Tuft and Teeth

Chapter 3: Past problems

Marok woke up inside the hut. He was very cold and shivering under the cloths. Marok sat up to looked around, "Jual?" The hut was very dark but a bright orange light from outside lit under the door a little. Marok was obviously interested and stood up. He finally left the hut door too see a dark dep forest surrounding this small clearing. There were drying racks for furs and small animals lying around and a fireplace where Jual was busy cooking a some meat. Jual seemed very distracted about something. Marok softly placed a hand on Juals shoulder, "Jual?" which gave him a fright and hit his hand away. Jual quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry! I thought you were sleeping. Why are you out here?" Marok was a bit awkward, "It's cold in there. The fire is pretty warm." Jual tapped the ground next to him, "Sure." There was a moment of silence as they sat together before Jual had to disrupt the silence, "Is your jaw okay? I didn't mean to hurt you." Marok blushed, "Uh yeah. There's no need to apologize so much. If you hadn't shown me then I probably wouldn't have realized." Jual asked while watching the fire, "You hungry?" "I don't think I can stomach another bowl. It was fucking disgusting." "I would offer mine but you might be too weak too." "What's that supposed to mean?" Jual made a mistake and scratched the back of his head with a smile, "It's nothing. My mind is just wondering. Say you have any idea on why you ended up like this? You're obviously not a pure bred vampire so you must have been turned." Marok leaned his head on his knees as he looked at the ground, "I know what cause this... I just didn't think I would become a vampire before today." "Would it be wrong of me to ask what happened?" "No not at all. I was very young. About 9 or 10 winters when it happened. I my little sister Lizzy was just a babe. I remember waking up from bed to the sound of a scream. I don't know if it was my mom or dad but when I went downstairs to see who it was they were both dead. Their pale and lifeless bodies on the kitchen floor. I saw this beast, no demon standing there over them. I don't know if it saw me or heard me running up the stairs but I know it was chasing me when I went upstairs. I locked the bedroom door to give me a chance to think. Lizzy slept in the same room as I so when I saw her I knew I had to hide her. He placed her under the bed and begged that she would be silent. When the door was broken down I could see the beasts true form. Tall, thin, pale almost like what people would call sleep demons. Red eyes like you've never seen red before. It's smile is what really got me. I wasn't conscious for much longer after that. For a split second I felt my body tear open and seeing my own blood splat over the room before blacking out." Jual looked sorrowful but Marok continued, "I woke up in the church later. Apparently they said I fell and knocked my head. I thought it was weird how I remember being killed so vividly but I thought maybe it was me dreaming. I was running up those stairs very quickly so it could be that. However if that night really happened then my biggest question is why don't I look like that beast?" Jual let out a sigh as he turned the meat of the skewer, "Vampires are weird. It's like you you get different ethnicities of humans, elves, orcs and fae. Around the world vampires are different and even within their own groups they vary. Here vampires would usually look like you. Like normal people. Pure bred vampires don't however. People call the disease vampirism and it completely changes the functions of the body. When a person is bit the disease has something to work with so your appearance doesn't change much. When you are born with it then the disease has to keep changing as you grow bigger and bigger. Most importantly while you're in the womb. I will say it is weird that your teeth are under developed and your don't actually crave blood. Your immune system probably kept the disease in check before it could complete it's process and now you are as you are." "Is that even possible?" "Yeah I would think it is. It's same for werewolves?" Marok asked with a curious expression, "How do you know all this? It's a little suspicious." Jual smiled as he took the skewer off the fire, "I've come across all types of people. Vampires, werewolves, witches you name it. I was a nomad before coming here." Jual took a piece of rabbit meat off the skewer, "Want some? You deserve something solid for once." Marok gratefully took the meat and happily ate it. He lay back on the warm ground and looked at the stars above, "Their so pretty." "They really are."