Nocturnal

by David Paul

  Shortly after, Svetlana dropped off dinner, and I could not touch the food. She insulted me once again. Instead of responding to her with civility, I threw the platter of food against the wall and told her to fuck herself. Food went everywhere. Svetlana begrudgingly cleaned up the mess and threatened to tear off my private parts. Her idle threats didn’t concern me as my mind raced on about Katerina.

  “You are unwilling to eat?” Svetlana asked. She was indifferent to my lack of an appetite. “That’s fine by me. Let’s go.”

  Svetlana took me to the bath, shaved me clean, and cut my hair. I bathed myself. During the shave, she conveniently slipped with the blade several times and tasted my dripping blood. It made her crazy. I didn’t speak a word to her as if she was not even there. She walked me to my cell, threw me inside, and locked the door. I sat in my bed and thought about Katerina. About two hours later, the lock on my door turned, and I had an unexpected visitor.

  “How are you, my little pet?” She asked. Regina had returned from her affairs early and now was in my chamber. I didn’t think that she would have gotten back so soon. I was wrong.

  “Fine,” I said reluctantly.

  “I missed you Davide, and I am so thirsty for my favorite sweet blood.” I didn’t respond. “What’s wrong with you, Davide?” She asked. “I can feel a difference in you. Something is amiss.” Regina grabbed me by the throat with one hand and threw me onto the bed violently. She took a whiff of my scent. Regina looked at me suspiciously. “Take off your clothes, and spread your legs for me!” She commanded. I did exactly as she had asked.

  Without haste or conversation, Regina bared her deadly fangs, sank them into my tender flesh, and drank of my blood. The wicked vampire raised her head from my crotch, and her eyes were ablaze with crimson anger.

  “What have you done?” She asked. The vampire screamed a deafening howl. It was so powerful that it made my ears ring, and the force of it extinguished several candles in the room. “You do not taste the same, you fucking maggot.”

  Her form disappeared into a mist. A few minutes later, she reentered my chambers with Chloe, Onya, Svetlana, and Daniella.

  “Which one of you fucked my little pet?” She asked. Regina eyeballed the entire line up in disgust. She was livid. “Who has betrayed me?” She turned her attention to Svetlana. “Is it you?”

  “I did not betray you, my master,” Svetlana said. Svetlana was sure to respond quickly. Regina grabbed her by the hair and smashed Svetlana’s head against the stone chamber wall several times in a frightening rage. “Please master, I didn’t betray you.” Svetlana’s head gushed maroon blood, and a crack appeared in the stone. Regina cast her aside.

  “Who was it?” Regina looked at everyone. “Who would dare challenge me in thy own castle?” Regina asked.

  She pointed her deadly finger at the line up. The other vampires scattered and fell to their hands and knees in guarded positions. They appeared to be shielding themselves from her wrath. Everyone looked genuinely scared. It was strange to see these brutal powerful creatures behave like frightened scolded children.

  Regina turned to Chloe who was the only one left standing. She immediately suspected that Chloe had taken my virginity because of the fondness she sensed between us. The vampire picked her up by her neck. Her body dangled, and her legs flailed helplessly as her breath left her body. Chloe’s face went from bright red to almost that of deep purple.

  Chapter Six: The Turning of Two

  Regina was furious, and it looked like she was going to strangle Chloe right then and there. I had to act.

  “It was I who betrayed you, Regina.” She dropped Chloe on the ground and turned toward me. Chloe desperately tried to regain her breath. Regina never suspected that I would have the courage to disobey her. Regina didn’t invade Chloe’s mind for the truth.

  “You have the audacity to defy me, slave?” Regina asked. The vampire was enraged. “I will make sure that the rest of your days are so painful and so rotten, that you will beg me for a death that will never come!”

  “I’d rather be dead then serve a foul piece of dung such as yourself,” I said. I somehow mustered up more courage to verbally attack her.

  “You will pray for death daily, my slave.” She paused, and her eyes were glowing red with intensity like that I had never seen before. I had seen the devil in her eyes. “Better yet,” she said.

  Her evil mind was working, but she didn’t let on as to what she was thinking. I had really managed to completely piss off this vampire. Something inside me broke, and I truly didn’t care anymore. My mind couldn’t take the constant insecurity of this life of captivity. My only worry was for Katerina, and I couldn’t help her.

  Regina grabbed me by the throat and got in my face with her wicked breath.

  “It was I who betrayed Zurelda,” Regina said, “and took you and your bride to be. This was just a carefully planned subversion. You saw Onya on the mountain with her heart ripped out.” Everything started to make sense to me. “She used her powers to morph into what you thought was your precious Katerina. You couldn’t even tell the difference.” The vampire looked amused. “You goddamn pathetic fool. Onya had to restrain herself from laughing the whole time.”

  Holding my fragile neck, I wondered if she would break it.

