Hysteric

A girl woke up covered in sweat. She found herself startled and confused. Her vision was blurred and she could barely see her surroundings. She rubbed her eyes as she tried to form a cohesive thought. She didn’t know anything and couldn’t think of anything. She didn’t know who she was, or where she was at. There was a panicked feeling building up within her and yet somehow a small giggle built up behind her throat.

Her vision came into focus and panic turned to calm. The surroundings about her were immaculate. She found herself in a dulled red canopy bed surrounded by soft flowing curtains. The sound of a fountain pouring outside her room calmed her. She pulled back the curtain of the canopy in order to take a glimpse of her surroundings.

“Oh…” she muttered looking around. She found herself in what looked like a ballroom. Murals of intricate detail, and tilings that made magnificent sceneries painted the walls and floors. The ceiling had beautifully laid images about it as well as intricately planned windows that let the moonlight shimmer in. The bed was placed approximately 20 feet from a large pool with a fountain sitting awkwardly to the far right within it. The walls of the massive room were nowhere near the bed or the pool but extended out and beyond making the room expansive.

“This place is ridiculous…” The girl muttered. She looked around the area to see if she could locate anything else in the room aside from an elaborate bed and a massive pool. Nothing… just a really big bed and a whole lot of art. “I can’t tell if I died and landed in heaven.”

“This is hardly heaven dear,” two massive doors opened from behind a mural. The hidden doors made the girl leap up and jump back into the bed desperate to hide back behind the red canopy curtains.

“Oh sweet child, oh dear, hold off, stay back.” A woman pushed a few people dressed as servants back behind the door. “I will come get you in a bit, I think our little doll is a bit timid, not at all like our last girl.”

Big blue eyes peered from behind one of the wooden beams that supported the bed as the confused child stared at the intruder of the ostentatious room.

“Ah,” the woman in the distance waved. She was dressed like the image of a stereotypical Egyptian princess. A careful and simple garment, but elaborately decorated with jewelry that complimented her unusual pink eyes. “Little sister, little niece, little girl, and my, you are young,” the woman spoke.

As the woman approached the girl the child threw the canopy drapes forward to hide herself from stranger, “I died… and landed… somewhere weird…” Her voice echoed in the hall.

The drapes were pulled back and the woman smiled softly at her. She had strange cat like features about her with a very intricate hair design. “Is it too much? Sometimes I just get carried away with my costume.” She pulled the drapery all the way back and began to remove some of the jewelry so that the gown became less goofy in appearance. “Oh, my, you’re still a filthy mess. Perhaps it is time you cleaned yourself. They moved your bed by the bath; we’ve had to wash all that dirt off you for quite some time.”

The girl peered out, “That’s a bath…?”

“Oh yes, do you not remember? All of us girls come here.”

The girl shook her head, her big blue eyes staring up cautiously at the strange woman.

“Do you remember anything at all?” The stranger asked.

The blue eyed girl shook her head back in forth again. She felt like crying, or laughing, she couldn’t really tell. She had no memories to work with and this woman in front of her was just a stranger.

The woman sighed, “I am Noia, the oldest of the Necrolords. I am the Mistress of this fortress, the home of our King. Do you know who you are?”

The girl shook her head again, and Noia sighed sympathetically, “You are our youngest sister, Teric. Do you recognize your name? Teric?”

“No…” the girl said quietly. “I… don’t really know what you are talking about…”

Noia sighed once more in melodramatic pity, “My poor Teric, come let us start by getting you cleaned off. You are covered in sweat. We weren’t sure just how much damage you had received, so I can help if needed.”

“Damage… why would I be damaged?” Teric starred up at Noia.

Noia’s face grew sorrowful, “it’s never safe for a Necrolord so young as yourself to leap the fortress walls. There are a vast number of dangers out there, and you fell face first right into them. I will teach you again the dangers of the outside, perhaps this time you will listen instead of run away.”

