The curse

THE CURSE1

I'm cold, very cold. I've been in this cemetery for hours. I know he's coming. I saw what happened, just like the many times before. I remember the first time. It was so long ago, but seemed like only yesterday. 2

I was 9 years old when it happened. My father was going to take me out with him one night. He went out every night and I never had any idea where he would go. I always had to stay home. I was never allowed to see the light of day, and to this day, I still haven't seen the sun. But I never knew why I was protected so, until the night I went with him. 3

We live in Austria, in a large and very old castle. We went into the local village where my father met with people I'd never seen before in my life. These were sinister figures, each huge in stature and all dressed in black. They talked in a language that I wasn't familiar with, so I had no idea what was said. The next thing I knew, they began to walk down the village street, to the very heart of the place. 4

There, in the village square, I saw a beautiful young girl in a bright red robe, tied and gagged to a stake. My father and the other men approached what appeared to me to be the village leader and they talked for a long time. The man seemed afraid of my father, and was shaking and sweating. I was so lost, so na•ve, so innocent, but all that was about to change. 5

My father grabbed the young girl and threw her over his shoulder. He then proceeded to walk away. He told me to follow, and we went, accompanied by the other men, to the outskirts of town. We stopped in a cemetery, and my father set the girl down. She was trembling, like she knew what was coming. Then I saw something that still haunts me to this day. My father stripped the girl down and began to bite her on the neck. The others joined in, biting her wrists and inner thighs. I was horrified, and wanted to scream, but could not find the breath to do so. 6

At the same time, though, I saw the crimson blood flowing from her body, and a strange hunger enveloped me. I was repulsed by this heinous act, yet I could not look away. The blood drew me in. My father pulled me to him, and put her bleeding wrist to my mouth. "Feed!" he told me. I could not refuse his request, my desires to do so ran too deep. I began to feed, and while doing so, I looked at the girl's face. I could see her soul in her eyes, telling me to, no, begging me to stop. I caught a hold of myself, and realized what I was doing. I pulled away from her, ashamed of myself and of my father. 7

"Why do you not feed? It is our nature. We are God's unwanted children, doomed to wander this wretched planet until it's destruction." my father scolded me. 8

"I cannot. I will not. I am not what you are." I screamed. "I am a person. I am, I am!" 9

" You are nothing. You are the prince of Vampyrs, heir to my throne." Said my father. "You may one day be king, but until you accept what you are, you are nothing." 10

"And what of the girl? Is she not an innocent? Why does she deserve to die?" 11

"She, my son, is an offering from the village. Instead of randomly feeding, the villages offer us sacrifice. This girl was chosen for her infidelity. She was a bunny, a common prostitute. She deserves to die." 12

"No one deserves to die. She is a person, she has a soul." 13

"A soul? Show me this soul. I do not see one. You speak nothing but nonsense. And besides, she will not die, if you so desire." With this, the discussion ended, and my father cut a small slit into his wrist, letting blood freely flow. "Would you like to live girl?" my father asked sarcastically. The girl was too weak from the loss of blood to answer. My father put his bleeding wrist to her mouth. The girl drank deeply, and my father cringed. The other men had stopped feeding and were watching. My father pulled his hand away, and the girl smiled weakly, and then began to convulse. The girl stopped breathing, and my father dropped her into and open grave. The other men picked up shovels that lay next to the grave and buried her. 14

"You said she'd live. You Liar!" I screamed. I remember charging at my father, but he moved faster than I'd ever seen anything move before. He was in front of me, about twenty feet away, but then, as I took my first step, he appeared right next to me and hit me. I fell to the ground, the wind knocked out of me. As I gasped for breath, my father laughed and evil sort of laugh, and said, "You stupid boy. You do not comprehend my power. I said the girl will not die, and she shall not." He hit me again, and I slipped out of consciousness.15

I awoke to find myself back in the castle, in my room. I went to the door, but it was locked from the outside. I sat on my bed and waited. After several hours, my door opened and my father told me to come. He said he had something to show me. I thought all that happened the night before must've been a nightmare, a horrible nightmare, but I was wrong.16

My father took me back to the spot where the girl was buried. The moon was shining brightly, and the air was cold. He handed me the shovel and told me to dig. I dug and dug, until I had completely unearthed the cold, lifeless body of the girl. I looked at her face, at her closed eyes. She seemed peaceful, like she was never in pain. 17

I looked toward my father and said, "See? You killed her. You DID kill her." 18

" Boy, look again." My father said mockingly. And I did.19

The girl's eyes slowly opened, and her eyes were piercing yellow. She stood up, walked over to my father and kissed his hand. "The girl is now my slave for the rest of eternity. You see boy, I kept my promise. I did not kill her, only changed her." 20

I looked into the girl's eyes. The soul was gone. She was a sheep, following any command given by my father. She wasn't alive. She died that night, and I could've stopped it, but instead, I helped kill her. A rage welled up inside of me. 21

I didn't make myself this way; it's not my fault. Just as I thought that, something snapped inside of me. I figured that if my father had immense power, then I did too. I ran at my father again, this time determined to give it everything I had, even if it killed me. 22

This time was different than the first. I moved as fast as he did, if not faster. I ran at him, shovel in hand, and swung it with all the power in my body. The shovel went about half circle before hitting my father's neck. I watched his head detach, and fall to the ground. He was dead, and not coming back. I then looked towards the now angry girl. I plunged the shovel deep into her chest, and put her soul to rest. 23

That was 400 years ago, and I've been hunting them ever since. 24

I started with the men that accompanied my father that night, killing them all one by one. I then returned to my castle, and looked through all family records, so that I could hunt and kill the rest of my bloodline. 25

My hunt has brought me here, in search of a distant cousin. Finding them is not hard. I just have to follow the trail of death and decay. I am waiting now for one he changed to awaken. 26

Here I sit, alone, the cursed Vampyr King... 27