You frown at the sight of the box, it's relatively plain. Large, bruised cardboard exterior with thin masking tape to seal the slits.
"It's probably something cheap.." you grumble, retrieving a knife from a drawer at your hip.
Driving the knife into the top of the box, the tape splits easily and you open the flaps, you're greeted by a small white box surrounded by foam and bubble wrap.
Picking up the box, you search through the wrap to find nothing else inside, and you sigh.
"What is this, a wedding ring?" You say as you open the white box.
A shiny, blue sphere glimmers in the sunlight and sparkles at you.
"What is this..?" You say, picking it out of the box carefully, it's sticks to your fingers. "Ugh, it's like a piece of candy.."
Putting down the white box, you examine the blue object further. Licking your fingers to see if it really was candy, the raspberry taste confirms your suspicion.
It's surprisingly good, a little spicy. You pop the thing in your mouth and suck on it. Suddenly, it slips down your throat and you double over, grabbing your neck.
Leaning against the counter, the white box clatters on the floor as you drop it. The blockage in your throat clears as quickly as it came, and you're left gasping for breath. Standing up straight, you stare at the letter with contempt.
"This better be damn good.." You say, picking up the letter.
You touch the paper with your right hand and suddenly it shivers in between your fingers, then pops out of your grasps and floats in the air, blue light running through it's white material. Then, in an instant, the envelope shreds into nothingness, revealing a glowing blue square.
"What the fuck?!" You yell, startled, your hand is incredibly hot right now, and as you soon discover, glowing blue.
A flash of blue light blinds you, and when it finally fades, you open your eyes to see a sort of.. hologram.. projected from the surface of the square. An old man stands in front of you, frowning, he seems to be examining you strangely.
"What..? Where am I?" He mutters, his voice raspy and aged.
"I'm so confused right now." You're not even surprised anymore, simply sharing in the old man's disbelief.
He looks up at you and something sparkles in his eye as he notices your hand.
"Aha! You have the Seed! Good good, that's probably how all this came about." He says, clapping his hands together.
"The seed..? You mean that small blue piece of candy?" You say, raising a brow.
"That was no candy, son, it was an old and very powerful magical artefact used by dark practitioners. Say, what year is it?" He says.
"2014.." You reply.
"Sweet lord! By my count, 1132 years have passed since I died.." He says, stroking his rather long beard.
You simply frown, now this is getting a little bit ridiculous. Your hand is still burning, you discover and when you look at it, you see a strange blue aura wisping away from your skin, almost like a flame. The man looks at you as you examine your hand and chuckles.
"Since you have the seed, you're probably a Vincent." He says.
"What? How did you know my last name?" You reply, startled.
"Ah.. well, son, that's probably because I'm one of the first Vincents. " He says with a smirk.
"..What? That means you're.. related to me." You say, shaking your head.
"Indeed, and it's my job to teach you what to do with your new power. You've got quite the responsibility." He says, nodding.
"What new power? What are you talking about?" You're intrigued, even though you appear irritated.
"The seed grants it's host the amazing powers. Like the seed, you will also become a parasite. You see, the seed lives off of your life energy, and thus, you must live off the life energy of others. The seed, of course, will give you the necessary tools to do so. In a few moments, you will probably feel incredibly hungry, but normal food will not suffice to feed you. It is grim, I know, but you must become.. a cannibal..? I suppose that's appropriate." He says, finishing with a huff.
You hesitate for a moment, your brain takes a minute to understand everything he just said.
"WHAT THE FUCK MAN!?" You shout.
************************************
You stand in the bathroom, looking at your now glowing blue eyes. The old man Vincent is hovering next to you.
"See? The seed demands nutrition, and since you are recently dubbed it's host, you must satisfy it quickly." He says.
"Yeah.. but, what do I- GAHH!" You yell, clutching your chest, you double over.
Old man Vincent simply watches you, arms folded, as you tear off your shirt to reveal the seed embedded in your chest, strange crystal veins slowly crawl over your ribs. The pain is enormous, like you're being burned from the inside out.
