Memorias de vampiro libro I

 

AWAKENING

 

Frozen in time yearning forbidden wishes

Damned and divine

Scars of my broken kisses

What will follow if tomorrow's blind?

My eternal night

Every single dawn I die again

(Tarja. Damn and Divine)

 

New York city, 2010

 

Still here? I am surprised… What? You want to know how did I become part of the Kindred of Kaine? Yes, you are right, according to ancient sources, and the amateur writers who were my companions, I was embalmed and burned in an impressive pyre decorated with gilded eagles and ships’ prows, lions, bulls, centaurs and many other things that my it looked like a tower that many would have envied to have in their gardens… How am I still here then? Well, that’s a long story, but apparently you have time so... Where shall I begin? Oh, yes! The day I died.

 

You already know how were my last days as mortal. We were at Ecbatana and Alexander was preparing splendid games and festivals in honor of Dionysus with athletics, music and Greek performers. I collapsed during a drinking party. Now I know I had malaria, and also know that you cure malaria with antibiotics but, in my time, they prescribed me with a strict diet and prayers, no surprise I died.

 

What happened then ?Before answering that question I need to talk to you about a woman first, the most important woman of my entire life: my Sire.

 

“Sire” is how we call the vampire who gave us the Dark Gift by a ritual we call the Embrace. My Sire was a woman named Bendis, she was so old that she had met Achilles in person. Bendis was 870 years old when she Embraced me and used to mock me, telling me about all the faults of the real Achilles, destroying the legend Homer had created, destroying my dreams and fantasies.

 

Later, I knew Bendis had been born as a Trojan, she was a slave, property of Andromache, Hector’s wife. Maybe that was why her ghoul was called Hektor, as a sordid joke to her previous master. My apologies, I forget you don’t know what a ghoul is. Well, do you remember Dracula by Bram Stocker? A ghoul is a vampire servant like Renfield, a ghoul is immortal as long as he consumes with regularity the blood of a vampire. 

 

My Sire was a member of the vampire clan known as Tzimisce. The Demon clan. The Dragon clan. We are feared by the other 12 vampire clans. Why? You’ll see in time, I promise.

 

Since time is time the Tzimisce had their havens in what now is known as Rumania and Bulgaria. It’s easy to find where my clan dwell, the borders of our territories are mark by bones and death bodies…Quite a view. Tzimisce, we are intolerant to strangers and anyone who trespasses our territories. When I was born as mortal Benis had her territories in Thrace, and when Philip invaded the Thracians he destroyed her lands.  Bendis swore vengeance but Philip died before she could do anything.

 

But Alexander followed his father steps and invaded Thrace again. Bendis was furious so she followed Alexander to Asia, waiting for an opportunity to act and take revenge. For a vampire to travel is difficult, even more in those ancient nights, so Bendis was unable to follow us all the time and had to wait years. 

 

And during those nights of wait, she saw me. She watched me torture Philotas, she saw my darkest side, my cold hatred and methodic detachment while I flayed him; and then, her desire for revenge change for a desire to know more about me. She knew I could be an excellent Tzimisce, I covered the 3 basic rules of the clan: inventiveness, honor and charm. You’ll see the Tzimisce clan is famous for its torturing techniques. Now you start to see why other vampires fear us? Good!

 

It was difficult for Bendis to follow me to Ecbatana but, when Alexander decided to rest in the city, she saw her opportunity to finally approach me after years in the shadows. Then, I fell sick and died. Bendis tried to enter the palace and steal my body, but Alexander didn’t leave my side. My lover even spent the night with my corpse, weeping… my beloved Alexander…

 

A vampire only has 3 days with its nights to Embrace someone, after that time, is impossible to reanimate a body because the soul leaves the body...

