I killed the servants of my house. I murdered them all in an animalistic rage fuelled by my undeath.

It explains why the servants died hours after my family and I. It explains why their deaths were so savage, and why their stagnant æther called out to me when I tread over their corpses.

A chill washes through me, tingling across my skin, and spreading through my brittle bones. My frozen heart splinters a little more but when my senses return my face remains cool and emotionless.

Why wouldn’t it be?

Why would I, a monster, feel guilty over the deaths of others? Even if it was against my principles, a monster doesn’t have such emotional connections. No, I’m frustrated. That’s all.

A monster can feel frustration, at least.

This new revelation, this discovery or theory, is certainly vexing. Adding yet more horrors to my past, more things that I must be held responsible for. If I am to be an honest and fine noblewoman, then I must remember this well and atone when the time comes.

“It’s just a theory,” Reeve Lewark explains, his expression softening at the sight of me. What a poor monster I am, that I can have a reeve pity me. The exact sort of man that ought to be responsible for bringing me to justice, is instead looking down upon me like a lost child.

“It is fine,” I reply. “Your theory makes sense, and I will not deny it out of hand. How is it that you propose to confirm this?”

“Well, in a city like this there are more than a few criminals each day that earn themselves a death sentence,” he explains. “Nobody will mind if I take a few of the worst out to see that their deaths are made meaningful.”

“I see.” I nod slowly to his words. “Then I will accept your offer, but before that, I would like to return home and recover my family’s skillbook. It may prove valuable in explaining these phenomena, and the nature of this curse.”

“We have one in the office,” Lewark replies, turning away from me and clacking his cane on the cobblestone to lead us off. “If you are willing, I would like to see what is written in that book for myself.”

“Very well,” I nod in acceptance. He’s proven himself not an enemy and I’m sure that he’ll find an opportunity to learn these secrets one way or another, it risks me rather little to give him answers early and earn his trust in return. I’m certain that with a relationship of trust between us he’ll be more open with me about secrets that affect my own plight.

“Miss,” Therina approaches my side as we walk. Henry watches our backs while Reeve Lewark is here to ward our front from any miscreants that might see us as an opportunity.

“What is it?” I ask, turning to her. “I can assure you that murdering my servants isn’t a habit that I wish to lean into.”

“That’s not it, Miss,” Therina says, rubbing her hands together. “I just mean to say that you weren’t likely yourself when… when all that happened, if what the reeve says is even true.”

“Thank you,” I say, steadying my expression to express my calm. It shouldn’t be left to my maid to calm me, as a noble I must give assurance to those that serve me, from the commoners to the maids, to the knights in their armour. I must always be calm and sure of myself, lest they be left to struggle with my self-doubts.

“We will discover the truth of this matter and learn what we can from it,” I say, setting myself back into a proper noble bearing that I can be proud of. My posture has slipped from me for a half a moment, but no more.

Quietly and with all the dignity that I can retain while walking through the darkened alleys that are more a proper home to the filching pickpockets and thieves, I follow the reeve to his place of business. With how my life has been turning, I’m sure that I’ll be hearing of the desperate plight of the thieves, murderers, and all the other filth soon enough. I’m not there yet, these people are taking from others that work hard to get by, and I cannot find it in me to forgive them for hurting those who are already having it rough… but then, I’m sure there’s something I’m failing to see here too.

Biting down a sigh, I tread the muddied path toward the local reeve office. The reeves are responsible for dealing with crime in the kingdom, even within the realms of nobles, though it now seems that a creeping corruption has infiltrated their ranks. The reeves aren’t a new addition to society, but I’ve still learnt of the time that came before them when the nobles were responsible for keeping the law, and now that neither reeves nor nobles hold themselves to their divine oaths…

My gut sours the more my mind dwells on the terrible state of our kingdom.

“I’ll have the skillbook brought over in a minute,” Lewark says, after leading us to a backroom in the dingy offices where he works. It’s quite the foul place, and it seems from the equipment that this room serves a similar purpose to a terrible dungeon that I’ve only recently cleared of villainy.

“Is this a proper place for a noble lady?” Therina asks the reeve before he can escape.

“It is considering what we’re here to do,” Reeve Lewark replies before ducking out, his cane sounding out his passage into the distance.

“It’s fine,” I tell Therina, “I’m not here as a noblewoman, but as a monster. We need to know exactly what I am, and what I’m capable of.”

