Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) (48 page)

“Orhn, one more thing.” Yugo called out from beyond the closed door. “You wanted to know what was on your face. When I said nothing, I meant it. Your skin is flawless, your body more of the same. You don't have a single scar, not one.”

“What's wrong with that? I thought all vampires had the ability to heal well?” Orhn said.

“Not all scars can be healed Orhn. The scars we brand ourselves with as humans remain with us after we become vampires. They never heal, they're not supposed to. Even if you lose an arm, the scars on that arm would be there after it regenerates. Cutting your skin off, shouldn't have affected your scars, nothing should. You wonder why the tests will hurt, it is because you have shown an oddity that is purely physical in nature. It's abduction from the normal might be the key to unlocking the secrets of your gift. Rest Orhn, tomorrow you will not get any retort.”

Yugo walked away from the hut, letting the subject laminate in Orhn's mind. Contemplating what was to come, Orhn examined his skin more closely. The scars that he had accrued over the hapless time in his life were all gone. He wondered if the premise of his gift was to heal his own body. Orhn decided to sleep instead of worry and wait for Yugo to return. Orhn closed his eyes and out he went.

* * * *

A quick, powerful thrust awoke Orhn in a dreadful way. His own sword was plunged deep into his stomach, it turned. Orhn opened his eyes to see Yugo nonchalantly grasping the bronze handle. This was Yugo's first test. To see if Orhn could wake before he stabbed him. A crude test, but a necessary test none-the-less.

Orhn screamed, “What the hell, Yugo!? You stabbed me in my sleep?”

“Well we know you're not a psychic type. You would have seen it coming and awoken on instinct before I entered the room. We also know you're not a focus type.” Yugo was proud of his actions, and even prouder of his deductive reasoning skills. Yugo stepped away from Orhn with a smile on his face.

“How so?” Orhn slowly removed the bronze blade from his gut. Placing it back into his scabbard. Orhn thought about what he was doing for moment. “This is still a little surreal to get used to Yugo. Last week, this would have killed me. Now I'm just rolling over and acting like being run through is nothing. It's unreal.”

“That's what it means to be a vampire. You survive that which no other does. You endure, whether you like it or not.” Yugo sighed.

“So what now? What am I?” Orhn was eager to know what type of gift he had.

“You're not a focus vampire because you would have reacted in retaliation to my attack without hesitation. You would have been quicker.” Yugo told Orhn.

“Are you saying I'm slow?” Orhn leered at Yugo.

“You just sat there, letting me run you through and twist the sword. A focus gift would never allow such a thing.” Yugo was smirking. “What do you think I'm saying?”

“What's so funny? Wipe that damn grin off your face Yugo.” Orhn was not happy to awake to such a viscous attack. Even if it didn't hurt, it was still a rude awakening.

Yugo raised his finger high into the air with definite proclamation. “You're an alteration type.” Yugo was beaming.

“How can you tell?” Orhn was too centered on Yugo's disposition to notice.

“There's no blood. I sliced you up so that the wound would not close quickly. Even for a vampire it would bleed heavily. There's no blood on your shirt Orhn. It's proof that you have an alteration gift affecting your own body. As to the extent of that control, we'll discover everything through more tests.” Yugo laughed out loud. He enjoyed the idea of torturing Orhn more. “How does it feel? Does it hurt? And did you have to think about it when I stabbed you?”

Orhn poked the slowly closing open flap in his gut where the sword was. “No, I didn't think about it at all.” He moved around a little, surveying his overall condition. “I don't feel any pain either, nothing really. Come to think of it, it was more of a shock that you did it at the time than anything.”

“And now? How does it feel? Is it sharp? Does it sting or burn?” Yugo quickly moved closer to Orhn, probing at the open hole in his stomach.

“No, it feels cold. Not freezing, but cool. When I touch it, it's not numb, it feels different. Almost like the sensation of pain has been replaced by cold instead. What does that mean Yugo?” Orhn watched as the wound closed fully and the cold feeling disappeared.

“It means that your gift is completely internal. It means you are rare Orhn.” Yugo sounded pleased.

