Resurrected (15 page)

“So, you don’t know
Brenna?”

“No, I do not,” he said
simply. The room became unearthly quiet. The only sound was the
ticking of a battery-operated alarm clock, which Stone had not
noticed until that moment. Sitting there, the rhythmic ticking
reminded Stone of the once quick-beating heart that now sat nearly
still in his chest. Looking up at him, Stone watched as Brian
licked the last lingering bit of blood from his wrist and revealed
there was no longer any wound. Brian spoke breaking the awkward
silence.

“Well, you can stay here.
There is a room just a few doors down where there are curtains and
a bed.” Without another word, Brian walked away from Stone.
Standing before the bare window he watched as the sun began to
gradually lighten the sky.

Taking the hint, Stone rose
from the old chair and sluggishly walked to the door only to pause
and look back at this man–this vampire. He exited the room and
began walking down the wide corridor. Stopping and opening each
door, he looked for the room Brian spoke of. On the fourth try he
found it. The light from the hall illuminated the room revealing
the chipped and peeling plaster on the walls. Deep cracks crept
down from the disintegrating ceiling where brown blotches revealed
old water stains. The faded curtains had already been drawn.
Closing the door behind him, Stone made his way to an old hospital
bed, with its rusting iron head-and-foot-boards and dusty,
yellowing sheets. As he sat down the bed concaved and a squeak
filled the room. Still wearing his newly acquired boots he laid
back on the bed anyway. Placing his hands under his head he closed
his eyes.

Stone’s body was still
vibrating and the sensation was felt from hair follicle to toes.
His body was still changing, evolving. As he felt the heaviness of
sleep settle over him, he wondered what the next night would
bring.

Chapter 13

Ancient Rome

(The eternal
city)

Part II

The night Eme escaped was
like a dream. She was free and Eme delighted in the freshness of
the early morning hour. She let herself feel at peace, even if it
were for just a moment. She had been on the run for over three
hours and was feeling the burden of the coming sun. Tired and weak,
each step became heavier. Eme had to stop despite there being no
shelter to hide her from the sun. Falling to her knees, she began
to dig with her hands. She would bury herself to escape the coming
sunrise.

Fully covered with dirt,
she almost immediately fell asleep and began dreaming. Her mind was
probed and invaded by the cloaked vampire in the Coliseum crowd, he
came to her openly in her dreams. He revealed to her what he looked
like and why he pushed her to escape.

Conjured through her
dream, the artificial moonlight cascaded upon them. Standing only a
couple feet away from the cloaked vampire, Eme examined every inch
of him. Silently she was irritated by the fact she could not see
his face. He was the first to break the uneasy silence.

“Why did you ever let
yourself become captured?” he asked simply. Eme was
offended.

“How dare you? You have no
idea what it was like!” She lowered her head in shame, remembering
what had happened. “There were too many of them… I had never seen
so many vampires before.” Her voice trailed off for a moment, then
continued.

“These blundering vampires
had been searching for what they thought was merely the myth of the
first vampires. But to their delight, they discovered that I was
indeed one of the first of our kind. When they found me, I was worn
both emotionally and physically. They had been tormenting me,
following me wherever I went–for one hundred and ninety-one years!
I tried to hide from them and their inquiries, from their desire to
have me in their clan.

“I had been alone for
nearly eight hundred and fifty years and it was just over two
thousand years since I had become a vampire. At first, Elijah left.
Eventually Ezra and I amicably agreed that we needed to be apart. I
lost track of Ezra and Elijah by this time. I was lonely and tired
of running from the rogue vampires, but still afraid of what they
really wanted of me. However, my heart overruled my head. They
broke my will and I joined this group of unknown
vampires.

“I soon learned of their
hidden agenda. What their reason for seeking out the first three
really was. They sought the power in our blood. Although they
appeared quite pleased that I had finally come to join their clan,
they were quick to anger with the news that I did not know where
the other two were. I should have listened to my instincts and
left, but the fear of being alone again tormented my soul. So I now
live with the consequences of needing to be needed and wanting to
be wanted…

“They must have planed
their attack on me for some time because I lived in relative peace
for two years. Despite being with others of my own kind, I still
felt alone. So when they did attack me, I never felt betrayed. For
how can one feel betrayed by those you really don’t
know?

“As I prepared myself to
go out that night, a knock sounded at my door. Rising from the
chair to open the door, it suddenly swung open. Standing in front
of me was the leader and behind him the clan. Immediately I knew
something was wrong. Before I could do anything, the group moved as
one towards me. The leader along with four others lunged forward
grabbing firmly onto my shoulders and feet causing me to land hard
on the floor. ‘We will just have to see if your blood alone is good
enough to strengthen the powers I already possess,’ the leader
said.

One after the other, they
held me down and fed from me. I was numb, my body ached and I
thought I would die.” Eme paused and looked at the male vampire
before her. She wanted to see sympathy in his eyes; she hoped he
had felt something.

Raising
his arms he lowered the hood of his cloak. Alarmed, a gasp escaped
Eme’s lips. His face was as white and smooth as porcelain.
No
colour
was evident in his flesh
and his eyes were a pale violet with flecks of brown. It appeared
as though his once brown eyes had faded to this unnatural
colour
. The severe scarring that
spread across the whole left side of his neck alarmed Eme. There
were also a multitude of long scars on the left side of his face,
stretching from ear to mouth. It appeared as though he had been
attacked by an animal. The flesh was so white and iridescent that
the
colour
of the scars had a gentle
radiance in the moonlight. There was something about him that
seemed familiar, but Eme could not place it.

“I too understand being
attacked by one’s own kind,” he said. “We are the same, you and I.
Come with me to the North. Scandinavia is a brutal, fierce and
strong country–perfect for us. We can be as savage as we desire…”
His voice began to fade, and his presence dissipated until Eme was
left alone in a black abyss.

