Awakening ~ Part 2

"Is all that we see or seem, but a dream within a dream?" -A Dream Within a Dream, Edgar Allen Poe

No, no. This isn't real. Jude's mind reeled as it tried to process everything he was experiencing. I'm having a nightmare.

Scents, sounds, colors and sensations he'd never known before assaulted him. Everything was suddenly too intense. Darkness covered all but it was too bright. Clothing chafed at his skin, feeling like sharp metal scraping away flesh. The sound of the woman's heart beating beneath him was loud in his ears, like the crashing of waves or the boom of thunder. He smelled sweat and dirt, damp moist things; stone and mud, concrete, moss, and spice and the sharp cloying scent of copper and iron mingled with flowers. He tasted blood on his tongue and felt flushed with power and pleasure unlike anything he'd ever known.

It was all too much. Overwhelmed, he tried to focus. He tried to shut it all out, closing his eyes and holding his breath.

A loud crash thundered in his ears; once, twice, then continuously in a rhythmic beat that was strangely familiar. Falling to the right, Jude felt the pounding in his breast in time with each thunderous boom and realized that his heart, which had ceased before, had suddenly begun to beat. What was happening to him? What had already happened to him?

Jude felt an almost paralyzing dread; a knowledge in the center of his chest that told him that he had been altered irrevocably.

A grating noise a short distance in front of him caused him to open his eyes.

It stood a few feet away; tall and slender, in the guise of a man wearing a form fitting black robe. Bald and pale, its face was gaunt and sunken in. Its red-orange gaze bored into his own. He'd never seen eyes like that before. No, he thought, remembering. The eyes in the darkness at the edges of his vision; they'd burned just like this creature's. All at once, staring back at the inhuman thing, recognition slammed into him. Somehow he knew what it was. He could feel it.

"Vampire," a soft, sibilant inner voice told him. "Bloodsucker, kin, sire."

Impossible, Jude thought. How can this be real?

It couldn't be possible. Shouldn't be possible. They were a myth, fairytale legends; but what had he just done to Ashley? He could taste her blood on his tongue, feel it on his lips still. Fangs jutted from his mouth and his body had come to life as it never had before. All because of her blood.

Looking down at the torn flesh of her neck, he was overcome with remorse. How could he have done that to her? And yet whatever new instinct had awoken within was aroused by the scent of her life bleeding out. It demanded that he take the last of what she had to offer.

Is it true? Could I really be a vampire? Am I a vampire?

"Yes," hissed the inner voice. "Blood calls to you, to us...take it!"

"It is alright, my child," the thing in front of him said in a heavily accented voice, claiming Jude's attention. "She is my gift to you. Gorge yourself on her bounty. You will find no shame in losing yourself to the euphoria the Wine of Dionysus brings. It is no sin to our kind." As the words passed his lips, the man's, for it was indeed male, mouth curled into a cruel smile.

Jude found the idea sorely tempting, remembering the delicious taste of Ashley's blood. All he had to do was give in, lower his mouth to her bleeding throat once more and the exquisite feelings would return. He could lose himself in her, as the...vampire had suggested. The instinct alive inside yearned for it. Everything started to fade into the background as he inched closer to the wound in the woman's pale throat.

"Please," Ashley moaned weakly from beneath him. She slipped into unconsciousness.

As if that one simple word were a magic spell, his blood lust was shattered. Compassion roared to life within him, chasing away the hunger and the overwhelming instinct to feed. What had he done? This wasn't him. With horror, Jude frantically searched his mind for a way to save her. What did he know about wounds? She was bleeding out from the one that he'd inflicted. How much had he taken? Was it enough to kill her?

I'll be a murderer...

He had to think. Staunch the blood flow. Jude went to his shirt to use for a bandage. It was flimsy, ripping easily in his hands. He pressed it to the tear in her neck and applied pressure. It was something he remembered from one of the classes he took. The blood needed time to clot. If he held on long enough maybe he could save her, somehow make up for what he'd done.

"What is this?" asked the vampire, voice dripping with contempt. "Compassion? Mercy? Cast away these lingering emotions. They are weakness. To hold on to them will only weigh you down, preventing you from achieving your full potential."

"She'll die!" Jude roared.

