The Secret Origin of Chiroptis -- Part 1

Father? Father, can you hear me?

Peace, my son. I hear you.

I am coming, father.

I know.

I am coming to kill you.

Yes.

Nothing will stop me this time, father.

Yes, I know.

I will take your life and take your realm. I
will hold everything you have built within my
grasp, and I will squeeze the life from it. All
that is yours I will bleed to death and turn to ash.

Yes, I have seen this in the fires.

There is nothing you can do to stop me. The
paltry armies you have built cannot protect you,
nor will the castle walls you lurk behind. I am
coming. I bring all the power of destiny with me. I am your death.

Yes, my son. All these things are true. I am waiting for you.

The being called the Vampire waved his hand over
the greenish flame that burned softly in the
brazier before him and it was extinguished. The
vision broken, the Vampire slowly blinked his
dark, impenetrable eyes and centered himself in the here and now.

"My son is coming home," the Vampire mused. "My son…."

There was a soft knocking at the door behind the
Vampire as a callowman announced his presence
before being allowed admittance. Such human
pleasantries were pointless, of course. The
Vampire had sensed the presence of his slave long
before he began to climb the stairs of the tower
in which the monster performed his meditations,
but one must make some concessions to the living
whose sense of propriety dictated a need for
deference towards those to whom they had sworn
their souls. Soon this callowman would become
just another of those who gave their lives to
sustain the lives of his family… a human
sacrifice who, in his bravery and altruism,
embodied the fears of his family so that they
could then live the next seven seasons without
fear of death in the night at the hands of the
beast that ruled them. Those who offered up
their family members were spared from the
predations of their master… for a time.

"Master?" the callowman spoke quietly, his voice
the flat monotone of one beyond despair.

"Approach," the Vampire responded.

"Your stargazer begs an audience, master."

There were wounds on the neck of the
callowman. He had been fed upon recently and
often. With lightning speed the Vampire was upon
the messenger, his ivory teeth buried deeply into
his throat. The Vampire drained his victim in
one great draught, like the inhalation of a
swimmer coming up for air after many minutes
below water. The callowman visibly withered in
the grasp of the monster. There was no cry of
surprise from the mortal. No sound of revulsion
to find himself in the grasp of a creature that
reeked of death. He only emitted a sigh as he
expired. The callowmen were mortals who accepted
their fate just as, in his own way, the Vampire accepted his.

There was no need for the callowman to return
with a message to his stargazer. The Vampire
would arrive in the old man`s observatory before
any mortal messenger could have carried a
response. Besides, his thirst was nagging after
having spent so long stared into the flame. The
callowman`s blood had been thin but it would do
for this early in the evening. Later, he would
have to feed again upon heartier prey.

Allowing the chilling corpse to slip to the
ground the Vampire turned to the window. He
opened the shutters and stepped out into the open
air as quietly as a whisper in the wind.