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INTRODUCING NALINI
She kept her head bowed, walking quickly along. The sun was beginning to set, shadows stretching all around her. She could feel her heartbeat quickening; she had heard the rumours of what lingered around when the sun went down…
* * *
A shadowy figure was watching her, lurking, safely hidden away from the fading light of the sun. He overstepped the mark slightly, his head peering out of the shadows, and hastily retracted, skin burning and hissing loudly, his red eyes blazing.
* * *
She came to a halt. What was that noise she had just heard? She raised her view, cautiously looking around, and thought she saw something moving. It looked like the body of a man, retracting into shadows. She fancied just spotting a long tooth glinting in the light…
Deciding she had best get home as soon as possible, she turned away, ignoring the hissing, and continued walking. She turned a corner, trying to remain calm, when she felt something reach out and grab her arm.
She looked up again, and saw a tall, pale skinned man tightly clasping her. His flesh seemed to burn in the dimming sunlight, and his ruby eyes gleamed dangerously. She tried to tug her arm free, feeling panic as he strengthened his hold. He snarled warningly, and slapped a second gnarled hand over her mouth, to stifle any further cries.
Dragging her back, he disappeared into the shadows once more, with the girl firmly in tow. He only dared to release her once he had reached his destination, a small, seemingly abandoned house.
She toppled over, landing hard on the floor, and cautiously glanced about. There were a few other figures milling around, most of them with black hoods covering their faces. She felt a rush of fear in the pit of her stomach, and clambered to her feet again. Her legs became entangled in her long dress as she struggled to flee, the exit blocked by her kidnapper.
He tightly held both of her wrists, and clasped her to his chest. She flinched, wanting to have as less contact with him as possible. She bit back a frightened whimper as one hand released her wrist, and lightly touched her neck, almost lovingly. He leant closer, as though to kiss it, and opened his mouth.
She tensed when she felt the tips of his sharp fangs brush her skin, piercing it, sinking down into her jugular vein. She felt something trickle down her throat, followed by an excruciating pain rippling through her entire being as her kidnapper began to feed.
When he finally finished, she sank down to the floor, and was bundled into another room, alone. It was pitch black when she awoke; she had been unconscious for over twenty-four hours. Someone had evidently been tending to her, to make sure what little life remained within her had not dwindled away. There was a bandage at her throat.
‘Don’t move,’ an unfamiliar voice commanded, as she stirred.
‘W-What happened…?’ she weakly asked, looking at the figure before her.
The newcomer seemed vaguely feminine, but it was hard to tell for definite, seeing how she kept herself protectively shrouded. Only the lower half of the stranger’s face was visible, as the rest of it was covered by a black hood. The mouth smiled, revealing two long canines.
‘You were bitten,’ the voice evasively replied.
‘Bitten…?’
The mouth sighed, seeing the girl still failed to comprehend the situation.
‘Everybody here all has one thing in common,’ the stranger started to explain. ‘We’re all kindred spirits – vampires. Now you’re here…you are one, too. Tell me, girl, what’s your name?’
‘My…my name?’ she repeated. She still felt a little woozy, disorientated. She had to think for a moment what her name actually was. ‘Nalini Faux.’
‘I’m Azlyn,’ the stranger greeted. ‘Azlyn Garrah. I’ll look after you.’
Azlyn excused herself for a moment, whilst Nalini cautiously pulled herself up into a sitting position. She had a terrible headache, not helped by her trying to make sense of what had happened so far, what Azlyn had told her. Vampires? She knew that some people had been burnt alive, accused of being vampires or witches, but she never expected to meet any who claimed to be…
She certainly never expected to become one herself. She was so confused; how did she know she could trust this Azlyn woman? How did she know that what she had been told was the truth?
Nalini glanced at her arms, and rolled up her long sleeves. The pigments in her skin seemed to have died. She was as white as a ghost. She glanced up when she heard soft footsteps, and saw Azlyn approaching again. She held a mug in her arms, and knelt down, offering it to Nalini.
Azlyn had her hood down now, clearly revealing her face. Nalini saw that this ‘Azlyn’ woman had a shoulder length, silvery green mane of hair, which she had to keep tucking in place behind her ears. She smiled, yet it was an empty smile. Cold, like she had to force it. It seemed the only purpose to it was to show off her lengthy fangs.
Nalini took the mug, and had to restrain herself from crying out aloud when she saw the contents. A sickly familiar scent floated up into her nostrils as she gaped down into the crimson fluid.
‘Drink it,’ Azlyn told her. ‘You’ve only just been turned, you’re weak. You need to feed.’
Nalini merely gaped down into the mug; she was still uncertain, still found it difficult to believe that she was a ‘vampire’, and did not think she had it within her to drink blood.
