Chapter 3. Black Blood

JULIAN

Location: Ice Forest, outskirts of the Northern Territory.

Rocks and dead tree trunks had been buried in snow, forming molds and heaps under the morning sky. With each step I took, my feet were swallowed by several inches of snow, making every stride an enormous effort and laborious endeavor.

The winds remained mercilessly noisy, whistling, rumbling, and murmuring as if arguing among themselves whether to give my location away to the enemy. Even my senses seemed to have lost it, for as I wobbled through the glaciers, my skin nearly peeled from the numerous drops of sweat escaping my pores.

My insides were a burning furnace. The mild fever that started a few days ago had seeped into my bones, tormenting me so much that my breathing vaporized the icy particles in the surrounding air. I managed to keep pushing along an indistinct route, but my trudging knew no angles since my vision had become tunneled and reddish.

The sound of chirping birds and creeping entities seemed to be amplified in my ears, forcing throbbing headaches to add to my anguish. However, the most hellish sensation of all was thirst — singeing, searing, charring, to say the least. It ripped through the center of my existence like wildfire, leaving me panting like a deer. My frustrations pushed me to groan, but a terrific growl emerged instead.

The sort of malady that had befallen me was one I could not explain. I remained a soldier trained to withstand numerous forms of torture. However, this particular sensation of thirst was one I must quench before I ran mad. After all, only a sane person could approach Caesar and the Senate.

The more I thought about it, the more its intensity seemed to grow. I quickly plunged into a heap of snow and began to feed myself with it. Perhaps it would quench the burning sensation within me. Before long, I noticed that the more I consumed it, the more it seemed to erupt like a volcano!

I let out another painful groan, a cry for salvation, but the air echoed my voice back to me. I cringed, not just because of how it sounded, but because I could hear another sound that wasn’t mine in it. A low octave growling of some sort.

I quickly whipped around, only to see a dark silhouette hovering around me. My heart skipped as I recognized the pairs of gleaming, bloodshot eyes again. I sprung to my feet.

“Who are you?” I managed to let out, but this entity didn’t answer. Rather, two other figures emerged beside him, clad in similar black, feathery, hooded capes and bronze breastplates.

“Demons!” I cursed, unsheathing my sword. “Get away from me!”

“You’re one of us, stupid…” a raspy, drawn-out voice hissed back. Then, a burst of wicked laughter followed. I staggered a bit and swung my sword against thin air.

“Get behind me, Satan!” I commanded.

“Fine,” he said, and vanished. Passing my widened eyes from angle to angle in search of them, I saw nothing. Satisfied, I heaved a sigh of relief, placing my hands on my chest to slow down my racing heart, releasing my tightened grip on the handle of my blade. I shook my head in wonder.

Then, a tap on my back jerked me. I slowly veered around only to behold those dark shadows again, lurking behind me, looking like dug-up ancient corpses.

“We’re right behind you now, aren’t we?” He giggled. I grew numb as they stared daggers at me from their towering height. Their sharp canines came into view as they burst into hearty laughter. I died ten times.

“What on earth are you people?” I mumbled under my breath.

“We almost thought you’d never ask,” the one in the middle replied. Perhaps, the mouthpiece of the trio. “We are you, and you’re us.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I began to retrace my steps to a safer distance.

“We are the beginning and the end.”

I pointed my quivering sword at them again. “I want nothing to do with you!”

“It doesn’t seem like you have much of a choice, Julian.”

My blood pressure erupted at the mention of my name. “How did you know what I’m called?”

“Our blood runs within your veins, lieutenant. Surrender yourself. Quit fighting for your measly life and embrace death as we have long ago, that you may join the League of Immortals.”

“I care for no such thing!”

“And yet, here you are with no choice.”

“I'd rather live in this torment than embrace eternal damnation. That’s my intention…” It only took a split second, and I was suspended in the air with his hands choking me. Perhaps my words had angered him.

“Surrender!” he gnawed at me, but I shook my head in disagreement. He let go of me. I landed on my butt, gasping for air.

“What do you want from me?” I blurted out, despite my agony. He let out a smirk.

“Rome,” he declared.

My eyebrows creased, and tears suddenly welled up in my eyes. “Of all the places in the world, from Arabia to Greece and Egypt, why Rome? You have a powerful army with numbers like the sand of the earth. You could have anywhere…”

“We want Rome!” he thundered, and my insides shuddered. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out.

Out of the blue, a shiny blade pierced his skull from behind, splattering black blood all over me. The sound of approaching horses followed as his body was swallowed by the snow. Before his comrades could react, two horses burst through them, sending them to the ground as well.

I froze at the sight of a yellow-haired lady swinging two shiny swords while tearing into the scene on a gallant horse. Following behind her was a bald head with a bow and arrow. My eyes widened. Felix! They came for me. My message reached Ice Fort. I could feel a teardrop in my eyes as that euphoric sensation of hope elevated my mood.

Nonetheless, before long, one of the demons rose and speared Felix, downing him and his horse while biting into his neck. Cold chills rippled down my spine. Time seemed to slow down at this sight, and I was numbed for seconds. That little light of hope quenched instantly, giving way for grief to seep into the crevices of my bones.

Then, out of hollow nothingness, a deafening scream ripped out of my voice box as if I were a woman in labor. This was followed by some rush of adrenaline through my veins, which propelled me into a momentous reaction, motion at lightning speed.

I soon found myself on top of the demon. Overtaken by primal instinct, I lost control, and my canines sank into his neck, biting and sucking, draining him of the very essence of life, blood.

At this moment, my world came alive, my breathing steadied, and my visual field expanded. The taste of this black fluid came across as the pinnacle of existence. Pure, satisfying, electrifying, to say the least. I was lost in the pleasure of this endeavor since it satisfied my fiery thirst!

I was unable to stop myself until I observed this pleasure becoming redundant as this demon began to shrink and pine away, fading into oblivion as if I had absorbed his immortal fuel. It left me on top of Felix.

Seeing my bosom friend struggling to hold onto life dragged me back to the sad reality. Since this demon had bitten him, I was certain it wouldn’t take long for him to be tormented miserably as I had been.

Perhaps death would be mercy, for he was neither a soldier nor a gladiator. So, do I drive a blade into his heart? And if I did, would I be able to forgive myself, seeing that he came for me when I needed him?

As pines of blood poured out of his neck with reckless abandon, this bizarre urge within me began to overturn my insides again. I shook my head in refusal, but it gripped my backbone, twisting and bending it until, against my will, my long fangs dived into my friend’s jugular vein. My heart melted like wax.

“Julian!” Aurelia roared.