Prologue

A Chapter by Brytt

Desmond's beginnings: waking up in the dark.

~Prologue~

My life is not something that I remember all too clearly. I would not recognize my family if I could see them. They are all long dead anyway. What I do remember is waking up.
Never mind the fact that I should have been dead. Never mind the fact that I was covered in blood. I was breathing, low and steady as I moved. I opened my eyes. I was in a carriage.
Across from me sat two young men with pale skin and black eyes. One had jet black hair, the other an auburn color. The two were discussing something in hushed tones that I could not hear clearly. The man with auburn hair glanced at me, straightened, and grinned.
"Ah, Nickolas, our young brother is awakened," he said with a very distinct British accent.
"Indeed," responded the darker with the same voice as the first. "The master will be quite pleased with this one."
"Oh, I do hope so. I worked quite hard to collect him. He had some fight in him, Brother."
"Hush, Brother Edmund. The master said that we are not to talk of the human world, not even a bit."
"Indeed he did. Having said so, I was simply illustrating my point on what a charming addition he will be to our family."
"Oh, Indeed."
I cleared my throat. The two pairs of eyes turned to me once again.
I whispered hoarsely, "Where am I?"
The youths chuckled lightly.
"You need not concern yourself with such trivial things as that," Edmund, the lighter of the boys, told me.
"However," inserted the other, Nickolas, "if you must know, we are going west. The north and south right now harbor too much death. It is very tempting to intervene at the moment."
"Indeed," nodded Edmund.
My head was flooded by the riddles of the two youths. I leaned forward slightly, letting my gaze slip to the floor of the carriage. I tried to remember what was happening in the world around me to make them say such things.
"It is still eighteen sixty-four, is it not?" I asked them.
"It is," Nickolas replied. "The War Between the States is very tense right now. We will do best to be free of the war."
The war, I remembered. I was a soldier. That explained the blood. I looked down at my hands, burnt from the sun on the backs and bleached white from hard work on the palms. I began to feel my muscles beneath the skin flex as I opened and closed my fingers. No damage there. In fact, I did not feel sore or pained in any part of my body at all. As I twisted, Edmund watched me with a smirk.
"Invigorating, isn't it? I remember well when I first Woke. It was almost numb," he related.
Nickolas nodded, "Indeed. Are you hungry, Young Brother?"
I bobbed my head up and down eagerly. While I did not pain, I did feel rather weak.
"The time, Brother?"
Edmund pulled a watch from his pocket.
"It is almost nine, Brother."
"Indeed? The sun must have set by now."
"Quite right," Edmund smiled.
Nickolas tapped on the wall of the carriage behind his head. I heard horses whinny, and the carriage slowed to a halt.
Shortly thereafter, the door to my right opened and in the gap stood an elderly looking man, hunched over to the left slightly. Edmund stood and exited the carriage.
"Thank you, Verges," he sang out.
Nickolas motioned with his hand that he would follow me out, so I rose and also climbed out of the tiny space. I looked around myself in awe.
Everything around me had a strange purple tint to it. I looked up at the sky and noted very distinctly the stars of the sky. The moon was waxing, nearly full. We stood in a small clearing in the middle of a dark wood. Edmund stood by me while Nickolas also took a place at my other hand. I was still looking around in amazement when suddenly, the scent wafted right past my nose.
"What is that?" I asked.
Sniffing the air, Nickolas replied, "You have excellent taste."
"It is a buck, Brother," Edmund clarified. "Shall we?"
I was running with them before I knew it, faster than I had believed it possible to run. I remember letting go of every last human quality that had clung to my soul as I surrendered to the blood lust. I remember my two brothers at my side, how easy it was to kill the buck and the wonderful taste as we drained every last drop of blood from the creature. When we had finished, I leaned against a tree as the two English men built a fire. Once it was large enough, they effortlessly threw the buck on top and watched as its body went up in flames.
I said as we watched, "I am dead, aren't I?"
"Indeed," answered Nickolas.
I shook my head.
"As long as I never have to face the flames as this animal does, I can endure it."
Edmund smiled at me.
"Welcome, Brother, to our little vampire family," he hissed.