The Eyes Of 'Rah

A Torturous Night

Xavier looked around the room he considered as his torture room, the hidden rooms had been in existence for years, with his thick walls and distance from others, it was suitable for a secretive purpose as his condition. Making it near impossible to hear the noise with Vampire's sense of hearing and deafening to human ears.

Darting his eyes on the few furniture in the room which consisted of a bed and a table. The table only had his jar of blood which would be emptied after his ordeal.

The first thing that usually return after the long night of pain, before his vampire ability is his cravings for blood. This is the reason his mother always ensure he had a large jar of blood ready  to drink.

Feeling the gradual loss of his power, he approached the bed to lie down, now pretty soon he would be enshrouded in a bubble which looked like a shelter but he knew better that it was anything but that.

Crying out in pain as he felt an immense pain in his head, like it was being yanked away from the rest of his body, he groaned miserably, his vampire ability to heal and bear pain in a high level was totally gone. The splitting pain continued as he felt his bones breaking, the most pain had always been in his lower spine.

Blood clotted in his eyes, masking his cornea and iris in red, his groaned continuously as his veins stretched, transported back to the darkest place he could ever imagined, he whimpered as he was unable to bear it anymore. He yelled even though subconsciously he knew no one would be able to hear him except his parents if they were close by.

Xavier continued to writhe in pain helplessly, perhaps if his friends, especially Daniel could see him now, they could understand why without using his vampire ability, his threshold for pain was high, what they consider as being painful a piece of cake compared to what he goes through most nights.
********

The dim light of dawn filtered through the heavy window, the air hung heavy with the echoes of a troubled night, and a weary sense of fatigue lingered. As the world outside slowly woke, the silence within was broken by distant sounds of birds and barks from dogs welcoming a new day, contrasting with the haunting stillness that clung to the early morning. The pale glow illuminated disheveled Xavier, his skin colour slowly turned to normal as he gulped the blood in the jar.

He sat on the bed to regain his energy while his other abilities slowly crept back in, he tried to remember and analysed some of the things that occurred during the night, just as how he had been doing for a long time. He believed if he studied and take down notes on new developments or different method of torture whoever was in charge of his curse decided to execute his pain, perhaps he would be able to guess how the next one will be meted.

Although his dreadful nights are usually the same, however, there are sometimes element of surprise which makes one night different from the other.

Xavier remembered the first time he learnt he was cursed several years ago, it was when he was preparing to join the twins at a party when he felt a blinding pain in his eyes. As he tried to hold his head he fell, feeling his backbone as it broke. The objects that had fallen along with him must have made so much noise that drew the attention of his parents.

The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness was the anguish on the faces of his parents. He came around days later, feeling an intense thirst for blood, he had bitten the first maid he saw, sucking her dry till there wasn't any more to drink.

His eyes had cleared afterwards, seeing his parents as they gaped at the horrible scene in front of them, he had passed out afterwards. Immediately, his father had taken him inside while his mother cleaned up the mess.

On regaining consciousness, he found his parents staring at him "What happened? For how long was I unconscious? Xavier looked at his parents who had guilt written all over their face, wanting to know the cause of his pain and why the last scene he saw before he passed out was his parents standing far away from him.

Nickolai and Aliona who had witnessed their son wrapped in a bubble once again had known better than to move closer. Brenda had told them that Xavier would experience it when he grew older. Even though they had been fervently searching for solution, they had also prepared their mind for it.

With hesitation, Nickolai spoke, "there's something you need to know but first, could you describe how you felt and how it happened?"

"I'm not sure how it happened but I just suddenly felt a very strong pain in my eyes, later I felt my bones breaking in two, I think I lost my power because I had to crawl out, none of my bones repaired until I drank blood. I also had quite a huge need to drink blood"

Understanding some of his description since Brenda had guessed some of them, Nickolai sighed, "I think you lost your vampire ability before it started and to recover you needed blood."

Reluctantly, the parents explained the cause of his pain to him, including the efforts they had made in lifting the curse.

Incredulously, Xavier stared at his parents, "so I am cursed?"

Aliona and Nickolai had expected him to be angry but he wasn't. He became quiet, "why didn't you move closer when you saw me on the floor?"

"We can't. There's a bubble which surrounded you and prevented us from coming further" Aliona explained, telling him how she was thrown when she neared it when he was an infant.

As Xavier became older, he experienced more pain, the bubble became a regular visitor. Since new things sometimes spring up once in a while, they decided to make one of the hidden rooms as where he temporarily stay the night till the bubble disappeared, providing him with a bigger jar to quench his thirst.

The early morning howl brought him back to the present, he re-entered his chambers to write down some things, he had noticed a dark element swirling around him, even after the bubble was no more. Placing his head on the pillow to get a peaceful sleep, he thought of his friends and their plans to roam the town later in the day.