The Vampire's Rise

Haemon simply stood there, shoulders rigid, as he watched the pyre go up in flames, their floating embers flying up into the stars. His eyes became wet as he lifted his head to the sky. His hands each flexed into fists at his side and he sniffed once before breathing out shakily. He was holding back his tears, holding back crying out loud in front of everyone. He was an Assassin of the Templar Order! He would not cry! He would not let the others see how weak this had left him! But he couldn't stop a few tears streaming from his face that remained locked on the ends of the fire as it licked at the starry sky. He wasn't one for religion, but he knew that God must have been there somewhere, watching, for he felt a strange peace wrap around his shoulders, making them sag though they kept their rigid look. After Lilith had ended her song, Haemon spoke into the silence while the fire still crackled loudly. "May you be safe in the arms of God, little warrior." His words were accompanied with a couple more tears falling down his cheeks.

(That song is so beautiful T_T kind of tugged on my heartstrings because I lost someone close to me as well...)

Lilith watched the flames while everyone left until it was just her and Haemon. She wanted to comfort him, to let him know that everything would be alright. However, she decided against it. Lilith prepared a burial urn with some oils, herbs, a gem, and a few coins before she took a seat at the foot of the funeral pyre.
"I cannot leave until the fire has died, and I have placed the ashes in the urn. The Order hasn't had time to prepare a room for you, but you are welcome to spend the night in my room."

(I'm sorry to hear about your loss.)

(Thanks.)

Haemon shook his head and ran a hand through his hair while he fought back tears and sobs. "That's fine." He said quietly. "But I don't think I'll be spending the night anywhere. I'm not tired. But I am thirsty." He added the last bit after a small pause and he found himself licking at his fangs.

"I've taught you how to hunt, little bat, so you can go hunting on your own if you want." Ember looked at Haemon, and smiled warmly. "Or you can have more of mine."

(Lilith XD)

Haemon gave a grin at her offer. Perhaps he should drink more of hers, just to be safe. Just to keep himself from going mad like he had earlier. "Thank you for your offer, Lilith." He said with a dip of his head. "I can wait, though, if you want to finish your ritual for Maria." His voice choked and he had to swallow back his tears.

"I have to stay" Lilith said softly. The funeral pyre had become a pile of smoldering ashes. Lilith scooped up the ashes, and put them in the burial urn. She sealed the urn with a gold wax, and held the urn gently in her arms. "Would you like to come with me to the great chamber to put Maria with the others?"

"If you don't mind the company." Haemon said softly. In truth, half of him wanted to be alone but the other half argued. It argued that if he was alone, all his emotions would gush out and leave him in a mess. He might not have been raised with Lilith's beliefs, but his mother had believed that true warriors deserved honor. They deserved to be blessed and warmed by fire, not buried cold in the ground being eaten away by bacteria and other creatures that feasted on flesh and bone. In a way, he was tied to Lilith's beliefs as well as his own in God, though he didn't show signs of any religious beliefs.

"Well, let's lay her to rest" Lilith said with a sigh. She made her way inside, opened a door, and headed down the stairs. There were burial urns, and bodies everywhere. Lilith made her way into a deeper chamber, and set Maria's burial urn between two others. "Rest well, little one" Lilith said softly before kissing the urn. She turned to Haemon, and let out a comforting smile. "Let's go, little bat. These halls have a strange feeling to them" Lilith said with a half growl. Her hairs were on end, and it looked like something had spooked her slightly.

Haemon watched Maria's urn a moment longer before his skin crawled in reaction to her action. "Right." He said cautiously before he turned from where Maria now rested and laid a gentle hand on her back. He said nothing but let his action speak for him. He wanted to get out as much as she did. He absolutely hated crypts like these. Too spooky.

Lilith raced out of the catacombs as fast as she could. She looked like a bat out of hell. Lilith burst out of the catacombs, and stood there for a moment, gasping for breath. She looked around her to see if Haemon had made it out.

Haemon followed after her as quickly as he could and slammed the doors to the crypt shut before he breathed out a sigh of relief. As the moonlight touched his skin, pain racked through his body. A quiet gasp escaped his throat and his eyes closed as he leaned against the doors with his hands pressed against them. He shivered and his arms trembled. What was happening?

Lilith rushed to Haemon's side, and gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders. She was worried about him. "Little bat? Are you alright" Lilith asked softly. Her voice was thick with concern for the man she had fallen in love with. She wanted to help him in any way that she could. But how could she?

"I don't know." Haemon grunted, his back shivering. He stayed silent for a moment longer before he asked a question concerning the moon. "Who gets affected by the moon? Vampires hate only the sun..." He swallowed, his throat drying out rather quickly by this point. "It's not that moonlight hurts...it's more like....I don't know how to explain it..."

"Only werewolves are said to draw power from the moon. In my studies, I have found that the light of the moon is a source of power. The moon controls the tides, water. There's water in blood. Vampires and demons feed on blood." Lilith looked into Haemon's eyes, and seemed to be looking into his soul. She pressed her forehead against his, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what's happening to you, little bat. I want to help you, but I don't know if I can."

Haemon couldn't help but make a joke despite the slight pain he felt. "Perhaps I'm both vampire and werewolf." His tongue flicked out to lick at his lips for a moment. His eyes raised to look around them for a moment before his hands gripped her arms and he stared into her eyes. "I need to...I just...." Words wouldn't come and instead he acted. He'd gotten better with his bite. Instead of it actually being awkward, it felt more like a kiss. At least it was a kinder action than when he'd been going mad.

