We are mending well, luckily none of us suffered from any serious injuries, otherwise, we’d be laid up for weeks. Although with the way the war is going, we are likely to be stuck in Gaza for a while.

The Corporal is proactively helping the rebels with their plans. Now that the EEF has withdrawn from Gaza, the Arab Revolt will have to take up the brunt of harassing the Ottomans.

14th May 1917 – Gaza

I don’t think Private O’Donnell, Maggie, understands what bedrest means.

The doc keeps telling her that she needs to rest up or her cracked ribs won’t heal properly. However, Maggie is constantly out training, pushing herself until she collapses in bed, physically exhausted, every night.

I heard her asking to be included in any missions that involve harassing the Ottomans, but the Corporal assigned her to train the local rebels instead. He told her that she could join them after the doc gives her a full bill of health.

I just hope that Maggie doesn’t sneak off to blow up one of the Ottoman trains lines.

26th May 1917 – Gaza

Masud has the most freedom out of all of us. Being a Gaza local, he could move around the city without too much scrutiny.

He’s pretty much returned to his old life, although he still helps out with any missions we might have.

Of course, he’s also constantly badgering me to get news about his parents. They are well, thank god, otherwise, I have a feeling he might trek all the way across enemy lines to go look for them.

He still has to be careful, of course, some soldiers might recognise him from the night at the Mosque, but he doesn’t have to stay cooped up in the hills like the rest of us do.

8th June 1917 – Gaza

My Arabic is getting better – with nothing better to do, I have taken the opportunity to learn the language from our rebel hosts.

The skill has been most useful; it has allowed me to leave our hideout for the first time in weeks. I have wandered the city, unmolested, hidden under the layers of the local women’s conservative garb and have listened in on the town gossip. Pretending to be gathering water from the town well, I have overheard soldiers discussing their deployment schedule and patrol patterns.

The Corporal is worried about unnecessary risks, but he had to admit that all covered up, I had little chance of being recognised.

23rd June 1917 – Gaza

I have been hearing strange rumours of missing people around Gaza. Maz has also heard similar tales from his neighbours.

Apparently, people have been disappearing in the night, no sign of struggle or disturbances. They’d be last seen leaving a tavern or walking into their homes, and no one hears from them again.

The rebels are quite disturbed by this and have asked for our help in the investigation.

26th June 1917 – Gaza

Apparently, the Ottoman army has also been afflicted by this strange disappearance.

Maz was sent into the area of town where the Ottoman soldiers gather to see if he hears any talk of missing people. Apparently, the soldiers were in an uproar as they are treating the missing soldiers as deserters.

We had originally thought the soldiers were responsible for the disappearances, but if even their people are missing, we’ll have to expand our search further.

We have set our own patrols around the city in the hopes of catching someone.

8th July 1917 – Gaza

The missing people weren’t murdered, something much worse happened.

The following account doesn’t come close to conveying the true horror I experienced last night, but if I tried to write it with all the emotions I felt, I think I might go insane. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

It was late evening and I was going over the day’s patrol routes with the Corporal and Maggie when Maz come running in. One of the patrol groups was back early with news.

We went to the main meeting room where a very winded young man was trying to catch his breath. He tells us that they’d caught sight of the creature that was kidnapping people and his team are tracking it even now.

“It?” Maggie asked.

“It wasn’t human,” the young man gasped, “I don’t know how else to explain it, but we’d need weapons.”

We were sceptical but we gathered as many abled bodies as we could, loaded ourselves with weapons and set off.

The young man explained, as he led us through the countryside outside Gaza, that he and his men had caught sight of a monster carrying an unconscious man over his shoulder leaping from building to building.

Again, we asked him what he meant by a monster, but he just shook his head and said we had to see it to believe it.

We arrived at the foot of another rocky hillside, one of the many that surround Gaza, where the patrol team had stationed another of its members to wait for us.

