Johanna lay down a bed of straw in the corner of her hut, opposite her own bed. She brushed off her hands and smiled at Eldrik who sat nearby, watching her in silence.

“It should be a little more comfortable than what you’re used to,” Johanna said. “Are you sure you don’t want a blanket?”

“I told you,” Eldrik replied, trying to muster a smile, “I don’t feel the cold at all.” He paused, his face troubled. “How can I accept your help,” he asked hopelessly, “your forgiveness? How I can ever be worthy of it?”

Johanna knelt in front of him and fixed him with a hard look.

“Forget the monster you were,” she insisted, “focus on the man you can be!”

After a short silence, Eldrik changed the subject. “So, are you friends with the other… immortals? Like the Lady of the Rain?”

“Calling them friends might be a stretch,” Johanna replied wryly. “Orsalya, she’s the Lady of the Rain, isn’t so bad. But the Orphan Keeper is… something else.” Johanna grimaced. “And how are vampires for company?” she asked curiously. “Surely you must have met a few.”

“I’ve known a number of other vampires,” Eldrik said darkly, “but none of them were friends. It sounds petty, but after I turned I vowed to do all in my power to wipe vampires from existence so that no-one else would suffer my fate. It’s the one vow I’ve never broken. Over the years I’ve joined several vampire covens and then exposed them to the authorities. I usually had to expose myself at the same time, but it always felt worth it if just one blood-sucking monster was destroyed forever.”

He looked up and saw Johanna watching him curiously.

“You never really did accept what you were,” she said thoughtfully. “Even though you’d lost your humanity, there was still that spark of goodness in you.”

“You call spiteful hatred a virtue?” Eldrik asked hotly. “Every vampire was once a human just like I was. How many of them might have stories like mine, of having immortality forced upon them? I didn’t care; I was motivated by hate, nothing more. But at least they accepted the truth that you can’t live between two worlds. I knew I couldn’t be human, but I stubbornly refused to be a vampire.”

“You just need to put your past behind you,” Johanna said, “the world’s offering you a chance at a new life.”

“And then,” Eldrik continued, “when I finally decided to accept my nature as an evil monster, the world threw it right back in my face.” He looked at Johanna with a pained expression. “I decided to use my power to its fullest extent. I raised an army of the dead and took control of an entire barony. It was not a long reign, but the things I did in that time still haunt me. And in the end, even that was taken from me…”

*   *   *

The cold light of the moon shone down into the throne-room from a high window, lighting the large chamber with aid from burning torches mounted on the walls. Eldrik lounged on the throne at the end of the room, flanked on either side by motionless skeletal guards.

“I have brought the tithe, your majesty.” An old woman stood quavering before the throne, gesturing to the five young men and women kneeling in a row behind her, the chains that bound them held by skeleton guards.

Eldrik smiled, his fangs glittering in the firelight. “Very nice. But I thought I asked for six.”

The old woman swallowed hard and stammered, “I can fetch you another right away, you maj-”

Eldrik waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, you’re here too, so that makes six.”

He burst out laughing at the sight of the woman’s terror-stricken face.

“I’m kidding!” he said jovially, standing up and walking slowly towards her, “of course I only asked for five. Seems your old age is making you forgetful.” He stopped in front of the old woman. “But you still remember me, right?” he asked slowly, bending down to the short woman’s level.

“Of course, your majesty,” the woman replied, not daring to look up at the vampire before her.

“You know my name. Say it.”

“Eldrik. Eldrik Brant, your majesty.”

“Do you remember when you first saw me. When was it?”

“Twenty years ago, your majesty.”

“Correct. People told me, ‘if you are troubled, go see the village elder. She is kind and wise and good. She can help you.’ So, I did. I came and asked you for guidance, didn’t I?”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“But instead of helping me, instead of showing even the slightest kindness, you set the whole village on me. Because I was a vampire, and vampires must be purged from this earth, correct?”

“Your majesty, I-”

“Don’t try to weasel your way out of this,” Eldrik hissed, “I came to you for help and you tried to kill me.” He frowned. “Look at me!”

The woman raised her head and nervously held Eldrik’s gaze.

“Just like everyone else, you couldn’t understand. You couldn’t muster the compassion to see past the blood-thirst and the sharp teeth to the person inside. Now that person, who might have shown you mercy, is dead. Now I’m the monster you want me to be.” He reached out and wrapped his fingers around the woman’s throat. “You brought this upon yourselves!” he spat, hurling the old woman to the ground, “because you’re all just monsters like me!”

“No!”

Eldrik looked at the prisoner who had cried out. The man had raised his head and fixed the vampire with an angry stare, though Eldrik could sense the man’s terror behind the thin display of courage. He smiled amusedly and walked over to stand in front of the man, who looked up at the vampire defiantly.

“You have something to say?” Eldrik asked genially.

“We don’t deserve this!” the man said furiously, “we’ve done nothing wrong! You’re just proving that your kind doesn’t deserve compassion!”

Eldrik took hold of the man’s chains and gently pulled him upright, looking him in the eye.

“How would you like to be a vampire?” Eldrik asked softly.

The man responded by spitting in his face.

“I almost feel like making you a vampire,” Eldrik continued as he wiped off the man’s spittle, “just so you can know what it’s like to suffer what I have. But you’re not worth it.”

He leaned in and ripped the man’s throat open, placing his mouth over the wound and drinking deep of the vital fluid flowing from it. He pulled away and let out a satisfied sigh, licking the blood off his lips. He looked down into the man’s eyes, opened wide in pain and terror as he coughed up spurts of blood.

“I am a monster,” Eldrik said softly, “the monster that you and every one of your pathetic kind deserve.” He looked up at the skeletons holding the prisoners’ chains and ordered, “take the rest to the dungeons.”

The skeletons obeyed, pulling the prisoners to their feet and marching them away.

“You can go,” Eldrik said to the old woman who lay curled up on the floor, sobbing in terror, “but make sure to keep bringing the tithe.”

“Yes, your majesty,” the woman whimpered, getting to her feet and hurrying from the throne-room.

Eldrik looked back down at the dying man. “You know, I’m starting to understand why vampires do this sort of thing. The power is exhilarating.”

He laughed and resumed drinking the man’s blood.