Teric looked up at her in surprise, “I ran away… from here?” The girl pointed to the richness of the mansion she now resided in.

“Yes,” Noia guided Teric up off of the bed and over to the pool. She flicked her wrist and the servants on the outside came into the room. They proceeded to fill up the pool with salts, and soaps. Two of them brought around jars of oils and scented shampoos and placed them near the ledge where Noia now stood.

Teric peered over and looked at her face in the reflection of the water for the first time. It wasn’t quite what she expected; rather she had expected to see something else. Blue eyes gazed up at her from the reflection in the pool and shortened blonde hair sat atop her head.

“Is something the matter dear?” Noia asked.

“No… it’s just… I didn’t realize I was a blonde.”

Noia smiled, “rediscovering your own body I see, then a bath right now is the most appropriate thing for a woman. Come.” Noia stepped into the water not bothering to remove her gown.

Teric looked down again, at her hair. Her hair was clumped together from the sweat but at some point someone had found the time to put a powder blue bow in it. Her pajamas matched the color of the bow placed in her hair. She had on a see through blue robe with a short powder blue silk chemise underneath. Everything had been designed to fit her body and it all exuded a refined preference for luxury.

“I didn’t expect to wake up rich either…” she whispered.

“Come on dear, the whole gown too. You’ve covered it in sweat so a quick rinse shouldn’t hurt the fabric any.” The woman then further removed her ornaments as she went out deeper. “For the most part, we used to all bathe here… then you, well you had your little accident when you left. We figured we’d put you somewhere you liked, a place you enjoyed, and I must say you loved to swim around quite a bit in this little old tub.”

Teric blinked her eyes as she watched the servants finish up with the pool. No more soaps, fragrances, or whatever else to add. They were cleaning up and preparing to depart from the room. Each servant looked odd to Teric, they didn’t look like her or Noia. Their faces weren’t quiet on all the way and their skin was completely covered by their uniforms. At a distant glance it wasn’t even noticeable how they stood out, but up close it looked like someone had re-sewn, clipped, or perhaps even pinned back a new face onto their mismatched bodies. The servants gave Teric the chills.

Noia noticed Teric’s attention to the servants and spoke, “They are just servants Teric, they will not hurt you. The undead do not harm the Necrolords.”

Teric’s eyes widened further, “Undead?”

Noia sighed, “How much of your memory was lost? I had hoped you would remember a few things. Do you not remember the war… our people, and the people we fight with?”

Teric shook her head and Noia clicked her tongue indicating disapproval. Noia dipped her body lower into the pool allowing the water to stop at her neck careful not to let her hair get wet. Noia then rose up and pinned up her loose bangs higher towards the top of her head. It was clear to Teric that this woman was not wearing much under her current gown as the white dress clung tightly to Noia’s tan body. Teric felt uncomfortable with Noia almost completely nude in a swimming pool near her and blushed.

“Quit being so bashful, come on, get in,” Noia demanded.

Teric took a step forward. The water was warm and comforting, and with the perfumes the servants added to the waters the bath smelled inviting as well.

“Okay…” Taric stepped forward and into the pool. She herself felt too shy to disregard her pajamas, but it did not really seem to matter. It was as though the clothes were meant to be bathed in, or at least swam in. The sheer outer blue portion of her dress floated outward and shimmered around her body in the water, while the silk like cami-dress stuck tight to her body much like Noia’s did to hers.

Teric stared at her body in amazement, she felt underdeveloped. Perhaps it was because she had Noia to compare herself to, but then something at the back of her head made her feel like she used to be older than what her body told her. In her mind she felt as though she had reversed in age, and become younger.

“You seem fascinated dear,” Noia spoke.

Teric looked up from her own body and back at Noia, “I guess I am. I don’t remember looking like this… I feel like, this is not my body.”