“The creature went up that way,” The rebel woman said, pointing to the half-hidden path up the hillside.

The trek was not particularly hard, and we made good time, clambering up large rocks and over loose stones.

Halfway up the hill, we were surprised by the presence of a man standing on an outcropping. The man was well-dressed in a light coloured 3-piece suit, his hair was groomed and slicked back under a straw fedora. Surrounded by the rough hills of Gaza, he looked completely out of place.

Maggie was immediately on the defensive, “Who are you?”

“Well met.” The man said, ignoring the question. His voice had a slight American twang. He lifted his hat in greeting.

“That’s the man I saw on the night of the Mosque.” Maz interrupted.

I was suspicious, but I wasn’t about to shoot a possible ally; for all I knew he worked for the Americans and was on a similar mission to us.

“What are you doing here?” Maggie demanded.

“I’m here to give you some information.”

“What kind of information?” I asked.

“I believe you are tracking a creature who’s been kidnapping locals?” Although he phrased it like a question, we all knew it was rhetorical.

“What about it?” Maggie asked. She didn’t look like she’d have any qualms about shooting the man, information or no. “Do you know it?”

“No, but I know its master. I thought you might be interested in knowing why he’s kidnapping people.”

“You going to tell us, or keep us guessing?” Maggie snapped.

“He’s looking for you three.” He indicated to Maggie, Maz and me. “Although he doesn’t know it’s you specifically.”

“Stop speaking in riddles,” Maggie said, “we have no time for this.”

“Why does he want us?” I asked.

“You have something that he wants.”

“He’s of no help to us,” Maggie said to me impatiently. I could tell she just wanted to keep going and leave this man behind.

“I would help you later, but not now.” The man was being unreasonably cryptic and even I was getting tired of it.

He must have noticed because he added, “I can’t tell you much more now, because you wouldn’t believe me. But it would all make sense in the future.”

Before we can begin to move, he added, “I would, however, give you one piece of advice now… Give him what he wants.”

He held up a hand as I opened my mouth to speak, “Let me preempt your question; I can’t tell you what it is, but you’ll know it when it happens.”

Maggie grunted in exasperation and pushed past the man, continuing up the hillside. Maz followed, looking at the man sidelong as he went past.

I didn’t want to be rude, but there really wasn’t anything left to say, and the man didn’t look like he was waiting for a protracted farewell.

I was a few steps past him when I remembered one last question.

I turned around to see him watching us. He cocked his head as if anticipating my query.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

“Cormac.”

It did not take us long to catch up with the rest of the patrolling team.

After leaving the strange man behind us, it took us only another 10 minutes of climbing to find the rest of the rebel patrol. They were hiding behind an outcropping, keeping watch on a cave entrance in the side of the hill.

They looked relieved to see us. Apparently, the creature had gone in 30 minutes ago and strange sounds had been coming out of the cave.

We were still trying to figure out whether to go in or not – Maggie, predictably, wanted to go in gun blazing – when we saw movement at the mouth of the cave.

It was hard to process what I was seeing, what we were all seeing, at first.

The creature – for it certainly was a creature – was moving strangely as it lumbered out of the shadows of the cave. It stepped out into the light of the full moon and I felt all the breath leave my body.

My eyes skidded over arms and legs and a head – thank god there was just one head because there was an excess of all the others.

It was humanoid – or at least made from human parts – but of mismatching sizes and skin tones.

It reminded me of clay figurines I’ve seen children make – albeit multiple figurines smashed into one individual, with various appendages sticking out of the main torso in random locations.

The skin and muscles looked like it had been pressed and moulded by rough fingers… I could see indentations in the flesh as if someone had pressed down too hard.

Exclamations of horror came from the rebels as they scrambled away from the cave and down the hillside. Maggie cursed and pulled out her gun. She aimed it at the creature but Maz reacted by pushing the weapon down before she could shoot.

