A goat was moving slowly towards them, nibbling on sparse spiky tips of foliage. A sudden leap of the hand in his own told him that the hunting instincts of the newly made shadow vampire had kicked in. Ambrogio let go of his hand.
"I know what you want. You want to kill the goat and drink its blood. There is nothing you want more. This is your first test. If you do so, I shall kill you. You will find the strength within yourself not to follow your desires, if I have ordered otherwise."
An almost dog-like whine came from the shadow man's throat and saliva ran from the corners of his mouth. He took one step towards the goat that was bleating now, sensing that something was wrong. It looked at the man, whom it had known its whole life, and then turned. It was about to run and Ambrogio watched with detached interest, knowing that every instinct would tell the shadow man to give chase.
The goat bolted away, and the man took one step. Just one. Then he stopped, turned his head and looked into Ambrogio's cold eyes. They stared each other for a long moment, and Ambrogio saw the will of the vampire challenging him in the man's face. But the human half of the newly created shadow man had been given a glimpse of Ambrogio's own history during those fleeting moments while he had been swallowing his blood. The other half, the shadow, now interlocked with the human in his body, reminded him that his master was the oldest and most cunning of all - he had learned that Ambrogio had been the first to feed on human blood, the First Vampire.
Finally, the shadow man lowered his eyes and took a step back.
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