen.
By late fall, Zoë was already trying to walk. Once again, Sören was to thank for it. Since Zoë was born, Sören liked to stay at home in the morning before he went out hunting, rejoining the other men. So Zoë was always sad to see him go. One day, she tried following him by forcing herself onto her two feet and walking towards him. She didn't get very far, but she attempted and that made Sören's day. By the time she saw her first snow, Zoë had said her first word. Sören wanted it to be daddy of course, and I wanted her to say mommy. But in the end, her first word was beetle. We weren't sure how that happened, but it was cute either way.
From there, Zoë was gradually learning her words and how to put them together. By her third winter, she could already form sentences. They weren't perfect, but that was okay. It wasn't long after that, that Zoë would follow Sören to the door and ask him to stay home for the day. It made me smile to see Sören look guilty a moment before he'd promise to take her with him one day. That plan didn't thrill me, since I knew that would put her with Lord Heidbrier and Sören's brothers. But he assured me that as long as he was with her, she'd be fine.
Reluctantly, I agreed to let him take Zoë hunting with him for the day. I was worried sick for her since she left and all I thought about all day was whether or not she would be okay. And I made a mental note to myself to never agree to this again. When they finally came home, it was with a large buck and Zoë was all too proud to say that she and Sören caught it together and that they got the biggest deer of the group. I could tell Sören enjoyed having her too from the smile he had on his face when they came home and he put Zoë down and let her run to me.
By the time it was her fifth summer, she was already speaking in full sentences. But that same summer, Lord Heidbrier passed away. I wasn't sure how to feel during the funeral. No one was crying, not even Aleida. And in truth, she was the only one who ever cared about him I'm sure, since she was his sister. The day of Lord Heidbrier's funeral, Sören had to officially take lordship over the village like his father wanted. This earned a lot of arguing from his brothers, but he managed to put them in their place, but not before asking me to remove Zoë from the situation. He didn't want her to ever see a part of him that might scare her.
Sören didn't look happy when he came home that day. He just ate his dinner quietly and went straight to bed. Zoë wanted to be with him, but I made her go to bed and let him be until tomorrow.
By now, Zoë was already about the same age as I was when I came to Heidbrier. She was a smart girl that loved to come with me while I got water and play around in the forest. She loved to go hunting with Sören every chance she got and was always proud when she managed to shoot an arrow or throw a spear all by herself. The men that Sören went hunting with always thought it was strange that he would allow Zoë to do such masculine activities, but since he's the Lord of the village, no one questioned him. Steffen, on the other hand, thought it was cute.
Steffen has long since stopped hunting. His son will usually get food during the hunt for him and Aleida. Zoë loved going to Aleida's and Steffen's house and having dinner with them. They were both as kind to her as they were to me and she was to refer to them as Aunty and Uncle, just like me and Sören. And she didn't appear to be changing too much from her childlike appearance, so I wasn't worried about having to be bound by village decency to have her married. I don't think Sören would allow it, though. Anyone that married Zoë would have to go through rigorous talking to with Sören. He'd already told me several times before that Zoë wouldn't marry until he found a man that was worthy of her. He warned that he might never find that.
"Can I go hunting with you again tomorrow, daddy?" Zoë would ask this every day during dinner and Sören would tell her yes or no. I appreciated that he always gave reasons when he said no. This time, he shook his head.
"Not this time, Zoë. When we got back, one of the men informed me that they found a dead body in the woods. It wasn't one of our own, but it was odd none the less."
"Why was it odd, daddy?" I looked at Sören, just as curious as Zoë was.
"I don't know. I'm taking a look at it tomorrow." Then Sören looked at me. He was lying about waiting until tomorrow to see it. A random dead body wasn't something he ignored. Him looking at me was his way of telling me that he needed to talk to me about it. Taking the hint, I turned my attention to Zoë with a smile.
"Zoë, do me a big favor and go to Aunty's. She said there was something she needed your help with." Zoë looked at me and Sören before she nodded her head and walked out of the tent, making her way to Aleida's house. Aleida had never asked for anything, but she knew that if I sent Zoë over to do something, it meant Sören and I needed to talk and she would give her something to do. "How bad was it?"
