markdown-monster-club/chapters/chapter_15.md

# Chapter 15 - Asher's Memory

I hungered. My body was on fire with it. I staggered through the cursed forest searching…sniffing…and growling. I hadn’t eaten in so long…I couldn’t afford to. Every day was a battle with myself. I couldn’t become a monster, I was myself…I was Asher…I wasn’t a beast. I needed to control myself. I had to. And yet, it was a hopeless struggle. I felt the rage within…the thirst.
Suddenly I perked up…I smelled it. The smell of flesh and blood…the smell of a human. My eyes darted from left to right, scanning for that smell. I could see him…about 300 yards away. There was something laying in front of him, but the man was closer…and his smell was so…delicious.

I felt my hunger take hold of my senses. I gave in to madness and hunger as logic fled my mind. I drove through the undergrowth with full speed, the world flying past me as the shadows of the night coated my body in their unholy shroud. My eyes blazed with an insane fury and I felt my thirst drive me like an animal bent on carnage. I was not a being of nature…I was a shadow, a creature spawned and fed by darkness. I was a beast of the night…human no more. I was a vampire…blood was what I desired and death was my method. I would kill…I would feed. Thus I feed and therefore I live. I live…but forever alone.

I threw myself through the forest silently, stalking the man. He had a bow in his hand and an arrow prepared to fire at the other figure. My body faded into the shadows and moved as silently and fluidly as a stream of water, until I materialized behind my prey. The meal mentioned something…a threat perhaps…but it mattered little. I was upon him in a moment.
“I hunger…” With a swift movement I clutched his head in my shadowy hand and yanked him up from his kneeling position and snarled at his shouts and bellows for help. “…I thirst…” I ripped his shirt back, exposing his neck…but I saw through the flesh to what lay within…the pulsing red nectar…the beating of his heart was intoxicating as it quickened and the feel of his blood was already too much to resist. I wasted no time and plunged my fangs deep into his neck. He couldn’t even scream as his blood erupted in a gush of red that filled my mouth and neck, which the shadows quickly consumed, feeding me more. I didn’t let go of his body, clinging to it with my unhinged jaws and draining every last drop of his precious blood. It was life pouring into my mouth, and I craved it. He made a weak gurgling sound and began to go pale as a sheet, the blood leaving him and flowing into myself.
I felt relief wash over me as the blood flowed through me and filled me. His body went limp as his heart had nothing more to pump. I let his shell collapse as I swallowed the last of his blood and bits of his flesh. The shadows that had become my body consumed all that was left of his blood so there was nothing left.
“M-my God…” At the sound of the voice, I spun, remembering the other being nearby. I glared at the figure, when my eyes finally adjusted and saw her for what she was.

I froze. The moonlight cast its elegant glow across her beautiful and sleek body. She was a mermaid with long flowing bluish silver hair and gorgeous features. The scales of her tail, reflecting the light of the moon seemed to practically glow before my eyes. Her penetrating blue eyes were as deep and as lovely as the ocean itself. Every part of her captured my attention and my body felt weak just at the sight of her. Deep within my mind, I felt the beast retreat back from her gaze, ashamed of what she was looking upon. I was ashamed…embarrassed…and simply horrified at the thought of standing before such beauty. What was I to her? I was a monster…a freak. We stared at each other…beauty looking upon the beast. I felt tears start to come to my eyes, and I quickly fled from her, back into the embrass of the darkness. Twas darkness that I thrived within…I didn’t deserve to be gazed upon by such brilliance.

I hid within the shadows as I felt the blood rage pass. My body resumed its mortal appearance and the shadows sank from me. I coward behind a nearby tree and watched her shamefully. She couldn’t see me…she must have thought I’d left. I stayed there for a long time, praying that I could forget…that I could put it behind me, but I couldn’t. That look on her face when she saw me, and what I had done. It was too much to bare. After a few moments I dared to look and see her again.
She wasn’t there. She must have run off. I looked at the ground where she had lay and saw dainty footprints. I knew that I should probably forget her and go. I didn’t belong with anyone…I was alone. I was a vampire, and a monstrosity. Where did I belong if not to the night? But something kept drawing me towards her, like a sirens song. I wanted to know more about her…that thing of beauty that I had never seen before. I resisted all logic and reason and decided to follow her.

