As the night draws in I start to feel a distant but all too familiar aura. He can't have possibly found me, no, not here, not now. I look over to my best friend Kelly. She seems so innocent. Well, of course she does, she is innocent. She isn't condemned and forced to live an afterlife of living hell. She's not forced to either hunt down helpless humans who don't deserve to die or to die again herself. No, she knows nothing about my world. My kind are just a myth to her. A myth in which she doesn't even think could exist. And that's how it should stay. What would she think of me if she knew the truth? If she knew that I must kill or be killed, that I myself have taken the lives of innocent people just to fulfill my needs. No, she can't find out. I don't like what I have become and I can't change it but she doesn't need to know.
"What's wrong Morgan? You've gotten quiet."
"Hmm? O, sorry I was just thinking."
"God, it seems like all you ever do is daydream." She rolls her eyes. She can't stand it when I space out like that. Too bad I must do it often. For her own safety as much as my own.
"Let's hit the pool, I'm dying to swim. We can check out the hot guys by the poolside too. You know you want to."
I laugh slightly. "Is that all you ever think about, Kelly?"
" Come on, lets get changed before all the guys leave."
As we make our way back to the room to change the aura comes even stronger. Come on Morgan you know that he could never track you down again. Its just the sea breeze blowing in. You've managed to remain hidden all these years. What could he possibly want with you now anyways? You lost most of your strength from not feeding regularly, and why would he want someone so much weaker than himself? He proved that all those years ago.
Chapter 2
I'll never forgot the first time I saw him. So many years ago but really not all that long compared to most of my kind. I was born in 1900. My name was Marie and I had one older sister and a younger brother. Mitchel, my sister, called for me to come to the door. It was late and visitors were rare anyway. As I made my way down stairs I wondered just who in their right mind who be calling on me at such an obscure hour. Mitchel stood standing to the side of the door with her eyes fixed on something or someone. At this angle I could not tell. Her voice was flat and she showed no emotion. I wish now that I would have taken that as an omen and turned away right then. But, it never crossed my mind at the time and the curiosity of the visitor got the best of me. I continued down the stairs. Finally, around the last 6 steps, I caught sight of my visitor. He was dressed all in black with a white emblem of a serpent on his shirt. It was made of some unknown materiel to me. He had somewhat short hair. It came down and rested just above his shoulders. It was of a darker black than I thought possible. It stunned me and I almost missed a step. As my eyes wondered down to look into his face I was immediately overtaken by a thought of how pure and beautiful he was. His eyes shined a deep jet black. A look of complete passion and mystery was upon his face. His head was ever so slightly cocked to the left side and he had a slight smile upon his lips. He was staring intently at Mitchel. As I reached the bottom of the steps and came over to stand beside her, all the while my eyes never left him, he changed his focus to me. His smile widened and he held out his hand. In it was a pure white rose, like I had never seen before. Without even thinking I reached out and took it. O how stupid I was. As my hand touched it a drop of my own blood fell upon it. At the time I assumed that I had grabbed a thorn in my haste to have my hand touch his. But, I now know that that is not so. For the rose had not a single thorn. As the drop fell his gaze immediately followed it and he watched intently as it touched the petal. Then he raised his gaze to meet mine.
"I will be seeing a lot more of you now." he said. Then he abruptly turned and walked quickly away. I should have heard his footsteps upon the walkway but I did not and I was to entranced to realize it.
"Go wash your hand off, Marie, before you drip anymore blood. You'll be the one to try to get it out of the carpet if you do." snapped Mitchel. She seemed in a bad mood after my visitor had vanished. I did not move. I couldn't move. I don't even think I heard her call my name. The only thing that mattered right then was that rose. My eyes were so focused upon the spot where my blood had hit that I didn't even realize Mitchel had lead me to the sink and was attempting to wash my cut.
"You must let go of that wretched rose, Marie. I can't wash around it" Hard as I tried I couldn't let go. I didn't really want to. It finally left my grasp when Mitchel forced my hand open and took it.
I slept not at all that night. My dreams were filled with pain and dying. If only I knew that they were glimpses of what was yet to come.
Chapter 3.
I awoke very early the next morning. It was still dark out but the dawn would be at any time now. I walked downstairs to the kitchen to hopefully satisfy my hunger. For the last time but I was unaware of that. I crossed into the kitchen and realized that I was not the only one up at that hour. Mitchel sat staring at her hands at the kitchen table. She didn't even look up when I entered. I sat down beside her and rested my hands in my lap, folded. I told her good morning but she didn't even respond at all. I lowered my head to stare at the table because for some reason I didn't seem all that hungry anymore. We sat like that for what then seemed like an eternity. An eternity I would give anything to have back. She spoke so suddenly that I'm sure I jumped and hit my hand on the underside of the table.
