Natives And Confusion

At the duke's manor, I wake up rising from my coffin. Revgnir provided me with a room after becoming duke, same for Sophia who works as his secretary now, quite useful as she can collect information easily, if not for her being asleep almost all the time she would be perfect. A giggle escapes my mouth as I open the door to the hallway. 

Looking at the window in front of my doorstep, my eyes wide in surprise. Snow! My, it is stunning! Anna used to bring snow inside my basement to show me but this is my first time seeing it falling from the sky. Thankfully I do not feel cold, would be annoying to leave town otherwise.

Time truly passes in a flash hmm. It has been 5 months, ah, im getting lost in my thoughts here. I must be late for my appointment at the manor underground, today, im going to look into turning Revgnir. He has been quite busy these months but it is slowing down lately. I have no idea of what might happen so I thought it was better for him to do everything he needed beforehand. 

I walk the hallways of the big manor, soon arriving at a staircase going underground. A human would need a torch or a lamp to walk down here but it is an easy feat for my eyes.

Soon I find Revgnir who is sitting in a wooden chair in the corner of the dark room holding a lamp. After I greet him announcing my arrival he gets up with a serious look greeting me back.

"The day finally came, must admit, im quite anxious to go into the battlefield against Visigothic" Says Revgnir with a hint of playfulness

Revgnir spends quite an amount of time on the battlefield. There is no law against a duke fighting alongside his people, actually, the citizens adore him for that. It worries me a little, hopefully, he does not get himself killed by his love for wars.

"How thou use the blessing is up to thee, but take care to not use it too obviously" I say with a hint of worry

Revgnir is well aware of the drawbacks of the blessing so he should be fine... hopefully. 

"My advice is, never succumb to thy beast side thoughts, at least not completely if thou desire to maintain some degree of decency and mind"

He excitedly shakes his head again. My Lucifer... the man is simply mad to turn, he really hates the idea of turning old.

Hopefully, it works. A light sigh escapes my mouth. Im quite nervous, please great Lucifer, guide me.

Stopping in front of him, I stretch to relax my body and mind. Fuh... it is time, come out and show me how it is done beast. Soon, my whole body started to relax and my control over it started to fade, the beast controls my actions.

Huh! It is working my body is moving on its own. My claws get out and after extending my left hand, my right-hand claws do a light cut in my wrist area. My blood spills, approaching my wrist to Revgnir's mouth he takes it without a second thought. The blood runs into Revgnir's mouth like a fountain, the man swallows every drop that enters his mouth.

Everything seems according to what I was ima-

*Crack*

My hands reached for Revgnir's head snapping his neck, the sound of bone cracking filled the room and Revgir fell dead in the ground.

!?

The shock renders me unable to process what just happened, resulting in my standing there with an expression of complete shock and horror. What... what the?!

A few seconds pass before I recover from my shock, immediataly my next course of action is to bend down to check on Revgnir on the ground. Anxiety takes over my thoughts and actions, I start to shake Revgnir's corpse on the ground with tears forming in my eyes.

No... what happened... what have I done?!

Confusion, anguish, anxiety, all of these together boiling up in my head like a soup until.

Revgnir wide open his eyes anxiously. His neck comes back to the right place and my surprise comes alongside a great wave of relief.

"Maudit! I was about to cry, bloody hell!" I say with a tone of angriness but relieve

By Lucifer! This was terrifying, shit! shit! shit! Swear by Lucifer's name, if I needed to breathe I would suffocate right now.

Lost completely in my current state of mind, Revgnir's voice wakes me, his voice is feeble.

"Thirst... *cough*..."

Oh yes! Completely forgot!

I command a thrall who stands in the corner of the dungeon to come at us, the thrall proceeds to bend down presenting his defenseless neck to the thirsty Revgnir, who does not hesitate to carve his fangs in the thrall.