“So I'm unique too?” Orhn asked.

“You're rare, not unique. Remember that and you'll live longer.” Yugo's approval was gone with a dash. He did not like Orhn's assumption. Yugo backed away and ignored Orhn.

“So what comes next?” Orhn was ready for anything.

Yugo chuckled. “Dismemberment.”

“You're kidding right? You mean taking off a limb?” Orhn stepped back from Yugo.

“What's the matter? You're not afraid, are you?” Yugo was poking fun at Orhn. He turned, smiling.

Orhn was afraid. “I'm not afraid. I just want to make sure whatever you cut off will grow back.”

“We won't know if we don't try and find out, right?” Yugo smiled again, he was enjoying watching Orhn squirm.

“Wait, what? That's not good enough for me. I need some assurance certain things will grow back, intact.”

“Okay.” Yugo said on a whim. “You have my assurance that everything I cut off will grow back in full.”

“You're lying.” Orhn barked at Yugo.

“Does it matter if I am?” Yugo was being a smart ass and knew it.

“Of course it matters!” Orhn screamed out.

“Okay, we'll test in less strenuous ways.” Yugo said calmly to Orhn.

“Wait, you didn't really have to do that, did you?” Orhn was amounting any defense he could come up with not to get stabbed again.

Yugo wasn't going to let Orhn circumvent him. Yugo came up with a plan. “Hey, Orhn, what was that?” Yugo pointed in the direction of the door.

Orhn bought it. “What? What's out there?” Orhn turned around, he opened his arms wide, readying himself for whatever might come.

It was exactly what Yugo wanted Orhn to do. Without warning, Yugo lopped off Orhn's right forearm with the blade in his pocket. Orhn didn't realize it at first until he saw the dismembered arm bounce on the ground next to his foot.

Orhn screamed loudly. “You cut my arm off!!”

“I said I would, and I did. What's the problem?” Yugo was being smug about it.

“You cut my arm off!!” Orhn was still screaming.

“We need to find out if it will grow back.” Yugo was perfectly calm as Orhn's arm twitched on the ground.

“But you cut off my arm!!” Orhn was furious.

“It will probably grow back faster than you think.” Yugo failed to hold back a half smile he had felt coming on. The grin was plastered all over his face.

Orhn was still screaming. “And if it doesn't!!?”

“Then we'll know one of the limitations of your gift.” Yugo was being calm and cold again.

“And if it doesn't!!?” Orhn yelled in Yugo's face.

“Let's wait and see first.” Yugo gestured for Orhn to have a seat.

“Easy for you to say! You didn't have your arm cut off!!” Orhn wasn't calming down.

“No, the vampire that made me what I am today, did more. It was my first-” Yugo stopped as his somber tone reached Orhn. “My first life before what I am now.”

Orhn sat down and began to listen.

“My gift was very difficult to determine. He hurt me, and I did not have the luxury of feeling a cool sensation as you do.” Yugo remembered something from long ago, in a time where his gift was first realized.

Orhn was silent.

“His first experiment was to remove my arms and legs. I bled, everywhere. He doused me with enough blood to close the wounds and left me to regenerate alone, a gimp. With no way to defend myself should someone find me in the small wooden box he had chosen to leave me in. I had to wiggle to reach a rock in which I used to cut my own shoulder open to reattach the severed arm to my socket. The same for the next. After a few hours I could use the arms again. What followed was easier, the legs took longer than I expected though. I knew that the limbs would be easier to rejoin than to regenerate. I had no idea when he might return. I had to risk putting myself back together. However, he was watching me the entire time. The next step was to cut my head off for an hour. Just to see if I would be able to move without it.” Yugo hesitated. “I couldn't. By all definitions I was dead for that amount of time. I hated him for that. All I could hear before I blacked out was his laughter.” Yugo breathed deeply and continued. “He dragged me out into the sun to see if I would burn and I did. I caught fire within a second and smoldered. It fused my clothing to what was left of my skin a moment later. He brought me back with a few gallons of blood and it took a day to fully recover.”

