The Calling

Molten clouds raged across the skies, bursting with violent flashes and rumbling with angery might. Seas churned and foamed, winds ravaged towns till all was naught but dust and debris. Upon the torn land the people wailed. They prayed to deaf gods and sought aid from compassionless ancestors. Diseases festered, bringing scores of blisters to boil the flesh and cook the inards. Plagues spread, from land to ravaged land until it had reached enormous proportions. Then, it simply vanished. And in the plague’s wake were mummified corpses. They littered the land like leaves of a forest floor. And like the leaves, they were dry and crumbled at the touch. But amongst the corpses were survivors. Slackjawed, horrendous survivors. They called themselves the Strong. Amongst the Strong were the few who tired of society’s damning rules when the world had ended. These few were shunned into the shadows, for the very word fear was not apt enough to identify these beings who would kill another to survive. They were the whispers and chills that race along a lone man’s spine in the dead of night. They were the darkness, and the children of Fear herself. As centuries past and the plagues of before became little more than stories, the populations of the Strong brought forth abundant new life. And with the time so the the Strong evolved. Clans were kept, feudal systems began, and fire was tamed as the wild pig was domesticated. But the darkness still cloaked fear. 1

“You would rather us waste away than savor that which we thrive on ever again!”2

“I gave you life Gutrov. I will not tolerate your disrespect!”3

“Please Master, I spoke out of selfish greed,” the larger man quaked before his better. “Please, I can’t go without my allowance tonight Master. I beg your indulgence.”4

“You do not beg Gutrov, you squirm. You do not obey, you defy. And most of all Gutrov you know not of pentanance.” 5

“Master, why must we feed only upon the tough flesh of game?”6

“My precious Dameon, we feast whilst others choose to starve. Would you rather be lashed to the cross in the middle of the town square to await the penalty of your greed, which is be death?”7

“But the children always taste so sweet,” Hideous giggled from the corner of the basement. “Plump little veins. Like candy. Tasty snacks they made.”8

“Hideous! You will not speak that way of the humans in this household, do you understand me Sclav?”9

“You are not our Master. If you were stronger then the urge to feast would be satiatied through you. But you are weak. Others amongst us are more worthy of the title you bear.”10

“So it is mutiny you wish to bring about Malachi? If you yearn for human so badly then you are the weak. Listen to me you mongrels, we are stronger than the urge. I have worked for a century building trust with this village and it’s elders. You will not bring it down to ashes because of your lust!”11

“Children so sweet! Too many here. Malachai get children for us to eat!”12

“Oh that would be a magnificent feast, children make the perfect meal complete. There’s that old woman, so plump she is. She would do well to serve as our food so that we could savor every drop of the child,” Dameon purred as he carrassed Hideous’s sunken in cheek.13

“No my dear Dameon, why do you lust for blood like the others?”14

“My precious Master, you and I have been through the ages have we not? I simply wish to taste humanity again. It has been too long. I do wish that we could follow your noble way but look at us. Gutrov and Hideous have grown claws instead of hands. We are becoming what we eat. We need the human blood roaring in our veins again.”15

“Ha! See we have Dameon on our side fellows, there is no Master. We feast tonight!”16

“Sclavs! I dare you to step foot up the stairs. Just one foot and I will return you to the bloody grave from whence you came. You think that Heaven holds it’s arms to beckon you home, think again! Your souls are mine and I am only casting you to the lowest rung of Hell to be burned eternally as mutineers.”17

“I do not wish such a horrible death upon you, no matter how the hunger pains me. Hideous, dream of the sweet children but taste not of them. Malachai, you thirst for that which you cannot have because you are truly weak. We would all be slaughtered with you as Master. And Gutrov, you have begun this so it is your ration that will be shared amongst us tonight. I beg your indulgence Master” Dameon bowed low, his golden hair tracing the mildewed floor.18

“I simply want us to live in peace my dear Dameon. What would we do without one another?”19

“I should rather think we would die,” he whispered for his visions of late had begun to clarify themselves. One would end for neither could go on any longer as they were.20

