Mara the Wicked (A "Dead Seed" story)

Eleven: Memories

"I should have just let you die."

The blurry image Thomas' memory appeared before Mara in the water. Thomas was her sire, the vampire who had created her.

"I've created a true monster — one who lurks in the nightmares of children."

Those had been his last words to her. The night she killed her creator had been the third time he caught her feeding from a child. He had been understanding, but firm, the first time.

"I understand the temptation, but you must never do it," He had said that first time he found a dead child in her arms.

The second time he was angry with her and made her swear she would never do it again.

Of course she had never intended to keep that promise.

Not even a week later she had lured a five year old from his bed — a red-haired freckle-faced child. She invited him to go to the playground with her and had spun him on the merry-go-round until he was so dizzy he couldn't walk right. As he stumbled, she caught him and sank her fangs into his neck. He cried while she drank from him ... then his small body went limp in her arms and she let him drop on the ground right there beside the merry-go-round.

That's when Thomas found her.

He swore to kill her then. She couldn't be trusted and he needed to take care of his mistake.

That's when Mara used her magic. She shielded her own eyes with one arm and used her free hand to create a bright light in Thomas' face. Blinded, he stumbled backwards.

Mara had been prepared. She knew Thomas would try to kill her when he saw she had killed another child. She had tucked a wooden stake into her belt under her shirt before leaving their house for the night. While Thomas was blinded, she drew the stake and stabbed him in the heart, killing him instantly.

These were the images plaguing Mara's mind while she was under the water now. It was daytime — the sun shining brightly over the water. Day what? She wasn't sure. She had seen the sun rise and fall so many times she had lost count. It must have been weeks, maybe even months since Aimeric had thrown her down here. The sun was bright enough to sting her eyes, but she was deep enough in the water that it didn't cause the rest of her pain.

At night, it was completely dark. The flashlight in the dead woman's hands had gone out a long time ago. Mara was starving. Helpless. No one had come for her. Aimeric hadn't even come to taunt her. Every now and then, there would be a splash and another body from Aimeric's prison would join her. But that was it. She never saw anyone else. The only other life down here was the fish. They floated past her as if she were a decoration in a fish tank. Unless they were hungry, then they nibbled at her, eating parts of her skin and hair.

She was going mad with starvation and loneliness. The images of her past haunted her when she was awake. Her hunger woke her when she tried to sleep. During the night, her mind attacked her.

"You're worthless!"

Mara's step-father appeared to her during the worst parts of her madness. He was there with her under the water, somehow breathing, walking on the floor of the pond. He paced in front of her, shaking his head. Hands on his hips. She had always been a disappointment to him.

"Ugly."

"Stupid."

"Cunt."

These were the names he would call her while he was beating her and what he repeated now to torment her while she was trapped beneath the pond. It had gone on for years when she was a child until she discovered she had the power to stop it. When she was fifteen, she had accidentally burned her step-father's face when he was beating her. White light had burst from her hands, searing the skin on his cheeks and nose.

The smell of burnt flesh and the sound of his scream was forever locked in her mind. He had looked at her like she was a freak once he had stopped screaming. That's when she ran away. She left and never looked back.

Mara had tried to discover the origin of her powers, but had never found an explanation. Not having anyone to help her, she had come up with her own theories: she wasn't from this planet (that seemed the least likely); she was a witch; she was simply special and superior to everyone else.

The latter is what she went with. She learned to control her power and use it whenever she needed. She seduced men for money and drugs when she didn't use her powers to rob them. That's how she made her way in life after running away from home.

Six years after leaving her abusive parents behind, she met Thomas. They became fast friends — Thomas feeling sorry for her and the abuse she had gone through. He wanted to help her, to save her. But she was too far gone for that.

Once she discovered what he was, she had begged him to turn her. He refused until she didn't give him a choice. One day, after begging and him refusing, she slit her own wrist. Thomas had fallen in love with her and couldn't watch her die, so he hastily turned her.

It wasn't long after that she had tasted her first child.

"And now look at you, you pathetic little cunt."

Mara's step-father stood before her now. Taunting her there under the water. He took off his belt and hit her. Mara screamed as the belt hit her face. The water didn't slow it down. It lashed at her face, her chest, her arms. She felt every hit from the belt that wasn't really there.

Mara screamed under the water, the muffled sound scaring off a group of fish that had swam near to peck off pieces of meat from the bodies.

She had been picked at by these fish the entire time she had been under here. Where her skin wasn't falling off, she had chunks missing from where they fed from her. A living, rotting corpse was all she was. Her skin was gray and water-logged. Her eyes bulged.

But she wouldn't die.