“Is that how you knew what to do with my skin? With the clothes that were on me?” Orhn asked Yugo.

Yugo nodded. “Next, he concluded as I did with you, that I was an alteration type. He then made me concentrate on various objects in an attempt of effecting them in some way. First, I had to try to make them burn, then to freeze, to push over, and finally to lift. Nothing worked. He concluded I was worthless and told me I wasn't able enough to remain with him. At the time, I couldn't fathom what he meant. He was talking about having personal security or something. I didn't have a clue what that meant. Not then at least. It's sad to know that I'm searching for the same thing.”

“Then how did you learn to develop your gift?” Orhn was calm considering he was missing his right arm.

“Through my second mentor. My original sire failed me, and I ran from him. Or at least it was mutual. I eventually found a man that pitied me for not having a gift. In time, we discovered a trigger to my gift. A phrase that would activate the beginning of all my abilities to come. Through his nurturing, I was able to become a powerful practitioner within two decades. He helped me in ways I was never able to convince him of.” Yugo retreated slightly into his memories. “Until that one day.”

“Did he die?” Orhn asked immediately, breaking Yugo's reminiscing.

“Oh no, he's very much alive, I think. It's that we don't speak any more. I can't tell him how he influenced my life after all this time.” Yugo smiled. “We came to a divergence of philosophy one night and parted ways promptly. That led me to what I am now. In the end, he was right, I should have stayed.” Yugo exhaled with emotion. “Now let's look at that arm of yours. Does it still feel cold?”

“Yeah, it does.” Orhn raised what was left of his elbow so that Yugo could see it better. There was no blood, just the exposed bone and the flesh. Nothing was dripping, and nothing was oozing. It was strange.

“Well, it hasn't scabbed over, that's something noteworthy.” Yugo remarked.

“Noteworthy good or noteworthy bad?” Orhn asked, he was worried.

“Let's see if it reattaches then.” Yugo got up and gathered the severed limb from the floor. He gently handled it into position and pressed it against the open wound that was still not bleeding. The bone was cut clean and the tissue was intact. The moment the arm came in contact, it sprang into place. Orhn could move his fingers again. “That's quite odd, Orhn. You do have a rare gift. I haven't heard of something like this before. Not without losing any blood.”

Orhn tested his fingers, reflexes, and arm. They were all fine. “It's like it never happened.” Orhn pulled the sleeve up, Yugo saw that it had already sealed, instantly. There was no semi-soft seal, the cut just wasn't there.

“That proves it. You have an alteration gift and your sole domain is your own body.” Yugo laughed.

“What's funny now?” Orhn dreaded whatever Yugo was thinking.

Yugo looked to the door. “Too bad it's night time. I would have loved to see it happen sooner than later.”

“See what? What do you have in store for me now?” Orhn squinted his eyes at Yugo. Orhn had become weary of Yugo's intentions.

“You'll see tomorrow. Get some rest for now.” Yugo instructed.

“But it's dark out, this is the time I should be awake.” Orhn thought about it. He thought why Yugo would want him to rest up during the night. “You! You want me to walk out into the sun! You want to see if I can burn, don't you!?” Orhn stood up quickly and shouted at Yugo.

“I prefer to think of it as seeing if you're fire proof or not.” Yugo grinned.

“That's not funny, Yugo. You mean my hand right? Just using my hand?” Orhn proposed a compromise.

“Yes, we'll test it out on your hand, first.” Yugo sat back against the wall. “Get some rest, you'll feel better. If you pass the next test, like I think you will, we'll be able to hunt together in the day as well as well as the night. Although I admit it is more efficient after hours, when everyone is already gathered at the bars. It's quite easier to feed on drunken people, they bleed out quicker.”

“I've been meaning to ask you Yugo, is this how you smell the world? Ever since that seventh day I've been noticing the food cooked from town long after nightfall. The grass after the rain. Even the scent of the blood from these new clothes you gave me. Is this how I'm going to feel the world from now on? I can't imagine what it will be like when we come back to the city.” Orhn's commentary irritated Yugo.