“Don’t. There could be more in there and the gunshot would bring them out.”

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t terrified, but in the face of all the chaos, my mind remained surprisingly calm. My attention was caught by the creature’s expression.

The creature was watching the fleeing rebels with what looked like sadness… and despair.

Trusting my instincts, I stepped out from behind the rocks, my hands raised up over my head.

“I’m unarmed,” I said out loud. Behind me, I could hear Maggie exclaiming in outrage at my stupidity.

“I just want to talk,” I added.

The creature didn’t move, it just watched me warily as I approached.

As I got closer to the cave’s entrance I could see that Maz’s judgment was correct, there were indeed more shapes moving within the shadow of the cave.

A soft sound stops me in my tracks, it took a second repetition before I realised it was coming from the creature in front of me.

“Sa…ve….ussssss.”

It sounded strained as if the moan was squeezed from a throat that could no longer make sounds.

I don’t know which was more horrific, that the creature looked like a melted wax puppet, or that it was trying and failing to speak.

I suppressed a shudder and nodded, “We’ll try, but we’ll need your help too. Who is responsible for all this? Who do you work for?”

The creature turned its head and looked back into the cave. It could be a coincidence, but at the same time, a screech of terror echoed from within its depths.

“Sa…ve….” the creature repeated, pointing into the cave.

Whatever Maz was doing to hold back Maggie obviously wore off because the Private stormed up behind me, gun out but aimed at the ground.

“That’s enough talking. If these monsters aren’t going to attack us, then we’re going in.”

She didn’t even wait for a response, she just brushed past me and into the cave.

Maz and I exchanged a glance before also drawing our weapons and following. It seemed like it would just be the three of us.

The creature and its peers moved out of our way as we went deeper into the hillside and we tried to not look too closely at all the different types of nightmares made flesh as we went past.

In the back of the cave, there was a sharp bend that opened to a lit passageway.

We followed its sloping descent and very quickly the passageway widened into a large open cave. The area was tiered, with the opening at the ground level and a sloping floor leading up to a second and third tier at the back of the cave.

The ground level took up the most space in the cave, an open area littered with rows upon rows of man-sized cages.

As we made our way past them we could see the contents more clearly.

Some of them were inhabited by humans – most likely those who have gone missing in the last couple of weeks – but most of them were filled with creatures not unlike those we met at the mouth of the cave.

Pity and anger started a slow boil in my guts as I took in the sight around me. It didn’t take a genius to figure out some terrible experiment was being conducted here.

A few of the captives spied us entering the cave, but we motioned for quiet and they stayed silent. The cages were tall, so we couldn’t get a clear view of the back of the cave but we could hear sounds of activity from that direction.

We had cleared the rows of cages and were a few steps up the sloping floor when we finally saw him – the lord and master of this horror show.

Whatever experiment he was inflicting on the captives, he had apparently subjected himself to it as well.

On the whole, he had the shape of a well-built man, muscles in his arms and chest visible through an elaborately embroidered jacket. His skin was smooth, no presence of the finger marks on his flesh, but it had the same melted quality to it as the creatures outside.

His head had the most modifications; he was bald and all his facial features had been smoothed away with only ridges and crevasses visible due to the bone structures underneath. Around the side of his face, muscles and ligaments can be seen moving and flexing under the skin. And in place of ears, two large flaps of cartilage stretched up above his head looking like horns or maybe bat ears.

And he was not the most terrible thing we saw. We were witnessing, firsthand, the horrific procedure this monster was performing on those he’d kidnapped.

The top tier of the cave was outfitted like a medical or scientific lab. Flasks and beakers lay strewn on a bench lining the back wall. A bunsen burner was heating the contents a half-filled glass beaker.

And a man was strapped onto a gurney, naked, in the middle of the makeshift laboratory.

The monster was bent over his captive, murmuring to himself as he ran his fingers along the naked man’s arm.

