Embers Glowing

Ruler(--------------------------------------------------------------------------------) --> Change in setting or later in time

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"blah" -->talking

'blah'-->thinking

Minion of the Devil.

1765 A.D.

Mid-America

Yami's POV

‘I’ll remember this night forever. I’ll remember the blood that was spilt upon me as I called out to him. I frightened him tonight, just as I had so many times before. But this time I didn't grab his arm in time. He slipped between my fingers like water in an unclasped hand. I weep for the loss of my love. I fear he may be gone for good. The connection we shared is now severed and my mind feels cold without his warm presence there to keep it bright. I can feel my soul slowly being devoured by the darkness that had threatened me once before. I call out into the silver mist that wavers there only to have my words eaten by the evil inside of me. The only thing I have left inside is that taunting question. "Did you mean those three words you spoke…or were they just a game to tease my mind?”’

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Yami’s POV

The cause of my present predicament is not one for the skeptical. There are times when even I don’t believe it. I find myself able to walk along with the mortals and ponder to myself if it was just some horrific dream I have at nights. Yet, logic and repeated events smother my hopeful fantasies. Coincidence has been over-ruled, for coincidence can only last for so long. And the fact that my face never ages is not a fact I cannot so easily over-look and the bruises from fights never surface. I appear to be invincible, and the idea of it scares me. Every full moon the facts are obviously inescapable. My teeth become long and horrible fangs that would have shamed my mother. I crave for blood and I receive it in unearthly ways. Through neck, through mouth, through any means possible. Once a month, on the night of the moons full capacity, I become a creature of the devil, if there is such a thing.

I have even begun to doubt the existence of God again, whose being was hammered into my head since birth and once again at another time. When I was young, everyday I would attend the church by my mothers bidding. I would swallow down the horrific garlic handed out by priests at the entrance of the church, which was used to ward of vampires. I remember my mother was deathly frightened by my over-whelming hate for garlic and its family. She had begged me to take the garlic calmly when the priest handed it to me. Unable to bear my mothers tears; I caved and swallowed the garlic that allowed me to enter God’s church. There, in the church, we were taught to believe that God would save us when we called. I have called so many times, but it appears that the devil has taken me from God’s grasp and covered me in such a horrible curse. Oh, how mother would weep!

Many things about my situation frightened my mother and father. The people of our time had certain superstitions that often led them to believe one to be a vampire. I seemed to have many of the symptoms, although they were easy enough for my parents to hide. The first was the fact that when I was born, my canines showed through my gums. Luckily, my mother was the first to notice and she was able to conceal them stealthily. As I grew older, my hair became that of a blood red, which my mother managed to hide under black dye which would not look so suspicious with my blue eyes. Lastly, there was the fact that I am the seventh child from my parents. I only had 5 siblings still living, as my oldest brother had died at birth, but none the less, I am the seventh. All these things seemed to frighten my parents more and more as I grew. They grew wearier of my hate for garlic and often avoided my teeth. I noticed their uneasiness as I grew. At the age of 15, I grew brave enough to ask why. They had simply shaken the fact aside, saying that I was being ridiculous and to go feed the pigs.

Eventually, when I was 17, the church discovered my red hair and distaste for garlic. They immediately banished me from the church, doing so in front of the whole town. It was not long before the men grew angry and began to form a mob. Soon, shouts rang in the air; suggestions of burning me at the stake grew louder, until my mother finally screamed at me to run. I bid without question.

I ran for several minutes down the road with speed I had not known I possessed. I scarcely felt the ground beneath my feet. I swerved in my running, hoping to avoid being hit. In the distance, growing fainter, I could hear their leader’s voice.

“See?” he called to his men as they mounted their horses, “Tis the work of the devil! The innocence has been drained from him in the night! Let us ride and rid him of his pain before he releases himself over our ill-prepared town!”

To my immediate relief, the sounds of their voices soon ceased to exist. However, this didn’t last long. My newfound speed was not enough to out run the oncoming mob of horses. The sounds of horse hooves beating the ground, riding toward me, pounding into me like a drum. I felt death looming dangerously low over my head. If I didn’t reach the forest in time…I dare not think of the possibilities.

Suddenly, I felt pain run down my back as one sword grazed my back, ripping my Sunday clothes that I had worked so hard to buy. I growled and looked over my shoulder to see a man with blonde hair that shone like a halo in the sun, grinning down at me triumphantly. Had God sent these men to kill the devil’s minion? Yet, how could this man be an angel? His face was gruesomely scared and he was covered in filth. More than likely an old militiaman reduced to stable work. The militia part probably explained his ability to hit me despite my swerving.

