"Tears of a Shadow" by Max ´the world is against me´ cottam

Tears of a Shadow

The year was 1070. The country was still recovering from the effects of the French invasion, they held the country in an iron grasp. A terrible storm raged over a small forest just outside of the city of London. The booms of thunder made the windows of the small shack in the heart of the forest shake so much it was as if they were about to break. The rain pelted against the window, and a small fire could be seen burning inside. A small family was crowded around it; a small girl was sleeping on the rug in front of the fire while the mother was nursing a small baby to sleep. She turned to the father.

“How are we going to tell him? And what’s more, how can we ever let people see him with what we have given him?”

The fathers face was frowning in thought, the problem obviously worrying him.

“My people will not accept him for he is not a pureblood, and your people will not accept him because of the honoured blood that runs through his veins. I don’t know…”

The small child was a boy, his name was Sareth. His mother was named Mary, and was a simple scullery maid. His father, however. was one of the creatures of the night, a vampyre. His name was Alexander; he was an outcast for falling in love with a ‘lowly’ human. The vampyre society was, when it came to the matter of bloodlines, very uptight. No-one of impure blood was ever allowed to enter their realm. As for the humans, their natural instinct is to kill anything they do not understand.

The only option left open for the couple was to keep the boy a secret. They would have to tell him about his heritage someday, but they would delay it as long as they possibly could.

Years went by; the boy was well educated by his father, as vampyres are by nature an intelligent race. However, he was never told about his heritage by neither his mother nor father. They had decided that they would tell him on his 16^th birthday about his blood.

The years came and went, each much the same as the other. The boy was obviously different, he was abnormally strong and fast, and his senses were like those of a cat. He also had an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge, constantly requesting for his father to get him books from the nearby city of London.

Eventually, his 16^th birthday came. It was the best birthday the boy had ever had. The boys older sister, Alice, had been out and collected several baskets full of the best fruits she could find, and his father had managed to hunt down a magnificent deer, something that was a rarity for the family who normally just lived off of vegetables, or so the boy thought. Despite the many hardships they faced, the winter quickly approaching and the fact that although they had a fair amount of food, it was nowhere near enough to last the winter.  However, these thoughts were not in their minds as they laughed and danced the day away, their father playing a flute he always carried on him. As night approached, Sareth noticed his parents becoming more anxious and jumpy.

“Mother, what is wrong? Are you not enjoying yourself today?”

His mother smiled weakly.

“Yes Sareth, this is a great day, for everyone.”

Eventually, day passed and night came. Mary asked Alice to go and collect some firewood, and sat Sareth down in front of the fire. Alexander was sitting on his wooden chair that he had carved from a fallen oak tree. Both Mary and Alexander looked worried. This was the night that they were to tell Sareth about what he was.

“Sareth...” his mother said. “For many years, we have been a keeping a secret from you, both a terrible and fantastic secret. About who you are…”

Before she could continue, Alice came in screaming.

“Soldiers! From the city! And they are carrying weapons and torches! They are looking for Sareth!”

His father jumped up. He turned to Sareth.

“Get out of here, NOW!” he said, half screaming it. But before he could get out, the soldiers had burst in through the front door, blades drawn.

“There are the foul creatures! In the name of all that is holy, you must die!”

Sareth turned to his father, his face a mask of fear. But what he saw was not his father, it was something else. Something more than human. His eyes had turned from their familiar, shining blue to a fiery red. He opened his mouth and two slender fangs protruded from his top lip. Sareth backed against the wall slowly, as his own father lunged at the first soldier. They tried to fight him, but they stood no chance.

His vision blurred with tears, Sareth turned and ran through the back door of his house. He ran as fast as he could, his head spinning with all he had just seen. The trees flew past him like a blur, he kept going faster and faster.

He ran until he hit the river, and collapsed, his mind swirling. Then, like a voice of reason, he heard his father speaking to him inside his mind. It cut through the confusion like a cold knife.

“Do not worry son. You are one of us, the dark kin. You will not die, you will not age, and you are above humans in almost every way. You….” His fathers voice was cut short. Sareth looked up at the moonlit sky.

“FATHER!” he screamed. He felt the rage build up inside him. Inside his mind he could hear the sound of his father dying, as if he was there in the house. He then heard the soldiers laughing evilly as his father laid dying on the floor, and then he saw his mother and sister. What they were doing to them was far worse than any death.

Suddenly, as if something inside him awoke, he felt all the confusion, all the fear drain out of him, only to be replaced my anger, fury, and the cold knowledge of what he was, and what he must do. He turned around, and faced back into the dark forest, he could see smoke and flames rising from the heart. He crouched down, and jumped. At first he was surprised at the results, and jumped straight into a tree. Whereas most boys of his age could jump a good meter or two, he had managed to jump at least 10, and about 2 meters off the ground. He grinned slightly, his vision started to turn a lot clearer, the shadows in the forest receded, he could see everything clearly. He felt the ancient, animal blood roaring through his veins. He jumped half way up the tree. And then to the next tree, then the next, quickly building up speed till he was almost invisible to the naked eye. Within seconds he was next to his house. He saw the soldiers walking out, laughing as they dragged 3 bodies out, all of them in bags. They were dead, all of them. Questions raged through his mind. How had the soldiers known about him? And why did they ask for him specifically not his father? He knew one thing. They would pay.

He jumped out of the tree, letting out a bestial roar. The soldiers all looked up, their laughing faces suddenly turning grim, as they saw the silhouette of the boy against the huge moon. He landed in front of them, and looked up, his whole body shaking with anger. Without saying a word, he jumped on them, systematically tearing each ones throats out with his mere hands, they dropped in front of him like the pitiful creatures they were. Then he turned to what was obviously their leader. He was a broad man. He took of his helmet, but instead of laughing or being scared like the others did, the man had a look of deep sadness on his face. He did not attempt to draw his weapon, he just stood in front of the blaze.

Sareth walked up to him slowly, and grabbed his neck.

“WHY? We harmed no-one! We did nothing!”

The man began to cry slightly, this unnerved Sareth. What had he become, so beast-like that he could make a grown man cry?

“It was not my idea…nor my command to do this.” The man sobbed. It was obvious, however that he was not crying out of fear, but out of regret. “They have my family, if I had not done as I was told, then they would have killed them.”

“Well then,” Sareth opened his mouth slowly revealing the small fangs that had emerged. “You killed me then didn’t you? They were looking for a vampyre I assume?” He pointed to the larger bag, obviously containing his father. “Well you have one. I shall spare your life. But not your blood.” He bit deep into the mans neck, draining the lifeblood from him. Sareth felt all tiredness going, the small scratches on his arms healed instantly. The second he felt the man stumble, he withdrew his fangs. He had heard about turning humans, from the many books he had read on the occult. He made a small cut in his own arm, and tilted the mans head back forcefully, opening his mouth. He let the blood drip into the mans mouth slowly, before the wound closed.

“Now you shall know a small part of my torment. Now you too, shall be hunted.” He dropped the man, and fled into the shadows, never intending to return to land that belongs to Humans again. He ran, now scared, not of the soldiers but of what he was, and confused, into the dark heart of the forest.