The Gift

James was the best hunter of the village. This gave him quite a bit of reputation and made him very proud.

Tonight, had been the worst night the village had ever gone through. A quarter of the village had been killed. He didn't believe for one second that little Adam had been the one to do it.

Richard had been a warrior of the 3rd rank, and Harry was almost a warrior of the 2nd rank. Adam was not even a warrior of the first rank. But then again, there were signs of the so-called magic. James didn't know anything about magic.

He'd heard stories of powerful magicians, but he'd never seen one. Maybe Adam was a mage after all? But still, he had doubts about him being able to kill all of them in cold blood.

He had just been in the fur cabin observing him, he really looked weak. It was then that he was told that the dead had come back to life! Had they not died? Or was this something much darker than that?

He rushed outside and went to the eastern side of the village. There, he saw chaos! There were more than twenty bodies that came back to life and were fighting against the living.

He looked at those fighting them and recognized all of them. They were mostly hunters, some woodcutters and some farmers. This was bad! Not all of them had weapons or knew how to fight. Hopefully they had the numerical advantage.

James didn't waste anymore time as he swung his spear in a fighting position, rushed to the front line and stabbed a man in the stomach. He was preparing to jump to another target, when he saw the not quite dead, but not alive man jump at him. He side stepped and thrust his spear again. This time he aimed for the head!

The spear penetrated the living corpse from the side of his head, almost coming out the other side. Without an intact brain, the dead man fell down to the ground and seemed to lose the ability to rise again. James unstuck his spear and turned to look at the other fights.

Not everyone was doing as well as him, and he saw one farmer being eaten by two undead. Some others were trying to stab those undead in the back, but that didn't seem to affect them.

"Hit the head! The head is their weakness!", shouted James.

He turned to look at other fights and his face sunk. Their numerical advantage did not seem to matter.

Those alive were afraid and seemed to be conflicted as they used to know those undead. While the undead held nothing back and fought like mad beasts. He clenched his teeth and jumped in the fray again.

.

After a while, the undead were defeated. There were more than forty casualties amongst the living. Nine had died at the hands and teeth of those they had been mourning only two hours ago, and more were injured.

James looked at the scene of the fight and had a depressed expression on his face. This really was a horrible night for the village. Even more people had died! All those who survived the fight were either tending to their wounds, crying or just sitting there silent.

Those that could still move were all looking at James. He had killed most of the undead himself and saved quite a few villagers.

"Burn the corpses, leave none.", said James.

All agreed. This couldn't be allowed to happen again. James then rushed to the fur cabin. He went in and saw Adam in the cage, with his back turned to the entrance. He seemed to be in a fetal position, hiding his face with his hands...He wasn't moving either, he might have been sleeping.

James looked around and couldn't find Larry. Larry was the name of the man that stayed in the cabin with Adam. He should have been there, but he couldn't see him anywhere.

Thinking that something might have happened, which would lead Larry to leave his position, James went out and asked a few villagers if they had seen him. Someone then told him that he had seen Larry leave the cabin and head to the western side of the village. This immediately intrigued James. There was nothing happening in that part of the village right now, and there were already men patrolling that side.

A realization hit James as he rushed back into the cabin. He had assumed the scent of blood he had smelled was coming from him, but it really came from the cabin! He rushed to the cage and stabbed Adam with the wooden part of his spear. No reaction!

James opened the door of the cage, grabbed Adam by the shoulder and pulled him out. Larry, dead! He ran out of the cabin and shouted in rage. Adam had swapped clothes with Larry, escaped and they had no idea where to search.

.

.

Somewhere in the forest, south of the village was a young man leaning against a tree. It was extremely dark, yet he could still somewhat see. He was surrounded by trees, and bushes. He was exhausted and his emotions were a mess. Archibald was dead, many villagers died too, the rest of the village wanted him dead...he had killed a man and drunk his blood! Things couldn't get worse.

"Oh, they can. Trust me.", said the voice in his mind.

"That annoying voice again! I wish I could kill him...", thought Adam.

"You're not the only one who wants to kill me. Not the first, and not the last", laughed the voice, but this time not in his mind. The stranger was behind him.

Adam turned to face him. There he was! Red pupils, pale face. Dark cloak covering the rest of his body...He wanted to tear him apart, to get his revenge. Yet, he couldn't move.

"Who are you?! Just...why!!!" was what Adam wanted to shout, but he still couldn't speak.

"Why not? As for who I am... I think it's funnier if I don't tell you.", said the stranger while smiling. "The you right now can never harm me. You are a thrall of mine, basically my slave.", he added.

Adam wanted to revoke that but he couldn't move an inch, his lips were as if glued.

"Your life and death are in between my fingers.", said the stranger. "I could kill you, but that wouldn't be fun."

After a moment of silence, the stranger started speaking again.

"Let's not waste time. There's a bit over one hour left until dawn. I'll give you a chance to get your revenge, come here." To which Adam complied, he couldn't resist the orders anyway.

The stranger then placed his hand on Adam's head and closed his eyes. Adam felt a wave of cold spreading from that hand and as soon as it appeared, it disappeared.

"So that's why!", exclaimed the stranger in surprise.

"Boy, you have a very strong affinity to magic. You could have become a mage, had you met one willing to take you as a disciple... That old man could cast the spell Fire ball, which is a rank 1 magic spell. He should have been a retired mage. I wonder why he didn't teach you magic.", he added.

This piece of information confused Adam. The old man was a retired mage? If only he had taught him some spells, he would blast this damn bastard right here!

"I'm afraid you'd need more than a fire bolt to get rid of me. You just have potential for magic, that's nothing too special. You might have guessed already but I'm a vampire, a child of the night. I will grant you the gift. It remains to be seen, however, if you will be able to receive it.", said the stranger.

As he was talking, one of his fingernails extended and then cut open his thumb. He smiled and put his thumb on Adam's lips. "Drink it", he said. To which Adam could do nothing but comply.

Soon enough, Adam fell to the ground and started shaking violently. His whole body burned, the searing pain was so intense that he couldn't scream.

After a while, the pain went away and he calmed down. Adam started breathing heavily and remained motionless.

"It seems that the gift favors you. You are now a vampire in the making. Congratulations!", said the stranger with an amused voice. "You do not have the time to lay on the ground and celebrate. The sun is now your worst enemy, for it harnesses the powers of light. Should you come in contact with sunlight with this little strength of yours, you would become ashes.", he added.

The stranger looked at the sky and then said.

"You have less than an hour. Find a place to hide! You will sleep and only wake up after three days. You will be defenseless throughout the whole process, so you had better find a safe spot.", said the stranger as he faded into the darkness.

Adam could move at last. He stood up and tried to look around. He could see in the dark for some reason, but he didn't have the time to worry about that.

If what that bastard had said was true, then he would die in less than an hour. Unless he found a place to hide that is.

Hiding in a cave would be suicide. Three days was enough for a beast to find him and eat him alive. He turned towards the direction he had previously come from.

There was only one place he could think of. It would be risky, but the village was his only option. He didn't waste any time and started running.