Vampire story (haven't thought of a title yet) Unfinished

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:36:16 +0100

Chapter One

I placed the flowers down with a sigh, it had been five years since the accident, that had taken my mother from me, and the pain had finally starting to lessen, but seeing her grave still brought tears to my eyes. I had finally started to get my life organised, get back on track, but then the fire happened. Just last week someone had burnt my house to the ground, and with it one of the few reasons I had to stay here.

So I was leaving, moving out of my home town, the only place I had ever known, and going to start a new, and hopefully better, life, and this was my last stop. My mothers grave. She had been my only friend here, and when my dad abandoned she had taken on full responsibility for me, getting three part time jobs to support us. A car crash five years ago had taken her from me, and the only reason I was still here was for the house and the memories, but now the house was gone and I could take the memories with me.

This was my opportunity to leave this godforsaken place, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to take it. I hated this town, hated it, I’d never fitted in, never had any friends, everyone had avoided me ever since I was little and to this day I still don’t know why. This was the excuse I needed to leave, to start my own life somewhere else. I didn’t know where I would go, I didn’t have any family that I knew of and I certainly didn’t have any friends, but all that meant was that I could start afresh, far, far, away.

I got to my feet and brushed the dirt off my knees, ‘Bye mum, wish me luck.’ I whispered it, but the words seemed to hang in the air, a final farewell to the only person who ever cared for me. I turned to start walking away, walking toward my new life. The sun had set hours ago but it was a full moon and I could easily see where I was going, though I probably could have found my way around here blindfolded. For such a small town this sure is a huge cemetery. I thought, and looked around, the graves stretched far into the distance where they met the edge of the surrounding woods, looking like a horror movie graveyard, just waiting for its chance in the spotlight. The cemetery didn‘t scare me like it would most people, in fact, I’d spent so much time here over the last five years that it was starting to feel almost like a second home. I smiled to myself, it was so peaceful out here, nobody else around, just me the stars, and the night.

I was too busy thinking about everything that had happened that it wasn’t until I was almost in the woods that I noticed the man, he blended perfectly into the darkness of the woods, and the only reason I noticed him at all was because I was used to the woods, and the night, and had gotten into a habit of noticing my surroundings. The sight of him made me stop and I couldn‘t help but stare.

He was leaning casually against a tree on the very edge of the graveyard and I was surprised I hadn’t seen him earlier, now I knew he was there he seemed so obvious. My first impression was, tall, dark and, surprisingly handsome. He was over six feet tall and dressed entirely in black from his stylish leather jacket, to his tight jeans. Even his shoulder length hair was black and the whole look was emphasized by the deathly pallor of his skin, on anyone else it would have looked ridiculous, but he managed to pull it off with ease.

I stood there, wondering what to do. I’d never seen him before, and that in itself was surprising, in such a small place everyone knew everyone else, and strangers were usually the talk of the town, but he didn‘t look the slightest bit familiar, and I was positive someone else would have mentioned him if they knew he was in town, someone like that had no chance of blending in. An air of confident smugness hung around him, and he was so still, the only discernable movement being the slight rise and fall of his chest which seemed to happen much to slowly to be natural, I was decidedly creped out, and the way he was watching me, so intently, so, hungrily?

I met his gaze and stared back at him, trying my best to look intimidating, like someone he wouldn‘t want to mess with, but it was useless, I knew I had no chance. Anyone sane would be scared by now, meeting a dark, if hot, stranger in a cemetery in the middle of the night, but I’d always been brave, or stupid, I’d never been quite sure which.

We stood there staring at each other, waiting to see who would be the first to break the silence. Finally I couldn’t stand it anymore and took a step forward. Here goes nothing.

‘Who are you?’ I asked, not quite sure what I was doing.

He looked at me questionably for a second then disappeared. I stared blankly at the spot were he had been, I swear he was just standing there, but no the spot was empty and not even the leaves stirred. Suddenly I felt warm breath on my neck

‘I am nobody.’ He replied, and then, before I had I chance to do anything, I felt his lips on my neck followed by a sharp, piercing pain, and I could feel my blood begin to flow. I gasped, more in shock then pain, but still, WHAT THE FUCK, was going on?

The pain faded after a few seconds and turned into a soft sucking feeling. I was too confused to struggle, I knew what this reminded me of, vampires, but that couldn’t be right, they weren’t real, were they? But what else could it be, normal people didn’t hang around in cemeteries and bite people on the neck, and even if they did, humans couldn’t ingest more a cup of blood without vomiting, and tall dark and handsome here had taken way more than a cup.

Black spots began to form in front of my eyes and my thoughts started to go fuzzy, I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness, and thought about struggling, but it seemed like too much effort, so instead of fighting, I embraced it. This was good, this was easy, now I wouldn’t have to worry about what to do with my life, I wouldn’t have one. ‘Thank you.’ I managed to whisper before the world turned black.

Chapter Two

I woke up, which was defiantly something I hadn’t expected, in what appeared to be a dungeon of some sort. There was a small barred window in the corner and through it I could see the night sky , so I’d either been out for a whole day, or a couple of hours, since I still felt like crap, I was betting on the latter. The only light came through the window and I could only just make out my surroundings. I was in a small, cold, cell surrounded by rough, uneven stone, that seemed to soak up every scrap of available light.

