EMBRACED

When I came to, I was amazed that I was still alive. Raspberry was kneeling by my side, holding my hand gently, and whispering to me. “Don’t be afraid, you’re all right!” she said; but how could I be? I had just allowed myself to be bitten by a vampire! I could feel the lingering pain in the left side of my neck, and that was what brought me out of my stupor. I asked Raspberry to help me up, and when she did, I led her to a booth in a darker corner of the club.
A straightforward approach has always been my style, so I decided to ask her directly; “What the fuck just happened? I thought you were a vampire, but you can’t be, because I’m clearly still alive!” She just smiled at me as if I was a child on my first day of school, and said calmly, “You were right my little one, I am a vampire, but you shouldn’t believe everything you read in stories. Yes I have been the first to bite you, so if you choose to accept the embrace, your soul belongs to me and my line, but you are not dead, nor are you undead. you are what we refer to as a cursed human. No vampire, including myself, can ever draw blood from you again unless you accept the curse, and you still wont be a vampire until you are embraced.
I was totally lost, I had no idea what to do, but I had already accepted the idea of becoming a vampire, so I decided to follow through with my earlier intentions. “How do I become Embraced?” I asked. Raspberry asked if I was sure that was what I wanted, and said that once I had completed the conversion, there would be no going back. I told her that I was sure, she took my hand, and the next thing I knew we were in a dark but beautiful castle.
Standing in front of us was an imposing figure, 6’6”, with a swimmers build, piercing blue eyes, long black hair, and an obvious flair for the dramatic, shown in his long flowing black cape and spiked… well everything.
Raspberry whispered to follow her lead, then bent to one knee and bowed her head. As I did the same said, “I come before you with a gift Lord Spice! “ I was stunned! Me?! A gift?! What was I to be, lunch?
Sensing my apprehension, Lord Spice reached down, took my hand, and said “Fear not little one, contrary to legend and belief, we do not take humans by force. You could not have come here except by your own will, and you are free to leave as you choose.”
I asked what was meant by me being a gift, and Lord Spice explained that by bringing me into her line, ownership of my soul would carry up the line through each Liege, until it reached the head of the Clan, which was him. This put me more at ease, and Raspberry took my hand, helped me up, and asked me if I was ready to meet my destiny. I nodded, to which Lord Spice said “A nod is not a sufficient commitment child.” I met his eyes with mine, and said with as much force as I could muster, “Yes My Lord, I am ready!” He smiled at me then said to Raspberry; “A quick learner, I like that!”.
We walked in silence for what seemed like hours into the bowels of the massive Keep, finally arriving at a heavy wooden door. Lord Spice opened the door with a large ancient looking skeleton key, and led us inside. “First“, he said, “ I must make room” He walked over to a large cask, the type which wine is fermented in, and pulled out a tube with a large hypodermic needle attached to one end, and attached the other to the cask. He then drove the needle into the artery in his wrist, and explained; “The body only holds 5 liters of blood. If I am to drain yours, I must first make room.”. When he was down to about a half liter, he stopped the flow, and turned back to me. He removed the end of the tube from the cask, then attached it to a large spike he was wearing on his wrist. He looked me in the eye and said “This will make things go faster, but it WILL hurt quite a bit“, and drove the spike directly into my heart. My blood drained away quickly and although I become quite light headed, I remained conscious. When I was down to a quarter liter, Lord Spice removed the spike from my chest, drained more blood into the cask and turned to me. I heard him say that he wanted to finish this in the traditional manner, and he bit by neck, draining the last of my blood, and with it my humanity. He then had me drink 4.75 liters from the cask, Turned to Raspberry, and said, She is yours, give her your Embrace. Raspberry came over to me, kissed my cheek, then offered her neck to me. I thought for a moment “I can’t do this” then realized that I had already sunk my fangs into her exquisite neck, and was sucking her blood hungrily. As my thirst was sated, I felt a glow come over me, a blood red glow, that raised me off the ground into the air, power filling me, like I had never felt before. I felt the Embrace and there is no other way to describe it. I had become!