How I came to be a kindred
05:18 Jun 02 2008
Times Read: 729
Back in the day... Ok, I admit it was a really really really long time ago, when I was living with my family in the remote encampment of 47 people somewhere in the Northern European continent, I recall the memories of how I came to be turned.
Yes, I am a turned-blood, probably one of the few oldest of turned-bloods you will ever meet. See, I am over 7000 years old by human standards and have seen my fair share of everything out there that is to be seen. Of course, that hasn't come without a price. A price I bear the scars of, both mentally and physically.
Let me start at the beginning and tell you the story of my life. I feel, if you've clicked the link on my profile or stopped by my journal, you are at least somewhat curious as to my idiosyncrasies.
I can no longer remember much of my younger years, just bits and pieces like that of broken pieces of a glass bottle of which I retain only a few shards.
My earliest memory is playing on a field with my niece. I believe I was one year old, maybe two. The next memory was of me at the approximate age of 5 when I begot a toy hoop which I could toss over things or roll around. Yeah, times were much simpler then, there was no inkling of computers or electronics in such day and age. No, we enjoyed what we had, because from our point of view then, that was the most enjoyable toy there was. Looking back, I can surely say, humans have invented so many things since then, enough to babel the mind countless times forth.
Now where was I? Oh yes, the next memory is of being 6 and my first swim with the other children in the camp. Yes, I remember that well and much more vividly. Our camp was near a lake in the hilly, almost mountainous region we were in. Sure, the climate was chillier, but we didn't know any better. To us a dip in the lake meant to be refreshed and also cleaned. As boys, we used to rough it up a bit with our rowdy playing, which often left us covered in either dust, dirt and some times after a good rain-storm, covered in muck and leaves. The lake was, for lack of a better term, our bathtub. Keep in mind, there were no factories, the lake's water was almost as pure as the rain that fell from the sky. Those days are now gone, swimming in any lake today is liable to expose one to many pollutants caused by the human's thirst for better ways to make more money. Their thirst for cash pretty much blinds them as blood blinds the newly turned, it takes a while but some actually learn to control this thirst. It's then that they realize what they're doing and can either choose to change to preserve their existence or perish by some unforeseen oversight. Thankfully, I have overcome the latter.
I remember the days helping my family fish by the river over the ridge in the next valley. At my young age, the river seemed quite large and quite powerful. Many of the glaciers that fed this river made it flow quite strongly, but as powerful as it was, it always provided fresh fish for the months ahead. Life was good. Living on fish mostly with the occasional mammal wandering by, add to that the always daily picked salad made for a nice healthy diet. Back then we never worried about what we were eating, so long as we had enough to last us during the cold winter seasons. Thankfully the animal skins we saved provided us with the much needed shelter and warmth. I remember late one fall, there was a deer herd which passed by our camp and my father taught me how to hunt one. I remember he taught me how to make the spear and how to fashion the rock tip on the end... it was really hard to get the rock to be so sharp, but with a few tries I made one that was almost as good at my father's. It was good enough, for during the hunt, I threw it at a deer as it suddenly lunged and pranced by me about 4 large boulders away from me. I got it right in the neck. The blood was dripping down and as it fell over, it broke the spear in two. I ran over to the kill and didn't realize it was still alive. It twitched and as it did, the spear elongated the wound, allowing some of the blood in the main artery of the deer to squirt out at me and I begot a nice spraying in the face. I didn't care for as I laughed, I knew that my family would be eating along with the others this winter.
Winter was difficult, but mostly manageable. We often stayed near the fire which burned constantly. I only hated it having to gather more wood to burn. I'd often get snow in my deerskin foot coverings and down the back of my neck. It was always good to get back into the tents with its fire going. Until one winter where the snow storms wouldn't stop raging. There was so much snow it almost buried us alive. It was after that winter we built better places to live. More space and less likely to collapse.
My father and the other males of the colony started making houses out of these flat river rocks that they had found. It seems that the melting glaciers had washed out a section of the river and diverted itself leaving a whole field of flat water-worn rock at the old cliff which made for great stacking. Mind you, the shower we were used to playing in no longer existed, but the new one was too dangerous and muddy, so we were only able to bathe in the lake.