The only other things in the room, apart from me of course, were a bucket of what appeared to be water, a cup and a thin blanket. I looked at them suspiciously for a couple of seconds, wondering if it was a trick, before I decided that while the blanket and water probably wouldn’t harm me, allowing myself to freeze certainly would. Finally I crawled over to pick them up and was surprised by how weak I was, it took all my energy just to move the short distance to the blanket, blood loss I guessed.

I wrapped the blanket around me, and though it did little to fight the cold, it made me feel safer, like a kid hiding under the covers, never doubting that they were protected. It was only after I was slightly warmer that I realised how thirsty I was, I felt like I hadn’t drunk anything for days. I picked up the cup and filled it with water, sniffing at it suspiciously and inspecting it in the dim light, but it appeared to be drinkable so I gulped the whole lot down in one go, followed by two more. When my thirst was finally sated I curled up in the corner of the room and waited for something to happen. It wasn’t a long wait.

After about twenty minutes the door opened, I’d been staining my ears for footsteps or any other sounds that someone was coming but hadn’t heard anything until the door opened with a creak, to reveal the man from the cemetery, the vampire from the cemetery? He looked almost exactly the same, except his skin had a bit more colour to it, probably from drinking my blood I thought, then laughed quietly at myself for thinking such an outrageous thing, for believing such an outrageous thing.

The laughter broke the silence, a small almost insignificant sound, echoing off the walls. His previously blank expression tunned to confusion at the sound, and that just made me laugh even more, the expression just looked wrong on his face, like something from a much younger, more innocent person, not a bloodsucking vampire.

‘Why are you laughing?’ He asked, and the genuine confusion in his voice cut through the laughter and prompted me to answer.

‘This whole situation is just so unbelievably weird, like something out of a fairy tale. I just can’t believe this is happening.’ As soon as I said it I realized it was the truth, and it answered some of my unasked questions, such as why I broken down into tears yet.

‘You are more interesting than I thought.’ He said, almost to himself.‘

‘What do you mean by that?’

‘Are you not wondering why you are not dead.’

‘Yeah, I guess.’ Nah duh.

‘Well, the only reason I did not kill you earlier is because I found what you said and thought interesting, you seemed to be so much different from how you seemed, and now you have shown yourself to be ever more so.’

‘So the only reason I’m not dead is…. Wait did you say what I thought?’ Ok that was super creepy.

‘Yes’ He said it like it didn’t matter.

‘So you can, what? Read my mind?’ I tried to meet his nonchalant attitude, but I couldn’t quite pull it off, having someone being able to know my every thought had to be one of my greatest fears.

‘Only when I take your blood.’ Ok that was a lot better, at least he couldn’t hear what I was thinking now.

‘Well that’s a relief.’ I said truthfully. ‘So what was it about me you that you found so interesting?’ This was something I really wanted to know, nobody had ever shown any interest in me or my life, and I wanted to know what he could possibly see in me.

‘You really do not fear me do you?’ He asked giving me an evaluating look. The question made me think. Did I fear him? I knew I should, but when I thought about it I wasn’t really scared. If he wanted to hurt me I couldn’t stop him, but he didn’t seem to wish me too much harm, after all he had left me alive.

‘No, I don’t’

‘Why?’ He asked, and again he had that confused expression on his face.

‘You answer my question and I’ll answer yours’ He smiled at that and it brightened up his whole face, I nearly melted, God. He looks so beautiful when he smiles.

‘As you wish. I found you interesting because, you have lost everything, and still you decided to go on, to give life one last try, but when you saw me you showed no fear, even on deaths doorstep you where not scared, and when you thought death was unavoidable, you embraced it, thanking me as I killed you, even though you did not want to die. You seem different to any other person I know, and it would be a shame to let you die in such a purposeless way. Now tell me, why are you not scared of me?’

‘It’s really quite simple, you could do anything you wanted to me and I couldn’t stop you, you could kill me, drain me, and I couldn’t do anything at all. So why be scared, if you can’t change something I find it pointless to be scared of it, therefore I find it pointless to be scared of you.’ It all sounded very noble and smart, but it was something I had believed ever since I was a little kid, the reason I was never scared of the boogie monster or the dark.

‘So the reason you are not afraid of me is not because you do not think I could hurt you, but the opposite, you rightly believe I could kill you or hurt you and this stops you from being scared?’ He gave me that evaluating look again, and it made me want to squirm, it felt so strange having someone look at me that intently.

‘Yeah, I guess so.’

‘Then you are even more intriguing than I thought.’

‘So what exactly are you planning on doing to me?’ There it was, the big question, the only one that really mattered, if I was going to get out of this alive. He smiled again but this time it seemed more sinister than beautiful, a chilling expression, worthy of a vampire.

‘I’m going to give you a choice. You can either become like me, a vampire, or,’ I knew what he was going to say, knew what the second choice would be. Death, after all, that’s what he was planning originally and I’d given him no real reason to change his mind, interesting or not I had no doubt he would kill me if I didn‘t do as he said. ‘You can leave,’ What? ‘walk away and start your new life, and I promise you will never see me again.’ I froze in shock, that was defiantly not what I was expecting.

‘You’d really just let me go, even though I know what you are?’