Noia smiled, “You went through some harsh pains, we fixed what we could on you. Plastic surgery has its side effects. We had to remove all those scars you accumulated. You returned to us in terrible shape, and quite frankly my dear I have no idea how you came to such injuries.”
Teric let loose a grievous sigh; Noia’s explanation perfectly explained why she felt so disconnected with her body.

“Come over here child, since you are a bit skittish of the servants, I will wash your hair.”

Teric nodded and bobbed over to Noia. The woman was warm to the touch and very gentle with Teric’s hair. Everything about her seemed too good to be true to Teric.

“I don’t usually do servants work, I am after all, practically the countess of these lands, but for you my dear I will make an exception. You are my youngest sister, and I am just happy to see you alive.”

Teric tried to nod in agreement as though she understood Noia’s sentiments, but honestly she just felt overwhelmed with information. “Oh…” she muttered.

“Right, well let’s start with the basics shall we? I can’t leave you confused in a tub, that’s just not a proper way to go about this,” Noia started. “So, undead, let’s start there. Probably before your time the humans created their very own biological weapon to give themselves a military advantage in their wars. They fight a bunch of wars. The weapon mutated and grew out of control, as evolution would have it. No man can control nature, even if they create it. Regardless, the virus caused the fallen soldiers that caught it to rise back up from their graves, they turned and attacked their fellows, and the disease spread rampantly. The first generation of this virus that fell onto man were the mindless corpses returned from the dead was termed ‘zombie’.”

Teric’s eyes widened, finally a word she recognized. “Zombies?”

“Oh yes, you will learn more in greater depth, but for now, just let me give you a basic history lesson to put your mind at ease and hopefully answer a few questions you might be pondering.”

Teric nodded and Noia began to brush out her hair as she explained, “So these first batches of zombies were brutal mindless killing machines, but luckily everything evolves in nature. Man quit their battles with one another to fight the mess they made, but the zombies grew more intelligent. They learned to talk, to confuse, and to strategize somewhat. They traveled in packs and attacked in hordes, but it wasn’t enough.

‘Then the first intelligent dead emerged. A young girl was bit by one of these unintelligible zombies at a very early age in life; her name was Zagura Chenyka. She would have been the first Necrolord. Her body did not decay or degrade, and her hunger did not control her mind. She could talk, she could walk, she could speak, and she was fully capable of living inside with the humans. But a bite mark from the undead will affect a person.

‘As time continued her life began to extinguish from her body. Zombies refused to approach her, and she found her living friends to look more like tasty morsels, and soon she began to feel the dead’s hunger herself. It didn’t take much longer until it was realized that bite she had received from the undead did in fact affect her, and the reason zombies turned their noses at her is because they would rather eat fresh living meat, and technically so did she.

‘She was not a fan of brains, no, the first preferred humans a little cleaner to eat. Her first kill she drained a man of all his blood, and chose to stick to the all blood diet from then on. I am myself more preferable to the blood diet as well, keeps me thin and in shape, too much fat and well… you get fat too.”

Teric’s eyes widened up even more showing fear in her blue round eyes. Her body began to shake as she tried to process the nonsensical information explained to her. Was this woman lying to her? Was she being serious? Zombies were a fairly nonsensical monster, and yet somehow the information Teric was being told felt correct.

“It’s okay Teric, truly it is. Alright more to this story, let’s see. Oh, the Necrolords cannot live unless they consume the original living material somehow. Our bites are equally as infective as our zombie cousins, but to become a Necrolord is a different process. Often times when we bite a person they just turn into a zombie. We’ve had a few rare cases where a bite turned one immediately into a lord, but usually our little lords just evolve straight from the zombie bite itself. We don’t die, or take any detrimental injuries. Generally we are able to heal ourselves at an accelerated rate, which worried me in regards to you. For a Necrolord to take so many wounds and scars… you either have not been eating properly, or you got yourself into some major trouble.

