Chapter 4--Old Friends and Old Memories

 

 

            Ten years ago, it had been getting dark and the night’s chill was already working on him, making the water that weighed down his clothing even colder. 

            He’d followed Tack into the Great Forest after their fight; he hadn’t been sure if he wanted to apologize or punch him for pushing him into the lake. He had started out wanting to get his friend back, but just knowing that Tack had come here looking for Yuka had made him angry all over again.

            He wasn’t sure how long he wandered through that forest, his weak senses failing to help him find his lost friend and his human body shivering from the cold air that assaulted him. 

            Back then it had seemed like an eternity; an eternity of loneliness, just like when his parents left him, thinking him cursed. Eventually, though, he had found that clearing, and as soon as he set foot inside its boundaries, he felt like he had been wrapped in a warm blanket. 

            He had been to the clearing several times by now, but he only ever stumbled upon it by accident, and each time seemed like the first. In renewed awe, he had stared around at the place, marveling at the obvious magic, but soon he had realized that Tack was not there and he fell once more into gloom.

            He walked over to the swing to bed down there for the night, but stopped when heard the chirping of a baby bird. His eyes fell upon it, lying small and helpless on a bed of bent flowers. 

            He picked it up, holding it in his small, ten-year-old palm as he stared at it. It seemed strange, and he knew why; the forest was alive, it would never allow this bird to fall. Something nagged at the back of his mind: this was a test. 

            He looked up at the trees, scanning their branches until he finally found a nest. Briefly, he considered returning it to its nest, but then the bird began to chirp wildly in fear. He looked down at it, his eyes narrowing in hatred; it sounded as if it was screaming, “Tack! Tack!” To him that bird was suddenly Yuka, squirming in his hand, trying to escape; Yuka would never love him as much as she loved Tack, she would never want to be with him. 

            The cries grew louder and he bared his child’s teeth in anger before closing his fingers over the alarmed bird. His grip grew tighter and tighter, until finally a faint crunch was heard and the cries stopped. Satisfied, he opened his hand and tilted it, allowing the corpse to fall back to the ground.

            The clearing gave a faint shudder, and suddenly he felt a cool hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the most beautiful face he had ever seen, the face of Therian, who, at the time, he had not known to be a vampire. 

            His milky skin and flowing blonde hair had made him seem like the Celest of myth. There was a kind smile on Therian’s face, which, combined with his following words, had won his boy self over immediately.

 

“You show promise, my boy.”

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I am the one who will take your pain away. I will make your dreams come true.”

 

“How?”

 

The man then turned him around and kneeled before him, looking at him with strangely glowing eyes. 

 

“I shall take you as my apprentice. I shall teach you all I know…and someday give you all of my power.” That smile appeared again. “You will be the son I never had.”

 

“Really?” His heart warmed more than it had in years.

 

“Oh, yes. I will make you great, and you will be with others like you. You will have a family. Would you like that?”

 

There was no question. He nodded, took Therian’s hand, and moved on to his new life, while all the while the past lurked at the back of his mind.

 

            The man sighed at the memory. Some might say he had failed his test, but in his mind, he had passed with flying colors. He had shown that he would let no one cross him, and those who did would bring suffering to themselves and others. He would show no weakness, no compassion, no mercy. That bird’s life had been a small price to pay for him to find his destiny. 

            He looked over the clearing again, silently thanking it for leading him to this path; the plant-life shuddered again, rejecting his thanks.

            He looked down at the swing, past the place where his hand still rested. Though the swing was empty, he saw resting there two young boys and a wolf. 

            The larger of the two had a small, furred tail poking out from the back of his trousers; the wolf was nestled in his arms. The other boy, the one from his memories, was curled on the other side of the swing, alone. 

            The man snarled in fury and pushed the swing, his supernatural strength sending it somersaulting in the air before it came down to swing even more wildly than before. He turned, his cloak whirling around him, and stormed to the edge of the clearing, where he leaned against a tree, crossing his arms and glaring silently at the swing.

 

“Come, Toroku, let us go home,” the mist whispered to him, taking on his long-dead master’s voice.

 

Yes, that is what Therian had said, somehow knowing his name, but the place he led him to was never truly home. This place was, and he knew that soon Yuka and Tack would be coming home, too. This time they wouldn’t be able to ignore him.

Author's Note

Enter Toroku, the vampire with issues. Keep in mind that my vampires are not traditional, nor do they sparkle. They are essentially human cult members working dark magic.