Recalled to Life

II

          I could not believe my eyes, and though I knew even back then that seeing was not believing, somehow I realized that this was what my reality now was: tainted and filed with the very evil I had, in my mortal years, been continuously warned against.

         The foreboding iron doors were opened, and it led straight into an elaborate underground chamber. My captor and I descended marble steps and presently stepped onto a crimson, plush rug that ran the entire length of the room: a red carpet, a carpet stained in blood.

         The black-robed BloodDrinkers shut the thick door behind me, sealing my fate, but now similar beings dressed in a blazing scarlet lined both walls on either side of me. Their hoods were drawn, preventing me from seeing even their eyes, and the only flash of color apart from the porcelain lower portion of their face, was their unmoving and rigid lips. They were red, no, crimson- they had just fed. The tingling, burning sensation that came from preternatural hunger overtook me as I noticed what flowed just beyond the hems of their robes. I knew what was in the small man-made rivers: blood, the blood of the innocents, from the previous room. But that couldn't be all of it, there must be something else- and when my gaze lifted, I understood with horror what was taking place. A satanic ritual, surely.

         The chamber was carved out of the very stone of the earth, allowing for infinite upwards space, all of which was in full use. Mortals hung, crucified on upside-down crosses, and they were slashed brutally so that their blood would flow down into the two opposing ceremonial rivers. Most of them were dead already, but the ones that weren't cried out softly and bitterly: they were whipped and beaten animals, I realized. They surely couldn't have had an actual life before their torment here. Nails were driven through their feet and their wrists, though I didn't have time to glance at their faces as I was led to the altar of the Damned. A large stained-glass image of a dragon-like serpent amidst a burning garden was there to greet me; its fiery eyes observed the whole chamber with a startling realism.

         "My fellow Kindred, we have gathered tonight –at the devil's hour, on the night of the full moon- to welcome our newest of childer."

            I knew the voice raised high in glorification to be Tzan, who stood a few steps above me upon the altar to the Devil. He was hooded and cloaked in scarlet just as the other BloodDrinkers were, but his robes were more ornate: gold trimmed the sleeves.

                "Not only has he withstood the test of time, but he has also passed the mortal and Immortal trials which have been set before him."

            Trials? Were the slaughtering of my family and the torture and potential death from the hands of the humans mere trials, tests meant to be passed or failed? And if so, had Tzan and the others of my bloodline knew I would succeed by killing my creators? They were more intelligent than what I had given them credit for, but that also showed their merciless ordeals and ethics. They would not hesitate to sacrifice for the greater good, and whether that sacrifice was a worthless mortal or one of their companions, I was sure they wouldn't hesitate to put me in line. And with so many willing participants around, my faults would surely be the prelude to my own death.

            My thoughts, with this realization, strayed back to Tzan who was already going on with my initiation speech.

           "Denounce your God, my child, and you will then truly be one of us blessed. There is no room for ill-fated prayers and betrayal in our eternal world."

           My eyes widened in horror at his proposition: no, it was not a proposal, it was a command. Denounce God and join them, or perish. But with my sins, would I not go to Hell either way? Still, even he spoke of betrayal as a horrible thing. What did that mean, then, if I betrayed my Lord and my God?