The Immortal | Prequel Story |

Chapter 44 ~ Mallen's Claim on Iérti

Mallen was barely able to sleep. He kept getting up in the day, his anxiousness preventing him from getting good sleep. After so many times of unsuccessfully trying to get back to sleep, Mallen finally gave up and emerged from the ship, using his vampiric powers to make the sky cloudy so he could walk in the day.

The sky darkened above him as he strode into the open field. His fair skin glistened, his olive green eyes focused and intent. He wore an olive green jacket over an oatmeal cream long sleeve sweater and slim black pants.

His dark brown boots with gold embellishments were deathly silent as Mallen moved soundlessly like a shadow across the land. His long raven hair was loosely tied back with his signature olive green ribbon. There was a spare ribbon in his pocket, along with one of Írásom's.

Mallen immediately sensed something was wrong. He heard commotion in the city and headed that way, keeping the sky cloudy to block out the sun. It was early in the afternoon, but since vampires slept in the day, the early afternoon was considered 'the middle of the night' for them, so to say.

The grey sky hovered above the city, effectively keeping Mallen out of direct sunlight. The grey sky followed his movements, turning the day from sunny to cloudy wherever he went. Parts of the area remained sunny while a certain radius was cloudy and devoid of sunlight. The unusual change in weather was evidence of a powerful vampire presence.

"What's going on?" Mallen asked a passerby, a man with a bag of grain.

"A man was found dead in the street," the passerby replied. "No signs of struggle. There were multiple bite marks on his neck. We're thinking maybe a wild animal got him. No broken bones or anything, just drained of blood."

Mallen's face paled. "It was no wild animal; it was a vampire," he said. "Can you take me to see this man? I need to examine him."

The passerby started to question him, but the firm look in Mallen's eyes compelled him to shut up and take him to where the dead man was. Mallen forced the crowd to disperse, telling everyone to go home while he crouched beside the dead man, carefully looking over the bite marks.

No vampire set claim on this human, Mallen thought. He was fed on by two different vampires. That explains the multiple bite marks in the same place.

Vampires were able to set claim on a human to prevent other vampires from feeding on the human. A claim was set through a particular vampire bite on the neck or wrist, leaving a personal mark on the human's body.

Once a claim was set, no other vampire would be able to feed or compel the human, only the vampire that set the claim to the human. It created a permanent bond between them that would only be broken if one of them died. It was rare a vampire set such a claim, even rarer for a vampire to know of this specific ability.

Mallen had only set claim on a person once: Iérti.

The night Mallen saw Iérti for the first time was when Iérti was thirteen years old. He had just started training to hunt vampires. Civilians were forbidden to leave the fortress, forced to stay inside their entire lives. Iérti wanted to go out, tired of feeling trapped inside the fortress.

Even as a teenager, he was always thinking of peaceful ways to reconcile the hate and tension between humans and vampires. He didn't like violence. Iérti thought vampires looked very human and it seemed sad for him to watch fellow humans resort to killing, as though vampires were just monsters and nothing more.

was restless that night, wanting to go out. His ten year old sister followed him to the secret tunnel he built through a weak section of the fortress. It was hidden by rocks and thick bushes. Not even the guards knew; Iérti was very sneaky.