Chapter 1 - Roman
There is nothing as magnificent as feeling the life drain from a person. There is nothing quite as hollowing either. But to a monster, neither matters.
And a monster was exactly what I was.
Throwing my head back, I licked the blood from my lips. I could feel it pulse through me, singing a song I had been dancing to for centuries. The magic simmering in those veins was so sweet and invigorating that it made me smile as I let the witch’s body slump to the ground.
She was a weak one, but her scent lingered on my tongue as my body bristled with power. Feeding on weak, helpless humans could never compare to draining a supernatural. And it had been a long, long time since I had a witch. Maybe I’d start hunting them again in another attempt to sate that damn hunger that I could never fully satisfy.
Stepping back, I straightened my waistcoat and winced, noticing the few droplets of blood that had stained the hem of my sleeve. It had been a while since I had been this sloppy, but I had been starving, and even this witch didn’t fully quench my thirst. Maybe I should have taken her to bed first and distracted myself with her body before killing her. The problem with witches was that if she knew what I was, she would have never opened her legs for me. Despite being a monster that thrived on death and suffering, taking a person against their will was a line I had sworn not to cross.
I lowered my eyes to the slender form lying sideways in the dark alley. Her blonde hair was falling in front of her face, her pale skin almost translucent now that her heart had gone quiet. She had been young, almost a witchling, which explained why she was so foolish to be caught unaware.
Running my fingers over my chin to make sure I got all the blood, I turned my back to the lifeless corpse and returned to the main street. The night was young but cold, so there was almost no one outside in the small town where I had been residing for the last few months. Lights spilled from houses and taverns, paired with loud voices and laughter, but everybody kept inside, to the false sense of safety that their four walls gave them.
They were going to be even more cautious after finding her body, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t planning on lingering for much longer. Just until my Master called me back to her side. There was nothing for me to do in this world, no one I cared about. There was only my Master.
I was just about to head toward my residence when the wind changed direction, and the scent of blood and magic made me stagger. It couldn’t have been the witch I had just killed, she didn’t have this much power even before I caught her. And the blood…the smell was so overwhelming that my fangs dug into my lips until the skin broke.
Without thinking, I followed it, moving at a speed the human eye could not detect. I slowed only after I drew near enough to taste the metallic tinge permeating the air.
A massacre, it had to be. No single person had so much blood in their body.
I paused when I found the first corpse. There was a giant hole right in the middle of his chest, the rest of him covered in burns that had scorched most of his skin. A wide, bloody gash ran across his face, cutting through the bone, and making me wonder exactly what kind of creature could have done this.
The next corpse was missing a head and both arms from below the elbows.
I moved further, studying the carnage with growing curiosity. The smell of burned flesh, fresh blood, and sweet magic was making me so thirsty that I had to stop myself from sinking my teeth into the nearest warm body. I had barely faced anyone strong enough to put up a proper fight, and the thought of finding them here, in this god-forsaken town, made me chuckle with excitement.
I was just stepping over another mangled corpse when a dark brand caught my attention. Careful not to let the back of my coat dip in the pool of blood, I pushed the collar of his jacket aside, raising an eyebrow as I recognized the marking.
A rune for protection against magic. This man was a witch hunter.
My curiosity spiked when I checked another corpse, and another, only to find them all wearing similar markings. I had counted over thirteen bodies when a sharp cry made me lift my head.
It seemed like they had finally caught their prey. Unless she traveled with others of her kind, a single witch couldn’t handle this many hunters, no matter how good she was. Not when those runes protected them from most of her magic. The fact that she had taken down thirteen was a cause for admiration.
Still, the scents I caught were human except for one. Hidden beneath the layers of fear, pain, and death, I could barely latch onto her smell, but as it invaded my nostrils, every hair on my body rose in anticipation. Before I knew it, I was following the trail of bodies, noting how they grew fewer and farther in between.
