Danisque was a bastard.
'Danisque is a Bastard.'
Danisque thought to himself.
What is a bastard though? Its a status. In flesh Danisque was a human and the blood that flowed within him was of one of the seven most ancient families. Hermis Palend. His blood itself made him unique. A good fucking bastard. Danisque hence had never looked down on himself even if everyone else did.
Instead, the boy took pride in it.
However bastards, no matter how special they are... they still remain to be outcasts at the very least in the eyes of society. Due to this, Danisque never fully integrated into society and at a point... he had given up on those lofty sentiments as well. The duality of humankind was something that the bastard knew very well.
In fact most nobles did. It was something taught to them and something even peasants would slowly learn in Troy as they would become a hero.
The test itself, the assessment where the cohort had to traverse the harsh environment of Viablentis was already one to give the students a first hand glimpse into the core of the human heart. Hunger. Pain. Agony. Betrayal. Resentment. Sacrifice. The assessment had barely scratched the surface but Danisque had learnt a lot.
He felt... a little more human...
And yet,
When he stared at his friend that had carved his fangs into Knoncan, the tall dependable giant... Danisque felt none of the emotions.
It was strange.
Danisque could not understand.
He was human wasnt he?
Then why was it that when Vesper whose eyes were now glowing red and skin pale as a sheet, his body longer and nails transformed into blades with hair as tough as steel... and a delightful smirk hanging across his face. mouth full of blood and flesh... that Danisque felt absolute... apathy...?
'Maybe, I am not much human myself?'
How could he be?
Werent Vampyres the nemesis of humanity?
This was the moment where Danisque was supposed to show a shred of courage, be gallant... oppose the Evil Vampyre Monarch that once enslaved all of humanity. One of the three devils himself.
But.
Danisque did not feel like doing so.
Neither did he feel hatred nor did he feel much love.
'No wonder. I am truly a bastard... through and through.'
Instead Dansique stared at Vesper as he slowly approached Amanda. The Bastard knew that the two had shared an intimate relationship. It would be stupid not to know, no matter what the two thought… in the air of Viablentis where sound would travell to every corner of the it… the moans definitely travell to their tents.
And now….?
Vesper was devouring the poor girl as well. A hint of pity surfaced in Danisque's eyes as he wondered what his friend's reaction would be when he would come back to his senses.
The bastard watched as color drained out of the girl's body as she whimpered and ultimately fell as a pale corpse, withered as her skin turned wrinkled and her hair turned white.
Now whose next? Danisque wondered.
Surprisingly, until now… Vesper had not approached him.
A stroke of luck? He did not know.
Instead… Vesper approached the sleeping Adam. Danisque winced slightly and looked away… not wanting to witness the beast grotesquely devour another fellow human being.
Now rather, the bastard stared at Luscaine. If this was where he was supposed to die… he did not mind it. A Bastard's Life was tough and Dansique hated everything tough… even though he would persevere.
What he did not expect… was Luscaine staring back at him… and even…. Nod at him?
A shiver went down his spine.
The Vampyre Monarch had acknowledged him.
An existence standing at the peak of the mountain. Bane of all humanity and one of the three oldest beings to exist.
For some reason… Danisque felt a warmness in his heart and when he touched his face, the bastard noticed…
'Am I… smiling?'
It wasn't an evil smile or a smile relishing horror or even a polite one… it certainly wasn't pleasant but it surely was wry.
Moments passed. The silence after was worse than the screams before.
Danisque stood in the center of the chamber, surrounded by bodies that had been people an hour ago. Amanda. Knoncan. Adam. Their faces were unrecognisable. They didn't even look like corpses anymore.
It was as if all the elixir of life was sucked from them. Their soul snatched.
Danisque did not stare much. His gaze fixed on Vesper.
His friend knelt in the blood, head bowed, hands pressed flat against the stone floor. The transformation had receded… the longer limbs, the blade-like nails, the steel-hard hair. But the red glow still lingered in his eyes. The blood still stained his mouth. His chest still heaved with breaths he didn't need to take.
He was shaking.
Danisque took a step forward. The sound of his boot on stone was too loud in the silence.
Vesper's head snapped up.
Those red eyes found him. For a moment… just a moment… there was nothing human in them. No recognition and no guilt and no Vesper either. Just hunger. Just pure unbridled gluttony.
Danisque paused in his steps.
He did not raise his hands or take a breath in. No, the bastard did not run this time… he waited.
The red in Vesper's eyes flickered. Once. Twice. Then it dimmed. Not gone… but pushed down into whichever abyss it had crawled out off.
"Danisque."
Vesper's voice lit up the still air of the chamber. It was raw… it was broken and purely human.
"Hey, bro."
Danisque's own voice came out steadier than he expected. Their wasn't any pity in it nor was their warmth but it had melancholic quality to it.
Vesper looked down at his hands. At the blood. At the bodies behind him. His face went through something… recognition, horror and grief. Then his expression settled on something that wasn't quite emptiness.
A lump of something invisible formed in his throat. Some leftover blood. He swallowed it.
"What did I just… do…? I'm so… fuck…"
"I know." Danisque whispered. Pity finally entering into his essence… as he sympathised with the monster.
It felt like the right thing to say for some reason.
Vesper's hands clenched.
"Amanda…?"
"She's gone."
"Knoncan…?"
"He's gone too."
"Adam….?"
Danisque didn't answer. He didn't need to.
Vesper closed his eyes. For a long time, he didn't move and the sound that dew makes when it falls upon a fresh leaf grew stronger.
The young Vampyre did not breathe. Instead his shoulders began to shudder slowly.
No sound came out. Vampires couldn't cry. Danisque remembered that. Something about the transformation. Something about the hunger. Something about being dead and not being able to mourn like the living.
Vesper's shoulders shook in silence.
Danisque watched.
He didn't know what to do. What was he supposed to do? Put a hand on his shoulder? Tell him it was okay? It wasn't okay. Three people were dead. Three people they had eaten with, trained with, survived with. Three people Vesper had killed with his own hands, his own mouth, his own hunger.
There was nothing to say. Nothing to do. Nothing but stand there and watch his friend break in silence.
Bouts of incessant chuckles escaped Vesper's lips instead of cries, they filled the room entirely similar to a ghost mourning the alive.