I watched, horrified, as the skin under his touch rippled and stretched, something pushing through from beneath the skin… then the skin split… a sharp bone jutted out from the captive’s arm.

The man screamed and thrashed within the confines of his restraints.

The ragged cry woke us from our horrified stupor.

I raised my gun, but Maggie rushed past me, roaring like some half-crazed animal.

She seemed to have forgotten she was armed. Instead, she threw herself at the monster.

The creature didn’t even hesitate. Almost casually, he backhanded Maggie and she went flying into one of the walls.

Beakers and scientific equipment shattered upon impact and glass shards accompanied Maggie as she fell to the ground.

I tried to move forward, but the creature turned his head to look at me and commanded, “Stay.”

Instantly all the muscles in my body locked up and I froze where I stood.

I couldn’t understand what was happening. I tried moving my arms, flexing a finger… nothing.

It was like the moment my mind formulated the thought, it dissipated like smoke.

I couldn’t hold onto a single command long enough for it to travel to my body. I just stood there, impassive.

In the corner of my eyes, I saw Maz similarly standing with his hands at his sides, staring up at the monster, wide-eyed and confused.

The monster walked over to where Maggie was struggling to rise. He looked down at her, head cocked as if examining an unfamiliar creature.

”Now what do we have here?”

Maggie was bleeding, sliced up from the wall of glass beakers she was thrown against. And from the way she was moving, I suspected one of her ribs was broken again.

Maggie pushed herself to her feet.

”Fuck you,” she spat.

Her defiance would be more believable if she wasn’t also swaying on her feet.

The creature sniffed the air, his movements oddly effeminate.

“Interesting,” he said, “you smell…”

He moved so quickly, I thought I had lost time. In the blink of an eye, he had Maggie by the throat and was pinning her against the wall.

He lifted her one-handed so that her face was in line with his.

Maggie kicked her legs, but the hold must be restricting her breathing because her movements were sluggish and feeble.

“…like something I’ve been looking for.” The monster nuzzled his face into Maggie’s neck. I heard Maggie choking for breath.

I struggled to gather my thoughts, to will my body to move. But again, I felt passivity swamp my mind. I couldn’t conceive of doing anything more than stand and watch.

It wasn’t until the creature turned his head that I realised he hadn’t been nuzzling Maggie.

He had been feeding.

There was blood on his lips and face, and blood was oozing out of a wound on the side of Maggie’s neck.

A scream built up in my head, and for a moment I felt my arms and fingers twitch. I think I may even have moaned.

But the creature turned his eyes on me and my thoughts went cloudy once more.

A haze settled over me as he turned his face back to Maggie’s neck.

This time I heard soft slurping sounds… I felt my gorges rise.

What’s worse, Maggie wasn’t fighting anymore; perversely, her face had taken on a look of pleasure. She’d wrapped her arms around his neck and he had removed his hand from her throat and was, instead, cradling her body.

The pose would have looked like a lover’s embrace if I didn’t know better.

But I did.

I’ve read the stories, I know the myths, I know what this creature was.

As hard to believe as it was, we have come face to face with a vampire.

I wasn’t sure how long the feeding lasted, I think my mind was rebelling against what it was witnessing. But when it was finally over, Maggie lay pale and unmoving in the creature’s arm.

With what looked nearly like tenderness the creature moved Maggie’s face towards his own neck.

The creature sliced a line in his own throat with a fingernail. Coating his finger in his own blood, he smeared the red liquid on Maggie’s lips.

For the longest moment, Maggie lay still… then she twitched and, almost mechanically, she moved her head to the wound in the creature’s neck.

I would have turned away then if I could, but my body remained outside of my control and I was trying very hard not to think about my own fate.

When it was all over, Maggie sat on the floor, propped up against the wall, blood coating her face and dribbling down her chin. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving, her chest did not rise or fall.