Gulp by gulp Revgnir regains his strength. Killing my thrall would be quite rude! Grabbing my thrall and Revgnir's head, I pull them apart before Revgnir completely drains the poor thrall. The thrall falls to the ground right after because of his weak and almost empty-blooded body but he shall survive.

Revgnir who seems well now gets up with a fanged smile, blood all over his mouth, and a heart who do not beat inside his chest.

"By the gods... im seeing everything, this is... incredible!" Says Revgnir shocked

Indeed, so if he sees this way then must be working normally. Relief escapes my mouth in the form of a sigh.

"It was necessary to break my neck? Carmilla, it was so sudden that my pants might have taken some... damage" Says Revgnir playfully

"For a moment I thought thou were truly dead!" I say surprised but humorously

A little giggle escapes both of our mouths. Truly terrifying and a lifetime experience, thankfully, because if I needed to pass through this same terror in my next turning. Lucifer knows my mind would crack, next time shall be smoothly done by my controlled hands.

Revgnir extends his fists a little and looks at his hands, clenching them to fill the strength of his grip.

"Incredible... then? how I turn into a swan of bats or do that enthralling thing of yours?" Revgnir says enthusiastic

If what I felt with the turning is true then...

"Some years, maybe?" I say bluntly

Revgnir tilts his head to the side confused. 

"When turning thou, some things got clarified by my instincts, first, thou are a lower version of me, not exactly me of course, my power. Thou are in the 'early stages' if I might call it this way, and if my theory is correct some of my current abilities shall manifest within thee given enough time"

Some questions regarding my blessing got answers. We appear to become stronger with time, as of right now, there is some type of feeling emanating from Revgnir, like a 'presence' that is somewhat revealing not exactly his strength but hmm... how should one put it, stage? state? place in the food chains? Something along this line.

As much as this 'get stronger over time' logic seems to work for me too, it seems to be in a different way, my abilities manifested a few days after my turning after all.

Revgnir seems to be slightly upset about it but quickly grows from it when his claw gets out for the first time.

"These shall be quite the asset on the battlefield" Says Revgnir with a light enthusiastic tone

A light sigh of melancholy escapes my mouth. This made me recall my swordsmanship lessons, my Lucifer, im horrible with the sword. In my case, my claws shall remain my only option for some time. Claws are like the primal instinct, when im fighting with it my mind does not even need to process it, every attack comes naturally to me, on the other hand, swords are ugh... extremely difficult.

"Revgnir, if what im feeling coming from thy is correct, in some years thou too shall be able to 'turn' others, all I ask is to choose wisely when doing so"

Having a bunch of 'us' whatever we are, running around feeding on everything, and killing everyone would be a disaster. Revgnir who obviously recognizes the dangers agrees.

...

Seems like everything is in order. Checking on my clothes after my purses, im wearing a sleeveless open-front dark blue surcoat over a black long-sleeve belted tunic, the belt has two little purses on each side and there are two bigger purses tied to my tights area, on my legs black breaches tied in my calf area and leather boots.

Everything is in order, time to say my farewells to Toulouse. Settle down after so much time on the road was in some ways, refreshing. Deep in my mind, there is this feeling telling me to stay because of the safety this place provides, an infinite supply of blood, a luxurious residence, yet I want to leave, see new sights, meet new people, learn more about the world, all that amuses me to no end.

Arriving at the manor entrance, Revgnir and Sophia await me while the gentle snow falls slowly on their bodies. With warm smiles, we greet each other and proceed to speak.

Sophia approaches me with a hint of melancholy and hugs me, I retribute the hug with a smile.

"Farewell Carmilla, send letters from time to time okay? We shall send some to the Fleury Abbey too" Says Sophia with a hint of melancholy

"Of course, as soon as arriving in the Vallis Aurea, be well too Sophia" I say with a hint of melancholy

After my hug with Sophia ends, Revgnir approaches extending his hand with a melancholic smile. I take it and we shake hands.

"Farewell Carmilla, we shall meet again in the future, until then do not go dying in the wilds okay?" Says Revgnir with a playful but melancholic tone

A giggle comes from both of us. 