The houses took us, about 25 men, boys and myself, almost all spring to build, but after all that arduous, tedious and back-breaking work, our camp had 5 dwellings in which about 8 to 10 people could seek shelter in each. There was one man whom we referred to as the inventor of the group and he tried to get us to build 6th structure. This one was to house our food. A few years ago, we had a problem with bears taking our food, but having recently put all the effort into making our huts, we decided to put it off for a few months.
It wasn't until my 23rd year that I began to notice the girls in the camp. There was a beautiful woman, who was 4 years younger than I was. It was just the way she looked at me that made me get what today's people call 'butterflies in the stomach'. I remember spending a lot of time with her. However, when nature took its course, she panicked and ran away. For some strange reason, she and her parents left our village and were never heard from since. I never expected to hear from her again... or so I thought.
With our reduced number, some of the members decided to share the remaining huts and use the empty one for storage. We didn't have to make another one. The bears were kept away with something our inventor tried. He used a thorn bush to keep the bears away. The branches were numerous and contained thorns the width of a finger in length. The bears would try to get at the meat and fish, but their noses and paws ended up getting so scratched and bloody that they gave up.
When I was 28 and all the available women in the group were taken by other males, I had decided to go out venturing. I wanted to find other tribes and see if I could find a mate of my own. It wasn't something I wanted to do, as I was used to living around people I knew and treasured and cared for. However, I realized, that in order for me to find a mate and raise a family of my own, it was the best thing I could do. So, being still spring, I packed my supplies and said my farewells and told them I would return. And I left on my own. A few members of my tribe went with me for a bit, but once over the ridge they waved and shouted and my mother wept. She couldn't bear to see me leave, but she knew in her heart it was the choice I made for myself.
My journey had taken me along countless streams and rivers, through lush green forests, and long often slanted fields. I walked mostly during the day and tried to find shelter in caves along the way; making sure I didn't run into a bear sleeping in one. Fortune was on my side and I managed to avoid the bears, although there were a few close calls. I decided to take a higher path and that gave me much needed warmth from the sun and higher on the mountain side, where the trees were not so dense, I could walk quicker and that helped me gain more distance. The air was thinner, but I was pretty much used to it, having grown up in such a climate. I had packed enough food to last me the times when I had nothing to hunt, and the skins and furs on me, kept me warm from the often icy breezes. But that didn't stop me, I just kept on walking.
I believe I had walked for what I presumed to be 5 weeks when I came upon a small camp. It wasn't a village or tribe camp which I was used to. No, this was just a mere lean-to type shelter with a campfire still warm from the early morning prior. There was a cave within sight from the camp and being naturally curious, I decided to go look. It was about to get dark, so I wanted to make sure I had a place to rest. I really didn't want to sleep under the stars without a shelter. It often rained at night and that wouldn't have been wise to stay out.
As I entered the mouth of the cave, I thought I heard some strange noise. I wasn't sure what it was. It didn't sound like a bear and it also didn't sound like a human either. I just shrugged it off after I stopped hearing it and found a nice ledge on which to make a makeshift bed. As I lay down, I tried to rest, but my adrenalin had kicked in and I kept thinking of the camp with the warm fire... were they still here, would they return? Were they friendly? I had been told by the tribe elder that there are those who wish to hurt me and take what I have. So I tried to rest keeping one eye on the cave opening. It was almost a full moon and the moonlight helped me see outside, so I relaxed a bit.
I suddenly woke up with a pain in my neck. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I was pinned down somehow... but... no one was on top of me. It was like I had been paralyzed... not a muscle in the rest of my body could move, no matter how much I tried. I tried to look and all I saw was this grey haired thing attached to my neck. I started to lose consciousness again and then I remember thinking I was dying and then everything went dark.
I awoke next to the fire of the camp I was at... it was dusk. The strange gray-haired thing, was an old woman speaking in a language I'd never heard before. She rambled on and on... some sort of chant I presume. I yelled at her; I was angry at her, for what she did to me hurt a great deal. Eventually after she gathered a few things, she sat down next to me. She crossed her legs under her and waved some thing at me. To this day I don't know what it was, but she suddenly switched languages and spoke mine. To this day all I remember are the sounds of my language, but the words and meanings are gone. I've only ever remembered them in my dreams, but I presume the 7000 years have lost that memory for good.