My examination of Maggie’s physical state was interrupted when the vampire blinked into my field of vision. One moment he was crouched beside Maggie, the next he was standing in front of me, peering first at me and then at Maz.

“I wonder,” the vampire said, more to himself than to anyone in particular.

He picked up Maz’s unresisting arm and, with the same sharp fingernail he used on himself, slashed at Maz’s wrist.

I saw Maz’s body jerk in pain, but he did not make a sound and he did not move when the vampire stuck out his tongue and lapped at the blood flowing from the cut.

Even in my passive state, I felt a twinge of surprise when I saw the cut on Maz’s wrist close up after the vampire’s tongue passed over it.

For a moment I was distracted, was there some healing properties in a vampire’s saliva?

“Two in one night!” The vampire’s exclamation pulled me out of my musing. He was smacking his lips as if savouring a taste.

He turned to face me, and I saw a speculative glint in his eyes. From this distance, I could see that they were blue and disturbingly human-looking.

“Could you, also, be what I’m looking for?”

I felt the flash of pain as he slashed at my wrist, and then the wet warmth as he licked it.

“As I suspected,” he licked a stray drop of blood – my blood – from his lips.

I saw suspicion flash across his features before he banished it with the shake of his head and a wry grin. The human expression looked horrific in the monstrous visage that was his face.

“I guess it doesn’t matter if you were sent by someone. You have no idea how hard I’ve worked to find you and your ilk. All that matters now is that you are here and my plans can finally move forward.”

He moved up to me and all I could see were his eyes and face.

I want to say that I fought him, both in body and mind. But truth was, the moment his fangs pierced my neck… everything went away.

My awareness of my surroundings, the memory of the last few moments, the creature who now had me cradled in his arms… all of it became inconsequential. Instead, a pleasurable fog enclosed around me and I lost myself to it.

For the briefest of moments, I remembered Cormac’s advice about giving the monster what he wanted.

It’s not like I would have said no, I’d thought hazily.

I remember crying out when the vampire stopped.

The loss was immense, but something warm was at my lips and I was suddenly so thirsty.

I lapped at the liquid… it was like milk and honey, and a touch of something infinitely warmer.

The pleasure I felt before was nothing compared to what I felt as I suckled at the vampire’s neck…

Even though I feel shame as I write these words, I could not deny the fact that should he make the same offer now, I would accept.

In fact, I feel a slight ache thinking about it now… But that’s neither here nor there.

When it was all over, I had but one glimpse of the vampire stalking over to Maz before it all faded to black.

When I woke up, I knew something had changed… irrevocably.

There was a hollowness in my chest, and a kind of ringing in my ears. It took me a moment to realise what it was, and I put my fingers on my wrist to double-check.

My heart wasn’t beating anymore.

The unobtrusive beat that had always echoed through my body was now conspicuously missing.

“You noticed that too, huh?” Maggie’s voice interrupted my panicking.

I looked up, and for the first time, I noticed my surroundings.

Sometimes while we were unconscious the three of us had been put into one of the larger cages on the ground level of the cave. I don’t know how much time had passed, but all the occupants in the other cages were ignoring us now. It seemed that now that we were no longer the means of escape we were of no interest anymore.

Maggie was crouched in one corner watching me warily and Maz was lying, unconscious, next to me.

Before I could form a response, footsteps approached the cage. Maggie and I scrambled to our feet and I nudged Maz with my foot to try to rouse him but all I got in response was a small groan.

I didn’t have time to do much more because the vampire came into view around the corner.

“I figured you’d be awake.” The vampire said, flashing his fangs at us as he neared. I shuddered at the sight of them and I couldn’t rightly say whether it was in horror or with desire…

He looked down at Maz’s prone form, “That one should be waking up soon too.”

As though we had some unspoken agreement, Maggie and I stayed as far away from the vampire as was possible while he circled the cage. When he stopped at the cage’s door, we standing right next to Maz’s unconscious form.