 

Now, vampires have Disciplines, in more vulgar words special abilities, every clan has its particular secrets, ours is Vicissitude, the ability to manipulate flesh and bone. Using Vicissitude, Bendis disguised herself as one of the older eunuchs and enter the palace at night, waiting for an opportunity to act. She saw Perdikkas and Ptolemy taking Alexander out of my room, and then she heard Ptolemy mentioned they were waiting for the Egyptian embalmers. Benis panicked, she had to haste.

 

Benis and Hektor entered my room and sealed the doors. Hektor killed one of the servants still inside and his mistress manipulated the dead man’s corpse to look exactly like me. They change our clothes, and left the servant’s body in my place. That’s right, Alexander burned a servant’s body while I was far away, in a small Persian town. Benis gave me her blood when we were safe in a house basement.

 

I don’t remember my Embrace, the only thing I remember is when I woke up…

 

When Hephaistion began to open his eyes, he felt overwhelmed; he perceived sounds that he had never heard before and moved his hands slowly— Its so weird, almost as if they weren’t my own hands, as if I were wearing other’s man skin –he felt dizzy, stunned, confused, his head was spinning around and, when he moved his fingers, he could feel the rocks and dirt beneath, his tactile sensations were also different.

 

Hephaistion blinked several times and saw colors impossible to distinguish by the human eye and had to close them again. He tried to relax, he felt weird, as if his body wasn’t his own and then Hephaistion became aware of the presence of another person. He lifted his head and saw his Sire for the first time, sitting on a magnificent chair. An oil lamp burning on the table with several candles and could distinguish he was in a basement comfortable arranged as a room.

 

— What happened to me? –his own voice sounded strange. Everything was wrong. 

 

— You are dead –was the simple answer of the woman in front of him. She was young, very young, apparently 17 years old, but her hard expression made her look older. She had long black hair and beautiful, though, terrible silver eyes. Liquid silver that appeared to dance at the will of the fire burning bashfully in the lamp.

 

— What are you talking about? –Hephaistion felt a knot in his stomach. He remembered the illness, Alexander taking care of him every day, he was feeling better one day and he asked for wine and chicken and then…and then only an excruciating pain. He couldn’t breath, he tried to call someone but failed…Life was abandoning him. His last thought was for his love one, his soul mate, his everything…and the only thing he regretted was not being able to see him one last time. Then nothing…until now—Who are you?

 

Bendis smiled and he saw her fangs, white as moonlight crystallized.

 

— No, Hephaistion. The question is “what” am I –she stood up—I am a member of the Kindred of Kaine, I am an immortal who can only wander during the night, a fiend who feeds on the blood of mortals.  

 

Hephaistion saw her impressed and terrified. He had never been this scared in his entire life.

 

— What do you want from me? –he could barely speak. Bendis smiled again and Hephaistion wished she wouldn’t, she looked feral when she did it. 

 

— You are now like me.

 

— That’s not true! –Hephaistion was confused, but he felt fangs in his mouth and something inside him, growling and screaming, shouting all was true.

 

— Do you think so? –Bendis sat again and pointed a corpse near them—And what about him?

 

Hephaistion tasted blood in his mouth and panicked.

 

- No, I couldn’t…

 

— What? Ate him? –Hephaistion licked his lips and the blood appeared to him the most wonderful thing he had ever taste in his life— This is not the first time you kill –Bendis continued—You did it before for glory and fortune, now you will kill to survive.

 

— And Alexander? My son? What about my family and my friends? I have to go back –Bendis saw him in complete silence, almost pitying him.

 

— You can’t go back –this time her voice was soft—The best is to never see them again.

 

— Never see them… again?! –Hephaistion stood up with difficulty, he was furious, confused, scared…and he didn’t know what else—I CAN’T leave Alexander, my son, everyone I love, everything I have fought for…

 

Bendis stoop up, she was much shorter than he, but her gaze was intense, almost unbearable.

 

— Understand this Hephaistion, you are not mortal anymore, you are not human, you are an un-dead, a Kindred, a VAMPIRE –Bendis words hurt him more than an enemy sword—Your heart don’t beat, you don’t breathe and you don’t need to eat food. From this night on you will never age, you are frozen in time for the eternity.

