VAMPIRIC ORIGINS I [PHOENIX LESTRANGE]

I.


”Felicity Mason?”

The name caused me to shiver. I hated my birth name. I walked toward the nurse, a scowl on my face.

”We have been over this. That is not my name.”

The nurse looked me up and down as she shook her head in disbelief.

”We are not going to call you Phoenix LeStrange.”

I looked at her as I dropped my head down. I had tried to get my birth name off of me for years now. My birth parents had abandoned me when I was four. I was taken in by a nice enough family but I always felt like a burden to them. I scoffed very audibly as the nurse led me to the doctor’s office. I had been seeing Dr. Shapiro since I was eight. She had helped me through quite a bit of trauma in the last twelve years. I had a seat on the couch as I sighed. The nurse just frowned a bit as she walked off. I could tell she was flipping me off in her head. I didn’t care. She should respect me as a patient. I sat there, fiddling with my hair as the doorknob turned loudly, or loudly to me. I had an insane boost to my senses since… the accident. In walked Dr. Shapiro. She was tall, about five feet nine inches to be exact. She was the kind of woman who commanded attention and respect when she walked into the room. I stood up to greet her.

”Hey Phoenix. How are you?”

She understood me. She got my name right.

”I am good doc. I would be better if your fuc… freaking nurse would get my name right.”

I laid on the couch, my feet and legs in the air, as I giggled a bit.

”So, tell me about this accident, a little more in depth.”

Damn. She got right to it. I didn’t want to remember it but, in hindsight, I would never be able to forget it. I teared up a bit as I spoke.

”Justin Wells started off nice as can be. He would take me on dates. He was a little older, twenty one to my seventeen, but he was a perfect gentleman. He and I were inseparable. I am sure it made most everyone sick as it was a sweetness they were not used to in this God forsaken town.

For so long we were the perfect couple. Then, things… changed…”

I paused to cry a bit as I sat up. Dr. Shapiro handed me a tissue as I continued.

”The day of my eighteenth birthday I moved in with him. He turned into such an abusive dick that I didn’t know what to do. I loved him so I dealt with it. He would smack me if I stepped out of line. He kept me in a cage. He fed me on a schedule. He told me his real name was Justus and he was a Moroi. I had no clue what that was…

… until one day. He took me out of the cage and tied me to a chair. A group of his friends had a feast… both literally and physically. After about three hours, I was left, almost drained of blood and bite marks all over my body, in a dumpster to die. I needed help. I needed a Haven. I needed a savior. I was picked up by someone and driven to a local hospital. I told them my story but, almost like magic the bite marks had disappeared and I was locked in a mental hospital for a year.”

Dr. Shapiro could tell I was getting emotional so she stopped me.

”So, you truly believe you are a vampire and that was the night you were turned?”

I laughed a bit, not in a funny way but in a “Oh my God no one ever believes me” way. I focused as I pushed my fangs out a bit showing her. She smiled.

”Very nice implants.”

I got angry and lashed out.

”Implants? They weren’t there a God damned second ago! How in the literal fuck can they be implants?”

Maybe this was the worst thing I could have done because Dr. Shapiro began breaking my life down more.

”So, Justin or “Justus” kept you in a cage and you thought it was normal. Is that why you completely broke down poor Gwendolyn’s mind? Made her believe she was Pandora all the time. Made her eat when you wanted? Do you think because you went through trauma that was the best thing to do to others? You claimed to help others but as soon as Gwendolyn was of no use to you, you stripped her naked and sent her on her way. How can you tell me you did the right thing in that situation?”

I went to speak but she continued on.

”There are no excuses for your behavior, Phoenix. You always look for a scapegoat. You blame it on being a vampire, which trust me you are not, or you blame it on the fact you were in a toxic and abusive relationship. You have no one to blame for your shortcomings but yourself. You have no one to blame for your abusive behavior but yourself. For twelve years I have known you and you were always so nice until you started claiming that you were a vampire. Now you are nothing more than a self centered person who wants to find all the excuses you can. What happens when you run out of excuses? There will be no one left for you to blame and then, what, you blame your trauma?”

Trauma… the word echoed in my head as the scene faded to black.



II.

”Trauma is the word of the week boys and girls. Trauma is something we all go through but what happens when you step into the ring with someone who is immune to trauma? With someone who has been through more trauma in two years than you have in your whole fucking life?

This week Petey you step into the ring with a woman who has nothing to lose. You step into the ring with a woman who is so pissed off with the world that she is ready to completely obliterate you.”

I looked into the camera intently. My first match with Project Honor was quickly approaching. I hadn’t been in the ring since May 18. I was ready to step back into the ring. I stood up, my red wig swaying in the wind. The Scottish Highlands had a nice wind blowing. I paced a bit before I spoke again.