“Alright lastly, we all serve one King. He was the second Necrolord, he served next to and with Zagura himself. He in fact holds her blood in him. Before she died from a fatal wound dealt to her by a human, she offered him the rest of her own blood, which he consumed. Now he searches for more of us as our population starts to grow. He leads and controls masses of undead armies. Our mindless creatures are no longer mindless.

‘We, the Necrolords, have taken control and have declared war upon the humans. For those who surrender we either take them into research or they are farmed for food. None of us actually need an entire human to survive, so we drain them or remove pieces until the humans can no longer sustain themselves. Then they are killed. We have too many zombies, so we’ve been putting down a few. They would eat all our humans otherwise so it is a necessary part of our balanced diet. Do not fret, you do not have to eat solely human, you can have other delights a human would have enjoyed, such as chocolate.”

Teric stood still in the water as Noia continued on with her hair. “So then… I am an undead monster?”

“If you wish to call yourself that; though monster is a bit harsh,” Noia replied.

“I’m… I’m not human?” Teric’s voice faltered as she completed the question.

“No, is there a problem with that dear?” Noia peeked around catching Teric’s attention.

Teric looked away from Noia, “No… it’s just… I thought… maybe I was a human. I don’t know why…”

Noia let loose an exasperated sigh and ran some kind of scented oil through Teric’s loose hair. “At one point you were a human dear, we all started as human once. We dead can’t reproduce so instead we have to find each other. We found you exiled from your camp of humans with the zombies walking around and ignoring you. Coincidentally that’s how we found you the second time. I wish I could tell you what happened with your people that made you leave, but you never talked about it, so… it’s a dead memory I guess. Perhaps your amnesia dates back to when you were with them, can you remember anything at all?”

Teric thought, she thought hard. She knew she had gone through several developmental stages as person must do when growing, but she could not attach any memories with them, “I have no memory of anything. I just… I just know things that were meant to happen, but nothing of sentimental value in my mind.”

Noia frowned, “It’s hard to believe you are a child of him… and at the same time you are his child…”

“Who is him?” Teric asked.

“Another part of our history, those that find you and develop you into a Necrolord are considered your parents. In your case it was one of our strongest leaders that found you, although, if I have any say in the matter I would never let him near you again. He already has one child; he does not need two children. Though your true maker is currently in question, you happened to be found in an area where Seph and Ires were attending. Your maker may have just abandoned you when he realized he couldn’t kill you. My maker was the King himself. He discovered me first. I suppose now is ever the ideal time to let you know of your family. Let’s see… there is Cutter, a child of Dr. Sado, he was literally made. Dr. Sado just got really hungry one day and bit into Cutter who then became just like Dr. Sado… maybe a whinier version, and yet somehow a more tolerable version. Oooh, that man disgusts me.”

Noia paused rolling her tongue in her mouth as though she was trying to remove a foul taste. The mere mention of this other individual seemed to put her in a bitter mood and just as soon as she had introduced some of the family, she dismissed the idea, “You will have time to learn the names of your other brothers and sister later. For now you are my child to guide and educate, and I shall have it that way for as long as possible.”

Teric nodded, Dr. Sado did not sound very pleasant from the way Noia reacted. Noia’s voice was filled with disdain and disgust when she spoke his name so it was clear she did not like to talk about this ‘brother’.

“So… how many siblings are there then?” Teric asked just before Noia dumped a vase of water over her head.

“Let me think… Well you and me makes two, His Majesty, Dr. Sado, Kira Ires (his majesties son…), Cutter, oh the Skitzo girls make 6… hmmm, ah and the Father Seph. I keep forgetting we sent him out to infiltrate another one of the human colonies. Looks like there are just seven of us right now and one King. Oh how I do dream that our numbers will continue to grow. I’d like the Necrolords to reach the thousands someday.”

Teric’s gulped nervously, the idea of a massive amount of Necrolords seemed like a bad idea.

“Alright my darling, it is time for us to get out. I would like you to meet your sisters. You’ll get to spend the day with her my darling, and hopefully you like them.”