"Of course she will," the vampire replied, waving his hand dismissively. "It is their lot in life to toil and suffer before the end. You are merely helping this one fulfill her destiny. All humans die."

"Not this one!" he retorted.

The unfeeling creature before him sighed and to Jude's shock, its red-orange eyes bled to a dark brown. "Very well, if you insist on this foolishness. I suppose that there are lessons you must learn, fledgling. First," it said, gesturing toward Ashley. "Take that ridiculous scrap of cloth away from her neck. If you wish to seal the wound and halt the flow of blood, lick it."

He did so without hesitation. Her taste was tantalizing and it thrilled him to take more of her, but Jude forced himself not to think about it. Fear for Ashley's survival overwhelmed the desire to drink from her again. His restraint was rewarded. Before his eyes, the wound healed over, knitting itself shut as if some phantom surgeon were at work. It was a miracle.

"What now?" he questioned his... Teacher? Kidnapper? Who is this guy? What am I going to do?

"Sire," the voice of his inner instinct provided. "Maker, father, master. Obey."

"Now?" his...sire repeated. "Now you do nothing. She has already lost too much. It is merely a matter of time, something she has little of, and which we have an endless quantity."

Jude looked down at Ashley's unconscious figure in shock. Taken too much? Running out of time? She would die anyway? His emotions surged. This couldn't be allowed to happen. There had to be a way to save her. He owed her that much. And as he searched his mind for all things vampire, for some supernatural, magic way to fix the damage that he had caused, that inner voice responded again.

"Memory, the becoming."

An image flashed in his mind. Jude lying in the arms of the vampire that now stood only a few feet away. He was cradled almost tenderly by the creature. As the scene unfolded, his sire bit his own wrist and pressed the bleeding surface to Jude's lips. In a mix of excitement and disgust, he watched as he greedily drank what was proffered to him. It was then that he knew what to do.

Mimicking his sire's action from the memory, Jude sunk his fangs into his own wrist and tore a deep gash into the flesh. Then he reached down and cradled Ashley's head in his arms and leaned forward to feed her his blood.

"No!" his sire commanded, flinging out his hand in a halting gesture. "Stop!"

To Jude's shock, some unseen force took hold of him, freezing him in place. Furrowing his brows, he fought against it, trying to move his arm closer to Ashley's face. But it was futile. Whatever power his sire held over him could not be overcome. Turning to the loathsome creature, he gave it a scathing glare.

"To continue would be folly," it chided, ignoring his expression. "You are a mere fledgling, a child. You do not possess the strength of will necessary to successfully bring her across. To attempt such a thing would only destroy you both."

As he finished speaking, the vampire strode purposefully towards the two. "Open her mouth," he commanded. "But keep your wound far from her lips."

Jude found himself once again forced by some invisible power to do as he was told. He switched his hold on Ashley's head to the wounded arm and parted her lips with his good hand. In response, the vampire that commanded him bit its wrist and held it over her face. Blood poured from the wound into her mouth. As if by some instinct, she began to swallow. Her eyes shot open and she sat upright, grasping the creature's arm and suckling at the open gash. Jude was slightly disgusted, for it reminded him of a nursing babe.

After a few moments the vampire pulled away from Ashley, eliciting a cry from her as she tried to grasp the arm again. Failing in that attempt, she dropped to the floor and curled into a ball, shuddering.

"There, Judas. I gave her my blood and willed it to replace what you took. Your precious human is safe now. But she is also mine."

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking from the frail looking woman to his sire, whose eyes had once again become that sickening red-orange. "How is that any different than what I was doing?"

"You had already drunken from her wellspring," he replied, pointing to Ashley. "Taking her to the point of death. Had you not heeded my command and given her your blood you would have initiated the Change. What I did was different. I have made her my Thrall, a mortal servant that will seek only my safety and well being from now until her death."

"You've made her a slave then." Jude said matter-of-factly. At least she is alive. "And what am I? Why did I stop when ordered?"

"That is precisely what she is. And you. I am your sire and you my fledgling. You will obey me in all things, whether it is your desire to do so or not."

His sire's words made Jude go cold inside.

