Roarke: An Origin Story

October 2nd, 1860

        The sunlight burned through my eyelids harshly, turning everything red. I threw my left arm over my face to shield my eyes. Was it really already morning? Oh, man, I sure hope that Mother won’t be mad at me for sleeping in this late. I just need a few more minutes to wake up, though. Then I promise, I’ll get up. Wait, how long was I asleep for anyway? I don’t even remember falling asleep last night, or what I even did yesterday for that matter.
I just laid there trying to go back to sleep for several minutes, but just couldn’t. I felt too groggy to get up and do anything, as if I was just coming out of a sickness. Whatever it was I was laying on was super uncomfortably hard and cold to the touch. A dry feeling had started spreading in my mouth and down the back of my throat. I desperately needed a drink, but I didn’t have the energy to get up and go downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water just yet.
        “Edith,” I called out.
        My voice sounded different to me. It was still deep like I remembered it, but it was much more smooth. And now that I think about it, I could hear far better than what I remembered I could. I could hear the sounds of horse hooves running in pastures a good distance away. I could hear animals sniffing around outside our house, as well. Peculiar, I thought.
        When Edith didn’t come into my room, I called her name out again, and once again there was nothing but silence. She didn’t come up the stairs to see what it was that I wanted, she didn’t call back to me, and there wasn’t even a sound of anyone in the house with me either. I pulled my arm off of my face and stretched briefly. The dry feeling in my mouth had severely worsened now and my canine teeth were even starting to hurt now. Fine, I’ll just get the water myself then.
        That’s when the smell hit me and I noticed my canine teeth had elongated. There was a delicious smell wafting around in the air. I inhaled through my nose slowly to take in more of the smell. It smelled insanely mouth watering, as if I hadn’t eaten in days. I pushed myself into a sitting position now, and opened my eyes slowly to let them adjust to the light. Then when I could see clearly enough, I finally recognized where I was and all the memories of the party came back to me slowly. The first thing that went through my mind when I saw the scene in the bright daylight shining through the windows was,” I have to find my family.”
        There were bodies strayed here and there within the mansion foyer on the floor. I could hear the buzzing of flies, which was highly unsettling to me. Some of the bodies had a couple maggots growing in them and crawling out of random holes in their bodies. Blood was everywhere, soaked into the furniture and tapestries, dried onto the floors and walls, and somehow even specks of blood had wound up on the ceiling. It looked like a slaughterhouse. Then I realized that I had survived the attack. I was sitting here actually alive, but how?
        I looked down at myself slowly and, sure enough, I was completely drenched in blood. Almost every fiber of the black suit I had worn to the party and been attacked in was covered in dry blood. Then I remembered that my left arm had been shattered, and I pulled my arm up in front of my face and examined it by bending my hand back and forth and moving it all around. I shoved the coat sleeve up to look at the skin on my arm as well, and there were no marks at all. It was completely healed now. Or rather, it was as if it had never been broken in the first place.
        I put my coat sleeve back in place, then tried to stand up but fell back over again before I could even get to my feet. I felt super disoriented and dizzy and my head was even starting to hurt as well. I could hear the sound of crawling, and now I was sure I could pinpoint exactly where it came from, too. I leaned forward and looked outside the mansion doors, which were also covered in blood at the bottom. From what I could see where I was sitting, there were a few dead bodies in the front yard of the mansion as well. I started to wonder where that thing that attacked us went.
        At that thought, I instinctually sniffed the air quickly twice, but all I could smell was that same mouth watering aroma from several moments ago. Why I sniffed the air, I have no clue. My body did it without me even telling it to do so, as if it already knew what it needed to do. That’s also peculiar, I told myself.
        I let myself sit for a few more minutes until I was completely sure I was well enough to stand up. When I was standing, I glanced around to see if I recognized any of the bodies on the floor around me. A few of the bodies around me either didn’t have a head or the head was completely crushed with chunks of dried up brain around them. One of the bodies’ heads was even completely severed in half, making me feel nauseous. For the bodies that still had recognizable facial features, I could tell, thankfully, that none of them were one of my siblings. There were several other rooms that I had to check, though, to be absolutely sure they made it home alive, I told myself.
        I glanced around the room again seeing all the dead bodies and the blood splattered across every surface. I inhaled the smell again and my teeth, specifically my canines, started hurting again, but worse. My throat had a horrible burning sensation now, so I put my hand to my throat and noticed that there weren’t holes anymore where I had bled out from. I staggered out the front doors of the Cooper mansion. A ton of different smells hit my nose at once. I wrinkled my nose almost immediately and scoffed. What on earth has gotten into me? Something was horribly wrong with me now or maybe this was just a nightmare. Maybe I actually did die, I theorized.