“Um… plurals and singulars being used in a sentence together have confused me… uh… Madame…?” Teric swirled around in the water in order to question her mentor’s previous statement.

Noia giggled, “Madame is fine, and when you meet the girls you’ll see why plural and singular terms must be used to describe her.” Teric felt even more confused by the answer than she was with the initial statement. “But before you go off and find her, shall we start with dinner? You haven’t been healing properly and I think it’s because you’ve been neglecting your diet. Come on.”

Noia stepped up and out of the wading pool and Teric followed closely behind. Noia rang the some sort of bell and servants came in and lined up. “You will change me and provide something for the new master as well. Dry us off.”

This time Teric was able to get a good look at the staff up close. Their faces were in fact pinned back on the head. It looked as though if the flesh had started to rot then the face could be switched with a new victim’s face and pinned back into place. Teric could tell some of the faces did not fit the bone structure of the wearers. It was unsettling to have the rotting undead measure her body before scuttling off again. “The servants… they scare me…”

“Why Teric, there is nothing to be afraid of! They are creepy yes, but we keep them clean. They must soak in perfumed oils much as we do so they don’t reek of rot, and to hide the degrading faces we…”

“Switch the faces out…” Teric finished Noia’s sentence.

Noia smiled bitterly, “Exactly.” The staff came in and striped away Noia’s gown before Teric. Noia stood before her with no humility, but rather a sense of pride and comfort as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

“Perhaps maybe… I could dress myself…” Teric spoke shyly as a new gown was fitted to Noia.
Noia who was fitted so elegantly into a slender kimono tailored to her body. Again, even the kimono was made to show off every curve on Noia.

“Darling Teric,” she said, “you have nothing to fear. Besides, I would think you would like to inspect yourself here in a bit. You’ll get to see why you are a Necrolord. I shall exit if it makes you feel any better?”

“Oh no… you are fine…please stay,” Teric had no desire to be left with the servants alone. They honestly scared her, and she’d rather Noia be here to oversee them. She felt safer knowing there was someone in control of the zombies in the room with her.

Noia spoke as if she was capable of reading Teric’s thoughts, “Zombies prefer fresh meat, not dead meat. But since you are concerned I shall stay. I will look the other way in the mean time, since you are… a bit coy.”

Teric nodded, “sounds good Madame.”

Noia turned and the next batch of servants came in with a new gown for Teric. It was a simple jumper, but done up in a brilliant blue outlined in electric yellow. The outfit matched her eyes and hair perfectly. The servants stripped away the pajama gown that had now become soaked in water and dried her off. She felt discomforted as she listened to the bones crack under the garments the staff wore. As they dried her she looked down at her leg. There just above her ankle was a strange mark. The staff fitted the jumper onto her, it was a conforming fit just like Noia’s was but instead of making her look older as Noia’s costume did, it somehow made her feel younger. She shoved back a servant and looked closer at her ankle. The mark was a scar, one of the few scars remaining on her body, and it was clearly a bite mark.

Noia took note of Teric’s concern, “That is the mark that turned you. A zombie’s mouth no doubt found a loose ankle quick to grab, an excellent snack. But you would have pulled away, and ran off. You would have died slowly and under a debilitating amount of pain before coming back to us. You were a fevered human that after the bite not even a zombie would touch. You never talked about what happened; though we can guess from the madness you contracted.

‘All of us pure Necrolords have some form of madness. Changing from human to undead, then fighting off that first bout of hunger is terrible, it drives you insane. Your madness was hysteria, we found you covered in blood and laughing. Go figure that’s how we found you the second time. You don’t really panic, you just laugh it off like a madman. That’s how you earned your name; Teric from Hysteric. Eventually, you will come to grips with what you are and the madness will either slow as it has done in me, or accelerate as it had done in a few others.”

“What is your madness then?” Teric asked Noia.