”I may still be new to this business, only been wrestling for around a year, but what are you going to do that I haven’t seen rappy boy? What possibly could you do to hurt me? To make it so I can not win? The fact of the matter is this competition is about speed and swiftness. I need to make quick work of you so I can go on to Hell on Earth and WIN the Grand Championship.

I have made a career of being the first ever champion. I was one half of the first ever Trinity Wrestling Tag Team Champions and one half of the first ever Action Wrestling Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions. This time, I do it all alone and I win a major singles title. Try what you can to survive but resistance is futile. Nothing you throw at me is going to throw me off of my already predetermined path. I will leave Hell on Earth about fifteen pounds of gold heavier.”

As I walked, my mini dress blowing in the wind, I found the Garden that my Da had brought me to. Since coming to Scotland, I was able to focus more than ever. I had a seat on the swing as I spoke more focused than before.

”Petey you are simply not good enough to stop me. I deserve this. This Trials of Time tournament is my opportunity to show, once and for all, that Phoenix LeStrange is simply better than the wrestling world.

You see, I have given and taken blood in this business. I have dedicated my new life to focusing on this business and it will all show at Proving Ground. You get to be the next victim of Phoenix LeStrange and I dare you to even try and fight me. I will put you down quicker than Jack Kavorkian does a seventy year old Dementia patient. Petey, nothing you can do to stop me.”

My fangs began to protrude as I spoke. The words I spoke were causing me to feel tingly all over. I closed my eyes and let out an audible “Mmm” as I felt the breeze on my neck. My fangs protruded all the way as I spoke, this time with a more malicious intent.

”I am going to hurt you, Petey. I am going to rip you to shreds so that the audience doesn’t have to deal with your SoundCloud wannabe shit anymore. We are tired of everyone with a fucking MacBook thinking they are a rapper. Pick a business and stick with it instead of using this business as a platform to peddle your shitty music. Petey, you focus on the music, as you like to call it, and I will focus on winning championships.

You want the fans to love and respect you. I want the fans to fear me and my message. I want them to run in fear when I come out to the ring. I want them to know that their heroes, like you, are all false idols that need not be revered but need to be punished.”

I lit a cigarette and took a drag off of it. I exhaled a cloud of smoke as I continued.

”I am sick and God damned tired of people like you running around with a sense of accomplishment when no one has heard of you. The fans that cheer for you are bigger idiots than you are and that is a rather tough feat to accomplish. I am going to make you just another footnote in the illustrious career for Phoenix LeStrange.

The darkness is taking over Project Honor and on Proving Ground the Darkness will consum you. You will be the next victim of my wrath. I have a lot of pent up anger and you just so happen to be across from me. You are in no man’s land and you have nowhere to run. Do us all a favor Petey, especially yourself, and don’t come down to the ring. Just forfeit to me and you can leave with your soul intact. Should you come to the ring than just know this.

I can’t guarantee you will leave the ring at all. I can’t guarantee you will leave at all. That ring could very well be the Mausoleum that houses your body forever. I will make sure you suffer a fate so grim you will ask yourself, “Why in the hell did I do this bullshit?” as I stomp your body into a simple mash. I will feed it to the whole race of Moroi as I laugh and watch your remains be devoured by MY people.

The Moroi are coming and you are either with us or against us. We will completely snuff out all that oppose us. You will be the first to meet your maker in Project Honor. You won’t be the last. ”

I smirked as I walked off and the scene faded to black.


Epilogue

I was all ready to take the world of Project Honor by storm. I was ready to show Lil Petey, and the world, what I was capable of. I had been a success everywhere I went but this time there was no Pandora, no Persephone, no HaVeN in my corner. This time I had to do something I hadn’t proven in this business. I had to prove I could do things on my own.

Being adopted by Bruce McLeod, I had to make Da proud. I had to show that I could do this on my own. I had to prove to the world that the Moroi were more than a legendary race in a story book. I had to prove we were real. I had to put us back on the map. I had to give us a gateway. A gateway into the mainstream so that our domination could begin.

I had finally fully adjusted to who I was and who I was going to be. I was a 350 year old soul caught in a 20 year old body. I was ready to drive my fangs deep into the neck of the Earth. I was ready to turn anyone and everyone who would listen. Everyone who would bow before me as the leader of the Moroi in the wrestling world.

Gone would be the negative stigmas of vampires. No more would Twilight lead the thoughts of Vampires… damn sparkly Cullens. No more would we allow the stereotypes to run rampant. No more would people be able to compare me to these weak ass substitutes. I was the real deal. I wasn’t some over romanticized story book character who “vants to suck your blood.” I was to the point where I was done asking or making my intent known. I just take the blood,

And take I shall. I shall bleed the whole company dry and then take on the rest of the world. No one would be spared unless they bowed before the real Queen of the Damned. Gone was Felicity Mason. Hello, Phoenix LeStrange. You will remember me… or you will die like the rest. First, Petey… next was a shot at Grand Championship at Hell on Earth!

Project Honor, bow or be devoured!