“Could it be?”

I scanned the text once again, making certain that I understood the words perfectly; understood the implications.

The tome had been written in ancient Cuneiform, and I was unclear on the meaning of many of the words. But the sentence heading the top of this page couldn’t be more clear.

”Spell to Become a Vampire”

Let’s be clear, I wasn’t new to the world of the occult. I only obtained this scroll after having deciphered several mystical puzzles, and conducting more than a dozen magical rituals. I knew what I was getting into. But I couldn’t believe that something this powerful had actually fallen into my hands.

I was at the bottom of a dirty pit, surrounded by ancient corpses, with rats literally digging their way out of the walls; but I couldn’t help myself, I had to try this spell.

Beyond the excitement, existing somewhere at the back of my mind, was the sweet alluring call of immortality, that eternal hope that haunts the human condition.

I propped the book up in a crook in the wall so that I could read it with my hands free. Like I said before the text was old, and many of the words were unclear, so I spent a few minutes getting the exact wording clear in my mind. I couldn’t of course be sure of the correct pronunciation of each word in this 3000 year old dead language, but I hoped getting close enough would serve its purpose.

Finally I was ready. I licked my lips in anticipation, then took a deep breath, and started speaking.

Once I started I found the words rattling off my tongue almost automatically. That’s the way it is with a lot of spells, once you start they just draw you into them, until you are surrounded by them, until they are the master and you become no more than a vessel.

Finally, I hit the last word, and as I did I started to feel very strange. The world around me grew darker, and I fell to my knees. Then I vomited, and it felt like my entire body was coming up out of me.

I panicked. Had I done something wrong? Had I misspoken, ruining the spell?

Violent pain ripped through my body. I started convulsing, my body completely out of control. Then I vomited again.

There I lay, violently trembling, prostrate, on the floor of this dirty cavern. I could feel my body dying. I was terrified, but there was nothing I could do, I was so weak.

Then I saw it. I knew it was invisible, but I could still see it. I know that doesn’t make any sense but it’s what happened. It glowed sort of, and made the whole world sort of shift uncomfortably.

It floated over until it was right in front of my face. I looked at it for a second, still too weak to move, almost too weak to breathe.

Then it entered me, and I felt ecstasy; a single moment of pure bliss that has stretched out over my life to this very moment. Colors were suddenly vivid, the air tasted wonderful, everything was vibrant and special.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew my body was dying, but I didn’t care. The world was new and open. Strange power filled me. I stood up and looked out at a brand new existence, a wonderful world where anything is possible.

It was there, in the midst of hope, in the midst of my new glorious existence, that the hunger hit me.

Those who have been gifted know the effects of the thirst. Well… when you are not brought into the coven through the blood of an elder, the thirst is even greater. I ran from the cave right that moment, and killed. And then I killed again, and again. It was a killing spree. I took whole families.

Finally the hunger abated, and I slept. Inside my soul died, but still, I let darkness take me, and I slept. But when I awoke the hunger was there again, intense.

I have spent the years since feasting, driven always by the insatiable hunger. I know from meeting others of our kind that my own thirst is greater than the average, much greater. It is the haunting of my un-life, the evil shadow that clouds who I am. I live… but only to kill.