(1600 years ago. In the year 420)
"Fire, fire!" Helen screamed as she fell on her knees. The house of the man she once loved was in flames. She could hear the cries of the children inside as they got roasted in the fire.
Just a few minutes, people gathered around, helping to put out the fire. Tears were falling from Helen's eyes like a cascade.
She couldn't scream anymore. She lost her voice. Suddenly she saw a figure running away from the back of the house. Helen got on her feet, thinking it must be the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.
She hoped he survived the fire. But when she got to the back of the house, she couldn't find anyone. She kept looking around; it seemed like the figure had run down the mountain into the forest. She couldn't chase after the figure.
The forest was a restricted area. It wasn't just a legend; the people of the mountains have seen with their eyes how vampires were driving humans to extinct. So anyone who goes down the hill was never welcomed back.
Helen cried out in a loud voice. She kept on hitting her chest. Until-
"That's right, let's just die." A woman yelled right behind her. Helen knew that voice. It frightened her.
"Isn't that..."
Helen turned around, her feet refusing to take a step forward. Her whole body was shivering. Slowly, she padded, following the direction of the voice. Just seven steps ahead, Helen found two bodies on the ground. Just like she thought, it was the woman she envied the most.
Shivers rushed through her spine. Her knees were quivering when she saw that the woman was drenched in her blood. Helen covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes widened. She couldn't see what had injured the woman, as the second body was thwarting her view.
The second body seemed to be muscular-it was a man. Helen could only see his back view. A blade pierced through his spine.
Helen walked closer to take a good look at him.
"Who is he? Why did he kill her?"
She kept walking towards them and stood at the far end of their feet. They were staring at each other, and the woman was pierced in her belle by a dagger.
"What the?"
Helen was going crazy. Slowly her gaze drifted from the woman's body to look at the man dying opposite the woman. It was him, the love of her life.
"Ar...ar...ar.." Helen tried to scream, but she had lost her voice.
Slowly, she felt her body about to give up on her. Her muscles relaxed, and her brain shut down as her eyes closed and she fell to the ground.
"I'm sorry." The man laying down in front of the woman, covered in the pool of their blood, said to her in a faint voice as his life slowly slipped away from him. He didn't seem like he was struggling to live, but peacefully he laid there staring at the woman with tears dripping from the corners of his eyes, and in a minute, his soul left his body.
The woman's eyes were fixed on him. Blood was hurling from her mouth. She never thought her decision to get her revenge would hurt this much. But even though the pain in her belle that was pierced with a dagger was becoming impossible to bear, she didn't have any regrets.
"He deserved what happened to him." That was all she thought about as she waited to join him in the afterlife.
Her vision was getting blurry. She saw a man walk up to her.
"Richard."
"Quiet Jessica." Richard silent her and carried her in his arms, wrapping her hands around his shoulders. Just one step of Richard was as fast as the wind. He moved down the mountains, walking, but yet it was as though he was flying. Jessica's hair was dancing to the wind.
Richard in no time arrived in a tavern deep in the woods. He laid Jessica on the bed. The dagger was still stuck in her belle. Richard held the blade, attempting to pull it off, but she wobbled her head with the little strength she had.
"No." She coughed out blood, and it splashed on Richard.
"Relax, Jessica; I won't let you die." Richard slowly pulled the dagger from her stomach. Blood was surging from her imbrued belle.
Richard placed the dagger aside and stared deeply into her eyes.
"I'm doing this for you. You are the one, the one I've been looking for. You can't die; I need you. Please don't hate me." Tears rolled down his cheeks as he opened his mouth wide, making his fangs visible.
Jessica was in utmost shock. Seeing that the man she lived with for almost ten years was a vampire.
He bent her head sideways and leaned towards her neck region.
He kissed her, and his tear dropped on her skin.
Slowly he pierced her neck with his fangs and drank her blood.
Jessica was helpless; she couldn't move. She felt betrayed.
Suddenly the clouds darkened, and in no minute, a heavy storm poured down.
Jessica could feel the cold air as her breath slipped away from her.
Richard ran out and killed a wolf in the forest. He rushed back and fed the blood to Jessica. He fixed his eyes on her, but she wasn't waking up; it made him paranoid.
"Jessica, Jessica." Richard kept calling out to her. He placed a finger on her nose, but she was no longer breathing.
Richard erupted into tears, screaming her name.
"Rebirth." A voice said behind him, and he quickly stood on his feet, grabbing the dagger.
"It's me, Peter."
Richard dropped his knife when he saw Peter, his best friend.
"What are you doing here?" Richard sat beside Jessica's body on the bed.
"The storm is not an ordinary storm. The witch said the chosen have been born. I knew I had to find you." Peter's gaze drifted towards Jessica.
"Her rebirth has killed many. Small towns were swept away by the storm, and Vincent was struck by lightning."
"When did this happen?" Richard furrowed his brows.
"I believe, the moment you bite her." Peter sighed.
"The death of Vincent must have killed a lot of vampires. We can't lose any more of our trusted allies just for the greater good." Peter held Richard's shoulder.
"Just because I bite her, and she might become a vampire if, only if, she wakes up. It shouldn't cause the death of Vincent, and Vincent was not our ally." Richard yelled at Peter.
"It wasn't the fact that she became a vampire that killed Vincent; it's the curse. A curse was activated the moment you bite her. It will cause the death of thousands of vampires, both good and evil. She is cursed, Richard."
"That's not true. What's the curse about?" Richard became very paranoid. He couldn't believe that in his attempt to save Jessica, he had put his people in harm's way.
"The witch didn't say anything. She will only speak to you and her." Peter rolled his eyes.
Suddenly they heard Jessica's moaning, and when Richard looked at her, her eyes were opened.
Richard looked back to see if Peter was still there, but he was no longer there.
He turned back to Jessica and smiled.
"How do you feel?"
"Who are you?" Jessica asked. She looked around, and she couldn't recognize anything. It looked strange to her, and so did the man standing right in front of her.
"It's me, Richard. Jessica, you remember me, right?" Richard's brows was furrowed; he wanted to believe it was just a prank of Jessica, but then-
"Who is Jessica?" Jessica asked Richard.