As Told By Sorcha
I was turned. Alabaster changed me. I didn't really want this, but I didn't have the time to decide. I was dying, and Alabaster wouldn't let me go. When did I become one? The year was 1713 and I had been traveling all over Europe when my journeys took me to Prague.
I was coming from Germany and this strange cat followed me all the way from the duchess of Mecklenburg's to Prague (I suppose that's what I got for sharing my food with her). She made a game of staying within my shadow, and I always awoke to find her curled by my side. However, one morning she was nowhere to be found. I felt sad and lonely for a moment, but she wasn't my cat.
It wasn't long after her disappearance when I noticed a strange bump on my inner thigh, I was having headaches and coughing up red sputum; I felt just miserable. On the last day of my mortal life I remember walking through the streets of Staré Město when I suddenly felt very dizzy. I dropped to my knees, my head was spinning and I couldn't see strait. Before I could understand what was wrong with me, a group of men grabbed me up. I didn't know what was going on or where they were taking me.
They tossed me in a large barred wagon cart that was full of very sick people and drove us to the outskirts of town. We were all screaming, and there wasn't enough room for us all to fit in the cart and people were climbing over top of one another. The citizens of the town would only watch as they carried us off. I looked out at the crowd trying to catch a sympathetic eye, hoping someone would step forward and stop the madness, when I saw a familiar face. A man whom I hadn't seen in ages.
I called to him, and he saw me, but he stayed hidden in the shadows. I was so confused, I couldn't understand how he could be there, but he was. And then I grew angry, why hadn't he come to my aid?
When the wagon stopped, we found ourselves in a deserted part of town. The men who drove the wagon opened the cage and used whips and sticks to make sure none of us escaped as they directed us into an old building, the door of which was marked by a large black 'X'. They left us a box of food and said they would deliver more in a week. We were being quarantined.
Later, after nightfall, the man whom I had reached out to earlier that day, Alabaster, came to the window. He called to me and I told him to go away, I was furious and I couldn't stop yelling at him. I was making myself dizzy I was so angry, I nearly passed out but he was there to catch me. This is when everything began becoming hazy. He was on the other side a stone wall, outside of a barred window, it made no sense that he was there to keep me from falling.
I looked up at him, his eyes were sad, but there weren't any tears. "I hate you" I told him, and he just smiled, "No you don't" he said. He then confessed that he had been keeping a close eye on me for a number of years, and that he couldn't bear to watch me suffer like I was. It was strange, I hadn't seen him in almost a millennium, but he still looked so young.
"How is it that you still look like a young man?" I asked. He smiled "How is it that you still look like a child?" a tear started in my eye as I turned my head away, that was a story for another day. Suddenly I found it hard to breath, I began coughing so hard I imagined for a moment my lungs falling out of my mouth. He hugged me tight against his chest, he was cold, so cold and there was no heart beating in his breast. "Do you really want to know what I am?" he whispered in my ear. I wanted to say yes but I couldn't stop myself from coughing, he laid me on the ground and backed into the shadows. When he reemerged, it was in the form of a white wolf.
The shock of what I was seeing calmed my cough, I had seen him perform this trick before, but I was a child, I had forgotten about it until now. I had so many questions, but I didn't have the strength to sit up and ask them. I could feel my life slipping away. He came over to me with his tail low and ears back. I put my hand out, he licked it and snuggled up to my side. He told me it didn't have to be over, and then he asked if he could have me. I smiled and whispered "Would I be just like you?" He said in a boasting tone, "Is there any better way to be? I am free, no man nor country owns me, I am not restrained by class nor income, I venture both land and sky and the night is my playground."
"Sounds lovely," I said, another cool tear started in my eyes as I closed them, the last tear I would ever cry. I felt my heart stop.
When awoke (if that's what you would call it) I felt amazing, but Alabaster had disappeared. I walked the halls in search of him when I saw a young boy, frail and tired, he was propped up against a wall; hardly any life left in his eyes. Then I heard Alabaster's voice in my head, "Eat" he told me. Suddenly I felt the worse pain in my stomach. It felt as though there was a clamp squeezing my insides, then the pain turned into a heat and it traveled up my throat and into my gums. My ears were ringing and my mind was racing, I didn't know what was going on. I thought I was going mad. I was seeing images of my father, images from my childhood and I even saw an image of a tomb stone with my name on it. Then, I felt an immediate calmness.
I took a deep sigh and opened my eyes, I smiled and leaned back against the wall. I felt a feeling of tranquility that I had never felt before. That's when I noticed a young girl standing at the end of the hall. Her eyes were wide and her jaw was dropped. "A monster?" she said in a questionable tone as she looked me in the eye. I didn't hear what she had said, my mind was in a pleasant haze, I felt as though I had been drugged. I smiled a large grin at her. She jumped then shouted, "MONSTER!" she pointed her finger my way. I looked around, I didn't see any monster. I laughed as I began to stand up, then I felt something weighing on my lap. I looked down and laying across my legs was the young boy, his throat torn out. I cupped my hand over my mouth only to feel his blood on my lips.