 

I almost got mad and my Sire had to tie me…well, not quite, she attached the skin of my arms and legs together. 5 nights I was like that, in that dark basement and she fed me by force. Bendis didn’t release me until I was calm and able to listen to what she had to say.     

 

— We are members of the vampire clan Tzimisce –Bendis said one night—There are 13 vampire clans in total, and we all descend from Kaine.

 

— Who is Kaine? –asked Hephaistion; if he was a vampire at least he was going to learn everything he could of his new condition and then he was going to escape and go to Alexander.

 

There is nothing we cannot overcome together –he thought— Alex will receive me, even in this state and then, he can think what to do.

 

— He is the son of the first man that God created –Hephaistion saw her with incredulity.

 

— There are no Gods.

 

— I didn’t say Gods, there is only one God and he created men –Bendis explained with patience, as if she were talking to a child—Kaine killed his own brother and God sent to him 3 angels. The angels asked him to repent for murdering his brother, but he refused 3 times, and so the angels cursed him to live forever in the dark, to feed only from blood and to always fear the fire. Then, Kaine traveled across the world and met Lilith, the Mother of Demons, and she taught him how to use his Disciplines, among other things. Kaine felt lonely, so he Embraced 3 mortals, and those 3 Embraced 13, our ancestors and founders of the vampire clans.

 

— What happened then? –asked Hephaistion with interest.

 

— I don’t know well. Kaine’s entire story is written on the Book of Nod, but that book is lost, I have only seen fragments of it –said Bendis—All I can tell you is that Kaine summoned a Great Flood that almost extinguish the life in the entire world and after that nobody saw Kaine again.

 

— You say, we have Disciplines –said Hephaistion with caution.

 

— Oh yes! We have special abilities, we are stronger, faster, smarter and more beautiful than the mortals could ever be but we are also damned –she explained—We are monsters, beautiful deadly monsters, always haunted by a dark presence called the Beast. If a vampire loses his or her humanity or loses control over himself, the Beast take control of his body and he became a mindless fiend. Be always careful of the Beast and don’t let yourself starve, we are more vulnerable when we are hungry.            

 

For months Bendis taught me all I had to know, but to learn Vicissitude and the other Disciplines of my new clan was very difficult. I needed years, centuries to learn all I know now.

 

I heard people talk about Alexander every now and then, I heard he was grieving for my death and that he was so devastated that people started to think he was going mad. It pained me more that you can imagine to know this and every night I asked, begged, Bendis to let me go to him, to talk to him just to let him know I was not dead…

 

Bendis looked at Hephaistion seriously.

 

— Do you love your King? –she asked after what appeared to be an eternity.

 

— What kind of question is that? I adore him, he is everything to me, my other half –said Hephaistion with passion.

 

— If that is true then leave him alone.  

 

— I CAN’T, I love him.

 

— Hephaistion, Alexander thinks you are dead; he burned “your body” in Babylon days ago, what do you think is going to happen if he sees you now? He is going to lose his mind. You are dead to him.

 

In that time I hated Bendis, she was cruel and her words were like knives, but she was right, it would have been worst, much worst if Alex had seen me. I decided to train, become stronger and watch over Alexander from the dark. If I couldn’t be with him then I would protect him with my new strength.

 

Finally, 8 months after my Embrace Bendis accepted to take me to Babylon, maybe she was tired of my escape attempts or maybe she took pity on me, I don’t know.  But when I arrived to Babylon I heard that Alexander, my Alexander, was dead… My friends Perdikkas and Leonnatos were entrench in the palace against the fool of Ptolemy, the brute of Krateros, Antipater, Antigonus the One Eye, Lysimachos and Seleucos… even Meleager was trying to put his hands on Alexander’s corpse and claimed a part of his empire. All of them ignoring my son. That disgusted me.

