My Requiem: Chapter 1

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Vampire: The Requiem, it is part of a series of story telling role playing games belonging to the World of Darkness, by White Wolf. If you have never played these games, this story will probably be confusing to you, but I have tried to explain things to strangers through story progression. This is chapter 1, more to come!





Also note that the World of Darkness is set into a Gothic horror setting. As we progress into later chapters, it will contain drama, violence, and adult situations. You have been warned!



----------------------------------------------------------------





Monsters. They're just myths, fairy tales to scare children at night. Yeah, not so much. How ironic that the creatures children spend their lives trying to warn their parents about turns out to actually be true, and we just forget about them as we grow older. Children are the biggest risk to the Masquerade, for they already know its false.



I know this, because I'm one of those monsters the children cower from. Mind you, I'm new to the scene, but I'm still immersed enough to get the gist of things. You see, it was only a month ago that I became a vampire, or as we refer to it in our "traditional old world" language, a kindred. One of the 5 clans embraced me, the Nosferatu, most terrifying and monstrous of the 5 clans. Even as a fledgling, I was rarely bothered by other kindred unless it was to give me orders by a superior, otherwise, people kept their distance. But I'm getting ahead of myself, we should probably start way at the beginning, a month ago when I was first embraced.





Year 2012, July 4th



My name is Christopher, that's all you're getting. I won't risk giving out my last name in case people start investigating my disappearance. I had lived in Georgia all my life and had no real need to go traveling to other states or countries. Georgia is a fairly uneventful place, just a redneck state full of small communities.



I was, well still am, I guess, 24 years old, weighing at 250 lbs, 5'7 in height. I had long hair  with bangs growing down to the tip of my nose, but I kept it brushed back, so you couldn't really tell. I had a hair that started off growing straight, but began to naturally curl upwards after reaching a certain length. Auburn brown in color, with blue-green eyes and pale, caucasian skin, I didn't really get out of the house much, so healthy activity and sunlight was not something I was acustomed to. Well now sunlight was still out of the question, but I was getting plenty of good exercise, but once again, I'm getting ahead of myself.



It was the 4th of July, and usually, my family celebrated by waging war against the ant hills, complete with fire crackers and those little carboard tanks. We mashed holes in the hills to get the whole nest riled up, then stuck a fire cracker inside and blew them sky high. Frankly, I was surprised how they kept coming out more and more, they were tenacious little bastards numbering in the tens of thousands. We ran out of explosives before they ran out of troops. Usually, they'd have the nest rebuilt within a day, even after all our efforts to topple the ant empire.



As was tradition, I had decided to obliterate them. I brought the standard fire crackers, cardboard tanks, and even some smoke bombs I wanted to try and lure them out into the open. But tonight, they weren't the only ones facing someone infinitely more powerful. I had been targeted, a social shut in, physically unhealthy, few would really miss me.



It was still warm out, despite the nightfall, so I was able to dress light. I had a pair of cargo pants, I used the many pockets to store my ammunition, but a navy blue T-shirt covered my upper body. I wore black sneakers and brought out a flashlight to make sure I didn't accidentally step into the nest and get ambushed by a surprise attack.



"Alright, ants, peace treaties have broken down!" I joked, coming upon the first nest. I smiled as I reached into my pocket and brought out my first choice, a black cat fire cracker. I jammed it half burried in the ant hill and already, the ants were beginning to swarm over it, I had to quickly pull my hand back to avoid getting bitten. I took the lighter, one of those long ones used to light fire places, and set the fuse. The ants kept trying to bite at the explosive until it detonated, blasting a considerable hole into the nest and most likely startling many of the ants into confusion. By now, the whole nest was furious and scampering all across the dirt as I prepared my next attack. Then I heard it, the sounds of foot steps. There shouldn't have been anyone else in the yard with me, so naturally, I was surprised. I swiveled my flash light to see who it was, but they were gone.



I shrugged, thinking maybe I had just heard some of the neighbors through the privacy fence, but then the foot steps sounded from a different direction, behind me where I had been facing the ants. I turned again, quicker this time and briefly caught what looked to be a motion blur, but it was gone. I started to think it may have been a wild animal that had snuck into the yard and began to make my way back to the house, keeping my flashlight about the yard, trying to find the creature. I heard another sound of foot steps and quickly beamed the light in its direction as I finally saw it standing still before me. A woman, dressed in rags with her head drooping and hands behind her back. Her hair was matted, her skin was filthy, and she looked very weak.



"Excuse... me?" I asked hesitantly and in a flash, the woman screeched and lunged. I only managed to catch a very brief glimpse of her face, filled with razor sharp teeth and nails like vicious claws before she impacted me and I fell to the ground. I felt something pierce my throat and then the world faded to black.



I awoke later to find I was back in my bedroom with the lights completely shut off. I began thinking the woman had just been a dream, but as I sat up in the pitch dark room, the lights suddenly flashed on and the woman stood before me, leaning against the wall. This time, she allowed me to take in her whole form. The claws I thought she possessed were real, her nails were almost as long as her actual fingers, and sharpened to wicked looking tips. Her teeth were so long and sharp, she was forced to smile inhumanly wide, and her jaw was elongated to allow her to open and shut her mouth comfortably. The filth on her limbs, I began to notice, had actually been bruises and rashes, not simple dirt stains, and her ears were gnarled and pointed, the tips sticking through her greasy hair. She stood at what I estimated by be 5'0 tall and with a very lean body, she seemed dehydrated, or possibly starved as her skin and muscled had shriveled in on themselves.