"Bad. It seemed like the man was completely drained of blood. It was so odd. And his eyes were wide. It was like he was staring in the eyes of death those last few moments of his life. And the weirdest part was that whoever did it smashed a whole in his chest." I gave him a weird look.
"A whole in his chest? Why?"
"I don't know."
"It wasn't an animal, was it?" Sören shook his head.
"No. An animal wouldn't be able to do something like that. If it were an animal attack, the scene would've been bloody. But there was nothing. He was completely clean of all his blood. And he had four human bite marks on his body. Two were on his neck and one on each wrist. This definitely wasn't an animal attack. A human did this. Four to be more specific."
"Cannibals?" Sören shook his head.
"If they were cannibals, there wouldn't be a body left. They wouldn't have taken just the blood and not the meat. And it looks like the attackers drunk his blood by puncturing his skin with their teeth."
"Do you think they're coming our way?" Sören shook his head.
"They would've been here by now if they were coming this way. My guess is that whoever did that is continuing east."
"That's good at least. We don't have to worry about them."
"Maybe. I have a bad feeling about this. So I want you and the other women to stay in the village. And I don't want Zoë in the woods either."
"Does the village know about this?" He shook his head.
"Not yet. I'm telling them tomorrow morning."
"Why didn't you tell everyone as soon as you all got back?"
"Because we wanted to know as much as we could before we got rid of the body. I don't want anyone to see that. Just looking at it sent a chill down my spine." I scooted closer to him and rubbed his arm, trying to be comforting.
"Whatever it was is gone now. You said it wasn't likely that they were heading this way, so there's nothing to worry about. We should let everyone know so we can be cautious, but try not to think about it too much." Sören took a deep breath before he looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Just promise me that you and Zoë won't go into the woods. At the very least, never go alone." I nodded.
"Don't worry, Sören. I'll always have her close." He smiled and brought my hand up to kiss it.
"Thank you, Heidi." I smiled at him and nodded my head.
Zoë came home with a large pile of fur that Aleida told her to give me to prepare for fall. Sören kissed her forehead and took the furs before telling her to go to bed. She did as she was told and Sören and I stuffed the furs with all the others we had and I cleaned up a little before going to bed.
As he promised, the next morning, Sören informed all the people in the village about what he and his men found and cautioned us to stay out of the woods and never leave the grounds without someone, or preferably a lot of people, with us. Zoë tried asking Sören what was out there, and I could tell it broke his heart to tell her he didn't know. All we knew were that these attackers were human.
The villagers were all terrified by the news. Parents were telling their children they weren't allowed to leave the village and were no longer allowed to be out of their parent's sight. I'd never seen anyone in such a panic. It was like this sort of thing had happened before or something similar. I didn't think too much about that at first. I figured that if Sören knew what was going on, he would've told me already.
What I found odd, though, was the fact that he and the others were staying up all night watching camp and sleeping all day. That made me nervous. They weren't even doing it in shifts. Normally, Sören being home would make Zoë overjoyed. But all he did when he was home was sleep. I wasn't even sure if he was eating. I wanted to talk to him about it, but there was never a time when he was home or awake where I could talk to him. But after a few days, I decided we needed to talk about this. So I sent Zoë to Aleida's house again, but I told her to spend the night there. I knew Aleida wouldn't mind keeping her for a while. That morning when Sören came home, he looked like he was about to pass out from tiredness and then he looked surprised when he saw that Zoë wasn't there.
"Where's Zoë?"
"She's at Aunty's house. I wanted to talk to you alone for a minute." Then he sighed and shook his head.
"It can wait, Heidi. I'm tired."
"You've been tired every time you came home and you always leave again as soon as you wake up. I'll let you go to sleep as soon as you tell me what's going on."
"I already told you. We're being cautious."
"You said they wouldn't come here, so what's the problem? And even if they make it to our village, they're just four people. What's the worst they could do?"
"They're not just four people, Heidi. They aren't even human." I gave him a weird look and ignored the slight outburst.