It didn’t take me long to find her, but whatever I expected, it couldn’t compare with what I saw. Keeping to the trees, I stared at the lone figure in the center of a clearing, the bodies of at least another dozen hunters lying at her feet like some altar of death. She stood with her head thrown back, eyes closed, and face turned toward the moon as the light from it glided over her skin. Blood dripped from her hair and chin, her tattered dress stained in crimson and sticking to her trembling body. There were cuts and shallow wounds all over her exposed skin, but even if she was in pain, her expression was wholly serene.
The wind changed direction again, carrying her fresh scent to me. I took a deep breath, tasting it slowly, and almost dropped to my knees in surprise. Despite her youthful appearance, she stank of power, the likes of which I had never felt before. Even the Elders of my kind didn’t exude so much might as she did at that moment, relaxed and vulnerable, basking in the moon’s glory.
And the sweetness, oh, that sweetness. All witches smelled sweet because of their magic, but this woman…she was going to taste divine. I knew it. Looking at her long, exposed neck, with all that blood slipping down it like a delicious topping on a cake, I couldn’t help but lick my lips.
I took a step forward without thinking. The long, soft neck…the ceaseless energy that slithered beneath her skin…the heartbeat that made the world quiet…they woke a hunger that consumed any rational thought.
I had crossed half the clearing when her eyes snapped open and she turned her head in my direction. The movement was slow, deliberate, like a warning. There wasn’t a hint of fear in her scent, not even as I bared my fangs in a smile. Her magic hovered around her like a halo, making her look even less human than she was. Like some beautiful goddess that had decided to venture into the mortal world, but got lost in its darkness.
She had to be weak after fighting those hunters and bleeding all over. Her power had to be depleted. How much of a fight could she put on now? Suddenly, I didn’t feel like I wanted a challenge. I just wanted her. Whatever blood was left in that body of hers. I wanted to taste it, devour it all.
Yet that calm look in her eyes made me stop just outside of the circle of bodies surrounding her. I looked down at the hunters, wincing at the state of them. I had done my share of murdering and maiming and torturing, but I preferred neat, clean kills. This was just messy.
“Hello there, witch,” I said as I drew my eyes back to her. “Lovely night, isn’t it?”
She didn’t reply, just kept staring at me with that calmness that made a growl rise to my throat before I stifled it. I was used to my prey screaming and running, to their cries and fears riling me into a blood frenzy. This one looked…bored.
“Can you understand what I’m saying?” I continued, curious to hear her voice. With that beautiful face and gorgeous body, her voice was likely just as divine. Maybe I’d just have a taste now and keep her alive for later. It would be a shame to kill something so pretty. “Bonjour? Hola? Salve? Zdravstvuyte? Guten Tag? Goede…”
“Be gone, vampire,” she finally spoke in a soft accent I couldn’t place, her eyes narrowing like she was barely keeping them open. Her voice was coarse and cold, unlike what I had expected, but it was every bit as lovely as I imagined it to be.
Yes, I was definitely going to keep her, but I wanted to taste that blood first.
“I am not in the mood for games. Leave me be or die.”
I smirked at the threat, wondering if maybe all that calmness was a facade. Witch magic didn’t work on vampires, not directly at least, so in a battle between us, she was at a disadvantage even if she wasn’t hurt and spent. The fact that she didn’t know that made me reconsider what I thought before. She was probably just a witchling, albeit a strong one.
I stepped over the closest corpse, slowly making my way toward her.
She was tall for a woman, with long legs and curvy forms, but she was still much smaller than me. She couldn’t…
Her hand shot up. The object she was holding—a wand barely longer than my palm, transformed in front of my very eyes, growing longer, thicker, sturdier. In a single heartbeat, it turned into a staff as tall as the woman herself, the top of it burning with a blue flame that almost licked my face. I instinctively took a step back when something grabbed my legs. I looked down only to realize that two of the corpses had moved, catching onto me to keep me still.
A necromancer? Bloody hell, what were the odds?
