~ 80 years ago

After being turned into a vampire I walked the Earth aimlessly. Each day straying further away from my humanity, as I gave in to my lust for blood. I spent most of my days doing what I knew best and joined the battlefield, working as a mercenary. It was the only thing that gave me some semblance of joy - destroying the enemy while simultaneously feasting on them.

I would wipe out entire battalions. Even the vampires on their side were no match for me. Those peony soldiers were crushed like ants beneath my feet in a matter of seconds. As soon as I claimed my first victim, I would go into a frenzy. The next thing I knew would be waking up covered in blood and intestines. Satisfied with the carnage I just caused.

It was truly a pitiful existence.

One night I found myself in Edlan, walking the streets like a junkie in need of a fix. There was this poor woman, probably going back to her family after working late hours. The groceries she was carrying hit the dirt, the moment I sank my teeth into her neck. There was no screaming. The light left her eyes before she could make a sound.

"I guess you are the recent troublemaker plaguing this neighborhood." I heard a male voice call behind me.

"Who's there?" I said, wiping the blood off my face. "I suggest you run away while you still can."

"The name is Edwin. I came to put an end to your rampage." He proclaimed. As he came a little closer I caught a glimpse of his features. His short flaxen hair went over his ears. Face calm and filled with resolve.

My first thoughts were: "Who is this punk?". His attitude pissed me off.

"You don't appear to be shitting your pants upon seeing me." I snickered, tossing the corpse to the side. "I assume you are a fellow vampire."

"Correct. It's impolite to not state your name when one introduces themselves to you. Don't you agree?"

"It's Lynn. Don't think that the fact that you're a vampire will deter me from beating you to a pulp."

"I invite you to do so. That is if you can manage to land a hit." The tone of his voice exuded confidence, which I was more than happy to crush.

I threw my fist at him, fast as lightning, but at the last moment, he suddenly disappeared. In the corner of my eye, I could see him behind me. Without losing momentum I hit him with a left hook. He dodged it effortlessly. No matter how quickly I moved, he was quicker. Never attempted to hit back, just avoiding every single attack until I was left out of breath.

"Are you going to fight me, you coward?!" I yelled enraged.

"I want to show you that not everything needs to be resolved with violence." He continued in his calm demeanor.

"Are you some hippie or something? A vampire that is against violence? Don't make me laugh."

"You are not the only one who's been down this terrible path. It's not your fault."

"It is. I chose this..." My voice was hoarse, filled with regret.

"I'm sure you don't enjoy killing that much. Your thirst for blood can mess with your head. A lot of us have gone through the same."

"Oh, but I've always been like this. It started when I strangled my piece of shit father as soon as I was strong enough to fight back. Joining the military afterward was only a front I put on to exercise my violent tendencies against other people." I said in the most smug way I could muster. The bastard I was, I probably laughed as I said it.

"Still, I can help you."

"Help me? You can start by finding me another job as a mercenary. Least then I could die an honest death."

I don't remember what happened after that. Someone must have whacked me over the head since the next thing I knew was waking up at an abandoned hotel. The fluorescent light from the ceiling burned my retinas before I stood up and looked around dazzled.

"You are finally awake." I heard that annoying voice again.

"What is this place?" I said, rubbing the back of my head to fight off the horrible headache I felt upon getting up.

"This is our headquarters. Our clan doesn't have a name so unfortunately I cannot introduce us properly, but do make sure to make yourself at home here." The guy called Edwin turned his attention towards the corridor for a second, shouting: "Elenor! Come here for a second!"

After a minute or so, a short woman somewhere around her mid-thirties showed up. She had shoulder-length dark brown hair, that covered one of her eyes. She was all skin and bones, wearing heavy eyeliner and purple lipstick.

"Ella, come apologize to the man." Said Edwin.

"For what?" She spoke with a German accent."I only saved you time by knocking him out. Were you planning to recite him a poem that would move him and then suddenly he would change his mind about killing you?" As much as I disliked her arrogant tone of voice, she was right.

"Elenor, this is Lynn. Lynn - Elenor." He continued. "He will be joining our group. From now on I want you two to get along."

"Spinnst du?" The woman screeched.