"Thou are one to say. I would worry more about thy appetite for war than my travels" I say with a hint of humor

In between giggles and gentle words, we part ways waving to each other. Like this, im on the road leaving Toulouse.

A light sigh comes from my mouth alongside a small cloud. The cold feels somewhat comfortable, although, for some humans, this type of cold might hurt for me it is a fresh cold. Makes me recall the cold days in my basement, Anna would come with warm soup and warm clothes. A little smile forms on my face as the memory appears in my mind.

After a few minutes, I find myself on the road outside Toulouse putting the hood of my surcoat up to cover my head. It is too early to wonder but, hopefully, the monastery Fleury Abbey accepts me, with my appearance it would not be a surprise if they try to put me on fire. Unfortunately, my only choice is to risk it, being the closest monastery from here that has various scholars I need to go there to try and learn the ways of language. Even if they do not accept, maybe I could use my ability to convince them. In any case, there is still a lot of ground to cover until my arrival.

After confirming that there is no one around, I run cutting the wind as my surcoat blows furiously. Firstly, I need to focus on quickly passing by all of Aquitaine reaching the central Frankish, named Neustria, more precisely the town of Vallis Aurea at the back of the River Loire. It shall be easy to localize myself now that my knowledge of how to read maps has improved, urgh... recalling my former travel is enough to give me a headache, maps are terrifying.

...

Day in and day out, I travel through Aquitaine hiding from the sun in any way I can, feeding on unaware travelers who I rarely come across from time to time, of course without killing, a hint of suggestion using my ability which I named as 'charm' is enough to render them docile and glad to help, with this I learned that some minds are tougher to charm than others.

Finding travelers is a strike of luck, after all very few souls travel through forests at night willingly. Most of my prey are animals who I feed and let go for the sake of not leaving an obvious track, disgusting as always.

...

30 days later, on a night that was seemingly like any other, I ran into the wilds finding a strange encounter.

Huh? Why is a man on his knee in the middle of a forest? Looking at the man from afar, he is kneeling with a badly crafted knife in his hand in front of a wooden bowl that rests on the ground. The sight brings me confusion that shows on my face as my eyebrow frowns.

I wish to feed on him... but he smells strange, and what are those clothes? The man is almost naked! Shameful! In this weather, he must be freezing by Lucifer... there are some marks on his body too, red lines and signs, smells like *sniff* yes definitely animal blood.

Hmmm... im quite curious, might as well approach him, my senses do not pick anything dangerous around anyway. The man has fair skin, an unhealthy slim body, bright brow long hair combed behind, and green eyes. By Lucifer, his body definitely saw better days... he is in dire need of a proper meal.

A curious expression appears on my face as I walk toward him. But when I was still somewhat far from the man he started to yell with a pleading tone.

"Pale one I feel thee closely, accept this offering in a sign of good faith"

How...? No human should be capable of feeling me coming from this far away. Confused, I continued to walk toward the man who surprised me even more when he opened a cut in his arm filling the wooden bowl with his blood.

What in the bloody hell, how does this man know about me? The man proceeds to grab the wooden bowl and put it in the air with his head low. Finally arriving close to the man, he gasps in surprise when hearing my footsteps. Is this a coincidence? why is he surprised when he himself called for me?

The man with his head low continues in silence as I gulp the blood in the bowl to its last drop. Delicious... something about receiving it from a willing person gives it a fresh taste, or might be my imagination playing tricks on me.

"Why do thou seek my presence?" I ask with a curious tone

"I seek thou help, in the name of my tribe" The man speaks in a serious tone without hesitation

By Lucifer! A native! I heard stories about the Gaul people, they came to this land before the Roman Empire, Revgnir told me but he said they were all killed by the Romans when they came to conquer the land almost ages ago, strange, how this one can speak Franconian? This is interesting, might as well go along with it to sate my boredom and he even gave me his blood, would be somewhat rude of me to just refuse bluntly.

