Character
profile: The world of Ankhesenamun
Name: Ankhesenamun
Born:
Transylvania, 1447
Died:
It was not a job. Perhaps an
obligation. A penance.
To live as one without soul. To live as one fighting for no reward. To live
knowing there would be no salvation.
Forced to slay countless
horrors. Horrors that would make a human run away screaming. Horrors that she
now knew were in her likeness.
Deep in her was a terrible
sorrow. Buried deep in her mind, in a region she did not dare explore herself.
Not always had she been one of them. Her parents were brutally murdered by
Dracula countless years ago, leaving her and her two brothers orphaned.
Dracula, however, had a worse fate planned for them. A fate worse than death.
Dracula had given them the
hungry bites of a vampire.
For countless centuries she had
lived in agony, neither living nor dead. She had hidden from the world in
shadow and solitude, trying to control the raging urge for blood that she knew
lay in all her and her brother's hearts.
She had failed. Failed.
Now, the time for revenge was at
hand. What was left of their family had sworn a grim oath. They would rid the
world of Dracula. Or die trying. For death was a mere flicker compared to their
undeath.
For a long time she had
been under Dracula's watchful glare. Dracula had caught her, had her in his
clutches like a hare in the talons of a hawk. Dracula had enslaved her will and
broken her spirit. When Dracula breathed, she was breathless. Where Dracula
walked, she crawled pathetically behind, like a dog to a king.
Dracula was her world.
That made not a difference now.
She was free. Now bound by the light to free those once her kind of the evil of
Dracula.
Her name is Ankhesenamun, and
her penance is to rid the world eternally of vampiric taint.
***
“Sister,
sister!”
The innocent
voice rang in her mind, pulling her from the blanket of sleep and the abyss of
dream. Ankhesenamun’s eyes cracked open. Sobek, her brother of few years, was
the first thing she saw. She raised herself off the bed and turned to her
brother. “What is it, young one?” She asked gently.
Sobek did not
reply. His huge eyes held fear, an unspeakable fear that his little mind had
failed to put in words.
Ankhesenamun
suddenly noticed that Seth, her other brother, was there too. Seth was older
than Sobek but still a child.
“What is it,
Seth?”
Seth did not
reply. His eyes were transfixed on the door. Ankhesenamun turned to look. There
was no one there.
“He is coming.”
Seth suddenly intoned. “He is coming for us.”
“Who is coming?”
Ankhesenamun asked.
A black shape appeared
at the doorway. A black shape with blazing crimson flame for eyes.
Time seemed to
have slowed. On instinct, Ankhesenamun grabbed Sobek and lifted him, almost
throwing him into Seth’s waiting arms.
“Go!” she
screamed. She shoved Seth away. At the same moment, the black shape struck. An
ebon blur raced toward her.
Ankhesenamun was
thrown onto her back by the sheer force of the charge. The black shape landed
on top of her. She saw, by the light of the burning eyes, the twin teeth that
protruded from the gums and ended in razor sharp points.
A vampire.
She could feel
the hot breath of the creature on her neck. A putrid stench wafted up, making
her want to cease breathing.
The vampire
spoke. It was a sound that she had never heard before, with a strange metallic
quality and intonation.
“Very beautiful
you are, young one. . .”
The voice
trailed off. Ankhesenamun could feel the breath again. Her mind seemed to have
deserted her.
“Lovely. . .so
beautiful. . .and your blood. . .I can hear it call out to me. . .”
Ankhesenamun
wanted to scream, but all she could do was lie there and listen to this
creature’s haunting voice.
“I will make you
my own. . .yes, my own. . .”
Ankhesenamun’s
mind suddenly surged back. She tried to struggle. The vampire could feel the
movement.
“Struggle you
will not, my love. . .”
The vampire’s
icy cold fingers closed around her wrists. She cried out in pain as the vampire
sank his hand through the floorboards, nailing her to the ground.
Now Ankhesenamun
really did freeze. Her mind was still active, but she could not move. The
vampire dipped out of her sight, to her neck.
Her neck!
She felt a
burning tongue leave a trail of saliva on her throat. “Yes. . .” she heard the
vampire say. “Yes!”
The vampire came
back into sight. He leaned over her, and kissed her full on the lips.
Ankhesenamun felt her mind go numb.
“Yes. . .”
The vampire
dipped out of sight again. Ankhesenamun felt a ghastly fear take control. She
was powerless. Her eyes shut, and her head fell back, her mouth open and
breathing heavily.
The vampire
struck.