        I spotted Jace’s body laying in the grass several feet away from the mansion porch. I ran as fast as I could to his body, which startled me. That speed. I slowly looked at the place I was just standing at on the porch with my mouth slightly agape. I had inhuman speed now. I was just standing right there and within less than a quarter of a second I was beside Jace, kneeling by him with my hands hovering over him as if I were about to grab him.
        Stunned, I sat back on my feet, still crouching beside Jace. I slowly looked down at my hands to see they had turned pale white. I was as white as the demon who had attacked us last night at the party.
        I forced myself to stand up immediately and sped through the mansion until I found a handheld mirror. When I did find one, I held it in front of my face and the horror I felt from the night before came washing right back over me. The memory of those blank red eyes of the demon, his almost pure white skin, his speed, and everything, came rushing back. I had literally become what he was, a demon.  
I stared at myself in the mirror, and staring back at me was my face, but with bloody red eyes and almost pure white skin. The face in the mirror had blood dried to their cheek to their chin, and I reached up with my hand to wipe it off of my own face. The mirror face’s bloody eyes were full of panic. I was too stunned to even feel the emotions on my face. It wouldn’t even register in my brain that this is what I looked like now. My brain wouldn’t let me call the face in the mirror my own face. It was someone else who just happened to look similar to me.
        I heard a small creak sound from the floor of the porch. I wasn’t even sure how I knew where it was from, just that I knew it was from the porch. And using my newfound speed abilities, within less than a quarter of a second I was on the porch standing face to face with my brother Jace. So he did survive. And he has the same thing I have, the pale smooth skin and bloody eyes.
        He and I just stared at one another for several moments without saying a word. His shocked expression mirrored my own. He looked me up and down examining every part of me as I did with him. He wasn’t covered in as much blood as I was, but there was still enough for it to be horrifying.
        Jace was the first to break the silence. “Well…This is quite the predicament we’ve found ourselves in.”
        “What happened to us?” I asked.
        Jace glanced around us at some of the other bodies that were strewn across the floor, the blood everywhere…Then he looked back to me quickly. His expression went from surprise to serious immediately. His eyes narrowed slightly as well.
        “Mother and Father…” He said with his voice trailing off. “Where are they?”
        I slowly turned to face the hall where I had been attacked the previous night. The floors from what I could see were spattered with blood. I led the way slowly to the room through that hall where I had walked into the attack. That delicious smell found its way to my nose again making the burning sensation in my throat, teeth, and mouth burn worse. If I don’t taste whatever that smell is I might lose, I thought darkly.
        When we reached the room, I looked through the open door and sure enough, Mother and Father’s bodies were bloodied and spread across the floor. Part of fathers left arm was missing and he was face down on the ground in the corner of the room furthest from us. Mother’s body was thrown on the table in the center of the room. She was laying on her back with her face turned toward us. Blood covered her face and body, just like all of the other bodies. Her face looked like the skin had been ripped off of it entirely. One of her eyes was missing, but the other one was wide and empty, lifeless. The other bodies that I saw during the rampage were still in the places I remembered them being as well. The rage and sorrow that swept over me had me kneeling now. How could someone be so evil?
        “And what about the others?” Jace asked seriously.
        I turned my head to look at him. He stood beside me now, his emotions completely composed at the moment. He’s only ever had this expression once in his life, and it was when someone had threatened our little sister Vivienne. This expression was sheer murderous rage.
        “I don’t know. Let’s check around here first. If they’re not anywhere on this property, then they escaped hopefully.” I said a little hopeful.
        He nodded once and headed towards the foyer immediately. I looked back at our now deceased parents. We will avenge you, I promise. Whatever it takes, we’ll find the person who did this to you all and we will end them.
        With that thought, I turned and followed Jace’s trail. In the foyer, he was checking the bodies to see if any of them were one of our brothers or sisters. I sped to the dining room and the kitchen. There were only two bodies in the kitchen and a few in the dining room. It was easy to see that none of those were my siblings. I ran up to the second floor and checked every room up there. They were nowhere to be found in any of the rooms, thankfully. I started to feel hopeful now.
        Jace said,”Did you find anything, Roarke?”
        He didn’t yell. He said it in his regular voice. He was still downstairs, a good distance from me, and I heard him as if he were right beside me. So inhuman speed, smell, and hearing, I thought. What else was enhanced when I became whatever I am?
        “No nothing,” I replied back. “I think they escaped.”
        “Alright. I’ll go check around outside and see if there’s anyone still here on the property.” Jace said with a small sigh. I heard his footsteps as he walked out the door, then he was gone.
