Darkness.. Everything around me black. I was sinking deeper into it, it was swallowing me completely. I fought against it, trying to claw my way toward the flickering light so high above me. So far.. So far away it seemed.
Cold.. It was so cold. The air around me felt cold as ice. It stuck to the inside of my nose and mouth, freezing every vein and tissue. I wanted warmth. So badly I wanted to be out of this cold.
I opened my eyes further, seeing miles and miles of bare land flying beneath me. Trees, rocks, rivers, they were tiny specks on the ever expanding earth below. How could I see this? Was I dead? Did those ghost women kill me? No.. Please no. I could not have died like that.
I saw the sky above me, black as the devil's pupil. How could this be? Where was I?
Suddenly I felt fire, my entire body erupted in flames beneath my skin. It seared my nerves, burned my eyelashes and traveled into my throat. I wanted to scream but my throat felt so raw.
I cried out, my eyes flowing with tears as I tried to force the scream out of me. Someone, someone had to hear my cries, someone had to save me.
I saw a white ceiling above me, wood paneling leading from it to the floor. Where was I?
I saw a broken glass window, and something bulky on the floor beside it. What was that? I stared at it for as long as my eyes would allow me, and I still couldn't figure out what it was. The fire continued, snapping my focus back to it.
I clenched my teeth together, my lips were on fire. I opened my eyes again, turning my head, leaning against something soft. Then I saw it. Or her rather.
One of the blond women was sitting beside me, her dark eyes narrowed. She was smirking, her face so sinister looking in the light of the candle that sat on the table beside her.
Purely on impulse I struck out at her, my fingers outstretching toward her slender throat. She seemed so impossibly far, no matter how much I stretched I could not touch her. I didn't care. I would kill her, squeeze the very life out of her for doing this to me. Manners or values it didn't matter, everything was out of my mind but the thought of cracking her windpipe in my hand.
My hand finally found her throat, and to my shock her skin was not as cold as I would have anticipated. It didn't matter, I tightened my grip until I saw fear flicker through her eyes.
She stared away from me, panick stricken, her eyelids pulled back tight. Why did she not look me in the eyes?
I felt two pairs of hands pressing firmly onto my shoulders, jerking my hand away from her neck. No. How dare they not let me kill her!
I looked up the slender arms to their owners, the brunette and the smaller blond leaning over me.
"Careful, if you press too hard you will break his bones, he is not yet changed". The small brunette whispered hurriedly as the pressure of the blonde's hands lifted. I growled deeply, my anger and resentment reaching the surface. I don't know what came over me, but I wanted to rip all three of these women to pieces. Another pair of hands closed on my wrists forcing them over my head. The fire was still flowing freely through me, burning everything it touched.
I cringed, hearing my own cries echoing around me. My eyes squeezed shut as the fire reached it's peak. Such torture, when would this end?
"Yes". I could hear the brunette say, her voice not as songful as before. "It is almost time".
Almost time? For what? My death? Would I finally die and be rid of this pain?
Before my mind could process another thought, all the strength I had in me quickly drained. Every muscle turned to liquid, my arms falling limply at my sides. I felt my eyes rolling back in my head, but tried to focus on the brunette's face as she smiled coldly at me. That devil. If I could just lift my arms I would rip her to pieces. A gasp escaped my lips, but not after tearing my throat raw. I felt so cold, the fire long dying away. Weak, so weak.. I felt like a dying doe with a bullet in it's skull. It was taking so long for me to die.
Finally, my body and mind numbed and I felt nothing. I couldn't keep my eyes open and it felt as if my heart had stilled in my chest. So this is what it's like to die.
I fell backward, my eyes shutting and my mind plunging back into darkness once more as the women let out a collective long sigh.
When I awoke later, there was light, it was everywhere, it was as if the black void I fell into had disappeared completely. My eyes flickered open, burning as the sunlight passed beyond my eyelashes.
I blinked quickly, seeing strange beams of light on the walls as if the sun was reflected against a mirror. And I saw the dust, dancing and twirling through the beams of light as it floated in the air. Such a strange sight, had I awoken in heaven?
For a moment I lay still, watching a particular piece of dust float on the breeze out the double doors.
I breathed slowly, the motion doing little for me. No air seemed to enter my body, I might as well have not breathed at all.
My mind said I should rise from the bed, and just as the thought entered my brain, my body did the action. My head felt light, weightless as I pushed myself to a sitting position. My limbs felt graceful, my fingers long and sturdy as I pressed them into the soft mattress beneath me.
I glanced around me, finally taking in everything in the room.