"Then, speak, why do thou seek my help?"

"A beast preys on my tribe, one which we who starve in this merciless winter have no way of defeating, but when all hope was lost, Brigit the goddess of prophecy sent me the future through a dream asking me to seek thy here and offer my blood" He says in a pleading tone with a hint of melancholy

Hmph! This 'Goddess' is another whore im sure of it! First of all, thou can send prophecies but food for thy people is a no? Great Lucifer could make a whole flask with his blessing simply pop in front of me, this Brigit is a little fish compared to the graceful Lucifer.

"Very well, talk about this beast while guiding the way then" I say with a light tone of annoyance

The man let out a heavy sigh, like he had been holding his breath the whole time and his posture relaxed more as he got up. Seems like he was terrified of my refusal.

"Im Carmilla, abstain from calling me 'pale one' if possible" I say with a light hint of annoyance

Pale one, what a horrible name, I would die of shame before my race receives a disgraceful name like this. I have been thinking a lot about names recently but to no veil regarding naming what im.

"As thou wish, my name is Andair of the Tribe Cenomani, I seek help against a beast we call, Wendigo" Andair says with a light hint of fear

A curious expression appears on my face as we walk side by side in the snowy forest. Wendigo... the name sounds strange.

Andair proceeds with a serious tone.

"Wendigos are beasts who were once men, consumed by hunger they commit cannibalism, the legends say that cannibalism is a drug from which one can not come back, and without noticing the one who once was a man turns into a mindless and unrecognizable creature"

A truly foul beast. I should be feeling fearful but more than anything, im excited.

...

We arrive at a little settlement in hid by the foot of a hill. A few tents made of fur and a dozen people around warming themselves in fireplaces or sleeping. They all are in dire need of some fat in their bodies, most are almost pure bone.

They shall be dead in a few more days, with or without Wendigo. Why would this Brigit conceive such a useless prophecy? The only explanation I can think of is that she wants them to die from starvation rather than be quickly killed by a beast. In any case, it's not my problem, I came for the Wendigo not to rescue them from hunger.

Andair speaks cutting the silence.

"The last time we saw the beast it was in the west from here on our last settlement" Andair speaks with a fearful but serious tone pointing his finger toward the direction

I shake my head and walk toward the west passing through the middle of their settlement. Lifeless, is the only term one could use for this place, looks like im walking between a dozen thralls, there is no light in their eyes nor any will, simply pitiful.

Continuing my walk to the west, the night breeze carries a smell of blood coming from there. After walking for a while more following the scent of blood, I found something.

By Lucifer... A man with his stomach completely opened with guts on the floor, sitting on the ground leaning against a tree. I walk toward the body to check for any useful clue but when my feet step into a pile of snow and leaves.

My eyes widened in shock when a rope tied my feet turning me upside down in the air. My confusion shows on my face and in an instinctive movement, my claws cut the ropes. Bloody hell! What kind of beast sets traps, this makes no sense! Worse than that is me falling for it! Sacre bleu!

Lost in angered and confused thoughts, a smell and a footstep wake me.

Something is coming... judging by the footsteps it is big, and this purging smell urgh! I put up my guard and waited in place for the beast's arrival with a sharp look.

Sounds of animalistic breath and heavy footsteps start to come closer and closer. Soon, the wendigo comes into view.

More than 2 meters tall, with a head covered by a dear skull with two big horns, inside the dear skull's eyes only two blue small lights floated, covered by darkish fur mixed with some snow forming light tones of white, his body is skinny but in the chest area is covered with what look like bones forming some kind of protection.

Shock appears on my face as the Wendigo appears running on its four but after staring at me for a second he stands on its two legs.

By Lucifer... it is a giant! Not even in my wildest thoughts I would imagine a thing like this, how exactly did someone turn into this just by eating human flesh? And why it is just standing there... staring at me. It is making this noise... a grotesque and scratchy noise.