I took the form of a bat and took to the sky. As a bat I am much smaller and much more vulnerable, but it allowed me to move quickly and undetected. I darted quickly across the trees, following her scent. I could practically see her image in my mind…her face…that beautiful body. The thought itself made me fidgety.
Soon I was looking upon a house…a house that I had never seen before. The scent lead me to that building. I flapped my wings slowly, debating my next move. This was my chance to leave her behind forever…to go back to the night and abandon her. It would have been a smarter choice, really…what good could I be to her or her kind? But the thought of leaving her was so depressing that it made me want to cry. Why? I’d never grown so attached to something before. I looked…and there was an open window. I made up my mind and flew to it. Within moments, I was inside the house.

“Ack! What the hell!?” I was stuck! I couldn’t move! Something had snared me out of thin air and was holding me, keeping me from even flapping my wings. I tried to fight and struggle, but no matter what I did, the invisible force held me. I looked around and saw that the invisible force was webbing! I was surrounded by webs! What kind of room was this?!
“Aww, look! A little bat!” My eyes darted to the side of the room to see a young woman by the door. She wasn’t normal though…while most women have two legs, this one had 8…and all were spider legs. She was a dridder. I’d read about them, but never seen one! I felt a great deal of fear wash over me, at the thought of what she might do to me. I trembled and tried to fight the webs again. “Oh no, don’t struggle, little guy.” She urged. “You’ll only hurt yourself. Here, I’ll go get Calypso, she’ll know what to do with you.” She quickly scurried out of the room and I was left alone in the webs again. I thought about resuming my normal form, but to do that while trapped in these webs would be a death sentence…I’d be just as trapped…and she’d see me for what I was.
“He’s right here.” I looked to see the dridder running back in with someone.

It was her!!! She didn’t have her fins this time, but she was just as gorgeous as I remember. She looked up and saw me and smiled.
“Aw, you poor little guy. Sarah, cut him down, I’ll take care of him.” I felt my body shake as she spoke. Her voice was just as lovely as she was. The dridder walked to the web and cut it with her finger, allowing me to fall…into the hands of the mermaid. “There, that’s better isn’t it?” I stared up at her, feeling my whole body trembling and shivering in fear. “Are you okay, you’re shaking little guy.” She reached her soft fingers behind my head and began to rub it gently. I couldn’t contain myself anymore. Within seconds I dropped out of her hands onto the floor and resumed my normal form. Sarah let out a shriek and I could only look up shamefully at the mermaid.

“Please…I’m sorry…I…” I tried to find the right words to say. Should I apologize for what she saw in the forest? Should I tell her my name? Should I say thanks for saving me from the webs? I just didn’t know. All she could do was stare at me in a mixture of shock and awe.
“What’s going on!?” Another girl ran in this time. She had piercing blue eyes like a dog and she had a feral look about her…like an animal. “I heard screaming and...” She saw me, and the look she gave me was vicious. “WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?” She didn’t wait for my answer. With a swift movement, she grabbed me and threw me out of the dridders room and into the hallway. She jumped on top of me and raised her fist. Instinct kicked in and I snarled back at her. I grabbed her fist before it struck and threw her off of me into the nearby wall. I jumped to my feet, ready to fight, and the girl seemed ready for the same.

“STOP!” The mermaid screamed, running between me and my opponent. She turned to my attacker. “Michelle, don’t hurt him! He saved my life!” There was a moment of silence as these words sank in.
“Saved your life?” Michelle gasped. “Calypso, that thing is a vampire! He was probably saving you for his dinner.” Calypso nodded but then turned to look at me with those beautiful eyes. She had a blush on her face.
“Maybe…but…I don’t know…he seems more like a lost little bat to me.” I blushed heavily and looked down.
“I…I apologize for scaring you. I…I’ll leave if you want.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I turned to the sound of the voice and saw an old man walking up the stairs. He had a small beard and a smile on his face…and he was also see through. “The sun will be coming up soon, and if you don’t have shelter, then you won’t last. Why not stay here until it goes down again?”
“What is it with you Solomon?” Michelle barked. “How can you just trust him so easily?!”
“Because, Michelle…he’s no different from anyone else here. A lost and misunderstood boy.” Solomon winked at me and I felt a cold chill. How could he know me so well? What else could this ghost know? Michelle paused at his words and fidgeted a little.
“Well…alright, but if he tries anything, I’m staking him myself.” Michelle said roughly, although I detected more humor in her words than anger or threats. A part of me wanted to decline the offer, but then my eyes fell upon the mermaid…who they called Calypso. And I felt myself respond without meaning to.

“Thank you…I’d love to stay.” I whispered. The blush on my face, did not compare to the happiness and the anxiousness that filled my lonely heart.