This crazy woman told me of the ways of her nocturnal kind. Much of which frightened me so much, I almost soiled myself. She told me, I would no longer need to eat human food, I could heal any injury and resist any sickness and most important of all, I would live for a long long time; longer than anything I ever could have imagined. I would only have to pay the price of not seeing the sunlight ever again. After all that she got up and began to walk away to her shelter, but then turned once more to add that I wouldn't need to journey much, for I could lure any one with my powers of seduction. For companionship was necessary in this existence -- my new existence as... a vampire.
I must admit, the first few months in this kind of existence were quite rough. I had this craving for blood which eventually became more like a nuisance than a desire. I asked her why she did it. She told me human blood is sweetest of all creatures in the wild, but I couldn't bear the thought of killing someone or turning someone else. So what I did, was feed on animal blood. I chose large prey from which I only consumed enough blood to sustain me and yet allow the animal to go unharmed. The woman taught me many things over this... vampling stage, as I refer to it as. However, the things she told me I could never do ever again, I wanted back into my life.
I wanted them so badly that I forced my body to deal with things which almost spelled instant death. Slowly I would force my body to get used to what was once natural. I would, because I wanted to see my family again.
One morning, some hunters were in our cave. They spotted the old lady and she attacked them, but they got lucky and carried her out of the cave. Fortunately they didn't see me and I thank that old lady, for she kept me a secret. I thank her now for everything she taught me and for preparing me for the journey of a lifetime. And what a lifetime it has been for me. Wow!
I journeyed each night for what seemed an eternity and finally I made it back to my home... what I thought was my home. Ok, it WAS my home, but the people there were different. I imagined coming home to older people, but no one had aged much since I left and it was then I realized, that I didn't smell the sweet blood of humans. My family had been killed, but some of the people whom I did know were now wild savages. Some laying motionless from the benches and ledges in the huts, others sitting drinking the blood from a fresh kill. Apparently there had been some deer and mountain lions in the area. They looked at me in curiosity but since I was one of them, they refocused their attentions to what they were doing. Not the homecoming I had expected. I never knew what killed my parents either.
It was then that I met up with a friend, well, what was left of him. I told him I wanted to go away... far away. So with the promise of sweeter blood in the far away places, he tagged along. It was easier this time, as the cold didn't phase me anymore and the food I once carried was unnecessary now. We only needed to move animal to animal. To this day I cannot fathom why the animals didn't turn like humans did. Must be something in their blood.
We walked for what seemed like years. We passed by several small settlements along the way, each night was feast night there. We snacked on a few unsuspecting victims and then moved on. We found a boat at what we thought was just a large lake and so we decided to cross it. For one thing, I can tell you now, vampires CAN cross bodies of water, that myth that they cannot is not true.
We rowed and rowed... it just didn't end. The water just went on perpetually. Thankfully this boat had a shelter on it which was well made to keep out water, and in turn that also kept out the sun. However, after what seemed like a month or so, we finally saw land and we eagerly made our way towards it. We were weakened and not knowing where we were, we had to find shelter and fresh blood before the dawn arrived. We could've consumed each other's blood, but that would've further weakened us. I presume that is so, because neither of us had any life-force in us... no pranic energy. At the time, I didn't know it yet, but I was both sanguine and pranic-vampire.
This new land brought us much fortune. It was rich and teaming with animals and strange natives wearing leather and colourful feathers dancing around fires and living in nicely decorated tents. They reminded me of home a great deal, but they were very illusive and hard to catch. It was like they knew nature better than anyone else. I liked the new land; it had lots of forest for shelter and many animals and it had long winding streams allow me to sleep. See, the river's sound was what always allowed me to sleep well... I presume the constant sound lulled me to sleep, only now it lulled me to sleep in the day time.
It was then that I noticed my partner had gone missing. I never saw him again and I think he was caught and ashed by an Indian tribe who must have caught him and held him till dawn.
I then decided that I couldn't live like this in the darkness... so every evening I would get up out of the shelter I had found and tried to expose myself slowly over time to more and more sunlight... first ambient light, then reflected light and finally over a few decades I managed to get myself to sunlight filtered through clouds. Still, I couldn't be out more than that. I had to retreat to my shelter often with severe sunburns. I would always make sure I could retreat before exposing my body to the light. But after 150 years, I finally got to the point where being out in overcast skies wasn't so bad. I just had to cover up with animal hides, which I stole from the natives living near by. They sure made them well, and one day I would repay them for this.
