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It wasn’t every day that you become a vampire. In fact, you can only do it once, and if you choose to undo the curse then you can never go back. But with vampirism, there came a lot of abilities that you get to try for the first time.
Abolish hadn’t wished for this. As far as he was concerned, anything that took him further from his humanity just brought him closer to vampirism, which he was not interested in. He would allow nothing to threaten him with additional paperwork. However…
There was some down-time between Doctor Legundo turning him and Abolish being able to return to humanity once again. It would only be short lived, so why not see what it was like for a little while? The others crowded around him. Scott stood a little too close for comfort, encouraging him to indulge in the time he had left. Bottles of blood and chunks of meat were offered, which he tried willingly enough. Too many kind offerings made it into his hands before someone pointed out the changes in his hair. It wasn’t long before they group was pushing him to try out more than just blood.
“It’s so much fun.” Shelby said, “Flying is so freeing, you’ll love it.”
“Yeah, it’s great!” Drift said, “I used to be afraid of heights, but now I’m not afraid of anything!”
“Guys…” Apo chided, “He clearly doesn’t want to do that, just leave him alone.”
Scott brushed her off, “I think we should let Abolish make his own choices. What do you think?” The question was directed at Abolish.
“I think I’ll make up my own mind ,and I don’t need anyone talking on my behalf, whether it’s for or against using any abilities.” He hadn’t meant it as a jab towards Apo, it was just the truth.
Apo sighed sulkily, “Okay, fine. Whatever, I get it. Do what you want.”
“So?” Drift said, “Are you gonna try it?”
“It’ll be your only chance before becoming human again.” Scott reminded him.
Abolish had always been the ‘feet firmly planted on the ground’ type of man, but the events of Oakhurst had been anything but ordinary for him. And if this was his only chance to see what it was like to fly through the air, shouldn’t he at least take the opportunity?
“Alright, fine. How do I do it?”
Scott thought for a moment, “I don’t know, it just happens naturally for me. Barely a thought between ‘I want to be a bat’ before I just am one.”
“I just think about bats really hard and it happens.” Shelby offered.
“I imagine the emotions behind it, you know? The excitement of taking off in the air, the thrill of flying with someone else, all the good stuff.”
“Ohh me too.” Sausage chimed in, “The feelings are so important. I like to imagine the way the wings and fur feel too, it really helps me get into character.”
When Apo didn’t offer anything, Abolish turned to her, “How do you do it?”
“Huh? Oh.” Their arms were crossed tightly over their chest defensively, “I dunno, I just think about what will happen if I don’t. I don’t really want to use those powers, so I have to force myself. It’s easier to do that if I have a good reason to use the bat abilities, because otherwise it’s just kind of… worthless.”
Abolish considered. He didn’t really have a good reason to do it besides just trying it out. But maybe that was reason enough for him.
“Okay, stand back.” Abolish waved the group away to give himself space. He closed his eyes to the expectant watchful eyes boring into him. It didn’t bother him, he was used to performing under pressure, but it would be easier to concentrate when he wasn’t busy trying to interpret facial expressions.
Abolish had always felt more comfortable living on the ground than daydreaming in the clouds. Reality was what he understood best. His body was his own, and felt so permanent to him. It was hard to imagine being anything other than human.
Instead he thought of the structure of bat wings. He didn’t imagine the feeling of owning wings, so much as the logical process of various human bones being crushed or lengthened to the correct sizes. He imagined that this would surely hurt if it were really to happen.
It did hurt. Nobody had said that it would, but it did. He grit his teeth and endured, and when he opened his eyes the world seemed so much bigger to him.
They rushed to congratulate and praise him as though he needed to be told ‘good job’ when he had already been confident in his ability to transform. If every other vampire could do it, then it wasn’t really a surprising feat to be complimented on.
Abolish looked up at them all from the ground. He jumped and flapped his wings, hovering in the air at the level where he was used to his head being. Surprisingly it didn’t feel much different. Flight felt natural to him, as if it was what his body wanted to do in this form.
“How does it feel?” Scott asked.
“It feels fine.” Abolish didn’t know how else to describe it.
“Are you having fun?” Drift asked.
Was he? Abolish wasn’t sure. It just felt normal.
“You could go tour the town for a bit and stretch your wings.” Shelby suggested.
Abolish took the suggestion and zipped through town. He was certainly much faster than he used to be. He flew up into the sky to survey the land of Oakhurst.
The town seemed so small, especially with some of the still burning flames licking at the remains of the wall that had once surrounded the town. He turned towards the castle, and could barely make out the stark black roof peeking out behind the trees in the distance.
He wondered if Legundo and Cleo were finished with their business yet. Considering he hadn’t sensed a death, he supposed not. Perhaps he could follow in the direction they had gone just to see what they were doing. But he didn’t want to stray too far from town, and what’s more he wanted them to have privacy. Best to leave them be.
His eyes strayed over the rest of the forest that he had personally burnt down. He wasn’t ashamed of the smoldering smoke still billowing upwards, but it was an annoyance in his eyes. Still, it had been a good strategy. One he would likely reuse if the need arose. But for the briefest of moments he was touched by the destruction of this place. It nearly caused him to slip back to his more human form.
Fortunately he was able to control the reaction and emotion.
When Abolish had decided that he’d experienced being a bat for long enough, he headed back down to earth, to where his feet belonged.