Shadowman of Baltimore |

Photo by dimitri_c

Hunger. A hunger unlike any before it. A hunger for something he’d never imagine craving. It was almost an overpowering need for something…something that wasn’t quite right.

He opened his eyes slowly with more effort than he’d every tried to do anything. His eyelids felt stiff and heavy as though they’d never opened before. They fluttered a few times before finally, they allowed him to see the world.

And it wasn’t as it had been in his thirty years of life.

Sharp and crisp. Cold and dead. Even in the darkness of night, he could see perfectly, though somehow it didn’t seem real. It was more like a picture than life. It made him feel just as unreal.

“Very different, yes?”

The voice was familiar, though it affected him so differently. He felt a tug along a thread of power that had never been there before and it was giving him support, but not by much. The incredible hunger still swarmed through him with a vengeance.

Simeon couldn’t move his body when he tried. Everything felt heavy and f ridged like icy fingertips roaming his body. He could only turn his eyes towards the voice.

The white man knelt beside him, placing a hand on Simeon’s shoulder. He latched on and gently pushed him into a sitting position.

“There now, I know how it is, the first night. So cold, so stiff. Life not forgotten but death knocking on your door.” The other man ran his hand comfortingly down Simeon’s arm, then began to flex the muscles there. “Not to worry, friend, I will be here for you every step.”

The movement of his arm felt so good he could have sighed with relief if his lungs had air. His eyes fluttered as a pleasure ran through his body. As the man continued to work on Simeon, the tension in his body began to fade away. In time, he was finally able to speak.

“What you done to me?” Simeon asked in a strained voice.

The man stopped for a moment, then continued his massage. “I did as you asked. I have made you strong to hurt those who hurt your Hattie.”

“I sure dun feel strong”

“You will,” the man whispered. “In time. You will. Would you like to know my name?”

Amazingly, the thought hadn’t even occurred to Simeon. He put his trust in an unknown man—a white man at that! It felt unreal.

“Yeah…” he whispered.

“My name is Adalrich. And you are Simeon.”

“Yeah…”

Simeon swallowed hard, tasting very old blood in his mouth. He closed his eyes tightly as his stomach craved more.

“Hungry,” he said.

“Yes, I knew you would be,” the man told Simeon as he stood. “Wait right here.”

Simeon flopped back into the ground, finally noticing his surroundings. Hard rock and dirt beneath him. Trees above him, obscuring part of the view from the waning moon. The smell of the river and the sound of it rushing over rock. Where was he? Where had Adalrich brought him?

Footsteps sounded somewhere behind his head. Weakly, he turned to the sound and followed the movement in darkness. Adalrich came into the light with another figure dragging behind him. He threw it to the ground beside Simeon, then return to his spot next to him on the ground.

“I hope you do not mind, but I had a little bite of him myself,” Adalrich said as he brought the body into view.

Simeon’s eyes widened as noticed the man offered to him. The overseer. How many lashings had that bastard given him in the past? He deserved it, that devil, yet as Simeon looked at him and saw his pale skin and disoriented eyes, he couldn’t help feeling like a monster. The blood dripping from the bite marks in his neck made his stomach rumbled. It smelled so good, like something so pure and perfect.

“Somethin’ ain’t right,” Simeon croaked.

“Trust me, it is right.”

Adalrich grabbed the overseer, nails digging into the man’s throat. The overseer could barely whimper, but he did and the sound caused Simeon to tremble with longing.

“Take a taste, little one, I am sure he tastes like reparation,” Adalrich said with dark joy.

Simeon licked his lips. He wanted to so badly, but couldn’t bring himself to do it.

“No, it ain’t right.”

Adalrich laughed with an almost barking sound. His fist tightened around the overseer’s throat. “Taste him. Now is not the time to think like a man. You haven’t feed in three days. You must feed.”

His eyes widened in silent demand. Simeon couldn’t resist the look.

“God will damn my soul…”

Adalrich grinned, fangs shining white in the moonlight. “Who do you think made us, little one?”

He couldn’t deny that logic. Still, it made him feel like a monster. He realized that he was a monster. This man stole his soul and made him that way. And due to a foolish moment of rage, he’d turned away from God.

Gathering every ounce of strength he didn’t have, Simeon pushed Adalrich and his prey away. “I won’t have none of it!” he growled. It took everything in him to rise from that spot. Swaying, he stood, staring down at the bastards. “I won’t have none of it.”

“Simeon, sit down and eat!” Adalrich yelled.

Simeon could feel the weight of his master’s power pushing down on him. He refused to. “I will not!”

Adalrich seemed genuinely shocked at Simeon’s refusal and that pleased Simeon greatly. He turned is back on the men. With agonizing slowness, he willed his body to move away.

“You won’t be able to survive without me.”

Simeon turned to the man, eyes narrowed. “Mister, you just came into my life. I ain’t need you all this time, I ain’t needin’ you now.”

“We shall see.”

Simeon shook his head then moved towards what he hoped was the exit of the woods. He didn’t need that monster. Not now. Not ever. He wouldn’t steal Simeon’s soul away completely. Heaven help him.