Sarah(1)

Sarah knew it.
She couldn't find any reasonable explanation about it but she knew it.
It was like she had been born with that gift, like she had been born for that special gift.
She could barely remember her childhood but she did remember she had known it even back then.

Her eyes saw more than a normal human could.
And for that matter her childhood had been filled with terror.
A four year old girl seeing dead people was not an ideal childhood.
Most of them were incorporeal, just spirits of the people from her village long gone, even maybe relatives of hers.
But there were others, not many, and most of the time they were just passing by her village.
But those were real monsters. Most of them were just skeletons with merely patches of rotting flesh left on them.
And they all had huge canines dripping with blood.
And as the years were passing, she refused to leave her home, especially at night.
She could stand some of the spirits, moreso those of her close people, and she even spoke with them sometimes but even those spirits couldn't understand why she had that gift and some of them couldn't even remember what had happened to them.
But Sarah found it impossible to even stay near one of those corpse-like creatures.
After all, she was alive and they were death incarnate.
Then one night when she was ten years old the dreams started.
At first they were just dreams which happened to come true the next day but after a while those dreams were so real that Sarah could not seperate between the times she was awake and those she was asleep.
Not all of them were nightmares though. Many of them were happy dreams, depicting good things happening to good people of her village but some of them were just visions of death and disaster and when they involved familiar faces Sarah would wake up screaming, crying.

Her parents did what all parents would have done.
They called the village's priest to pray for her. The verdict was easy.
''A demonic power had taken control of the young girl''.
The only solution for the girl to be saved was an exorcism.
The only problem with the exorcisms was that sometimes -most of the times- the ''possesed'' victim wouldn't survive the process.

The priest tried to perform the exsorcism alone at first but when it became apparent that it was not a simple demon possessing the girl, but propably a demon lord, the priest went to the town to call for more help.
After some days, a team of four, five including the village's priest, came back.
One of them was a high ranked priest specialized in exorcisms.

Sarah was crying and begging her parents not to let them touch her.
She still bore signs from the previous attempts.
''Fire purifies''was a common belief of christianity those days.
And by fire or cold, starvation or drowning and even hits those priests tried to purify the poor girl's soul.
And the more they tried the stronger those visions became.
Visions of death.
Sarah hoped it was her death she was foretelling.
Every day she would actually beg her tormentors to kill her.
After a month, a living Hell for her, the high ranked priest made his mind.
''The girl was possesed by the devil himself and the only way to save her soul was to burn her alive in a pyre!''
Sarah accepted those news as salvation. Her young, fragile body could stand no more torturing.
The pyre was prepared and her life would end the next night during midnight.
The whole village had gathered to say goodbye to the little girl.
Actually they had gathered to make sure that the little demon who foretold so many bad things would die for sure.
They dressed her in white and made her wear a headband made of thorns as a symbol of Christ's suffering.
The priests had started praying early in the night and just minutes before midnight they led her to the pyre and tied her on a wooden pole.
Now, the whole village was chanting her final rites.
The high priest took a torch and moved toward her.
-May God forgive you for your sins! he announced
-I am sure about her but i wouldn't say the same for you! an angry voice was heard.
Following these words an armored figure riding a white warhorse appeared.
-The devil has sent his minions to help him. Kill that rider! shouted the priest and threw the torch at the pyre.
The dry wood and the oil fed the fire which soon covered the whole pole.
Sarah managed to sceam only once. Her young body betrayed her and everything went black.
-Then you have sealed your fates! said the armored figure.
A white glowing sphere materialized around Sarah's burning body stopping the fires and keeping the girl alive.
The figure drew his longsword and jumped down from his horse.
-I do not know which god you worship beasts but my god will not forgive you for torturing that gifted, little girl! the figure screamed.

No one managed to escape the slaughter that night.
For the high priest the figure chose the same fate the priest had chosen for the little girl. The armored man burned him alive.
Righteous vengeance was what the figure's code of honor and beliefs ordered.

Sarah woke up in a small cave.
She didn't know if she was dead or alive yet.
A beautiful woman in a shinning plate armor stood above her. She had laid her hands on her, murmuring silent prayers.
A feint golden light surrounded her and Sarah felt her wounds closing.
-Are you an angel?
The woman smiled, a hearty smile.
-No, my dear, but i was named after one! I am Nuriel ,progeny of Akhraziel. My name means ''Fire of the Lord'' and i was named like this to bring justice to those who stray from the lord's way.
-What happened to my village?
-They are now under God's righteous justice. What they were doing to you was the devil's work.
-But i was possesed...
-Not at all my sweet heart. You are blessed. Blessed with the ''Sight'' and that is among the higher blessings bestowed upon humanity by the Lord himself.
-I saw weird things. I saw corpse-like monsters and dead people.
-Like me? said Nuriel removing her helmet.
Her face and her skin were like those monsters' but this time Sarah didn't feel fear, but only warmth.
-We are not all the same. We may look the same in your eyes but some of us are fighting the good fight.
-What are you?
-We are immortals, vampires they call us. Personally I consider myself as a gifted human, blessed with immortality to avenge all those who spread evil upon our world.
-What will become of me?
-That my little angel will be your choice. I saw a vision -yes i see visions too, like you- leading me to you. I consider that a sign from God but joining our ranks or living a normal life will be your choice.
I promise you though that whichever is your decision I will be there to help and protect you. And that I swear on my father's name and on my own blood.


Sarah chose to enter their ranks, the ranks of a noble line of warriors and healers, and she payed for her choice many times but she had never had second thoughts.
Nuriel's words of peace, justice and love became Sarah's beliefs and she would live only by spreading those beliefs.
Even at the most remote place of the Earth. Even to a frozen heart, even seconds before her final death and even in the cruelest shadows among  the immortals she would be the spark of life and love!