Azlyn was watching her, making encouraging gestures, and Nalini parted her lips slightly, raising the mug. She tried to ignore the wave of nausea that washed over her, and felt two points brush against her lower lip; her own canines had dramatically lengthened.
Her repulsion faded away, and instead was replaced by a deep urge, as the scent of the blood overpowered her. She greedily downed it, her eyes flashing red.
‘Better?’ Azlyn asked, when Nalini lowered the mug once more.
‘I think so,’ Nalini replied, feeling a bit stronger than she did before.
* * *
The first time Nalini stepped out of the little building her kidnapper had forced her into, it was a whole month later. The past few weeks had been torturous for her; she had wrestled and contended with the other vampires, screaming wildly, desperate for blood, had to be restrained.
She had lashed out, clawing and shrieking at anyone who dared to get close enough, trying to draw crimson fluid from the other vampires. She had been left beaten and bruised by the other, stronger ones when she had been prised away from whomever it was she was attacking. As a punishment, the stronger vampires had taken care to hurt her, but not draw any of her own blood, so she could not even feed from herself.
Only Azlyn stood by her. Only Azlyn seemed to remember what her own turning was like, how gruelling it was to keep the bloodlust under control. Azlyn would drag Nalini away, out of fights before she could be beaten again, would sneak her mugs brimming with blood when she was left weakened after another punishment. Azlyn, in short, was the only one who was there for her.
She tentatively took a step forwards, and heard a door slam behind her. It was early evening; the sun was only just setting. She was still protected by shadows, and held out one hand.
Nalini let out a hiss of surprise when her hand was hit by the delicate rays of the sun. The skin began to smoulder, and she rapidly withdrew it. Small amounts of smoke were streaming off the tips off her fingers.
‘You need to do this,’ said a voice behind her.
Nalini turned back to see Azlyn stepping out. She had her face covered by her black cloak again.
‘It’s alright for you, you have a cloak.’
‘We can’t wear them all the time, you know,’ Azlyn blandly responded. ‘To see a large number of people strolling around, all wearing cloaks…it would look a little suspicious, would it not?’
Even though besides Azlyn, there seemed to be nobody about to see her, Nalini could not help but feel apprehensive. She knew that the sun was going to hurt her, cause her to flinch, hiss, scream…if someone did see, her vampirism would be discovered.
Against her will, her mind thought back to the very first time she watched the fate of one who was believed to be a vampire. Tightly bound, in the broadest daylight, and burnt.
The victim’s bellows of pain echoed around in her mind; she could recall watching the rosy skin begin to blacken…
Nalini shook her head; those were not thoughts she needed at the present moment. Before she had readied herself to take that first step into the sun, there was an impatient sigh behind her. Azlyn gave her a heavy push, and Nalini stumbled forwards, onto her knees.
She bit her lower lip hard, trying to resist the urge to shriek loudly, and forced herself back to her feet. More smoke rose from off her body, and she lasted about a full thirty seconds, before she had to seek shelter in the shade again.
Seeing how shaken the injured Nalini was, Azlyn slipped off her cloak with a sigh, handing it over. Nalini merely looked at her in confusion.
‘Take it,’ Azlyn said. ‘Just…be careful.’
Nalini gave the other vampire a small, grateful smile, and slipped the cloak on. She pulled the hood up, tucking her pure white hair out of the way. The hood flopped down over her face, hiding her eyes.
‘I’ll want to see you at midnight. There’s still something else you need to learn to deal with, sunshine aside,’ Azlyn told her, before silently turning away.
* * *
Under the pitch black sky, Nalini felt calmer. She felt happier, free. Only those who knew what she had become were those who were just like her. The sun had set hours ago, and so with that, and the fact that she had not been dragged into a bloodlust related fight for a few days meant that there was nothing around to hurt her.
The hood had been pushed back, and her waist length sheet of white hair tumbled about over her shoulders. She spun around when she heard footsteps, and saw Azlyn softly approach. Nalini gave her an expectant look, wondering what it was the elder vampire wished to show her.
‘Tell me, Nalini, have you felt…lighter, as of late?’ Azlyn mysteriously inquired. ‘As though you weigh a fraction of what you did as a human? As though you might rise up off the ground at any given moment?’
‘I’ve not been…as heavy on my feet since I was turned, that’s true,’ Nalini replied, giving Azlyn a confused look. She wondered what it was that Azlyn was alluding to.
Realising so, Azlyn gave no explanation, but instead hovered a few feet in the air, and eerily glided over to Nalini.
‘What in the world…?’ Nalini muttered, taken aback.
‘This is what I wanted to show you,’ Azlyn said, still in mid air. ‘We vampires…we have the power of flight. Try it. Close your eyes, and envisage taking flight, swooping off the grass.’