The pain sent off an unexplainable anger inside of me. I wanted to kill him with all my heart, use my newfound energy to jump up at the man and bite him, to taste his blood. Yet, I knew that if I did, the men would catch me and burn me at the stake. Instead, I used the new energy within me to speed my running. Soon the forest was in view. It was at 50 yards. The horses were gaining again. Now it was 30 yards away. I could hear the man’s sword whistle by me, missing by an inch or less. It was only a few yards away when I heard a shot, hitting the ground where my foot had been a millisecond ago. I knew I had to take cover... now. I leaped into the air, hoping to reach the forest more quickly that way. To my amazement, the jump was smooth and I traveled at an enormous speed. I fell into the trees and landed gracefully on my feet as I landed. I knew for sure now why mother and father had been so cautious of me…I knew what I had become….

I could hear much swearing and anger beyond the trees that protected me from their sight.

“The devil is surely that of a vampire,” said the cool, collected voice of the cocky leader, “What a fool his mother is, for hiding him from us. She could have caused the deaths of hundreds. We shall return to question her and the father too. That forest is too thick and the vampire is too youthful and sly to catch now. We shall have to wait. He will feed on the livestock first, and that will lead us to him.”

“I will not leave without the vampire!” said a harsh voice.

The sound of a dismounting man distressed me. I knew he was coming into the forest. He was going to find me. I jumped up in the air to a height that allowed me to access the branch of a tree. Upon the branch I sat as I watched the man with the blonde hair and scarred face come stumbling into the forest. The fool was armed with only a stake, which may have scared me, had it not been so dull. It was probably a family heirloom he planned to use to honor his family. How touching. I sneered. The anger in me rose again as I felt my back sting. I let out an unearthly scream of anger and leaped on his back. He had no time to protect himself, before he knew it I was upon him. I plunged my teeth into his neck. The warmth of his blood gushed out beneath the two holes I had created in his neck. Oh, how delightful. I placed my lips on his neck and began to suck the holes as a baby would his mother’s breast. It tasted so delicious. I felt the monster within me growing. I heard the man scream as he fell beneath me, but that did not end my feast. The man was plump, meaning that he would surely have enough blood in him to leave me full for weeks. Outside the forest boundaries I could hear shouts from the men.

“Foolish bastard,” they cried, “He should not have gone in without us.”

“Perhaps he had staked the bloody beast,” said one hopeful voice.

I sneered over my meal. ‘Perhaps not,’ I thought.

When I was finally satisfied, I threw the man from the forest, using strength I had not known I had possessed. I immediately jumped up in the tree to the same branch I had occupied earlier. I gave a smile as I heard the voice that had spoken hopefully earlier shriek with horror. Men shouted and ran into the forest, shaking their stakes in the air. These were real stakes, stakes of metal and sharp tips that would kill a vampire instantly. These were stakes to be frightened of. As a child, I had always made a point of avoiding my father when he wore one on his belt.

“Filthy beast from hell!” the leader shouted. “We will find you. And when we do, your soulless body. May God have mercy on you and your victims!”

I just sneered and lightly jumped from branch to branch. Death was not an option for me. Only for my victims.

I sat in the tree for a few extra moments, making sure the men were gone. When I was finally satisfied that they were gone, I fell swiftly from the branch and landed with the grace of a cat. I stared down at myself. My once tan skin was becoming pale, and I could feel my fangs rub against my lips. I knew what I had become. And I knew why. I felt disgrace consume me. I should have been able to tell. Mother had told me of my abnormal teeth when I was 7. That should have at least made me conscious of my body. Even my red hair with blue eyes should have disturbed me. Yet, apparently, they hadn’t been enough to conquer my holy beliefs, and I was allowed to live as a mortal. I guess kicking me out of the church was the last straw. How foolish of them.

Suddenly, I felt a pang in my heart. It sent vibrations scuttling through my veins, arousing my senses to their finest. From nowhere, I heard one word whispered in the back of my mind. ‘Mother.’

Immediately I tore from the forest and headed down the road with unearthly speed. My heart throbbed in my chest as I ran to my full extent. God speed to all those who dared intercept my path, for even if I was full from my previous meal, I could still kill them with a swift and deep bite to the neck. Nothing could stand in my way now.

After a few moments of running, I could see the town’s lights. In the center of the town, there appeared to be what I thought was a bon fire. Yet, after a few seconds, a foul stench on the air told me otherwise. It smelled of gas, wood, and flesh. Hairs on my neck stirred and rose as the thought whispered again. ‘Mother.’

I picked up the beat of my running to a furious pace that matched my furious mood. In a matter of moments I was in the town’s center, staring into the face of my screaming mother, whose body was veiled in flames. I leaped swiftly to my mother. The flames licked my skin and I felt it begin to burn. I screamed myself. Jumping into the fire had not been an action that was of the wise. Yet I found a power within me, a power the devil hadn’t, and could not, take. It was the love for my mother that pushed me to swallow my pain, take my mother in my arms, and leap away from the fire, her limp body dangling from my arms.