Noia frowned, “Usually it's not polite to ask others about their afflictions, but since you’re new I’ll entertain the query. Paranoia, my fears consumed me when I changed and my trust dissipated. Nowhere felt safe, until I met the king. He showed me I had nothing to be afraid of anymore. Being undead made me the one in control, not the monster or the human. I fought my madness. Sadly for our other siblings, the madness they contract generally tends to stick around, yours was never so terrible. I do not doubt you shall have better control over your mental state than most others around here.”

Teric’s eyes widened, “My real name is not Teric then?”

“We don’t know of the name the humans gave you, and we plan to keep it that way. You are not a human Teric, you are a Necrolord. Show proudly the name you earned as an undead, and abandon these stupid titles humans gave you at one point.”

Teric nodded, this would explain why she felt like laughing when she woke up; she was slightly hysterical in her state of panic.

“Come on, you seem to be trapped in your mindset thinking you are a human, we better put some food in you in order to correct those beliefs.” Noia had the servants find a pair of thigh length socks to cover up Teric’s scar and prevent her from peeking at it as the day went on. She was given a basic pair of black penny-loafer like Lolita shoes and summoned to follow Noia.

They exited the intricately decorated room Teric had been given to sleep in and moved out into hallways of the mansion. As they walked along the vast displayed wealth in this house Teric could not help but gasp with admiration as she peered at her surroundings. The halls were decorated with expensive oil paintings and shinning armor suits. The walls were decorated with a precision skill set of carpentry. She followed Noia into a drawing room area.

Teric’s eyes widened as she looked about her, “Are we in a castle?”

Noia smiled, “Just a mansion of sorts. You will find this place rather suited to our every need. My favorite section is where the Father found a church attached to the side. The humans that lived here originally lived very well. But… well I ate them personally. The wealthy do taste especially magnificent when they are eaten in their own splendors.”

Noia smiled broadly this time, and for the first time Teric was able to get a good look at her teeth. The I-teeth were much sharper than usual, almost like a set of fangs in her mouth. Teric felt her own mouth to examine the structure of her teeth discovering she too had the same sharpened fangs just as Noia’s.

“Your teeth did extend themselves. You’re a predator, you need the advantage to tear through flesh to consume your meat, flat omnivore-like human teeth do you almost no good, except in grinding bone.”

Teric took a step back unsettled by Noia’s response. Noia walked over to a hidden refrigerator and pulled out a wine bottle. She popped the cork and pulled out two glasses from a small hutch nearby. She filled up both glasses and placed the wine bottle back inside the fridge. “Here you go darling,” she said holding out a glass.

“Aren’t I too young to drink…?” Teric pondered.

Noia giggled, “not when your life depends upon it… though if you truly would like, I could find a drunk human out there for you to consume alcohol straight from its blood.”

Teric pointed at the glass, “that is blood?”

Noia swirled it around, “cold blood, but I like it chilled. Makes me feel like less of a monster sometimes.” It was thick and syrupy to look at, but Teric extended her hand none-the-less and grabbed the cup.

Teric stared at the glass with hesitation holding it carefully as though it were some delicate thing. Noia watched her intently wondering if Teric would succumb to her human emotions, or give to her animalistic intentions.

“Perhaps a toast first,” declared Noia, “to finding our baby sister again, and having her come back home to us.” Teric raised her glass with Noia and the two items clinked. Noia took a swig from her drink as Teric carefully raised the glass to her lips.

“It’s bad luck if you don’t drink,” Noia commented.

Teric tipped the glass letting the red liquid flow into her mouth. The liquid hit the tip of her tongue and she swished it around her mouth. At first taste the flavor was exactly how one might imagine blood to taste, similar to sucking on rusted nails. Her initial reaction was to spit it back out but as the blood swirled around her taste buds a warm fuzzy sensation began to grow within her stomach. Then the craving hit her shortly after the initial taste response from the human derivative. This liquid was no longer a metal nail sensation, but an exotic new flavor she desired. The sweet savory connection with a warming sensation was almost comparable to consuming chocolate. The more she drank the better she felt, and the more she wanted.

