4. The Slayer
The Slayer
Finally.
I don’t know the last time I was in the mortal world. The void had felt endless, and I thought my purpose was gone, along with my prize.
I take a deep breath in this new form, relishing in the scent of dirt, fire, and blood. The mortal’s arms and legs are restrained, but I effortlessly tug the limbs, freeing this new body.
There are gasps around me, as there usually are. Humans love to play with magic and then when it actually works, they don’t know what to do with themselves.
This body is strong, male as always. I stare down at the forearms, ignoring the mortals who try to speak at me. My markings return, each one a memory of a different life, of all the vampires I’ve killed over millennia.
Slipping back into a new body is seamless at this point. It took me a long time to master, but pushing the mortal into a listless sleep has become easy now. Now and then I need them to appear human, but mostly their body is now completely mine.
I lick my lips and groan. “Water,” I rasp out.
“Of-f c-course,” a feminine voice says, and she hands me this odd container.
I hold it up into the night air.
“What is this?” I question, as she hands me a clear container, not a canteen or pitcher.
“W-water, sir,” she stumbles.
I stare at the container again and she clears her throat, her hand coming to the top of it and opening the bottle. I grunt and down the entire thing. I moan with pleasure. I wasn’t sure I’d ever tasted water this fresh.
Back when I first became a slayer, I was always eager for the hunt the moment I turned.
It took me far too long to get the hang of things.
In the beginning, vampires made a fool of me and my ignorance, killing my mortal form and sending me back into the void.
It happened more rapidly in those early cycles.
I’d barely even recognize I was in the void before I was back in the mortal lands.
The cycles slowly got further and further apart, but I knew the vampire population wasn’t shrinking. So, I spent more time in the void, and I wasn’t sure just how long I’d spent this time, but based on the unfamiliar clothing these mortals wore, I assume it had been a very long time.
I would not risk this form. I would not get sent back.
I could barely even remember what my mate looked like at this point. There was a chance that voice all those years ago had lied. Perhaps she wasn’t even real, but if she was, I would find her and I knew I’d need to soon.
When I stand off the table, glancing around at where I am, nothing seems familiar. The mortal lands were indeed a different place than I remembered.
“A vampire plagues this place?” I question the trembling humans.
They are fragile, weak, and relatively too stupid for their own good, but my purpose was to protect them and their embarrassingly frail flesh.
The man, who was rotund, unkempt, and reeked of alcohol, answered me. “Yes, many of them in the next few towns over. Strong ones.”
I sniffed. There wasn’t a dead one near here for miles.
The older female held a book in her hands and I groaned. That book held my name in it. The only way for me to be summoned was through the magic inside, and I could not touch it.
A shaman many years ago called me a demon, and I wasn’t sure if that was true, but he said to know of my given name was to control me.
That book tied me to the mortal lands, and my only tie to this world was her.
If she wasn’t real, if I was being lied to, it meant that I would need to destroy the book so I never came here again.
I wasn’t sure if that meant I’d be trapped in the void forever, but I couldn’t keep coming back here commanded by my duty of violence and blood if she wasn’t real. I would not be used any longer, even if it meant my damnation.
“Is—is Adam still in there?” the youngest female of the group asks.
I stare at her with my void-like eyes.
As if she cared.
Every single one of these mortals must sacrifice one of their sons for me to be summoned. They are weak, pathetic beings and I don’t answer her question as I walk away.
“Wait. He said we’d get a reward,” the woman says behind me.
I don’t know what she’s talking about. Their reward is me coming here and killing the undead. The ones who feast on their blood and slaughter them, which is a grand gift, considering I’m sick and tired of being here if my mate isn’t part of the equation.
I continue through the night and I learn that much more has changed in the mortal lands than I originally thought.
Against my will, I might need more help from the mortal vessel than I’m comfortable with.