"When did I ever say I would be joining you? You fucker!" I interpreted. My head was still spinning, which further fueled my anger.

"You are not? What a shame." Said Edwin, a little disappointed. "Care to join us for supper at least?"

I didn't feel like fighting in this state so I obliged. We went to the cafeteria where there were other vampires and humans alike. They were greeting each other like friends instead of natural enemies. The humans were queuing up to donate their blood, after which they sat down at the same table as the vampires and enjoyed their meal.

The sight perplexed me. Never before did I imagine that I would someday see sheep dining among wolves so peacefully.

I later learned that the people there volunteered to give their blood in exchange for protection against other vampire gangs and criminals. The latter of which there were many in this war-torn world.

"Why did you bring someone like me here?" I turned to Edwin. "What's stopping me from tearing this place down?"

"He brought you here because he's an idiot." The skinny woman intercepted. "I've told him countless times that his tendency to trust people will be the end of him one day. You try anything funny and I'll personally make sure you regret it. Verstehen?"

The fact that someone so frail tried to intimidate me made me chuckle. She looked like she could break her arm the moment she laid a finger on me. Unamused by my reaction, the woman simply stood there staring at my eyes before saying:

"Slap yourself."

Imagine the shock I felt when suddenly my hand sprung up and slapped me hard enough to leave a mark. I held my cheek to ease to pulsating pain, confused about what the heck just happened.

"Elenor here is one of the very few vampires who can do hypnosis," Edwin explained. "So don't make her mad, ok? You asked me why I brought you here. Simply put I believe that anyone can change given the chance. I've seen it countless times with my eyes while I worked as a teacher. We are not all saints here, but we do put up an effort to do better."

"You think I am just some lost child you can reform?" I said angry.

"No, but you do remind me of one of my students. His father died on the battlefield, leaving him and his mother behind. He was filled with so much anger, just like you. While others saw him as just another delinquent, I simply allowed him to channel that anger and put it into something productive." He handed me a book called 'The Malice of Time' with a proud smile on his face. "He is one of the most popular authors in the country right now and he is barely out of college."

"I hate reading. It's boring and a waste of time"

"Give it a shot. I'm sure you'll like it."

I took the book off his hands, thinking about throwing it in the trash as soon as I left the place, but luckily I saw the name of the author before tossing it. I spent the rest of the night reading it until the end.

The story was about an alchemist, driven by his desire for eternal life. He would spend his days in search of a cure for mortality, torturing and killing countless victims while conducting his experiments. One day Death herself knocked on his door to grant him his wish but warned him that it was no blessing but a curse instead. "If it's me you fear," she said, placating her skeletal finger on his head, "Then I shall never come for your soul. You will walk this earth until it turns to coal."

Dismissing her warning, the alchemist burst out laughing, overjoyed that he had reached his goal. However, his joy wouldn't last long as he would spend tens of thousands of years in a world where there were no more humans left, as they were all turned to ashes in the nuclear war.

Driven to madness, he would beg for Death to come for him, but she never did. Leaving him broken and ridden with guilt.

Unlike the protagonist I at least had some chance for redemption. I found myself back at the hotel the next night. I remember my clothes being soaked from the rain before they let me in. I probably looked like some poor stray cat in search of a shelter.

"Oh, look who's here." Edwin greeted me. "Came to cause havoc? Or perhaps you had a change of heart?"

"Your student... do you know where I could find him?" I asked.

"No idea. Haven't seen him in years. Why ask?"

"Doesn't matter..." I turned my head to the side, taking a moment to think. "Fine, you win. I will join your stupid organization. Just... help me get my life back in order."

"Very well, but before we accept your application, I need to let you know that there are some ground rules: No killing (I know how much you like that one); no fighting between members, and under no circumstances: do not turn children into vampires."

"Understood."

Although I didn't think much of it at the beginning, with time those people became like a family to me. Even the small skinny woman, who I couldn't stand from the moment we met, I soon started seeing her as an older sister and was ready to do anything for her.

At first, there were just a few of us, but our numbers grew larger over the years. We also had many enemies, that me and Elenor would gladly take care of.

I slowly started regaining my humanity. Leaving behind the monster I was. But as with all good things, it had to come to an end.