-7- My Life Went Down the Toilet So A Vampire Took Me -7- A Bit of Family History

Trying to describe the fear that held my stomach as I stood in an unfamiliar room looking at a “vampire” is not quite easy. To put it mildly I almost lost control of my bladder (although luckily I was spared that humiliation) and my knees gave way right under me. I sat on the floor, not bothering to lift myself back up. I knew very well that would not be possible.

My kidnapper sighed at my weakness and made a move to help me up.

“Don’t touch me,” I growled at him. Even if I was scared shitless I would be as defiant as possible.

Luckily he stopped in his tracks and didn’t pursue me any further. I scooted on my bottom farther away from him (which was actually very difficult because my hands were still bound) until my back hit a wall behind me. I sagged against the wall, grateful to have something to support me and dragged my knees to my chin, resting my head upon them. I was tired and frightened and my wrist was hurting me more than ever.

Suddenly, my eyes blurred and stung with the feeling of tears in them. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised considering the circumstance, but nonetheless I was taken aback by the bodily function.

I lowered my full head onto my knees so my eyes were pressing into them and heartily cried. I heard my captor sigh and the sure sound of floorboards creaking although I heard no actual footsteps.

I looked up to find him lowering himself to my level. The fear and shock elevated again when I saw an army knife in his hand. I began to struggle to get away from him quickly, trying to get my legs to work so they would raise me up and run me out of the damned mansion.

“Stop moving!” He snapped. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Despite my will to continue struggling, I went limp allowing him to bring the knife closer to me. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to witness the horrors that he was about to perform on my body.

I waited for the pain to come but felt none. Instead I felt the knife slide right in between my two bound wrists and flick upward, severing the rope and releasing my hands. I opened my eyes to witness the man flick the blade back into its sheath and return his attention to me.

My wrist began to throb painfully and my hand went to cup it gently and check for broken bones. My hand fumbled over the injured part but I was unsure on what to be checking for or how I would know if it was seriously injured.

Hands that did not belong to me reached out and grabbed my wrist surprisingly gently. They were cool to the touch and soothed my hurt skin. Their fingers prodded gently, looking for something, but not painfully. I did not make eye contact with the owner of the hands. In fact, I didn’t even look at his face.

“It’s not broken,” he declared. “A bit sprained and bruised is all. It should be better in a couple of weeks.” He retracted his hands back to his body and left me to coddle the hurt arm. “May I help you onto the bed?”

I realized with a start what he wanted. I looked at the bed menacingly. I should have known from the start that this was why I was taken. For my body and my virginity. Tears pricked my eyes again and I lowered my head and cried.

“I’m a virgin,” I sobbed quietly. If I were looking up I would have seen the man’s face go wild with confusion, dawning and a slight trace of humor. He would have to remember to put a couch or at least some chairs in the room so something like that thought wouldn’t happen again. It would be much easier to talk sitting on such.

“That is not why you’re here, you silly girl,” the man laughed. “I just meant it would be easier for us to talk if we weren’t sitting on the ground.”

I looked up from my knees and looked at the man. He didn’t seem like he was one to throw me down and rape me. Still, thoughts of being hurt in such ways plagued my mind.

“I would rather sit on the ground,” I said quietly.

He sighed, murmured “Have it your way” and stood up and sat on the bed. I remained on the floor. “Do you understand why you’re here at all, Maddy?” he asked.

I shook my head. All I knew was he was a vampire or someone who thought he was a vampire.

“Vampires,” he started, as if he were reading my thoughts, “have gone back thousands of years. There have been cave drawings of men with fangs which is believed symbolizes vampires although no one’s fully sure. The first sure sign of vampires was in England right before William the Conqueror. No one’s sure exactly how they were created. All we know is the first vampire was the most powerful of them all. His name was Henry Paramus although he was later renamed Osiris. He crowned himself king but found that he had no one to rule. So he began to create vampires. By the twelfth century, the small numbers of vampires exploded into more than 2,000 and were still growing rapidly.