Lilith didn't react negatively to the bite, in fact, she quite enjoyed it. She held a hand on the back of Haemon's neck, and remained perfectly still. She knew the dangers of moving during a feed, an artery could be torn to shreds.

Unlike the last time where he'd taken a lot of her blood, Haemon only took what he needed and removed his fangs from her skin a few moments after. He swallowed what blood he'd kept in his mouth, his hair casting a shadow across his face that hid his darkly colored eyes. The blood didn't seem to take away the moon's effect on him, however. It sated his thirst for now, at least. A growl rose into his throat. It sounded feral. Like that of a wolf's. "I need to run." He said quietly, raising his eyes to stare at her. Instead of their dark green, they'd turned pure silver, as pure as the moon itself.

"Of course you're a Werewolf." Lilith sounded a little disappointed, she had hoped that Haemon was a demon like her. She loved him either way. "Come on, let's head outside the city walls. That way, if you change your form, nobody will be around to see it."

Haemon bounded toward the barrack entrance and up the nearest roof. He'd never felt so fast before and his strength had increased. The faster he ran, the more the moon affected him. His leap was higher and his rolls were neater, tighter. Just a few more taller buildings and he'd be at the city gates. Haemon sprang into the air and caught at the wall of the tall building in front of him. He slid down a few inches before he half scrabbled half bounded up the side, a large gouge mark left in the stone where he'd caught himself.

Each leap, each step brought him closer to the gate. To freedom. Fur bristled across his skin and his back ached at his shoulder blades. But possibly the most notable change was that the fangs he'd fashioned to give himself a fearsome look had actually grown in length, leaving all the other canines small in comparison. He wasn't just a werewolf. He could feel darkness coursing in his blood as his final leap sent him onto the top of the city wall where he rested for a moment as the moon's light changed him a little more.

With one final leap, Haemon sent himself out of Jerusalem and his run dropped him to all four legs as his own shifted and snapped. he reached the edge of the city limits and halted at the top of the cliff that overlooked the city. His jaws parted as the muzzle broke free and ears flicked back against his head while a wailing howl broke through the air.

The darkness in his veins made him want to hunt. His pupils were dilated. He needed fresh blood. And he would kill any to get it. He didn't feel like a wolf. He felt like a Demon.

Lilith followed Haemon, keeping a watchful eye on him. Luckily, nobody had seen what Haemon had become. She smiled, and took a deep breath before leaping off the city wall, and taking on her demonic form. She hovered there in front of Haemon, ready to fly out of the way at any second.
"Haemon? Do you remember me? Do you know who I am?"

Haemon's eyes, as bright and as silver as the moon itself, blinked as they studied the demon before him. His nose moved and he sounded like he was sniffing the air around her. Almost at once, he smelt her familiar blood-scent and his pupils dilated further into feral slits and his lips peeled back from his canines. The fangs that were there while he was human had grown, dwarfing the rest of the teeth by a lot. Haemon backed up, the muscles bunching beneath the dark fur that had coursed along his body. He knew who she was. But he needed a hunt before he hurt her.

Movement below on the path up the cliff face made his head swivel. He didn't move, but he could smell the blood pumping through this soft body continually approaching closer. Whoever it was had just made it to the part of the path that led out of the city. Haemon moved. He fell upon the man and plunged his teeth into its neck while blood pooled into his mouth and stained his teeth. The body twitched beneath him for a few seconds before it fell still. The blood was sweet despite its iron taste.

Haemon rumbled a growl in his throat, his tongue lapping up the blood as it pooled into the rocks nearby. When he raised up finally, he turned his silver eyes to the demon Lilith. He remained on his four legs for a moment before he rose to his hind legs only. His forearms were quite long and thicker than they were earlier that day. His nails also had become claws that added length to his arms. He seemed to tremble before he dropped back onto all fours and grabbed the body's top half before he carried it forward and dropped it in front of Lilith. He was offering her some. He was definitely no ordinary werewolf.

"Thank you, Haemon, but he's all yours" Lilith said with a laugh. She had perched herself on the top of a tree. Lilith leapt down from the tree, and landed in front of Haemon with a loud thud, the ground shattering beneath her. She looked at Haemon, and smiled cheekily before she gently pushed Haemon onto his side. "Who's a good Werewolf" Lilith asked playfully as she rubbed Haemon's belly.

Haemon rumbled, his jaws parting as he rolled onto his stomach to allow her to rub it. His eyes closed and his tongue lolled to the side for a moment before a noise made him shoot up and he bolted toward it. A loud squeal was cut off before he returned, his tail held high in triumph as the blood of an animal flooded into his mouth. He looked so proud of himself.

Lilith watched Haemon hunt, and laughed at the animal. She thought he looked super adorable as a wolf. Lilith decided that she wasn't going to let Haemon have all the fun. She took to the skies, and soared proudly like an eagle. She spotted an approaching human, and rocketed towards him. The man didn't even have a chance to react as Lilith's fangs sank into his flesh. She drained him of every ounce of his blood, and let out a fierce roar once she had finished.
"We had best dispose of the bodies. We don't want hunters coming after us" Lilith growled before she set fire to the corpse.

(Don't forget about Bryan and Darcey)

(O_O I thought you didn't respond to them yet!)

Haemon growled as he dragged the corpse of the man he'd killed over to the roaring fire, his fangs tearing through flesh as he dragged it forward. The animal, however, he settled down with and began to eat at it hungrily with growls, the blood splashing down onto his hands, face and some on his neck while his teeth tore the flesh and the fangs seemed to do most of the tearing.