‘I would much prefer for you to join me, but if it is what you truly desire, then yes, I will let you go, it would do me no good to force you to become a vampire, you would never trust me or any of our kind again, and would no doubt get yourself killed within your first year, and I trust you would not be stupid enough to tell people of my existence, though I doubt they would believe you anyway.’ I thought about it for a second, did I really want to go back to starting a new life, would anyone even care, maybe this was the chance I’d been looking for, a chance to be someone , or something, as the case may be, maybe a vampire would be more willing to accept me than the people I had known all my life. Or than again, maybe not, this was my life I was talking about, I needed some time to think about this.

‘Well thank you, but I really need some time to think before I make a decision.’

‘As you wish. Do you want to go somewhere more,’ He looked around the room with as slightly disgusted look ‘to your liking?’

‘Yes please.’ If I had to spend another minute locked up I wouldn’t be able to think straight, let alone make a life or death, to some extent, decision. We left the cell and started walking down an old stone corridor. I looked around with interest, I’d always liked old buildings and this was defiantly one of the oldest I‘d seen. The stone was dark, stained with decades worth of smoke and grime, but it looked in good condition, not that I could see much. The only light came from the few old fashioned touches set in the walls and was barely enough to see by, but then again, I guess vampires don’t need much light. We turned left, into another corridor identical to the last except that it ended in a large wooden staircase. We walked along at a steady pace and we where nearly at the stairs when I finally decided to ask the question that had been bugging me since we left the cell.

‘Why did you lock me down here, if you weren’t planning on keeping me locked up?’ He was silent for such along time I thought he wasn’t going to answer, and was about to repeat the question when he finally spoke.

‘Do you wish for a honest answer?’

‘Well of course.’ I said, but the way he asked it made me unsure.

‘I did not know if you were truly worthy of such a choice, and if I found out you were not, I thought it better if you could not escape.’ Yeah, I defiantly didn’t want to know that, still.

‘What would you have done if you hadn’t found me “worthy”?’ I doubted I would like this answer any better, but I had to ask.

‘I would have killed you.’ He said it matter of factly, but I swear I heard a hint of guilt in his voice, barley noticeable but still there. I didn’t know what to say to that, so I didn’t say anything, and neither did he.

When we reached the stairs we climbed them in silence, and it gave me way too much time to think about what I had gotten myself into, and if I really wanted to get myself out of it.

When we reached the top of the staircase he opened a door and led me into another corridor, far from the one we just left, which was dark and old, this one was well lit, new, and stylish. The walls were pale white, the thick carpet was black, and the light was soft and pale. It suited Mr tall dark and handsome perfectly, and was exactly the type of house I‘d always wanted to own.

We walked to the end of the corridor where he led me through another door and into what appeared to be a lounge room. It followed the same style and colour scheme as the hallway, with a modern looking black leather sofa and bookcase against one wall and a large plasma screen TV along another, the only other things in the room were a number of photographs hung on the walls, the majority were black and white, and looked quite old, but a few were in colour and they brightened the room.

‘I will give you thirty minutes to make your decision.’ He said, making me jump, he’d been so quiet I’d almost forgotten he was there. ‘I trust that will be enough time?’

‘Yes, that should be plenty, thankyou.’ If I couldn’t make a decision in half an hour I didn’t think I’d ever be able to decide. He tuned and left without another word, shutting the door firmly behind him. I listened for the click of the lock, and was surprised when it didn’t come. But I guess if he was sincere with his proposal there would be no point in locking me up, but all the same I had to test it just in case, and sure enough when I tuned the handle the door opened easily. I peered down the hall, which was now deserted. For a moment I considered walking out and seeing what the rest of the house looked like, but considering everything he had done, or more to the point, hadn’t done, I thought it rude to go wandering around without permission, so I turned and went back into the room, closing the door behind me.

I sat down on the sofa and started to think. What did I have to lose by becoming a vampire? After all I’d just lost everything that had connected me to this world, maybe this would give me a better chance at a new life. I couldn’t think of any valid reason that it wouldn’t. But on the other hand, I didn’t even know what becoming a vampire would entail. All I knew about vampires came from movies and a few of the books I’d read as a child. Were any of the myths true? Was sunlight fatal? What about wooden stakes? Garlic? I really didn’t know anything, and I couldn’t make a choice if I didn’t have all the facts, but still, I thought I knew what my decision would be.

I spent the rest of my time going over the few facts I did know, which now that I thought about it, weren’t many. From the looks of it they drank blood, but didn’t have to kill when they drank, as demonstrated by my clearly alive state. They had fangs, or at least it sure had felt like it, and they didn’t appear to have to be out all the time as I hadn’t seen any on Mr tall, dark and dead when he’d smiled earlier. I racked my brains for more but that was all I could come up with.

After going over my predicament what felt like a million times, I got up to look at the photos, thinking that they might be able to tell me more. There was a few of my vampire captor, who’s name I still didn’t know, which answered the question of wether vampires could be photographed the others were of various other people, who I assumed where important to Mr vampire, I didn’t recognise anyone, which wasn’t all that surprising, but one photo stood out from the others. It was a photo of a woman and a young girl, both were smiling at the camera, true, happy smiles, the kind that were so hard to catch on film, the woman could only be described as beautiful, she had dark hair and eyes and the hoop dress she was wearing gave her a sense of old fashioned elegance, the girl was clutching the edge of her mothers dress and grinning widely, I wondered who they were, these two people frozen in a single moment in time.

