Naramsin: Ocean Part 2
Ocean, Part Two. 1797.
As I descended the wind on wings of night towards the last of the five frigates, I gazed at the endless waves of the rolling black sea around me, bathed in the pale illumination of the three-quarter moon.
The destruction of the Novo, my days adrift, and my battle with the Oanned had taxed me heavily, and the prospect of once again having dry footing filled me with relief as I wound my way toward the trailing ship. The westerly wind blew cool across my face as it swept across the small fleet and ruffled the English flags furling from the masts of the vessels. Downwind, I caught the familiar scents of sailors, foodstuffs, gunpowder, and…
… something else.
I smelled the air deeply. There was no mistake.
I pulled up out of my descent and carefully flew over each ship, and found the results for each to be the same. Wheeling about in the sky, I hooked back until I was once again trailing the rear ship, and, with a firm resolve, descended low behind her, skimming over the foam of her wake, until I at last came to the rear of the ship. Striking off my guise, I hurled myself against the oaken hull and clung to it tightly, the bubbling sea only a few feet beneath my perch; then, like a giant black spider, I slowly crawled upwards, until I was just below the row of aft windows that crossed the width of the ship.
I scuttled quietly around the windows and up the side of the frigate. Raising my head over the edge of the deck cautiously, I noted the places and positions of the night watch, and, at the right moment, silently stole aboard.
I could smell them now, hidden in the hold below me, and I decided to confront them immediately, while my powers were still strong. I quickly and silently found my way unnoticed below decks, until I arrived at the cargo hold. The sea-rats padded about silently in the Stygian blackness, eyeing me suspiciously, as I made my way quietly among the pallets of provisions stacked so carefully in the hold, following the familiar scent.
From behind the final dozen casks of wine, I peered through the darkness. There were three of them huddled together in a corner, murmuring in low voices, red eyes glittering through half-closed lids, and I could smell the Life still wet upon their lips.
The scent of real blood nearly overpowered me, but I regained my composure. I needed to know, and know now, what their intentions were, and so I stepped out from the shadows, muscles tensed, ready for whatever came next, and confronted the three things huddled together in the inky dark.
Startled, the three vampires - two male, one female - stopped their discussion and stared at me open-mouthed.
I allowed my scent to flow outwards, and moved towards them slowly, hands at the ready. “Speak,” I commanded quietly. “Who are you?”
Their noses twitched as they sniffed the air deeply. Their eyes widened, and they glanced at each other, seemingly unsure of what to do next.
I stepped closer, and suddenly they recoiled and crouched down, raising their hands over their heads.
“Mercy!” rasped one of the males.
I stopped where I stood, and peered at the trio intently. In the gloom, I saw the unmistakeable expressions of fear upon their faces - their young faces, for upon closer scrutiny, the males and the female appeared to be no more than teenagers.
It was evident that they posed no threat, and it was with great relief that I relaxed and dropped down to their level, eyeing them kindly. “Do not fear, little ones,” I smiled. “I will not hurt you.”
They lowered their hands slowly, disbelievingly; but, overcome with curiosity, they finally dropped their defenses, and stared at me with wide eyes as their twitching nostrils continued to inhale my scent.
“You - you are, you are so…. so old,” whispered the girl as the boys nodded in agreement. “How… who…?”
I stood, and motioned for them to do the same. “I will ask the questions, children,” I replied softly as they rose to their feet. “Tell me, what is this ship? And to where is it headed?”
“The name of this ship is the Defiant, sir, some weeks out of Portsmouth,” said the youngest, who appeared to be a boy not older than fifteen. “And she is headed to Bermuda with the others, from there to continue the pursuit of the French.”
“I see. Now tell me your names, and how it is you come to be aboard an English war frigate.”
The older boy began to speak, but the girl smoothly interrupted him, smiling at me with a mixture of curiosity and dread that made me chuckle inside. “My name is Devon,” she said in a soft English accent, brushing a dark curl of hair away from her face. She seemed not more than seventeen or eighteen. Gesturing to the young boy, she continued. “And this is William, my brother.”
“And I am Dmitri, sir,” said the older boy, bowing gracefully. He appeared to be about the girl’s age, but I immediately knew that he was certainly the oldest of the three.
