What would you do when suddenly given phenomenal power? If immortality was yours for the taking, and blood was the domain through which you were unstoppable, what life would you lead? If all you had to do to live forever and never again be weak was drink the blood of your fellow man would you be able to live with yourself?
For me the answer was obvious.
I woke up so many years ago alone and afraid. You see I had died, I was a soldier in my previous life and when WW3 began I was one of the first to be called to the front. I did well for the first year, I survived by the skin of my teeth in some of the largest and most devastating mechanized battles in human history and I had even begun to make a name for myself.
I never saw the shell impact the side of my vehicle. I felt hot fiery pain for a split second before I knew no more. So you can imagine my surprise then when I awoke not in heaven or hell but instead in a vast plain of grass that stretched into the horizon. It was night when I woke and I was hungry, starving even.
The darkness was no impediment and at the time I gave it little thought. Delirious and starving I hobbled through the plains of tall grass desperate to find something, anything to eat. Eventually I caught the faint wisps of smoke in the air and on instinct my body changed course, and soon enough I was sprinting through the grass desperate to find the source of the smoke.
Smoke = Flame and where there was flame usually there were people, people who might have food to stop my all consuming hunger. Soon I found it, the source of the smoke. It was a small campsite with only two people huddled around a smoldering fire desperate for its warmth. When I saw them, clarity returned for just a moment.
I could feel the choice within my very soul take hold as I watched the two people turn towards me in slow motion. A father and his daughter whose faces were full of surprise and then terror when they saw me. I could either feast and drink my fill or I could turn around right now and die alone and in pain. Even as the daughters eyes filled with tears in slow motion to my vision and the two of them slowly rose to flee or fight I knew I had made my choice.
I didn't blackout, I didn't suddenly lose all ability to recall the slaughter that unfolded. That would be far too kind.
I remember vividly the way my fangs ripped out the fathers throat and his blood filled my mouth. It was delicious in every way, like the most succulent and buttery steak possible that had been coated in endorphins and physical love. It was intoxicating in every way and as I fed on him his memories flooded my brain.
From his birth, to his first kiss, to his wedding, to the birth of his child, the destruction of his village, and finally the last year he had spent desperately trying to keep himself and his daughter alive against bandits and marauders. It all flowed like a torrent into my mind and I drank them down just like I had drank his blood, almost like I was drinking his very soul.
When he finally flopped down onto the ground nothing more than a husk that had once been a man I felt amazing. My muscles flexed with power unending, my mind was faster than ever, my eyes could see farther and better than ever before, and in the back of my mind I could feel another power stir. I cared little for such things at the time though, instead my head snapped in the direction the daughter had run.
I could see her in the darkness. She was fumbling around without the ability to see what was in front of her all in the vain hope that she might escape my thirst. In an instant I was upon her and she was screaming as I sank my teeth into her tender flesh. Her blood was different from her fathers. Where his was like an impossibly good steak hers was like a fine wine with a pasta dinner. Different but still beyond delicious. Her memories too came like her father before hers had, in a torrent that I devoured with eager glee as I felt some unknowable part of myself grow stronger.
When her blood finally stopped flowing and her memories had been devoured I dropped her husk to the ground and simply walked away. I was still so hungry, so thirsty. It felt like no matter how much I drank I would never again be full.
Just like that I had killed someone else and drained them of their blood and soul. Just like that I was a monster tried and true. The days and months after that were more of a blur while at the same time being perfectly clear in my memory. Almost as if I had no control but still experienced everything.
During the day I had from the sun's dreadful rays that burned and drained me. The memories of the father and daughter were quite useful that first day as I was able to use them to chart a course to a nearby forest and hide in the underbrush. I was still badly burned but thankfully after twelve excruciating hours I was alive and the comforting darkness signaled it was time to hunt once more.
Some nights I went hungry, most I had to feed off the blood and memories of animals that left me even hungrier than I was before, but on occasion I would find a person or even a group of people. With every kill, human or animal I felt myself growing stronger, more conscious, and less animalistic. My hunger slowly began to subside and after three months of living as more animal than man I felt myself come fully into control of my body once more.
Looking around as the blood dripped down my chin the bandits that I had killed surrounded me. Their dried out bodies were little more than crusty imitations of what a man might look like. I felt little looking at them, something in me had changed irrevocably in the months I had spent only half in control of my body.
I was no longer a man, I was a monster of that I was certain, and monsters felt little for the fates of their prey. The deaths of the bandits did do one thing though, they gave me control once again and for that I was grateful. The thirst had receded for the moment and I was able to parse through my body and its abilities for the first time in truth since I had woken up in this new world.
