"Gorging dulls the senses, leaving you vulnerable to attack, you must always be aware of your surroundings, you may be a predator, but you're not at the top. There's always a bigger fish. Always a bigger set of teeth." - Dumas

The words rattled around in Atli's mind as he opened his eyes, then immediately shut them again against the bright sunlight. Vampires didn't like sunlight. Not because he would burst into flame. His eyes were simply best suited to the night. He groaned and tried to pull his hand up to the back of his head which ached and throbbed from where he'd been hit.

The hand wouldn't obey. It wouldn't move at all.

His eyes snapped open. The bright light once again assaulted them but this time he forced them to stay open and adjust and was greeted with a bright blue sky, clouds rolling by, and a gentle breeze. He might have enjoyed lying there but a quick glance to either side of his body confirmed his fears. His hands were staked to the ground. He tried pulling his legs up with the same result. Fear pitted his stomach. He lying spread eagle on the ground, his cloak bunched painfully into the small of his back and he had yet to see who his captors were.

His fangs slid forward out of his gums as he struggled to maintain control as fear coursed through his body. He took a deep breath, trying to figure out his predicament, one moment he'd been feasting, then pain, and now... He was here.

"Looks like our baby is awake."

Atli froze, his breath catching as he swung his face towards the voice. Movement caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Blue skin, bright red hair, a crescent moon tattooed to her forehead. The Fay was a follower of the Demoness Elwe.

Elwe was not particularly known for her benevolence, charm, or kindness.

He turned to the right trying to get a better look at the woman who had spoken.

Her maroon robes clung loosely to her body as the speaker moved forward. She bent down and placed a warm finger on his cheek. Atli recoiled, his fangs slipping further out as the muscles in his face tightened.

"Don't touch me, fallen," he snarled, his eyes had shifted from their normal brown to yellow, a fight or flight response. He would have fought her with everything he had if he wasn't staked to the ground.

She didn't bother to move away, completely unfazed by his reaction. "My, how cheeky you are." Her fingers traced the swirling tattoos across his face slowly, gently, like a lover. She rubbed the tip of her finger over his lips pulling them back to see his fangs. He couldn't recoil any further into the ground. He closed his eyes instead as his body tensed against the unwelcome contact.

Untied he might have stood a chance. Untied he would have been able to at least flee.

She laughed and stood. It was a small moment of relief, however brief. He opened his eyes to see her form retreating back, respectfully bent down. He could hear her robes swirl as she moved out of his line of sight.

"Don't play with it. Lord Arkesh wants this one whole. It's a fine specimen," a deep masculine voice called from behind his head.

"Relax, he is whole for the time being. It's just curious that he's so far from the rest of his kin."

Arkesh? The famed Fay had disappeared into the bowels of history without a trace after his defeat leaving the Elven Kingdoms to clean up his mess, thousands of cycles ago. Humans had forgotten, a thousand years would be at least seven or eight generations for them. Elves with their longer life spans remembered who Arkesh had been and what he'd done. Most importantly, the twisted beings he'd created in his desire for power, to make the world over in his own image. Most hoped, that he'd died in the wilderness in shame. No trace of him had been found.

Atli shivered despite the heat. The stories from the past coming wickedly to light in his mind. If this truly Arkesh coming back from the dead, out of legend, Atli was finished, doomed. He was already a twisted being, being a vampire mix of human and elven ancestry. Who knew what else they wanted to turn him into to.

Atli couldn't tell how many Fay were in the vicinity. They were the twisted cousins of the Elves, once-Elves who followed a darker path, made pacts with demons in blood. He tried shifting his body slightly just to relieve the pressure on his back but he was spread too tightly.

'Gorging dulls the senses, it is in our nature to lose awareness of our senses when eating. That's the way we were made. It is a weakness built into us. It's in our nature to lose control. That too is a weakness. You must learn control or you will die.' Again, the lessons Dumas, his dwarven caregiver, had been teaching him since childhood rattled through his skull. He'd been careless, thinking he was so far from civilization that no one would bother him out here.

"Where is it?" A deep voice called. Atli stilled. They weren't going to move him first, whatever was going to happen was going to happen right here. There would be no chance of him escaping. His muscles knotted in fear again. His fangs forced out of his gums and slid fully into view over his bottom lips, and a hiss escaped his mouth. His nostrils flared and he opened his bright yellow eyes.

The Fay stepped fully into view around him. He could barely make out their faces as they blocked out the sun, only seeing black silhouettes. The birds stopped singing, insects stopped buzzing, time seemed to stand still. His skin broke out in goosebumps.

Arkesh, and Atli had no doubt it was him, looked down at him. His hair was white from age, hanging down to his waist, straight, held away from his face with a leather thong. His blue skin held a few wrinkles that betrayed his great age. But his lithe body draped in brown robes spoke of one who was a trained fighter. His silver eyes sparked with malevolent interest. Here was someone who held no empathy for his "experiments." He studied Atli for a few tense moments.

"You fear me."

There was no need to respond. It was a statement, not a question.

"Curious, you are in excellent shape for an outlander." Arkesh paused he moved closer. He held a polished, silver decanter in his hand. "Most of the ones I come across are little more than animals. Not the strong beings I created them to be. But you..." He bent down to get a closer look, hooking a thumb under Atli's chin. "You are in excellent shape. You have a village near by?"

Atli shook his head, not trusting himself to speak. He wouldn't show weakness, not here. If he was going to die, he was going to meet it head-on, in a way that Dumas would be proud of.

Arkesh straightened and stared down at him.

"This will go well for you if you drink it all and do not struggle."

Instinctively Atli's mouth slammed shut over his teeth. It would prove to be a useless endeavor for him. Arkesh smiled, a knowing smile, a smile that proved he liked taming the difficult ones.

"No matter," Arkesh stepped forward, an almost childlike eagerness washed over his blue features. "Daneel?"

A large well-muscled Fay strode forward and grabbed Atli's nose holding it closed, he was forced to open his mouth after holding his breath for a minute, gasping as the Fay's fingers grasped his open mouth and forced his jaw wider. He tried to turn to the side and bite the Fay, a single bite from any Vampire was enough to inject their victims with the vampiric strain every vampire was born with. But Daneel held his jaws firmly in place.

"Thank you, Daneel," Arkesh stood over Atli and poured the liquid into his mouth. Atli gasped and sputtered as it went down his throat burning all the way to his stomach like hard alcohol. "Turn his head sideways, Daneel," Arkesh ordered. "I don't want him suffocating on his own tongue."

The burning sensation laced out from his stomach, spreading throughout his body, his fangs slid out of their own accord and an ear-piercing scream echoed around the clearing. But he couldn't stop, his body felt like it had been thrust into a burning pit. His head was forced to one side and held there as the rest of his body spasmed uncontrollably as his insides remade themselves. His staked limbs painfully straining against the ropes.

The last words he heard were: "This is how we announce our presence to the world. We have returned and will take back what was ours."

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