Ankhesenamun screamed as the
fangs burst into the soft skin of her neck. Her neck was burning. She could
feel the warm blood running out of the wounds and her spirit being pulled from
her body, out through the two holes in her neck, and a part of the vampire's
spirit pouring into her. For a moment, she and the vampire were one. An
exchange, giving him new life and her new death. The pain numbed. She felt only
satisfaction. . .her blood would now feed her King and nourish his undead body.
. .
The human mind suddenly surged
back, regaining control of her body. The whole world was spinning. She had to
escape. She had to free herself of this never-ending nightmare of shadow. There
had to be an escape, somewhere, somehow.
"Yes," she heard the
vampire roar. "Yes! Unleash your true self, be rid of your filthy mortal
shell and surrender to my power!"
Ankhesenamun could feel the skin
of her gums stretching, and the nubs of enamel that were already protruding
from them. She cried out in agony, as the canine teeth burst free. They
lengthened at a rate no human growth could rival, until they protruded from her
lips. She could hear the voice of the monster before her, repeating one word
over and over.
"Yes. . .yes. . .yes!"
Ankhesenamun's world blurred, to
be replaced by crimson tinted vision. She felt feral strength build up in her
teenaged muscles. The urge to test her new strength was overpowering.
Ankhesenamun strained to be free, roaring in the voice of a maddened animal.
She knew in her heart what she had become. She had become a vampire. Possibly
the worst part of it all was that she did not really mind.
"Yes. . .yes. . .YES!"
***
Ankhesenamun
woke with a start, as if from deep sleep. The gloom veiled her surroundings
from her. “Strange,” she thought. The house was unnaturally dark.
She rose, up
from her position on all fours. Again, something in her mind screamed a warning
at her. Why was she on four legs? Ankhesenamun tried desperately to remember,
but with each effort her mind became more confused and her thought more hazy.
Just what had
happened?
Ankhesenamun
felt a strange pressure on her lower lip. She raised a hand, and felt the area.
Instantly she knew what they were. Fear rose in her like that of a trapped bird
in an invisible cage, but she fought it down.
Fangs. Fangs!
Vaguely now
Ankhesenamun could recall her encounter with the vampiric being. She had been
bitten. She had been made one of them! Tears came to her eyes, but she bravely
blinked them back.
She was doomed.
Damned for all eternity. Never would she see the silver gates of heaven, nor
the golden rays of the sun. She would now draw her strength from the moon and
the darkness, for the sun would destroy her if it could. Even if she were to
take her own life she would find it impossible, for the vampires could not be
killed.
Then another
thought rose in her, more frightening than the prospect of losing the eternal
life promised to her by her Lord.
Her brothers!
What had become of her brothers?
Her tears and
fear of the dark forgotten, Ankhesenamun ventured forward in the darkness,
seeking her siblings. They had to be still in the house. Seth had only been
without the house but once, and Sobek never.
“Seth!” She
called. “Sobek!” There was no answer. Only silence screamed at her in reply.
Her fear rising,
Ankhesenamun continued her desperate search. Step by cautious step was taken in
the complete gloom, each taken with the panic of a lost child.
Her bare right
foot touched something soft. Ankhesenamun knew what it was. Who it was.
She bent down,
tears already starting to form. She lifted the limp body of her baby brother
Sobek, burning tears of remorse and regret streaming down her cheeks.
“Why?” she
murmured. “Why?”
She knew now
what had happened. In her vampiric madness she had taken the blood and life of
her newborn brother. From now on he would live as she did; neither living nor
dead. She would not have blamed her brothers should they have escaped living or
should they have wanted to kill her themselves. She only blamed herself, for in
her mind she had let this happen.
Seth, no doubt
too, had been bitten.
Ankhesenamun found
Seth a distance away, the bleeding wounds on his throat torn even worse than
Sobek’s. Ankhesenamun wept even more now, for her only other brother had been
taken by the nosferatu.
Suddenly she
became aware of another vampire’s booming laughter. It echoed in the darkness.
It failed to frighten Ankhesenamun though. A feral growl escaped her, low in
her throat, and with the strength of a vampire and of a beast, she leapt at the
source of the horrible sound.
The vampire was
taken by surprise. Ankhesenamun hit him so hard that he flew through the wall
and out of the house. Enraged, his five mutated digits twisted in some way of
the dark, and Ankhesenamun fell too the ground, pain ripping in and out of her.
Her feral strength abandoned her, and she cried out in pain in the voice of a
human being. At this the vampire ceased his dark magic and Ankhesenamun too
ceased her struggles.