Therina shuffles quietly at that, I suppose her respect for me is blended with more than a small measure of horror, especially after glancing upon the desiccated husk I left behind after feeding on the murderous boy. Not to mention that she’s already seen the bag of fear-inducing effigies that I built from the corpses of those I’ve slain.

There is no doubt that my existence is unpleasant for those around me, I know I’d be more than disgusted at all of this, were I still human.

“Miss Greystone,” Henry addresses me in the awkward silence while we wait for the reeve to return. “I don’t believe that you are a monster like you claim. I’ve seen monsters, known a few, and been friends with one, too. You aren’t like them.”

“How do you mean?” I ask, “You deny that my actions are monstrous?”

“I’ve seen worse,” Henry shrugs, his eyes steely. I see no deception in his words. “I was a soldier a time ago, marched into war with the knights. There were more than a couple of monsters on both sides of that war. They did much worse than you have young Miss, and they found it fun to see just how much more evil they could be.”

“Well then, do warn me should I show signs of joining their ranks in your mind,” I ask of him as the reeve finally returns, his cane giving us warning before he finally pushes through the door.

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A young lad walks beside him, pushing along a criminal. A man of middling years with far too many scars. He seems rather haggard, but he faces the equipment here without any real fear, a troubling development for me.

“This here is my apprentice.” Reeve Lewark says, waving towards the boy who is currently forcing the prisoner into chains sunk into the walls. “He’s a crafty lad with a good head for magic. Do you mind if he stays for this?”

“You have an apprentice?” I ask, my attention split between the boy and the meal that he’s brought for me.

“I do now,” Lewark remarks with too light of a grin. “Don’t worry, I’ve known him for a while and watched over him in training. He’s one that can be trusted.”

“I’m still not entirely sure that I can trust you,” I reply to the reeve, watching the boy closely.

“I promise on Ætheria’s name that I will keep your secrets to myself.” The boy says, bowing his head. He looks to have been formally trained to a high enough standard to serve nobility.

“See, he’s a good lad.”

“My name is Kai, my lady,” he introduces himself. “Lewark says that you have some uncommon magic that he wants my opinion on?”

“The boy doesn’t believe in monsters,” Lewark explains with a dreadful smile rising on his lips.

“I believe in monsters, however, I do not believe in wild rumours,” Kai says, looking past his master and towards us. “If you are willing to share the details of this magic with me. Even going as far as to show me the details written in this skillbook, then I would offer you every advice I can give, and promise my silence on this matter. I have no interest in playing noble games, I simply want to learn more about the nature of æther and magic.”

“Very well,” I bow my head a moment, before taking up the book and pushing my æther through its enchantments. The details writ in these books are of such a nature that only a fool shares them openly, but I cannot find it in myself to care. Should the world learn more of monsters like the one that cursed me, then my sacrificed privacy would be for a greater end.

I flick through the pages to the back, where the interesting aspects are written to re-examine the changes after my recent feast.

Vampiric æther veins quality: E+ Rank

~Improve quality by drinking blood from powerful intelligent beings

Magic:

Vampire’s Recovery: E+ Rank

-Heal your own wounds, or the wounds which you drink from.

Vampire’s Gaze: E+ Rank

-Intimidate and limitedly mind control a target.

Vampire’s Strength: E Rank

-Express significantly greater physical strength

Manifest Shadows: F Rank

-Give shape to the shadows, and physically manifest them.

Illusion Magic: F Rank

-Make lies appear as if true.

Unseen Transposition: F Rank

-When unobserved, trade places with another unseen space.

New magics available at vein rank D

Magics grow more powerful in an atmosphere of death and terror, but grow weaker in the light, or in an atmosphere of calm, or confidence.

Power increases when in a state of bloodthirst, increasing more for the longer you’ve been without feeding. This benefit disappears upon feeding.

Your vampiric æther supports your life and burning out your vampiric veins will be extremely dangerous, if not lethal.

Vampiric æther combusts in powerful light. These effects can be limited by the consumption of blood, and high-quality æther veins can allow for better resistance against the light. Vampiric æther magic can never be cast in powerful light, however, as the magic, lacking the protection of your body, will combust before any magic is realized.

Kai and Lewark together scrawl through the pages, but I still find myself aghast at how little has changed. I understand that I cannot expect to be a master of my new nature in this short a time, but the consumption of a small noble house wasn’t sufficient to raise my grade from E to D rank?

How much must I hunt before I can stand an equal to the monster that stripped me of my life?

