Tahano did not feelhot rage, as a human might. For he was a beast, no longer human. Inthe place of hot rage was a cold ambition to avenge the wrongsvisited upon his betrothed.
First he found theking who ordered the murder of the Kanakaon warriors and who hadimprisoned the Kanakaon women.
Tahano was fearsometo behold as he confronted the terrified ruler. He pronounced themonarch's punishment:
"I am Tahano,betrothed of Palao. I come to avenge the murdered Kanakaon warriorswho sought refuge on your shores, and to restore the honor of theKanakaon women whom you imprisoned. I bring vengeance on behalf ofPalao and her mother, to whom you showed treachery, when hospitalitywas your duty."
Tahano continued,with cold determination. "Your son Neman is dead by the hand ofnoble Palao, who brings honor to her people with this brave deed.Those other pitiable creatures you call sons have been dispatched byme, cut down in their tents like feeble lambs led to slaughter. Everyother man who resides on this island will shortly meet with the samefate. Know before you die that it is Tahano, betrothed of Palao, whoensures that no issue from your loins will live beyond thisgeneration.
"You have butminutes left to live. I grant you those minutes only that you mightwitness the devastation I am about to visit on your land. This placewill no longer be home to your kin. The old women I spare will bescattered across the sea, as was Palao when she was with child. Thosefew who may survive this journey and who may find refuge on a distantshore, I promise they will have no memory of you. No one will speakyour name after this day. No marker will note the place of your birthand death. It will be as though you never existed."
With that Tahanodestroyed shelters and gardens, demolished canoes and burned thealters upon which the islanders worshiped their false gods. When hewas done and the island had become a wasteland, a wild place on whichno human could survive, he cast the old women who remained out to seaon makeshift rafts that resembled the one upon which Palao soughtrefuge.
He then turned tothe king and said:
"I know you areready to die after what you have witnessed. And die you shall."
Then Tahano tore theman's head from his shoulders and drank. It was the first humanblood Tahano had ever tasted--until that time he had confined hisfeeding to lowly animals. After that first human meal, Tahano of theKanakao became only a memory. In his place was the beast who for alltime would be known to mankind as Benza, the Undead.
He had destroyed theisland that did not give Palao shelter, but he had not yet found hisbetrothed. He recognized that she had likely perished in her fragilestate on the wide sea, but his quest was not done. He would seek heron neighboring lands. He would wander until it became evident thathis search was futile.
As he wandered histhirst for human blood rose in him unquenchably. That first feedinghad started an evolution that was irreversible. The beast had gainedascendance and the human had perished.
Benza at firstdecided to limit his consumption of human blood to those who seemedto want or merit death, but this did not remain the case. In thoseearly years, he fed indiscriminately. There would come a time, afterhe had matured and learned the ways of the vampire, when he woulddiscover that he could feed, if he chose, without killing. That hecould sup lightly on many instead of devouring a few.
But until that timeof maturity came, there was a great loss of life. While he did notemotionally empathize with his victims, his great intellect endowedhim with a highly developed conscience. He could and did reflect uponthe pointless waste. He found the carnage unpalatable but necessary.
As the beast tookhold of his body and soul, Benza noticed physical changes thatreflected the absence of humanity. His tawny skin thinned and lostits color. Over time it acquired a greenish hue. His face lost itssoft curves and the shape of his skull changed. His mouth andforehead were predominant now. The ears, rather like a bat's,fanned out conspicuously from the sides of his head. He was virtuallyhairless. His spine had curved and his skeleton had shrunk. His armswere long, his fingers and nails claw-like. He once caught hisreflection in a pool of water and promised never to look at thatthing again, so grotesque had he become.
He knew he was notworthy of Palao; after seeing himself he realized that had he wishedto present himself, any hope of being received by her was lost.
As this physicaltransformation occurred, certain faculties increased. He becameskilled at telepathy, telekinesis and incorporeality. He was notconfined to time and place as his former human self had been. And hisphysical strength had increased so that in one emaciated, elongatedhand he had the power of a hundred men.
In his travels hetwice came upon others of his kind, vampires, and he learned secretsfrom them. If he still wished to become extinct, he was told, therewere ways open to him. A wooden stake through the heart wouldaccomplish this as would decapitation by another vampire. Short ofthese methods, he was immortal.
Chapter 9
The legend of apowerful vampire touched the imaginations of different peoples overtime. There were epochs in which the legend grew and children quakedin their beds as darkness fell and spindly trees cast ghastly shadowsacross their windows. In other ages, the stories of a raveningvampire were dismissed. The acceptance of Benza's existence was amatter of indifference to him, for he had nothing to fear from theweak humans who might try to defend themselves against hispredations.
As he wandered theearth and became less human he paradoxically gained greaterunderstanding of the human mind and heart. Much like a scientist whoexamines the life cycle of a fruit fly, Benza had the advantage ofperspective. He observed the rhythm of human existence untileventually there was little that could surprise him. There were onlyso many possible outcomes to every tragedy and he had seen all ofthem. As the variety in his experience disappeared so too did hisinterest. He wearied of the endless wandering and feeding, so hedevised entertainments for himself.
As the Englishplaywright once observed: "All the world's a stage, and all themen and women merely players" upon it. So Benza came to regardthe human drama. Except he did not remain a passive participant. Heamused himself by toying with the players, by changing their rolesand their fortunes. He became an ally of fate, whimsical andindifferent to outcome, except for its entertainment value.
And then the timecame when he doubled down on his investment in human activity. Heweighed the value of his players and interfered to tip the balance tothe benefit of his favorites. His investment in these events waspurely intellectual, but for a creature who had been reduced to theintellect this was a significant stake.
In the age ofscience, the legend of the vampire all but disappeared. To be surethere was a fad in which movies were made and books written, butthese efforts were all acknowledged to be exercises of fancy. So asmysterious wounds appeared in the flesh of disparate New York Cityresidents and from time to time a vagrant disappeared without atrace, no one thought of vampires. The nightly apparition thatvisited some were discounted as nightmares and the rational world ofthe 20th century raced headlong into the future with this gruesomespecter from the past always in its shadow.
And so we leave thevampire, wandering aimlessly across the earth, a mere footnote tohuman destiny. But life, even the minimal life of a vampire, isalways pregnant with possibility. And so it was with Benza, who waspoised on the threshold of change, though this was something even hisgreat intellect no longer entertained as being within the realm ofthe possible.
In the age ofscience, the legend of the vampire all but disappeared. To be surethere was a fad in which movies were made and books written, butthese efforts were all acknowledged to be exercises of fancy. So asmysterious wounds appeared in the flesh of disparate New York Cityresidents and from time to time a vagrant disappeared without atrace, no one thought of vampires. The nightly apparition thatvisited some were discounted as nightmares and the rational world ofthe 20th century raced headlong into the future with this gruesomespecter from the past always in its shadow.
And so we leave thevampire, wandering aimlessly across the earth, a mere footnote tohuman destiny. But life, even the minimal life of a vampire, isalways pregnant with possibility. And so it was with Benza, who waspoised on the threshold of change, though this was something even hisgreat intellect no longer entertained as being within the realm ofthe possible.