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  Elijh had been shy and barely told anyone of his own past. Besides the caretakers at the orphanage, Gaspard was the only other who knew what had happened to Elijh's family. His father had died in the French War and his mother grew ill shortly after. Her broken heart was said to have played a vital role in her death. With no other family he knew of, Elijh was sent to the Paris orphanage when he was eight. Since then, and even though they weren't related, they had been as close as brothers.

  He let those thoughts fade from his mind as he got up from his bed. It was near midnight and every lamp inside the mansion was now out. He crept to his door and opened it slowly, trying to not make a sound. The wind made the door close hard. Gaspard swore under his breath and then sneaked over to the edge of his cabin to look at the mansion. He stayed there for several minutes to see and listen if anyone heard. Thankfully, no lights had been lit.

  He darted for the forest the way he came from earlier that day. He wasn't sure at all how to find his way back to the castle. It wasn't until he scented his own trail that he was confident he'd find his way there.

  But before he continued on, there was something he had to do first that had been on his mind ever since he returned to the mansion. Gaspard grabbed a sharp rock from the ground and tossed it back and forth from hand to hand. His cuts and bruises had healed on his skin after he became a vampire without leaving any scars. How long did it take his body to heal from a wound? With little hesitation, he took the rock in his right hand and pressed down on the inside of his left forearm's skin and made a deep gash. It pained him little, and no blood protruded from it. Within moments the wound's edges had joined back together and sealed. The spot was red at first but then faded and retook the color of his skin. This marveled him, but at the same time it depressed him. Could his body really recover from any injury? He considered finding a cliff somewhere and jumping off of it just to test, but then thought better of it. He had a mission now to return to the Vampire Castle that he was to do every night. He'd have all the time in the world to try more extreme stunts, he thought bitterly.

  After running for several miles, Gaspard arrived at a small passage cleared of leaves and brush. And sure enough, it brought him to the front side of the castle. This was the first time that he had gotten a close look at it from the outside. It was very large and had several dormers and towers. It looked a little odd with the lack in number of windows, but the immense front doors made up for them.

  Gaspard walked up the stairs that came to the large double doors. Two guards were standing watch. Not one of them moved a hair at his arrival. If he didn't know any better, he would have mistaken them for statues.

  "Uhh… I was said to return here at night-"

  The two guards glanced at each other before he was cut off by the left one saying, "This way." The guard turned swiftly around and motioned for Gaspard to follow him. Gaspard nodded at the other, but he ignored him completely and kept his eyes ahead of him.

  The guard soundlessly led him through the gigantic foyer and then through a door that was the common room he had previously been in the night before. The mess that was made during Lucas and Gaspard's fight was gone. The room was back to its original order except for the table Lucas threw him into, that was the only thing missing. The guard led him through another door and then made a left down a dark corridor with few doors and no windows. A blood red carpet was the only color aside from the gray walls of stone.

  "Nice place," Gaspard said rather sardonically.

  The guard made a grunting sound and kept moving at the same swift pace.

  "Do you live here?"

  The guard glanced at him and didn't even grunt this time.

  "Okay..." Gaspard rolled his eyes and looked at the blank wall to his other side. He realized that no one was really talkative here. But what could you expect from a castle filled of centuries old vampires?

  A door larger than the ones aligned through the corridor was at the end. The guard opened the door and stood beside it, motioning for Gaspard to enter.

  Gaspard walked in and looked around curiously. He started a little when he noticed Gabriel was leaning up against the wall next to the door.

  "Umm... Thanks," Gaspard turned and said to the guard, but he shut the door behind him before he even got the word fully out. "Friendly fellow," he stated sarcastically.

  Gabriel smirked humorously. "Don't mind them. They like to keep to themselves even more than I do."

  "Fine by me."