In truth they were what I expected of a Vampire. Super strength, superhuman speed, unnaturally good eyesight, and of course my ability to consume memories. Though I will admit the memory consumption thing was a stumper when I first began to explore it, and not something I would have expected but I also didn't know what type of Vampire I was either so that could be looked over.
Basically I had access to the memories of everyone and everything I had ever fed upon until they died, but said memories weren't suddenly plastered onto my own. They were more like a library that I could peruse at my leisure by simply focusing and using my now near eidetic memory to remember their face and the taste of their blood to call upon the memories that I wanted to look into.
Which is also how I learned where and when I was located. According to the memories of my victims, I was finally able to actually look through for more than info on where my next meal would be or where to hide from the sun. I was in the great forest of Tob during the reign of the six great gods.
According to the memories of the bandits the gods had descended nearly thirty years ago and in that time they had already founded their kingdom and waged their war of liberation against the non-human races. While the lands dominated by humans and not the Demi-humans, elves, monsters, and other races wasn't nearly as large as it would be six hundred years into the future it was still a chunk of land about the equivalent to France and germany.
Of course I was working purely off the memories of those I had devoured, needless to say bandits and random unlucky peasants weren't the best source of world info. Still it was more than enough more me to sit down, put my head into my hands and scream my heart out for a good three minutes.
It was just my luck that I would end up in the world that had literal OP self inserts dropping into it every century or so. Hell the Six great gods on their own weren't a real problem because I knew they would die out in time and since I was a Vampire I could just wait until they died of old age, however long that took. The problem was they weren't the only fucks that would drop in and eventually Nazarick would spawn and all of their OP bullshit would be set loose on the world.
I could outlast the Six great gods, the Greed kings, and the evil deities no problem. Immortality was great like that and I knew they would all fall before Nazarick arrived in the world. I couldn't outlast Nazarick. Not only were they all heteromorphs and nearly one and all immortal, they were also way too powerful. Who needed over a dozen level 100 NPC's goddamnit!?
Eventually I was able to calm myself and continue exploring my Vampiric abilities, and it was here that I slowly began to gain my confidence back. Sure I may not be a singularly powerful existence anytime soon, but I definitely wouldn't lack for power.
First I started by trying to manipulate blood, mainly my own since I had drained all other sources of it nearby. To my surprise my blood responded with near impossible ease as soon as I tried to begin working it in my mind. The blood flowed from a cut I had made in my hand with my claws and soon enough I was spinning it in the air, forming it into weapons, and shaping it into shields and even armor.
The blood responded with ease and as I was manipulating it I could feel what could only be my soul slowly draining very slowly. It wasn't anything bad, just a slow tug at my soul to draw upon the power needed to magically manipulate my blood. Eventually I tried to put the blood back into my body only to realize my wound had sealed itself. I checked regeneration off my list of powers.
Instead of wasting the blood I went with the old fashioned way of returning it to my body and drank it. It had a bitter, coppery taste like regular blood but it did slightly abate the hunger I had been feeling. Though more in a return to form way than any actual satiation.
From there I had tried to turn into bats or a wolf or mist or really whatever, unfortunately I was unable to figure out the trick at the time and put a pin in that for another time. Thus the night went by slowly but surely as I explored the limits of my powers until I had a sort of basic idea. Blood manipulation seemed to be my primary magical ability along with the physical enhancements that come from being a Vampire.
I could do a lot with blood. As far as I could tell the only thing stopping me was my imagination and that pool of power in my soul. By the time day had come and I was forced to hide under about nine layers of cloth that I had scavenged from the bandits' tents I could even harden the blood in a way I didn't quite understand.
Blood is obviously a liquid, but by applying my will to it I could make it nearly as strong as steel from what I could tell. I almost crushed myself in an accident by cutting down a tree with it.
When the next night came I still wasn't quite so hungry that I thought I needed to feed and so I continued to learn the limits of my blood manipulation ability. Thus in the dark of the night in a small clearing I sat surrounded by a whirling ring of blood shields, blades, and saws all the color of beautiful crimson. Next to me even stood what I had dubbed 'Blood Knights'. They were literally just blood constructs like everything else around me, but after I had messed around with my devoured memories I was able to combine the two and insert the memories of the bandits fighting into them.
Suddenly the constructs were no longer completely lifeless without my attention. They moved around, listened to spoken orders, and seemed to possess a basic intelligence. Of course they were still under my complete control and I could feel them continuing to drain my magic but now at least I had backup and someone to talk to. Even if said people were literally magically created blood constructs.
