Bloodlust: Sliver of Moonlight

8

"Damien, know what you are doing is a great step in winning this," Maximus said, walking with Rosalina and Damien through the huge crowd of vampire soldiers. Damien shuddered as he felt the stares of hundreds of vampires trained on the back of his head. Rosalina looked over to him, sensing a problem with him and patted his shoulder.

"Relax, kid," Rosalina whispered, "They won't kill you. Everyone's waiting to see if this works."

"Right," Damien sighed, "Watch right before I get there someone's gonna rip my throat open. Not gonna be cool."

"We've taken the necessary precautions," Maximus said, turning to Damien, "Like Rosalina said: this is a huge moment for everyone." He led Damien into a little clear box situated in the center. Damien looked around the room through the glass. The walls are lined with tubes filled with different color liquids. Vampires dressed in white raced around the room, organizing tools and setting up for him. In the middle of this room was a huge black box filled with clear liquid.

"That's where it happens?" Damien asked, pointing to the box. Rosalina nodded as Maximus unlocked the door. Maximus led Damien and Rosalina inside the room and closed the door.

"Before we can begin, we need you to..." Rosalina said, "Undress." Damien looked at her curiously, but shrugged. He slipped off his jacket and shirt and placed them on a tray next to him. Rosalina looked at him and blushes lightly.

"What's wrong?" Damien asked, sliding his pants off and puts them on the tray as well. 

Rosalina shrugged, "Nothing. Give me one of your arms." Damien stretched his arm to her reluctantly. Rosalina took his arm and picks up a syringe filled a green substance.

"What is it?" Damien said as she sticks the syringe in his forearm.

"Something to help the process," Rosalina said. She pushes the green substance into his arm and takes it out throwing it to the side. She guided Damien to the box and motions for him to step in. Damien stepped in and shivered.

"Cold as shit," Damien said, sitting down. Rosalina pushed his head, submerging him down into the box. 

"You won't say that for long," Rosalina said as she pushed Damien's head down. She closed the box and walked over with her father, who was standing next to a dial.

"Are we ready?"  Maximus asked. Rosalina nodded, placing her hands on the dial. Maximus nodded to his coworkers, who began to work on panel around the room. The already dim lights grew even dimmer in the room, as a lot of the power began to converge inside the box. Damien began to feel the power as the box began to get warmer. He sighed in relief, feeling the warmness crawl over his body.

This feels nice, Damien thought, what do they mean by people died?

"His vitals are stable," one of the workers said. 

"Increase to 20 percent," Maximus ordered Rosalina. She nodded, turning the dial slightly. Damien, whilst in the box, notices sparks jumping over him.

Oh fuck no, Damien thought, trying to move. Maximus nodded to his daughter, who increased the power again. Damien screamed in pain, as he felt the sparks spreading onto his skin. The sparks began to sear his body, dead flesh evaporating in the liquid. Damien kept screaming in pain, more of his skin burning off as the power increased. Once it reached it's peak, Maximus nodded to his workers, who pressed a red button on the panel. The liquids in the tubes along the walls began to flow into the box. Rosalina grimaced as she heard hollering from inside the box. As he felt his consciousness slipping away, Damien began to see visions of his dream again. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was seeing the death of his mother over again. 

What felt like an eternity later, Damien woke up on a cot. His vision was blurry, but he made out a face looming in front of his own. He closed and reopened his eyes, trying to clear his vision. As his vision came back, he saw Rosalina looking over at his face. 

"Hello dear," Damien smiled, "That hurt a lot."

Rosalina smiled, "Well, congratulations. You're not dead. So I'm haunt-free." She held out her hand to Damien. Damien smiled and took it as she pulled him up onto his feet. 

"Can you walk?" Rosalina asked. Damien nodded slightly, walking to the tray with his clothes. Rosalina stood a bit farther from Damien as he slowly put his clothes back on.

"Count yourself lucky," Rosalina said, "Most people disintegrated in the box."

"Were you gonna tell me that before or after this shit happened?" Damien huffed.

"Before," Rosalina shrugged, "But I forgot. So I decided to wait until after. Assuming you survived." Damien glared at Rosalina before Maximus put his hand on Damien's shoulder, guiding him away.

"It finally worked," Maximus beamed, "With a minor side-effect, but nevertheless a success..."

"Please tell me you didn't say 'side effect'," Damien choked. To much of his chagrin, Maximus nodded and handed him a large round glass.

"You'll be able to see yourself because you aren't fully vampiric," Maximus explained. Damien snatched the glass away and gazed into it. He looked deeply at his reflection to notice an odd change. While his left eye was still its natural brown shade, his right eye glowed a deep scarlet red. Damien turned his head to look for any other differences, but fortunately, there weren't any.

"It could have been worse," Damien shrugged, tossing the glass aside, "I could have had a face that looked like fried chicken. That would've been terrible." Maximus caught the glass and set it down softly.

"Does this mean I'm going to have an insatiable bloodlust?" Damien asked.

"No. You're mostly human," Maximus explained, "But we infused your DNA with remnants of the strongest vampire to create something better. A human with the speed, strength and sense like us."

"That includes super speed, right?" Damien asked, his eyes widening.

"Yes. Super speed," Maximus said. Damien smiled gleefully at him.

"Boo-yah," he said, "Maybe being part vampire won't be such a bad idea."