The sound of the door opening nearly scared me to death and I whirled around quickly.

‘I wish you’d stop doing that.’ I said angrily, trying to cover my surprise, it was really starting to get on my nerves.

‘Of course. Have you made your decision?’ His voice and face were completely blank, not a hint of emotion showing, and it made me wonder what he was thinking.

‘Almost, but first I need to know a few things first, such as what being a vampire would actually mean.’

‘Ah, yes, I should have thought. What exactly is it that you want to know?’

‘Well the basics I guess, such as which, if any, of the myths are true, you know, stuff like that’ I took a seat on the sofa and waited for him to start.

‘As you wish. Most of the myths are false, but some are true. The main being the ways in which we can die, vampires are near immortal, we do not age, and we are very hard to kill, however, sunlight is fatal to all but the very powerful, as is beheading and fire,’ I thought about that, particularly the part about sunlight being fatal. Could I really give up the day, the sun, it took me less than a second to answer myself, of course I could, I’d always preferred the night, and in exchange for a new life and near immortality it seemed a small price to pay. ‘A stake through the heart is not fatal unless the heart is then removed and burned,’ He said ‘most wounds will heal almost instantly unless inflicted with silver or a holy item, but this does not make us evil, vampires have the same personality and intentions as they had when they were human, become a vampire does not make you evil.’ Then he paused ‘However we do have to drink blood to survive, and although we do not have to kill every time we drink we do have to kill every few months as it is a persons life force that keeps us alive.’ Ok, killing would be harder to get used to, but thought I could deal with it if I had to. ‘That is all I can think of, is there anything else you wish to know?’ I thought about it for a few seconds but couldn’t think of anything.

‘No. I think I’ve made my decision.’ I’d made it before all the questions, almost before he had even asked me, I’d just wanted to be sure, and now I was. ‘I want to join you, to become a vampire.’ The blank look left his face and was replaced with relief and maybe just a hint of a smile, the expression made me glad of my choice. ‘I want you to tell me one more thing first though.’

‘Of course, what is it?’

‘Tell me your name’ I was willing to give up my soul to this guy and I didn’t even know his name, boy were my priorities wrong.

‘My name is Marcus Hughes. And what may I ask is yours?’

‘Bethany Gardener, but everyone calls me Beth.’

‘I much prefer Bethany.’ He said, and so did I to tell the truth. With the introductions over with it was time to get to the point, no pun intended.

‘So how is this going to work? Me becoming a vampire that is.’ I asked, still nervous even though I was sure I was making the right decision.

‘It is complicated, but basically we must exchange blood, first I will drain you until you are nearly unconscious, then you will have to drink almost the same amount from me.’

‘Is that all?’

‘For the most part yes. You will sleep through the rest of tonight and tomorrow and when the moon rises tomorrow night you will be a vampire.’ It all sounded very simple, but that did little to sooth my nerves. He must have seen what I was thinking because he gave me one more chance ‘Are you sure this is what you want? I swear I will let you go if you have changed your mind.’ I was tempted to say yes, but I knew this was the chance I had been waiting for, and if I left now it would never come again.

‘No, that’s ok, I’m just nervous.’ He sat down beside me on the sofa beside me.

‘We do not have to do this tonight. If you want a few days to get used to the idea, say goodbye to your human life all you have to do is ask.’

‘No, that’s fine, I‘ve already said goodbye and made my peace with the world, there’s no reason to put it off.’ He took my shoulders in his hands.

‘Are you ready? Once I start you must go through with this, I have already taken your blood tonight, and you will not survive this if you do not drink from me.’

‘I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.’ He drew me onto his lap, turning my head to the side and gently brushed my hair out of the way to expose my neck.

‘This may hurt a little at first, but I promise I will not harm you.’ I swallowed loudly, and nodded my, no pain no gain, or so the saying goes.

He placed his lips on my neck and I could feel the sharp press of his fangs against my skin, I had just enough time to think, what the hell have I agreed to?, Before he bit down, his fangs sinking into my flesh. It hurt, a sharp, clean pain, but pain all the same, and I couldn‘t help but let out a small gasp. I could feel it the second the blood started to flow, but a moment later he started to drink and the pain began to fade, and was replaced by a beautiful feeling, a feeling of giving, of being loved, of all the things I had been missing in my life, it made me feel safe and cared for, and so much different from the indifferent feeding in the cemetery, it felt so good that I almost protested when he finally stoped and withdrew his teeth, he licked at the wound before removing his mouth from my neck, and I felt a sharp pain where he had bitten me, but when it faded my neck felt fine. I reached up and pressed my hand to my skin expecting to find a wound, but it was perfectly smooth.

‘There is a healing enzyme in our saliva that allows us to heal small wounds, like bite marks.’ He said answering my unasked question.

I turned in his lap and looked at him, his fangs were still out, and they didn’t seem strange on him, in fact they looked almost normal, adding another element to him, making him look even more handsome, if that was possible, but that wasn‘t what surprised me , no, what surprised me was his expression, he was smiling at me, looking at me like I meant something to him, it made him look even more amazing than usual, but the expression was gone almost as soon as I noticed it, making me wonder if I’d seen it at all, but real or not it made me feel infinitely better about this whole thing.