It took her a few moments
for her to realize she had awakened from a dream. It was the next
night and after talking with this vampire through her dream, she
felt compelled to be with him. Nothing could have stopped her from
going to Scandinavia. This was the change she needed, or so she
thought.

Since
fleeing Rome, the vampire had directed Eme through her dreams. From
the first time his voice entered her mind to nearly five months of
travel by foot and wagon later, he guided her to
Ribe
, Denmark. Eme knew nothing of
such a cold and damp place as this. For all her life up to this
point had been spent in Cairo and Rome. The cool damp weather was
mostly an annoyance as her vampiric body for the most part was
resistant to any kind of weather, hot or cold.

As she
traveled north to Scandinavia, it was amazing to see the change in
the people. From the way they dressed to what they believed, their
Norse gods and Pagan rituals. The more time she spent within
Ribe
waiting for the vampire, Malachi, to join her,
the more she began to love the brutal and fierce nature of these
Scandinavians. In a roundabout way, Malachi and Eme helped the
‘savages’ to new heights as the reigning Vikings the Old World
feared–even if it were for only a couple hundred
years.

By the time Malachi
finally made his way to Eme’s side, six months had passed. For Eme
to actually see him, to be able to finally touch him, set her at
ease.

“There
was many an eve I feared you would not come,” Eme said, her voice
soft. “I feared I would be alone, again.” Moving out of the doorway
she let Malachi in. During the time Eme was alone, she had done
quite well for herself. Living on the outskirts of
Ribe
, she had found an abandoned
home made from timber, wattle and daub, and made it her
own.

Her nightly runs into what
could be conceived as a hamlet, was only a large hub of a farming
community made up of three wealthy families. It consisted of a
large rectangular hall where both the slaves and the masters of the
farm along with their wives and children, ate and slept. There were
also small buildings to store their produce, the equipment and a
building designated for trading. This is where Eme went to quench
her thirst. She sat for the most part unnoticed in the main hall
listening to the people, quickly picking up the
language.

“I see you have made
yourself at home here,” Malachi said, speaking Danish clearly. This
surprised Eme somewhat, but then thought that he had to have been
there before for wanting to bring her there. Stepping into the
dwelling, Eme watched him as he scanned the small room.

Stretched hide acted like
a window and on either side were wooden shutters to keep the
weather out. The furniture was sparse and consisted only of a small
wooden table and short benches on either side of it. There was a
hearth to its left and just past it was a small bed made from
timber with a straw filled mattress covered with a woolen blanket.
A single oil lamp flickered in the center of the table and another
illuminated the kitchen at the back of the small house with a soft
glow. It was dark and the scent of smoke permeated everything, the
bedding, the clothes Eme wore and her hair.

As Malachi cleared the
threshold, Eme closed the wooden door behind him. She stopped a few
feet behind Malachi and waited for him to face her. As he did Eme
took a long look at him, examining and absorbing all of him. He was
dressed in a fine black woolen cape secured at the shoulder with a
silver brooch. His shirt was plain white and had no collar but a
slight V-shape was cut out and exposed part of his chest. He wore
brown pants with a thick leather belt that was adorned with a round
gold buckle covered in ornate carvings. From his belt a sword hung,
the blade resting at his knees. A dagger with a silver hilt, which
was placed on the opposite hip, shone in its sheath. On a separate
tiny belt of leather, a purse sat curved around his hip.

His head was shaved but
dark stubble was visible and Eme couldn’t help but wonder if
Malachi cut it every night. As she pondered such trivial things, a
nagging feeling of familiarity flooded over Eme, but she chose to
ignore it. She soon was distracted by the scarring that covered the
left side of Malachi’s neck and face. It was unsettling for her to
see now that he stood in front of her.

The memories etched in her
brain of her, Elijah and Ezra’s attack against their sire suddenly
sent a feeling of guilt throughout. However, she only suffered from
it briefly before she mentally shoved it away. Still her eyes could
not look away from his scars, the scars that had a gentle radiance
despite the darkness of the room. The flesh was so white and
iridescent. There was so much she desired to know. Where was he
from, who was his maker and what had happened to him?

“What if I said I had a
better place for you to stay? A place where you can be my consort?”
Malachi’s voice broke Eme from her straying thoughts and her eyes
darted upwards to meet his. His pale violet eyes shone and the
brown flecks throughout appeared to shimmer.

Finally
piecing a few words together, Eme spoke: “I don’t know what to
say.” Once the words left her lips she bowed her head in
embarrassment
.
‘I
shouldn't have said anything.’ Eme thought to herself, cursing her
simplicity.

“I know this is all so new
and I do not blame you for not knowing what to think of it all,”
Malachi began, “but trust me. I have brought you here to experience
the life that the beautiful vampire you are should experience. We
are strong, radiant, and have the ability to reign over this new
stronghold. I believe that together, we can conquer nearby as well
as distant lands. I can teach you how to rule over these mortals
without you ever having to reveal your true nature.” Eme looked at
him puzzled, but her curiosity was piqued.

“Yes… yes, please show me.
I want to know everything you know,” Eme finally blurted out,
unable to contain her excitement.

From
that night on, Eme was taken in by Malachi and under his wing, led
by his teachings. Together the two of them became a fierce duo.
They quickly learned of their differences and were in awe of each
other’s abilities and flaws. Eme was quick to envy the fact that
Malachi was able to walk in the sunlight. She would ask endless
questions and wanted him to describe in great details the
colours
of the world during the day. But Malachi grew
tired of this quickly and changed his habits to wake and sleep when
Eme did. He could not understand why she missed the light so much
but he let it be and never bothered her about it.