The Taste of Hidden Secrets - Part Eight

Walking down the narrow street, Mark crossed the road and walked through the large metal gates. Continuing up and across the grass, he came to what he was looking for. A small wooden door hidden behind a bush in the cemetery. 1

Mark closed his eyes and when he looked back up at the door, he had converted to his vampire state. Placing his hand on the small symbol where a keyhole usually is the door creaked and swung open. The small little tunnel was pitch black and he was grateful for his night vision that got given to him when he was turned. 2

Easing his way down the rocky cave like alleyway he saw a burning torch up ahead. Pressing on he came across another wooden door this time easily pushed open. The bright streaming light hit his eyes immediately and his vampire side subdued once more. When his eyes had adjusted to the brightness, he took in the scene that folded out in front of him.3

Thirty of the "other members" bowed down before an aging woman dressed in pure white. She hovered in midair over a large stone bowl that had misty water flowing over the top, vanishing before it hit the marbled floor.4

The hall was filled with torches and the large emblem of what looked like a circle with a curving star shape in the middle branded itself high in the ceiling. It was the same symbol on the door.5

Mark had seen this many times before and with haste walked straight towards the grey lady. Bowing before her, he waited for her response before returning to his feet once more.6

"I need to know some things. Things that have been happening to me." Mark began to explain.7

"I can breath, my heart beats, I am alive and I don't know why. I am supposed to be the undead. A creature that has no soul. I have been until now." He continued.8

The woman looked at him patently, not moving a muscle before her meaningful hard voice sounded loud across the hall.9

"I sense you do not realise the great depths as to what you are. You brand yourself a creature but on what grounds do you determine this?"10

"I turned... I went to bite her." He openly stated, diving right in with the problem.11

"You dreamt this?" She questioned, seeming to know the answer anyhow.12

"Yes I dreamt biting her, but I turned when I got to close to her, I am a monster and went to hurt an innocent person." He barked, feeling frustration build in his throat.13

"You are too hard on yourself young one. Come with your questions in truth and not shrouded in your own self believing and stigma." She calmly riddled. 14

The grey glowing lady floated from her high throne and down to Mark's height. Placing a hand on his shoulder, she motioned towards the stone basin. Mark did as he was told and followed her to look down into the mystical water.15

"Look." The woman simply requested.16

Mark looked down into the bowl and when the mist parted he saw his reflection, and he saw himself in his turned state. Feeling at his face quickly he soon realised he had not changed at all, but the bowl was telling otherwise.17

"You are young but on the other side. Blue is God's powers flowing through your veins and casting in your eyes." She explained, looking at Mark's confused expression. 18

"Things but happen for a reason, and you were chosen that night Marcus to become one of God's warriors and fight under his sign." she enclosed, slowly pointing to the emblem on the ceiling.19

As the woman’s words sunk into his brain and tried to make sense of her artful declarations, they were battling with the million questions he had there already. Seeming to read his mind, she touched his forehead with a long black fingernail. 20

All at once, thoughts and feelings rushed through his brain and body. Flashes of Beth, their fights, and their times together, their kiss, her hurt face, all raced at him with great speed. Feeling like his head was about to explode the woman slipped her finger back off his forehead and they instantly stopped. 21

Feeling his chest tighten, he heard his breath coming in great plight, his heart beating rapidly in his throat. The High Priestess let him gain his composure before she proceeded.22

"How can you be what you declare is a creature when a love you hold strong brings life to your body once more. It is God's gift to you Marcus. A gift of life as well as a leader." 23

Mark was stunned, he didn't even think God existed and if he did, he thought he was unwillingly on hell's side, but he still feared himself in the realms of dealing with Beth.24

"You will control them in time. It is new to your body, like a foreign gene. You need to give it time and trust yourself. You will not hurt the girl I can assure you. God did not create you like that." She wisely assured him. 25

Mark thought on it, hearing the words she had spoken be retold in his head, before he remember something she had said.26

"You called me a leader. Leader of what?" Not one for the religion side he prayed she was not going to tell him tales of an apocalypse, he was only just getting his head round that there was an actual God. 27

He must be real he thought to himself. Everything she had said made sense and coincided with what was happening to him. He looked up at the woman and awaited her explanation.28

"You are not a creature or a monster Marcus, but they are out there. Killing and murdering for the feed. The Dark One created them as a ploy when he saw the Angels made to protect the innocent. They are feral vampires and they can turn you to become them." She exclaimed to a mystified Mark.29

"How do you tell who they are?" Mark questioned.30

"They repel the sign and have red flowing through their veins and it casts out through their eyes in transformation. They cannot touch nor harm a person with the sign bore on them though but are dangerous none the more." She cleared him, waiting for any more of his uncertainties, but Mark seemed to have no more.31

"Though you have been fighting the feral vampire's and Earth's general evils, you have not been ready to know how great your status really is. So now, go and worry not about your feelings for the girl, as it will work out on its own. You are not evil Marcus." She finished, before floating back up above the stone basin and glowing into a piercing bright white light and vanishing. The other members continued to bow before chorusing and vanishing themselves. 32

The hall reduced to a dank and dark little caved room with just one lonely torch hanging on the wall. Mark picked it up and headed for the exit, his head still a buzz of all the things and details been told to him. 33

"Worry not about your feelings, you are not evil Marcus."34

The sentence bore witness in his mind and it comforted him a great deal, even though the woman insisted on calling him Marcus when he absolutely hated that name.35