"What do you mean they're not human? What are they?" Sören went silent a moment and avoided eye contact with me. I stood up from the pit where I was sitting and walked over to him and took a hold of his cheeks in my hands. He still didn't look at me, but I asked again anyway. "Sören, please. What aren't you telling me?" He looked at me then and I saw something in his eyes I'd never seen before. Fear. He looked terrified.
"I think what attacked that man…….I think they were blood drinkers." I shrugged.
"We figured that out already." He shook his head.
"That's not what I mean. I think we're dealing with vampires." His eyes seemed to hold more terror when he said that. I'd never heard of a vampire. But whatever they were, they were strong enough to put a chill down the spine of the strongest man I knew. That alone was what frightened me.
"What are vampires? Why is that so bad?" When Sören sighed, it was shaky, like he was sincerely scared.
"They're the living dead. What was once human became a blood drinker answering to only themselves. They're ruthless and almost impossible to destroy. Nothing you do can kill them unless you manage to tear them apart and set them on fire."
"Why is that so hard to do?"
"Because vampires are stronger, faster, smarter, everything that me and my men aren't. Tearing a vampire apart is like trying to dismember a rock. And none of our weapons can do anything against them, no matter how sharp they are. Their skin is impenetrable."
"Then why don't we try to leave?"
"Moving is out of the question. We don't know where they are right now and if we bump into them, we're as good as done."
"But you said they were going east."
"I said I think they're going east, that doesn't mean I know. And unless I know, we stay here until it's safe."
"How long will that be?" Sören breathed out.
"Until we stop finding dead bodies drained of blood in the woods." My eyes widened.
"You mean you've been finding them still? Why didn't you tell me that?"
"Because you would panic. I don't want you to panic. It's bad enough that I'm already panicky about this. If those vampires attack, we'll have no way to defend ourselves against them."
"There has to be some way to defend ourselves. They can't be invincible."
"They aren't. But they're strong enough that we can't fight vampires." Sören looked at me and I think he saw the horror on my face. He sighed. "Just stay out of the woods, okay. I don't want anything happening to you or Zoë." I nodded awkwardly. "Now let me get some sleep, alright Heidi. I'm exhausted."
"Thanks for being honest with me."
"I'm not sure thanking me is really what you want to do."
Sören plopped into bed after that and he was snoring lightly after a minute. I looked at him for several minutes, even after he'd fallen asleep. I'd already been nervous and now it was worse. My own fault for demanding he be specific, I suppose. I would certainly be more of a stickler about not letting Zoë in the woods. Zoë came back a few minutes later and pouted the moment she saw Sören asleep. It had become normal for me and Zoë to walk around the village and do just about nothing while all the men were asleep.
After Sören told me what was going on, I never questioned him about the matter. Not even when winter came along and still nothing happened and they were still pulling all night look outs. But near the middle of winter, Sören and the others finally stopped finding bodies drained of blood and started to lay off. Zoë was overjoyed to have her father at normal hours again. And Sören made up for all the lost time with her and spent as much time with her as possible. He still didn't let her near the woods, but he still gave them things to do.
It was still winter and the sun was hardly out. The nights were longer than the day. That meant less time for hunting and daily chores. I always liked the winter. I might not get as much done, but I got more time to relax with the lack of day time. One night after dinner and after tucking Zoë into bed, Sören were laying in bed, both smiling.
"She's so happy to have you back home, you know." He nodded.
"I know. I'm sorry to have to do that. I was just trying to make sure that nothing would happen."
"I know." Sören turned his head to face me and I turned my head to look at him when he was silent for a minute. "What?"
"Did you miss me at all, Heidi?" I smiled and nodded my head.
"Of course I did. It's nice to be able to talk to you again. I was starting to get lonely." He shook his head.
"That's not what I meant actually."
"What did you mean then?" He smiled a little nervously at me. Then he took a deep breath and scooted onto his elbow so he was looking at me.
"I noticed something while I was doing those all night watch outs."
"What's that?" He smiled a little more, almost shyly.