  Gabriel chuckled and then began walking down the curved inward stairs. Gaspard followed him. The stairs descended to the very bottom of the castle. The room was huge and must have been underneath every room in the castle. It was barely furnished and had a dense smell to it that made Gaspard's nose scrunch. It then dawned on him what the room was- a cellar.

  "So…” he raised an eyebrow. “This is where you'll be... training me?" He asked when he reached the bottom.

  "Yes. Cozy isn't it?"

  "Not the exact word I would have used to describe it..."

  "It is precisely what you probably think it is. A cellar. We have used it for centuries to train our young vampires in since it is the largest room in the castle."

  "Makes sense." He looked around, not really thrilled by the idea of being stuck in a cellar for only God knew how many more nights. With no windows in the room to give light, it was no brighter than a grave. "This place rather lacks light, doesn't it?" he said irritably.

  "Well it is night, is it not?"

  "Can you not light something?" he growled.

  "And what is it you suppose I light?" "A torch or something? I don't know!" He threw up his arms, his anger rising at his sarcasm.

  Gabriel clasped his hands and started to wring them together and grimaced.

  As he did this, Gaspard noticed that Gabriel was wearing gloves and was always very careful with his hands. "You are the only one here who wears gloves. Why is this?"

  Gabriel shrugged off the question stiffly.

  "Why would you need to wear gloves when you're a vampire?"

  "Rather persistent tonight, aren't you?"

  Gaspard folded his arms and quirked an eyebrow.

  "If you really must know, I'll show you why." He pulled off his gloves gingerly and revealed his scarred and blistered flesh. The skin on the back of his hands was discolored with vivid shades of red and black. He rotated his hands to show his palms. They were normal looking in vampire terms, the same pale color as the rest of his body, contrasting strongly to the mutation-like scarring of the other side.

  Gaspard gasped slightly at the revelation. "What happened?"

  "I was burned."

  "Are you going to tell me how, or keep me guessing?"

  "If it’s that important to you to dive into my past then I'll tell you. When I was a fledgling, like yourself, I flaunted my abilities too often and with little worry to the consequences and I was seen by mortal eyes. I wasn't sure what to do, so I fled thinking I was too quick and witted to be followed by mortals. But somehow they found out where I dwelled in a trance as their sighting of me stopped me from feeding that night. When I woke, I was engulfed in flames."

  "Did you catch them?"

  "Why risk being burned twice? I learned my lesson to not play with fire."

  "But don't vampires recover from any injury?"

  "No. Burning of the flesh is the only injury we cannot fully heal from, aside from decapitation. I was lucky to heal as much as I did."

  "I'm sorry."

  "It wasn't your fault, it was all my doing."

  "No. I mean about the torches."

  "Oh, well, than I accept your apology. Though, I am not the only vampire who dislikes fire."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Not only can it kill us, but it is as strong as the sun to us."

  "What's wrong with the sun? Can it too kill us?"

  "We are very irritable towards the sun. It cannot physically burn our skin, but burn us from the inside out. It fills us with un
manageable rage; boiling to nothing the blood that rests in our stomach. Being exposed for too long can not kill us, but lead us to do things that will destroy us and whatever and whoever is in our path."

  Gaspard thought back of his return to the mansion during the day when the sun shone bright, and didn't recall ever feeling the rage and irritation that Gabriel spoke of other than the annoyance of the interrogation by everyone at the mansion. "The sun, is that another reason why we must train at night?"

  "Yes. And it may raise suspicion if you left the mansion during the day, eh?" He raised one eyebrow and smirked mockingly.

  "Touché," he shrugged.

  "Indeed," Gabriel agreed, still smirking.

  Gaspard rolled his eyes at his snide remark. There was something about this vampire that made him want to rip his hair out. He could already establish that this was going to be a long night.

  "Now, let’s start the night's lessons before its morning. The first thing you must know is that training isn't all about strength and power as it may seem to you. In fact, that is one of the least things we focus on. Our training mostly consists of self-control and balance over physical capability," Gabriel stated.