It wasn't until I had been around 500 years and seen the generations of native Indians come and go, that I could finally risk taking off my hood and actually walk around without anything on in the overcast skies. I got a nice brown tan too. I was probably the only vampire around who had a tan and did not die from it either. I was succeeding in becoming human again. Also, I began eating meat again. Raw of course, since I needed the blood to survive, but I realized that I could at least eat meat. Eventually I would come to eat more than just meat.
I believe it was after another 1000 years that I finally was able to walk around in full sunlight and be able to eat a number of basic things. I could drink water as well, but the thirst was still with me.
I had decided to make friends with the local population and at first they didn't even notice that I was different, except for my white skin. They called me in their native tongue "spirit man", for my skin was often whiter than theirs, but after some time in the sun with them, I browned out nicely. It was then that I decided to see if I could get back to what I once called home, but not before having the Indians teach me everything they knew about hunting, preparing meat and animal hides and such. They added to my survival knowledge and how to blend in with other civilizations.
I decided to make a large raft and with a shelter to protect me from the elements, I set sail to get back home. Only I never ended up where I wanted to go.
I landed on the beach of a rather warm climated island. It was close to land, I could see it in the distance. I knew this wasn't home, because of how warm it was. I was roasting. Even slightly cooler temps to most humans was rather uncomfortably hot for me. I liked the cooler climate -- it suited me better. But I wasn't in a position to choose, so I pushed off again and landed on mainland. I walked for many days along dry arid landscape. The grasses and plants mostly dried out from the heat of the day. I still travelled at night as it was cooler and I'd encounter less humans that way who would perchance to dissuade me from catching a meal on their livestock.
I eventually ended up in what was then Jerusalem. Apparently it was shortly before the Christians began keeping track of the years since their so-called 'saviours' birth. This man who most now call Jesus, really wasn't called that. It was some other, yet similar Hebrew name, but I don't want to bother debating it here. Let's just say that he wanted to free his people from the oppression of the Roman empire. He did what he could to make life better for his fellow man, however, most of what humans stand for about him and believe about him today, he would himself have been chastised for doing. He ate too much, drank too much wine, had sex with prostitutes, but always blessed them when he left. He was your average man, I would say. Of course, he got himself into trouble, was tried and found guilty of breaking the then current law and was punished by being nailed to a cross. It's funny to imaging, if he'd been hung, the churches would all have a hangman's noose on the front of their special book and on their places of worship.
What some people think however is a history of a man and a deity, are, what I have come to understand, to be merely a pagan tale of the sun, the moon and the stars. I could go into detail about this, but this story is about me, not the Christian bible. So on I go with this story.
I spent a good time understanding the way this new world worked. I had not seen such population density in my life. I was used to pretty much solitary seclusion, with the odd group of humans popping up here and there sporadically, and here I was in the middle of a crowd of humans. I looked like them, even ate and drank like they did. I fit right in, but some did noticed I didn't look like them. I looked Nordic and some were keeping their eyes on me. Too much so that I begot the feeling of discomfort. So I decided to move on. I realized that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west so I knew where north was and I began yet another trek to find my true home. I had crossed many paths and met many people along the way. Every now and again I would sample the sweet crimson blood of a beautiful damsel. I was glad I could travel by day again and also by night, however, if I didn't consume blood, I was weakened and limited to night travel only.
Then came the moment I approached this populated island, which most today know to be today's England. I met a beautiful maiden fair there. She lived in a small village and was farming her turnip crops. She had a family which owned a couple cows and she offered me a taste of the 'melk'. I hadn't had 'melk' as far as I knew and when I saw her sister breast-feed her daughter, I remembered that I too once must have had human 'melk'. So I gave it a try. It was something I wasn't expecting. Here I was, used to drinking blood, water and something resembling wine and here there was this white liquid called "melk", which was rather thick and creamy yet slightly sweet and warm. Not really to my liking, but later, to find some of this 'melk' later that winter in the snow, I tried it again and that was delicious. I spend a few years on this far with this maiden and grew attached to her. I attempted of the few years I spend with her to have, what my parents never really prepared me for, ...sex. After realizing that I wasn't ready to procreate, she begot dismayed and we decided to go our own ways. She was the second love of my life and I will never forget her, but I understand, that I will live on for who knows how long. She never realized what I was. I hid the fangs quite well and so I had no real fear or need to worry, since now I looked like the people around me. :) I just had to watch out for those mean guys from Scandinavia. You know... the Vikinger or Vikings as most call them now.
