"Yes, we're telling you, vampires are real." Tim said, looking at Melvin with a hint of anger in his voice.
"Then where did they come from and how did they stay hidden for so long?" Melvin asked. Now very interested in the history of the vampires. "It's not exactly a short story Melvin." Maria chimed in.
"I don't care I still want to know." he snapped, looking at her his eyes now glowing red. Rando seeing this instinctively placed himself between Maria and Melvin. "Alright then if you really want to know let's talk in here." Tim said, gesturing towards the room still in front of them.
_ _ _ _
In a tavern deep in the woods set a young man with straight black hair. "Is it true Jack?" a loud voice boomed from across the small table. This young mans name is Jack Sanguis. "Keep your voice down Carl." Jack replied, trying to quiet down his rambunctious friend Carl White.
Carl quickly looked around the tavern then leaned forward across the table, "Is it true Jack, did you really find her?" he whispered. "Yes I did, but your not gonna like it Carl." Jack replied, making sure he said so in a hushed tone. The one they are referring to is the 'Witch of Midnight'.
"Why would I the great Carl not like it?" Carl asked, standing in his chair with his foot on the table and putting his hand on his chest as if he had slain a mighty beast.
"Because you idiot, It's Rebeca." Jack snapped, seething with rage at his friends idiocy. "What?!" Carl shouted, falling backwards out of his chair. "That's the woman who is said to be blessed with all manner of magic though how could she be 'her'?" Carl asked, lifting himself back onto his feet and whispering the last part so only the two could hear his words.
The two had originally planned to capture the witch and become wealth enough to live without working a single day again. However fate is a fickle mistress and made their prey the most influential woman in the kingdom.
"I have been tailing her for almost a month now Carl and she finally slipped up last night." Jack said. "That's a good thing though, right?" Carl asked hesitantly.
"Maybe? I followed her to a cave near the top of Dragon's Den mountain, she was carrying something with her but when she came back out she wasn't carrying anything anymore." Jack explained. Carl nodded along the whole time Jack was talking. "So are we gonna try to capture her or not?" he asked. "Yes we are. Right now in fact." Jack said, grinning wildly.
After leaving the tavern the two made their way through the forest to Dragon's Den mountain. "Are we there yet?" Carl asked, for the umpteenth time. "For the last time we'll get there when we get there." Jack angrily replied. As Jack said that the shifting of rocks could be heard ahead of them. "What was that? It wasn't her is it?" Carl asked, very concerned about his own well being.
"No Carl, it wasn't her she wouldn't be here yet." Jack said looking at the sun in the sky. "Then what was it smart arse?" He asked peeking around Jack's shoulder. As if the universe had heard Carl a jaguar made of a dark stone material similar to marble with a golden inlay.
"Oh great, it's a bouldaris felis. You just had to say it Carl." Jack retorted, adding the last bit with a snarky tone. "Oh right, this is my fault Mr. 'I followed the witch and didn't notice the Bouldaris Felis'." He snapped back.
While they drew their weapons the Bouldaris crouched down readying itself to pounce on the two. Jack was the first to strike, he slashed at the Bouldaris which quickly hopped back out of range. Next was Carl who had managed to get behind the Bouldaris when it jumped, readying his blade he slashed at it's back. *Clang* *Crash*
Carl's sword had shattered on contact with the Bouldaris though rocky hide. "Darn it it's hide is stronger than our swords." Carl shouted, hoping to get Jack to save his own sword. "Then how are we supposed to fight this thing?" Jack asked, sheathing his sword while ducking under a swing from the hard stony paw.
"Well if your weapons don't work you could always try a little magic!" a British voice shouted, an ice spear flying straight towards the Bouldaris. The ice spear crashed into its shoulder causing it to turn to ice.
"Raghr!" It roared out in pain. Seeing the new adversary could inflict a considerable amount of damage to it, the Bouldaris fled from its attackers as fast as it could.
"Thanks for saving us and you are?" Carl said, running up to greet the hooded person. "I'm Claire." She said, her long blonde hair in a pony tail. *Whistle* "I'm Carl milady." He said, placing his hand on his stomach and placing one foot behind the other and giving a deep bow.
"Knock it off Carl, she's and adventurer too and she's also been following Rebecca." Jack said, smacking Carl in the back of his head. "Now to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?" He asked, looking at Claire expectantly. "Well I seen you were struggling, so I helped out. However now you owe me a favor." She replied.
"What kind of favor? We don't have much to offer you." Jack said.
"Nothing to serious, I just want you to take me along with you. You are still planning on catching her aren't you?" She asked, making her intentions for intervening in the fight against the Bouldaris clear.
"Why should we take you? we can handle the Witch on our own." Jack said. "Well it's simple you need a magic user to balance out your party and I just so happen to have one of the best all round magic aptitudes, Ice magic." She said, with a beaming and perky smile.