“In around 1150 did a human realize the existence of vampires. His name was Benjamin Viper.” I gasped at the name. I knew it well. My father used to tell me stories about my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. He was on such a pedestal in my fathers mind. Brave, strong, smart, he was what my father wanted my brothers and me to be. “His wife had been turned into a vampire. Benjamin found her feeding on their youngest son before he stabbed her with a knife. The two died leaving Benjamin to care for five sons and one daughter. Benjamin swore revenge on all monsters like his wife and began to hunt them. He went to the villages witch and asked for her help. She cast a spell on him and all of his family as well as the generations to come that they would forever hunt vampires. The only problem was the spell came with a side effect. Only men would be born into the Viper family, making Benjamin’s daughter the last ever female Viper.

“Eventually all the sons were married and had sons, carrying on the family legacy. They all had occupations but they also all became vampire hunters and taught their children to hunt vampires. The only one who did not get married was the one daughter. Imagine everyone’s surprise when she got pregnant when she had no one to get pregnant with. Sort of a Virgin Mary thing. But Benjamin suspected it was the magic and took her to a cave where she birthed a male.

“The boy turned out to be the strongest vampire hunter of them all. It had to do with what he was born as. See, when he was born, he was not born as a human, but rather as a dog. Benjamin and his daughter were terribly confused and frightened but soon found him to be the best vampire hunter ever created. His teeth were like silver, his eyes could find any vampire hiding, and his nose smelled them out quickly. But he was forever an outcast, a human stuck in a dog’s body. Somehow one woman was able to see the humanity in the dog. The night she gave birth to their children, the dog-man was ripped to pieces by angry vampires. She produced twins, two boys. One was born human; the other was born half dog. They were both extremely talented and skilled vampire hunters. The half dog would be human during the day and turned into a dog every night except for one night a month; the night of a new moon.

“The twins found they had this special bond. They could communicate through a language that had never been made up. It was as if they were born with it. So together they made a text, a manual even, on how to destroy vampires, find vampires and even, make vampires stronger. They sealed it in a box laced with the silver teeth of their father and had one separate took fashioned into a key. The human twin took the treasure and passed it from generation to generation. Through the years, the language was lost. A few centuries later, vampires began to hide more, so vampire hunters hunted secretly. But their numbers continued to build as boys were continuously being born and then they would have boys.”

He stopped talking and looked at me, his eyes confused and prying. “So, tell me Madison. Why is it that after so many generations of only males being born in your family, here you are, a descendent of the human twin, female and able to read the ancient text?”

I couldn’t speak. So much history, so much information to take in. My kidnapper reached into the inside pocket in his jacket and produced an old, leather bound journal. It looked centuries old yet it wasn’t falling apart. It was still in perfect condition. He sat next to me and gingerly placed the journal in my lap. I immediately read the confusing text on the cover and knew what it meant.

The Vampire Chronicles

My jaw was clamped tight, frozen in fear and confusion. Even though I knew what he wanted me to do, I asked him.

“So, why do you need me?”

“I need you to read the text and tell me how I can become the most powerful vampire in the world. It’s time that someone stands up and beats Osiris.”

“And if I refuse?” I asked. I had no intention of helping this monster.

“Your brothers will die.”

The four words uttered from his mouth struck me hard. “Everytime you refuse, I will kill another one of your brothers, starting with the youngest.”

I blanched at the idea of poor little Mikey at the hands of this…thing! Tears stung my eyes as he continued. “And don’t even try to bullshit your way through it. I can tell when you lie. It’s a gift I have. And I count lying as refusing so that counts as one of your brothers deaths.” He didn’t talk for a moment as tears streamed down my face. I couldn’t even look at him. “Do you have any questions?” he asked.

I looked up, my face still wet. Suddenly one did pop into my mind. “What’s your name?”

“Cain,” he said clearly, although it looked as if it hurt him. He looked out the window into the night sky. He stood up quickly and unexpectedly. “I leave you to yourself.” He placed the journal on the nightstand and left the room. I heard the scrape of a lock and then I was alone.

I finally allowed myself to fall onto my bed and sob.