Zeuberg

"My legal name where I currently reside in the city of Liege, Belgium, is Gaspar Valessi. But that is not my real name. The name I was given some 30,000 years ago, when I was born in a Paleolithic settlement in the region that is now called Germany - the name my father gave me shortly after I was voided, bloody and howling, from my mother's womb - is Gon."

So begins the saga of the immortal Gon, a 30,000 year-old vampire. He recounts his mortal life in prehistoric Germany alongside his male companion, Brulde, and his two wives, the Neanderthal Eyya and his Cro-Magnon mate, Nyala. It details the fearsome events that lead to his transformation from man to undying monster.

Chronicles Of An Ancient Vampire

There were deer aplenty in that region, and we fed upon the blood of a young male. This time I let Ilio make the kill. He wrestled the buck to the ground with little difficulty and drank his fill, looking at me with a proud, bloody smile when he was done with it. I finished the beast and we went on our way.

"Tonight," I told him, "We shall practice moving through the tree tops. Observe."

As Ilio watched, I flew naked to the nearest bough and then circled him through the surrounding woodland, a ghost streaking through the branches and rustling leaves. When I leapt down to his side a few minutes later, a couple twigs tangled in my auburn mane, he danced a little in excitement and cried, "Let me try that!"

"Go ahead. Just take care until you've gotten the knack for it. Don't try to impress me. You'll only impale yourself again."

Licking his lips in preparation, the boy flitted into the branches of a nearby tree. He scrambled amid the boughs for a moment, smiled down at me through the greenery, then cut a swathe through the forest in a wide circle. He moved with impressive speed. I think his small stature was an advantage in tree-running. I heard one yelp, and then he flew down beside me, holding his cheek where a branch had slashed his skin.

"How bad did you hurt yourself?" I asked, pulling his hand away.

His injury was already mending. There was a daub of black blood where the branch had gouged him, but that was the extent of it. I watched the lips of the wound draw together and fade.

I ruffled his hair. "You did well. That was very fast. I think you must have the spirit of a monkey inside you."

"Thest!" he laughed, but he strutted after that for a little while, high on my praise.

We practiced a little while longer, then I told him I must be on my way if I was to exact my revenge on the Elders and return before daybreak. "I want you to stay near our little burrow tonight. You can make a fire if you'd like, but I forbid you to follow me to that cursed village. If you have any trouble with the humans pursuing us, take to the tree tops and await my return. I don't think they'll find us, but you never know."

"Are you going to kill those old men tonight?" Ilio asked. He had a bloodthirsty look in his eyes.

"Perhaps not tonight. Tonight I shall be the shadow at their doorway. I go to observe and discover their weaknesses. If I have the opportunity, I will take it, but in most instances, Ilio, you will find that caution and wisdom are two sides of the same face. Rest assured, those old men shall pay for their greed and depravity. The Elders remind me of the monster who forced the Blood Curse upon me. It is their avarice that is the root of your untimely transformation. I shall have vengeance for the both of us, and free the Neirie."

"I wish I could join you, Thest," Ilio mused. "I would like to have revenge on them as well." His eyes went very dark as he said it, almost cruel. "I should also like to know what the blood of men tastes like. I suppose it's richer than the blood of animals."

I had no reply to that. The boy spoke the truth.

Chapter 95 - The Raising of a Dead Child part 6