A Vampire's Tale

5 Captured

Milas walked towards the fallen Adrian with steady steps. His right hand covering the bite on his left shoulder. The bloodstained sword left an inch deep grove as he dragged it behind him. He finally got close to Adrian who had pulled himself back till his back hit a tree.

"Do... don't hurt me, Milas. I wasn't gonna hurt you before, I swear. The creature is dead now so please just let me live. I'll give my share of the payment. I'll give you anything you want just let me go." Adrian begged with tears rolling down his face. His voice had lost its previous confidence.

"You tried to feed me to that thing!! Do you really expect me to let you go. You can keep your money!!" Milas yelled, the anger in his voice was clear as day. He held the sword with both hands and lifted it above his head. "I going to kill you!!!"

He was about to bring the blade down when he made eye contact with Adrian. The look of hopelessness accompanied with the reflection of Milas himself deep in those eyes dissolved Milas' resolve. The sword shook but he couldn't bring it down. He held the sword by his side as he took deep breaths. Milas soon heard a faint chuckle and before he knew it, laughter assailed his ears. He saw Adrian's face twisted maniacally as his laughter soon drew to a close.

"It's just as I thought, you don't have the guts to do it. As soon as you said that you will kill me I knew then that you wouldn't do it." Adrian looked at Milas' confused face before he continued, "You seem confused, let me explain it to you. Those who say that they will kill someone before they do it are the least likely to kill. It's simple really. They say this as a way to convince themselves but when they say it, they doom themselves to fail. Their words make them realize that they are about to take the life of a fellow human. This brings hesitation and with it comes doubt of whether they are doing the right thing. The doubt turns into sympathy and sympathy into mercy which leads to weakness. So Milas, do you finally acknowledge how weak you are?"

"Nice speech but you should have saved it for someone who gives a sh*t!" Milas said as he swung the sword at Adrian's legs. The sharp blade sliced clean through his left leg and half way through the right getting caught in bone.

"AAAHHH!!!" Adrian's scream spread far and wide but Milas couldn't care less as he roughly pulled the sword out. Adrian screamed again as blood covered the forest floor like a crimson carpet. He held onto the stump that used to be his leg as his face paled from pain and blood loss. He felt his sword sheath being removed from his belt strap. Adrian lifted his gaze to see Milas' back face him as he walked to the creature's carcass. Milas crouched down and used the loincloth that covered the creature's waist to wipe the blood off the sword.

He then stood up, sheathed the sword, tied it to his belt strap and walked away without looking back.

"Waittt!! Don't leave me here!! This is not fair!!" Adrian screamed at the retreating back of Milas.

"Not fair? You planned on hurting me and leaving me to be eaten and you have the audacity to talk of fairness? Infact, I am fair. I'm fair for not killing you. I am merely treating you the same you wanted to treat me. So you're wrong about this not being fair." Milas said without turning to look back. A slight simmer of rage still existed in his voice.

Milas walked into the forest with a newfound confidence. He completely ignored Adrian's continuous shouting that started with cursing his family but soon turned into begging and pleading for him to come back. Anyone else would have been hurt by the kind of words Adrian said about his family but Milas wasn't anyone else. He never had a family or at least that's how he remembers it.

Milas walked in silence as his mind tried to drift away in order to escape the burning pain in his shoulder. His mind brought back the memories of his life or what he had left of them. Milas thought of that day when he woke up in the dark of night. The rain fell heavily and the raindrops pelted the mutilated skin of his back. The ditch he was laying in had started to fill with muddy water and he ran the risk of drowning if he stayed there.

Milas tried to move but his body was drained of energy. He could hear the beating of hooves as a horse drawn carriage approached. He felt scared for some reason and he clenched his fist only to feel something in his hand. Turning his gaze, he saw a sword with a green emerald on its pommel gripped tightly in his gauntlet covered hand.

The beating of hooves was now about two meters away from him but it didn't sound like it was stopping. Milas focused all the strength he had left into his right hand and then threw the sword in the direction of the hoof beats. This gamble had drained him further and his consciousness was slipping. Before darkness took over, he heard the horse neigh and footsteps closing in on his position.

He woke up in a strange room that was filled with the smell of herbs. He was striped with only a loincloth covering hi manhood. Milas tried to move but his body was slow to respond and he felt pain from his back. He heard footsteps approaching the only door of the room so he immediately stood up and prepared to defend himself. The sudden movement caused pain to course through his body as dizziness threatened to knock him out. The door opened and he saw an old lady enter before darkness took over again.

For five months Milas was nurtured back to health by the old lady. He found out that the injury on his back was a claw mark from a massive beast. That was what the old lady said but he had no memory of it. He actually didn't remember anything even his own name. The name 'Milas' was given to him by the old lady. Life was nice for Milas till the day the blackout happened.

A sudden bout of dizziness had hit him when he was helping the old lady in the kitchen. His vision blurred and eventually darkened but he felt his body move on its own. His sight returned and he saw her. Her face full of pain, fear and disbelief. Blood came out of her mouth and Milas soon felt the warm liquid on his hand. He looked down and saw his hand holding a knife whose blade had disappeared into the woman's chest. Panic gripped him and he let go of the knife before turning tail and ran.

Milas lived on the streets of the nearby town as guilt weighed heavily on him. He was often beaten up by random people for various reasons. There were times when he was close to death and his vision would darken before he was greeted by a corpse of his attacker. This happened often when he fought for food with other poor people. It eventually made him numb even though he had no idea how he killed those people.

Milas' thoughts were interrupted when something hit the back of his head and he passed out.