“A vampire?” The boy asks, his brow knit in confusion. “You weren’t lying to me?”

“I wasn’t,” Lewark replies to the boy before turning to me. “There’s nothing in here about spreading your curse.”

“There’s also nothing about the effigies,” I whisper to myself, trying to find an explanation. “What… how do I know how to craft them if it isn’t part of the curse? It must be part of the curse.”

“It says here that you use a different form of æther,” Kai whispers to himself in thought as we all focus on our own aspects of this problem.

“Focus,” Lewark says to the boy, snapping him back into the moment. “Miss Greystone, you mentioned that something is absent from the book?”

“Yes…” I say, “I… I can craft certain magical… fear-inducing talismans.”

“Ah, it would be back here,” Kai says, flicking through the pages of the large tome. There, right below ‘formal speech’, and above ‘tatting’, is something that I’ve never seen before. “Fleshcraft.”

A fittingly awful name for it.

“This is the crafting of magical items?” Kai asks, much too eager for the topic. “May I ask to look over the resulting creations? This is an entirely new field of magic, and even a new type of æther, I never even knew that there were ‘types’ of æther at all. Is it perhaps more accurate to say that it’s corrupted æther?”

“Focus, boy,” Lewark interrupts him. “As interesting as all that is, we’re here for something more important. We need to see if the lady here can make more vampires.”

“Apologies,” Kai bows, but his eyes still flick back and forth as if reading from a book that’s no longer before his eyes.

“You wish me to kill this man so that we can see if he becomes a ghoul?” I ask, waving at the prisoner, who is thankfully gagged.

“Yes,” Lewark replies with only a simple answer. I suppose there’s no room for me to delay further with this.

“Then give me a moment and keep some distance,” I say, walking up to the man gagged and chained to the wall. Their curiosity is far too overwhelming for my magical abilities to find a fitting atmosphere, and I’m not sure that I can easily summon fear from this man considering his apparent apathy.

No, this uncertainty is unbecoming of a monster.

“I am here to curse you with a fate worse than death,” I whisper to the man, revealing my fangs and summoning my vampiric gaze. He’s confused more than fearful, but this is only the beginning.

He’s chained in place, and my instincts, new instincts, awful instincts, call to me.

I lick my lips and see my own twisted expression in the man’s eyes.

“Fear, dread, terror, you will become so familiar with each that you can tell the subtle difference between them,” I say, looking about his body for spare parts that can be used for crafting. “A finger is dead once removed from the body, but the æther still flows through the channels within.”

My instincts tell me that this is right.

“Kai, a chance to see my crafting at work, and the magic that’s born from it,” I say, inviting the boy closer as I pull out my dagger and start searching for the right parts to use.

“First, a finger,” I say, sawing off the digit, and suckling the blood from drips from it. “While my instincts suggest that your manhood would make the most effective flesh for this, I’m a lady, and I will not dirty myself by going anywhere near it. You should feel lucky.”

He apparently does not, as his wide eyes open wider.

Again, as with all these times, my hands start to move in such a way that they leave my mind behind. The world becomes a fuzzy place of blood, and flesh, and bone. Sweet scents linger in the air as terror spreads throughout the room, a spice to fill out the flavour of the bloody feast.

When it has marinaded nicely within the man, I press my fangs to his neck and I drink. His blood, his power, boils in my dry veins reinforcing me, strengthening me further still.

“Was that necessary?” Lewark asks, a dark expression colouring his wrinkled face. Kai is vomiting into a bucket off to the side, while still investigating the twisted talisman that I crafted from the prisoner, his curiosity is a frightening thing in its own right.

“Yes, it was necessary,” I reply in a whisper. “Fear is my power, Reeve Lewark. Without that, I am nothing. Just a desperate, young noblewoman… no, in honesty, I’m not even that any longer.”

He nods slowly, easing a little as we let the boy go about his investigations, and discuss the more vague and unknowable mysteries of my power. Things that we must know for me to grow stronger, and for the reeve to hunt others like me.

Henry and Therina have long since left the room, waiting outside where the talisman’s magic cannot reach them, where the desperate cries would not be heard, and where the blood does not linger in the air.

I wait with the reeve a while to see if the corpse reanimates, but I leave them after enough time passes. There are nobles I must appeal to, and perhaps the monster in me will be more effective in reaching out to them.

“The book,” Kai says, pressing the skillbook on me and flicking through the pages.

Vampiric æther veins quality: D Rank

“New magic?” I ask, gazing down into the pages.