" I didn't like your guest last night. There's something about him. When he caught my eyes after I had called for you I couldn't look away. I couldn't even think. I had no feeling. His eyes were so deep, it was like he was trying to read me or something. Who was he anyway?" As she spoke she remained focused on her hands.
" I know not who he was or why he was here. I don't see how you couldn't like him though. He was incredibly nice."
" I don't know, just stay away from him, Marie, ok?"
I didn't feel like responding. I wish I would have agreed to. All of a sudden I had a deep urge to answer the door even thought no one had knocked. I got up and left the kitchen without saying a word to Mitchel. As I neared the door I started to get a headache. With every step I took the intensity of the pain grew. The moment I touched the doorknob the cut in my hand from the rose burned with a fire that I have never in all my extended life ever felt again. I screamed but couldn't pull away. Some how the door came open. There, standing in the door way was a shadow. It was darker that morning than it has ever been. I don't know if this is because of the fact that it was my last day or if it really was just that dark. I stared intently at that shadow, not knowing what it was or what fate would befall me. The pain in my hand continued but I had forgotten about it when I laid eyes on the figure before me. It stepped into the light that was pouring out onto the walk from inside the house. I let out a gasp. It was him… my visitor from before. He blended in with the surrounding darkness that even though he had stepped into the light he was still hard to see. He held my gaze for what seemed like an eternity. Then in one swift move he had my head pushed back. One arm was supporting me with inhuman strength. I started to gather my breath to scream when I felt a presence on my mind. I heard a voice but from where it came I did not know.
" Relax, Marie, it will all be over soon"
" Who are you?!" I screamed as hard as I could but it came out as only a whisper.
" I am your future now, Marie. Don't fight it."
With that he dug his fangs into my throat. I felt the cool sensation of his teeth upon my bare skin. Within a matter of seconds I felt a hot liquid. I was burning up but where his fangs had pierced it was cool. I felt myself slip into a daze. My only thoughts were to force my own blood out through those peircings. I felt his presence on my mind again.
" There, it will all be over soon and you can join us."
All of sudden all my memories of church and teachers telling me stories of the devil and the undead came flooding back to me. One memory in particular came clear. It was my older cousin sitting by the fire telling all of us younger children a story. It was about people who had died long ago but still roamed the earth looking for unsuspecting humans to feast on. I then knew what was happening. The story was true. And I was that unsuspecting human. I started to fight for everything. I knew these creatures were demons and condemned. I fought for every church sermon I had ever heard, for every thing I had ever been taught. Almost instantly a searing pain shot through my veins. It was unbearable but just made me want to fight more. With one last struggle everything went black. I had lost. That was to be the end of me.
Chapter 4.
I wake up but I can't feel anything. I can't tell if my eyes are open. The first thoughts to cross my mind are morbid.
I am dead. I can't remember why or how but I am dead. And worst of all, I'm certainly not in heaven. But then again, I see no burning flames of the hell I was so often warned about. As a matter of fact, I see nothing. Nothing but a black void. Is this death? Am I to spend all eternity falling into nothingness? But wait, I'm not falling. No, there seems to be something under me. A floor, yes that's it.
Then a deep faint red light enters from what seems to be nowhere. It pierces my eyes which I am certain are open now. I scream in pain and fear. But, it doesn't even falter. As it nears I notice that there is someone holding it. It now appears to be a lantern but seeing as how I can't look at it for more than a mere second I really can't be to sure. Once the figure steps into my view memories start coming back to me. But they are only parts of whole memories. I see a young handsome man, then a pure white rose, then I remember the pain. This isn't much to go on but I realize that he is that man. I try to talk to tell him to leave me alone but I open my mouth and not a single sound comes out. He continues to approach me, walking ever so slowly with that dreaded burning red glow.
"I see you have finally awaken, Nagrom." his voice resembles that of a snake hissing. Its not at all the sweet passionate voice of the visitor I remembered. "You are weak, and I thought you would never wake. Never have I had a fledgling sleep so long. Come now, you must feed before you can not do it on your own. I most certainly refuse to hunt for you."
What is he talking about? I don't like the way he refers to "hunting" and "feed". It reminds me of a wild animal. But, wait, he is.
"Who are you?" the question is feeble and comes out as a hoarse whisper.