I was coming from Germany and this strange cat followed me all the way from the duchess of Mecklenburg's to Prague (I suppose that's what I got for sharing my food with her). She made a game of staying within my shadow, and I always awoke to find her curled by my side. However, one morning she was nowhere to be found. I felt sad and lonely for a moment, but she wasn't my cat.
It wasn't long after her disappearance when I noticed a strange bump on my inner thigh, I was having headaches and coughing up red sputum; I felt just miserable. On the last day of my mortal life I remember walking through the streets of Staré Město when I suddenly felt very dizzy. I dropped to my knees, my head was spinning and I couldn't see strait. Before I could understand what was wrong with me, a group of men grabbed me up. I didn't know what was going on or where they were taking me.
They tossed me in a large barred wagon cart that was full of very sick people and drove us to the outskirts of town. We were all screaming, and there wasn't enough room for us all to fit in the cart and people were climbing over top of one another. The citizens of the town would only watch as they carried us off. I looked out at the crowd trying to catch a sympathetic eye, hoping someone would step forward and stop the madness, when I saw a familiar face. A man whom I hadn't seen in ages.
I called to him, and he saw me, but he stayed hidden in the shadows. I was so confused, I couldn't understand how he could be there, but he was. And then I grew angry, why hadn't he come to my aid?
When the wagon stopped, we found ourselves in a deserted part of town. The men who drove the wagon opened the cage and used whips and sticks to make sure none of us escaped as they directed us into an old building, the door of which was marked by a large black 'X'. They left us a box of food and said they would deliver more in a week. We were being quarantined.
Later, after nightfall, the man whom I had reached out to earlier that day, Alabaster, came to the window. He called to me and I told him to go away, I was furious and I couldn't stop yelling at him. I was making myself dizzy I was so angry, I nearly passed out but he was there to catch me. This is when everything began becoming hazy. He was on the other side a stone wall, outside of a barred window, it made no sense that he was there to keep me from falling.
I looked up at him, his eyes were sad, but there weren't any tears. "I hate you" I told him, and he just smiled, "No you don't" he said. He then confessed that he had been keeping a close eye on me for a number of years, and that he couldn't bear to watch me suffer like I was. It was strange, I hadn't seen him in almost a millennium, but he still looked so young.
"How is it that you still look like a young man?" I asked. He smiled "How is it that you still look like a child?" a tear started in my eye as I turned my head away, that was a story for another day. Suddenly I found it hard to breath, I began coughing so hard I imagined for a moment my lungs falling out of my mouth. He hugged me tight against his chest, he was cold, so cold and there was no heart beating in his breast. "Do you really want to know what I am?" he whispered in my ear. I wanted to say yes but I couldn't stop myself from coughing, he laid me on the ground and backed into the shadows. When he reemerged, it was in the form of a white wolf.
The shock of what I was seeing calmed my cough, I had seen him perform this trick before, but I was a child, I had forgotten about it until now. I had so many questions, but I didn't have the strength to sit up and ask them. I could feel my life slipping away. He came over to me with his tail low and ears back. I put my hand out, he licked it and snuggled up to my side. He told me it didn't have to be over, and then he asked if he could have me. I smiled and whispered "Would I be just like you?" He said in a boasting tone, "Is there any better way to be? I am free, no man nor country owns me, I am not restrained by class nor income, I venture both land and sky and the night is my playground."
"Sounds lovely," I said, another cool tear started in my eyes as I closed them, the last tear I would ever cry. I felt my heart stop.
When awoke (if that's what you would call it) I felt amazing, but Alabaster had disappeared. I walked the halls in search of him when I saw a young boy, frail and tired, he was propped up against a wall; hardly any life left in his eyes. Then I heard Alabaster's voice in my head, "Eat" he told me. Suddenly I felt the worse pain in my stomach. It felt as though there was a clamp squeezing my insides, then the pain turned into a heat and it traveled up my throat and into my gums. My ears were ringing and my mind was racing, I didn't know what was going on. I thought I was going mad. I was seeing images of my father, images from my childhood and I even saw an image of a tomb stone with my name on it. Then, I felt an immediate calmness.
I took a deep sigh and opened my eyes, I smiled and leaned back against the wall. I felt a feeling of tranquility that I had never felt before. That's when I noticed a young girl standing at the end of the hall. Her eyes were wide and her jaw was dropped. "A monster?" she said in a questionable tone as she looked me in the eye. I didn't hear what she had said, my mind was in a pleasant haze, I felt as though I had been drugged. I smiled a large grin at her. She jumped then shouted, "MONSTER!" she pointed her finger my way. I looked around, I didn't see any monster. I laughed as I began to stand up, then I felt something weighing on my lap. I looked down and laying across my legs was the young boy, his throat torn out. I cupped my hand over my mouth only to feel his blood on my lips.