The beast that stood before him was evil. It possessed no compassion or notion of mercy. It had taken him and Ashley purely for its own selfish reasons. Without remorse it had shattered her life, and Jude's, making him into a monster like it and stealing his free will.

In that moment, he hated the vampire as he'd never hated anything before. Rage bubbled within him. He wanted to reach out and harm the monster as he had Ashley, tearing it with his fangs. He felt as his emotions churned the blood within him, causing it to run over his eyes, changing them. Jude snarled at his sire, baring his fangs and tensing to launch himself against his maker.

"That is ill advised, child," the vampire stated. "You are no match for one of my strength. Don't make me destroy you. Now back down."

"Obey," the voice of his instinct advised. "To fight the master is to embrace true death."

Sensing that the voice in his mind was right, he forced himself to calm. Jude looked away from his sire, down at his own hands. To his surprise the nails of his fingers had lengthened, at least an inch, growing pointed and curved like the talons of an animal. As he watched, they receded, becoming as they were. So too did he feel the blood that had suffused his eyes fade away, returning them to their natural golden hue, like his sire's eyes had done.

Did that mean strong emotion would always reveal him for what he was? Or was it only sometimes?

Jude looked up at his sire, who stood patiently, waiting like some prison guard. Or a sinister executioner. If he was going to survive this then he needed information. He'd have to become stronger. Then he could-

"Guard your mind!" bit out his instinct, interrupting his thought process. "The master will sense treachery and punish us."

This sudden, eerie mental conversation with himself disturbed Jude. Looking at Ashley quietly convulsing on the floor, he tried not to notice her hair. He could hear the beating of her heart, soft and steady. Surprisingly, it wasn't overwhelmingly loud like it had been before. In fact, Jude realized that his senses seemed to have pulled back, normalized. He was cognizant of nearly everything he'd become aware of in those first few moments after drinking Ashley's blood, but it was no longer unbearable. How was that possible?

Curious, yet wary, Jude turned his gaze to the vampire before him. It had created him, he felt that that was true. But why was it so hard for him to remember? There was the flash of memory he'd seen, that was the process. Where had he encountered the vampire? Just who was this creature that had transformed him? What had his sire said about his blood, the change? And why had it picked him?

"I have questions, sire," he said, toning down the anger in his voice. "Who are you? What is the Change? What exactly have I become?"

His sire gazed at him for a long, uncomfortable moment, before his eyes became brown once more. "Of course you do, my child. Stand," it said, motioning for Jude to come closer. "Who am I, you ask? Surely you can sense the answer to that question. After all, you know enough to address me as 'sire'." At Jude's look of surprise, the vampire smiled, making his waxen face look more sunken in. "Yes, I know all about your primal instinct, for I possess it as well. It exists within all who are descendant of the Six."

"The Six?"

"Later, my child," his sire responded, shaking his head and proffering his open hand. "First we leave this cell. Take my hand."

Jude looked at the vampire's outstretched arm, pale and emaciated. The skin was stretched taut over bones where the black robe's sleeve didn't cover it. There was hardly any muscle at all, giving it the marked and grotesque look of a skeleton's limb. Even the hand appeared as nothing more than a sunken, clawed appendage. Where am I to be taken now?

He glanced down at Ashley with worry. She had stopped shuddering but her brow was now coated with a thin sheen of sweat. Did his master expect him to just leave her here in this dank, terrible place?

"You test my patience, fledgling," the vampire growled. "Come with me and put the mortal from your mind."

Reluctantly, Jude obeyed his master.

With one last look at the unconscious woman whose blood now flowed within him, he place his hand in his sire's. The bony claws enclosed over his hand, feeling chill. Then he watched with a mix of trepidation and excitement as his master's eyes shone a bright blood red while both of them dissolved into mist.

His senses seemed to expand suddenly allowing Jude the ability to see and hear in all directions. Strangely, he could still feel the chill of his master's grip on him. It was short lived however, as he was pulled forward and through the small opening in the far wall. Once on the other side he felt the chill leave his hand. Within moments Jude's body had resumed its original form, becoming solid again.

For a long moment he stood, utterly shocked and incapable of speech.

"Now," said the voice of his sire as his own body reformed. "It is time for you to meet your brothers and sisters." It turned and began moving away, clearly expecting him to follow.

Author's Note