He pulled an old looking dagger from somewhere behind him and I watched it nervously, it looked very sharp, he smiled at me again, then looked down and pressed the blade against the underside of his wrist, I gulped, this really didn’t seem like a good idea, despite my unspoken protest he drew the dagger quickly across his flesh and it must have been as sharp as it looked, because blood began to well up almost immediately. He pressed the cut gently to my lips and I could feel his blood flowing from it down my chin, his blood felt warm and slick and not at all like something I wanted to taste.

‘Drink’ He whispered. And despite my better sense I opened my mouth and swallowed a mouthful of blood, it tasted strange, sweet and rich, like honey or dark chocolate, and not the least bit like blood was supposed to taste like. I swallowed another mouthful, and another. I couldn’t seem to stop myself, it was the most wonderful thing I had ever tasted, and I didn’t want to stop.

Finally he pulled his wrist away, I tried to pull it back, but couldn’t seem to find the energy to lift my arms. I was so tired, it felt like I hadn’t slept in weeks, or maybe even months, I could barley keep my eyes open, and even blinking seemed an effort. I thought that if I was able to think I might actually have been scared, it felt like I had no control over myself, like I’d been drugged, and at the same time it felt wonderful, like lying in front of the fire on a freezing cold night or lying in the last rays of sunshine when the sun sets, safe and warm, and oh so tired.

I leaned my cheek against Marcus’s chest, breathing in the smell of his leather jacket, and I closed my eyes, giving in to exhaustion.

The last thing I felt was his arms around me, and for some strange reason I felt safe, safe in the arms of a vampire, who earlier that night had tried to kill me, funny that.

Chapter Three

I could tell I was different form the second I woke up. For one I could hear so much more than normal, the rustling of the bedding moving as I breathed was loud in my ears, and all the normal noises of the house were amplified. When I opened my eyes I found my eyesight was even better than my hearing. There were no lights on but I could see as clearly as if it were day, even the smallest details where easily visible to me and everything seemed so much deeper, like I’d been looking at the world in two dimensions for my whole life, and suddenly I could see it in all three.

I looked around in wonder, everything looked so different, so much more. I was lying in the middle of a huge, four poster bed, covered with sheets made of black satin, which felt amazing against my skin, the feather down quilt was also black and unbelievably warm, I lay there for a second, everything I could feel, hear, see and smell seemed a thousand times sharper and it was all very overwhelming.

Finally I decided to get up, and the moment a thought it I found myself on my feet, I nearly fell over I was so shocked, I hadn’t even felt myself move, but obviously I had, I focused on moving slowly and found I was able to take a couple of steps at what was almost normal speed. I practised this a bit more, and found it wasn’t too hard to get the hang of, and after a while I didn’t even have to concentrate that much.

I walked over to the huge ebony wardrobe that took up most of one wall, there was a floor length mirror attached to the front of it, and it made me wonder if I looked any different. I gazed at my reflection and froze in shock.

The first thing I noticed was how pale I was, it was only a couple of shades lighter than my normal skin tone but it made all the difference, where before my skin had used to look almost sickly white, it now seemed to glow from within, looking beautiful, and standing out in stark contrast with my black, shoulder length hair, and clothes.

I looked at the rest my reflection, apart from my skin I didn’t look too different from normal, but everything seemed to be enhanced. My hair, for instance, which had always looked kind of dull, now shone, and my dark blue eyes were now the colour of the night sky. The difference was amazing, I’d been kind of pretty before, but now I looked beautiful, elegant, something I defiantly hadn‘t looked in life. I’d never really cared much about my appearance before, but this in itself was almost worth the price of becoming a vampire, almost.

I was still wearing the same black shorts and t-shirt that I’d been wearing in the cemetery, and I was glad for that, they were normal and helped remind me of my old life, but still, they were dirty, and looked strange on me, like they belonged on someone else. God, had I only put them on yesterday? It felt like years ago. I couldn’t bare to look at my reflection any longer, it reminded me of everything I no longer was, and that wasn’t something I wanted to think about. I looked around the room, trying to find something to distract myself with, and that’s when I noticed the note stuck to the door.

I am sorry I could not be there when you awoke but I have important business to attend to. Please feel free to explore the house and to try on any of the clothes in the wardrobe, I hope they are to your liking. I would greatly appreciated it if you would not leave the confines of this house until I have returned, you are new to your powers and may do something regrettable if you were to come across anyone, however it is your decision. I shall return soon, and will explain more about your new powers, and take you to feed then.

Yours sincerely, Marcus

The note made me smile, I’d been wondering if I’d made the right decision and this made me certain that I had. Marcus seemed to care about me, at least to some to some extent, and he didn‘t appear to want to control me, or harm me, in fact he seemed pretty good for a vampire. I wondered what he meant about my ‘new powers’ I’d already figured out that my senses had been enhanced and that I could move faster and with more ease than before, and I’m sure he knew that, so there must be more. Did I have other powers that I didn’t even know about? I thought about that but finally decided that it wasn’t worth the effort, when I could just wait for Marcus to return and have him explain it then, so I decided to do some of the other things on the note, starting with getting some, desperately needed, new clothes.