With a little nod, Nalini did as she was told, tightly clenching her eyes shut. She imagined soaring through the air like a bird. She imagined having her head in the clouds – literally – and when she opened her eyes again but a second later, she realised that she and Azlyn were both level with one another. She glanced down, scarcely able to believe that she had lifted up so far on her first attempt.
* * *
‘You should feed more often, you know,’ Azlyn suddenly said, a few months later. They were both under the cover of darkness once more, and she peered closely at Nalini.
The younger vampire looked rather weak, her pale skin was taut, and her eyes looked gaunt. Even for a vampire, she looked far from a picture of health.
‘I’m fine,’ Nalini replied. ‘I do feed, just…when I need to.’
Truth be told, the idea of drinking blood still repulsed her. She could still clearly remember the first time she had tasted it, when Azlyn had offered the cup to her – and did not recognise the feverish, desperate girl she had become. So therefore, she avoided feeding unless she had no choice. That, along with the fact she was surrounded by those much stronger than her, she had decided to try and keep the bloodlust as under control as possible.
Azlyn, on the other hand, seemed to give in to her vampiric urges on the spot, whenever they struck. She seemed to have accepted what she was, if not actually take pride in being a bloodsucker. Judging by the slight red tint on Azlyn’s teeth, she had recently fed again.
‘Then why do you look so ill?’ Azlyn challenged.
‘I’ll feed soon enough,’ Nalini replied with a heavy sigh, not meeting Azlyn’s eyes.
Nalini turned away from Azlyn, and settled down on the edge of a heavy, wooden table. Another vampire was watching her with a dark grin, idly throwing and catching a blade in one hand. It caught Nalini’s attention, who tried to watch him, without making it obvious that she was.
He held her gaze for a moment, the grin widening, and threw the knife at her. She gasped, and tried to move her hand out of the way. Yet the sharp steel still caught her thumb. She hissed in pain, glaring daggers at him, and examined the deep mark. Her eyes glowed scarlet for a moment as thick blood trickled down to her wrist, her bloodlust beginning to rise.
Azlyn was right…it had been too long since she last fed…
She licked her thumb clean, and stalked out of the building, out into the starless night. The red hue of her eyes grew deeper, as she became more dangerous.
The sensation of insatiable bloodlust had overwhelmed her completely, until she was no longer able to think of anything else. Just the crimson life fluid that flowed through the veins of every human…
She turned; she had heard something behind her. Her mouth was open, threateningly baring her fangs, her ruby eyes searching high and low for the source of the noise. Then she saw it.
A young girl, out much, much later than was wise, walking by herself. How curious…
Keeping to the shadows, Nalini snuck closer. She vaguely recognised the girl, yet did not care, for in her mind, the girl had become nothing more than a walking meal. She waited until the girl was close enough, and leapt out of the shadows, grabbing hold of her.
One hand crushed her lips against her teeth, just stifling the scream of surprise that she had so nearly uttered, and pulled her back out of sight again. Nalini held one hand to her prey’s throat, tightly squeezing the trachea. The girl choked, her hands rising to Nalini’s own, in an attempt at loosening up the almost unbearable pressure on her neck.
When she was convinced that the girl was going to remain quiet, Nalini released her. The demonic flicker in her eyes would ensure that even if the girl could scream, she would not.
She lunged at the girl’s throat, not gently, as the man who turned her was, but roughly, desperately. She bit down hard, destroying flesh and piercing veins. Blood poured messily from the wound, down her neck, into Nalini’s mouth, and down her chin.
The vampire felt an overwhelming sense of joy as she fed, which was only heightened by the occasional involuntary whimper of fear that escaped the girl’s lips, as she was slowly drained of her life.
When the last drop of blood had leaked from her jugular vein, Nalini finally released her quarry. She knew she was careless, but cared not. She had sated her bloodlust, and for the moment, that was all that mattered. She looked down, and saw that the front of her dress was drenched with blood.
She was temporarily shocked back to reality as she heard footsteps, and spun on her heels, ready to attack if needs be.
‘…What have you done?’ a dangerous voice asked. The tone was calm, yet Nalini could still detect a hint of suppressed fury, as Azlyn stepped back into sight. She looked angrily at the girl in Nalini’s arms, who was now stone cold dead, and urged Nalini to do something – anything – to try and cover up what she had just done.
Yet still in her primitive state of mind, Nalini refused. She just remained there, clutching the body, and as luck would have it, yet another figure stumbled upon the scene. He looked at the body, as a horrified scream rent the air; he had recognise the dead young woman, and it was his daughter.