"I've always had you close since we got married. We always talked to each other and you always made my day better no matter how bad it was. And it only got better when you gave me Zoë. I never thought I'd have the privilege to be happy. And when I didn't get to talk to you pleasantly or hear you laugh and see you smile or see the same with Zoë, I was depressed again." I smiled and caressed his cheek after I turned onto my side to look at him.
"At least you can be happy now." He turned serious then and I waited for him to explain what he was thinking. He didn't say anything again and that made me nervous. "What's wrong?" He shook his head.
"Nothing, Heidi. Just happy to be home again." Then he reached over and kissed me. The kiss was odd in a way. It lasted longer than usual. And it felt warmer somehow. Then he pulled his lips away and fell onto his back. "Good night, Heidi."
"Good night, Sören." I turned onto my back and looked up at the ceiling again. I fell asleep a short time later.
The next morning, I woke up with Sören and Zoë sitting at the fire pit eating breakfast. Zoë glanced over at me and smiled when she saw that I was awake. Sören looked over his shoulder and smiled at me too and I smiled at them both. Zoë stood from her spot and came over to me and pulled me up to my feet until she could lead me to the pit. When we were all finished with breakfast, Sören kissed me and Zoë on the head before going towards the quad of the village. Evidently there was a dispute over ownership of a hound or something along those lines. Sören hadn't been very specific about it. I think he knew I didn't really care much.
With Sören busy, that left me and Zoë alone for most of the day. We knew there would be nothing more enjoyable than to go be with Aleida, so that's what we did. We went to her tent and sat together and talked while we sewed some more winter clothes. I was only a little jacket away from a fully white rabbit skin fur dress. I had the dress and the boots I made myself with some fabric Sören and the other men had stolen from another village that was off white to make a shirt that went under my dress. Now all I needed was a fur coat.
By the time it was almost dark out, I'd finished enough of the coat that it looked more like a vest at the moment. Zoë and I left Aleida's to go home and get ready to start dinner. One the way home while walking past a gathering of trees, Zoë stopped and kept holding onto my hand. I felt her stop and looked at her confused. She was staring out into the woods.
"What's the matter, Zoë?" Zoë didn't answer me. She kept looking towards the woods at whatever had caught her attention.
I looked up in the direction she was looking and saw what it was she was staring at. There was a shining light coming from behind some trees. It was in the shape of a human figure. Whatever was causing the light was walking from behind the trees and was getting closer. What appeared was a gorgeous man like nothing I'd ever seen. His hair was short, brown, and curly and went slightly over onto his forehead with well defined brows from what I could see. His face was chiseled and stunning with bone structure that was far too perfect to be human. What was odd was his skin was shining and had an oddly pasty look to it despite it's obvious tan undertone. And he wore a white tunic with sandals even though it was freezing cold outside.
"Who is that, mommy?"
"I don't know, Zoë." Whoever this man was, he looked at me when I started talking. How strange. Then he smiled charmingly. It was a dazzling, blinding smile that actually made me melt.
"He's so handsome." I nodded absentmindedly, but I wasn't really agreeing. I wouldn't argue the man was stunning. But there was something about him that bothered me. Scared me even. He was far too perfect. No human was this perfect. A god perhaps, or even a demon, but not a human. And that made me uneasy.
"Zoë, I want you to go to the quad and tell your father this man's here."
"That won't be necessary, wench."
I practically leaped back a good few feet when the man was suddenly right in front of me and Zoë and made us both scream. That would at least let the others know something was wrong. He had a heavy accent that I'd never heard before. I finally saw that his eyes were red. That definitely wasn't something humans had. He grinned at the screams we made and walked a little closer. I realized his scent was strong, but it wasn't human either. It was sweet. So very sweet. It was intoxicating and made me feel like I could eat him.
"I'm sure the rest of your village already knows we're here. My coven has already picked their own spots of attack." I started shaking and so did Zoë. I tried backing away with her, but he kept following us so that his face was uncomfortably close to mine.
"You're the ones responsible for those murders. All those people my husband found in the woods drained of blood." He shrugged.
"I doubt it. My coven and I've only just arrived. We've gotten bored with Greece, you see, and we wanted to sight see. I can't understand why they would want to come here, though. All the languages are so harsh and vile. Just this moment, I feel as if I'm trying to spit. Give me Greek any day. Now that's a flowing language."