Like a deer caught in headlights, I couldn’t take my eyes away from the vampire as he pulled out a key to unlock the cage.

Next to me, Maggie was coiled fury, and I expected that she’d launch herself at the vampire if given the chance.

The vampire did not give her that chance.

He looked at us and said those dreaded words.

“Stay.”

Just like before, those words pin me where I stood.

Unlike last time though, I felt an unfamiliar rush of rage at being restrained. I struggled, and to my surprise, found the hazy cloud lift from my thoughts. I still couldn’t move my body, but at least my mind was clear.

The vampire had unlocked the cage while I was struggling internally, and had crouched down next to Maz. He picked up the unconscious boy’s wrist, sliced it, and brought it to his lips.

How many times does he intend to drink from us?

But it looked like he’d barely got a taste before his expression changed. He dropped Maz’s wrist in disgust.

“It didn’t work.” He looked confused, “That doesn’t make any sense.”

He turned to Maggie and me and, without a word, sliced both our wrists. He licked first mine, then Maggie’s wounds. He rolled the blood in his mouth like someone tasting wine.

“That didn’t work either. Why?” The vampire was getting agitated now, he paced the interior of the cage, occasionally throwing us the suspicious glance.

Nothing he said or did made any sense to me, and I did not have the luxury to mull over his words. I could feel the bonds over my body slipping; maybe because the vampire was distracted, but I could twitch my fingers and flex the muscles in my leg.

I tried to keep my movements small, I did not want the vampire to see what I was doing and clamp down even harder with his powers.

If only there was some kind of distraction…

My request was answered in the form of a loud explosion by the cave entrance. Dust and debris rained down on us and I saw the vampire flinch and duck instinctively. I felt the bonds around me slip even further and it was the chance I was waiting for.

I focused my will and rage and mentally pushed… I strained, and something around my mind snapped.

I felt my body stagger forward.

I was free!

I looked around to see if the vampire noticed, but he was no longer in the cage. He’d done his speeding thing and had made his way towards the cave entrance… where the strange man we had met earlier, Cormac, was standing with a rifle aimed at the vampire.

For a split second our eyes met and he shouted, “Run!”

Then he started firing into the vampire.

I did not wait to see whether gunfire could hurt a vampire. I ran.

Or at least, I moved. One second I was in the cage, the next I was halfway up the slope to the second tier of the cave. I looked around, disorientated.

More gunfire made me turn back to the cave entrance.

It seemed Cormac had not come alone; our allies from the Arab Revolt were back and they were firing their weapons at the quickly dodging vampire. It seemed the vampire’s speed wasn’t just a trick of the mind, he really was dashing across the cave quite rapidly. And our soldiers were having a hard time pinning him down.

By this point, all the captives in the cages – whether human or otherwise – were crying out in terror. Some cries were in pain though as random bullets found their marks in their flesh.

I made a quick judgment call and ran back to the cage where Maggie was. This time I made the conscious decision to move quickly, and I was at the cage in a flash.

Maz had apparently woken up during the commotion and was now crouching on the floor with Maggie – apparently whatever compulsion was over us had broken – and both trying to avoid the flying bullets.

“You’ve got to get out of here!” I shouted over the din. I pulled out the key that was still in the cage’s door.

Without waiting for their reply, I rushed away to one of the nearby cages. I didn’t have time to look at its inhabitants, I just unlocked the door and swung it open.

“Go! And be careful not to get shot!”

Again, I did not wait for a response but dashed to the next cage in the row.

Even with my newfound speed – the implications of which I was trying very hard not to think about – it was slow progress; there were just too many cages.

Suddenly, Cormac was by my side.

He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me away from the cage I was trying to unlock. Its inhabitant trumpeted in pain as a ricocheting bullet hit its flank.

“What are you doing?” I yelled, I tugged free of Cormac’s grip and went back to unlocking the cage’s door.