It was a bedroom, much like the one I had as a child. A pair of glass doors led out to a long balcony that wrapped around the corner of the house. A vanity stood against the wall, a white dress shirt draped over the back of the wooden chair in front of was a simple room, no particular splendors that would make it different from my own home. It seemed quite plain really, nothing but the vanity and the bed.
I glanced to my left, my eyes trailing through the doors to an adjoining room with a porcelain tub in the center. It was smooth and clean, with legs made of bronze. It looked as if it belonged in a Parisian flat rather than what I assumed to be a plantation home. My eyes moved over the rim of the tub as they light shone on it, causing it to glimmer. It looked as if it'd never been touched, like a piece of artwork that no one was allowed to disturb. I pulled my eyes away from the tub, studying the room around me once more.
Everything looked so strange to me, and I saw so much.
I could see the little seams in the fabric of the sheets, tightly woven cotton.
I could see the long lines in the grain of the wood on the floor, they were like veins weaving across the surface. And it looked so life like, as if the wood were still in a living tree.
The mirror fascinated me the most, the reflection of a strange blond haired man staring back at me. Who was this man?
He looked like me, but never as I had seen myself before. I touched my hand to my cheek, the figure doing the same in the mirror. I felt soft, yet firm at the same time, as if iron replaced the bones beneath my skin. I traced my fingers down my jaw, resting them against my pink lips. They seemed to possess the same texture, soft yet firm. I lifted my hand in front of my eyes, staring at the small waves on the tips of my fingers that I had known my entire life.
My fingers seemed so much more textural, every line in my finger tip was pronounced. And my skin! My skin seemed to glow, almost shine in the sunlight.
I snapped my head toward the window as a strange noise reached my ears. I listened intently, stilling my breathing as to not create extra sound.
It was a horse, somewhere off in the distance. But no, not one horse, many! I could hear every stomp of their hoofs on the grass and every soft crack in their bones when they threw their heads back and forth. But there was something else... Many soft thumps, and not just one, but a whole series of them. Each beat individually, some fast and some slow.
My head whipped around toward the door as I heard a creak in the wood in the hall. Something was coming, or rather, someone. But unlike the horses I didn't hear any beats, just silence and the gradual dropping of a foot onto the wood. The door knob was turning a moment later, the brunette girl peering through the crack in the door silently.
I tensed instantly, curling my fingers back into a fist as I hissed. Hissed? Is that really what I just did? Like a snake? What was wrong with me?
She seemed unfazed by my reaction, gliding into the room gracefully as her long dark hair bounced against her shoulders.
I leaned back against the bedpost as she drew closer to me. Her demeanor was so calm yet something in her awoke fear in me; she wore the mask of a harmless woman, but her eyes spoke the truth, they held in them her true nature. I looked over her placid expression fearfully, resentment and anger building in me. She was a demon, but more than that she was a woman. I could break her, it seemed such an easy thing to do. That fragile neck, I could crush it if I wanted to. I growled deeply, lashing out at her wildly. She dodged it effortlessly, settling herself on the bed with a dark grin.
"You're alive." She said looking over me quickly, her eyes finally locking on mine. "I'm glad. I'm Maria, I created you".
"What have you done"? I snapped, my eyes narrowing as I looked over her.
She tilted her head to the side, smiling wickedly. "I made you a god". She was reaching out to me, her slender hand about to touch my cheek.
I willed myself away from her, suddenly finding myself on the opposite side of the room. I crouched on the wood, my eyes falling onto the lumps beside the glass door I had seen earlier.
They were two bodies, black slaves, drained completely of blood, their eye sockets vacant.
I pressed against the wall, hissing through my teeth as she looked up at me silently.
"Why are you surprised? That is going to be your life from now on". She muttered softly with a look of pure amusement on her face.
"What do you mean?" I bit out, my eyes flashing over her narrow face. "What have you done?!"
"I've already told you. You're a god." She said floating off the bed in one movement.
"Stop saying that you devil witch"! I stepped to the side, sliding along the wall as she walked toward me.
"If I am a devil then you are as well dear Jasper". She sang darkly as I shook my head. "Look at yourself closely. You will see the changes". She motioned to mirror and I nervously turned my head.
The same strikingly beautiful man was staring back at me, with high cheek bones, messy blond hair and piercing red eyes. I pulled away, shutting my eyes as she laughed lightly.
"Do not fret Jasper. I will tell you everything of what you are". She said in a tone that mocked one of a mother speaking to her child.
"Stop talking". I muttered holding my hands over my ears. Her voice was like electricity in my ears, shocking and numbing every nerve.
