Ancient Shadows

SEVEN

It had taken two full nights to turn Walter. Rundolph had only needed to sleep once during the process. He hated having to do so. Leaving his patient alone was not ideal. The patient was a danger to all mortals around them and they were a danger to themselves. Being on the verge of death and having taken on some aspects of the undead, they were prone to be burned up by the sun's rays. In the beastial nature that was so prevalent when being turned they lacked the good sense to stay hidden from that great menace in the sky. That danger that returned every single day with never an exception. It would always come. The vampyr must always be hidden from it.

Augustus was brought into a similar living chamber that was clean and prepared. Rundolph repeated the same process. He drained the blood of Augustus to the brink of his death. Then he gave him a few drinks of the eternal blood of his own. Augustus tried to take more than permitted but Rundolph in his great strength was able to subdue him.

Then the first victim was brought in. Augustus devoured this young man like a rabid animal, even ripping out the flesh on his neck. This had been a slave of Rundolph's. One that constantly disobeyed his master's wishes. His body was pulled from the chamber. Augustus begged for more but was tied down to the sofa instead and denied his wishes. Rundolph had mentally prepared himself for this brash behavior from Augustus. He was determined not to allow it to affect his chances of success with turning the young noble.

So the process went on. Augustus continued to make things as difficult as possible. This Rundolph could handle. But then after Rundolph arose from his daytime rest he found Augustus not doing very well. He quickly brought in a victim. He had Walter called in. He could use his new vampiric strength. He fed the blood to Augustus who ravenously took it. But then afterwards he quickly threw it up. The undeath was not taking to Augustus and Rundolph became very concerned.

Augustus had a fever that would not abate. His color had become yellow and pallid. Rundolph gave him more of his own blood when he normally would have given none. When nothing improved he gave him more. He gave him more after that as the fever only got worse. When his blood was too low he brought in Walter. He had Walter give him some of his blood. Augustus did not appear to be getting better. Rundolph feared he had failed. He was beside himself. Walter only made things worse by plying him with questions about his brother. Walter had to be sent away.

Then it hit Rundolph what had went wrong. A victim he had used must have been sick. He had noted some oddities but saw no clear indication of illness. Besides, vessels weren't easy to come by so if someone wasn't clearly sick then they were to be used. One could speculate that a person was sick by several different reasons. Any one person could be deemed to be sick if one looked close enough.

Rundolph had a servant bring a warm towel to lay on the brow of Augustus. With another cloth he wiped the sweat from his body. Rundolph also called for a concoction to be brought in that he gave Augustus to drink to calm his stomach and drive away the fever.

After another hour he determined to bring Augustus in for a cold bath. Rundolph feared he was going to lose him to the fever if he did not. Walter had been called back in to be with his brother. He wanted to use Walter as a soothing agent to calm his big brother. It seemed to work. Walter also had the composure to not ask too many questions or panic at the condition of his brother who obviously was close to death.

By paying careful attention to his condition and keeping his fever down, this condition did pass. Augustus was soon drinking again. He had a voracious appetite and took four victims before he had become vampyr. Like his brother he survived the process. The brothers had become what they had so badly desired. They marveled at their new existence. Enthralled by their new condition and basking in their newfound powers, the next night Rundolph released them into the populace to feed for the first time as creatures of the night. It was trial by fire but it was the way that Rundolph had been baptized into the eternal night.

That was fifteen years ago. Everything had changed so much for the brothers. Rundolph was in the north, trying to create a society of vampires in Europe. The fiefdom that the Osterreichs had ruled over for centuries, that the brothers were supposed to be ruling over now, had been overthrown. They wouldn't be able to return any time soon unless they took it by force. But even if they did that they would soon after have the weight of the Church and the Holy Roman Empire coming against them. Better to just let it go. That was part of their mortal existence and was no more.

But with their party of loyal servants the brothers moved north in hopes of finding sanctuary. They had decided to go to a relative, a fellow noble by the name of Franz Slugantz. His fief lay in Germania, still part of the Holy Roman Empire. They had travelled for almost a week. They expected to arrive at their destination after travelling another week.

They had been fortunate not to encounter any bandits. The roads were not great and muddy in places but rainfall was minimal so their movement was not hindered any more than was expected. But more than any other factor of their travel, they were especially fortunate not to have ran into any church officials or associates of the Empire with news of their exile from Tatten Arches. The usurpers must have went to the Church with fantastical tales of the monsters who ruled over them!