Ara : I Know...

Chapter 1: My Master

I opened my eyes everything seemed blurred. It was as if I awoke from a drunken stupor. My hands were unbound. I sat up. The room was glowing from a soft light. The source was unknown. I looked at the door.

"Don't even try." From the corner of the room came my captor's voice. "Ready?" In an instant and like magic he appeared before me.

"For what?" I asked. I can finally see his face and he looked far younger than me. His boyish haircut made him look like a teenager. "You?" I begin but he raises his hand to silence me.

"I am far older than you think. I stopped aging long ago. Are you ready?" He asks again.

I remain quiet as I study his face. His eyes seemed so innocent. Could he really kill me?

Suddenly he reaches forward and grabs at my neck. His grip is tight.

"These eyes have seen death so many times that death itself is like a friend and this hand need not use much strength to snap your neck." He leans close to me. "I have made my choice. Are you ready?" His breath is cold on my face.

He opens his mouth and attacks my neck. The pain is excruciating. I try to fight him off but his hold is too strong. I am barely able to move him. Soon I can feel my strength depleting until I can barely make a fist with my hand. It is then he pulls away.

His cold hands were now warm against my skin. He rested his forehead against mine. His lips were tainted with my blood.

"If I leave you now, you will die. Will you stand by me as my half-ling and do as I ask? In return I will give you a life worth living."

I am breathless from the pain and the coldness is starting to seep into my bones. I can't answer. I'm not sure I know the answer.

He pulls away and licks his lips of my blood until it is clean. He bites at his own wrist and offers it to me.

"Drink and live or turn away and die." He whispers yet his lips do not seem to move.

I look into his eyes and then to his lips. I lean into him with whatever strength I could conjure up. I take his hand and pull his wrist to my mouth. That first taste of that coppery red liquid was strange and it ran down my throat like fire. Yet I continued to drink. Soon his blood began to taste sweet and my thirst for it was like a person who had not had a drink of water in weeks.

He pulled away too soon and I pulled at him to bring him close.

"Enough" His voice was a little louder.

His hold on me loosened. He ran his hand through my hair. I licked my lips of his blood just like he had done. The corners of his mouth seemed to twitch upward into a smile.

Suddenly my whole body jerked in a spasm of pain. My body felt as if it was set on fire while tiny knives were thrust into my body. My chest and stomach felt as if it were being ripped from my body. I looked to him in panic.

He held me close to him in an embrace.

"Shhh....you're only dying. It won't last long. Just sleep." He rocked my body in his arms.

The pain climaxed and I shook in his arms.

Hansol

"You're name is Hansol." The blackness drowned everything out.

Instantly visions of my captor appeared before me. He was dressed in ancient clothing and talking in an old language. It was like watching a movie. I saw him in different styles of clothing from different eras and speaking foreign languages. I saw the lives he took and I saw few he had taken into his arms like he did to me. I felt his emotions. I felt his pleasure and his pain. I knew his heart.  These visions played fast through my mind before they too were swallowed up by the darkness and I was alone in it.