A Reluctant Vampire by Carla Krae Page B

to try my faith. Saint Paul endured much, so a lowly
servant such as I could endure this, too.
    A sudden cuff to the
ear sent me reeling, splayed on the floor and stunned.
    “ You will not
speak that name anymore! It is not God that
gave you this gift, but I! And so much more. Rise. Drink. We have
hours to travel.” A dead goat with its neck at an odd angle was at
her feet. “I would have brought you a human but you slept too long.
Eat.”
    Seeing me shake my
head in denial, she huffed and slashed the goat’s throat with a
dagger, spilling its blood on the floor. Instead of my stomach
recoiling at the sight, I felt even worse hunger than I woke with
and grabbed the corpse. New instinct took over. I drank as much
blood as I could get down my throat. She petted my hair.
    Blood was all
over me, staining my robe, my hands, and dripping from my chin.
Once my belly was full, my wits returned. “What have you done ? You have damned me!”
    She grabbed my
chin and forced me to look up at her. “I have freed you . Come, childe. We do not have time for this.” She
was a beautiful, terrible thing and something inside told me I
could not refuse her command.
    I was given clean
garments, a bowl of water to bathe, and instructed to follow to the
carriage outside when I finished. Splashing water on my face, I
discovered someone had shaved my beard. My brothers hadn’t wanted
me to handle sharp objects, so once my beard started to grow,
Brother Michael trimmed it for me every so often. The skin was
tender to the touch now. What else had changed while I slept?
Sighing, I lifted the soiled robe over my head and winced when my
pendant landed on my bare chest. The contact of the cross stung. I
tried to examine it and it burned my fingertips.
    I was forsaken. Truly
damned.
    Tears leaked from my
eyes. I didn’t know what I’d become, but my Lord, my Savior, had
turned his back on me and all my friends were dead. Death, too,
would be my destiny…
    Except the woman’s
compulsion would not let me deviate from my task. First, a monster,
and now bewitched? The night was truly cursed.
    Lifting the cord from
my neck, I set the pendant on the table and continued dressing. The
fine new clothes felt odd compared to the rough robes I’d worn
since coming here at age five. The only home I really ever knew.
Seeing the beloved rooms should have been a gift, but all I saw
were the dead bodies. All I felt was pain.
    Outside, men sat on
horseback flanking the carriage. The woman nodded to one of them,
stepped up into the carriage, and beckoned me inside.
    “ I am your
maker, childe. You will do as I say when I say, without argument.
In turn, I will teach you what you are. Do you know the word lamia ?”
    I nodded. “It is
Latin for things of the night.” Evil things like phantoms and
witches.
    “We are vampires, the
living dead. Blood sustains us. The sun burns us.”
    “This is impossible!
You have bewitched me. I will not listen to--”
    Her hand shot out
with lightning speed, gripping my chin and forcing me to look at
her as fangs descended from her gums and her irises glowed red. She
snarled like an animal and snapped her teeth close to my nose.
    “ DEMON! ”
    “ And
so are you .” She bit her wrist
and thrust it at me. “ Drink .”
    The dark force inside
me craved the offering. I could not refuse. Pain blossomed in my
mouth when my new fangs dropped. They sliced through her skin as if
it were parchment. Drinking her blood, I felt a bond solidify.
    “There, now… Don’t
you feel better?” she asked.
    Afraid to anger her
again, I nodded. She smiled and my body relaxed.
    She was the most
beautiful woman I could remember seeing. Her eyes were blue and her
fair skin was perfect. Black hair was artfully pinned up and her
lips were naturally pink, though perhaps that was the stain of
blood. Her clothing…
    There, I glanced
away. Unless styles had changed much since I was a boy—which was
certainly possible—her dress exposed a