I walked back to the wardrobe and opened it, I didn‘t expect there to be much in it, boy was I wrong. It was absolutely full of clothes, and I wondered where they had all come from, there was so many different materials and styles, all expensive looking, and all in my size, it was every girls dream wardrobe, and I couldn‘t help but feel exited.

I spent the next hour tying on clothes, and must have tried on everything at least twice, everything fit perfectly and looked amazing, but finally settled on an Elizabethan style dress made from black velvet and red satin, it fit me like a glove and was absolutely stunning when coupled with my new looks, I felt like a princess, and I felt a childish joy that I hadn’t felt for years now. After twirling around a few times in front of the mirror, I decided it was about time to start exploring.

The place was huge, more of a mansion than a house. It was three stories high, not including the basement/dungeon, and every room was filled with stylish furniture in various shades of black, white, and occasionally red, it would have looked impersonal if not for the various paintings and photos, that were hanging on the walls of nearly every room, and a couple of rooms seemed dedicated to storing all manor of valuable objects, and though I was tempted to look at them closer, I knew I wouldn‘t like someone going through my stuff, and I thought Marcus deserved the same level of respect.

The only really strange thing I noticed was the complete lack of windows, In every room I’d been in I hadn’t seen a single window, just blank walls, though I guess that made sense seeing as the owner of the house was a vampire, or at least I assumed Marcus was the owner. Another thing I found interesting was that none of the doors were locked, some of the rooms contained things that were worth a fortune but all were open for me to explore at my leisure, Marcus seemed to trust me a hell of a lot for someone he’d just met, but then again I hadn‘t even thought to do anything that would break that trust, so maybe he could just read me well.

By the time I had finished exploring and returned to my room I was starting to feel really thirsty, and now that I was a vampire it didn’t take much to realise what that meant. Marcus’s note had said he’d be back soon to take me to feed, and I hadn’t really thought much of it at the time, but now it made me wonder. He’d said last night that vampires had to drink blood to survive, and occasionally had to kill when they drank, and while I thought it a fair price to pay, considering all the perks of becoming a vampire, I still didn’t like the sound of it.

I wondered if I’d have to kill tonight, I’d never killed anyone before, the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, I was pretty sure I’d do anything I had to too survive, but I couldn’t really be sure if, when it came down to it, I could really kill someone. I thought about it for a while, I had made my decision last night and I couldn’t turn back now, but still if I was going to have to kill people I had to set some rules, had to decide just how far I’d be willing to go to live.

I thought about it for quite awhile before deciding on some rules that would allow me to live with myself, but wouldn’t restrict my new undead life too much. I finally decided that if I had to kill, I would only kill people who had done something really wrong , I didn’t really think any crime should be punished by death, but I thought it would be better to kill people who had hurt others, rather than someone who had never done much wrong in there life, the only exceptions to this rule would be people who really wanted to die, or were going to die anyway, and if there was no one like that available, it would be someone who wouldn‘t be missed, and didn’t have a family to mourn them.

I sat there getting thirstier and thirstier, and was just about to disregard everything Marcus had said and go and find my own freaking dinner, when he walked through the door. Damn it! Supernatural hearing and I still hadn’t heard him coming.

‘I see you are awake,’ He said. He was pointing out the obvious so I didn’t bother saying anything. ‘and may I say you look beautiful.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, after all there was no need to be rude. ‘but I’m dying of thirst here, can we please go?’

‘Of course. If you would follow me?’ I nodded, and he walked out of the room, holding the door open for me. I followed him and he led me back through a number of rooms and back down the staircase into the basement/dungeon, I didn‘t really want to go back down there, ever, but I had little choice, if that was were dinner was, then that was where I was going, I was too thirsty to think anything more complicated than that. When we reached the bottom of the stairs we walked down the same corridor we had last night, and though the lighting was no better, I could now see everything in perfect detail, I could see the patterns in the rock, and the light flickering off the walls was extremely creepy looking, I shivered and took a step closer to Marcus, glad was here. We continued walking until we reached the cell I had woken in the night before, the one place I defiantly didn‘t want to see again. Marcus opened the door for me, and stood aside, waiting for me to go in. I walked toward the door and slowly peered into the cell, and met with the sight of a man lying unconscious on the floor.

I knew immediately that he was unconscious and not dead because I could hear his heat beat, a loud, strong sound, that was almost hypnotic. Each beat amplified my thirst, until it was all I could think about. My teeth started to feel funny and when I reached up to feel them I found that my canines had extended to fine needle sharp fangs.

‘Who is he.’ I asked with difficulty, both from trying to talk around my new fangs, and from stopping myself from pouncing on the man and ripping his throat out. ‘Do I have to kill him?’

‘Unfortunately you will have to kill him, but he will not be missed, in fact there are many people who would thank you for his death. He Is wanted by the police for murder and rape and would no doubtable do this again if he were not stopped. I thought it better that your first kill be someone the world could do without, who’s death would cause you no guilt.’

