Unnamed Novel

Prologue - UnNamed Story

Prologue: The Spirit

The cave is lit by two dim candles. Candles burns in the distance, giving the room a vanilla aroma, an ancient alter stained in blood rests in the middle of the cave. A small breeze from the entrance of the cave smells like the sea. A woman wears an ancient black robe. A hood covers her hair, revealing little facial features. She has dark red eyes, pale skin and blood drips from her lips. A man is tied up in front of the alter, bleeding, with bite marks around his body. He is dying slowly, he cries out in pain. She laughs deviously and walks up to the man, she kicks him until he stops screaming. She kneels down and checks for a pulse. He was still alive.

"Claudia - it is time for the ritual to begin." Commands an emotionless voice with a strong African accent. A man dressed in similar black robes walks up to her, and kisses her. His hood is down revealing dark skin and similar red eyes. He has no hair and he looks over to the dying man.

"He will make an excellent sacrifice. Where did you find him at?" he asks, after kissing Claudia. He looks around the room, checking that preparations were prepared for the ritual.

"I found this one at the tavern. He was drunk when I brought him here, hopefully he has sobered up by now." She states looking down at the body. She grins a little and pulls her clothed hand and wipes the blood dripping from her lips.

"He was already bit. Why did you bite him?" asks the man with a small hint of anger in his voice. Claudia shrugs her shoulders and smiles at him. She leans up and kisses him and whispers into his ear.

"I told you, I was hungry. He'll live for the ritual. Hurry up, I doubt he has more than a few minutes left" she notes, noticing that body was starting to breath heavier. The man nods quickly and walks up to the ancient alter. There is a obsidian tomb on top of the alter. He stands at the altar, calling over Claudia.

"Ma'love, I need you to unbind him and blow out the lights and the candles." He tells her, she gets to work. She quickly unbinds the dying man from rope that she tied him so many hours ago. He is starting to slip into unconscious. She goes over to the torches and blows them out, along with the candles. Dragging the body to the front of the alter and in front of the African, she sighs.

"Are you ready to begin?" she asks, anxious to watch the ritual. She has been doing the Africans hunting for weeks now, preparing and gathering bodies until he found the right one to perform the ritual with. Now it didn't matter, it was the last night of the Fall season and if he didn't do the ritual tonight; the chances to rid them of immortality would be lost for another decade.

"Yes" he says, starting to chant the ancient words from the tomb facing him. His eyes roll back as he chants, his voice getting deeper and deeper. The room suddenly starts to drop temperature and Claudia starts to shiver. This was a positive sign, her people never got cold.

"Good! It's working! Keep chanting" she shouts to him, doubting he can hear her speak. He was possessed now, by the spirit of a God.

"Claudia Fatherless - you wish to rid yourself of immortality?" questions the African, turning to her. The ritual was a success, an ancient spirit successfully bonded with the African. This was the first part of the ritual. The ancient God needed to work quickly or the body resting at the altar would die.

"Yes, I wish to free myself of this curse. I have lived too long and I wish to finally sleep without waking up" she states, looking at the African. The African shakes her head at her. She gasps quietly and moves back.

"How dare you consider your blessing a curse? You believe you live with a curse! You visited me over a century ago asking for immortality and now you wish for me to revoke it? No! I deny your offering. You will live a thousand more years before I visit you again." States the spirit, then air suddenly became warm. The body shouted in one last final scream and died. Claudia stood motionless at the African fell to the ground his eyes returned to normal. Without a second glance, she turned back and left the cave and her husband.