 

I found a pezetairos on the street and asked him about the King…

 

— Why is the temple’s fire extinguished? –asked Hephaistion, his voice trembling and his heart aching. He knew perfectly well what it meant to extinguish the fire in the temple: the Death of a King. The vampire was covered from head to feet to avoid been recognized but he shivered as if he were naked, fearing the news he knew would come but hope in vain were not true.

 

— You are the only one who hasn’t heard. The King is dead –the man was visibly affected for the impression of knowing that his invincible King was in the Hades. 

 

Hephaistion thought he was going to faint, the world appeared to move under his feet. That couldn’t be possible, Alexander dead? It was as ridiculous as saying that the sun wouldn’t shine anymore.  

 

— It can’t be…

 

— Nobody believes it…it seems impossible –the man shook his head.

 

— Where is he? Where is the King? –Hephaistion wouldn’t believe it until he saw Alexander’s body with his own eyes.

 

— I heard he is at the palace, in the royal chamber.

 

Hephaistion forgot about everything and run to the palace that once Darius claimed as if own.

 

— Hephaistion! –Bendis stopped him, walking to him, her huge German ghoul behind her—Where do you think you are going?

 

— Alexander… I have to see him –Hephaistion managed to say, barely containing his emotions.

 

— He is dead, what is there to see?

 

— I HAVE TO SEE HIM! –that was the first time he confronted his Sire, and that took Bendis by surprise; she was sure that if she refuses to let him go he would fight to his Final Death against her and Hektor. Bendis shook her head.

 

— You cannot enter the palace, at least not alone –she advanced in the palace’s direction— If we are going to do this we’ll do it properly.

 

The easiest thing was to transform herself in blood and slid on the floor like a trickle of blood, but Hektor and Hephaistion couldn’t do that, so Bendis used Thaumaturgy instead, vampire magic. She took 3 spiders alive and put each one under the tongue of her companions; then they could climb the wall on their hands and knees. It was easy to get to the King’s window, it was open, and clearly nobody thought that someone could enter through it.    

 

Alexander’s body was lying on the bed, there was no one inside that room strongly smelling of incense and decay. They could hear the guards’ steps outside.

 

— Hektor, watch the door –said Bendis.

 

— Yes, mistress.

 

Hephaistion run to the bed and fell on his knees, as a supplicant in the Gods Temple. It was shocking to see his beloved like that, a man so full of energy now cold and still, no trace of life left inside someone who shone stronger than the sun. A thick blood tear ran through his cheek, his soul screaming and, with trembling hands he caressed the King’s face. Cold, so cold.

 

— Alex… —he sobbed, his dark gray eyes stopping on the locket hanging around the King’s neck, the one he gave him on his 16th birthday—This is not… right…this…

 

He felt like he was drowning, his no-life had no sense and the world was a dark and hollow place to him. He couldn’t accept the truth before his eyes and that made him stood up and opened his wrist to let his blood flow into Alexander’s mouth.

 

— Hephaistion –Bendis called him softly, but he ignored her.

 

He needed, wanted, he had to turned Alexander into a vampire, a Kindred like him; he didn’t care for anything else, the only important thing was to see him again, to feel him near him again…

 

Bendis took a seat on a couch and watched the scene with pity.

 

— Hephaistion, this is not going to work –she said.

 

— It worked with me –his words were firm even if he was crying, turning his beautiful pale face in a mess of blood and sorrow.

 

— You can bleed yourself out on him, and nothing will change.

 

— LIAR! –Hephaistion yelled. He let his blood flow, covering the King’s clothes, turning the blankets and sheets red, until his wound closed, but his beloved didn’t open his eyes— Alex?… —he could not believe what he saw and shook him softly, then with force, calling him with desperation, tearing his throat until he fell again on his knees weeping—Why? WHY?! –he hit the floor several times and Bendis waited until he was calm to speak again.

 

— Hephaistion, your King has more than 3 days dead, his soul is no longer in his body and therefore it’s impossible to Embrace him, now.

 

Hephaistion lifted his face, his shinning with something close to madness.