Cries from the crowd lifted like lava from a new volcano. They rained down like ash on my head as I attempted to leap away, yet mother’s body held me down, making my leaps not nearly as effective as they should have been.

“They vampire!” they called. “The vampire is back! The Devil take him!”

I stared around, lost for words. I shook my head, fighting to shake the sounds from my head. Babies screamed, children shouted, women screamed, and men shouted. I immediately knew I had walked straight into a trap. I growled low in my throat as I slung mother’s limp body over my shoulder. I turned the way I came, and ran. I seemed to be doing a lot of that, lately. Running from my fears. Father had always said that running from your fears is not going to rid me of them. What was I supposed to do? Let me and mother die?

Thinking of my father brought a new fear to mind. What would father think of me now that I had become by true self? I had always looked up to my father with the utmost respect. I’ve never done anything to displease him, unless you count a few faltering grades, but those were easy enough to fix. But now, I had sinned in a way that had damned me to the devil. Would I even see him again?

Suddenly, I was brought to earth by a moan from over my shoulder. Mother was waking. Thinking quickly, I darted into the ditch at my right. Now that night had arrived, the ditch was blanketed in a darkness that would conceal us for the time being.

“Yami? Is that you?” my mother asked, her voice a soft whisper. I could sense the pain in her voice. She had been horribly burned. I knew not if she would live much longer. Tears came to my eyes. I had not been fast enough.

“Yes, Mother,” I said, placing one hand on her thin little cheek. Mother had always been one of beauty and poise. She maintained a suitable and delicate pale hue while supporting a suitably thin frame, hardly tampered with by her strength. Now, her soft skin was hot and I could feel burn blisters sprinkled across her previously clean skin. Beneath the blisters, I could feel her shaking, and I could hear her gasping for breath.

“Yami!” she said, placing her hand on my. “They came back….said you had escaped…so happy…captured me…,” she gave an earth-trembling couch that racked her body, “kids taken…your father and I were set to be burned…,” she gave out another one of those horrible coughs, “so happy you came….”

Her words spilled out in delicate phrases, stabbed by coughs. I felt my damned heart beginning to crack.

“Stop, Mother,” I commanded in a harsh tone. “You’ll make it worse.”

“Yami,” said mother in a tone far more harsh then mine, “you need to leave me. Leave right now. They’ll come, and they’ll find you. They’ll stick a stake through you and the devil will steal you. You’re lucky they haven’t caught you yet. Andrew must still be on your tail.” My mother chuckled softly and I joined in, although mine was a skeptical sort of chuckle. When I was younger, Mother and Father used to always talk about how sorry they felt for my guardian angel. While on the subject one morning, I had decided to name him Andrew. The family had immediately accepted it, and now they only referred to the angel as Andrew.

“Mother,” I said roughly, “I think Andrew had long left my side for a human less damned.”

Suddenly, my mother’s grip on his arm became more firm and tight. She spoke so angrily that I grew frightened.

“Don’t you say such things, Yami!” she said the voice surprisingly loud for a woman who had just been pulled out of a fire. “If you do, you will surely be damned.”

“I think it’s a little late, Mother,” I said quietly.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Mother said.

Suddenly, Mother’s breathing became more forced. She looked me in the eye and I could see the pain rushing through her head.

“I have to be going now, dearest,” Mother said, smiling softly. “I’ll see you soon, don’t worry. I’ll have a little chat with God and see what I can do.”

I shook my head, smiling down at mother. “You do that, then.”

Finally, Mother’s breathing ceased and I was left alone. Tears spilled down my face, for I knew what my mother didn’t. I knew that there was no savior. A few hours had brought me to the conclusion of something I had never dared to consider. There was no God, and there was no Jesus. There was not going to be a savior when the world ended. We were all on our own when the time of our doom came, if it ever did. I just hoped that if it did, I was going to be long dead before it came.

Suddenly, voices and light reached my eyes and ears. With one last look at mother, I darted away and into the forest, where I would begin my new life as a vampire. Nothing was going to stand in the way of my life, for now I knew that there was no chance to live after this. I had this one chance to make it all matter, and I was going to make it matter.

The light of the moon illuminated the scene below. The scene of havoc, betrayal, and death. The mob soon came upon the body of Yami’s mother. The faces around blanched seeing what they had done. One of the more outspoken inhabitants spoke up.

“She was the mother of a demon! The devil’s very own! Do not remorse! She would have seen us all die just for her vampire’s blood lust.”

Doubt was still hanging in the air but one by one the people went away till all that was left was the twilight of the moon and stars above. This was a cursed night that would never be forgotten entirely. This was the night when the three greatest gifts a person could have were lost:

Love, Faith, and above all, Hope.

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