Content Warning: Body horror.

LVI. Echoes of Howls and Gnashing Teeth

Darkness hovers―soothing, painless.

I draw nearer to its cool embrace.

Cold envelopes me.

The more I drift, the colder it gets, the less pain I feel. I succumb, thoughts slowing, dimming, until my mind grows nearly silent.

.

.

.

But then, death begins to gently slip through my numb fingers.

.

.

.

My mind resurrects, synapses reconnecting, electricity reigniting, rapid fire signals alighting in short bursts of motion.

("You could not last longer than three months?")

Azmon?

A sudden chill cuts through the memories of the familiar voice, consuming it, blotting it out.

.

.

.

And then, something…hot―a fire―ignites.

It lights up within the hollow of my chest, warm and golden, flickering…curling…reaching―

―flames explode and lash outward; a violent combustion that cleaves open my soul.

The fire grows brighter and stronger, heat blasting like a furnace on the verge of eruption, piercing my veins and blazing out across every limb. It scorches every muscle, burns through every tendon, and sears each bone, until it devours my arms, my legs, my face.

I'm a supernova―white-hot and ancient, ready to collapse.

But I don't erupt. Instead, every nerve ending screams, broiling fire shooting through me like raw bolts of lightning, red-hot knives slicing me apart and roasting me from the inside out.

I lurch desperately, trying to grab onto something, anything, to escape the flames, but I'm immovable.

―pleaseno―

The fire rages and swelters, until everything inside of me bubbles over like hot oil.

I'm melting, dissolving inside a vat of acid―skin blistering, bursting and bleeding raw, blood vessels secreting magma like red-hot pus, bone marrow liquefying, brimstone flooding my nostrils, lava pooling at the back of my throat.

Breathing is agony.

―makeitstopsomeonepleaseanyone―

Layers of skin melt into layers of tissue melt into layers of fat.

Blood and water and mucus boil and convulse, trapped inside of me. Volcanic ash replaces the air inside the walls of my lungs.

I choke.

―helpme―

I want to cough up the scalding fire. I want to scream and beg for mercy. I want to die.

But the fire has already dissolved my vocal cords and cauterized my lips shut; melted my teeth and liquefied my tongue.

I am unable to make a sound.

―Ican'tdothisIcan'tIcan't―

I am no longer human. I am something molten, something foul.

The vicious heat presses and bears down, rending flesh from bone, until it inhales the last of my pitch black corpse.

I am only worth as much as the fire can consume from me.

―I'lldoANYTHINGanything―

I am a charred husk.

There is nothing left of me but ashes and black bones.

I am cinder and charcoal.

I am nothing.

But somehow, the fire continues to blaze, choking air, burning up nothing and everything.

―damnyouDAMNYOUALL―

It's at the center of my burning dust that I discover the beat of my heart.

It thumps relentlessly in the midst of my decay, wet and lurching, sending forth wave after wave of boiling blood.

I want to rip it out.

I want to tear every one of its fire-filled arteries out from inside of my blackened cadaver.

I want to scream, but my mouth remains detached from the rest of me.

―letmescreamIneedtoSCREAM―

The charred residue of gray matter writhes in pain and spirals into madness.

What's left of my carcass refuses to thrash in anguish. It lies eerily still, every limb petrified, even as the hellish flames continue to gnaw and chew and mangle.

The fire flays me down to my bones, flays me down to my soul, flays me down to a single scream of torment.

Not even insanity can quench the agony.

―killmekillmepleaseGodpleasekillme―

It isn't until my skeleton begins to rearrange itself that I realize I'm more than just ashes and a flaming heart.

Bones began to unhinge and snap in wet flicks.

My ribcage readjusts with sickening cracks.

My spine breaks, and clicks, and breaks again as it reforms itself piece by harrowing piece.

My pelvis gathers its splintered pieces and melts back together.

―justletmediepleaseLETMEDIE―

Every deranged thought lurches and plummets into incoherent mumbling.

Nonsense.

Delirium.

Rage.

―fuckwhatkillfirenothing―

Liquid iron reforms each limb, each muscle, each tendon.

―youDAMNwillGodIstop―

Sinew knits itself together.

―diediedie―

The flames reel violently and I hear someone scream, a clang of steel scraping against steel; a tormented sound.

―STOP―

They scream again.

And then again. A harsh ring that reverberates in my ears.

―please―

Was that me?

―KILLsomeonefuck―

Soothing voices chime like bells, in tandem with shrieks of screeching metal.

I ignore them.

Nothing is real to me.

Nothing but the fire.

―Godnowhy―

I am a molten and twisted pool of blackened flesh and bone. Unrecognizable. Until―

―I sharply began to perceive each individual, agonizing flame―a hot poker stabbing every last cell in my body, piercing the solid beds of my fingernails, the thin skin of my eyelids, the fleshy roof of my mouth.

There is no escape.

―damnyou―

The screams reach a new octave, clangorous and earsplitting; nails on chalkboard.

―thisisn'tpleasehelp―

Time means nothing.

And yet, I am viscerally aware of it.

―please―

Aware of each prolonged second in which the furnace devours me so wholly, I cannot understand how there is anything left of me.

―Ican't―

Again.

And again.

And again.

With every lash, I am driven further into madness.

―killme―

And when the flames begin to recede, my mind cannot comprehend it. Cannot fathom the sudden numbness in my fingertips. Cannot untangle it from every other rabid thought.

―burnyoufucking―

And then, the fire shreds its way up my throat, razing its every cell to dry ash, the flesh blistering and tearing under the coercive flames, shriveling and withering as I go mad with thirst.

―deaddeathhell―

That's when the beat of my heart becomes a desperate thing in my chest cavity, fluttering like a mad bird, furious, urgent.

The fire recedes from my limbs and pools like magma inside of my ribcage.

―firefuckingletGod―

My chest burns hotter and hotter, unrestrained fire ravaging my throat, until it quivers above the precipice of an implosion.

―burninghotterHOTTER―

And with one last violent lurch, my heart jerks to a stop.

A/N: Hope y'all liked my take on the vampire transformation! As always, reviews are loved and appreciated! :)

And thank you to Raviyoli for all your help! :)