"What do you want?!" I was surprised I had the strength to yell at this man. He lifted his brow at me and smiled. As he moved slightly closer, the clouds covered the sun and his skin stopped shining.
"What any vampire wants. Blood." Then he looked in another direction and I started to hear people screaming. I was trembling more and he started laughing. "I see my coven has already started having their share. I suppose I should follow suit." He chuckled cruelly and I took Zoë's hand and started running away from him.
The man didn't follow us. I wasn't sure why he didn't, but that wasn't something worth thinking about at the moment. What I saw when I ran away was much worse, though. I saw people running in my direction, then turn away after they saw something. I looked over my shoulder and saw the man standing in plain sight with a cruel grin on his face. I started running again and pulled Zoë with me. I ran around tents hoping to lose the man if he was following me. But then, one minute, Zoë's hand was in mine. Then, suddenly, she was gone. I looked where she should've been and she was gone.
"Zoë?" I looked behind me and saw a woman that I'd never seen before. She looked similar to the man from before and was curvy and flawlessly beautiful. But all that matter was that she was holding my screaming daughter by her hair. "ZOË!!" The woman laughed cruelly, then spoke in a language I didn't understand.
"Λυττάμαι. Αυτό ανήκει σε σας?" I wasn't sure what she was asking, so I had no idea what to say except the obvious.
"Give her back now!" She smiled and laughed a little more. Then, suddenly, she and Zoë were gone. "Zoë?!"
I ran in the direction the woman had been standing and tried to look for her. I looked all around but I could find her or my daughter anywhere. I started running towards the direction people were running away from, hoping I might encounter the woman. I saw Sören running and I knew he saw me, but I didn't go to him. I wanted to find Zoë. But he came to me and took a hold of my arm and forced me to look at him.
"What are you doing?! The vampires are that way!"
"One of them has Zoë! I have to find her!" The moment her heard me say Zoë was in trouble, he shook me.
"YOU LOST ZOË?!"
"The vampire took her from me, Sören!"
"Well, come on!"
Then he was suddenly pulling me in the direction I'd been going before. I ignored all the screaming around us, only caring about getting Zoë back. Sören yelled out to Zoë when we saw her, but she wasn't on her feet. She was on the ground with her face down and there was blood all around her head. I screamed her name and ran over to her and took her in my arms after falling to the ground. When I picked her up, I saw the spot where the blood was coming from on her neck and I screamed her name again and crushed her to me and cried.
I didn't hear Sören say a thing about it. I think he was just stunned and heart broken into silence. I couldn't stop crying as I held Zoë to me begging her to come back to me. She was the one thing I loved most and I didn't want to let her go. While I was holding her, I felt something that felt like rock take a forceful hold of my shoulders and lift me up and I felt teeth on my neck all within a mere second or less. I never let go of Zoë, even when I felt sharp teeth sink into my skin and I screamed out in pain. Then the one holding me let go of me suddenly. I looked over and saw Sören attempting to stab the man from earlier.
"Get out of her, Heidi!" I was trembling a moment in fear. He saw that and it made him angry. "Damn it, Heidi, I said get out of here!"
This time, I did as he said and ran away into the woods as fast as I could. I felt blood running down my shoulder and my shoulder was hot, but I ignored it. As I ran with Zoë still in my arms, the burning in my shoulder was progressively getting worse and worse and spreading. I was halfway through the woods and could still hear the screaming when I couldn't move anymore because of the unbearable pain in my shoulder that was only spreading. I fell to the ground and landed on my back. Shortly after that, I was in so much mind numbing pain that I started screaming. I would take childbirth over this pain any day and be happy. This was more than I could bare. It was like my skin was on fire and the fire was spreading rapidly and my heart was beating faster than ever. I could actually hear my heart racing and pounding in my ears.
I finally released Zoë from my arms, terrified that I would crush her if I kept holding her in my arms. I was screaming loudly into the sky with no regard of my surroundings wanting desperately for the pain to go away. It was without a doubt worse than death. As I felt the pain radiating through my body, another woman I'd never seen before stood before me with the same evil smile as the others. The man and woman from before stood above me as well. I could barely concentrate on what they were saying, even if I could understand them.