Unfortunately I couldn't continue playing with my magic forever and the days and weeks of hunting began once again. Unlike last time however I wasn't a raging animal hunting everything and anything with a pulse. I used the memories I had from my victims to hunt down the main bandit camp and slowly pick them off one by one every night.
After the second week with a man going missing per night the bandits finally grew some brains and increased the size of their patrols. Not that it meant much against me. They had been soldiers once, having turned to banditry in the wake of a disastrous battle with a demi-human horde that had broken through into the kingdom of the Six.
The players had apparently been busy at the time and their army had been routed in battle against the superior Demi-human numbers and strength. These men had subsequently decided fuck fighting literal monsters and run off into the woods to make a new life for themselves raiding villages and stealing from others. I had killed ten of them while I was still feral and apparently they believed at the time some kind of beast was in the woods which is why they had been moving in large groups to begin with.
They didn't think the said beast would then begin to attack their camp like I had been doing, and I quickly learned from their memories that they believed some kind of Monster had found them and they were thinking of leaving the area completely. Of course I couldn't let such a great source of food escape me, so using the knowledge I had gleaned from their devoured memories I began hunting them down in truth.
There were a hundred and ten bandits in the camp after two weeks of hunting, but by the next week only fifty remained. They tried to fight back of course, and move locations. Unfortunately for them I was growing stronger, faster, more ruthless with every kill. Even when they sent out entire hunting parties after me they failed to stop my rampage.
The night became a time of blood and slaughter as I feasted without end. and no matter how far they moved in the day they never could move far enough away that I couldn't find them again. It was rapturous I will admit, I could literally smell their fear in the air and hear the sound of their blood rushing through their veins.
When the fourth week of my hunt began I decided it was time to end the fun and when night fell I assaulted their camp. My soul's reserve of power had grown exponentially deeper in the weeks since I began my hunt, their souls and blood propelling me to ever higher levels of power. It was to such a point that I was able to create and maintain ten Blood knights to help me in my assault.
Slowly me and my servants surrounded the camp. Little more than sticks and tents set up in a rough circle around a central tent where they kept their prisoners and ill-gotten gains. Torches lit up the area around the camp like spotlights to illuminate the darkness. The bandits kept a rotating guard of twenty at the ready at all times. Thirty asleep and twenty awake, it had been more in the beginning but my teeth had made quick work of that.
The night was silent and no sound could be heard from myself or my servants and with a mental command the assault began. Faster than my knights by threefold I was the first to reach the camp, more of a blur than a real presence the guards had barely reacted before I was upon the first of them.
From my palm a blade emerged of pure crimson, modeled after the greek Paramerion. Hardening in an instant and gaining a deadly edge less than a second afterwards my blade tore through the man's throat sending blood splattering across my face and chest. As he fell backwards clutching his throat I ducked the slash of a blade from behind.
Not wasting any time I spun on my heel and blocked the man's second swing and dodged his third by a hair's breadth. He was fast, faster than any human I had met up to that point, nearly my equal in physical capabilities. Nearly being the key word.
When he was for his fourth slash I moved and suddenly I was behind him and he was turning in slow motion as my blades tip entered his back and exited through his chest. With a singular motion I kicked him off my blade and spun around to observe what was happening. Screams filled the air as my servants engaged and killed the sentries while the rest of the camp rushed to gather their weapons.
My servants weren't the best swordsmen, but they were extremely hard to kill and inexhaustible which was more than enough to kill over a dozen of the bandits before they were able to begin fighting back. Eventually the bandits did begin fighting back though, and they were able to stalemate my knights for a time.
At least until I had gorged on enough of the dead to make a whirlwind of blood blades that I slammed into the bandit line, breaking their spirit as I sent them running in fear. I was a beast as I fell upon them, my knights trapped them from all sides or hunted them down and drug them back to me. It was a feast like none I had yet experienced at the time and hours passed as I drank, and drank, and drank from the screaming crying men who begged for their lives even as I killed their companions in front of them.
Eventually I did satiate my thirst and grow full after I had drained thirty of them dry. It seemed my thirst did have a limit.
Satiated for the moment I had my knights keep an eye on the remaining bandits and approached the central tent. I could smell the fear on the people inside and it only intensified when I stepped in and revealed myself to them.
I had changed in the months since my arrival. My clothes had long ago been abandoned after they had burned in the sun like the rest of me. Blood old and new covered my body and crusted my hair, my fangs were as noticeable as ever, literally jutting from my mouth when I opened my jaw.
The people in the tent didn't look much better. Comprising ten women, one older man, and three children, a boy and two girls I had a good idea of why they specifically had been spared. The women had been raped, including the children. I could smell the blood on them along with the semen and despair. The hollow look in their eyes only confirmed it for me.
