Author’s corner:

Hey ho. The author here. I thought about releasing this as the guaranteed wednesday release but then I thought that it would be kinda lame to let this be a infodump chapter so I decided that I will write another chapter for wednesday.

‘When I remember right then there are not many of my subjects left from the events that lead to my sleep. If so then someone should have woken me up. But that’s obviously not the case. To strengthen my position in this world one subordinate would be nice. So that speaks in her favor. The negative point is that I don’t know any of her strengths. But on the other hand if she doesn’t have any fighting capabilities than I could eventually train her. This is not an easy decision. Maybe I should ask her if I’m able to wake her up. But with the injuries she has it would not be unlikely that she won’t wake up in the near future. But if you don’t try you won’t achieve anything.’

And with these thoughts I squatted ripped the door of the cage open. After this I lifted the unconscious half-elf up and made my way to the now extinguished fire pit. There I lay here on the ground and took a water bottle and splashed some water in her face but there was no reaction. “Gratulations. You almost killed her. I thought you and your men should bring her back alive. And now look at here. She’s more dead than alive.” I said to the man that was sitting unconscious at the wall. ‘Back to the topic at hand. When I can’t question her now then I have to hope that I’m lucky to get a competent and somewhat smart subordinate.’

“Rejoice human. I will give the rest of your insignificant life meaning. You are the one, that has the honour to become the sacrifice necessary for her to take the first step towards her new existence.” I don’t know why but talking to the unconscious human gave me some sort of satisfaction. It may look stupid but I have lived long enough to don’t care about what others think about me.

First I need to remove as much of her blood as possible. For that I cut through the carotid artery. After this I just needed to watch until the stream of fresh blood ended. The moment this was the case I bit in my wrist and opened my own vein and let my blood flow in her mouth. After I made sure that a good mouthful made its way down to her stomach I sat down and let my regeneration close the wound. Now I only need to wait for the transformation to begin.

A few seconds after my blood reached her stomach the spasms alongside with the cries of agony began. All of her veins turned black and after she opened her eyes wide from the pain, they were completely blood red. Her teeth began falling out and new ones could be seen slowly coming through her gingival. The new teeth were way sharper and the canines were longer and had a sharp point at the top. The blood-red in the eyes creeped back and now only the iris had this color. After that, the black veins lost this color and the screams came to an end and the breathing jumped back to a normal rhythm.

I bend towards her and stroked some wisps out of her face and sat back. Waiting for her to wake up. That would happen in about 4 hours from now when her body has accepted the changes. So I sat down closed my eyes and waited. After about 4 hours and 30 minutes I heard a low growl. It seems like she has woken up. I opened my eyes and there she was. On all fours and glaring and growling at me.

“Haha. It seems you are full of vigor. I like you. But now is not the time for a fight. You look hungry.” With these words I stood up and went in her direction. She cowered down like a wounded animal ready to attack. “Come on. Let me show you what I have arranged for you. Not that you can understand me as of now.” I jumped at her and grabbed her at the neck. I ignored her clawing at my arm and dragged her towards Gerard.With a swift move of my other hand I cut open his throat and held her head in the near vicinity of the wound.

This was enough to get her attention. She ended her claw attack on me and focused solely on the neck of Gerard. She sunk her teeth deep in his neck and began gulping down his red life juice. After a while the hunger faded and reasoning came back to her mind. She looked around a little disoriented and then towards me. She looked me in the eyes and shivered. After that she made a deep bow in my direction and remained in that position.

“You don’t have to be so formal. We will be travel companions after all.” I said while I smiled at her. With this she didn’t relax but ended her bowing and again looked at me with big question marks in her eyes. You have many questions. I know that. I will answer them when we begin our walk towards my residence.” With this I went to the exit. “Follow me.”

After a few steps I felt that she was following me and said “You have undergone a transformation. But that is nothing that you haven’t realized by now. The more interesting question is: What are you now? The answer is quite simple. You are a vampire. Or when you want to say it with the words I prefer it would be blood shadow. Why that is a better description is irrelevant for now. But I will give you a book in which you can read about the creation of the world and our race. For now I will tell you some information that is more important. You may know some stories about my, and now also your, race. Not all is true.”

I looked in her direction and saw that she was listening. Satisfied I continued, “We can survive in the sun. Not all of us but the higher can. But the sun has a weakening effect on the higher ones so don’t fight stronger foes in the broad daylight. Indoors or on cloudy days when the sunlight is weaker, the effect is weaker. We don’t die through garlic and other sort of vegetable that is said to have that effect. We have a reflection. I wonder who came up with this crap. Hahaha. A stake through the heart kills the most of us. Like the other races. But there are a few exceptions. But what needs to be said is that we have a higher regeneration than other races.”

I made a short break to swallow and think about the next topic. After a while I said, “The next and probably most important part is the hierarchy. If you don’t know that you can die pretty fast. The highest position is taken by the ancients. That would be me and my sister. That explains why you feel like bowing in my presence. But again I don’t feel like talking about all this stuff. If you are interested in the transformation and the powers of the race then I can give you a book about that as well. It’s just too tiresome to explain when you can read  it on your own. Haha. Where was I? Ah yes, the hierarchy. The next lower level would be the elder vampires. There are only 4. The next level is where you are. The noble vampires. They are the highest step of those that can be converted. So feel lucky that I am in need of some noble.”