"Well we can see that it's useful, but if we're talking about catching people Jack here can do that by himself." Carl chimed in, making sure he was still part of this conversation.
"Yeah, right." She replied, dragging out the word right to emphasize her disbelief. "You don't believe him? Fine I'll show you then." Jack said, conjuring a ball of his own blood in his hand.
"What is that?! What are you doing?!" Claire shouted, she was unable to move at the moment. For some reason her body had frozen in place. "This is my magic a gift I was born with, blood manipulation, that's why you can't move right now. However there is a terrible price." Jack explained, choughing out blood.
Claire could feel herself gaining control of her body again. "So you can control blood?! Then why were you struggling against that Bouldaris?!" Claire questioned again. Seeing Jack unable to collect himself yet Carl anwsered.
"Let me handle this one." Carl said, patting his friend on the back gently. "Like he said before there is a terrible price. He actually sacrifices a part of his own life to manipulate blood that isn't his." He stated.
"Is that so? Then maybe I can help?" Said a voice from behind them. Before anyone could ask they had all begun to feel tired and weak. "Your Rebecca aren't yo..." Claire tried to say, getting drowsy and trailing off at the end.
Jack was the first to wake and he found himself strapped to a chair. "What's going on here?" He asked, expecting not to get an answer. "You see darling I noticed you have been following me, so I set a trap for you. However I wasn't expecting you to bring guests." Rebecca replied, coming out of the shadows along the wall and gesturing towards an iron cell door.
Inside Jack could see two figures, one male one female both bound hand and foot and gagged. 'Why are they in there and I'm strapped to a chair?' He thought. As if she could read his thoughts She answered him, "You are special out of all the humans I've seen so I'm going to give you something special." She said, pulling a vial of red liquid from her pouch.
"What is that, what are you going to do to me?" Jack asked. "Is it not obvious, I'm going to cure you of your mortality. The one thing holding you back from using your power to its fullest." She said, bringing the vial closer to his lips and forcing him to drink it. Jack drank the mysterious red liquid and immediately began to regret it.
His body felt like it was being burned to a crisp on the outside and his insides felt like they were being ripped apart with daggers. After hours of wailing and crying in pain when Jack had no more tears to cry the pain had subsided. By this time Carl and Claire had woken up from there sleep deeply concerned for Jack.
Seeing him now though you never would have thought anything was wrong now, except he was a bit pale. "What did you do to me witch?!" Jack screamed, Shouting at the top of his lungs in hatred his eyes starting to glow bright red. "I turned you into an immortal creature of the night now you will never have to fear death by your powers again." She laughed, twirling with excitement at what was in front of her.
"You have drank the blood of a demon and now you are similar to them, however you are only one of my test subjects but you are the only one to stay conscious during the process." She said, admiring his will.
"Now it's their turn." Rebecca said pulling out two more vials. But before she could reach the cell she stopped. The breaking of chains could be heard. *Crash* *Clang* *Crash*
"Oh my, aren't you a strong one." Rebecca said, smiling and putting the vials back into the pouch. "I won't let you hurt them. Even if it means death." Jack said Blood swirling around him like a personal tornado. "My how noble of you." She said preparing her own attack.
Fire started to surround Rebecca while Jack charged in the blood had stopped swirling around and gathered on him making a suit of armor out of his blood. He dashed through her wall of fire and grabbed a hold of her throat, she wasn't a fighter she was a mage and she didn't have any practical knowledge of fighting.
He held her by the throat for what seemed like forever to him, in reality seconds had gone by. "Do it." She said. A thought popped into Jack's mind, a quick death would be to generous. He reached back balling his fist up and punched making a hole through her chest.
Once Jack had settled down a little he looked into the cell and seen the other two were shivering, not because they were cold but because they were scared. Jack could tell they were scared because he could hear their hearts beating faster as the looked at what he had done.
_ _ _ _
"And That is the Origin of one of the first vampire's." Tim said recalling the teachings of the past elders.
"Okay so this Jack guy he's supposed to be what my Great great something or other gramdfather?" Melvin asked. "Yes that is correct." Rando answered for Tim. "Good now I know at least a little about their origins but you still haven't answered my other question how have they stayed hidden for so long." Melvin said.
"That my dear boy is a story for another time. Now the sun is about to rise you need to sleep." Tim said. "Fine but I want answers don't think this is the last you'll hear about it." Melvin said closing the door as the others left. Sauntering over to the bed Melvin was feeling more drained as the seconds past by. When he finally made it to the bed he collapsed.
"Do you think it was wise not to tell him the rest of it Elder?" Rando asked. "I think that boy maybe the key to finding the rest now that he has awakened." Tim said with a grin.