The black flames did understand what was happening though as the source took a step closer to me. I kept my jaw locked as I fought for my mind. The black flames twisted into a spell. When the source did magic, it was so quick that I couldn't pull out what it was doing but I thought I might be able to do something similar. I wasn't sure what the spell had done though until the smell of blood filled the air.
I couldn't stop myself from looking up at the vampire behind the bloody meat that he was holding out to me. I wanted to speak but I wasn't sure of opening my mouth until I felt my right and left hands both clenched down on the edges of the old metal chairs in the arena. My body was starting to shake with the strain. I made myself speak anyway. "I am not a vampire."
The flames seemed amused for a moment. "That is correct, you are not. Then again, your magic is not unrelated to vampires." My heart seemed to speed up as the vampire spoke. I wanted to lung for the meat, and I wanted to pull back from the powerful black flames. I knew the vampire was spreading out his magic, so it was not concentrated with him and even scarier, but it was so strong. A stray thought wandered in that if this fourth gen was so scary powerful just how strong is the lord?
My mind was still moving too fast. I felt my hands dig into the chairs, but the pain didn't register past my control. All of that happened in the few moments before the vampire started talking again. "My specials are also not vampires. Yet they are also not unrelated to vampires as they would not exist, and they wouldn't have magic without me. There are times when that magic demands a price to be channeled. This is animal meat; it holds no interest for me unless I have pushed myself to the limit and cannot find a human. I haven't had to supplement for three generations now, but my specials are only allowed animal blood. One or two over the years have bitten humans and their mind don't tend to survive. I have no good reason why. I don't want to find out if the same is true about you so eat this." The vampire seemed to shrug as I watched him, "This is deer meat to be specific."
Our lord let himself talk faster; he must be reading my mind. It didn't bother me that he was, it actually made me feel better. I knew I was no match for the vampire standing in front of me but if he was reading my mind, I wasn't going to surprise him. My breathing slowed as I relaxed listening to my lord's voice. My brain wasn't processing what he was saying but it was filing it all away for later. Anything my lord said was deadly important or he wouldn't have said it. What was he trying to convince me?
I slowly relaxed my control on my jaw. I didn't have anything I wanted to say. I wanted the meat and blood that was dripping from the hand of my lord. I was still afraid to move though as I had wanted to attack the woman for a moment, and I wasn't sure that wasn't still the case.
Our lord took another step towards me and knelt so that he was eye level with me. I wanted to look away from the red eyes, but they seemed to trap me. He held the meat out so that it almost touched my lips. It smelled so good, and I felt like I was starving. "Eat Miracle."
It was a command. That was all my body needed to overcome my control. I didn't let go of where I held the chairs to keep myself still, but my grip did relax some and I leaned forward to take the dripping piece of fresh meat from my lord's hand like a good dog.
The blood hit my mouth and my eyes closed breaking contact with the red eyes staring at me. The blood was like fresh cold stream water hitting my throat after going much too long without water. Not only was it water to a dying man it was good clear fresh water.
My mind returned to the present and I found myself holding my lord's hand with both of mine and licking every last drop from between his fingers and the back of his hand. He didn't pull away from me, and the black flames didn't flicker with feelings. My lord just sat without motion on his heels watching me.
I released him like my hands burned and tucked them into my stomach like I was trying to hide them. I looked down at where my knees met the stone of the stadium. He was going to kill me now. I hoped it would be fast and not as painful as when he wanted to know who and what I was.
The vampire sighed and reached out to put the hand I had just licked clean under my chin. He lifted my head a bit but didn't force me to look at him again. "If I am ready to destroy you, Miracle, you will be dead before you know what happened. I promise you that much. I also will not be using my magic on you again. So, I cannot hurt you even by accident. If you hurt yourself to the point, I have to heal you one of the specials will do the work. That will limit the amount of power that can be put in. I cannot undo hurting you and my own ignorance at that time. I am growing bored with this life, yet you seem interesting. It interests me what you do with your limited magic. So, I will keep watching you. Are you in control again Mir?"