 

— Where is his soul? –Bendis shrugged. 

 

— Perhaps here, perhaps there. I don’t know. I am not a Necromancer.

 

— Necromancer?…Is-is there someone who knows about these things? –Bendis saw hope in his eyes and that cannot be. She had to kill it, it was better this way.

 

— He is dead. Even if you find his soul his body will rotten –she tried to reason with him.

 

— No, not with Thaumaturgy. With magic you can preserve his body –said Hephaistion.

 

He was right.

 

— And then? –now Bendis was interested.  

 

—Then I will not rest until I bring him back from Hades –Hephaistion spoke with burning passion and, as foolish as may sound, Bendis believed him. Curiosity defeated her and she wanted to see if he could do the impossible.

 

His Sire laughed, a laugh that sounded like nails scrapping crystal and stood up.

 

— Very well. Let’s see if you can do what you says –he turned her silver eyes to her ghoul— Hektor, see that no one comes.

 

Bendis approached the bed, uncovering Alexander and put her hands together in front of her face, as if she were about to pray. She cast the most complicated spell Hephaistion had seen and a pale light covered his King— Am I doing the right thing? –he questioned himself— Should I better let him rest in Hades? Am I being selfish? –but his heart shouted with all his forces giving the answer he sought.

 

Hephaistion loved him so much that he could not let his body rot, he could let his soul whiter in the underworld.

 

When the spell was finished, Hektor returned, dragging a terrified young man. Hephaistion recognized immediately as Bagoas. Bagoas also recognized him and the eunuch went beyond fear. He was pale and implored the help of Ahura Mazda, whispering with trembling lips in Persian.  

 

Hephaistion’s dark gray eyes shone with hate, and the blood on his cheeks gave him a terrify appearance. He was sad, he felt impotent, he was cursed, he was a monster, he was a find with no family and no friends, trapped in a world of darkness and suffering and there was Bagoas. He never liked the eunuch and the sight of him, there, enraged him, the Beast inside him howling.

 

—What’s this? –asked Bendis, pointing at Bagoas with her chin.

 

— He entered the room through a hidden door, mistress –explained Hektor.

 

— Killed him –said Benis almost bored.

 

—Wait –asked Hephaistion his eyes on the eunuch—Not so fast, Bagoas and I have unfinished business.

 

Bendis smiled.

 

— Honey, I would love to see you practicing your Vicissitude with him, but we don’t have time –she said sweetly. Bagoas trembled. There was something very scary in that woman. She was a demon. 

 

—You said that in order to steal my body without alerting the guards, you modify the dead body of a servant –said Hephaistion with cold calm and Bendis’ eyes shone in excitement—Could you do the same with a living creature?

 

Bendis walked to Bagoas and caressed his hair, as if he was a puppy.

 

— Are you sure? –she asked Hephaistion but her eyes were on the eunuch.

 

— Bagoas is in love with the King, I’m sure he will be more than happy to know that he is going to take his place for the eternity…

 

Bendis attached the skin of Bagoas’ lips to avoid the screams, and then, using Vicissitude she transformed him into the King’s double. That hurt like hell, Bendis changed EVERYTHING in him, making a Persian boy look like a Macedonian King of 32 years old and 3 days of decayed.

 

So, you now know that the body in Alexandria, the famous lost tomb of Alexander, had the modified body of Bagoas. Where is the real and preserved body of my lover? I won’t tell you… not now, not yet.

 

What did I the rest of my immortal no-life? I have been looking for an answer to the question: how to bring back the dead? And I am about to succeed at last… and believe me not like doctor Viktor Frankenstain, no, now I know where is Alexander’s soul, the only thing I need is the Sword of Kaine, and everything will be complete.

 

What? You want to know where a soul goes after the body dies? Want to know how I’m going to bring him back?… Maybe other night, it’s almost dawn…    

 

 

All the credit for the Vampires’ history, Clans, Disciplines and everything else, goes to Vampire the Masquerade by White Wolf.