The Master held out his hand to his golden Dameon in the bottom of the basement where those who once reigned after disaster were now imprisoned by his humanity. His love for humanity. He could not, would not allow the horde to kill off the village peoples. They enjoyed the vaggabond every now and again, and the theifs that would otherwise have been hung, but no innocent drop of human blood would cross their lips he had sworn it to the guild. He would swear it again. 21

They walked out of the dingy room into the stair well that was festering with grime and would have been inhabited by rodents, but they were meals for the horde. “I need you to guard the stairs Dameon, guard it so that none of us perish to lust’s sweet beckoning call.”22

“I cannot halt what is inevitable dear Master, I can only dodge the tide for so long before the ocean swallows me whole for disobediance.”23

“But you must Dameon, for I would rather lose my love for you than the life of an innocent. You know the punishment for such a crime, please help yourself and the others to fight the urges.”24

“We cannot last any longer than the tree, we will all fall down eventually.”25

“I cannot stand your maddness any longer Dameon, speak to me directly man!”26

“The world could care less about your wishes Master, it simply wants to move on naturally. This is unnatural what you have made us. We cannot eat animals and beasts if we mean to live as Vampires. What would you have me do but carve out the part of me that you created?”27

“I ask none of that Dameon! I simply do not want us to kill everything that matters in this world, how can you not understand me, brother who has stayed true and by my side the longest? How can you not weep for the innocent blood that drenches the soil beneath our feet after our feast? Are we to always be the fear in other’s eyes?”28

Dameon sighed, “Yes we are.” And with that he walked back into the dingy room to comfort his starving brothers. His golden hair swayed in the damp air, like a cat slinking away.29

Dameon shut the wobbly creaky door gently and took a seat at the head of the table. The others did not tell Master that Dameon was true to their hearts. He thirsted as they did and hungered as they starved for the humans. But none of them told Master. Only Dameon kept the Master happy, only he could placate him in his rages on evil. Dameon told them that they were not evil. That the evil was that they refused the hunger, that they denied the cravings. Gutrov sat to his right in the honorary seat of peacekeeper, Hideous to his left because Hideous needed to be controled for the leash on his beast often snapped and anyone became food in his scarlet eyes. Malachi sat on the opposite end in the warrior’s seat, Dameon’s true seat. “Malachi, will you go tonight and relieve our pain?”30

“I shall bring back a feast, and I will start with the family above. So many plump children and they have no idea what a monster is.”31

“Master will end tonight, with the death of innocents it will be all too easy to rend his sanity from its self and kill him.”32

“Surely you don’t mean to kill him, do you?”33

“Grow a spine Gutrov, of course we will kill him. It would be cruel to let such a tormented mind as his live any longer.”34

“How many children shall we catch? Little toes and fingers. A sweet treat children make!”35

“There are a dozen children Hideous, but you will not scare them for they musn’t utter a single word. And now we must disperse before Master becomes suspicous. Come to me when the moon is high Malachi, bring us our feast.”36

Malachi slept that night the closest to the door to the stair well that was guarded by Dameon. He watched as Master finally settled down by the far wall, his silver eyes slanting as he fell asleep. Malachi rose to carry out the plan that they had set in action as Dameon opened the door to the stair well. “Be swift brother, bring us back a feast!” With that Malachi dissapeared into the darkness of the stairwell and above. 37

All was quiet as neither the crickets or the frogs sang into the night. People slept peacefully in the beds, unaware of the horrors lurking around them. And the moon’s blaring clarity sharpened the shadows of death upon the walls of the homes of innocents. The horde slept the sleep that all of the unliving begins at some point where they cease to be and life leaves their body as the sun kissed the horizon to begin a new day. Even the screams of their brother burning in the fire of condemnation fell upon the silent ears of the horde. His screams rose as the fire consumed him in all of his evil and horror. The humans had won again. Creeping late at night when the guard was on watch for any mischevious activity had been his first mistake, thinking that there was only one guard had been his second. And so the five in the horde dwindled to four as their brother met his dire fate. When the moon chased the sun from the sky once again, the ashes were still smoldering in the fire where Malachi had burnt. Master was the first to arise from the sleep of the undead. It was his task to awaken the members of his horde, for his life breathed through all. 38

