On the Formation and Habits of Vampires, and other creatures

I awoke several hours later, I think. There was no clock in there, and my watch was too encrusted with blood to see the time displayed there. However, my first thought on waking up was not "Oh, I wonder what time it is?". My first thought was "AAAGH!" because mere inches from my face was the doctor, staring at me. I looked at her, afraid to breath, blink, or even speak. Slowly, I raised my hand, and tapped her on the shoulder. She raised her head, looking around, and I let out a gasp of breath, sitting up.
After she realized that it had been me who tapped her shoulder, she returned her attention to me. "I was observing you in order to look for complications due to the viruses in your system."
"Okay," I said, still a little creeped out. "Did you have to observe so close?"
"Why?" she asked, cocking her head to one side, and raising an eyebrow."Does my close proximity to you during extended periods of time when you are unconscious make you uncomfortable?" She asked.
"Well, Yeah!" I said, thinking that this was fairly obvious. It was becoming rapidly apparent, however, that this doctor didn't get out much.
"Oh." She said, looking downwards. After a brief pause, she looked back up at me, and said "Noted." "No, it's okay, really, do whatever you want," I said, thinking that someone on hand in case I started bleeding again would be a good idea. "It just surprised me a little bit, is all."
Once again, the only response forthcoming was "Oh." and a downward glance.
After a while, it became clear that a new topic of conversation would not be suggested, but she was still there, so I decided to ask her some questions.
"So," I said, pausing because I wasn't quite sure of how to phrase my question. "Back in there, you said I was different, new. What did you mean?" She looked at me, and said "I meant that there has been no one naturally born with the ability to sustain multiple viruses before, to my knowledge."
Something about the wording of the question caught me off guard, so I thought about it for a second. Then, I said "Wait, Naturally born? You mean there have been others like me, just not natural?" She responded with "Yes."
Once again, I had forgotten to request clarification. "Um, could you tell me more?" I asked hesitantly. "Sure," she said.
About 10, 000 years ago, there was a selective breeding program around beings such as us. Vampires, harpies, werewolves, and many other creatures were captured, and bred to create cross-breeds. These were further intermingled, until only one being was left, with the strengths of all of these creatures." "Whoah, wait a second, 10, 000 years!" I exclaimed, sure she was mistaken or I had heard wrong.
She just looked at me, and said, very slowly "Approximately 10, 000 years." stressing the 'approximately'. "Ok, continue, please," I said, a little disbelieving.
"He was perfect. Strong, intelligent, and immortal. It seemed that the ultimate goal of the breeding program had been fulfilled, and for a while, all were happy. However," She said, looking away, "Within a few hundred years, things changed. Daemeon became...different. Sullen, unresponsive, angry, and suicidal. For an immortal, that will only drive you more insane. For hundreds of years he tried to end his life, and for a while it was feared that he would succeed. He flew to the extents of Earth's atmosphere, allowing himself to fall back, unhindered. He collided with the ground with such force as to cause a crater, and send villagers running in fear of an apocalypse. However, mere hours later, the broken, bloody, pulped mass of mangled tissue that had been him was up again, and walking. And thinking of a new way to do himself in."
She looked at me, seeming hurt, and continued, "He once spent 900 years in a volcano, burning alive. He couldn't die, but he just stayed there for-" Her voice broke off, and she had to wipe a tear from her eye.
"-For nine HUNDRED YEARS!" She screamed. I was beginning to get afraid again, but she didn't freak and attack me this time, she did something almost infinitely worse.
She wept.
Now, I think that the guys out there especially will agree with me on this, a weeping woman in front of you is the worst feeling in the world. Even if it's not your fault, you feel like crap, and you can't seem to do anything. All you've got is 'there, there, everything will work out fine'.
I put my hand on her shoulder, and said "There, there, everything will work out fine." (Hey, you work with what you got.) After a while she stopped crying, which helped me out a lot.
"Thanks," she said, taking my hand. "I'm sorry for getting so emotional...It's just that..." "Hey, hey, it's okay," I said, just glad to have something to say. "You don't need to explain anything." She looked up at me again, smiled, and said "Again, thank you."
After a little while, I asked her a question I had been wondering for a while now. "So, if this stuff all happened ten thousand years ago, how do you know about it?' I asked, "I mean, did you find cave paintings, or tablets, or what?"