“Dmitri,” I nodded. “Your accent and your manners belie your age. Tell me, from what part of Greece do you come?”
Dmitri smiled. “I am originally from Kardhitsa, in Thessaly,” he replied proudly. “A true vrykolakas.”
I returned his smile, and turned my gaze back towards Devon, who looked shyly down at her feet before meeting my eyes again. “My brother and I are from Guildford in Surrey. We traveled south to Portsmouth in the hope of finding a way to America, like Dmitri, whom we encountered already onboard, sharing the same hope.”
“A long way from Greece to England, isn’t it?” I asked Dmitri.
“No,” he replied, “not when you have seventy years to travel.” I looked at Devon and William.
“I am fifty-seven,” she replied.
“And I am fifty-four,” said William. “And you, sir?” he asked gingerly. “What is your name? Where do you come from? And please sir, how old are you?”
“I am Naramsin,” I said quietly. “I travel from the Continent, as do you. And my age… Let us simply say that I am… old.”
“Na-ram-sin,” said Devon, rolling the syllables upon her lips. “Na-ram-sin. What an unusual name.”
I said nothing, but instead fastened my gaze upon a tiny drop of blood that still flecked the corner of her mouth. I reached forward and put my hand behind her head, underneath her long black hair, drawing her close; and then slowly, ever so slowly, I traced my tongue along her red, full lips. She sighed and closed her eyes as I licked away the last faint traces of blood from her mouth, while William and Dmitri watched silently.
The sweet taste of the true life was electric and refreshing. I released Devon, who had fallen into a swoon, and asked the males where they had left the body of the one whose blood still smelled upon them all. Dmitri said they had drained the sailor quite thoroughly before quietly slipping him beneath the waves; but there were five ships, and each ship carried some three hundred men, so I should feel no restraint in obtaining for myself such sustenance as I might require.
“Naturally, it is to be expected that some men get so drunk that they fall overboard during the night,” he grinned. I would certainly avail myself of the bounty shortly, but had a few more questions to pose. “Where do you pass your days?” I asked the three.
Devon smiled langorously beneath half-closed eyes, and pointed to several small boards beneath the corner of a laden pallet. “We hide beneath the floor, under those boards. It is huge underneath, and completely safe.”
“And the others?” I asked. “How many are there altogether?” The three suddenly exchanged nervous glances, and stared uncomfortably at the floor.
“I asked, how many others are there?”
“O kupioc Naramsin,” replied Dmitri, “with all respect, how can we trust you? We scarcely know you, nor do we know your intentions.”
I folded my arms and stared at them sternly, all the while understanding the validity of their concern; for, after all, was I not myself being pursued? Looking at their young faces, full of dread and awe, yet wholly lacking in duplicity, I remembered other faces from long ago, and the similar conversations I had had then.
“My dear children,” I said softly, “had I meant you harm, be assured that we would not now be having this conversation. But know that I understand your fear. I will say this only. I am of the Pact. That is all you need know to decide if your trust in me is founded.”
There was silence as the three looked at each other again with wide eyes. After a moment, Dmitri nodded, and Devon looked at her brother. Sighing, William raised his eyes to meet mine. “Fourteen,” he replied quietly. “Three on the Gloria, three on the Princess, four on the Destiny, and another four on the Salazar. Including the three of us here on the Defiant, there are seventeen in all.”
“We do not know all of them,” continued Dmitri, hesitantly. “Some are old, some are young, and two we have not seen ourselves, only have heard from the others that they are here. Most seek what we seek: a new pasture in which to graze, which for us is America. But there are those, I think, who do not seek the same journey, and whose motivations are unknown.”
Dmitri’s observations were not entirely unexpected, I thought to myself wryly. I knew that the allies of the Spaniard were powerful indeed, and I was certain that I had not seen the last of them despite my defeat of the water demon earlier that day.
“What would you have us do, sir?” asked Devon, her questioning black eyes shining luminously in the dark. “Of course, we would be honored to have you join our company, and we will keep the fact of your presence aboard a secret from the others, if secret is what you wish it to be.”