He felt an emptiness within his mind where something had once been but now had escaped him. Looking around on the floor, he realized that Malachi was missing. He rushed into the stair well where his precious Dameon lay cowering in a corner, whimpering in the still of the night.39

“Where is he Dameon? Do you know what you have done?”40

“I heard, I heard his screams. They, they burnt him. And he screamed. Wouldn’t stop screaming. God I thought he would just keep screaming until it killed me. Didn’t you hear the screaming? It is ringing in my ears still, the screaming. So much screaming. How can one make such a sound as that screaming?”41

“Why did you allow him to pass Dameon?”42

“We thought you too weak, not fit to be master. He was going to bring the food. We must have food. A feast of a dozen children. But he screamed. And no children ever came through that door up there.”43

“You brought him to his death, you who were my brother have brought us to the end with your maddness. Know you not the payment for mutiny? Hell is where you will be!”44

“Oh, I heard Hell last day, it echoed through the screams. I saw the images of twisting faces through the screams. I saw death and it was not the beautiful death that an angel brings. It was Hell. Yes, I visited Hell last day. I heard it and walked through it in screams.”45

“You are lost to me brother, I fear your mind is too fragile to trust now. You will scream my name for all eternity, but I will forget yours tomorrow.” With that the Master called upon his sword of power and out of the eery violet haze it appeared, glowing in the gloom as he slashed Dameon’s perfect blonde head from his slim sholders. The Master wept inside, for he had trusted this one, his precious Dameon, to forge a bond with the horde that they had created. But Dameon was weak, and the weak often make the mistake of trying to overcome the strong. The Master awoke the others through his mind, weaving their lives back into their minds and breathing in for them to expel the dead stale air that resided in their rusty lungs. They woke up one by one, each filled with a sense of loss. Hideous realized it first as he wailed about children and feasting. The gnawing pain in their stomachs intensified as the Master called them to him. 46

“Aren’t we going to avenge Malachi? We are there betters aren’t we?”47

“No children. Sweet plump children.”48

“We are moving Gutrov, and that’s final. Malachi got what he deserved.”49

“So why did you have to kill off Dameon, he didn’t do anything wrong? He was always there for us when you weren’t!”50

“Dameon bring me children. Dameon love me too.”51

“Are you both too blind to see that I did what I had to do? I cannot allow for innocence to be slaughtered to slake your thirst.”52

“Then why must we move?”53

“Because the town wants to kill us all now thanks to your friends. If you had just listened to me from the beginning then we would not be two vampires short and running for our lives.”54

“Children, are there children there?”55

“No Gutrov, he’s trying to starve us remember?”56

“Sclavs! You will obey me and flee for safety.” The Master grabbed Gotruv’s wrist and twisted, forcing him to his knees. “Please, let me save you from your death. Just follow me. Please.” 57

Gotruv paused in his manic rant, looking into his Master’s brimming silver eyes. “I will follow you if lead me Master, from the ends of the Earth to Hell if need be.”58

“No children, me no follow!”59

“But we’ll be together Hideous, like a family. Master will find us food like he has always done.”60

“Come with me Hideous, your place is not here. Follow me and I will lead you.”61

“Me follow Master. Me love Master!”62

The Master led them up the forboding stairs and into the thick air of a November night. In the shadows they lurked till they had reached the outskirts of the ragged country town where the woods crept upon the town like a wolf upon a lone lamb. As they crept through the woods the predatorial yellow and red eyes glinted back at them from the underbrush. Predators measuring one another in the cloak of darkness. 63

The cave was a yawning black void in the midst of towering trees, as if a dinosaur had fallen asleep with it’s mighty jaws gaping wide open. They lumbered through the cobwebs to the back where animal carcasses decayed and the cave walls glistened in the moonlight with mildew. Into the lonliness they were swallowed as if another meal for an ever hungry beast. Like the carcasses of the demure mammals before them, they cowered within from humanity and all of it’s innocence.64

****65

“Mira, get inside right this instant! The day’s sun is fleeing!” the mother plaintively called. 66

Mira stood at the edge of the cave, the cool darkness and soothing scent of earth tangled through her senses and clouded her mind. Yes, it is dark already, she thought, but I do wish to discover treasure in this cave.67