“Fool!” The
vampire roared. “Fool! You dare challenge me! Know this, vermin! Know this and
bow before my will! I am Vlad Dracula! I am your master!”
Ankhesenamun did
not reply. Her breath was torn by tears of agony and sorrow.
Just then she
heard a sound to her left. A sound which made her blood run cold. Seth, his new
fangs bared and new wings unfolded, let out another roar of triumph.
Dracula roared
with hideous laughter. “Child of the dark!” He shouted. “Go forth, and feed to
your heart’s will in the world of mankind!”
Seth glanced at
him, then turned and ran toward the neighbouring town. Ankhesenamun did not
stop him. She could not.
***
Ankhesenamun
twisted in her sleep, silent murmurs escaping her lips. Dreams of the past came
swirling back to her, in the inky black whirlpool of slumber. Seth laughed as
he listened to the old man of Buda Pesth, Sobek cried for attention once more.
Her parent’s voices, her mother’s soothing whisper, and her father’s booming
yet gentle tones.
A tear of pain
and sorrow slipped from her sleeping eye.
So much terror,
so much pain. Dracula was to blame. The son of the devil had raped her
beautiful homeland and left it barren and desolate. Her parents had no doubt
been slaughtered and consumed by His flame and His shadow.
As Ankhesenamun
watched the scenes in her mind became no longer joyful. The sun set and a
brilliant white moon rose over
A wolf appeared
in front of the full moon. It was running, and as it ran it transformed. The
eyes lit with a furious crimson hue, wings grew and expanded, and its running
motions slowly transformed from four legged to two legged. The vampire took
flight; arms spread wide, eyes seeking prey. Ankhesenamun saw a tiny animal on
the ground, a rabbit. It seemed oblivious to the impending danger.
“Flee, little
one!” Ankhesenamun screamed silently in her mind.
The rabbit paid
no heed. The vampire swooped.
Ankhesenamun saw
another shape rise, behind the rabbit. This one was a pure pristine white,
wings not made of leathery skin but of dove’s feathers. It swooped upon the
light, a manifestation of light in all its glory. The vampire glanced up,
launched itself into the air and charged—
Again,
Ankhesenamun was thrown into another world. Against a blood red sunset, she
watched a human plunge a bade again and again into a strange rectangular box,
like a coffin. Something else caught her attention more than the box, though.
A lone figure
stood in the background, silently and sadly watching the scenes of butchery
before it. The figure suddenly slumped. Two other figures grabbed its arms to
support it, but the pain of the one fallen was obvious. It cried out in agony—
Ankhesenamun
woke.
The world came
back into focus. Transylvanian night warmth assailed her. She breathed it in
gladly, taking in several breaths of the sweet air.
Gradually she
became aware of her surroundings. She was lying in a coffin of the purest
marble. Her arms were across her chest, sweet-smelling flowers in one hand. And
she was clad in a gown of the most glorious red silk she had ever imagined
existed. Something struck her. This was not right.
She was lying
there. . .as if. . .as if dead. . .
“Ah, my love,
you are finally awake.”
A hand extended
to her. Instantly Ankhesenamun took it, and was lifted from her lying position
in the coffin by enormous strength. She turned to the owner of the hand.
He was a tall,
handsome man, his raven black hair combed neatly back. Dressed in a cloak of
pure, infinite black, his crimson gaze bored into hers.
“Allow me to
introduce myself,” the man before her said, with a languid smile. “I am noble
Vlad Dracula, Count of Transylvania.”
Vaguely she
could recall the being she had seen when she had been bitten. That had been a
horrible, sadistic monster, with an insatiable thirst for blood and violence.
Could that being and this man be one and the same?
Ankhesenamun was
aware that her fangs were clearly visible, but this man neither recoiled in
horror nor seemed afraid. Was he one of the nosferatu
too?
“How long have I
slept?” Ankhesenamun asked. She surprised herself by speaking. Her voice came
out in a perfect, melodious tone, like the voice of an angel.
The Count’s
smile never faltered. “Slept long you have, my love. And in that time, you have
grown ever more beautiful.”
The Count went
behind her, and from the back his arms wrapped around her slender waist, and
his face came suddenly over her shoulder.
“We will soon by
wed, my love. Ankhesenamun. We will soon be wed. Do not think little of me, for
all I desire is your love.”
Ankhesenamun’s
mind was racing. Another thought had come back to her, across the chasm of
memory that had been split by her long slumber. “Where are my brothers?”
“Your brothers?”