"Θα πρέπει να τελειώσουμε την?" The woman with longer, wavy hair said. The man shook his head and kept smiling.
"Αριθ. νομίζω μια γνώριζε ζωής είναι αυτό που χρειάζεται. Εξάλλου, είχαμε ήδη μας γεμίζουν με αίμα." When the man said that, they all laughed together and the women both nodded their heads and the one that I remembered as being the one who took Zoë spoke next in a voice that I thought sounded almost seductive and evil.
"Αυτό θα αποτελέσει ένα: τρεις ημέρες." They all laughed again and the other two nodded in agreement. They walked away from me babbling on again in Greek.
I lost all track of time as I felt the pain all through my body. Minutes felt like days and I was burning to a crisp, but still alive. My heart kept pounding in my ears. I couldn't recall when I stopped screaming. Screaming seemed to do me no good. When night came, it started snowing and I noticed vaguely that the snow didn't melt when it touched my skin. I couldn't understand it. I felt like I was scorching and yet my body wasn't melting the snow.
Everything on my body hurt and I could feel nothing but fire. I wanted so badly to die. Anything would be better than this. I longed for the cold hand of death to take me to my husband and daughter. I couldn't sleep because of the pain, but I closed my eyes and wished it all away. I felt hotter than ever. The only indication of time was the rising and setting of the sun above me. But I couldn't concentrate on it anyway. I didn't have the strength to.
By the third time the sun rose, there were clouds in the sky that were covering the sun. I smiled when I felt the pain leave my fingers and toes. Then it gradually lifted up my body. But all that heat was centering in my heart and it began to beat even faster. I wasn't breathing anymore. I couldn't remember when I'd stopped or if I'd ever stopped before this. I couldn't remember anything but this pain that was worsening in my chest. Then all the pain was in my heart and it beat furiously. Then, suddenly, the fire was gone and my heart beat one last time, then went silent.
I breathed out a breath I hadn't realized I was even holding, then breathed in again. The air wasn't a necessity, but it brought with it the taste of my surroundings. I breathed through my nose and my throat burned from a savory, delicious smell that was in the air. I lifted my hand to my right shoulder and touched there. I could swear I remembered there being a wound there, but now it was healed as if it'd never been there. I was on my feet in the blink of an eye and was astonished by the speed at which I did that. I looked around just as quickly and saw my little girl, Zoë, laying in the ground with dried blood all over her body and her eyes wide open from fear. My eyes burned, but nothing came forward. I touched just below my eyes, but no tears formed. Why?
I walked over to her and took her in my arms and made my way to the village. When I got there, villagers were scattered all about, all completely drained of blood. I saw Sören and it made my heart sink. He was drained of blood with both his arms broken. Most likely from the fighting he'd done. Sören was never the kind of man to give up without a fight when his family was in danger. That was something that made him such a good husband. I walked over to him and kneeled to my knees before him when I was close enough. Then I bent down and rested my head on his chest.
"I'm so sorry, Sören. I couldn't save you. And I betrayed you by becoming what you were trying to save me from."
I'd already figured out what had happened. I glanced towards a mirror on my way here and saw the irrefutable proof in my red eyes and flawless features and this desperate and sudden need for blood. I stayed with Sören and Zoë until it was nightfall again before I buried them, giving them a proper resting place. I buried them together. They'd always been close and Sören always wished he could spend more time with Zoë. It only seemed appropriate. When they were buried, I walked away from the village with no idea where to go or what to do next. I felt so lost and heartbroken and lonely.
I wandered away and didn't take any notice of my shining skin whenever the sun hit it while I was wandering. I was sure it was a beautiful sight, but I simply didn't care. I had no reason to care. My throat was burning and it was so painful, though nowhere near the pain of changing. I knew I needed blood, but I didn't want to get any. I kept walking telling myself that I was a monster and a traitor to my late husband and daughter.
