Immortal

The Decision

Everything grew quiet. All I heard was my pulse, roaring through my ears, and my ragged breathing. I gazed around at the shadowy, foaming beasts, not ten yards from me in any direction and just for a moment I felt calm. So this was the knowledge that you were about to die, that no one could help you, that it would all be over in a few short seconds.

In that brief moment between life and death, I looked between cars and saw a figure striding towards me, silhouetted black against the rain. Something bright gleamed in its hand, but then a Dog passed through my field of vision, and it was gone.

Survival instincts kicked in, and I ran.

Something hit me from behind, hard, and warmth spread over my neck and back, though there was no pain. The blow knocked me forward, and I stumbled, falling to my knees. A weight landed on me, screeching, tearing at me, and bright strips of fire began to spread across my shoulders. I screamed and flipped over, using my legs to shove it off, but another foaming creature filled my vision, and all I could see was its face and teeth and blank, dead, eyes, lunging forward. My hands shot out, slamming into its jaw, keeping those snapping teeth away from my face. It snarled and sank its fangs into my wrists, chewing and tearing, but I barely felt the pain. All I could think about was keeping the teeth from my throat, though I knew its claws were ripping open my chest and stomach- I had to keep it away from my throat

And then the others closed in, screaming ripping. An the last thing I remembered, before the bloody red haze finally melted into darkness, was a flash of something bright and the Dog’s body dropping onto my chest while its head continued to bite my arm

Then there was nothing.

When I woke up, I knew I was in hell. My whole body was on fire, or at least it felt that way, though I couldn’t see the flames. It was dark and I light rain was falling from the sky, which I found strange for hell. Then a dark figure loomed above me, jet-black eyes boring into mine.

“Can you hear me?” His voice, low and calm. I opened my mouth to reply, but only a choked gurgle escaped. What was wrong with me? It felt as if my mouth and throat were clogged with warm mud.

“Don’t try to speak.” The soothing voice broke through my agony and confusion. “Listen to me, human. You’re dying. The damage the Black Dogs did to you is extreme. You only have a few minutes left in this world.” He leaned closer, face intense. “Do you understand what I’m telling you?”

Barely. My head felt heavy, and everything was foggy and surreal. The pain was still there, but seemed far away now, as if I was disconnected from my body. I tried raising my head to see the extent of my wounds, but the Stanger put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me. “No,” he said gently, easing me back. “Don’t look. Its better that you do not see. Just know that, whatever you choose, you will die today. The manner of your death, however, is up to you.”

“Wha-“I choked on that warm wetness, spat it out to clear my throat. “What do you mean?” I rasped, my voice sounding weird in my ears. The stranger regarded me without expression.

“I’m giving you a choice,” he said. “You are intelligent enough to know what I am, what I am offering. I watched your struggle to fight, to live, when most people would have lain down and died, I saw…Potential.”

"I can end the pain," he continued, smoothing a strand of hair from my eyes. "I can offer you release from the mortal coil, and I promise that you will not spend the rest of eternity as one of them.” He nodded to a pale body, crumpled against a tire a few yards away. “I can give you that much peace, at least.”

“Or?” I whispered. He sighed

“Or… I can make you one of us. I can drain you to the point of death, and give you my blood, so that when you die you will rise again… as an immortal. A vampire. It will be a different life, and perhaps not one that you would suffer through. Perhaps you would rather be dead with your soul intact than exist forever without one. But the choice, and the manner of your death, is up to you.”

I lay there, trying to catch my breath, my mind reeling. I was dying. I was dying, and this stranger- this vampire- was offering me a way out.

Die as a human, or become a bloodsucker. Either way the choice was death, because vampires were dead, they just had the audacity to keep living- walking corpses that preyed on humans to survive. I hated the vampires; everything about them- their city, their pets, their domination of the human race- I despised with my entire being. They had taken everything from me, everything that was important. I would never forgive them for what I had lost.

And id been so close to changing, so close to changing something. To maybe making a difference in this stupid, screwed-up world. I’d wanted to know what it was like tp not live under the vampire rule, not to be starving all the time, not having to shut everyone out because you were afraid they were going to die in front of you. Such a world had existed, once.

“You are running out of time, Little human”

The stranger, the vampire, still knelt beside me, waiting for my answer. I looked up into his dark eyes and made my decision.