I looked closely at the lovely, raven-tressed English girl, so young and full of promise. The pale alabaster of her skin glowed radiantly from her recent repast, lending her a beautiful, almost ephemeral quality, and her deep, reflective ebony eyes stirred in me the memory of another, with whom I walked the cobblestoned streets of an Italian port long ago…
“Let me decide tomorrow, my young friends,” I answered. “For tonight, keep the knowledge of my presence only to yourselves. We will continue our conversation upon my return; for now, it is necessary for me to replenish my essence.”
I left the young trio, and found my way stealthily aboard to the sleeping quarters of the crew, melting into the shadows, until I found one apart from the others, large and powerful, sleeping in a dark corner. I placed my palms over his head and his heart, and quietly, measuredly, drew his psychic essence out, suffusing my hollows with the fresh energy of his silently screaming soul. The waves of his incoming ectoplasm sent delicious shudders through me as I closed my eyes and feasted hungrily, renewing my strength with each pulse of energy. His body fell slack as I inhaled his powerful spirit completely; then I brought my lips to the neck of the slumbering husk, and fed upon the rich red essence of his veins.
As I wound my way back to the hold, sated after my much-needed refreshment, I linked my mind to the thoroughly-drained shell, and animated the sailor’s corpse, moving him quickly from his hammock out of the quarters, past the questioning stares and inquiries of his comrades, and rapidly over the side of the ship, where he disappeared into the churning black sea. A shout of alarm went up from the watch, and the frigate slowed; but their efforts at rescue would prove unsuccessful, as the dark ocean swallowed the sailor completely.
The young vampires were still wide awake when I descended into the hold, and I spent the next hour listening to their eager stories, and answering such questions as I deemed appropriate to reply.
After their transformations, the sister and brother had spent their entire existence in England, roaming the island, moving from town to town, never staying long in the same place. Reports of America had intrigued them for decades, and after the war had concluded and the semblance of normal trade with the former colonies had resumed, they had come to a mutual understanding. The cities and towns of the Continent were teeming with the children of the Kin, and Devon and William felt that their future prospects would be much enhanced by their relocation to the lands across the sea; so they embarked together upon the perilous journey, resolved to forge a new life for themselves in the fledgling country of the west.
It was in the hold of the Defiant at Portsmouth that they had met Dmitri, who had himself only recently found passage across the Channel to the Isle of Wight, where from Spithead he made his way to Portsmouth and to the frigate as she prepared to sail westward. They had all immediately taken a liking to each other, and had turned away several others who had sought to join their company. Nevertheless, the holds of the five ships of the fleet soon were dotted with others of the kin who desired to travel westward as well, and so it was that the frigates had set sail for Bermuda only a few weeks prior, full of common and unusual cargo.
Dmitri’s story was itself of peculiar interest, and wryly amusing. Some seventy years prior, his older brother, it seemed, had the misfortune of encountering a Serbian soldier stationed in Greece, with whom he had struggled and perished, but not before infecting the soldier. However, the infection had not proven immediately fatal, and the soldier had returned to Meduegna, near Belgrade shortly thereafter. Dmitri, who had been traveling the Peloponnese, was enraged to find that his brother had been slain, and had vowed revenge upon the soldier; and so it was he had taken it upon himself to track the soldier, a man named Paole, to extract his vengeance.
After some years of searching, Dmitri finally found the town where the soldier lived, but it turned out that the soldier himself had died a few years prior, and had subsequently been completely destroyed by the locals after the old infection had transformed him into a vampire upon his natural death. Furious that his vengeance had been cheated, Dmitri took his revenge upon nearly a score of the inhabitants of Meduegna, before leaving Serbia for parts northward.
His story amused me as I recalled the sensational publicity that had surrounded that event during that time, publicity which had kept the Continent quite agog for several months; but, human nature being what it was, the novelty wore off, and the story eventually faded away. I smiled at Dmitri’s tale, and upon its conclusion, we retired for the day.
As the dying sunset of the following day dipped beneath the horizon, I awoke, fully refreshed, and stirred my young comrades awake. After much deliberation, I told them each to fly to the other ships, and inform the others that I had arrived among them. It was my intention to council, and to fully inform myself about those with whom I shared the westward journey.
And as the last watch posted for the ships, under the dark light of the narrowing moon, the bats emerged from each of the frigates, and, flying low over the water, wound their way into the hold of the Defiant, where I stood, waiting …