Darkness (Book 1 of The Royals Trilogy)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

ETHAN

It had been days since we'd settled into our new home. Home, what and odd word, what exactly was a home? My brothers and I had been on the run for a long time, not staying long in one town. So, what could I call home? Did I even have one? I never thought so. I once had a home where my parents lived and where they tried to raise us, but it was long gone and since then I never returned.

These past few days had been hard and miserable. With every day that passed, my mind became more like the monster I was inside and less of the man I wanted to be. The first night was the hardest. By the time we had arrived to our new hideout, it was dark and all of us were tired.

Ben was the first to disappear to his room and then Devion. Leaving me alone with Emma. I could feel her worried eyes on me. She hadn't been a vampire for long so she didn't understand what an anchor was or how a vampire could lose their humanity so easily. To her it was all a choice, you either wanted to keep your humanity or you didn't. In some cases, like Devion's, that was true or at least partially true since Devion wasn't a complete monster and he had his beloved.

"Ethan, would you like to talk?" she asked softly. Her voice was laced with worry. I didn't look at her, nor did I respond.

Emma sighed and gently guided me to one of the couches that was in the room. We sat down and she looked at me, "you know you can talk to me Ethan, I won't judge." I nodded but kept my mouth shut. It was getting harder to form a coherent thought in my mind.

"I understand Ana is your anchor or something like that but, can't you change your anchor so that'll it'll be your family or someone closer to you?" she asked confused. I chuckled in my mind, she really was clueless.

I smiled faintly, "I wish, but you're wrong, you don't fully understand Emma. I can't change my anchor so that'll it'll be my family because I have lost everyone I loved, my twin has just started to reach out to me and I have lost hope in Devion. Besides, Ana isn't just my anchor because she's my beloved. She's my anchor because she's pure and she makes me see things differently, she was my hope of starting out new."

Emma's eyes widened, "but you barely know her and the only things you know are because you basically spied on her." I turned away feeling a bit ashamed but she was right, I really did not know Ana, and yet, it felt like I had known her all my life.

I quickly got up, "I think it's time for me to retreat to my room." Without letting Emma respond, I was locked in my room feeling angry. Why was I angry? I had no right to be. I saw the book I had left on my nightstand once we got here. I reached for it and began reading.

This book was the answer to all of my doubts. It explained how vampires functioned and what happened once the monster inside of us took over.

Installment 8- Darkness

A vampire without humanity is a merciless monster that is consumed with anger and darkness. It doesn't reason, it just acts out of instinct like a wild animal. It kills mostly for sport and feeds on few of its kills. This vampire has increased strength, speed and agility. This is only the case for vampires who have lost their humanity, their soul. Some also call them: Vampires of Darkness or The Darkened.

Installment 8.1- Symptoms

There are basic symptoms to look out for when dealing with a Vampire of Darkness.

I. In most cases, it takes centuries before a vampire starts to lose their humanity. Since the first vampires are the purest, the strongest and more evolved in all aspects, these take longer to lose their humanity than the ones who are newly turned and the first symptom is lack of control. In this first stage, a vampire will have trouble keeping in check its thirst and animal blood will do little to satisfy it.

II. The second stage begins almost simultaneously with the first. The vampire will experience mixed feelings. One moment it can feel perfectly calm and the next it can be seething with anger. This is due to the fact that the vampire is experiencing high emotions before they are completely lost. This process mostly takes months but once it starts it's a clear sign of danger and there is little time to stop the process since it has already begun.

III. The final stage, also called the Deathless Death by some. At this time, the vampire's humanity has very little time left. Its thoughts will mostly be clouded by darkness and it will be guided by instinct more than anything. The human part of the vampire will be able to watch what it's doing but it won't be able to do anything to control it. In this stage it is very hard to cure the Darkness since it has almost completely taken over.

This monster will poison its host and in less than a year, all signs of humanity will have vanished.

Installment 8.2- Anchor

Since the Darkness is commonly viewed as disease, many elder vampires have looked for a cure and a reason for this disorder.

Reasons are few:

I. The vampire decides to let go of their humanity.

II. The monster is stronger than the human host and it begins to manipulate the human to give up.

III. The vampire loses its anchor.

What is an Anchor?

An anchor is something or someone that makes the vampire cling to humanity. In most cases it's love. Love for a friend, for family, for nature, for a beloved. The loss of love will kill all chances of holding on and the vampire will lose its humanity.

A cure does not exist, if a vampire were to be a Vampire of Darkness, it would be exterminated by the higher vampires such as the Royal Brothers to preserve our kind's secret due to the fact that these creatures become lethal and irrational without a care.

I gently closed the book and my eyes landed on the author's name; Ethan Davis

I faintly smiled, I had written the book a few decades before when I saw a friend, my only true friend, lose his humanity because of the Darkness. At that time that illness was very uncommon and I had never encountered another vampire like that, so I began analyzing all the symptoms and causes and I even searched for a cure but without luck. My friend, Harry, had been put down by my brothers since I couldn't do it and since then it had been our duty to end with the Vampires of Darkness. I shook the memory away and I laid on my bed with my eyes closed.

...

The next few days were basically the same. I spent most of my time keeping my mind busy, writing and reading and I tried to avoid thinking about Ana or... the Darkness that was consuming me. Instead I decided to keep a journal, using fictional names and characters but writing my story, a story about how a vampire can lose itself but maybe, just maybe, regain control of its life too.

Ben kept busy trying to find a 'cure' for the Darkness. I knew it was in vain but he wouldn't give up. For two days he traveled to find a vampire consumed with Darkness, he returned with the vampire and started experimenting but all of his attempts were useless. Emma came by often, pretending not to know about what Ben was doing and she tried to talk to me, tried to 'reason' with me as she put it, but her therapies weren't working. Lately, I had been talking less and less and Emma's wariness was increasing. I had given her my book about vampires to read and now she understood what was happening, or at least she understood more.

Devion kept to himself and he avoided being in the same room together for longer than necessary, not even to talk. It was as if he thought the Darkness was contagious or maybe he was pulling away so that the end of this situation wouldn't affect him so much. All of us knew the day when they would have to kill me would come, sooner than we'd have liked.

My end was near. I could feel it.