  “It was already prophesied that Zurelda would fall under your blade, so I decided to get two virgins for the price of one. I would have also had my artifact intact if you hadn’t destroyed it. A fair trade, I suppose,” she said.

  A deviant smile formed on her lips, and she began to laugh wickedly. All of my answers were coming to me. Now, I could see how everything transpired. Regina laid it all out like a villain in a James Bond movie would. Only, I had the feeling that I would never escape like James Bond always did.

  “I fed Zurelda the heart of a ten-year old female peasant who I kidnapped,” Regina said. The vampire was proud of herself. “I wanted you to think that Katerina was dead to break down your mind even further. Both you and Zurelda are fools with easily manipulated minds. In case you didn’t know, we violated your precious Katerina in so many ways.”

  “Regina, you are a vile beast. The pits of hell should swallow you up and keep you for all eternity!”

  “Your Katerina is still alive,” she said, “and I will make her life even more painful than yours.” The thought made me cringe. “You have no idea what I am, Davide.”

  “A foul creature that walks the night,” I said defiantly.

  She increased the pressure on my neck.

  She trapped me with her eyes.

  “I am of the first and purest vampire bloodline in history,” she said. “My reign began centuries before there was a Jesus Christ.” The pressure of her grip became unbearable after she spoke his name. “In fact, I was there for his crucifixion. It was I who tried to tempt him in the nighttime. I offered him an end to the suffering and life eternal. The faithful fool refused my offer, and I drank of his holy blood as it dripped from his wounds.”

  She smiled with pure undiluted evil. At that point, I finally realized how old and experienced of a vampire that she was. Her eyes showed centuries of wickedness. Regina had practically been alive since before most organized religion. The wicked one was drinking blood before Catholicism and Christianity were even invented.

  “I let him die on the cross a martyr as he had wished. I’ve drunken blood from the Son of God himself, you foolish mortal,” she said. I got a cold chill. It was hard to imagine a being that was thousands of years old. She had been around almost longer than the civilized man had been in existence. Regina was like an evil institution on Earth. “You have the audacity to defy me?” Regina asked.

  I never got the chance to respond. Without warning, Regina pulled my head to the side and buried her razor-sharp fangs into my neck, damning me. I was helpless at the hands of Regina and had fallen victim to the murderous fiend. There was no resistance. There were no more words to be said. There was only that familiar feeling o
f precious red fluid leaving my body and the light-headiness. The fangs pierced my skin like frozen nails. Pain and disbelief had me motionless like a marble statue.

  Regina’s cool skin pressed against mine with a bizarre absence of warmth as she pulled me in close. I could feel the blood being removed through the wound and the powerful suction of her clenched lips. She had bitten me before, but this time it was very different. Her other bites were extremely painful, but almost tolerable somehow. This bite instantly gave me the chills and also a particularly unsettling feeling. Maybe I felt what it feels like to have your soul ripped from you. It wasn’t immediately obvious as to what that feeling was.

  Regina wasn’t just looking for another drink this time around. She was punishing me for defying her by damning me forever. My captor turned me. A vampire has to want to turn their victim for it to happen, and that is part of their ancient black magic. It was my soul that she took. Everything felt different. I wasn’t myself. I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t.

  There are no accidental vampires randomly walking the night. Simply being bitten will not turn your soul to black. As long as the vampire didn’t drink your blood dry, then one could survive an attack without becoming one of the undead. Vampires either can’t control their urges or simply don’t want to, so most victims perish. Those victims are the lucky ones. I had learned the sad truth about vampires. The truly unlucky are the turned.

  Once turned, a newly unborn vampire must taste fresh blood to become fully transformed. Before the next moon falls, the hunger forces one to completely transcend. After their first taste, they are forever linked to the bloodline for all eternity. At that point, the ever-growing thirst for more fresh blood would become a painful burden on the mind and soul. The addiction forms, evil instinct takes over, and the vampire is hooked.

  The wretched curse of the nightwalker overcomes the strongest of wills and corrupts the purest of hearts. Evil worked its way through each and every vein like a concentrated poison seeping into my system. This radiated from the infected area where the punctures occurred.

  I could feel my heart slow down and heard it fighting to stay alive. Everything became blurred, and background sound faded to silence. I could hear the natural audible frequencies of life vibrating in unison. The air in every breath seemed forced as my lungs constricted heavily.

  Every single muscle in my body began to stiffen and ache severely. My throat was completely dry as if I had walked many miles under the relentless Sun of a brutal desert wasteland. Finally, my heart stopped beating in my chest, but I was still seemingly alive. The last gasps of breath expired.

  In shock, I grasped my chest and verified that my heart was no longer pumping red fluid through my veins and arteries. My chest was still. My heart was dead. The grace of God was no longer shining on me. Emptiness and despair were my new friends. Briefly, I could hear everything down to ants crawling in the courtyard of the castle. At one point, I could have sworn that I could even hear Chloe’s thoughts.