Reassured that my unvoiced rules would not be broken I walked over and grabbed the man by the shoulders and turned his head to the side exposing his neck, I knew exactly what to do, and though it wasn’t something I wanted to do, my thirst and the never-ending beat of his heart overcame any disgust I felt, and I sunk my fangs deep into his neck. The blood started to flow immediately, salty and metallic, it tasted amazing, not as good as Marcus’s blood, but very, very close, but I didn’t have long to enjoy it before the memories hit me, seemingly random moments of the mans life, little snippets of time flashing through my head; Sitting in his mothers lap, playing in the park as a child, his first kiss, a car crash, moving house, a new family, and another, and another, smoking, drinking, drugs, a fight, and finally the murders, all the people he had killed flashing in front of my eyes, their faces, their screams, it was the most horrible thing I‘d ever seen, and I wanted nothing more than for it to end, but I couldn‘t seem to pull myself away, and the images continued, playing over an over again.

Then suddenly the memories stoped, and I realized with a start that he was dead, his heat stoped forever to satisfy my thirst. I withdrew my fangs from his neck and let his corpse slide to the floor. He looked so pitiful in death, and I almost felt sorry for him, but I’d seen his victims and it removed any guilt I felt, but still, I’d seen how hard his life had been and I was sorry that no one would ever morn his death, that no one would cry at his grave. I frowned, it was kind of depressing when you thought about it, a whole life, gone in a couple of minutes, and no one would care.

‘Are you alright?’ Marcus asked, real concern in his voice.

‘Never been better.’ I answered sarcastically.

‘The first death is always the hardest, but after a while you will get used to it.’ I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it, but I didn’t say anything.

‘Are you sure you are ok?’

‘I’m fine, but…No, it doesn’t matter.’

‘No, if there is something you wish to know, ask.’ Fine, here it goes.

‘Why did you pick me? Last night, I know you were going to kill me, so don’t try to deny it, but why me? I’m not bad or evil so how come you chose me to feed on?’ It was a fair question and I hoped he would give it a fair answer.

‘When I have to kill, I prefer it to be people who are evil, murderers and the like, however when none are available I go after people who will not be missed, homeless people, runaways. It is not fair to them but at least I do not harm others by killing a loved one. Also by killing in this way it is easier to avoid detection, and if someone does discover us it is easier the get them to leave us alone, without having to kill them.’ I could see his point, that was almost exactly the same thing I had been thinking earlier. ‘In such a small town as yours there is a distinct lack of murderers, so I chose someone who will not be missed, you.’

‘I guess that makes sense. But if you didn’t kill me, don’t you have to kill someone else?’

‘No, to turn someone is to kill them, at least in a way, and I will not have to kill for a few months now.’ Ok, I guess that made sense in a really creepy way.

‘So if you were to turn someone instead of killing them, every time you had to kill, you wouldn’t have to take a single life?’

‘In theory, but it takes a lot of control to turn someone, and it takes a lot of time to gain that control. Also, there are very few people who are willing to become vampires, you would end up having to turn people against there will, which can only end badly, for both the fledgling and the sire.’

‘So there’s no other option than to kill?’ I hadn’t thought there would be, but it was worth a shot.

‘Only death.’ He said sadly.

‘Well that’s too bad, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to killing.’

‘You might not believe me now, but you will get used to it, you will have no other choice.’ He was right , I didn’t believe him, but I saw no point in starting a fight.

‘So, I understand who you pick when you need to kill, but who do you pick the other times you feed?’ I asked, partly to change the subject, but mostly because it was something I really wanted to know. ‘There can’t be too many people out there willing to give up there blood, There certainly can’t be enough to feed all the vampires.’ Could there?

‘You would be surprised by just how many there are, but you are right, there is nowhere near enough to feed the whole vampire population. Which brings us to the subject of your new powers, when we feed from someone, we develop a sort of bond with them, this allows us to control them to some extent and effect there recent memories, so we can erase any memories the person has of being fed from, of course we can break this bond anytime we wish, but it the one power we rely on the most, and is what has allowed us to survive for so long.’

‘So we could feed off of anyone, and they’d be none the wiser?’ That sounded pretty cool, not to mention very useful.

‘Almost anyone, people with very strong will power are able to resist the bond, but they are few and far between, and of course it doesn’t work on other vampires.’ Well I guess all that made sense.

‘So what other powers do I have?’

‘I take it you have noticed the enhanced senses?’ I nodded

‘They were kind of hard to miss.’

‘Indeed. The other powers you have gained are dramatically increased speed and strength and the ability to communicate psychically with other vampires.’ The speed and strength made sense but,

‘What do you mean by “communicate psychically”?’

I mean we can communicate like this. His voiced echoed through my head but his lips didn’t move, it had to be the most disturbing thing that had ever happened to me, and it seriously creped me out. I must have looked as disturbed as I felt because he smiled.

‘But it is usually avoided for the first few years, as new vampires tend to find it, distasteful.’ He was still smiling, and I couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was.

‘You can say that again.” I muttered.

‘Of course you may gain powers as you grow older, in fact you may even have other powers now that you just haven’t discovered yet, but the ones I have mentioned are the typical powers all new vampires have.’ Strength, speed, heightened senses, mind control, that was more than enough for me.

‘You’ve been a vampire for a while now, haven’t you?’

‘You could say that, yes.’

‘So, have you gained any other powers?’ He looked surprised by the question, then he smiled.