The flame from her staff moved, pushing closer like she planned to incinerate me on the spot. I yanked my legs free with enough force to send the dead arms flying into the branches. I retreated a couple of steps to give myself space to attack, but before I knew it, she was upon me. Her movements were sharp, confident, her hands whipping the staff as if it were an extension of her body. I had to dodge the fire several more times before I realized that the rest of the corpses—even the ones with the missing hands—were all on their feet, moving to surround me.
Fire and the undead—the only two things that could work against me. She might have been young, but she wasn’t stupid, and seeing how she wielded her power, she definitely wasn’t spent.
Oh, I was definitely keeping her. She would be fun to play with.
I ducked under the flame again, coming very close to one of the reanimated hunters. I grabbed his head and tore it off, pushing the body out of my way. I dodged her staff again, this time aimed at my feet, and tore the legs of another two hunters, leaving them to writhe on the ground while trying to get up.
She was relentless, I had to give her that. But she was also human, and humans were no match for a vampire.
I ducked under another attack, letting the flames pass so close that my coat almost caught on fire. Still, it was well worth it, because it allowed me to sneak behind her. My teeth were just about to sink into her neck when her free hand appeared in my vision. Even without looking at me, she had sensed me coming—or maybe, just maybe, she let me get this close—and she attacked. White-hot flames blossomed in her palm and burst outward before I could even lick her.
Her magic was too fast, hitting me straight in the face and sending me stumbling backward. My eyes burst from the intensity, and my skin melted like heated wax, leaving a strange, hollow sensation as I ran my fingers over my exposed skull.
My healing kicked in instantly, repairing the damage, but not fast enough. So I let my body guide me, relying on hearing alone. She gave me no time to heal, attacking almost instantly. And so did her dead puppets.
I kept away from her while my face reconstructed itself, focusing on the dead instead. I took them down one after another—I couldn’t truly kill them, not with them being dead, but they couldn’t touch me if they didn’t have arms and legs. So I shredded them until the only steps I could hear were hers and my own.
When I stopped, looking around with a blurry vision, I realized I could no longer see her. Had she used my distraction to escape? I had her scent. There was nowhere for her to run. Once I healed myself, I would…
A flash of bright light and the smell of fire filled my nostrils, and I jumped back, avoiding her staff in the last possible second. She twirled the wood, preparing for another assault, when I kicked her feet from underneath her. She yelped with surprise, losing her balance and crashing to the ground. The staff slipped from her fingers, turning into a tiny stick again.
She rolled to her stomach, trying to crawl to her weapon, but I was upon her before her fingers touched it. Flipping her on her back, I caught her wrists in one hand and pinned them above her head. Another ball of fire started forming over her fingers, but I dug my nails into her palm, tearing the skin until she screamed. She writhed beneath me, trying to push me off, but I was over this fight already. And I was hungry.
Our eyes met, and she gulped. A whiff of fear rose from her, making me smile victoriously. That was it, what she should be feeling. Afraid and helpless, ready to do everything I asked for mercy.
She opened her mouth, most likely to beg, but it was too early. She could beg later when my hunger was sated and my anger had subsided. She had burned me, destroyed my face, sent dead puppets after me. She needed to pay with her blood.
The skin on her neck broke with delightful ease, and as my fangs sank into her neck, the world faded. Her blood was the most delicious thing I had tasted in my life, and as it spilled into my mouth and down my throat, I felt the urge to cry with pleasure. The magic within her resisted my invasion, but I bit harder, pressing my body against hers to keep her down. A gasp escaped her lips, then a moan that was most definitely not from pain.
I smiled, slowing down my feeding so I could enjoy this. It wasn’t rare for my victims to enjoy the sensation after they got over the pain, but this had been fast. And the way her body rubbed against mine, it didn’t feel like she was trying to break free. It almost felt like she wanted me closer.
I let my tongue run over her skin, tasting blood, both hers and not. I expected her to moan again, but instead, she stilled. When I heard her voice through the haze her blood put me in, I realized I had made a mistake.
