Book excerpt: Chapter X The Turning In Nether World, there were approximately three thousand nightwalkers that made up the population of the southern clans. Of these three thousand, nearly two thirds were natural born. Nightwalkers can conceive children who grow there fangs and could hunt small rodents by the age of two. At thirty years of age, the growing process stops and physically they remain at that age for all eternity, but there were those nightwalkers that had been turned. Those nightwalkers that had been turned were once human beings that have been bitten by nightwalkers and survived. Why nightwalkers turned some humans into beings like themselves varies. Some did so to increase their numbers when birthrates were low, others did so simply out of a need for companionship. Most humans that have been turned really didn't have a say so in the matter. Most were given the choice of either being turned or being dead. No human has ever been known to voluntarily seek to be turned, but that is what Cassia has chosen in order to ensure her survival. For nightwalkers that have been through the process, a turning was looked upon with the same reverence as a baptism or a second birthday. To be turned marked the ending of one life and the beginning of another, and once one had been turned, there was no going back. Nickademus awoke in his cave shortly after sundown. He made his way up the path to the cabin and to Cassia. He did so with a heavy heart. He had not brought her here for this. This was something she did not want, but had to do because he had failed in the one thing that he had promised her, protection. Tonight she will be turned. Cassia had changed her sleeping habits since arriving in Nether World by being up most of the night to guard against attack. This was no life for her, and she knew that. To constantly be on guard against a nightwalker attack after sundown was far from the peace and security she had hoped to find after escaping the Empire. On this day, however, she could not find sleep. She began the day by watching the sunrise knowing that it will be the last one she may ever see. She did the same when the sun set for the evening. In between she would be a whirlwind of emotions from heartache to gladness. Gladness to know that it was possible to live the type of life she wished to live, free of having to keep one eye open for trouble, sadness of knowing that the Cassia-Ren that was reared by her parents, adored by her country, and married to Shia Davi, would cease to exist. In her place will be a stronger, faster version of her former self, one that will stay young forever. Gone would be the old Cassia-Ren that will live on only as the stuff of legend. Nickademus gave his usual knock, and this was followed by her usual invitation to come in. They both stood there in the room in complete silence with each incapable of finding the right words for a moment like this. Finally, it would be Nickademus who would break the silence first. "Cassia, are you prepared?" he asked. "I'm as prepared as 1 think I'll ever be", she said as she moved across the room and took a seat on the edge of the bed facing him. She patted the bed next to her inviting him to sit. "Come on, sit", she said. "1 promise not to bite ...that will be your job." Cassia was trying to keep the mood somewhat lighthearted. She knew that Nickademus did not want to do this and that he must be feeling terrible about it. She wanted to reassure him that he was not the one responsible for the choice she had to make. She came to Nether World by her own free will, and this was the price one had to pay for admittance. Nickademus moved slowly and sat next to her. He was as nervous as a virgin about to experience the first time at making love, sitting on her bed during such an intimate moment as the biting of the neck didn't help ease his nervousness. She turned her head to face forward and tossed back the portion of her hair closest to him to allow him gr