When I stumbled back out into the hall it was empty, and silent of even the music that had been coming from above. I managed to climb back up the stairs, this time with some difficulty. I stepped into a crowd of other servants as he raised a hand into the air, silencing the idle chatter.

"You've partaken in my food, supped on my wine, and enjoyed the hospitality of House Alvarado. The time has come for the main event. Over the past weeks the campaign against the Eastern houses has been unfortunately bloody. Thousands of ghouls, slaves, and even several lords fell in the ensuing battles, not to mention the loss of my progenitor and ancestor Juan Alvarado."

Several of the creatures of black armor dragged the bloody and limp form of a man into the room. Spears, swords, and daggers alike pierced his flesh from all angles, deeply embedded into his flesh. The skin of much of his body loosely hung around him, trailing behind as he was pulled inside. He was thrown to Alvarado's feet.

"All thanks to the creature seen before you. The elder known as Qin Shi Huang. Just two hundred years ago he orchestrated the complete purge of the old Eastern houses, and installed a hundred freshly turned pups as the new ruling class" The crowd began to murmer at the reminder, a number brought up the sheer volume of weapons inside of him.

He beckoned to the pile of flesh that Qin Shi Huang. "With strength belying even his considerable years he nearly single-handedly crippled us when we were foolish enough to take him lightly, ending no less than three bloodlines and making the Western houses a laughing stock."

"It is my great pleasure to be host to his final moments. As the ones who managed to overcome the 'Emperor' of the East, the honor of consuming the wretch goes to Lord Casius Sergia, and of course my father in law, Lord Alek Vasiliev." At his words two men stepped away from the table, walking with purpose to the mans side.

The guests and guards alike began to chant in a language I did not recognize as they walked. "Sarg luth phuul drak'corluus!"

The first man seemed to be a young blonde with boyish good looks, and the other a grey-haired man, old but clearly still strong, and covered in scars. When they reached the eastern vampire they took hold of his tattered arms, and the guards began to remove the weaponry he was impaled upon.

The blade of each weapon was a pristine, glittering silver, and each one was let out with the whistling hiss of burning flesh. "Sarg luth phuul Cor'Nal!"

When the last blade was removed the bloody form exploded into motion, screaming and hissing in what I assumed to be his native tongue. "Nāozhǒng! Y-" Both the vampires at his side tore into his throat before he could continue.

"Sarg luth phuul Sar'dun!" The hall descended into silence as the chant ended, not a soul moving as they drank his blood. The body of the eastern vampire shriveled and dried as they consumed him, letting out a final hiss before it stopped moving entirely. I smiled. This...this was something I could use.

When they drew away and let the corpse fall I noticed what seemed to be shadow disappearing into their mouths. The old man rolled his shoulders, exhaling, before he began to speak. "Our enemies in the east have been dealt a considerable blow, and we are all the stronger for it, however they are not defeated yet. I will remind you that in spite of our victory over their leadership we were driven out. Many of his bloodline remain, and it seems even in the short time since they were born they have grown much."

The blonde spoke next."-and they are not our only enemies. We celebrate today, but always remain wary." The party resumed shortly after that, and the three men in the center of the hall began to speak to each other as the guards grabbed hold of the body, but my attention was no longer on them. I palmed a bloody dinner knife off of a passing servant as he walked several dishes away from one of the tables, hiding it up my sleeve before anyone took notice.

Based off what I'd seen I couldn't kill Alvarado yet, and that plan wasn't likely to impress Trua enough to want me regardless. I had been running on the assumption killing him was my only option, but a plan was beginning to form that went beyond that. I strafed around the hall, watching the door the guards carried the body through.

Of course it was just then that things started to go wrong. One of the armored guards came into the hall, half-walking, half-running to Alvarado. It began to whisper in his ear, and I picked up the pace, noting his increasingly displeased expression.

I kept my head low, walking through the door and catching sight of the guards as they disappeared down the servant staircase. I heard the vampire start to shout orders out, and I quickened my pace.

I followed the ghouls, clutching my stomach lightly but keeping a manageable distance from them. There where no guards outside the doors anymore, but I could hear the sound of metal boots clanking down the halls at the sound of their masters distress.

Something was definitely wrong. I wasn't sure what kind of response my escape would illicit, but it seemed I would soon find out. I disappeared down the staircase before any of the guards noticed me. Still, I couldn't help but wonder how they figured things out. I was certain Trua had not yet left the hall. Too many things I didn't have time to figure out.