The spell she muttered hit me—or rather, dragged me—off her, my teeth almost tearing her throat open as I tried to latch onto her. Something wrapped around my legs and arms, and this time, it wasn’t the undead. I looked down just as the root of the nearest tree crept up from my wrist to my elbow, another one sliding around my throat and pinning me down. I kicked with my legs, but more roots latched onto me, replacing the ones I tore off. In just a few seconds, I couldn’t do anything but stare while the witch got to her wobbly feet and strode toward me.
She looked even paler now, one hand pressing on her neck where I had bitten her, but her eyes were burning with rage. The young, innocent look was gone, and the creature that glowered at me was as ancient and as powerful as myself.
She stopped next to me, one long leg on either side of my torso. Her dress was even more torn than before, but she didn’t seem to care that she was all but naked before me. She lowered herself until she was sitting on my lap, her fingers snaking around my throat and replacing the roots that obediently pulled away.
“Why is it always the same?” she hissed, her nails digging into my skin. “Everywhere I go, everyone is trying to kill me. I have done nothing to you! I have done nothing to anyone in decades, so tell me, vampire! What is it going to take for everyone to leave me alone? Must I kill you all? Must I become the worst monster this world has ever seen? Tell me!”
I stared with confusion as she panted, her hand trembling while the hold weakened. But it wasn’t her words, not even the fact that she had actually beaten me—a vampire of a thousand years—that got me speechless. It was the desperate, hurt look in her eyes. A look I had seen before on a face very dear to me, a face I could barely remember now.
“I…” I started, not sure what to say. I didn’t care about living or dying, so even if she finished me off, it would have been just the same. But looking at her now, with those desperate eyes that stared through me, I wanted to know. I wanted to know who this witch was, and what happened to her. I wanted to know why she was this powerful and why her blood tasted like life itself.
Before I could decide what my next words should be, she swayed. I watched as more blood trickled down her nose right before her eyes rolled backward. Her body tilted forward, and she landed on my chest, where she remained lying while her breath slowed.
I could feel her heartbeat thundering against my skin, her warmth enveloping me, and her blood heightening my senses. She was so light and so defenseless, yet even in her sleep, she was clinging to me like I was her salvation. Or maybe I was death, and she was too tired to keep fighting.
The roots grew still, and this time, when I pulled against them, they didn’t resist. I pried my hands free first, moving the witch to the ground so I could free the rest of my body. Once I was on my feet, I took in the carnage with a wince. This was going to raise a lot of questions, too many questions.
Maybe even force me to leave. I couldn’t afford that. My Master told me to wait here.
My eyes landed on the woman again, and I crouched down, pushing the hair out of her face. She had lost a lot of blood, I could tell even as I fed off of her. And her magic hadn’t been depleted, but with her body weak, she couldn’t wield much of it.
I had been…lucky.
Licking my lips where the taste of her lingered, I scooped her up in my arms and got up. Her head bobbed on my shoulder, eyes moving feverishly underneath her eyelids, but she didn’t stir.
I looked around until my eyes found a large rock nesting between two of the trees. I ran my nails over it several times until sparks flew into the air. One of them caught onto the fallen leaves, and a flame started to form, quickly devouring the halm. I stepped back, watching the fire grow, until my feet landed on a piece of wood that cracked under my weight. I looked down at the witch’s wand, studying the enchanted wood for a moment. I had heard of such things before, but never really seen one. As far as I knew, they were extremely rare and hard to come by.
I tossed the wood into the rapidly spreading fire. A burst of magic blew into the blaze, turning them blue for a moment, and raising them all the way to the branches above, where more of the flames caught. In just a couple of minutes, the clearing was devoured by the elements, swallowing the corpses and the blood from view.
I turned my back to the carnage, adjusting the witch in my arms.
That wasn’t how I had imagined my night to end, but looking down at the woman in my grasp, I had a feeling that my troubles weren’t over. And she could end up being my absolute destruction—or my unconditional salvation.