  "What do you mean by balance?"

  "By learning to master your new abilities but without forgetting all of your human instincts."

  "Oh. Is that… difficult?" He doubted he could ever bring himself to a safe balance. How could he ever be with Jocelyn or around any human like this?

  Gabriel chuckled. "It can be if you let it." He paused, and then continued more seriously. "But I see potential in you that I have seen in no other. I believe you will have little problems if any at all after your training is complete."

  Gaspard wondered if what his mentor was saying could possibly be true. How could he, an orphan boy most of his life, have potency up to what Gabriel said he had? And most of all, potency to being a vampire?

  "I will also introduce to you matter you might have never noticed before... well, before you were bitten. So many things the human senses miss and just aren't capable of detecting without manmade machines."

  Gaspard suddenly thought of how nothing was the same anymore when he returned to the mansion grounds. Every color was sharpened, every sound was louder, and everything and everyone looked and felt so fragile- like he could break them with one easy snap. "Like what?" Gaspard asked a little distantly.

  "Life."

  "Meaning… "

  "Heart beats; the sound of blood pumping and circulating through the body, breath; air being inhaled and exhaled by the lungs, and motion; touch and force simply felt by not just one, but all of your senses. But only if you learn to concentrate by leading with the part of your mind that isn't distracted by thirst."

  "How am I supposed to resist all of the life around me? When it is what I wish I still had!" He scowled.

  "You will get used to it over time. With practice, you might hardly ever get the feeling of wanting what flows within them unless you are hungry."

  He looked down thoughtfully. "What am I... to eat? Blood and that's it?"

  "Believe me, you won't like or want anything else."

  "But where, exactly, am I going to be able to find any? It’s not like I can go on blood-sucking sprees around Paris!" he exclaimed irritably.

  "No, you are right. You cannot go feeding on humans."

  "Then what am I suppose to do?"

  "You can drink the blood of animals. Their blood isn't as sweet or strong as human blood, but it will suffice your cravings well enough for a little while."

  "How long is 'a little while'?"

  "A couple of days at the most."

  "So you expect me to kill an animal whenever I grow hungry again?" he asked rather sardonically.

  "I never said you had to kill it. If the animal is big and strong enough, you may only need to take some of the beast's blood. Which means it will live."

  "But wouldn't it turn into a vampire then?"

  "Animals' bodies are different from humans. Our venom doesn't affect them."

  "What happens when we feed on a human? Do they become vampires?"

  "There are only two outcomes of feeding on humans: If you drain them of all their blood, they will die. But if you somehow stop yourself from taking it all, they will become a vampire."

  "Like me..." Gaspard trailed off.

  "Yes."

  "So if we can make vampires out of all the ones we feed on, why must we kill them?"

  "It is extremely difficult to stop yourself from killing them. Only the most experienced vampires can control themselves to arrest their bloodlust in time before their prey's heart stops beating."

  "Do all the elder vampires create more vampires when they feed then?"

  "No. It is against our Laws to turn a human into a vampire without the leader's consent. And as I said, we have become accustomed to not feeding on humans at all. It has also become one of our Laws."

  Gaspard thought angrily of what Gabriel and the others did to his friend. "Then why did the others feed on Elijh and wanted me as well?"

  Gabriel sighed. "I don't have all the answers, Gaspard. Please, just let it go for now. You have much more to learn here tonight in the short amount of time we have."

  "Fine."

  "Good. Now, let’s move on to some basic physical training. See that ledge up there?" Gabriel pointed towards the stone ledge several feet into the air where the entry door was.

  He looked up at it suspiciously. "Yes… "

  "Watch me leap on to it and then you are going to follow. Understand?"

  Before Gaspard could reply, Gabriel ran faster than a blink of an eye and then leaped into the air, landing on the ledge flawlessly.

  "How... how did you do that?" Gaspard asked amazed.

  "It comes to me naturally. As it will you. Now, you try."