I eventually found my old settlement again and it was there that I only found remnants of the old walls filled in with a layer of dirt now... looks like my village was no more... my people were no more. And so I wandered.
By now it was the middle ages and humans had become so paranoid and built these dwellings called castles.
They fought each other almost constantly... it was really annoying, but the casualties did provide me with much needed blood. It was then that I met the master. He was a man who taught me how to be a true vampire. He was a true-blood and was amazed at my abilities and my accomplishments with overcoming sunlight burn and even poisonous foods, such as garlic. He trained me to be one of the most powerful and of course the most fair and kind vampires the world had ever seen. It was he that taught me to laugh again. I don't mean a chuckle here, a giggle there... no, I mean a real belly shaking, hearty laugh. It was then that I was introduced to my bride to be. My kindred mistress. She was exactly the kind of female that I was looking for. She was intelligent, logical, sensitive, kind, loving, devoted, loyal and most of all, more beautiful than a summer's day looking out over that lake what I remember as a child in the mountains. I was finally home, even though I had no real home anymore.
I spend a good 200 to 600 years with her until she was caught unexpectedly by a knight spending a night in the forest. He'd gone to pee, put his silver sword next to him and began doing his business when suddenly she creeps up behind him, tries to bite him and fumbles around his armour. She ended up getting her dress caught on the armour and losing her balance, fell upon the sword, which sliced into her thus ashing her. I witnessed the whole thing from afar... I couldn't get to her in time, so I decided to elude the knight who was pretty startled and on full alert by now.
Once again I was alone.
I wandered for a few more decades meeting a few more vampire masters. The Victorian age was now at hand and cities were now the ideal place to play hide and go bite in. The cramped structure of the buildings provided many nooks and crannies in which to hide while I waited for prey. Then of course it all went insane. It was then that the witch hunts began... many of my female acquaintances seemed to be hunted down and killed, along with their poor defenceless and innocent feline companions.
People started dying everywhere. These dark sores appeared on so many victims. Since they lived in such horrid conditions, no proper sewage in the villages meant more rats and filth in the streets. It was the rats who then had fleas which were carrying the black death. These rats would hide in the houses where people slept and these fleas would jump on the humans and bite them, giving them the black death. I tell you, I didn't want to be around that... seeing so much death.
My food supply had dwindled. There were empty dwellings all over the countryside... abandoned. Over time, many of them collapsed and were reclaimed by nature never to seen or known of again. Still others were re-inhabited or rebuilt for new use and I once again and slowly had more and more sustenance available. During my lean period of the black plague, I had met several vampires also drawn out by the search of the scarce meal. Each one taught me something and I am so glad for that. I still see some of them from time to time. Many of them, who are younger than me, admire my advanced age. Around the 1600's the Renaissance era was almost upon humanity. It amazes me that they based their advancements on how well they could build their armies and conquer other lands and peoples. It seemed that humans would end up fighting one another from here on out. The more power they had they more they wanted. Greedy greedy greedy. Mind you, our kindred thirst was pretty strong indeed, yet I learned to control it. I knew when I needed blood, how much I needed to ingest and how much was enough to not turn a human, yet still sustain me. I had it all worked out.
I enjoyed watching people. I would stand on the street corners and sometime even sit by a clearing near small lakes or rivers, just watching these humans. This was my time of curiosity about my prey. I wanted to know more about them, since they've been a part of my world since day one and I'd never given it any thought about how they've changed over the past few thousand years. I mean, wow... they've managed to create and invent and learn so much. I even I cannot learn that much in the thousands of years I've experienced. Still, I keep learning.
I've seen countless wonders and also many many tragedies in my time. I've made scores upon scores of friendships, which ended. I've fallen in love so many time and had my heart broken equally as much. Living for a short period of time is probably a better way to live, because of all the deaths and the lost loves and the friendships that come and go, I often think I might go mad. It's tough to accept, but I believe I've come to grips and no longer fall easily in love with anyone now.
To be continued...
COMMENTS
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meeper
19:28 Jun 07 2008
Hahaha thanks for the laugh :)