"We have already established who I am, Nagrom. I am your future. But you may refer to me as Aubrey, such as all the other vampires do. My name strikes fear into the hearts, or souls seeing as how they don't have hearts anymore, of all vampires. You are my newest fledgling and you should be grateful it is I who turned you. You are stronger than most, but will always remain weaker than me."
" But I am not this Nagrom that you speak of, my name is……"
"No, you are Nagrom now, you will not remember most of your past life for quite some time and it is better that way. Now come, enough of this babble, you need to hunt."
I refused to get up, I wasn't quite sure I could stand anyway. He came over and once again with that inhuman strength he drew me up with one arm wrapped around my waist. "You are being foolish, Nagrom. You either feed or you die."
"I thought I was dead so why should it matter?"
"You are dead. But I brought you back. My blood now runs through your veins. If you do not replace it with a human's the power in it will over come you and you will die from the inside out."
He lead me away, but how I don't know. We were standing in the room I had waken up in and next thing I knew we were in what appeared to be a prison. He sat me down on the cold hard floor and drew up a shaking human. He only a few years older than myself but had a look of pure terror in his eyes. He did not scream but I did not know that he couldn't then. Aubrey bent his head back to expose his throat. He motioned for me to step over and feed. I couldn't do it. I could not take the life of a helpless human. Aubrey slit his wrist with a knife I had not noticed he had. He held the dripping wrist out to me. All of a sudden I was overwhelmed by a desire to drink the warm, pulsing liquid. My vision became a blur and everything had a red tint to it. The scent of the blood filled my every thought. When I could no longer control it I took up the wrist and drank. It quickly didn't fulfill my desire so I moved to the neck. As I was draining the life from this poor boy I saw pictures flash before my eyes. They were pictures of a much younger boy playing in the field with what must have been his brothers. The pictures were of anything and everything. Most came to fast to really view. Then one came really clear. The young man was in a church standing next to a beautiful young woman. She was dressed all in white. I immediately realized that this man in the dreams was married. I opened my eyes and was aghast to discover that the young man from my dreams was then one I was holding. These dreams and pictures, I then realized, must have been his memories. I tried desperately to pull away but nothing I did mattered. I drained every last drop of blood from his veins and held him in my arms as he died. I couldn't believe it. I had taken the life of an innocent human. Finally Aubrey took the man from my grasp and threw him to the floor. He noticed I was staring at the man with a look of horror on my face.
"You will get used to it" was all he said. It was in that moment that I knew I never would "get used to it". I never wanted to kill again. And so I wouldn't.
Chapter 5
"What's wrong Morgan? You've gotten quiet."
"Hmm? O, sorry I was just thinking."
"God, it seems like all you ever do is daydream." She rolls her eyes. She can't stand it when I space out like that. Too bad I must do it often. For her own safety as much as my own.
"Let's hit the pool, I'm dying to swim. We can check out the hot guys by the poolside too. You know you want to."
I laugh slightly. "Is that all you ever think about, Kelly?"
" Come on, lets get changed before all the guys leave."
As we make our way back to the room to change the aura comes even stronger. Come on Morgan you know that he could never track you down again. Its just the sea breeze blowing in. You've managed to remain hidden all these years. What could he possibly want with you now anyways? You lost most of your strength from not feeding regularly, and why would he want someone so much weaker than himself? He proved that all those years ago.
Chapter 2
I'll never forgot the first time I saw him. So many years ago but really not all that long compared to most of my kind. I was born in 1900. My name was Marie and I had one older sister and a younger brother. Mitchel, my sister, called for me to come to the door. It was late and visitors were rare anyway. As I made my way down stairs I wondered just who in their right mind who be calling on me at such an obscure hour. Mitchel stood standing to the side of the door with her eyes fixed on something or someone. At this angle I could not tell. Her voice was flat and she showed no emotion. I wish now that I would have taken that as an omen and turned away right then. But, it never crossed my mind at the time and the curiosity of the visitor got the best of me. I continued down the stairs. Finally, around the last 6 steps, I caught sight of my visitor. He was dressed all in black with a white emblem of a serpent on his shirt. It was made of some unknown materiel to me. He had somewhat short hair. It came down and rested just above his shoulders. It was of a darker black than I thought possible. It stunned me and I almost missed a step. As my eyes wondered down to look into his face I was immediately overtaken by a thought of how pure and beautiful he was. His eyes shined a deep jet black. A look of complete passion and mystery was upon his face. His head was ever so slightly cocked to the left side and he had a slight smile upon his lips. He was staring intently at Mitchel. As I reached the bottom of the steps and came over to stand beside her, all the while my eyes never left him, he changed his focus to me. His smile widened and he held out his hand. In it was a pure white rose, like I had never seen before. Without even thinking I reached out and took it. O how stupid I was. As my hand touched it a drop of my own blood fell upon it. At the time I assumed that I had grabbed a thorn in my haste to have my hand touch his. But, I now know that that is not so. For the rose had not a single thorn. As the drop fell his gaze immediately followed it and he watched intently as it touched the petal. Then he raised his gaze to meet mine.