The Older man and the boy though were there for a different reason. Their hands and legs were chained next to various tools and instruments. They were pale and sickly, their only use as far as I could tell being to maintain the bandits tools and weapons. They had likely been forced to work and watch as the Bandits used the women for their own pleasure.
A quick look at my new memories confirmed as much.
I had a choice here. I could kill them and drain them of both their blood and souls and thus end their pain, or I could break their chains, leave them the supplies they needed to survive and let them go.
Looking at them a third choice entered my mind, I could turn them into Vampires as well. I could become the progenitor of a new bloodline of Vampires as far as I was aware and these broken people could be the start of my own coven.
For a second I considered it, truly I did. I could see the fear in their eyes, and below it I could see the anger, the hate, the need for revenge. In the end though I decided against it. I would not kill them but I wouldn't go so far as to turn them into Vampires either, they had done nothing to deserve such a fate and I would not force it upon them.
Not until I was powerful enough to stop any of my potential spawn from turning against me.
My decision was made. I broke their chains without a word and left. I had little use for the bandits' treasures and even being the monster I was I wouldn't deprive them of the supplies they would need, especially when I had no use for them myself. Though I did grab some clothes that I figured would fit me, I was tired of walking around naked.
Exiting the tent I felt hungry enough to finish the job and killed the rest of the bandits. I pretended not to notice the fearful gazes of the captives as they watched me feed and quickly left. All except for the boy.
He watched and waited for me to be done without saying a word. He couldn't have been any older than sixteen by my guesstimation and he watched me feed without blinking. I had to give the kid credit he had balls if nothing else and when I finally finished feeding I turned to him and said my first words to another person since I awoke in this death world.
"Do you have something you wish to say to me child?" Figured I would go ahead and start building that Vampire elder image from the start you know? I swear to god my Vampire image would be aristocratic or I would die trying.
He said nothing, simply staring at me. "Do you have nothing to say to me Child? Or perhaps you are simply waiting your turn to be yet another meal?"
He once again said nothing. Before I could say anything else though he lifted his neck and I saw why he hadn't said anything. A single thin line of scar tissue crossed his neck.
I winced internally at the sight. "Ahh so you are unable to talk I see, my apologies I didn't know." He simply nodded and continued staring at me.
Silence descended upon us as we stared at one another and it quickly grew uncomfortable, especially considering I was still naked. Coughing I spoke, "DId you want something from me Child?"
I tried to keep my voice aristocratic but it's hard to keep a haughty attitude and tone of voice when the other person is staring at your naked body with little to no reaction.
Thankfully he nodded his head at my question and I was able to go from there. "I have saved your life, and I was kind enough to let you and yours go without thinking of hunting you down for an evening meal. What more do you think I would even consider giving to you?"
He stared at me before slowly tilting his head and pointing to his neck.
I stared. Did the new world have Vampires before the coming of the players? I honestly didn't know. Either way there was no way he was asking me to turn him. "You wish for me to make you like me?" I asked skeptically.
He blinked, surprise evident in his expression as new possibilities entered his mind. I realized he had literally been asking me to kill and eat him, which was just wow I felt even better about killing the bandits if they had been bad enough to make this kid want to kill himself via vampire.
Before I could say anything else though he began shaking his head yes with an excited look in his eye.
"My apologies but I will not be turning you into a Vampire at this time, I suggest you catch up to your group before I decide to act on the original intent of your request." I felt bad for the kid, I really did, but I would not have my first child be a literal child.
His eyes turnt downcast and I could see the depression that had only just begun to abate come back full force. Still I did need followers and eventually people to turn, so maybe I could use him as a seed for the future? "If you truly wish to be turned into another of my kind then I will give you an opportunity to prove yourself worthy of the honor."
His eyes snapped up and I could see the hope in them. "In ten years time I will find you again, and if you have proven yourself worthy of being my child I will bestow upon you the gift. Immortality, power, and magical prowess will all be yours. This I can promise you. If you haven't proven yourself in that time I will kill you." Stepping closer as I spoke I slit my hand delicately with a claw letting blood run down my hand.
"If you accept, mix your blood with mine and seal the pact." I said, extending my hand. Really I would just insert my blood into his body and use it as a homing beacon, but he didn't have to know that. Hell maybe the pact actually would work. I just didn't know enough about magic to tell if I even could do stuff like place homing spells on other people through blood pacts so this would have to do for now.
The boy stood there for a second looking at my hand seemingly fraught with indecision. Eventually however he looked around him at the bandit camp that had captured and tortured him and with a steeled will took my hand.
I smiled.