A Shade of Vampire 8: A Shade of Novak(42)

I was the son of a shipyard owner. As I was his only child, my father trained me from a young age in vessel construction and repairs. He took pride in being the most reputable shipbuilder in town. All the wealthy merchants and aristocrats would come to us as their first stop whenever they needed a repair or a new ship.

One such client was a silk merchant. He owned a fleet of ships and did regular business with my father. I always looked forward to the time he would call by, because his daughter was often with him.

Annora. She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever laid eyes on. Tall, slim, long black hair flowing down her back, enchanting grey-blue eyes. Each time her father came in with a ship, I would snoop around to see whether she was on board. I was too reserved to talk to her at first. But eventually, I gathered the courage to start conversation. Small talk here and there at first, but she also took a liking to me. Soon she was the one seeking me out whenever they moored in our shipyard.

My attraction to her grew stronger with each meeting. When I think of her now, I can’t believe she is the same person. She used to be such an innocent, shy creature. Her gentle nature was intoxicating to me. I found myself craving her presence and wishing our time together was longer. I couldn’t get her out of my mind. I even dreamt of her at night.

Our friendship soon turned into a romance and, although her father didn’t fully approve of me, since he considered me beneath her, he didn’t object either.

After a year of seeing each other, on my nineteenth birthday, I proposed to her. She accepted on the spot and swore that she would love me until her last breath.

We were due to be married in three months. Our families started making arrangements.

Then one evening, my life changed forever.

My father sent me to service the ship of a new client. The client was an exceedingly wealthy saffron merchant who was new to these parts and required exceptional attention. Also, the gentleman had requested that the ship be fixed during the night because of an eye condition that made him sensitive to the sun.

Although I despised doing repairs at night—it was always ten times more difficult than during the day—I agreed to my father’s request. Apparently there was a problem with the wheel of the saffron merchant’s ship.

“Sir?” I called, as I climbed onto the deck.

There was no answer. I walked along the deck until I reached the captain’s compartment. I knocked three times. A tall man opened the door. His eyes were pitch black, and his skin was strangely pale. He appeared to be middle-aged, smartly dressed, his hair slicked back with some kind of expensive-smelling oil.

“Over here,” he said, shutting the door behind us and guiding me toward the wheel.

I placed my tools on the floor and began my examination, the shortest of my career. The man walked up close behind me. At first I thought he was just watching what I was doing, but then cold hands gripped my throat and the man dug his teeth into my neck.

I was too stunned to even scream at first, but when I did, nobody could have heard me. The door was closed and his ship was moored in the farthest berth. Soon, I had no more strength to struggle. I writhed on the floor in the heat of transformation.

The man’s black eyes flickered in the candlelight as he watched me throughout my transformation.

When the agony burning through my body had begun to subside and I had stopped coughing up blood, he held his hand out to me, helping me to my feet. Still too feeble to stand, I sank down in a chair.

“What is this?” I gasped.

“A gift,” he replied, chuckling.

He gripped my bloodstained shirt and threw me off his ship. I lay helpless on the wooden jetty as the saffron merchant’s ship sailed away into the distance.

Those next few hours were the most frightening of my entire life. I didn’t know where to go or whom to trust. I had heard rumors of vampires who walked among us. I didn’t know many details other than that they were evil creatures.

My first wave of bloodlust hit me, so strong that I realized I couldn’t even return to my home without pouncing on my parents and sucking them dry.

I ran as fast as I could toward the beach, away from the town. Away from my family. Away from Annora. I raced for hours along the beach until the sun rose. My skin began to burn so intensely, I thought I was going to die. I ran toward the first cave I could find and hid in its darkest corner. I curled up in a ball, trying to control the way my body was convulsing for want of blood.

I tried to force myself to sleep, to forget the pain and hunger, but it was useless. I stayed in the corner of that cave all day and all night. I remained there for at least five days before a search party came looking for me—a search party consisting of my parents, Annora and her brother.

I was horrified to see them approach the entrance of my cave at night, flaming torches in their hands. I managed by some mercy to restrain myself from jumping on them and instead darted out of the cave. I travelled further along the beach. They had no hope of catching up with me that night. I found another cave and, after filling my body with the blood of a dead shark I’d found along the shore, I retreated for the night.

But they didn’t stop trying to follow me. Eventually, after the tenth day, I stopped running. My parents and Annora had found my hiding place once again. I climbed out of the entrance of my cave and sat perched on the rocks above, looking down at them.

And I told them everything.

My parents could barely believe their ears. I had to repeat parts of my story several times before they accepted it.