  Just as he was about to try, his whole body went numb. His heart, neck, wrists, and everywhere else in his body that pulsed throbbed fierce fully. He tried to grip on to anything and everything that was in his reach, but everything he clutched broke under his strong grasp.

  "What's happening?" He demanded though clenched teeth. "Am I falling into one of those trances again?"

  "No." Gabriel's voice echoed all around the nearly empty room. Instead of leaping down, he took the stairs. "You are dying," he said while descending slowly, trying to stay out of Gaspard's reach for a little while longer. "It has been 24 hours since your change. Whatever was left of your human self is dying off now."

  All of a sudden, his pain left. His vision blanked out for a quick moment and then returned. He could see even clearer than he had before- every single one of his senses had grown sharper. But there was one thing that puzzled him most. He could feel that his heart was no longer beating. All that was human left in him was gone. No pulse; no pain; no human needs. He was officially a member of the living dead.

  Chapter 10 Mistake

  Gaspard had taken his time throughout the day with his work

  so he would be the last one still outside. As soon as he was sure everyone else was asleep in their beds, he went back into the stables quietly (he had finally fixed the squeaky stable door). He walked between the stables until he reached the stall of the horse he had picked earlier that day. He was ravenous, and if he didn’t eat soon, he would fall into yet another trance. He put a lot of thought into the horse he stood before. A large Black Stallion. He was the strongest horse at the mansion, so he would be able to survive Gaspard’s bite.

  "I'll only take a little bit from you, I promise," he cooed softly to the sleepy horse as he opened the stall door slowly, rubbing his hand down the horses neck as he slowly reminded the tired horse of who he was so he wouldn’t become startled. The horse snorted loudly then rubbed his head to Gaspard’s hand.

  "Yes, it's me," Gaspard whispered with a smile. He patted the horse’s neck a few times as he moved his face close to his large neck, pausing as he found the right spot to bite down. With his hand still on his neck,
he moved his free hand up to shield the horse’s eye facing him. Who knew how the horse would react if he saw Gaspard's fangs. Gaspard opened his mouth widely as his fangs grew out, his eyes flickering slightly in anticipation as he bit down as gently as he could into the horse’s strong neck. Past the tough skin and tender flesh his fangs continued to go deeper until they found the vein full of warm blood. As soon as his fangs punctured the vein, a rush of blood filled Gaspard's mouth. How careful he had to be to not become greedy, but the taste, the wonderful warm taste of the blood filling his mouth and going through his body was too much for Gaspard- he was hungrier then he thought. Within a matter of minutes the horse lay dead at Gaspard's boots. His hands were trembling, a line of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth as he stared down at the poor horse.

  "Oh no, oh no," he kept muttering over and over. "What have I done?!"

  Gaspard fell to his knees and clasped his hands to his head as he tried to think of something to do. He had to make the horse disappear. He couldn’t just let one of the workers find it with all its blood drained! Why was I so greedy! He thought to himself fiercely, why couldn’t I stop myself?! He longed for something to punch, but he had done enough damage in the stables for one night.

  It had taken Gaspard until dawn to bury the dead stallion. Digging the hole big enough to fit a fully grown horse was easy for even a young vampire's strength, but finding the right spot to dig posed more of a problem. It would have taken a human several hours to find the spot he used. That is, if they didn’t get lost in the thick tree's and die of hunger first. But even though the perfect resting spot for the horse was found and done with, the weight on his chest from what he had done was not lifted and it only grew worse as he arrived back at the mansion. As he thought back upon the disgraceful task he had just preformed, the full impact of the strength he had used to carry the horse and the exhaustion he didn't feel during or after digging the horse sized grave. He felt as if he had done nothing more then take a leisurely stroll through the forest instead of killing, carrying and burying a full grown horse. After the death of his human soul he now had powers he never thought was possible before- including the burden of increased blood-lust. Was being an immortal really worth it with such costs at stake?