A new undead. Part 3

Zararloch who felt like he had been dead for decades finally opened his eyes but what shocked him was the need to take a breath. He took one for the first time like his body was craving for it. His mind went into a panic as he felt pain for the first time. It was hard to breathe, his muscles felt painful, something he had not felt for a long time. He did not know what to do as he looked at Arloch who was looking at him like she was studying what was happening to him.

The place was quiet but all kinds of sounds went crashing into his ears. He tried to move but stopped as he felt something he had never felt in his undead life before, a heartbeat. His thought went wild as he did not know what was happening.

"Tenebris, do you know what is happening to him?"

Sanguis asked as it seemed logical that she would know.

"No, all I provided was a platform for him, the oil and the sacrifices to combine. I have no influence on the end result of the process."

She said with everyone looking at her. They looked down again at Zararloch as he tried to scream with only a husky sound coming out.

'I have never felt this thirsty or ever thirsty in my undead life.'

Zararloch thought as he tried to make sense of what was happening but could not due to the sounds all around him being so loud in his head and with him not able to think.

His instincts kicked in as he heard heartbeats that were coming from underground the valley. There were 43 of them and he instantly knew they belonged to the villagers. He ignored the pain he had never felt before and lifted his thin body that looked dry and like that of a corpse. As he stood up, he could not look away from the beating hearts. He instantly disappeared afterward.

"Mmmm, even though he looks like an old corps that could break like a twig at any moment, it seems like he has gained some new strength. He moved faster than usual when he disappeared."

Cumfureres said as she followed where he had gone too by using her eyes. The other kept quiet as they too had noticed it. Arloch just disappeared and followed him to where he went. She found herself in the underground cells where they kept the villagers and she could not make heads or tails of what she saw. The others appeared next to her and they too were in shock.

"Hey, why is he...?"

Violentiam stopped himself from talking after noticing a change in Zararloch. When they had arrived, three villagers were laying on the floor dead. The shocking part was that they had a gaping wound on their necks and their blood looked to have been sucked out as they looked like Zararloch when he first appeared from the black mud.

Zararloch was biting the neck of his next snack and they could see the body of the person quickly shriveling up as she turned into a husk. What made Violentiam stop himself from talking was because each time Zararloch sucked the blood of the villagers his heart would pump louder and his skin was becoming healthier and with his eyes resembling life. Blood was now pumping in his veins.

"This is something I have never seen before."

Arloch said with fascination.

"Tenebris, have you ever seen such?"

She asked. Tenebris who was looking at the scene like it was just nothing took her time to look carefully at what was happening before answering.

"I have seen one Beast warrior who had turned into cannibalism because he could not control his power, but I have not seen an undead drinking the blood of humans and having a benefit from doing so."

"He has a heartbeat. Is he even still an undead?"

Violentiam asked.

"An undead will always be an undead. No spell, ritual, or miracle can ever change that. Many have tried, including our master. She knows fully well how impossible that is."

As Tenebris was explaining to them and with her childish demeanor gone, Zararloch had already gone through 10 more villagers. They had died with smiles on their faces and Zararloch was now more or less back to his old self. The only thing though was that his hunger also grew.

"He is still undead, but I have never seen one with a heartbeat. It will be nice to see how this will affect him and how much stronger this makes him or how much it cripples him as every undead has a main weakness."

Tenebris continued. For Sanguis it was odd to have her be the one explaining what was happening when they thought that their master was the one who knew it all. Her asking Tenebris about her thoughts or not even saying her own was something curious to him.

Zararloch at this point was coming to a point where he was looking like the Zararloch Sheyken had thought was an illusion, not knowing that he was that way because of the oil.

Only seven of the villagers were left as Zararloch stopped and took a look at himself. The pain had gone and his eyes were becoming blue again as he gained his sanity back. Now knowing that what was happing to him was because of him drinking the blood of the villagers, he looked at the last seven and had a vicious smile that showed two fangs that had grown during his feast. With his mouth still dripping with blood and with the last seven villagers smiling after seeing the others finally die and not return to life, the feast continued.

They dropped to the floor one by one but unluckily for them, Zararloch was not as vicious to them like he was with the other before. He would finish with them without having sucked them dry.

When he finally finished with the last one, he was as handsome as ever. He turned around and looked at the others. As he looked at each one of them, he felt feelings he would never have felt before. It was like things that did not matter to him before now mattered and his feelings about them were amplified.

He stopped when he looked at Arloch and smiled. His heart started pumping faster and he wanted to carry her like a princess in his arms and take her to his bedroom.

"Awe."

Tenebris who was next to her and that Zararloch had not looked at yet said out loud with amusement like she knew what he was thinking. He turned and looked at her and when he did, all of her previous taunts and teasing came crashing down in his mind, turning his feelings to rage. His eyes instantly turned back to blood red and in a blink of an eye, he appeared next to her and put his hand around her neck trying to chock her while lifting her up.

"Awe, do you want to die?"

Tenebris asked with an annoyed tone. Zararloch who had his 10 back and was more than a foot taller than her and with lean muscles could not lift her up. She grabbed his hand and it instantly broke. That made him come back to his senses as he felt pain he was still not used to.

"I really do think you all are starting to forget who I am."

She said after Zararloch took some steps back. The others hearing this did not want to say anything. Her addressing that statement to all of them was a sign of her getting angry. Arloch just observed and had her hand on her chin as she thought.

"You know what, since it looks like you already have your first boner as an undead, I will put it as you being so attracted to me and you just wanting to play rough."

She said as she pointed to Zararloch's third leg. He looked at it and he was instantly disgusted at her words as he would never be interested in her in any shape or form except for his master. That was until he stopped for a second and looked at it again and saw it full on saluting him and greeting him vigor for the first time since he became an undead. Everyone was shocked with Tenebris the only one laughing.

At that moment something even more bizarre happened. The last seven that Zararloch had feasted on started having a seizure. They screamed as they twisted their bodies. Their bones cracked and their skin turned pale. Their teeth fell out and were replaced with new ones. After almost a minute of watching this, the seven all stood up looking also malnourished but not as bad as Zararloch was.

"We are here to serve you, master."

They all said in unison as they kneeled down next to Zararloch and to the surprise of everyone else. They consisted of 3 girls who were in their twenties, an old-looking man who seemed to be in his fifties, and three other people Sheyken would never want to see again with one of them who he would kill as soon he saw him.

They were Adruna and Silth who were Dunnam's bodyguards with the last one being Dunnam himself.

If Arloch had a face she would have been smiling right then as she instantly had a plan on how to get rid of Sheyken without letting Tenebris know.