“They were fed a week prior,” said Dandellion as he snaked around my torso. “But do you remember how you spread your blood in the well to control the rest of them?”

I walked over to a child. His heart beat sounded like mine; a tumble and then a rumble. “Yes, did something happen?”

“There were other children with mana.”

“Oh, that’s true. I forgot that, so where are they?”

“That’s not the issue. If they had transformed properly, there wouldn’t be a problem. However, it seems that there wasn’t enough blood to turn them into vampires. They’re more akin to ghouls than anything else. Come with me.”

I followed Dandellion to the castle dungeons. The air stank of rot, and all kinds of mould and ominous plants coloured bright fluorescent lights spread in the rock wall. I stopped to look at one. The leaves of this plant curled up and formed an infinite pattern of criss-crossed S’s. Small centimetre long tendrils tipped with fluorescent yellow lights extended from its stem, and a tiny purplish-black flower topped it off.

I took another step forward. Another plant crept along the stone wall. Its roots did not extend into the stone but crept down into the ground where a tiny amount of black water slept. These roots were red, and one could see a tiny black shuttle speed up and down the roots channel.

And with my last step I did not see another plant but a creature so contorted, so broken that I had a hard time finding where it ended and where the plants which ensnarled it began.

Locked behind iron stakes. Its hands were planted in the ground. Vines crept under and above its skin and locked him in place. Roots pierced his skin and snaked up its veins till it reached its chest and disappeared into him. It’s torso, a dark puke green. And his skin torn in more than a dozen spots. The humanoid creature let out sparse groans through rotted teeth from which black tar dripped down his yellowish-green lips. The drop fell on triangular shaped lily pads which floated in a tarry black pond. Its back was arched in a semicircle, and red berry like pebbles sprouted from his spinal region.

I covered my mouth and nose with the inside of my arm. Who knew how many homicidal air-born particles floated around here? I ran out of the dungeon. Dandellion soon followed. “Why did you bring me there? I could die. You could have just told me instead. You don’t have a body to lose, but I do.”

Dandellion squirmed about in the air. His haze twirled into the shape of circles and ovals. “But you’re the vampire progenitor. How could you even be sick? I think your old instincts are showing. You’ve been asleep too long.”

“Old instincts?” I questioned. Since when had I spoken of anything.

“Yes, of your past life.”

The curt answer made me take a step forward. “Where and how did you learn of that?”

“When you napped, I entered your body since I didn’t know what to do without orders. And there I saw all of your lives. I saw your experiences as I lived vicariously through them. I am you, I am your shadow. I am everything you kno—”

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“All my lives? Why do you speak as if there are a great number of them?”

“In the past you would have taken a step back. But now you go forward. That is Alexander. Your inquisitive mind. That is your first life. And the lack of fear and disgust when faced with such creatures. That is Aidar. All these people. Their minds coexist in symbiosis with your mind. Repressed by you, the twenty-third vampire progenitor. The ruler of past blood. That is the title I saw etched in your heart.”

“But then, why are you any different than me if you claim to have learned everything from my memories?”

“I am not only your child, but that of the vampiric fire. I do not think with a brain, but with flames. We can never be the same, but we will always be indistinguishable.”

I pondered over his words. Although the moral implications were more than concerning, having someone who thinks and acts almost in the same way as oneself was a great asset. I couldn’t do anything but accept this new reality. “I’ll start growing these plants and study them a bit.” I walked back into the dungeon filled with thick mana slightly different from mine, yet still inherently vampiric. “I want at least three pairs of humans to conceive and give birth to children here. Can you do that?”

“Of course. I was thinking the same.”

“OK, you can go. I’ll start working.”

However, the haze didn’t disperse. “There are two more things. In the time you’ve been asleep, eight thousand kids have been born. All of them with mana.”

My head jerked back. “So, everyone born since has become a ghoul?”

“No. Your blood in the water lost its effectiveness after a day. Since then, I’ve been harvesting your bloo—”

“What? Without my permission?” This haze had gone too far, and it did not seem like it would slow down anytime soon. Not only had it breached my privacy, it also used my body like a factory.

“I do have your consent. You are the vampire patriarch. Everything you do is in the vampire’s benefit. What I did was done for the benefit of vampires and the vampiric flame.”

“That’s not how consent works.”

“That’s not how this world works,” the haze imitated my tone.

“I don’t care, I’m the vampire patriarch, this is an order. From now on, don’t do anything I didn’t order you to do.”

“No.”

“No?” I murmured. “No? How can you say no? You are under my absolute control. You will stand down now.”

The haze dispersed, but quickly reassembled into its usual strokes of dark purple particles. “No, those are the words of the one from the old, manaless Earth, not that of the vampiric patriarch. Tell me, you want humans to procreate in this environment, to experiment with them and gain more power. But you don’t want to control those with mana. You would let those people run rampant and wild under your nose. When they could all be your loyal servants. Is that what you want? If yes. Say so.”

I opened my mouth, but sound wouldn’t escape my lips. I clasped my hands on my throat. I couldn’t even apply pressure to my neck. My body wasn’t mine. Nothing was. Those thoughts before weren’t mine. These hands of mine weren’t mine. This mana wasn’t mine. I couldn’t even say that I was the foundation or the main pillar for these traits. I sat. My ass soaked in a pool of tarry water.

I tried to think back to my past life. To the fun I might have had along seaside beaches or pools. However, I could think of nothing more than this little pond in a dungeon. I only remembered the scientific method. How to do titrations and DNA extraction. How to operate a centrifuge and its principles. How certain political systems functioned and the power of propaganda.

When I thought of my family, I thought of Alexander's little boy. Of how to raise a ruler, how to pass on my knowledge, how to discipline one’s subordinates. When I thought of war and gore I remembered my vampire father, how he thought me to disregard human life, how to use all of one’s teeth to kill anything.

“You are the vampiric progenitor. You are immortal. Ever-present. You must change with the ages, adapt, and accept. Why know things which are of no use? You are all that is good and right in past blood, the twenty-third vampiric progenitor.”

I the haze dispersed and escaped through the small door which led out the dungeon.

I wanted to say, since when are old memories, even if painful, negative. However, neither my tongue, nor lips moved.