Attempting to kill myself was out of the question. I already knew that the only way for a vampire to die was to be torn up and set aflame. That's what Sören had told me and he knew a lot more about this whole thing than I did. But as I was walking around, a smell caught my attention. It was a delicious smell, savory with a hint of sweetness. The sweetness smelled a little like fruit. I looked where the smell was coming from and was astonished with myself to see it was a good mile away. And I could see my target even from that distance. It was a woman all alone in the woods humming to herself gathering apples. I couldn't take the burn anymore and without a thought crossing my head, I ran to the woman and had her neck to my lips in under a second.
She screamed, but it was muffled from the gargling sound of blood in her throat. When she stopped struggling, I lifted her up to my level and drank her dry. She was a short little woman and her blood, when I was done, wasn't enough to satisfy me, though it did make me feel a lot better. I smelled the air hoping to find another scent. I was going purely on instinct now. I picked up a scent and followed it the moment I had it. I came across a small gathering of people and eagerly attacked them all.
When I'd drank all their blood, the burn in my throat was finally soothed and I couldn't fight the sigh of contented relief. I continued onward from that village and kept walking with no destination planned. I noticed a few days of walking later that the climate was getting warmer. It was subtle, but there. I ignored it for the most part, keeping the thought way in the back of my mind. But when I entered a land that had minimal snow and the climate was much warmer than that of my home, I stole one of my victim's clothes so I wouldn't look so obvious. It was a colorful, but simple dress that hung down and tied just under my breast. She must have been a wealthy woman.
There was something I noticed that was odd. I would see images of people in my head as others passed by. One time, that image was that of a little boy and I kept his face in my mind. That's when a woman ran over to me crying hysterically and saying the name Alfredo over and over again. She took me by surprise and I simply drank her blood when she forced herself into my arms for a hug.
Shortly thereafter, when another image came to my head, I did the same as before and kept that image in my mind. Then, as before, someone came running to me with tears of joy. Another time, a man started walking towards me yelling in a rage and didn't stop yelling at me until he tried to stab me and he saw that didn't work. I drank his blood as well as left the matter as it was. One day, I tried keeping several images in my head at once and I was surrounded by people that were either happy and crying or angry and yelling or seemingly pleasantly surprised.
I wasn't sure what it was I was doing, but it certainly made hunting a hell of a lot easier, so I didn't complain about it. Before long, I was in a country where the sun was burning brightly and the sun was relentlessly shining off my skin. I would walk past people and they would stare at me in awe. Sometimes I would leave them alone, other times I would take advantage of their dumbfounded state and attack. It was all mostly small villages scattered about and lots of sheep and hills. I came across a coastline at one point and just followed that. It was a relaxing walk and made the trip slightly pleasant.
While I was walking one night, something came to my mind. It wasn't an image as much as an ambition. A feeling of success and accomplishment more or less. I thought about it thinking that it was such a strange thing for me to suddenly start thinking about, but then I smelled something sweet and heard footsteps coming towards me. I turned in the direction of the sound and saw a man I'd never seen running towards me with an evil grin. I backed away ready to attack him.
When I did, he stopped abruptly and lost that evil grin of ambition and it was replaced with a look of confusion. After him came five other vampires. One had dark hair like this one and was holding the hand of a woman whose appearance reminded me of the Grecians that had attacked my village. The other man was light haired and had another dark haired woman running close to him and one female vampire that went straight to the man before me. Then she spoke in a language I'd come to understand while walking around in this country.
"Aro, darling, what's the matter? You just ran off on us so suddenly." Aro kept looking at me with surprise while all the others took their spots close to him. The blonde one was irritable looking and made his mood obvious.
"What the hell are you doing, Aro? I thought we were going to Athens." Aro nodded.
"We are. But something caught my eye." The woman holding Aro looked at me suspiciously, then looked back at Aro.
"What did she do?" Aro shrugged.
"I don't know. That's what I want to find out." They all gave Aro a strange look as he walked slowly over to me. I kept backing away, prepared to attack him and defend myself at any time. "Please don't be hostile. I simply want to hear your thoughts if I may."
