He stood silently within an infinitely expansive fog covered meadow, with the edge of a frozen lake stretching out before him. Silence filled the air around him as he gained his bearings.

“Well hello boy.” Purred a venomous; male voice behind him.

Nicholas turned and fell in surprise at this sudden appearance in this desolate landscape. Before him stood a tall gentleman with long black hair flowing over his shoulders. He wore an ornate long-coat and smart robes. Sprouting visibly from his head were a pair of long curled horns.

“Here boy, I’ll help you up.” The man offered holding out his hand.

“Thank you.” Breathed Nicholas, as he was pulled to his feet.

The man smiled a pleased venomous smile.

“What is happening?” asked the priest.

“A change.” Replied the healer as two lumps began to form on either side of the boy’s forehead, before breaking the skin: revealing a pair of obsidian black horns which slowly began to curl around the boy’s skull.

“Horns.” Breathed the priest: not believing his eyes: “are they a bad sign?”

“Possibly; we will wait and see.” Lucia replied cautiously.

“So what is it you wish for?” the man asked in a lyrical grandiose fashion.

“What do you mean?” asked Nicholas.

“Well I could give you anything you desire, such as that pretty young maiden you know. Oh you can have her and fuck her as much as you wish. But there is another you have your eye on, one you barely know: that healer woman. You want power so that you can make her scream as you screw her until she either dies, or bears your offspring is that right?”

“I.” began Nicholas, fearful of what else this horned man knew.

Blood began to drip into Nicholas’s eyes; he reached up to his hairline to feel a pair of horns breaking his skin. They grew onwards, curling around his skull: dark obsidian growths similar to those of the dark haired gentleman.

“So do we have a deal?” the man asked.

Nicholas looked up towards him in pain: not sure whether this was what was required of him or not.

“No! Don’t.” shouted a female voice from behind him.

He turned towards the lake.

“Don’t listen to him, come with me!” the voice shouted again.

For some reason Nicholas felt at ease listening to that female voice. Slowly he began to walk towards the ice lake.

“Where are you going?” the man snarled. “I thought we had a deal?”

Nicholas stepped onto the ice.

“Hurry!” the girl shouted.

Nicholas looked down to find he was looking up the skirt of a girl the same age as him, standing in his reflection. He took another step forwards.

“Oh no you don’t! You are coming with me!” the man snapped, grabbing Nicholas’s arm and trying to drag him back to shore.

“Not much has happened for a while now.” Grumbled the priest: as he continued to mix the brew with the beer.

“His decision as to what is right is intrinsic to the healing.” Reminded Lucia.

At that point a gentle light began to seep out of the anchor mark: cocooning Nicholas’s body in an ethereal glow.

“It seems that we have some hope.” She commented to the still sceptical priest.

The emaciated body of the boy began to restore itself before changes to his bone structure began: along with changes to his flesh.

Nicholas wrested himself free of the man’s grasp before running across the ice: a strange warmth filled his body as he began to feel healthier than he had done for ages. He stopped briefly, looking back across the ice towards the horned man. He could see the figure circling the edge of the ice lake. Nicolas felt the warmth increase in his loins and his chest. He scratched his groin before continuing on across the lake. Each step he took seemed lighter than the last whilst his chest seemed somewhat heavier. He continued walking, eventually sighting land.

“The change is nearing its completion.” The healer commented.

Where once there was a young man lying helpless and dying; was now replaced by a healthy eighteen year old young woman, with perfectly formed breasts rising and falling with her breathing.

“What does this mean?” asked Father Pilyn. “Why is he a girl?”

“Because: he has been purified. Is that enough?”

“I presume that might be enough of an explanation for now.”

“Good, we will need the rest of the brew to be fed to her now.”

Lucia bent down, not putting any additional pressure on the mark on the girl’s forehead.

“It is time to wake.”

Nicholas made his way up onto the land carefully. He wondered where the man had vanished to, but also where the girl was. He carefully sat himself down on the ground. His shoulder felt stiff: and as he reached up to massage it he noticed something, his chest had swollen, or more precisely had a pair of breasts hanging there.

Before he could fully take in what had happened to him, he heard Lucia’s voice whisper loudly across the lake.

“It is time to wake: Nicola.”

The two women walked steadily up the hill away from the village. Nicola wished that Lucia would explain what had happened during the purification.

“That will be said later. For now say your goodbyes to your mother and the Padre. We leave as soon as we can.” That was what Lucia had said to her.

To her. She would have to get used to that soon.

They had walked three miles now and the village was out of sight, around them the sun was rising: signalling a new dawn. Lucia stopped a few paces ahead of Nicola. She turned to face her new apprentice.

“Nicola, before I explain everything there is one last step of the purification l need to do. I did not wish to reveal it to those in the village.” She breathed stepping closer to the girl.

“What is it, mistress?” Nicola tried as Lucia moved closer to her, wrapping both arms around the young woman’s neck.

“I am sorry.” She whispered as her fangs sharpened themselves.

Nicola looked on in silent surprise as Lucia’s fangs punctured her neck and the vampire began to feed.