Strange... I feel no aggressiveness, nothing. In the deep parts of my beast instincts I know why 'im not his prey' from hunter to hunter, I feel it. It is not interested in me.

This does not make any sense, first of all, Andair said it eats people but why it is putting perfectly eatable corpses in the ground to use as bait? Im confused but no matter, there is this huge beast in front of me right now and I intend to test myself.

Sharply staring at it, I step forward while my claws slowly appear. The Wendigo feeling my aggressiveness let out a growl and ran toward me furiously shaking the snow in the ground on each step.

Come!

Running toward him, we encounter each other in the middle, the wendigo who fights like a giant drags its long and thin arms into the ground to strike me. I dash into his face height level successfully evading and delivering a clean punch to its deer skull head.

*Crack*

The wendigo gets slightly blown away hitting his back into a tree letting out a grotesque howl. A crack appears on the right side of his skull but it does not stop.

How should I put it, it is weak. My beast side is extremely disappointed but my human side is happy to not die in this thing's hands. It is so big and slow that I could probably evade it while sleeping.

Yet, from a human perspective, this thing is indeed a terrifying beast to deal with. This bloody thing could be setting up traps in this whole forest. Now I know, Wendigos are not fighters, they are hunters. Although it seems to hunt for fun rather than food, this much strength should be more than enough to take that tribe down so why is it setting traps? Because it is fun.

After taking another one of my hits to the head the Wendigo goes on its four, running in my direction this time like an animal trying to pierce me with its horns.

Running in the Wendigo direction, I do a crouching slide passing under his chest trying to cut it down with my claws but the material protecting his chest is too tough ending up in only a few scratches. The wendigo passes without stopping and crashes into a tree making it fall to the ground.

Ouah, regarding sheer strength, is indeed strong still there is no meaning if it can not hit the target. That armor-like thing in its chest is a problem too, I was going for its heart but is not that easy hmm.

Anyway, the sun shall come out in a few hours, time to wrap this up.

I transform into a dashing swan of bats going toward the Wendigo who is running toward me after recomposing itself from the crash earlier. It is on all fours and when im close enough, I transform back and smash his head into the ground.

*Crack*

The sound of bone cracking was heard. The Wendigo now with his deer skull head completely broken falls to the ground, curiously before I could take a look at what is behind the skull, the beast simply disappears in a black smoke without leaving any trace behind.

My confusion shows as I look around to see if it is still here. What a strange beast, sincerely nothing is making any sense today and it is starting to annoy me to no end. Bah! whatever, im going to go back to the settlement to speak with Andair, take a few more drops of his blood, and continue on my track. The Wendigo must be dead, probably, very likely, almost sure.

On the way back to Andair settlement, a smell enters my nose.

Hmm? *Sniff* Blood, is something happening? In a hurry, I come back to the settlement to be welcomed by a gruesome sight.

What... By Lucifer. A crowd of people around the stretched body of Andair on the ground, the sound of chewing enters my sensitive ears bringing alongside the feeling of disgust. I stand horrified and confused by the sight and they look at me with eyes devoid of any emotion and faces filled with blood, some of them leave Andair's body to come for me rushing like madmen.

No time to think, actually, I do not even know what should I be thinking about this let me just take care of this bunch and get out of here before going mad, urgh... what is going on today? what a headache.

The first one finally arrives at me and like a madman, he tries to jump and grab me. Yes, not today sir. I grab his neck quicker than he could probably see, and with a cracking grotesque sound, the man's head is facing the oposite side. Not interested in staining my clothes with blood, might as well kill them all like this.

...

After some minutes of neck-breaking, a light sigh escapes my mouth as I leave the place leaving the corpses to rot.

Huh? What the...?!

My eyes widen in confusion as I see the Wendigo from before looking at me from afar. The beast nods respectfully to me and disappears without leaving any trace in black smoke again.

By Lucifer, today is the day. Oh et puis merde! Fuck it, im leaving.