"Do you want me to show you instead"? She whispered darkly as her sinister smile grew. A second later she was out the doors, flying through the air as if she were light as a leaf. She fell over the side of the balcony, disappearing into the fields.
She was back before I could breathe, standing before me with a frightened girl tucked under her arm.
I sucked in a breath, watching the girl struggle against her slender arm.
"Beautiful isn't she? I could make her one of us if you'd like". She said softly, brushing her fingers across the girl's forehead into her hair. Her eyes flickered up at me, a gaze more aloof and cold than one I could have imagined from a human. She completely disregarded this girl's life, looked at her as if she were nothing. And I was right, I heard it in her voice. "But she is weak." Her lips turned down into a frown, her eyes falling half way shut.
"What do you mean one of us"? I stammered, watching the girl look at me wearily.
"I will show you now." Her eyes shut tightly, her chest rising as she inhaled the air around the girl. "Listen.. Smell.. Use your senses and see what you are no longer". She muttered looking at me strongly.
I didn't want to do as she said, but I felt that my will was gone. I listened to the air, hearing nothing but a series of twittering thumps. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. It was thumping so quickly. What was that?
I then smelt the air, my throat burning as I did. Something was in the air, an aroma so enthralling and delicious I almost moaned.
"Smells good doesn't it"? She said softly, bowing her head toward the girl's head, her small nose brushing across the girl's dark ringlets. "Far better than anything you will smell from now on". She brushed the girl's hair away from her face, exposing her tan neck.
The captive girl whimpered her eyes leaking with transparent tears, her breathes were shuttered, her body quivering wildly.
I took a step forward, arriving in front of her effortlessly. What would have taken me five steps before, only took me one. I lifted my hand, dropping it against the girl's cheek as she cried loudly.
Her skin felt so warm, so soft and fragile, it was like paper under my light touch. My fingers pressed into her hair line, the soft strands sticking under my fingernails. I bowed toward her, watching her wide brown eyes turn up toward me.
"Let me show you". She whispered, her eyes glittering excitedly. She brushed the hair away off her neck flipping it over her shoulder, as she did, an even more intoxicating aroma filled my nostrils. Her eyes widened as a thought flickered across them. "Or better yet," She muttered, pushing the girl into my arms. "Let us see what your instinct reveal to you".
I looked down at her, my hands resting carefully on her shoulders. She felt so very frail, breakable really. If I wanted to I felt I could break her in half. I drummed my fingers against her shoulder blades, watching her eyes widen.
I pulled her against my chest, my chin pressing into her thick hair. My body was acting beyond my control; I was tracing my lips down the side of her face and across her lips, each of her shutters radiating through my skin. I could feel her breath wash over me, sweet and light and tasting of wine.
I pressed my head into the nape of her neck, the warmth of her skin heating my face.
"Drink". Maria whispered, her fingers lightly floating over the vein along the length of the girl's neck.
"What"? I shook my head looking up at her as her eyes narrowed and she threw her hand behind my head.
She shoved my face against her neck, forcing my mouth open against her skin.
It happened so quickly; my teeth were pressing into the skin, breaking it and opening a wound. I closed my eyes, trying to pull away from the blood rushing against my lips, but it passed behind my teeth and I forgot any hesitation. I drank and drank, crushing her body into me.
It was over soon, Maria's hand jerking on the girl's hair and snapping her from my grasp. I looked up and saw the girl's body laying limply on the bed, her skin grey and eyes vacant.
"Very good". Maria said proudly, her hand touching my face. She leaned toward me, her lips brushing briefly over mine, drying the blood from them. "Let's go meet Nettie and Lucy". She took my hand, pulling me alongside her as she passed out the door.
I followed her instinctively, not knowing what else to do. The blood had made me obedient or at least curious. She knew about all of my new talents, and the thirst I was feeling, and something about her drew me nearer to her.
I glanced over the railing, my eyes falling on a pair of blond haired women sitting on the wood floor of the foyer. They were the two I'd seen that night, I knew that for sure; they looked so much more beautiful to me, mostly because I wasn't scared of them anymore.
"He's awaken". The tall one grinned, her red eyes turning up at me.
"Finally. Maria we want to hunt". The other said as Maria rolled her eyes.
"Always the same with you Nettie". Maria groaned as she looked back at me. "That is Nettie and the other is Lucy. They are our comrades, so don't kill them". She said sharply as I nodded.
"Let's test his strength." Lucy said excitedly, looking down at Maria as we stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
"Yes." Maria grinned, her eyes sweeping across the room. "Let's do that".