"I will be seeing a lot more of you now." he said. Then he abruptly turned and walked quickly away. I should have heard his footsteps upon the walkway but I did not and I was to entranced to realize it.
"Go wash your hand off, Marie, before you drip anymore blood. You'll be the one to try to get it out of the carpet if you do." snapped Mitchel. She seemed in a bad mood after my visitor had vanished. I did not move. I couldn't move. I don't even think I heard her call my name. The only thing that mattered right then was that rose. My eyes were so focused upon the spot where my blood had hit that I didn't even realize Mitchel had lead me to the sink and was attempting to wash my cut.
"You must let go of that wretched rose, Marie. I can't wash around it" Hard as I tried I couldn't let go. I didn't really want to. It finally left my grasp when Mitchel forced my hand open and took it.
I slept not at all that night. My dreams were filled with pain and dying. If only I knew that they were glimpses of what was yet to come.
Chapter 3.
I awoke very early the next morning. It was still dark out but the dawn would be at any time now. I walked downstairs to the kitchen to hopefully satisfy my hunger. For the last time but I was unaware of that. I crossed into the kitchen and realized that I was not the only one up at that hour. Mitchel sat staring at her hands at the kitchen table. She didn't even look up when I entered. I sat down beside her and rested my hands in my lap, folded. I told her good morning but she didn't even respond at all. I lowered my head to stare at the table because for some reason I didn't seem all that hungry anymore. We sat like that for what then seemed like an eternity. An eternity I would give anything to have back. She spoke so suddenly that I'm sure I jumped and hit my hand on the underside of the table.
" I didn't like your guest last night. There's something about him. When he caught my eyes after I had called for you I couldn't look away. I couldn't even think. I had no feeling. His eyes were so deep, it was like he was trying to read me or something. Who was he anyway?" As she spoke she remained focused on her hands.
" I know not who he was or why he was here. I don't see how you couldn't like him though. He was incredibly nice."
" I don't know, just stay away from him, Marie, ok?"
I didn't feel like responding. I wish I would have agreed to. All of a sudden I had a deep urge to answer the door even thought no one had knocked. I got up and left the kitchen without saying a word to Mitchel. As I neared the door I started to get a headache. With every step I took the intensity of the pain grew. The moment I touched the doorknob the cut in my hand from the rose burned with a fire that I have never in all my extended life ever felt again. I screamed but couldn't pull away. Some how the door came open. There, standing in the door way was a shadow. It was darker that morning than it has ever been. I don't know if this is because of the fact that it was my last day or if it really was just that dark. I stared intently at that shadow, not knowing what it was or what fate would befall me. The pain in my hand continued but I had forgotten about it when I laid eyes on the figure before me. It stepped into the light that was pouring out onto the walk from inside the house. I let out a gasp. It was him… my visitor from before. He blended in with the surrounding darkness that even though he had stepped into the light he was still hard to see. He held my gaze for what seemed like an eternity. Then in one swift move he had my head pushed back. One arm was supporting me with inhuman strength. I started to gather my breath to scream when I felt a presence on my mind. I heard a voice but from where it came I did not know.
" Relax, Marie, it will all be over soon"
" Who are you?!" I screamed as hard as I could but it came out as only a whisper.
" I am your future now, Marie. Don't fight it."
With that he dug his fangs into my throat. I felt the cool sensation of his teeth upon my bare skin. Within a matter of seconds I felt a hot liquid. I was burning up but where his fangs had pierced it was cool. I felt myself slip into a daze. My only thoughts were to force my own blood out through those peircings. I felt his presence on my mind again.
" There, it will all be over soon and you can join us."