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I looked at her but she didn’t seem as happy as I imagined. “Hmm, you don’t seem too convinced. But it does not matter. You can’t change this fact. You have to accept that!” I said while smiling at her. “Take a step down and you have higher vampires. 150 years ago they were commonly known as the peak existence in this race. Not least because the higher ones didn’t walk around murdering people or guarding stuff. There are more higher vampires than nobles. The next step are the normal vampires. These are the ones that the most fairytales speak about. The ‘mighty hunters of the night’ like they call themselfs with pride.” I spoke with disdain overflowing from my voice. “They ruin our noble reputation. Not that we were ever loved by the humans. But we have pride. And those are spitting on their heritage!” I spit out and made a grimace that showed my disdain clearly.

“Ehem.” I cough slightly. “Sorry for my rant. I couldn’t contain myself. The next and last level are the lesser vampires. They have intelligence like an animal. They are the canon fodder that the normal vampires use in large quantities when they want to attack something like a settlement. But honestly I don’t like them. Normal vampires are okay if they follow either me or my sister but, contrary to my sister I don’t think that lesser vampires serve a purpose and are pests at best.” Another pause. I look towards the half-elf.

“Now the interesting part. Every higher and noble vampire has a vampiristic form. These vary from original race to original race. Elves for example are banshees. And this includes you because the elven heritage is stronger than the human one. A wolfman for example would be able to shapeshift in a half-wolf-form and a form where he resembles a wolf. But again I will give you a book about that later. But a few words regarding banshees. They are not the messengers of death for nothing. They have the nasty ability to kill with their voice. It may take some practice but then you will be able to kill weaker enemies with a simple scream.” She had a astonished expression on her face. Seems like that piqued her interest.

“Now I think I told you the most important things. If I forgot something don’t blame me. It is a long time since I last had to introduce someone in our culture. Normally one of my subordinates would do that. The most important is that you keep the hierarchy in mind. If you ever insult someone higher than you it may end with your death. And now is the time where you can ask me some questions.” Once again my vision shifted away from the path to the half-elf and now banshee. She seems to ponder about what she heard until now. When I said this last sentence she was surprised but thought just a short duration before asking, “May I know your name, milord?” “Ohh, please excude my rudeness. We walked such a long time and I didn’t even introduce myself. My name is Nathaniel di Contetia.” ‘Where are my manners? How could I forget to introduce myself?’ I thought. “Is there anything else you want to ask?” “Yes, Milord di Contetia. Why did you transform me?” “That is quite simple. Most of my former subordinates, if not all, are dead. And I hate travelling alone. Does that answer your question?” “Yes Milord.” “And stop calling me Milord for now. It stops the flow of a conversation.” “If it is your wish.”

‘The blood bond is truly an amazing thing. It makes this so much easier than having to talk to some hysteric person. This was a really good idea my sister had back then.’ I sighed in admiration of this wonderful ritual that we had back then to alter the effect of our blood on the transformed. “Where are we going?” “Were headed towards my mansion. It it deep in the mountain range in a hidden valley. I just hope that in the last hundred years no one found it. There we will start building a functioning organisation that provides us with anything that we someday may need. But now let me ask you a question: What have you done before I transformed you?” “I was a hunter in the mountain village I lived at. I pride myself to be the best archer of the whole village.” She said with blatant pride in her voice.

“Was it a happy live? Do you have friends there?” “No. I was an outsider. They accepted my existence at the edge of the village. And when the slavers came to this village they sold me to them.” “Then if you want you can go to them later on and make one or two your personal servants. Haha. This would be the best kind of irony. By the way. What was your name? Not that it matters, you get a new one eventually.” “My name was Aryana. I would be honoured to receive a new name together with this new existence.”

While we had this conversation we walked the path that lead through the mountains. It was not a long way. After roughly 1 and a half hour we stood in front of the beginning of a small and narrow passage between two steep faces. “We are almost there. My mansion is right behind this alleyway. But it is a bit strange. Normally there would be an illusion spell that hides this entrance. It seems my secret valley is not so secret anymore haha. Are you ready to take a look at your new home?” I asked her. “Yes.” A simple and straightforward answer. I believe I had enormous luck with this one. She seems like a capable women. She will be a great aid in my future plans.

With this we made our way in the alleyway. After a few steps a distinctive smell penetrated my nose and I knew immediately what had found my secret valley and my good mood plummeted in the deepest abyss. Aryana seemed to sense my change in mood and asked, “Have I done something wrong?” “No no. It’s just that I know what found my secret valley. And that does not make me happy. Those ugly abortions! Tch. it seems that you can test your new abilities soon on living targets. Is there a better training than slaughtering puny orcs?” “B-But I don’t even have a weapon…” “A weapon? Your a banshee. You can kill them with your bare hands. If you survive this slaughter festival I will give you a bow that is better than even the bows of those arrogant wood-elves. What do you say?” “V-Very well. I will try my best.” One could clearly see how uncomfortable she felt. But I have full confidence that she will survive that. In the end they are only lowly orcs. Nothing we should be afraid of. And if she somehow would die then she was unworthy in the first place.

And with these thoughts we made our way towards the exit of these alleyway.

Author’s corner:

So the next chapter will contain a bit more action than this chapter. But that is not that hard :P

Also I cut it a little short on some topics. I just think that 2.5k words infodump is enough. So I will release the books he refers to as separate chapters. They will be a bit shorter than a regular chapter but contain just information like extracts from an encyclopedia or a scientific essay.