Demokis woke in a cold sweat, looking around the room, his heart pounding in his chest. Allalous stirred a little in the bed next to him, not really aware that he was not holding her. He looked down at her, shook his head, hiding his thoughts with an expressionless face. Slowly he stood from the bed and gathered his armor, snapping it in place. As he rose from the chair, the maid entered the chambers to tidy up a bit before the Lady of the house awoke. Demokis nodded to her as he walked past towards the door, then proceeded to exit the house and then the town. His destination was unknown, but his objective was certain.
The journey before was a long one, the search for this well that his son had found, though he thought he remembered where it was, the road would be long. The question lingered in his mind. Would he even be able to find it again? "It has been so long since I last visited, and even if I find it, I was a vampire when I entered, but I no longer have that condition." Hours passed searching in the same place he had discovered it around, but no sign of the cave were visible. "There must be an easier way." He retrieved his mirror from his pocket, peering through to see who was around.
The journey home was uneventful, which was good, his mind was too wrapped up in thought to even realize he had made it back home. He took out his books, reading into the past of his temple and Lord. "If I cannot find the means on my own, I must rely on Lord Ytrewtsu's will, I have served my Lord's will without question or hesitation." Reading through the pages he came across something rather interesting. "This may work, it has to."
As darkness fell across the land, Demokis took his place in bed once more, determined to awake and gather his supplies for the ritual. The night passed, sleepless, as he tossed and turned trying to figure out the cryptic message in the scrolls. A heart of purity, a pint of life, and the most pure of bodies for sacrifice. The morning came and Demokis rose to gather his armor, his day would be long and his goal was set, he had a ritual to prepare for. He silently got dressed to avoid waking his wife, and set out to gather his ingredients. "The heart of purity, the closest I can think of is a child. The children of Ayasil, some of the purist, I could simply cut one of their hearts out." Making his way to Ayasil proved easy enough, but getting the right heart would prove a little more difficult.
The children were all kept in the same place, so kill one, kill them all, then he could have his choice of hearts. Upon obtaining the heart of the sleeping child, Demokis wrapped it up in a cloth and placed it in his pocket, then resumed his search. "A pint of life. What in the Abyss could that be referring to?" He returned to the scrolls in the temple's library searching for a better description. "Ah, here it is,' as he reads from the scroll. "Life essence must be gathered from an elf in order to appease the Demon Lord in certain rituals." Blood must be gathered in order to perform the ritual. There was an elf he knew all to well in his home now, he rushed home to Allalous and crept up slowly as she slept. Cutting her wrist was easier than he had once thought, but it was done. After gathering the blood, Demokis searched for the pure body, the last of the necessary components.
This was the most inconvenient of the components, the body had to be of a pure nature, never tainted with life in Tharel. There was only one place to find that. The body was an angel, and Shadowbox was the only place he knew of to find angels in the Mortal realm. "I just hope this works to please the Lord." There was little struggle capture the angel, but she could not be killed, not yet, she was the sacrifice. The ceremony was to be performed at midnight, there wasn't much time left, everything had to be arranged according to the scrolls.
He tied the angel to the altar and began reciting the sacred scripture to call upon Ytrewtsu's aid. The flames on the candles flickered suddenly and then there was nothing. Demokis drew the dagger from it's sheath and raised it high, without a second thought, he plunged it into the angel's heart. She arched her back screaming in pain, then fell limp on the slab as her heart was wripped out and eaten by Demokis.
There was no whisper, no scuttle, no sounds at all in the room. Thinking it had not worked his heart fell a little, but just in case, he asked his prayer. "Lord Ytrewtsu, leader of the demon army, I call upon the for a favor from a loyal subject." His eyes raised to the ceiling, "My gift was foolishly removed in the hopes of bringing a loyal son to your graces, If there were some way of restoring my vampirism, only you would know my Lord. I call upon you and offer this angelic being in sacrifice to your glory." His eyes turned back to the altar seeing the blood flowing down the sides. Still nothing happened.
Believing his efforts to be in vain, Demokis decided to retire to bed, it had taken him nearly a day and a half to gather the components and he had not slept once since he had started. Upon laying his head on the pillow, he was fast asleep, his lovely wife laying in his arms, cuddling close to her missing husband. Soon a most disturbing dream filled his mind, he was standing once again at the altar, but this was different. A faint image appeared in front of him. "I am Xylidir, I have come in answer of your prayers to Lord Ytrewtsu." He continued, "You, one of the chosen of the demon horde shall regain what was once lost. Be wary when you awake, for the curse will be upon you." As quickly as the figure had appeared, it was gone.
Demokis woke immediately from his slumber, it was still barely midnight. The moon glistened high in the sky, but it was different. There was more corona than the night before. In the pit of his stomach he felt a hunger, a hunger he had missed. Frenzied by the sudden rush of hunger, but more by instinct alone, he rolled finding Allalous next to him. He studied her for a few moments as the humanity drained from his mind. He heard a heartbeat, he could smell blood, that meant food. There was no more thought, no humanity to inhibit his hunger, nothing remained of the human Demokis, there was demon, and there was vampire. His teeth extended and then sunk deep into her flesh. The blood flowed as it never had before and the creature took his fill, only to realize that he was about to kill her. His teeth withdrew from her neck and the wound never lost a drop of blood, but he could not kill this being, so quickly he teleported from the bedroom without bothering to put his armor back on. Clothless, he found himself in the middle of a great forest where he found plenty to feast on.
For the first time since he gave up his curse, he was carefree, careless. Engorged on blood, he made his way back to town, the journey took him several hours and as he set foot inside the gate of Naerlan, the sun rose on the horizon. The rays broke through the trees to the east and lashed at his back. Screaming in pain he hid behind the southern edge of the east gate, then slinked home through the shadows. The door was locked, his key was inside, he wasn't thinking when he left. How could he, it wasn't him that left, it was the creature inside him, the comrade he had lost, and now was a part of himself once more. Furiously, he banged on the door, but there was no answer, there would be no answer, Allalous was still unconcious and recovering from a bite she never felt. He had to think fast, there was only once place to go and hide out from the sunlight, he opened a portal to the beach cliffside and entered his estate where he retreated into the darkness to recover from his wounds. There he sat, in the middle of a dark room surrounded by salt water that flooded in from the sea, pondering his gift, it had been returned to him. He could not let his Lord down after this....