  Even my eyesight was crisper, and I was able to see every strand of hair in Regina’s head with perfect clarity. Chloe’s blood smelled fresh and pronounced. This awakening of my senses was completely overwhelming. It was complete sensory overload with a feeling of invulnerability. The aching and heaviness around my heart ceased when it stopped pumping blood.

  Almost immediately, I came to the realization that a vampire’s emotions were all in their head and not their heart. Matters of the heart die along with the organ itself. All that’s left to feel emotion is the mind. I was dead, yet alive and very aware. An oddball mix of intoxicating euphoria and animal hunger overtook me.

  “Feels good…doesn’t it, Davide?” She looked me up and down. I was in disbelief.

  “I am now a creature just as you.”

  “You should be honored to be a legacy of my bloodline.”

  “I’d much rather be dead than be a part of you,” I said. I realized my human life was over. Chloe stared at me in amazement and disbelief that I was no longer a man.

  I had transformed into something else.

  “Feel the hunger yet?” She asked. “I’ve got something to quench your thirst.” I could only wonder what her next move would be.

  “Take my life, Regina.” I pleaded with the fiend.

  “I already have, Davide, and this is just the beginning.” The vampire contemplated for a brief moment. I didn’t want to know what she was thinking. I saw the evil sneer. “Katerina is going to be your first victim.”

  “No way will I touch her.” My worst fear had materialized.

  “You won’t have a choice. You’ll do it willingly when the thirst overtakes you,” she said.

  Rage overcame me, and I swung at Regina. This time I struck her squarely in her face. She was unfazed.

  “I’m impressed with your quickness, Davide, but your puny skills are no match for me.” Regina backhanded me, and I went flying across my chamber into the stone wall. “Do you wish for Katerina to suffer?” She asked. I just looked at her speechless.

  “I can do things to her that are far worse than you can ever begin to imagine in your pea-sized brain.” The vampire was furious, and she was in control. “Do you want Chloe to suffer as well?” Regina asked. “I can drag out their deaths for years. Everyone can live or die as easily as flipping a coin.” She assured me of her power. “You will do as I say.”

  “I will not kill my Katerina,” I said.

  “Davide, I could simply invade your mind and make you do everything that I please. It’s more fun using force and having you suffer.” The evil whore chuckled, and all of her miserable cronies laughed along.

  I was still on the ground dazed, and I looked up at her. “I may be one of your kind, but I will never be like you, Regina. I won’t allow myself to sink to your level no matter what.”

  “No matter what?” She asked.

  Regina smiled and looked me square in the eye. A brief flash of red passed through her cold eyes.

  “Davide,” she said. “Why don’t you smack Chloe in the face like the ignorant bitch that she is?”

  I honestly could not control myself. Casually, I got off the hard stone floor, walked over to Chloe, and I watched my own hand slap her across the face. In horror, I realized that I couldn’t control my own body. Chloe took the strike well because she knew that it wasn’t my will at work. The red mark on her face was there regardless though. I didn’t realize the power of vampire charm or that it could be used on other vampires.

  “Would you like me to get more creative?” The wicked beast asked. Regina smiled. “I’m positive that I could come up with some amusing suggestions.”

  The vampire made me slap her once more for good measure, but this time the slap had a little more zing on it. Chloe didn’t expect it, and it caught her good. Thankfully, Chloe didn’t grimace or show signs of weakness, or the insane vampire would have had me doing it all night. She had proved her point about the scope of her abilities.

  Maybe it was wise for me to play along. Another part of me wanted to fight. Unfortunately, I didn’t know how I could ever defeat this vampire anyways. Either way, it seemed like a losing endeavor. Was this my fate? Is it my destiny to kill the one I love? Not having a choice really burned me inside. Ever since I lost Katerina to Zurelda, I haven’t had a choice about anything.

  “Regina, I apologize for my arrogance. I’m having a hard time dealing with this.”

  “You will obey my every command or suffer the most torturous of fates.” Both her words and her eyes lacked all compassion.

  Even as a vampire, I hadn’t lost the memories of my former life. I wondered how being a vampire would affect my mind. Would I gradually progress into that of the likes of Regina? This was uncharted territory for me, and I had no idea what to expect.

  “Come with me, everyone,” Regina commanded. Everyone in the room waited for her instructions. “I want everyone to see this. Svetlana, have all of the staff convene near Katerina’s room.”

 
“Yes, master.” Svetlana quickly agreed to her command with blood no longer flowing freely down her face. Her grisly wound was all but closed up.

  “Come with me,” Regina said.

  I didn’t put up a fight.

  “I will do as you say, Regina.”

  We all walked in a group towards Katerina’s chambers. The entire time on the walk over, I spent thinking of what I could do to get out of this situation. I hadn’t seen Katerina, and she seemed completely incapacitated based on Chloe’s letter. I felt very strange, as if I was just a different version of my old self. My feet were lighter than normal, and my agility seemed cat-like. We all finally arrived at Katerina’s room, and Regina had called for all of the servants to be there.