Silver predatorial eyes twinkled in the back of the cave, dozens of pairs. But one of fear’s children cried out as he saw the twelve year old girl, standing at the edge of the cave while the sun kissed the horizon for the night. In all of her glittering innocence he felt the inverse of horror, hunger and evil. 68

The others were half-starved but his cry startled them as he raced for the cave’s opening. The little girl gasped in astonishment as he picked her up and ran. He knew what would happen to the delicate life fluttering in her young heart as he knew that the sun’s setting released crazed beings. He was much stronger than the others in his pack, much swifter, more cunning, but but he had fed on animals while they had starved of hunger for human flesh and blood. They ran, howling and raging through the half moon’s soft light. He struggled, wanting to keep this girl from a horrid fate but knowing that they would find her no matter where he hid her. She perfumed the air with the bittersweet smell of fear and metallic taste of her blood.69

They were upon him, clawing at him even as he knew it was fruitless to try and save this innocent creature. He fought back, clawing, biting, and kicking so fiercely that the crunch of bones on impact and the sour smell of their stale blood had him smiling and baring his fangs. If they had been fed then maybe they would have the sense to listen to his commands, this one they called master. But they were crazed and starving and in his waning strength he knew that none would back down. The need to feast was too strong an urge to alter or restrain. Even as he lashed out at the nearest that clawed into his throat he heard the piercing scream of innocence echo through his mind and heart. He heard the ripping of flesh and the noisy sounds of feeding, not knowing whethere it was upon the rose of innocence or his own flesh. Numb. His mind closed, as did his heart, as he struggled to his weary feet. He followed the trail of crimson blood glowing black along the forest floor. He saw them now, feeding and fighting like lions over a carcass. “You have disobeyed me! Return to the Earth and perish!” his voice was as calm as the air that pulsed before a wicked hurricane while he stood before these imposters. The ones who called themselves his Blood. Building his power until the forest floor was hazed in violet and the moon became paled with lavender, he approached them in the swirling violet haze. As none of the pack responded, but continued gorging and burrowing into fleshy wounds, they began to blaze with purple fire as he who was their master took back his life’s blood. Their selfish howls curled up in violet smoke as their bodies were consumed in the fire of immortal death. The Heavens opened up in an attempt to repel the feces of death that reached ontowards them through the burst of angry rain. This time the rain did not cleanse the land, it amplified the puddles of inky blood but gave angles and contrast to the grotesque contorted forms that once served their master. They were no more. He watched as the Earth unfolded herself to accept his pentanance for innocence slaughtered as the corpses of his pack were returned to the Earth.70

He picked up the little girl more gently this time than before and carried her out of the gloomy forest and away from the cave that had captureed her youthful attention. He brought her to the door of her house and arranged her body as best he could to hide the horrendous wounds. He knocked, then vanished into the shadows as an old woman tentatively opened the door. Her eyes filled with grief, and the master felt her sorrow. He watched from the shadows as her wail of despair rose, pitching as the turmulous sea does in a churning storm. He watched as all of those who had loved little Mira joined the sad song witht their own sorrow and pain. And he too realized what true pain was. The family encircled the little girl as the silky moon beams slid across her pale skin, the contrast of her dark hair and pale skin magnified by the crimson stains along her neck and wrists. He saw from the shadows grief sweep by and pain enbed into the lives of innocents. 71

The Master withdrew, the pain too much for his immortal heart to bear. In fleeing he lost all sense of self. A beggar in Athens, a thief in Rome, and finaly, a nobody drowning in a sea of nobodies in England. The pain was too much to carry. The spectors of vengance haunted him through the guant forms of children and hopeless eyes of innocence. Everywhere he went, the haggard children would flock to him as if he were a drop of impurity they detected out of a sea of pure hearts. They were drawn like moths to his shredded guilt wrenched heart. 72

Because the kidnappers lurked around every destitute corner searching for meandering children to sell on the slave markets in Asia, the Master earned a new name for himself, the Guardian. He became these manaic’s shadows, blending into their evil so that he could preserve the children’s safety. He felt as though he was acting out the Fates’ plan through this tribulation of becoming one with evil to liberate innocence. Night after night he feasted upon the blood of evil so that children could walk free. But the evil within him tormented him so until he could battle it no more and lay down to die in the slums.73

