It always starts with darkness. Just like the rumors that Vampiri#From Dracula to Buffy... and all creatures of the night in between. were made to sign Satan's book with blood as the registration, it was thought that a vampire's soul was consumed da darkness. For the first couple months, that's what it really feels like; darkness, always there like the cucciolo te always wished for to follow te around. Sadly, I never had a puppy, so this was all awkwardly new to me.
"That's how it's going to be for a while." Adrian told me one giorno while I woke up from a deep sleep, facing the sunlight. I had forgotten that we were now affected da that sunlight più than humans. I crawled under the covers and sighed before another wave of sleep passed over me. I felt Adrian make a light tap on my back, and I knew that was a sort of sympathy for me. I appreaciated it.
Along with that there was times where my body temperature grew amazingly hot, bringing me up to temperatures near 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
"That's to regualte your temperature until te get the craving for blood." Adrian explained, making a wise face while stroking the invisible beard. I would have normally told him that he was losing his charm that way, but since I was having a hard time moving my lips since my mouth was burning as if someone stuck a match there, I just rolled my eyes.
Then there was the shivers, when my body would grow cold. My insides would feel numb, and no matter whether I had ten blankets on o a heater successivo to me, I'd still be freezing my vampire culo off.
"There is a positive reaction to the negative." Adrian stated, sitting as far away from me as possible as if frost was radiating off of me and repelling him away from my convulsing body. "Think of the raging temperatures above 100 as being the positive, and what you're going through now as the negative. There will be a balance somewhere."
"Yeah? Like when?" I chattered back icily, and instead of answering he just left me, which i accepted grateully.
If that wasn't enough, I had to get regular training with Marcus and have historic lessons with Dimitri. The only times they excused me was when I had my sleeping spells, which went from hours to days. I feared that my condition was going to get worse.
"It's got to get worse before---"
"Stop being so damn intellectual!" I shouted at Adrian, and he gave me a pouty look before leaving me alone for a number of days.
Most of these symptoms I had started to accept in stride, but after a while all I heard was "this will all fade once te get your dose of blood." Yet no one was telling me when I was going to get my dose yet, o when the thought of blood was going to appeal to me. Thinking about it now, it was just as neutral as any other unimportant word out there---no signifigance except when I got bloody bruised when Marcus gave a veloce, swift side-kick to the face yesterday.
"Oh, Zelos, is that all you've got?" He questioned tauntingly, curling his finger at me. He was crouched predatorily, flashing white teeth that glistened with the familiar clear liquid.
I stumbled to my feet, rubbing my cheek in anger. He knew I just became a vampire, so why in the world was he treating me like some 400-year old Coven leader? "Maybe if te eased up on me I could make a hit sometime."
"That won't make te stronger, that will just make te think that every enemy te go against will let te get the hits first." Marcus stated before racing in a blur around my body before twisting a long arm around my waist and hurtling me to the nearest albero in the forest. The impact sent a flock of birds to flee. I looked over at him gloomily, then staggered to my feet again, panting.
"Good, Zelos, te have gotten increased stamina. That will be beneficial later." He ran over and helped me back to the cabin, inspecting the print left on my ribs. "Sorry about that, brother. But pain is the reward to gain, and gaining is a step closer to greatness."
It was the first time I heard him call me brother. I smiled. "It's okay, Marcus. Thank you."
After that, I cherished the pain I recieved and thought of me greater. It didn't take long before I had Marcus pinned to a tree, his neck inches away from a spear made of wood. The pain vibrated underneath my fingertips, but Marcus looked ten times frigthened da it than I was, his eyes glued to the spazio between the albero protion and his neck. He made a shaky smile and peeled me off like tape, pushing me back cautiously. Even though he was shook, he was pleased. "Well done, Zelos. It takes a lot to bring me down. I think the others can tell te that." He nodded behind me, and I turned to see Dimitri and Adrian come from behind the looming trees, broad grins on their faces.
"Well done, little bro!" Adrian slapped me hard on the back, making me cough, but I smiled eagerly at him. Dimitri clapped his hand on my shoulder and nodded, and I was shocked at the emotion that he gave. Respectfully, I nodded back.
Marcus drew my attention back to him. "Zelos, I think it's time that tomorrow, we will---"
"Am I going to drink?" I asked a little to happily.
Adrian laughed, but Marcus shook his head sadly. "No, we are going to take te to the outskirts of town. I want to see how close te can get to the humans without getting reacted. Only your true instincts can tell us whether te are ready enough to feed, and that will be the hardest for all of us, especially you." He led us back to the cabin.
I shivered this time, and I knew it wasn't because of my cold temperature.