Aeron froze in shock, most vampires were cursed while their mother was pregnant with them, making them the beings they are at birth. And because of this they don’t usually stop aging until they are 18. It was very rare for a vampire to have been turned. For a human to be turned into a vampire they would have to drink a vampires blood, on top of the practically impossible idea that they’d survive an attack. When a vampire starts feeding, there’s a sort of frenzy that takes place making it near impossible for them to stop until they’ve drained and devoured their victim. “H-how did this happen..?” Aeron asked, intrigued by how Arius survived an attack. Aeron couldn’t imagine being overpowered by a human, it seemed impossible.
Arius straightened his posture “I was attacked while I was alone in the woods, roughly twenty years ago” he stated, looking as though he was reliving the moment. “I had been going through a rough time so I decided to go on a walk to clear my head. Of course I didn’t believe in vampires or ghouls or anything, but it was proved all too real to me when he attacked me that night” Arius said in a rough voice. “I was on my way back home, the sun had set and the stars were already visible. Then I noticed a man following me. He had dirty blonde hair and pale, very pale skin. I couldn’t see his eyes, it was too dark. But I remember the second I looked back ahead there he was, standing in front of me. Before I could say anything he grabbed me by the throat and threw me to the ground with an immense strength that I couldn’t understand.” Arius spoke with a quiet rage as Aeron continued to listen intently. “He snickered at my fear and told me to stand before he whispered, 3… 2…”
Aeron looked down in thought, “he was starting a stalking game…” Aeron commented after a moment. Arius nodded “but he planned to end his hunt in the same night…” he muttered. “After I realized he was counting down I bolted, but I didn’t run for long. Soon I saw him up ahead, I didn’t even care that he could obviously outrun me, I still wanted to try to escape. But as I turned once again to run away from him, I of course ran into him. He just smiled and struck me across the face, that’s how I got this” he said, motioning to the scar across his lips and jaw. Aeron nodded, piecing it together, “how did you escape..?” Aeron asked, still confused as to how he had managed to survive. Arius nodded, “after he struck me he vanished” Arius finished. Aeron stood there dumbfounded “then how’d you turn? What happened..?” Arius looked away from him “It doesn’t matter Aeron, some things are best left unsaid, especially things that are in the past.”
Aeron opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it, with a nod he turned to go to his bunk, the dreariness that came with dawn was upon him and he assumed Arius felt the same way. “Hey?” Aeron’s walk was interrupted, “yes, Arius…?” Arius looked down shamefully, “you can’t tell the others…? Promise me this?” Aeron nodded understandingly, he knew Cerin would never view Arius the same way if he knew this, and he most likely wouldn’t treat him the same either. Cerin was proud of his kind and viewed himself very highly because of it. And with his train of thought he would most likely view Arius as an accident or abomination, losing all respect for him. ”goodnight” Aeron said as he headed down the mine to his bunk.
Hours passed as he laid quietly in his bunk, thoughts of Arius’s origin fluttered through his mind, Aeron was born this way, and he couldn’t possibly imagine trading from one species to another. Especially going from mortal to immortal. The thought baffled him, he wondered if this is why Arius was so quiet. Maybe he felt that he couldn’t relate to the others, it was obvious now that the killing of humans still bothered him. He wondered what a hunt for Arius was like, if he felt pity the entire time or if he was able to block out all thoughts of sorrow and surrender those feelings to hunger. After a while Aeron got up, unable to clear his mind and sleep.
After a while of wondering the cavernous mines that he knew so well, he decided to check the time. He quickly sped to the entrance of the mine, it was dusk, the sun was barely prominent in the almost night sky. He sat in the shade of the mine until the sun had completely vanished behind the horizon. With the passing of the sun he darted out into the night, the cool air whisked past him as he sped toward the constantly bustling city of LA. The 395 miles was only a 2 and a half hour run for his supernatural speed and endurance.
Soon he found himself wondering the streets of LA, the people walking down the sidewalks alongside him we’re mostly drunk or headed to a bar or club, but on occasion you’d see someone who just got off work or someone who was late to get home and rushing to get off of the dangerous streets. Aeron wondered what it would be like to be so small and fragile, to actually fear that you wouldn’t make it home alive. The thought felt unreal and wrong to him, he had no empathy for this emotion, because he had never felt it. It was an odd thought, and a bothersome one at that.
After he had been walking for some he turned into a dark alley and sat beside a dumpster, deep in thought. He wondered if the others were looking for him or if they had gone out on a hunt, not worried. They shouldn’t be, he was a powerful immortal being just as they were. He had nothing to fear and no need to have someone concerned for him. With a sigh he leaned his head back against the brick wall of the large apartment complex that bordered the right side of the alley. Looking up at the sky, the pollution and smog of the city was almost too great to see the stars that littered the sky.
Minutes past before he heard a faint cry of fear from somewhere in the city. Curiously he sat up and quickly climbed the apartment building with his immense strength. Standing atop the building he listened carefully for the cry. After roughly a minute or two of suffering in the silence he heard the shriek of fear ring through the city. A scream he know could only be heard thanks to his supernatural hearing. He didn’t stop to ponder but instead headed quickly to the sound, leaping from building to building, following the cry that could only come from the throat of a terrified young girl.
He found the scene after only a minute of following the sound. Looking down from the building he now stood upon he saw three men chasing a girl down an alley way. Her long purple hair blew behind her, her terrified blues eyes were wild with fear and outlined in dark makeup. Aeron could tell she had been living on the streets for a while, her ragged black clothes and an obvious sense of direction told him that she knew these streets like the back of her hand. She had a stitched up satchel slung over her shoulders that bounced with each footfall.
“Get back here street rat!” one of the three yelled after her. And with that Aeron’s suspicions were proved correct, he wondered why they were chasing her. Maybe she’d stolen something or maybe they wanted to mug her. Or perhaps they wanted something even worse. Aeron thought about Arius as he followed the scene from the rooftops, he wondered if he would interject. To Aeron the fear of other people led to a sort of excitement, he saw no reason to interject, if he did she would probably be worse off anyways. He thought about leaping down from the building and killing the three men, although he knew that his immortal powers would probably be visible if he did this, leading to him having to kill the girl too. So instead he just followed, watching how this chase would end, either with her escape or her possible mugging or demise.
ns 15.158.61.5da2
