The Tomb 2 Teaser

The priests had done their best to ensure his essence was destroyed. Binding him in ropes soaked in blessed water and lashing the flesh from his bones. Pouring holy water in the wounds until his sizzling flesh no longer healed and the pure white of his bones shown in the firelight. Through it all, he remained silent as the grave. Not giving them the satisfaction of hearing his pain.

The weak fleshy creatures were nothing to him. Miserable scurrying beasts that lived short, pointless lives. To kill them held no joy. They were simply sustenance. But he could hear their thoughts, a low whisper beneath their jeers. They, the priests and villagers, thought they were locked in an epic battle. Good against evil. Life against death.

He considered telling them the truth. There was no winning against him. All of their hard work, all of the torture, would not end him. He was as inevitable as the coming of night. When there was nothing left of him but bones soaked in blessed water, they locked him in a vault deep under the newly built church.

For days, months, years, his mind wandered. As his body lay slowly moldering, his essence prowled the forests and mountains of the land he had claimed. A plague lay waste to the nearby village and the church fell into ruin. And still, he waited. The rise and fall of empires past like the seasons.

And then there was silence. Nothing but the silent trees and the tickle of awareness at the edge of his consciousness. Multiple heartbeats slowly approaching. Foreign words, smooth and lyrical, intermingled with the sound of footsteps. They wandered through the ruins above him. Three separate heartbeats.

It only took a gentle nudge for them to explore the depths of the church. The door to his prison yawned open and then three pale faces peered over the edge of the pit. Wide eyes stared down at his body, the bones only covered by a thin layer of skin. The creatures whispered to each other.

With a mental nudge, he urged them down into the pit with him. Like lambs they obeyed. Even weakened by hunger and little more than a shadow of himself, he slashed open the nearest throat. Blood. Warm, life-giving blood sprayed over his bones and into his open mouth.

He swallowed convulsively, trying to remember how to use his body. He weakly pulled the body closer as the other two bleated in terror, scrambling to escape the pit. With each mouthful, he felt his strength grow. Muscle and sinew regrew, his teeth pushed through newly formed gums.

He pushed the first body aside and found the strength to sit up. The terrified screams grew louder. He snatched the closest wriggling body, ripping into it with relish. The screams turned to gurgles as he swallowed down mouthfuls of blood, so far beyond starving he reached for the last body before the second hit the ground.

He wobbled, unable to lift the mewling beast, but he easily pinned it beneath him and fed. A full-body shudder went through him when the husk of the last creature landed at his feet. He slowly raised his hand to examine himself.

His long fingers were still skeletally thin and his wrist joint was only covered by paper-thin skin, but he was no longer a consciousness without a functioning body. He slowly dragged himself out of the pit to collapse on the ground beside it.

Beyond the stench of his victims' vomit and bodily waste, was the fresh scent of the world outside. He craned his neck to stare toward the open door. Freedom was close. As fast as the energy filled him, it fled. A single meal could not undo centuries of starvation. He laughed humorlessly. Still trapped.

Days became weeks became months. He lay on the floor only an arms length from the open door, staring at the sliver of hallway beyond until his sight began to fade. He refused to give in to the panic. Another meal would come. He reached out with his consciousness.

There! A blindingly bright light in the darkness. He latched onto it, groaning at the honey-sweet essence of the creature moving toward him. He had never felt anything like it. Starvation gave him the strength to rise onto his hands and knees. The presence moved closer and he heard a high, clear voice calling for someone.

He urged the creature to come closer. Want and need mingled in his mind. His body ached as he crawled closer to the open door. The footsteps came closer, nearly overhead. Then sunlight filled the hallway and he jerked back with a snarl.

The little beast dared to attack him? His fury vanished as the most delicious scent began to fill the air. A heady amount of blood, but beneath the familiar smell was something so inviting he felt his sex stir against his thigh. He was too starved to reach full arousal, but the unfamiliar instinct to mate took him aback. There were no others like him, only weak imitations he had sent out into the world. He had no lifemate, no female of his own to breed.

But the urge slowly took over his mind. Hunger to feed and the need to mate the creature bleeding out in the hallway. The thought made him pause. If the delectable creature died, he could not keep it. He bared his teeth.

It was his. Nothing was going to take it from him. Not even death.