Upon seeing this creature, I immediately yelled and began scrambling out of bed before realizing something was very wrong with me. As one of my arms came into view, I caught sight of pale, gray skin and my finger nails had extended to an inch long, being narrow and pointed at the tips. I could see my blue veins clearly through my skin, and the once flabby body fat had decreased considerably. I looked over the rest of my body now to see my other arm had gone through the same change, and the rest of my body had mutated. My once overweight physique had lost nearly 100 lbs of body fat, pale gray skin with blue veined highlights. I reached up to cup my ears, feeling they were now longer, almost bat-like, and I also noticed all my hair had fallen out. My scalp was completely bald, and as I looked back into the bed, I saw my once long hair pooled around my pillow. I opened my mouth to scream again, and winced, grabbing my jaw when I practically sliced my tongue off on something sharp. I gingerly tested my mouth again to see what it was, and noticed it had been my teeth. I had acquired a set of vicious fangs, reaching half an inch in length. They were incredibly sharp too, like the points of a knife. I had no doubt they could easily puncture flesh.



"Well, you're actually one of the more attractive Nosferatu I've ever seen." The girl said, bringing my attention back to her as she giggled, looking me over. "You'd be surprised what some of us end up looking like." She said, crawling onto the bed in a manner suggesting she was trying to be seductive, but that horrific face was killing any mood I might have had.



"W-what the fuck?" I asked, staring at my hands, clenching my fingers and twitching as they almost pierced my skin. The girl just sat there smiling at me before trailing one of those claws down my cheek and resting it under my chin. I tried to pull away, but she then cupped by chin between one finger and her thumb and held me with a surprisingly strong grip.



"Short and to the point, you're a vampire now. One of the Nosferatu clan, like me." She explained, "Aren't we just the sexiest things you've ever seen?" She said before snorting with laughter and I realized she was being sarcastic before climbing off the bed and releasing my face, allowing me to stand up.



My shirt and pants which were originally a size 42 were now much too large for my smaller frame. The shirt hung off me, and I had to use one hand to keep the pants from falling to my knees. The girl had dropped the seductive attitude and was now acting much more serious as she leered at me.



"Alright, here's the situation, I embraced you, which makes me your sire." She began, "That makes me responsible for your actions until you are considered worthy enough to be released. Now unfortunately, I can't allow an unidentified vampire to be wandering the area, so we need to take you before the Prince for inspection." She said, crossing her arms, "If I don't, we'll both be executed for illegal siring." she said, giving what best she could of a unsatisfied frown at the prospect.



I took off running for the door, but she just scoffed as if she had expected such and I only briefly felt her hand on my left shoulder before I was sent flying across the room, literally flying, my feet were off the fucking ground! I crashed into a wall and fell back onto the bed before the monstrous girl was upon me again, straddling my chest and holding my arms down with inhuman strength.



"Listen up, child!" She shouted, "I know this is quite a shock to you, but I'm not going to get my head cut off because you're having a panic attack! Now we're going to see the prince, and if you give one more outburst like that, I will personally stake you!" She said, her eyes never leaving mine as she attempted to get her point across.



She slowly released my wrists and climbed off me as I got back into a sitting position and soon, a new feeling welled up inside me, a burning hunger, but it wasn't just in my stomach, the feeling spread through my entire body. It was almost as if my whole insides were one big stomach, and a hunger pain demanded it be satisfied. I clutched my arms over my stomach  and the girl tossed her arms up in exasperation, muttering about how now we needed to feed me as well.



I watched as she pressed her ear to the wall and began moving around the room, tapping on the walls with her claws every few steps. I was confused as I watched her work. But soon, she found what she was looking for. With a swift motion, she punched her arm through the dry wall and yanked out a large rat, squirming and squeaking in her grasp.



"A dump like this usually has a few morsels hidden away." she said, offering the rat to me. I stared dumbfounded at it before the girl snarled and grabbed my wrist, forcing the rodent into my palm. "Eat it, dumb ass!" She shouted. I wanted to drop the filthy creature, but then I began to feel its heart beating against my hand, and that soon changed.



As I tried to drop the rodent, something else came over me. The hunger was pushing away rational thought and revulsion. I stared at the creature as it kept squirming, feeling the rhythmic beat of its terror and then, against all my humanity, I tore into its stomach with my new fangs. Rat blood gushed into my mouth and I ravenously swallowed it. The animal was dead within seconds, but I kept sucking out its fluid until I could drain no more, and dropped the carcass on the floor. When my senses finally returned, I stared at the corpse, completely and utterly at a loss for words.



"Starting to understand now, kindred?" The girl asked, folding her arms over her chest, "You're one of us." She said. All that kept running through my mind was the act I had just done. How I had sucked a random, disease ridden beast dry in a matter of seconds... And how delicious it had been, I wanted more!