ushernet Chapter 145: Blood tribute
Chapter 145: Blood tribute
Blake's mind raced as he struggled to process Nana's revelation. Vampires, creatures of myth and legend, were real, and they lived among them disguised as humans. It was almost too much to comprehend.
"So, you're saying these... vampires were once your people?" Blake's voice was incredulous, his eyes darting between Nana and the grisly scene before them.
Nana nodded solemnly. "Yes, they do look like us, humans, but they are not. These were my people,"
The weight of her words hung heavy in the air, the reality of their situation sinking in deeper with each passing moment.
As the gravity of the situation settled over them, Nana continued, her voice tinged with sadness. She recounted how her people had fought against these creatures for generations, their battles shrouded in secrecy and bloodshed. Countless lives had been lost in their struggle to protect their village from the darkness that lurked in the shadows.
Blake's mind raced, trying to reconcile the image of the sweet Elena he had known with the revelation that she was, in fact, a vampire. It seemed impossible, absurd even, but the evidence was mounting before him.
"So... is Elena one?" Blake's voice trembled with uncertainty, his eyes fixed on Nana, searching for confirmation. Part of him perhaps did not even want to know the answer to that question.
Nana nodded solemnly. "Yes, she's a vampire. Can't you tell? Her skin color and her teeth. If you get her really angry, you might see a color change in her eyes," she explained, her tone grave.
With each characteristic Nana listed, Blake's heart sank further. He recalled fleeting memories of vampires from books he had read. The entire picture wasn't all there but he knew vampires were nothing to joke about. Now faced with the reality of Elena's true nature, it was a chilling revelation.
"But she's unlike any vampire we've ever seen. That is why the former chief made the dreadful agreement with her," Nana continued, her voice tinged with sadness.
As of Nana's words settled over him, he couldn't help but feel a sense of unease.
If Elena was indeed a vampire, what did that mean for him? And what was this "dreadful agreement" that Nana spoke of? The pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together, but the picture they painted was far darker than he could have ever imagined.
"Elena, like most vampires, never truly ages," she explained, "They are immortal, untouched by the passage of time. They never get sick, never wither away. They thrive on one thing, and one thing only—blood."
As the gravity of her words sank in, Blake couldn't help but feel a shiver of fear run down his spine. The realization that they were dealing with a creature as old as time itself filled him with a sense of unease.
"It was a dark time, some of the events I witnessed and others were told to me by my late father," she started, her gaze distant as she delved into the painful memories.
"Our village was plagued by vampires, and our people lived in constant fear. Women, men, children, no one was spared. Back then, sunrise was not announced by the cocks crowing to sound their alarm of the pending day,"
"No, we woke up to missing family members or found them dead. Many lives were lost, and we were on the brink of extinction."
Nana's voice trembled with emotion as she continued, the memories still fresh in her mind despite the passage of time.
"We tried to fight back," she continued, her tone heavy with regret. "But our efforts were in vain. For every vampire we killed, more emerged. Either one of us fighting against us but now as a vampire or one we didn't know from our clan. They were relentless, merciless, and we died in numbers, our blood staining the land we once dwelled on,"
"Elena was a standout figure back then. She was never seen during the attacks that the vampires waged on the village but a lot of people that were captured and managed to escape talked about two particular vampire women. It turned out, Elena was one of the female vampires said to be different from the rest. She along with her sister were the leaders back then,"
"The vampires listened and obeyed her. When things got out of control, the chief then took a risky decision. She was the key to our salvation or so we thought," Nana said, cracking a nut on the large root protruding from the ground with a stone she found nearby and eating it.
"Elena was different," Nana finally confessed, her voice barely above a whisper. "She wasn't like any vampire we had faced before. She was cunning, powerful, and ruthless. She wielded a darkness unlike anything we had ever seen, and she seemed to revel in our suffering. She was a different breed entirely, and she struck fear into the hearts of even the bravest among us."
"We couldn't win. There was simply no way out of it and we all knew. So our then leader decided to take a gamble,"
"Our village chief approached Elena with an offer—a deal that would supposedly protect our village from further harm. In exchange for our safety, she demanded a blood tribute, a sacrifice to sustain her and her kind."