Clayton had to wait for the clapping to finish to resume. “How come I don’t possess a thirst for blood?”
“Because, at this point, you still eat human food because you’re still an in-betweener. Food suppresses the urge for blood.”
“After I ascend, will I still be able to eat human food?”
“Yes, if you wanted to suppress your vampire-hood. The only reason you would need to suppress your blood thirst is if there is a shortage of humans to feed upon.”
“Okay. One more question, father, if I may?”
Tarson nodded. “As I’ve stated, there are other children here that will eventually ascend that need to hear your questions, Clayton.”
“How, and when, did several types of smellers become different?”
Tarson’s face hardened. That was the most challenging question to answer.
“The lineage of our family of vampires started with my great-grandfather a millennia ago. The oral history tells us of a tall lone woman who roamed the lands where we dwell. It was said the Stranger came to the farm my great-grandfather owned, begging for food. However, as the story goes, the Stranger wanted food of a different kind. She sought blood. The beggar promised our ancestor goods equal to and above gold if the Stranger could have some of his pregnant wife’s blood. The hobo promised eternal life.”
“And she produced all types of smelling vampires, father?”
“Yes,” Tarson stated simply.
“We are the sweet-smelling blood you have told me about, father. How did we get the other types?” Clayton asked.
“Back then, when my great-grandfather agreed to the conditions set forth by the Stranger, he learned the same vagabond made agreements with seven other pregnant women in the area after his. Each family member, once bitten, discovered they smelled differently.”
“Who was the Stranger?”
“No one knows.”
Tarson turned to his audience. His voice boomed over the whimpering human who was attempting to break his chains. “And every hundred years, the Stranger comes back and promises other expectant families the same arrangement!” Tarson put up his index finger. “Lest all of you remember! My family, the Cole Tribe, is the oldest member of our Tribes, for they were bitten first!”
Thunderous applause erupted through the enormous room. Palms to fist reverberated across the vast room. When the praise ended, Clayton looked at his father.
“Has anyone ever turned the woman down with her request?” Clayton asked with concern.
“Not to my knowledge,” Tarson said impatiently.
Clayton nodded.
“Now, for the final part of the ceremony!” He turned to his son. “Clayton, you must now drink the blood of the chained human for the transformation to take place!”
A chanting rose from the gathered. “Drink! Drink! Drink!” The chorus became deafening as Clayton deliberately slowed his pace to the shackled human.
Tabatha smiled in pride as her eldest son approached the worthless puny human.
The human’s eyes enlarged with fear when Clayton was upon him. He struggled to break the thick restraints.
“See how he cowers in fear of you, Clayton? Yet he is unaware his sacrifice will continue to allow our bloodline to survive!” Tarson yelled to his flock.
Clayton’s body shuddered, but this time it was not from fear. No, Clayton had surpassed that emotion. It was a new feeling that emerged. It now became a sense of supremacy that he, Clayton Cole, felt knowing he would be welcomed and accepted into his and the other tribes.
Clayton stood beside the human, bent down, and forced the man up for all those to see.
“With my family and tribes before me, I now become a vampire!”
“Get your filthy fangs off me!” the man screamed.
“Clayton, as you drink the human’s blood, you will feel unbelievable power course through your body! Your strength, eyesight, bone thickness, and unbreakable skin will increase to a level you never dreamt about!” Tarson shouted above the human’s whimpering.
Clayton took hold of the human’s head and moved it to the left to make his throat exposed.
“Son, there are two places to suck the blood out. Since you're new, feel his throat and go for the thinner place where blood flows slower!” Tarson warned.
He turned from the human. “Why?” demanded Clayton? By now, the anticipation was overwhelming.
“If you suck blood from the thicker blood flow, the blood comes out much faster, and the change comes over you much quicker! Sometimes the rush of energy is too much for an in-betweener.”
Clayton turned back to the human and felt for the thicker blood flow, ignoring his father’s request. He could see and feel the crimson fluid pumping. He felt a rush like no other overcome his senses! Like a beast that was starving, Clayton bit into the center of the thicker stream that coursed through the human that would provide him with life-altering energy and nourishment.
As he drank the dark fluid that was gushing into his mouth, Clayton soaked in the potent blood at such a rapid pace; he couldn’t stop himself!
After a few seconds, Tabatha grew concerned. “That’s enough, Clayton!”
Clayton heard his mother, but it was more like a voice from a distant dream. The sheer rush of energy and power made him ignore his mother’s command as he continued to soak up the blood that flew freely from the human’s throbbing neck.
He was slowly being pushed away from his meal. Someone was trying to thwart his ascension, and he would have none of it! How dare they!
“That’s enough, son!” Tarson ordered.
He heard his father’s command but ignored it. He was so close to draining the life from his food supply, couldn’t they see that?
Clayton was facing the human, draining the life-juice out of the man until Tarson grabbed his shoulders and threw him across the room. “I said that was enough!”
Clayton swiftly scurried on all fours to a nearby corner. His vision became sharper, as did his hearing. He put his fists into the air and shouted in unbelievable joy at the unparalleled power he felt coursing through his body!
The different tribes, which were all offshoots of the Cole tribe, stood up in unison and sang praise for the ascension of Clayton Cole.
Clayton Cole was