The Count replied. “They are both here, and very safe they be under my care.”
A plan had begun
to form in Ankhesenamun’s mind. One that was ruthless and cruel. But the only
way to free her and her brothers from bondage. “My gratitude is boundless.”
Dracula
separated himself from her. He went down onto one knee, holding up a wild rose.
At once, the flower died, all but one petal wilting and falling off.
“Will you marry
me, my love? Will we marry and become one? Will you be at my side through all
trouble and difficulty? And will you be mine, to love and to serve, forever
until the end of time and eternity?”
“Yes,”
Ankhesenamun cried, the plan that had hatched recently fresh in her mind.
“Yes!”
She fell to her knees
and bowed down before Dracula. “My lord, my life and my love, all and always
for you.”
The last petal
of Dracula’s wild rose fell, twirling and spiraling through the air before
landing at her knees. It was the flower of their matrimony.
***
When Sobek
looked to the skies he saw the moon, a dappled grey sphere of immense seductive
beauty. For that he gave thanks.
To him it had
been an age since that first bite. He had sped toward the neighbouring town and
fed his vampiric urge on human blood. His mind had come back with his canines
still buried in the body of a victim, and he had screamed in the indescribable
horror of what he had done.
After his fear
had subsided, instinct told him to find his new mistress—his sister
Ankhesenamun. Sobek had raced to Castle Dracula in his vampire form and
collapsed in raw exhaustion outside the gates, the power burned out of him by
his exertions. When he awoke, he realised that he had fallen straight into
Dracula’s trap. Dracula had used Ankhesenamun to lure him to the castle, for
Dracula knew that a vampire would seek his master or mistress when the feeding
frenzy ceased.
Seth, no doubt,
had faced a similar fate.
Dracula had
Sobek thrown into the dungeon beneath the castle, and vampire sentinels stood
guard over the young vampire even during the morning. Dracula did not intend to
lose his prisoner. What his purpose was as a hostage, Sobek did not yet know,
but he was sure his suspicions bordered on the truth.
His sister’s
beauty could not be resisted for long. Dracula intended to force Ankhesenamun
into the robes of a vampire bride. If Ankhesenamun refused, Sobek knew his life
would be used to trade. Ankhesenamun had a soft heart, and to see her younger
brother suffering Dracula’s ruthless torture was more than she could bear. She
would say yes. She would commit herself to a lifetime, nay, an eternity of
suffering before she let harm of any kind befall her brother.
Sobek surprised
himself once again. After the bite, he had found intelligence drifting
aimlessly in his mind, intelligence beyond his years. He could think clearly
and rationally, he could reason and argue.
A clank
somewhere outside the cell jarred Sobek from his thoughts. He stood, just as a
vampire sentinel threw the door of the cell open.
“Come,” the
sentinel hissed, prodding Sobek with a sharp claw. “Someone awaits.”
“Who is this who
awaits my coming, and what does he wait for?” Sobek asked.
“You will know
in your own time,” the sentinel hissed back. He gave Sobek a rough push toward
the dungeon exit. “Come.”
Sobek strode
under many huge archways, he passed many cells, some of which were completely
empty, some of which were occupied, though by what Sobek could not tell. All
had glowing eyes, crimson like his. By the light of the full moon he could make
out the shapes in the darkness, and they scared his worse than any vampire now
could. They had strangely deformed appendages and mismatched limbs. Some
crouched in the darkness, eyes searching for prey, while some cowered in the
gloom, afraid of their inner demons. These were Dracula’s experiments, breeds
between human and vampire. They had committed but one crime to deserve this
wretched fate.
They had lived.
Sobek turned his
eyes away from the sight, what he had just beheld replaying again and again in
his mind.
The sentinel
stopped. “Go,” he told Sobek. “Someone awaits.” Sobek turned.
“Sobek!”
Ankhesenamun ran
toward him, arms outstretched. She threw her arms around her little brother.
Sobek felt tears on his face. He felt like crying too, but held the tears back.
“Sobek. . .”
Ankhesenamun cried into his shoulder. Her shoulders shook with sorrow. She must
have been worried for him, Sobek thought.
“Sister, cry not
for me,” Sobek said. His sister pulled away from him. Her face still showed
sorrow. Sobek swore he saw guilt too, in those shining eyes.
“Are you well?” Ankhesenamun asked. Twin
tearstains streaked down her face.
“Very well,
sister.” Sobek said. “And you?”
Ankhesenamun
threw her arms around him again, her sorrow renewed. “I am sorry, little one,”
she managed. “I am sorry.”
***