"It would be much easier to show you the answer than to tell you..." She said, somewhat hesitantly. "Here, follow me." With that, she stood and began to walk, still holding my hand from earlier. As we walked along, her in front, and me behind being led by the hand like a child, I began to notice the scale of this place. At first, I had thought it to be a small area, just a few rooms. However, as we walked, we passed through a large garage/machine shop area, as well as several other larger rooms, and some smaller ones as well. I would have asked her where we were, and I wanted to, but I thought that she seemed to be in a rush and I didn't want to disturb her.
After a time, and no small amount of walking, we arrived at a very secure looking door. Actually, we arrived in a hallway full of such doors, but we stopped in front of one in particular. She punched a code into the keypad next to the door. With a whir, and a hiss, the door parted down the middle, each half sliding back into the frame. We walked inside, and I immediately felt something. Something about this room, the smell, the taste of the air, something was new in this room, and yet...very old.
From the shadows in the corner, I heard a raspy voice, "What are you doing in my cell, and who is this child you accompany?" I stared into the darkness, using the tips I had learned earlier to try to decipher the shadows and see what was hiding there. As I probed, the voice once again spoke up, "Nice try, boy," The boy seemed spat out, as if in disgust, "But I fear not quite good enough. For, you see - or rather, you don't - I am over here!" And as the word here met my ears, so did a hand meet my throat, pulling me into the air, and down to the floor on my back. I gasped, winded, and looked up. I saw above me, an unshaven man with scraggly brown hair, a grimace on his face, and his hand on my throat. His canine teeth were quite large, too much so for a vampire, and his eyes were incredible.
They were silver. Not the light bluish white that people call silver, but actual, reflective, metallic silver. I couldn't look away, they were so intriguing. The doctor chose this particular moment to say "Come now, calm down, act nice, and introduce yourself."
The man above me glanced up at her, then removed his hand from my throat, offering it to me. I took it, and he effortlessly hauled me to my feet. After I had dusted myself off, I looked at him. He was tall, but not overly so, I'd guess around 6'2", and was neither thin nor large. He gave the impression of a very strong, confident man, but wasn't that muscular, or physically outstanding.
He bowed, flourishing with one hand, and said "Allow me to introduce my self good sir; I am known merely as Daemeon." He offered his hand and I shook it. Then I did a bit of a double-take, "Hold on a second, Daemeon?" I asked, incredulous. He looked my in the eyes, and replied, "That is indeed what I said, my good man." His accent was difficult to place. Kind of British, kind of Spanish, kind of African, it seemed to be a mix of just about everything.
Right then, however, his accent was not the primary thought in my mind. I looked at the doctor, disbelieving, but she only nodded. Daemeon apparently caught these gestures, because he chuckled a little to himself, shaking his head, and saying "Ah, I see, you have already talked of me." "Yeah," I said, unsure of any other response.
"And?" He asked, raising an eyebrow without moving another muscle.
"And I don't believe it!" I exclaimed, wincing and mentally hitting myself for saying something so profoundly stupid. "What I meant to say is that the whole story kind of has an air of fantasy about it."
He smiled lightly, and asked "Any part of the story in particular? The ten thousand years? The nine hundred years of burning? Did she tell you that part, that's my favourite!" He looked over at the doctor, and stopped talking abruptly when he saw the hurt expression on her face. "Sorry." He said, and returned his attention to me.
"It's true. I was born ten thousand, one hundred seventeen years, seven months, and thirteen days ago today, in a village unknown to modern man. I have been known throughout history, though as time continues, the stories become twisted and diluted more and more so. To the Sumerians, I was Zi-ud-sura, to the Egyptians, Atrahasis. The Greeks knew me as many people, Heracles amongst them. Throughout history, myths and legends of immortal super-beings have persisted, and have you ever wondered why? Is it not curious that people would so fixate upon such a topic?" He drew closer to me, and his voice dropped to a whisper.
"The reason for just such a fixation is I. Throughout the whole of human history, or thereabouts, I have been there, and seen the change, and the similarities. The things I have witnessed...such things as you could not imagine..." He trailed off, and the doctor put her hand on his shoulder.
"Now, Daemeon, we wouldn't want to scare him, would we?" She said soothingly. The silky quality had crept into her voice again.
Daemeon started, as if suddenly awaking from some sort of trance, and straightened up, saying "Yes, yes, wouldn't want to scare the boy, no..." but again he trailed off, staring into space.
The doctor took her hand from Daemeon's shoulder, and placed instead on mine, leading me out of the room. "We should let him get some rest," She said, punching a button to close the door. As it slid shut with almost no sound, I heard a different sound, from within the room.
"The things I've witnessed..."