The two vampires could detect signs of life as people were awoken by his yells. As people flooded out into the streets, Nalini and Azlyn both hissed, for they realised that their vampirism had now been revealed to all.
Nalini dropped the girl down to the ground, yet it was still blatantly obvious what she had done, and with the red stains on Azlyn’s teeth from earlier, it looked as though she had been a part of it, too. The two vampires were forced together, as the villagers crowded round.
Azlyn tried to fly up, out of reach, yet found a hand wrapping itself around her ankle, and hauling her back down to the hard, cold ground.
The two girls were forced together, as some of the braver men hurried off to find some rope to bind their bodies with.
They snarled, hissed and wrestled, fighting furiously against those foolhardy enough to get close, yet they were outnumbered. It was only a matter of time before their arms were pinned to their sides, their ankles tightly tied together.
Nalini and Azlyn were roughly pushed over to the ground, once they had been made docile by the copious amounts of rope that had been used on them. Nalini let out a startled ‘ooph!’ as she toppled over, and growled into the ground.
Minutes later, they had been both heaved upright again, and were slammed into a large, wooden pole each. Firewood was scattered around their ankles, as they were bound to the pole. Nalini felt a sweat break out on her forehead – she knew exactly what was going to happen. Her breathing quickened as she fought in vain to keep calm; the memories of seeing the suspected vampire burn replayed torturously over and over in her mind.
Her feet had started to grow curiously warm; she glanced down, and saw a raging inferno beginning to surround her. She bit back a yell, and struggled against the rope. She risked a glance at Azlyn, who was also twisting her body about, trying to get free. Yet she did not look as scared as Nalini. If anything, Azlyn looked almost…calm about it, albeit determined.
The villagers had crowded around to watch the two vampires burn. Some of them looked merely horrified; others looked interested, wondering how the pair would react.
An intense, excruciating pain scorched through Nalini’s feet and calves, as the fire touched bare skin. She could feel her skin blackening to a crisp, and opened her mouth in a scream of horror. She threw her head back when she shrieked, her fangs glistening in the moon’s light.
The flames crept higher up them both, and a few agonised tears trickled from Nalini’s eyes. Soon she was waist high in fire, doing her best to keep from screaming, yet not always succeeding. She looked over at Azlyn again, who still seemed to be calm – why was she not screaming in pain, like Nalini was?
The answer became clear but a moment later, as the ropes that tightly held Azlyn in place snapped, and fell off. She flew up, sailing high up above the villagers’ heads. She slapped at her dress, which was still alight, and heard yells of anger as the villagers tried to recapture her.
She wished them luck, as she was far out of reach.
The fire had reached Nalini’s chest, rising up towards her neck. She felt weakened, and her throat was red raw from her calling out. Her arms hung limp, useless at her sides. The raging inferno still climbed up her, to her neck. Her head slumped forwards, as the smoke that she had been continuously breathing in began to take its toll.
Yet she still felt a flicker of hope when she saw Azlyn rise up, seemingly relatively unscathed. After all, she and Azlyn were friends, were they not? Azlyn was the one who taught her everything she knew, who made sure she did not go too long without feeding, taught her how to harness the powers of flight, looked after her when her bloodlust turned her into a wild, deranged animal. She helped tend to Nalini’s bruises after she had been beaten about for stupidly lashing out.
Nalini forced herself to look up, to raise her heavy head, and saw that Azlyn was staring directly over at her. Nalini’s lips curled in a tiny smile, as she waited to be saved –
–And then watched as Azlyn took off.
No! That was not meant to happen! She felt more desperate, tried to call out, yet had no voice left to call with, and could only helplessly watch as Azlyn faded into the distance.
…Leaving Nalini to die.
A new determination soared through Nalini. She felt stronger again, all of a sudden, and watched as the majority of the crowd tried to chase after Azlyn. Nalini roughly raised her arms, the rope binding her also weakened by the fire.
She was temporarily thrown back again as the fire engulfed her completely. She automatically closer her eyelids and held her breath, as flames washed across her face. She forced herself forwards, the rope that kept her to the pole tearing easily.
Nalini leapt off the firewood, most of which had been reduced to ash, and fled. She heard a few protest, as she was spotted, and took to the skies, as Azlyn did. She flew up high, a burning, human-esque torch in the sky, seeking for the nearest bed of water.
The vampire dropped out of the sky, landing in a stream, her head protruding through the surface a few seconds later. She hauled herself out onto the bank, absolutely drenched, and half dead. Her skin was horribly charred, the usual ghostly white hue now stained a dull, deep greyish black.
Smoke rose ominously from her, as she slipped out of consciousness, feeling the last remainders of her life slip away…
TakingOverMe... · Mon Oct 06, 2008 @ 01:28am · 0 Comments |
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