As he rotted in his own filth and the filth of other nobodies such as he, he saw beauty. A vision, for only Heaven held creatures so beautiful, passed through the alley in which he sought to cease existance. Her ebony hair done up like royalty as her intelligent clover green eyes scoured the streets of nobodies. “Surely this angel could not be real, for such beauty was never made to walk the streets of nobodies such as I, “ he murmured as she drew ever nearer until at last she was standing above him.74

“What were you called before you allowed yourself to cease being a predator?” Her voice slid like silk over his calloused mind.75

“I was fear, but they called me Master. Then I took that which is unforgivable and rent myself as nobody,” his hoarse voice croaked. “As nobody, I lay in the filth of hunger and revulsion. I am Nobody.”76

“If you truly were Nobody, then I would leave you to your fate but it is your silver eyes for which I have been searching. Your heroism and fast heartedness are reknown. Come with me.”77

“Oh beautiful temptrest angel you be, leave me, flee my sin and filth for I am Nobody!”78

“Come with me, for nobody is not what is needed. I seek the Guardian.”79

“And what would you have me guard, a nobody such as I ?”80

“My lifesake, Renee Isabella Godarch, my daughter.”81

“I cannot,” he screamed, trying to rise to flee this vision but relentless she was.82

“I will give life to La Vampira,” she proudly whispered as he stared dumbly at her. 83

“ My life for you my lady, my life for you,” he whispered kneeling with one hand over his heart. 84

“You must know the legend of La Vampira before you can make your decision.”85

“I would die a thousand times over than not hear of our savior from the melody of your voice my lady.”86

She lifted his head and stared deeply into his eyes, as if trying to pour her soul into him. Then she began the legend.87

“Once, in the age where man knew not the art of reading nor the makings of fire, there was famine. The strongest rid the population of the weak by eating them. They drank of crimson blood and fed as wild animals would. But the Strong were few and were shunned by the populations. They lived in the shadows, feeding on stray humans and animals. They evolved. But so did the humans. As the dark ages crept away to reveal the Medeival times, religion had erupted against the Strong who hid in the darkness, in abandonment, in community. One of our kind came forward, professing the need for the Strong to unite and survive. Thus the guild was born. The oldest and wisest filled the 16 chairs to govern our kind. It was at this time that the humans named our race Vampires. As Vampires, we were ghost stories, we were folk tales, we were Fear herself. The one who united us was the oldest, his name lost as his language died. He was not our king, or our prince, nor was he our father. He was Blood, our life and way to live. He ruled for 300 years when he began having premonitions of a warrior vampress that would save us from extinction. He told us that her eyes would bear the ferocity of a sword and light our way through the darkest of times. That her heart, strong and bold, would love and save us from inevitable death. He bore the importance that she would be of human and vampire. And that she would be of the oldest lineage. Of Blood. The next year he was captured by humans in his castle and staked through the heart, but the prophecy lives on in search for La Vampira.”88

Silence followed her telling of their prophecy as he stared into her eyes, a shadow of a smile playing across his lips. “I will be this Guardian that you seek my lady if you will wash away my sins that have chained my mind to this agony for so long.”89

“And what crime did you commit, Guardian, that has hindered you so? Surely one so pure of heart and stout of mind could not commit the atrocity for which you condem yourself.”90

“I slaughtered innocence. Her blood stains my hands, her cries are engraved into my mind. This is my sin, for not controling those that were my brothers. For allowing Innocence to meet a death too young. Nothing beautiful dies without the grim hand of evil hovering near.”91

“You did not kill the child, your horde did. Perhaps your phillosophy is to blame. But you are not condemed to the eternal flames for the sin of an idea. Come, you must prepare for your future.”92

“I have whatever future you grant me Angel of Pardons. Lead me on.”93

“You must have a name. Everybody who is somebody has a name. Even nobodies have names. Would you like me to choose for you?” Her pale face hinted with laughter and her emerald eyes sparkled at the thought of naming a hero.94

“I will be Anyone, rather than Nobody my lady.”95

“You will forever be remembered as Seraph, Guardian of the Prophecy.”96