‘Very well, I am old and have gained a number of new powers. I can sense emotions, and can amplify or lessen them if I chose, I can also ‘read’ people well, I can tell within moments of meeting someone if they are trustworthy or not, and all the powers I started off with have strengthened considerable.’

‘They sound like very useful powers.’ I said, and they did

‘They can be.’ The smile left his face when he said it.

‘What do you mean.’

‘While they can prove extremely useful in some situations, they can be a burden too, sometimes it can be hard to know how people feel about you, sometimes it is good to be deceived.’ He looked upset, and I wondered what problems his powers had caused him in the past, but it would be rude to ask. However there was other things I wanted to know.

‘You said your old, how old are you exactly?’

‘My, you do ask a lot of questions.’

‘Yes I do. Are you going to answer?’

‘Very well, I was born on the fourteenth of March, in the year seventeen ninety-one.’

‘So your….two hundred and eighteen years old?’

‘That is correct.’ That made Marcus two hundred years older than me, Wow he looked really good for his age.

‘Wow, you don’t look anywhere near that old. How old were you when you were turned?’

‘I was eighteen.’

‘How did it happen?’

‘How did what happen?’

‘You becoming a vampire.’ I’d been wondering it for a while, but hadn’t had the courage to ask.

‘You really wish to know?’

‘Of course.’

‘It is not a long story. I was much like yourself, everything I had had been taken from me, my friends, family, all gone. I was living on the streets, barely alive, but I wasn’t willing to give up yet,’ He laughed. ‘I was too stubborn to give up. So I continued, begging for food and money, but I was only a shadow of who I used to be, slowly dying. Until one night I was attacked by a vampire, I guess I was the perfect victim, alone, almost dead, with no one to notice I was gone. But I wasn’t ready to give up my life, not to anyone, it was the only thing left, the only thing that was mine. So I fought back, I had lived on the streets long enough to know that if you wanted to win a fight you had to fight dirty, so I used everything I had, including my teeth. And to my surprise I managed to bite him back before I lost consciousness, I did not take much blood, but it was enough. When I awoke I was as I am now, a vampire, and I have not looked back, to me this is my second chance, and I have tried to make the most of it, determined never to end up like that again.’

‘So you didn’t have a choice or anything? That’s really sad.’

‘It might sound that way, but had I been given a choice, I would have become a vampire anyway, anything would be better than living how I was, anything.’

‘So what happened after that? You don’t seem that bad off now.’

‘When I first woke up I didn’t know what had happened, my sire was gone, and with him the necessary information I needed to start my new life. I had no one to take me on my first hunt and I ended up killing a young woman, an innocent who had never done anything wrong in her life, and was supposed to get married later that year. I have never really gotten over that kill, even though it was two hundred years ago, I still feel the guilt. I thought I was damned, but I still wasn’t willing to give up my life. I learnt the hard way that I could no longer be in the sun, and nearly got myself killed too many times to count, but somehow I managed to stay alive.’ He smiled sadly to himself.

‘It was another ten years before I met another of my kind. Her name was Elizabeth, and we met in Paris. I had just fed and was walking home to the inn I was staying at, when I came across her feeding. Up until then I thought there was none of my kind in the city, I certainly hadn’t seen anyone else, but once I confronted her she took me to see others, and finally I had friends, or at least people who tolerated me. I stayed with the coven for over fifty years, but it was so different to how I had lived my life previously that I could not truly fit in. I had always fended for myself, even when my family had been alive I had had to work from a young age, help support the family, and when they had died I had lived on the streets, but during both times I had had hardly any rules, free to do what I wanted, for the most part. But at the coven our every action seemed to be governed by rules, and finally I could not cope any longer and left.’ He paused.

‘I travelled for a long time, and stayed with various covens around the world, and though I made friends, I never found anywhere I wanted to stay for an extended period of time. At least I did not until I came here. Ten years ago I entered this city and I have stayed here ever since, this coven has much looser rules and I have much more freedom. Over the years I have gained a lot of money, and items of value, so it was not hard to set up a life here.’ He looked slightly sad still, and I felt sorry for having brought up his past, especially now I knew how hard it had been. ‘So that is my story, I hope it answered your questions.’

‘Yes.’ I said quietly. Then, ‘Thank you for sharing your story with me. It means a lot .’ He didn’t say anything. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Just thinking.’ He answered, sighing. We stood there in silence for a while, both lost in our own thoughts.

Almost two hundred years Marcus had spent on his own, I don’t think I could ever deal with that, and how hard would it be to be turned and not have anyone there to guide you, I’d only been a vampire for a couple of hours but I knew I‘d never be able to make it on my own, and to think Marcus hadn’t even been given a choice, this whole life had been forced on him.

‘How did you make it this far? I would have given up a long time ago, why didn’t you?’ He thought about it for a second.

‘As I told you, I have always been stubborn, but I guess the real reason I didn’t give up was because life had simply become a habit, I got up every night and did whatever it was I wanted to do, it seemed too much effort to end it all, and I’m glad I did not, I would never be here if I had,’ He smiled. ‘and I would never had met you.’ Ah, that was sweet.

‘But surely there were times when you wanted to give up, to end it?’ I asked.

‘Of course there were, but unlike humans it takes a lot to kill a vampire. Hanging myself, jumping off a bridge, shoot

stories-and-fiction

Vampire story (haven't thought of a title yet) Unfinished