"W-What's happening to me!?" You say, breathing heavily as you strain against the agony.
"Your body is being re-composed to adapt to the seed's power. Don't worry, it'll be over in a second." He says, disturbingly confident.
Seconds pass, and the pain subsides, but you're left with an aching headache. You get up slowly, holding onto the sink as you look into the mirror again. Your eyes no longer glow blue, but ARE blue. The small blue gem pulsates with energy in your chest, sending it's low glow through the veins it made around your body.
You freak out.
"Calm down! Everything's fine!" Old man Vincent yells at you, "All you need to do it find somebody to consume!"
"Consume?! Do I look like fucking Hannibal Lector?!" You reply.
"Who's Hannibal Lector?" He says, raising a brow.
Shaking your head, you storm out of the bathroom after you pull your shirt back on quickly. The doorbell rings.
Your head snaps towards the living room, who the hell could that be? You make your way out and walk to the door, looking through the peephole.
Your girlfriend sees you and waves eagerly.
"Hi Dan! Lemme' in already!"
Instantly, a craving fills you, it's unlike anything you've ever felt before. You groan, slowly opening the door. Your girlfriend bursts through, before noticing your ailed expression. Old man Vincent's disappeared, figures.
"Baby? What's wrong?" Your girlfriend says.
"Ashley, leave me alone.. please..!" You beg her, trying to push her away.
"No! God, let me get you to bed.." She feels your forehead and quickly pulls her hand away in shock, "Ow! You're on fire.. literally!"
You frown and turn away from her, she simply grabs your shoulders and pulls you along towards your room. As she moves infront of you, something urges you to do it. Your right hand's ablaze with power, something whispers to you.
Feed me..
Uncontrollably, you throw her long brown hair over her shoulder, revealing her pale neck, and you thrust your index finger right into it.
"Da- AGH!" She yells in pain as your fingers literally impales her neck.
You smile wickedly, as if you're possessed. Ashley drops to the floor, writhing in pain, you see the blue flames from your hand have somehow transferred to her body, probably through the hole your finger made. She claws at your feet, looking up at you, tears stream down her face as her legs seem to dissolve. Her shoes fall off as she pleads.
"Dan! Help me, please! It hurts!"
You stare at her, watching as her body up to her neck has dissolved into nothing but a flattened out skin. Suddenly, you snap out of it. The first thing you notice is a long blue line between your chest and the back of Ashley's neck, the hungry feeling's gone, and so is your headache. Actually, you feel.. amazing..
"Dan! What are you d-aghghg.." She gargles as her throat dissolves, falling limp as she finally disappears.
Old man Vincent spontaneously materialises next to you.
"There you go boyo! Your first meal! How do you feel?" He asks.
"Well. I just killed my girlfriend.. But I don't really feel.. sad..?" You're confused at the concept of being sad about killing people this way.
"That's because the seed kind of controls your mind to keep you from refraining from it, it's like a killer instinct." He explains.
"Oh.. Well that's cool, I guess. Kind of sick, though." You reply.
"Yeah well, guarding dangerous magical artefacts comes with a cost. Who knows? It could be used for far worse!" He says.
Leaning forward, you pick up your girlfriend's skin, her clothes hang loosely on her... body?
"What do I do with this?" You ask.
"Aha! And that's where the seed's special abilities come in. You see, almost as a reward for feeding it, the seed lets you wear the skins of your kills, and will give back the soul of the kill for you to use. In basic terminology, you wear the skin, you turn into the person, memories and everything." He says.
"Huh.. well that's nice.. Anything else I should know about?" You ask.
"Uhm, well I think fireballs is next on the list of powers.. not sure really. Us Vincents never really used the Seed's magic to that extent." He says, shrugging.
You frown, examining Ashley's drooping, slack face, it's like she's made of rubber and skin fused together. Her arms seem long and lanky as they hang from where you pinch her shoulders, her hair still feels the same, but she's got no insides, no mouth, no eyeballs.. nothing.
"Try it on, why don't ya?" Old man Vincent says, before promptly evaporating.
"Why not.." You mumble.