He sat there on the chair, watching over the crowd of vampires. All of them hateful, but the hate was originating from different reasons. Some hated him for who he was, for his status among them, for his abilities. Some hated the injustice, as they called it. No matter the reasons, they all came to witness how he was being punished. Punished for something that he did but none of them knew about. They all thought that he hurt Gabriel, but none of them knew that he killed him. That he killed Gabriel and therefore made him his second victim. His eyes scouted the crowd. Yes, he could see Isabel looking so desperate, wanting to go up to him, save him, caress him. Damien still held a soft spot for her even after he rejected her attention and forbid her from seeing him. She was still a woman that was there for him when he needed her, a woman that was willing to give up her own life just so that he wouldn't have to suffer. His gaze shifted and then he saw her. Anna... Standing in the crowd looking up at him. His calmness and composure was torn apart and he felt ache inside his chest. Averting his gaze so that she wouldn't see what he felt, Damien scanned the rest of the students. Then the executioner came near and the torture began.
Many think that silver is cold when they touch it. Vampires would disagree. Silver burns. It burns like fire and acid at the same time as it touches your skin and sinks in slowly. Slowly enough for one to never forget the pain. It was the first time Damien was punished with silver. It hurt like hell but his pride wouldn't let him show it. He wouldn't let anyone know in how much pain he was. The least of all Anna, whose gaze he could feel upon himself. From afar he could hear the crowd cheering, the others complaining, shouting in dismay. Oh, how much he wanted to say something to his followers. How much he wanted to assure all of them that he was fine. But was he fine? No. If he would try to speak in that moment, only a chaos of syllables would come out as his whole body was consumed by the pain of the slowly sinking silver chain. Due to that, Damien didn't even notice that the executioner cut him, until he suddenly smelled blood. So it's done, was his thought and it somehow brought him a fragile peace. He never held a hope that he would escape from his punishment. After all, thanks to his father he wasn't sentenced to death which was the usual end for one vampire who killed one of their own kind. The cheers from the crowd grew louder, a small fight broke somewhere in the midst of the congregation, but Damien didn't pay it any attention. What he truly wanted now was strength that was so hard for him to find. Mental strength that would get him through the three days of hell. But could he make it through without any serious harm? Could he make it through and then talk to Anna? Talk to her, calm her down, assure her that whatever has happened between her and Gabriel has no impact on how he feels towards her. But did have any impact on her feelings? His thoughts consumed him, distanced him from the world outside, from the pain and noise and later that day, at night, he began to be hungry and the smell of his own blood that gathered in the bucket below, began to be alluring, calling to him and that's when his mind started to act on his own.
Damien looked to be only six years old, in terms of human age. He was sitting in the park where his carer took him. His parents never went with him or played with him at all. They had to much work to
do. Basically, the only time he could see them was dinner. For six-year-old it was hard spending the time alone without any friends. So his carer got the idea to take him to the park so that Damien could meet with others kids. No matter how good the plan was, Damien never got involved in any game. Not that he wouldn't want to but he didn't make any attempt himself. God knew how he also looked to the other kids. This day was the same as the other. Children were playing all around. Everyone was dressed in warm clothes because winter almost took over the city. Damien's carer went to buy some hot drinks so that both of them would keep warm. The little boy looked up to the sky as he usually did when he was thinking. The sky was calming sensation for him. It was vast and lonely as he was.
"Aren't you gonna play some game?" he heard a little voice next him. A voice that certainly didn't belong to his carer. Damien quickly glanced at the direction only to discover that there was a girl sitting next to him. As he wasn't used to be in presence of any other child, the first thing he did was that he moved to the other side of the bench, away from the girl. His eyes a little bit wide in surprise. The girl only chuckled. It was a joyful sound.
"Are you scared?" she asked and giggled once more. However, for Damien it was like the girl was laughing at him. His expression stiffened and he lifted up his chin a little bit.