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I stopped, keeping myself from tumbling down the stairs as another wave of pain washed over me. I didn't have much left, this was-"Where exactly are you going?" A hand landed on my shoulder. I froze, before turning around. "The master wants to look over every servant, he says someone isn't who they seem to be."

I found myself looking back to the face of the fearful maid from before. Her eyes widened at the matted and wet doublet I was wearing, and more importantly the arm covered in my blood. "O-one of them took a swipe at me. Tore into me. N-need bandages." I fell to my knees. not having to work too hard to fake a pained groan.

I grasped at the hem of her dress. "I c-can't let them take me. You've seen what they'll do." Her lip quivered for a moment, and she leaned forward, her wide eyes locked where I knew my wounds to be.

"Y-your hurt." I looked up to her with the most pathetic expression I could manage. Struggling and failing to stand up again I took one of her hands into my own. Once I would have thought her beautiful, she was pale, with black hair and a button nose.

"Just go back to the celebration, they won't question you. the worst thing that could happen is I get taken, and I won't tell them you looked the other way." Her head whipped around to the sound of plated boots stomping in our direction. When she looked back to me she steeled herself, before nodding.

She disappeared up the staircase without a sound. If she looked back she would have seen my expression harden. I pulled myself up, moving down the stairs. If I didn't already have an idea of where they where going I would have been furious at the prospect of losing the guards. They had taken the body, likely to dispose of it without much of a mess.

The macabre design of this place was in my favor today. Of course the crematorium was right next to where the servants resided and worked, it's presence was a warning and a convenience. Those who disobeyed or failed were eaten, then tossed by their old fellows into the fire with the rest of the meat.

I straightened my stance, looking as best I could like a normal, scared servant. She had cost me the chance to hide, but hopefully that wouldn't matter.

The two guards who had been carrying the body turned the corner just as I was reaching the bottom of the stairs, and let me pass as they made their way up the stairs. One of them stopped to sniff at me, but let me go regardless. I smiled, they weren't yet aware that anything was wrong. They would undoubtedly tell their master I was here, but that would take time, and right now they were in no hurry.

I chuckled to myself as I stumbled my way down the passage, leaving a trail of blood along the wall as I did. I was dying, and I didn't care. I took the knife from my sleeve, opening the crematorium door. The single active chamber bathed the room in light. I shut the door behind me.

Comic books, movies, legends, video games and so much more had been right about at least one thing in my life. Monsters were real, and as experience has taught me they would break for nothing more than mild entertainment. I was a failed medical student yesterday. What am I now?

I shut the machine down, opening the chamber and looking at the corpse of some old Eastern warlord. I pulled the sheet he rested on back, taking no heed of the sound of my hands sizzling against the metal. The pain was distant, and the world was spinning around me. I knew this was a bad plan, but I was out of options, and time. All I could rely on was what I had learned in my short time here.

Flames danced across the already dried form of the carcass. I ignored them, reaching past the fire. His face was set in a perpetual scream, and his fangs shined against rotten, burning flesh. I plunged the knife into his chest, before shoving my wrist into his mouth.

My other hand gripped his chin, and I forced the corpse to bite me. I tore my wrist against the vampires jaws, forcing it to cut the artery and spilling what little blood I had left. Alvarado had told me vampires could be made, and in doing so he had sealed his fate.

Sources differed on how, but I would cover as many bases as I could. Both my hands grasped around the knife, and with a heave I pushed it forward, breaking past the already weakened bones with a few short pushes. Black spots danced along my vision as I worked, cutting all the space I could from his rib-cage.

When I had enough space I reached a single burned hand through, knowing exactly what I was looking for. What I eventually pulled from his chest looked almost like the skin of a rotten plum. In some legends the curse of vampirism was spread through blood transfusal, in some a simple bite, and in others one could only be born with it.

I lifted Qin Shi Huang's heart to my lips, before biting into it with all my might. I took no time to savor the rot I was eating, no effort to consider the fate I was consorting. This was my final gasp against the fate of meat, my last stand against a life as nobody, hungering for the love of a woman I wouldn't even be certain existed.

It was dry, empty and tasted like a sin against the natural world. I fell to my knees, forcing myself to swallow it all down just as I started to hear the sound of armored guards rushing to my posistion. I collapsed onto my chest as the door opened behind me. I had fought with everything I had.

I felt like I was landing on the softest sheets in the world. It all went black.