        I sat on the bed in the room I was currently in. I was staring out the window now, which had a few blood spatters on it. This had to be a massive nightmare. There’s no way any of this is real. I’m still a human. I’m not what that monster was. I don’t have fangs, or inhuman abilities. I’m just dreaming. I didn’t even go to the party last night, I told myself. I went to sleep and I’m just waiting to wake up.
        “Okay, you can wake up now,” I mumbled to myself, which obviously didn't do a single thing.
Within a second, Jace pretty much appeared in front of me. He had his arms crossed and had a relieved look on his face. He didn’t find them, I assumed. But if they aren’t here then where are they?
        “Maybe we should check at home,” he suggested, as if he could hear my thoughts. That wasn’t a bad idea, either. That’s the only place they have to go at the moment.
        “Can we get something to sip on first? My throat is burning.” I roughly said.
        The burning sensation was just slowly getting worse, too. It was so painful that it was taking everything I could to not yell in pain. I had put my hand back over my throat again to massage it in hopes to make the pain stop. That didn’t help at all, though.
        Jace disappeared for a couple of seconds, then reappeared in front of me with a couple bottles of wine and a couple glasses. He set the glasses on the dresser that was at the end of the bed and poured the wine in the glasses, then handed one of the glasses to me. I eyeballed it warily. I had never consumed an alcoholic drink before. Every time I hear men talk about it, it’s always something slightly negative about it. Father hated alcoholic drinks, as well.
        “Drink up, brother.” Jace said, then immediately downed his entire glass in one sitting. He made a face when he put the glass down, then sat on the bed beside me. I lifted the glass to my mouth, but before I could take a drink, Jace grabbed the glass out of my hand and poured it out onto the floor.
        “Actually,” he started as he took the glass out of my hand,”Give me that. I’ll find you some water. This wine tastes very unusual.”
        He stood up and immediately reeled over and threw up on the floor. I stood up to help him, but he waved me off while staying hunched over. He remained like that for a few moments, then he stood straight back up and shook his head. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then turned to look at me with a hysterical look on his face.
        “Yeah, that was a good call. Forget the water, let’s just go find the others.” I said.
        Jace nodded and then led the way out of the bedroom, down the hall, then down the stairs into the foyer, then out of the Cooper mansion. I looked around for Balias, but he wasn’t tied to the hitching stand where I had left him. In fact, there were no horses in sight for us to ride back home. I hope Balias was back home where he would be safe.
        Jace seemed to know what I was looking for, because he let out a laugh and then said,” We have speed, remember? You don’t need Balias anymore.”
        “True, I suppose.”
        Jace sped off with his inhuman speed first and I followed after him, easily keeping up. The wind from running as fast as we did felt amazing. This was when I realized that I didn’t feel the cool temperatures of late September anymore like I did previously. I tried to not dwell on that fact too much, though. I had more than enough realizations about what I’ve become to last me a lifetime.
        The trees blurred by us as we ran. The only thought that ran through my mind now was “they better be safe”. Eventually I passed Jace up as we ran and I was the one leading the way home now. I was faster than him, even like this now. I could hear Jace give a little huff as he tried to catch up with me. I glanced back for a moment to see Jace slowly falling behind me now, slowly inching further and further behind me. So, I’m still faster than him, I thought to myself. That was probably the only good thing that came out of this whole situation.
        It only took us a few moments before we reached our house. We stopped running in the woods where we were hidden from anyone who may see us. I didn’t think about it before, but how would our sisters and brothers react to us? We don’t exactly look normal anymore, and we have extremely heightened abilities. Would they be scared of us? Or would they be glad to see that we’re at least somewhat okay, even if we’ve physically changed?
        That’s when the smell hit my nose again. It smelled far better this time and was much more intense. I felt my canines grow longer, the burning sensation in my throat became the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, and all I could focus on was the soft thud thud thud sound I could hear now. And it was coming from inside our old farmhouse. Something inside me had snapped and I had turned into a predator hunting its prey now. I had unconsciously crouched down as if I were stalking a rabbit like a fox would. I took one or two steps forward and felt a deep vicious growl escape my mouth. Just one bite wouldn’t hurt would it?
        “No, that’s your family, Roarke. Don’t even think about doing it. Fight the demon.”
        “Just give in to your urges,” the demonic voice in my mind growled at me against the sane voice in my head. “It’ll be okay! This is what you are now.”
        “Would you be okay with being responsible for the death of your siblings?”
        “Why would you want to suffer in physical pain like this for the rest of your life?”
        “Why would you want to take the life of someone you love just so you aren’t suffering anymore? There could be an alternative to help you for your situation.”
        I pressed my hands on the sides of my face and let out a loud growl in frustration. Why wouldn’t the voices be quiet? Why couldn’t I make them stop? What was happening to me?
        I lurched forward another couple of steps, then heard a familiar voice in the back of my mind, saying my name in distress, crying.