I have to think fast. They know my familiar. They know who that wilkravitz person is. I'm channeling to him. He's sitting in the library right now, but one of my enemies grows suspicious. I must work fast. The vampire lifted me up and carried me out of the smoky ruins. I was near death, very near to the end, for I was already entering the River of Radiance. But he took me into a sheltered place near the town wall and that's where he did it. That's where he made me into what he was. I know now that he could have simply given me a saving draught of his miraculous blood, but he did not do that. He could have saved me and sent me back to my father's camp, but that was not to be. When I woke up to the night world I choked and coughed up great clots of dampened ash and blood. He chuckled quietly and ponded my back. When I finished he hoisted me up over his shouled and carried me out of the town and into the surrounding woodlands. No one paid us any mind. Just a couple of drunken Crusaders going back to camp after a night of fun. He entered a cave. I was afraid to so much as move. I think I held my breath the whole time. But what was oxygen to me? Did I even need it anymore? I think not. Even now, I only breathe out of habit. The rhythm comforts me. He proceeded into a series of tunnel, dark, but I could see. It was like a maze. How would I ever find my way out? We must have been at least a half mile into the earth. We came to a larger space. It was like the lairs of dragons one reads about in stories. Treasures were heaped all about us. Gold and jewels glittered in the soft light from creamy candles. He threw me down onto an old, gilded, Roman divan. And that's when I heard the muffled screams coming from somewhere deeper inside.