Preternatural

Preternatural

It is easy to see that the majority of you will not wonder about my
mortal years. Perhaps a few historians among the readers will question
and seek answers, but the average person will only be interested in my
life as a vampire. Despite that assumption I will give you a little
background on myself. I was born to a baker, he and my mother provided
as best they could for my seven siblings and I.  I had a brother who
wanted to be a priest, they made it possible. Another of my brothers was
a sculptor and they provided the supplies. Out of four brothers and
three sisters I was the only one who didn't have a plan.  I helped my
parents in the bakery and delivered special orders for them, on my time
off I would wander the plaza's listening to the old scholars arguing
about the nature of things, other times I would meander the gardens
musing on the colors and the textures of the plants.

It sounds as if I had no social life, but this is not true. I had my
friends who I went to the taverns  and whorehouses with. You have to
understand at the time drinking and buying the company of whores was
common and an avid past time for young men. We treated them well, we
paid them well and we had a good time while doing it. I suppose in life
I was attractive to the women I slept with, I had almost flawless skin,
brown eyes and vivid features to my face. I looked older than I actually
was and women responded to that.  By my twenty second birthday I was
bored of life in Babylon and felt a need to travel. despite my fathers
dire warnings about throwing my life away and how the family would miss
me I left quickly. My father and mother giving me a handful of coins and
wishing me well. I didn't go far in comparison to todays standards but
the trip did take some time. I finally found myself In Uruk, For the
first week I wandered the streets, compared to Babylon, Uruk was exotic
, new smells and sights. My eyes fell on the massive Ziggurat the second
day, the third day I just sat staring at the farmlands outside the city.

I enjoyed my time there, quickly setting myself up as a hired hand I
worked during the days mixing mud and straw. It was hard work but it was
satisfying. I quickly set myself up in a modest one room home and just
spent my time working and wandering the streets at night half out of my
mind with wine. It wasn't that long until my change.

It was a average night. The warm air was being moved back and forth over
the town by battling crosswinds, really nothing more than a slight
breeze that was changing directions occasionally. The humidity from the
wet lands was thick in the air and insects where buzzing loudly. As I
said, a average night. I was walking down a empty street when I saw a
woman sobbing down a alleyway. I of course being the valiant and helpful
soul I was hurried to her aid. She didn't even say anything. Just pulled
herself up against me and sunk her fangs in.

Movies and books say that the feeding causes pleasure in mortals and
that they swoon. They are wrong. The kiss is painful, your whole being
fights against it and your blood burns as it is being drawn out of you
forcefully. I fought. I fought then the hardest I have ever fought
anything. My fingers scrabbling over rock hard skin, my fists being
deflected as if I was punching a marble post. In that moment though of
thrashing and kicking and snarling myself I was connected to her. She
was nearly mindless, a mad ancient being who had long forgotten that she
was once mortal. She was a wraith with no name and no aspirations, her
only goal was to feed. She terrified me, I fought harder despite the
weakening of my struggles. My hand under its own power grabbed at the
blade in my belt, my fist closing over the hilt. I brought it up and
jammed it down into the side of her throat. She threw back her head and
a wordless scream echoed out of her. Blood from her poured down her
throat and
splashed against my face. I took a deep breath now that I was free of
her and blood dribbled into my mouth.

The effect was amazing, I felt a tingling sensation where it had touched
and what had made it to my throat had revitalized me slightly. I knew
then that I would have to drink or die. I chose to live, it was a easy
choice for me. She was still screaming from the blow with the blade and
I lunged on her. My mouth fastened against the wound and I began to pull
her life from her. Stars blazed behind my closed eyes as I felt her
heart in her blood, the wane and waxing of the flow of blood in my mouth
was like the ebb and flow of the tides of a river. My Senses heightened
in that moment and I could feel each individual hair stand up on my arms
and neck.  She struggled, but my grip was like iron and she was
weakening quickly. Soon she was drained in my arms, shallow breathing
showed she was still alive. I dropped her, and quickly stumbled from the
scene drunk on her blood. Not knowing it at the time I had left her at
the mercy of the sun. She had been too weak to make it to her shel
ter and surely perished.

What a sight I must have been that night. Stumbling through the streets,
grunting with pain as my body died around my soul, covered in blood that
still dripped from my chin. Others shied away from me thinking me sick.
The pain of dying is, horrid. The brief moment of expanded senses had
left and everything was dulling. My sight became blurry and soon I was
nearly blind. I became deaf and touch pained me. My insides burned like
liquid fire and left me gasping and praying for death. I fell into my
home shutting the windows to the outside world and fell on my cot of
straw. I vomited blood and bile, expunged all the waste in me and fell
unconscious.