I gave him a strange look too. It was an odd thing to say and even more odd when he closed the distance and took a gentle hold of my hand and closed his eyes. I stood there waiting for him to do whatever it was he wanted to do. It didn't hurt or bother me, but it was strange and I wanted him to stop. Aro laughed under his breath and that was odd too. Then he finally took his hand away and opened his eyes with a smile.
"Just as I thought. It was you who did that."
"And what did I do if you don't mind my asking?"
"Well, you see Heidi, I'm very interested in taking over where Vladimir and his coven left off. I wish to be a ruler you see and you thought about my ambition when you heard it in your head and it made me attracted to you because of it. I could feel my dream on you in a manner."
"Wait, how do you know my name?"
"I heard it in your thoughts of course. Heidi of the Heidbrier clan in Germania, formerly a member of Braun in your maiden years. You were changed when a group of Grecian vampires attacked your village and you've been wandering around since the transformation. You've noticed that whenever you think of something in your head, people come to you and make it easy for you to hunt. Am I about right?"
I stared at Aro blankly a moment. I wasn't sure what to think. Everything he was saying was true and I couldn't understand how he knew. I'd never met this man before in my life. I would've remembered him if I had. Instead of saying anything, I nodded my head confirming what he just said.
"That's what I thought. I must say it's an interesting gift you have. It seems you can make people see what they desire, like in my case, my ambition. It's a wonderful and useful gift." The blonde walked a little closer.
"Aro, we don't know this vampire. Why should we let her into our coven?"
"Because she's strong, Caius. That's why we should let her into our coven. We can't take over with mine and Marcus' power alone. We need manipulative powers like Heidi's. Mark my words my friends, the more allies and coven mates we have, the stronger we will be."
Caius looked thoughtful a moment while Marcus looked slightly annoyed. I got the feeling that he wasn't all that interested in the coven. He kept his attention primarily on the woman holding onto him and his smile when he looked at her mad me hatefully envious. I'd never seen real love before, but it was plain to see when it was right in front of my face and I had to confess that I was jealous that they had that.
"I suppose you're right, Aro." Aro nodded at Caius' remark.
"Of course I'm right, Caius. I'm always right." Then he turned his attention back to me. "Now Heidi, please say you will join us. I know being a newborn isn't easy and I'm sure you would want the help at your disposal. And my coven would love to have your power handy."
I didn't answer him at first. I wasn't sure what I should do. The blonde one and his mate made me feel uneasy, but they rest of them were fine in a manner. And I wasn't sure what I should be doing. And I was desperate to have something to do to help me take my mind away from the pain I had. I knew I would always be cursed to think of my late husband and daughter and never have a moment's peace, but I could at least put it in the back of my mind with something to do. And maybe this would be good for me. I dared to think that maybe I would find something because of this that would heal my heart. Maybe even I could find someone like Marcus had found the woman on his arm. I dared to hope. So I looked at Aro and nodded my head.
"I will be happy to join your coven Aro." Aro grinned and clapped his hands together.
"Simply splendid. Now off to Athens. You'll love Greece, Heidi, it's a sight to see. The cities, the marvel, the bloodlust they have as a people, it's spectacular. And Athens is a place of learning. That reminds me, we need to get to teaching you how to read. I can't have you not reading. That would simply be cruel. And we'll need to teach you Greek while we're at it. I think Didyme is the best one for that job." I looked at the woman waving at me and she was smiling. I smiled and waved slightly back.
We walked away from the coast as Aro babbled to me about everything that needed to be done for me to be of good company. Didyme got right to teaching me Greek. I learned the language in four solid weeks with continuous rules on grammar and new words. I learned the written language a fourth that time. I learned so many things while I was with Aro and his coven. I'd never known how big the world was and what it had to offer. I saw the streets of Athens and watched the sports of Spartans and learned from Didyme the stories of Greek gods. No matter what I did, I could never forget what happened to me. But at the very least, I was learning to deal with it and becoming everything I realized I'd ever wanted to be. I remembered that I never had wanted to be married. I'd wanted to be independent and to learn about what the world had to offer. Though I wasn't happy how it happened, it was strange to see that in the long run, this was what I'd wanted all along.