"No, I am not scared," he said in a hurt voice. The girl didn't react anyhow, she was just watching him. When Damien thought that her gaze began to be annoying and was about to tell her off for that. She moved closer again. Yes, Damien wanted to move away once more but he couldn't if he didn't want to fall off.
"I am Anna Blue and I think that you need a friend," she said seriously but regarded him with a sweet, friendly smile.
Damien could feel someone's presence. How long was he out for, dreaming this strange dream that felt so familiar? His body was bent forward leaning into the chains that wear no longer so painful but held in place very well. Someone must have changed them while he...passed out?
That presence...it was so familiar. Looking up, Damien saw a face of a girl. He recognized her even through the tears and smudged make up that was now decorating her face. Isabel. She came to see him. His lips curled into a smile that might have not been as charming or wide as usual, but it was a reassuring one. He wanted to tell her, not to cry because she was more beautiful when she was smiling, but words wouldn't come out and the hunger would grow stronger. More blood was drained out of him every minute and he could start to feel the impact on him in terms of strength. He felt exceptionally weak; weaker than ever before and the calling of blood that was next to him... Leaning back in his chair, Damien closed his eyes, trying to push the need for blood out of his mind, but it was challenging. His body began to demand food. Damien knew that not long from now, his mind will demand blood as well and once that happens...
He was in the woods, laughing. Did he really laugh so happily when he was a child? Yes, he did. He was running around, looking for someone. He heard her laugh as if she was trying to give him a hint to where she was even though he already knew. She couldn't hide from him because she was a human. He could smell her but she didn't know that and it was better to leave it this way. He ran after her voice, laughing again and she laughed back in return. How old could he be? Couple decades in the vampire terms but he still looked just six years old to human.
"Wait!" He called out playfully as he jumped over a fallen log. She ran through there too, he could smell it in the air. What was so alluring about her smell? What made him want to follow her? Chase her? Hunt her...
Somewhere in front of him, a sound of thud reached his ears and scent of blood reached his nostrils almost at the same time. "Anna?" Damien called out, smiling, but he got no response. "Anna?!" He called out again, worry creeping into his voice. Human boy would have had hard time trying to find her, but he wasn't human. Following his instincts he found her in a moment. She was sitting on the ground, grasping her hand, her face contracted as she tried to hide that she was in pain. The blood...the smell...it came from her hand.
Kneeling down next to her, Damien smiled at her. "Don't worry, you'll be fine," he told her and in response, she smiled at him almost the same way as she did when they first met. Since that day in the park, they became very good friends. Damien would always secretly leave the house to see her, to play with her even if it was just for a while. She would always demand an explanation but he would never give her one, because even if he did, it wouldn't change the fact that he would never be able to become part of her happy world. He took her hand and looked at the wound, it wasn't deep, just a scratch from a fall. Before he could stop himself, Damien was already licking the blood of her hand.
"Damien? What are you doing?" She asked, her voice somehow unsure suddenly. Looking up at her, he suddenly saw fear in her eyes. "What is it?" He asked but felt his fangs scraping over his lower lip. She screamed. He got scared. His hunger was great and her blood tasted too good. His fangs sank into the flesh just as he heard her say: "Damien..."
...in a voice so low that he nearly missed it. Did he kill her? Did he hurt her? Panic seized his insides and his shoulder shook. No, no, no... He didn't kill her back then. He didn't even lick her hand for fear that he might show his true self. His mind was playing tricks on him. His mind started to crave blood. Back then, he wrapped her palm in his handkerchief and led her back home.
"I can't..." he heard in the distance and the voice was so familiar. The presence he sensed was familiar too. Could it be...? Is it her? Lifting his head only slightly to be able to see through his hair, Damien noticed a girl and a boy walking away. There was something very familiar about the girl but before he could focus on her more, she was gone. Was it her?
He wanted to call out, to stop her from leaving so that he could assure himself that the girl who he loved so dearly didn't forget him. But he was too weak to even straighten up in his chair. His mind was already taking control over his body and so he just leaned into the chains and as a fallen warrior who has grown feeble from the fight with hunger, Damien let another memory enter his mind.