“What are you doing?” He yelled back, but he didn’t try to yank me from the cage again, “I thought I told you to run.”

I opened the cage door and jumped out of the way as the creature inside stampeded out and ran for the freedom of the cave’s entrance. I saw some of the rebel soldiers dive out of its way as it went past.

“I promised that I would save the people in here,” I explained. I hastened to the next cage where a creature with no arms stared at me pitifully.

“What you’re doing isn’t saving anyone,” Cormac said harshly. “None of these creatures are going to survive out in the wild.”

“You don’t know that!” I opened the cage door wide, but the armless creature just stood there. It was now staring at Cormac mutely.

“Look,” Cormac voice was gentler now, “the monster who made this place is on the run, or nearly will be, so you’ve already done as you promised; these creatures are saved from a life of captivity and endless horror.”

“However, there is no place for them out there.” Cormac gestured to the cave entrance. “The kindest thing to do is to end their suffering here.”

I was waving my arm at the creature in the cage, trying to indicate it was free to leave, but it just kept looking between Cormac and me. The expression on its face was so hopeful, not for the freedom I offered but for the release Cormac mentioned.

I felt tears building up, and I blinked my eyes rapidly to stop them from forming.

“I should do it…” I said. I reached for my gun, but Cormac just shook his head.

“There’s not enough time. You don’t feel it yet, but sunrise is just a couple of hours away. I need to get you and your two friends away somewhere safe before that happens.”

“Sunrise…?”

“I’ll explain the details later. For now, don’t worry about the creatures, I’ve told your compatriots what to do,” Cormac gestured at the rebel soldiers who were filing into the cave now that the vampire had been driven away.

At my hesitation, Cormac added, “They’ll be kind. They understand that these creatures were victims of a heinous crime.”

I nodded and let Cormac lead me out of the cave.

And that’s how we became vampires.

That sounded flippant and I’m not, let me assure you; in my mind, I still see that armless creature in the cell silently begging for death.

I do not want to be the same race as the one responsible for that kind of suffering, much less related to him.

That was something Cormac told us: Sirinus, the one who turned us – embraced us – is our sire and us, his childe, so in a metaphysical sense, Sirinus is our father.

Cormac says that for a while because of that bond, if we were to see Sirinus again, we would feel affection for him, and wouldn’t be able stop ourselves from wanting to do his bidding.

It’s a terrifying thing to consider.

Cormac is our resident guru on all things vampires now because, surprise-surprise, he’s a Kindred too. Kindred = vampire

All the way back to Cormac’s apartment last night he had drilled basic vampiric knowledge into our heads.

It seems there are a lot of dangers involved with being an undead, and Cormac wanted to make sure we knew all of them so we can avoid getting killed.

It was very late (or very early, depending on your point of view) when we arrived at Cormac’s home – a neat set of apartments hidden in a forgotten part of Gaza – and we had barely half an hour to wash all the grime and blood off our bodies before the rising sun drove us all into unconsciousness.

When we woke up this evening, Cormac informed us that we are not to leave his apartment without his supervision.

He tells us that as part of the vampire condition, we have been imbued with a bestial urge that pushes us to feed with abandon if we’re not careful. So, until he is sure we have all our baser instincts under control, we will only leave the apartment under his supervision.

In fact, Cormac is out with Maz right now; he’s teaching him how to feed.

Maggie already had her turn earlier tonight. She had gone straight into her room when they had returned. I think I can hear the murmurs of prayers through the door…

and I think I smell the blood that clings to her… a remnant of her earlier activities…

I’ve been writing this account of events of the past two nights because I had hoped it would take my mind off the throat-clawing hunger that’s been growing in me for the past couple hours.

I was fine when we first woke up, which is why I volunteered to be last, but writing about feeding… and smelling the blood…

I think I hear the front door open. The others must be back.

Later the same night

The experience of feeding… I need a little time to wrap my mind around it…