“My… you have been depraved…” Noia muttered and then even quieter she whispered under her breathe, “This is Sado’s fault for starving you… it’s amazing your even able to act civil.”

Teric very quickly finished off her glass then looked at Noia with hungered eyes that no longer held a conscious mind behind the gaze. Teric was slipping into animal state of bloodlust and Noia knew she would have to treat Teric with caution.

“Ah you have not eaten right at all. Here,” Noia handed Teric the bottle, “We’ll stay here for a bit.”

Teric had never felt so hungry before. No matter how much satisfaction the beverage gave to her once she finished a glass she immediately desired another one. She remained unsatisfied until the third bottle was opened and being poured. Finally, her needs for the drink were being quenched.
Noia gently tucked Teric’s hair back behind her ear looking at her with sympathy as the girl guzzled down greedily her last glass. “You drink as though this is your first time.”

Teric looked back at Noia with blood lusted eyes. Her blue tones within those eyes had all but vanished as she consumed her drink; all that glowed now was a vivid red. “It feels like the first time I have consumed something like this… I’ve never felt this way before.” Teric’s blonde hair seemed to dissolve away revealing streaks of black as she spoke in her hunger lusted state.

“Come,” Noia corked the third bottle, “anymore and you’ll slip completely into madness. The idea is to fight your insanity, not dissolve in it. It is unusual how you act though; as if this is your first time consuming human derivative.”

Teric gently wiped a drop of blood from her lip and sucked at her finger. Her eyes regained their neon blue color and her blonde hair restored itself to its former electric yellow tone. “Like I said… it feels like… like this is my very first time indulging in such a fine liquid…” she smiled up at Noia, “why ever would I have denied myself this?”

Noia cocked her head slightly and returned an amused gaze, “Perhaps you were still attached to being a human, or perhaps you just starved when you fled, not able to find humans. Regardless, you look better now. Some color has restored to your skin.”

Teric felt warm and satisfied now; after drinking the blood her eyes practically beamed with their own radiance.

Noia knew Dr. Sado had denied her any food and she had been starving when her body went into the reverse death. It was amazing that she did not turn into the monster that some of her siblings had become when they denied themselves satisfaction.

“I think you are right Noia… I was so nervous at first… I feel like I am still human, therefore consuming from a human would be… a terrible act. One of the most sinful acts to be imagined.” Teric spoke halfway enthused and halfway maddened.

“Then perhaps it is fitting you have amnesia, or else whatever prevented you from drinking then may have prevented you now. You can sustain yourself without the guilt, and prevent your mind from slipping into true madness.”

Teric looked up with happy features about her countenance; she was truly the embodiment of a Necrolord. She looked sweet and innocent and almost even trustworthy, but then the blood stained lips displayed the monstrosity within her. Humans might even overlook the bloodied lips and assume it was indeed wine she consumed. She would be an excellent killer once exposed to the wild human colonies. They would never suspect what now looked like a child to devour their strengths from the inside.

Noia was pleased with how things have been handled. Perhaps Dr. Sado had done one thing right; who knew how her conscious would have affected her if she would have been left with her memories intact. She was easier to mold without her memory, easier to prime this way. She was more trusting and ready to learn. She was ready to be a Necrolord without question, and feeble human ideals were swept to the wayside because she simply could not remember them. At this rate, Teric would be able to fight off her insanity and leave it as a distant memory.

“Come now Teric,” Noia spoke, “it is time I introduce you to my first daughter. She is a significant person worthy of being met. She tried her very hardest to not become a Necrolord; she fought to remain a human and as a result her insanity took her. Later on… well she slipped into madness of course. But, strangely enough her madness saved her from total demise. You will like her; she is always an interesting persons to meet.” Noia opened the door and beckoned Teric to follow.

Teric first licked at the inside of the rim to her glass before standing up. Blood was such a new experience for her. She didn’t want any to go waste.