Chapter 131 EPILOGUE 5/6 – Memories

Chapter 131 EPILOGUE 5/6 – Memories
CIAN

Cian’s mind went blank. The offer was exactly what he wanted — a chance to wring the neck of those responsible — but how had this stranger known? Who was this man and why would he want to help some peasant with nothing to offer in return? “Wh-what do you w-want?” Nothing came for free in this world; there was always a price. Always.

A smile flashed over the man’s face, his teeth gleaming in the light of the moon. “I want to make you stronger than you could ever imagine, to give you something far more valuable than life itself. This will require a great sacrifice on your part, of course, but, if you are willing to call me your Master, I will give you exactly what it is you want most; the identity of those responsible for the death of your family, and the power to return the favour with your own two hands.”

“I’ll do anything,” Cian gasped without needing to think about it. His life was meaningless without his wife and child, making this an easy choice. Whatever he needed to do, he would do without hesitation.

“Most excellent,” the stranger murmured, smile widening as he offered Cian a hand. “Come. There is much to be done.”

The offered hand was cool to the touch. It unnerved Cian as the stranger helped him return to his feet. Turning, the man began to walk away. After a moment, Cian followed. Only a single glance was spared for a last look at the home he’d worked so hard to build, that his wife had made into his favourite place in the world.

That was the beginning of a decade that made Hell sound like paradise.

The strange man always spoke calmly, in a deceptively soft voice, but every word was somehow laced with danger and venom. Before the sun rose the next day, Cian had learned the man was a vampire; one who took great pleasure in the suffering of others.

This was Cian’s first introduction to Others and it was not a pretty one.

The Master taught him of the other magical species found throughout the world, with a particular focus on wolves and their lust for battle; how finding an innocent woman and child, so weak and vulnerable, was something a beast like that could never ignore.

During the decade he spent at the vampire’s side, Cian watched as the Master Turned other humans — pathetic creatures who begged, cried, and pleaded for their lives.

Turning a human into a vampire required the exchange of blood between the two species. A human could be Turned in a single night — with enough blood — but the vampire created by such a quick Turning was nothing more than a hunger driven monstrosity. Even if the fledgling was kept well fed this never changed. These ones were killed without mercy by the very being — the Master vampire — who’d created them.

There were times when the Master forced Cian to help with the process in some way and he always did so without a fuss. This was what he’d agreed to, after all. Though he would, eventually, lose his mortal soul to the vampire, at least when it happened he could say he’d died a man of his word — his one solace.

Every night, Cian and the Master exchanged a few drops of blood; this was the reason it took years for him to Turn instead of the days, sometimes weeks — but rarely longer than a month — the others were forced to suffer through. No matter the time it took for the Turn to complete, the new vampires inevitably lost control of their bloodlust and killed.

The Master’s only interest was in making a vampire like himself; all other outcomes were unacceptable.

During this time, Cian was forced to learn the Master’s language, which sometimes caused him to go weeks without uttering a single word. The language was one of hard and soft consonants, of vowels that both felt and sounded like stones when spoken. On the rare occasions he found himself compelled to speak he had to fight the grimace that wanted to settled on his face.

“Why not do as your Master had?,” Cian heard himself ask one day, stumbling over the unfamiliar syllables of a language he hated beyond words.

The Master glanced up, meeting his eye, then smiled that unnerving smile of his — all teeth and no warmth. “Simple. I don’t recall how I was Turned.” The vampire’s smile spoke of pain and promised despair, both things Cian felt he’d had enough of to last multiple life times; no need to ask for more.

Cian wondered if he would also forget how he’d been turned. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he pushed that unnerving thought aside. Perhaps he shouldn’t have asked the question at all.

“You are a good human,” the Master continued after a moment. “You do exactly as you’re told and don’t fuss in the least. That’s why I’m taking my time with you. You will be my pride and joy.”

And that’s what Cian became; his Master’s pride and joy. It took ten years for the exchanged drops of blood to successfully Turn the human. The final two years of this process had been agony, his body rebelling against human food while not yet able to survive on blood alone.

When he finally woke as a vampire, Cian found himself bombarded by the world. The sounds, the smells… His vision was pristine and every little detail jumped at him like an assault against his eyes. Even the feel of things he touched was too much to bear. And then there was the hunger; dear god, the hunger. It felt monstrously huge — bottomless. Even after drinking his fill, Cian wanted more.

“No,” the Master snapped, voice firm. For some reason, Cian listened to the man. Perhaps it was from a decade of willingly following orders, but there was something more to it than that. Almost like an invisible force was able to take control of his body and force him into submission. “You have drunk enough. It is time I give you what I promised all those years ago.”

What he’d promised? Cian’s thoughts were a muddled mess. What had been promised? Wasn’t this — being Turned — what had been promised? “Your… promise?,” he managed to ask after running his tongue along his teeth — his fangs — and marvelling at how they felt.

“Yes. Vengeance for your wife and child.”

Oh. Yes. Them. How could he have forgotten? It had only been ten years and the sorrow was still here. And yet… for the first time since finding their cold, dead bodies, Cian had forgotten them for a brief moment. “Vengeance… Yes. I want vengeance.”

“Good,” the Master nodded. “The man you were — the human Cian — is no more. Your sole purpose now is to show the world that it must fear me. There will come a day when my name, and my name alone, will invoke such terror that it will only be uttered in hushed whispers or risk invoking my wrath. Therefore you, too, will bear my name and thus spread the tale of The Riaghaire further than ever before.”

“Riaghaire,” Cian murmured, testing it out and liking it a fair bit. It was a word from his native tongue and reminded him of why he had chosen to sacrifice his humanity. Yes, this was a name he would gladly accept.