When I finally awoke, long into the next night, I was awoken by the loud
pounding of my heart sounding in my head. I felt like I had woke with
the drunken sickness. My mouth was dry, my eyes crusted with sleep,  my
head pained me and I had a terrible thirst. Nearby I could hear a
drunken man singing and his harsh voice hurt me. I stood to go to the
window and tell him to quiet but when I opened my eyes I was flooded
with clarity. Sight rose up and was in such focus that for a moment I
thought that I must be dreaming. I could see the smallest of cracks in
the brickwork from across the room, when I looked at my cot I could
focus on a single strand of straw and view each imperfection as if it
was directly in front of my face. For what seemed to be hours I stood
there studying everything in my small room, enamored in the detail of
the simplest things. It wasn't until the thirst became unbearable did I
leave the room.

Stepping out side I was assaulted by sights, sounds and smells.
Everything seemed brighter, more real. My mind was not on these things
tho, my mind was on the hunger I felt gnawing at my very veins. I made
it to a local watering hole and sat ordering a simple meal of sheep,
flat bread and wine. I went ate it quickly, I drank an entire bottle of
wine. Still though I hungered, I ordered more food, dried cheeses, soups
and ate. Still I hungered. A slight pain had begun in my stomach that I
attributed to eating so much so fast. I stood and left the tavern
wondering why was I still so hungry. I was walking back to my home when
a horrible pain shot through me doubling me up on the ground in a
instance. Soon I was vomiting up the food and to my dismay the food was
mixed with thick red streaks of blood. It was that moment that the
previous night flooded back into my memory. I had forgotten the woman
and my actions. I was in such a thrall over the sights and sounds I
heard that I put
it out of my mind. It was then, on the street laying in my own vomit
that I knew what I had to do.

The first night and many nights after I fed violently. There was no joy
in it, just a simple animal need for blood. I busted down doors and fed
on whole families. I entered temples and ravaged priests in the beds,
Men, women and children alike became my prey.  I became a demon to the
people of Uruk. I left such a mess that soon the population was crying
out for something to be done. I had no knowledge of plans against me and
continued to feed as a revenant. A mindless beast such as the one whom I
stole immortality from. A few weeks after my first night I had
re-entered the temple complex of Anu and had just entered a priests cell
when the door behind me was thrown shut. How I had not heard or smelled
the priests coming Is still to this day unknown to me. I ran at the door
and threw myself into it. It was to no avail. The door was solid stone,
only a small slit acted as a window and the room was bare. I was trapped
inside this cell. I instinctively knew the sun was my enemy a
nd became fearful. I ranted and raved dashing myself against the walls,
I threatened, I pleaded and I even begged to be released. Soon I fell
into a depression as the sky began to lighten.

I don't know when I had fallen asleep, but I awoke to a pain on my skin.
A itching sensation as if I had worked in the sun for far to many hours.
I opened my eyes and was blinded by the sun. I turned my back to it and
it was a longtime before my sight returned. Looking down I saw that the
skin on my arms was a deep red, puss filled bubbles had formed upon my
flesh, when I scratched layers of flesh just came away. The light was so
strong that I had to squint, I quickly went to stand below the window
and curled into a ball on the floor. I stayed that way watching the beam
of light move across the floor for hours, feeling the hunger rise in me
as my skin still boiled around me. I wanted to scream in pain but I knew
I had to remain silent. If the priests thought me dead, then perhaps
they would open the door and I would have a chance to escape.  For days
I was in that room, curled up under the window in a half sleep as my
skin blackened and my strength ebbed. Thankfully I was a
newborn and the sun took time to kill me. These days I can barely stand
some artificial light sources and even the light from a full moon is
uncomfortable for me.

I lost track of time as I laid there cooking, trapped in my own mind to
hide from the pain. One afternoon however I head the door being pulled
open. Somehow, despite the hunger I pulled myself into a crouch. There
was only a crack when I lept, hitting the door with my shoulder. I hit
with such force that all the bones in my left arm and shoulder
shattered. The door flung open striking a young priest and a elder. The
force sent them flying into a group of armed guards standing a few feet
behind them. I was on the elder priest and had tore his throat out with
my skeletal hands. I heard the boy scream and I plunged my hand into his
stomach ripping his intestines out. The guards tried to fight, but they
soon fell to my hands. I fed then, running through the temple drinking
from anyone who was in my path. I burst out of the complex and ran out
into the wilderness with the sun beating down on my back. I ran as if I
was chased by demons, when I was far enough that it would take a m
ortal days to follow me I dug myself a grave and fell into it. I had
barely the strength to cover myself.  I quickly fell into a slumber.