"You are a disgrace to the family," growled his father as he stood over him, menacing as ever. "How dare you befriend a human? How dare you endanger what I have worked for, for so long?" He wouldn't raise his voice which only made his speech more frightening. "And now you have even killed one of our own to protect her. You drank his blood! What would you do if she wasn't unconscious and saw you and found out who you are? You are nothing but a waste of space, waste of my time." His words hurt Damien greatly. Tears began to form in his eyes and as he looked around, his mother would look away, hiding her own sorrow. She would never stand up to his father. She was afraid of him.
"I...I..." Damien tried to say something, but his voice trembled and broke and then he felt the strong, unforgiving hand hitting him across the cheek, making Damien fall on the ground. The boy's eyes went wide with shock and horror at the same time. His small hand was covering the already reddening imprint of his father's hand, tears falling down his cheeks without him even noticing.
"You are no suitable heir to the family name and the Academy with this weak, almost no self control. Believe me Damien, if it wasn't for your mother, I would have already gotten rid of you," his father said in low, malevolent tone of voice before he marched out of the room. As soon as the door closed, his mother was by Damien's side at once, holding him tightly and rocking him back and forth. He could still smell the blood that was covering his clothes. His eyes narrowed, fangs showed up. He was angry, hungry, desperate and the only one at hand...
The taste of blood filled his mouth and Damien's eyes shot open, choking on the liquid. He would have pushed away that person away, but he was too weak, weaker than before. As he coughed, he heard some voice speaking to him, but he couldn't recognize the words. Someone was gently wiping the spilled blood off his lips as he was blinking several times, trying to get used to the dim light, Damien noticed that he was no longer limited by chains. No longer did the cold air oppressed him. In fact, he was laying down. Little by little, his vision cleared. He knew this place, it looked familiar.
"You are in your room, Damien," said a familiar voice and Damien turned his eyes towards it. He knew the face. That boy... "I am Richard. Do you remember me?" Richard... Damien repeated in his mind and slowly he remembered. Slowly and only a little he nodded his head. "You have been taken off the chair several hours ago. It's past midnight now. We have been feeding you since then," Richardexplained as someone gently pressed the orifice of the blood sack against his lips again and Damien himself didn't hesitate to drink. This time he drank more urgently.
"Slowly, Damien. You have been starved for three days if you drink too much, you body might rejected the blood," said another voice which Damien could now identify as another of his close friends from his camp. It was easily said not to drink so hastily but it was hardly done. When he didn't cease, the person feeding him took the blood sack away. Damien's immediate reaction was violent growling as he bared his fangs demanding the blood but that was just as far as he could get, still too weak to even move. Looking up at the vampire who was feeding him, he noticed the fear even though the individual tried to hide it behind a smile which didn't come out just as relaxed as it was meant to. Did his wild instincts just took over him? Would he attack them if he was in full strengths? Would he attack his own true friends because of blood? His fangs disappeared and his expression transformed into startled one.
"I...am...sorry..." Damien rasped and closed his eyes. His throat was so dry, his hunger was so great, it felt as if it would never subside. His body was itching because of the smell of blood that wafted from the blood sack. He needed it. He needed the life giving liquid and again his eyes would change behind his eye-lids and his fangs would bare themselves. No matter, how much he tried to handle his need for food, he was as powerless as a newborn. On the edge of his consciousness, past the ultimate battle with himself, he could hear some rustle as something was being moved.
"No one wants to deny you blood, Damien, but you need to try not to drink hastily for your own good. Do you hear me?" Asked Richard and Damien could feel him sitting down on the bed. Was the boy crazy? If Damien gained strength but not control over his body, he could attack Richard and kill him. No. No. NO! Damien repeated in his mind again refusing to believe that he would do such thing. "Damien. Did you hear what I said?" Richard asked again and Damien nodded weakly, fighting with all the little will he had to hide his fangs. As he managed to do so, the orifice was once again pressed against his lips but this time only thin stream of blood flowed from it making it somehow impossible for Damien to drink more than what was given to him this way.