All of sudden all my memories of church and teachers telling me stories of the devil and the undead came flooding back to me. One memory in particular came clear. It was my older cousin sitting by the fire telling all of us younger children a story. It was about people who had died long ago but still roamed the earth looking for unsuspecting humans to feast on. I then knew what was happening. The story was true. And I was that unsuspecting human. I started to fight for everything. I knew these creatures were demons and condemned. I fought for every church sermon I had ever heard, for every thing I had ever been taught. Almost instantly a searing pain shot through my veins. It was unbearable but just made me want to fight more. With one last struggle everything went black. I had lost. That was to be the end of me.
Chapter 4.
I wake up but I can't feel anything. I can't tell if my eyes are open. The first thoughts to cross my mind are morbid.
I am dead. I can't remember why or how but I am dead. And worst of all, I'm certainly not in heaven. But then again, I see no burning flames of the hell I was so often warned about. As a matter of fact, I see nothing. Nothing but a black void. Is this death? Am I to spend all eternity falling into nothingness? But wait, I'm not falling. No, there seems to be something under me. A floor, yes that's it.
Then a deep faint red light enters from what seems to be nowhere. It pierces my eyes which I am certain are open now. I scream in pain and fear. But, it doesn't even falter. As it nears I notice that there is someone holding it. It now appears to be a lantern but seeing as how I can't look at it for more than a mere second I really can't be to sure. Once the figure steps into my view memories start coming back to me. But they are only parts of whole memories. I see a young handsome man, then a pure white rose, then I remember the pain. This isn't much to go on but I realize that he is that man. I try to talk to tell him to leave me alone but I open my mouth and not a single sound comes out. He continues to approach me, walking ever so slowly with that dreaded burning red glow.
"I see you have finally awaken, Nagrom." his voice resembles that of a snake hissing. Its not at all the sweet passionate voice of the visitor I remembered. "You are weak, and I thought you would never wake. Never have I had a fledgling sleep so long. Come now, you must feed before you can not do it on your own. I most certainly refuse to hunt for you."
What is he talking about? I don't like the way he refers to "hunting" and "feed". It reminds me of a wild animal. But, wait, he is.
"Who are you?" the question is feeble and comes out as a hoarse whisper.
"We have already established who I am, Nagrom. I am your future. But you may refer to me as Aubrey, such as all the other vampires do. My name strikes fear into the hearts, or souls seeing as how they don't have hearts anymore, of all vampires. You are my newest fledgling and you should be grateful it is I who turned you. You are stronger than most, but will always remain weaker than me."
" But I am not this Nagrom that you speak of, my name is……"
"No, you are Nagrom now, you will not remember most of your past life for quite some time and it is better that way. Now come, enough of this babble, you need to hunt."
I refused to get up, I wasn't quite sure I could stand anyway. He came over and once again with that inhuman strength he drew me up with one arm wrapped around my waist. "You are being foolish, Nagrom. You either feed or you die."
"I thought I was dead so why should it matter?"
"You are dead. But I brought you back. My blood now runs through your veins. If you do not replace it with a human's the power in it will over come you and you will die from the inside out."
He lead me away, but how I don't know. We were standing in the room I had waken up in and next thing I knew we were in what appeared to be a prison. He sat me down on the cold hard floor and drew up a shaking human. He only a few years older than myself but had a look of pure terror in his eyes. He did not scream but I did not know that he couldn't then. Aubrey bent his head back to expose his throat. He motioned for me to step over and feed. I couldn't do it. I could not take the life of a helpless human. Aubrey slit his wrist with a knife I had not noticed he had. He held the dripping wrist out to me. All of a sudden I was overwhelmed by a desire to drink the warm, pulsing liquid. My vision became a blur and everything had a red tint to it. The scent of the blood filled my every thought. When I could no longer control it I took up the wrist and drank. It quickly didn't fulfill my desire so I moved to the neck. As I was draining the life from this poor boy I saw pictures flash before my eyes. They were pictures of a much younger boy playing in the field with what must have been his brothers. The pictures were of anything and everything. Most came to fast to really view. Then one came really clear. The young man was in a church standing next to a beautiful young woman. She was dressed all in white. I immediately realized that this man in the dreams was married. I opened my eyes and was aghast to discover that the young man from my dreams was then one I was holding. These dreams and pictures, I then realized, must have been his memories. I tried desperately to pull away but nothing I did mattered. I drained every last drop of blood from his veins and held him in my arms as he died. I couldn't believe it. I had taken the life of an innocent human. Finally Aubrey took the man from my grasp and threw him to the floor. He noticed I was staring at the man with a look of horror on my face.
"You will get used to it" was all he said. It was in that moment that I knew I never would "get used to it". I never wanted to kill again. And so I wouldn't.
Chapter 5