Dusk. til Dawn.. .. .
Chapter III
"...alone," whispered Alex shakily. His eyes slowly, ever
so slowly fluttered half-open. The feeling was returning, his sight becoming
less blurred. "Huh..? Wuzzah...oh," he muttered incoherently, "a dream."
He could vaguely make out that he was lying on his stomach, his one leg
bent, and whatever he was laying on, it was cold. He ran his hand over
his arm. He felt bare skin. "Wh-what's goin...on...? Feel so...weird..."
He opened his eyes fully. He was laying in unfamiliar
territory...naked. *Where am I? A...church? A really run down church?*
he thought as he looked around, recognizing a cross on a wall, familiar
church sections, and a musty incense smell. He looked around again, and
shot to a sitting up position as he fully realized he was in a strange
place, wearing nothing at all, surrounded by...dead pigeons. A whole flock
of dead, ripped apart pigeons. The only light came from a hole in the ceiling
and the occasional beam of light from dirty stained-glass windows.
"Ughh, son of a bitch," groaned Alex. "Is this some crazy
dream?" he asked himself, wiping dirt and blood off his body. He glanced
around for something to cover himself with, but found nothing worth touching.
"Alas, it has been all too real, young Alex," said a deep,
ominous voice from the dark. It was familiar, like out of a dream. Alex
jumped back out of the beam of light, into shadows. He looked around, but
could only faintly see some light reflecting off what might have been a
belt buckle.
"Wh-what do you mean?" he warily said. His hands reflexively
went to cover himself, despite the cover of darkness. He heard a raspy
breath being drawn, and the flutter of cloth.
"I refer to the horrific events in Central Park -- all
you recall did actually occur...as did much worse that unconsciousness
spared you seeing," replied the mysterious voice. "Now," said the voice,
as it threw a live pigeon with two broken wings and a snapped leg into
the light, "eat."
"What!? Wh-who ARE you...!?" said Alex, staring with horror
at the suffering bird. He heard a sound like a flare being lit, and a small
fire sparked. Alex thought it came from a lighter, but when the light shifted,
he saw it was in fact a finger that was lit. A finger attached to a massive
hand, on a long arm, on a huge robed creature.
"Your protector, Alex -- such was my pre-destined duty.
Now get up and eat -- you may be intact, but you have changed greatly,"
it said, through sharp teeth set in an ape-like face. "But that TOO was
pre-destined. You may call me Ekimus -- and know that our fates are inextricably
linked from this moment forward. This is now your un-life," it said. The
single flame on it's finger tip engulfed it's entire hand, giving Alex
full view of it's seven feet and some-odd-inches tall robed body. Clawed
hands were set at the end of long, muscled arms. Deep red eyes glowed in
the darkness, and a long mane of hair sat behind an otherwise bald grey
head. This was nothing human.
"Oh...my...God," whispered Alex to himself, shocked, stunned.
"Yesss," it hissed, bemused, "else you'd be a shredded
corpse like your three companions."
"NO!!!" Alex screamed as he ran into the dark. He stumbled
over wood and debris, trying franticly to find his way in the pitch black.
The events of that fateful night were done re-instating themselves in his
memory. He remembered. "My friends -- they were slaughtered by monsters
like you!! Get away from me!!"
"Alex...stop this foolishness. There is much you must
learn," said Ekimus, exasperated.
"I'm not gonna let you kill me, too!!" Alex screamed from
the shadows, as he pushed piles of boards and construction material out
of his way. He stumbled and fell to the ground, tripping on a bucket of
stagnant water. It splashed up over him, and flowed along the dusty dirty
ground. Alex coughed and sputtered, and tried to get up, but slipped in
the mess he'd made.
"You still do not comprehend, do you?" sighed the creature
as it lit candles with it's hand. Alex coughed again, and felt that he
would be sick soon. "You can not be killed as you know it. You no longer
really live. Now, stop your clamoring and LISTEN!!" growled Ekimus, still
keeping a cool tone of voice. Alex stopped trying to get up, but kept himself
ready to run at any moment. Ekimus continued, "the attack left you completely
devastated, there was no way for you to survive your injuries. You 'live'
now, yes, but not in any way you understood before, Alex. You are now,
and forever...a VAMPIRE."
A stupefied look came over Alex's face. He stumbled over
his words, "wha--? N-no, no way...no! I am n-not...there's no such th--"
He shook his head, "NO!" With this, he felt a sharp edge against the inside
of his lips. He brought his hand up to feel what was in his mouth. He felt
a prick, and looked to see a single drop of dark blood on his finger. He
had stuck his finger on a fang. "...teeth? No...! No...I'm NOT A VAMPIRE!!"
He screamed at the robed figure, "I WON'T BELIEVE ANY OF THIS!!! I'm not
dead, I'm not a vampire!!!
"Alex, stay here," commanded the strange being. Alex pushed
a broken free-standing wall of a confessional out of the way. He stumbled
over the debris, and looked back.
"NO!! Get the fuck away from me you...freak!!!" screamed
Alex. His mind burned at the situation around him. He could not comprehend
that he had lost his friends, could not comprehend that he was in the presence
of a monster, and definitely, under no circumstances, comprehend that he
was a 'vampire'. He spotted the big wooden doors, his way to the outside
world, away from this whole thing. Two rotting wooden tables were piled
in front of it, and he forcefully pushed them out of the way.
"No, boy! Do not go, you can not survive out there!" called
Ekimus, slowly gliding over the dusty church floor. Alex ignored him and
scratched for a door handle. The handles had been pulled out, so Alex dug
his fingers into a crease, and pulled with all his might to open the doors.
"Leave me alone!!! I'm--" said Alex as the the doors swung
open. Sunlight bathed over his bare body and the first thing that came
to mind was, *burning? ...I'm BURNING!!!* He heard a hissing noise,
but that was in the back of his mind at this point. What was commanding
his full attention was the fact that smoke was pouring off his skin and
his whole body felt like it was being dipped in molten lava. Fire filled
his mind, and he was so shocked with pain that he could not even muster
a scream. Alex fell back, crawling along the ground, seeking some refuge
in the shadows that he couldn't reach. "M-make...it...s-stop...please..."
begged Alex to the creature he had hated so not even a minute ago. The
doors suddenly swung shut, closed by some unseen force. Alex curled into
a ball, all strength drained. *Makes no sense...hurt so bad...from sunlight?*
His body ached, a burning feeling settling in his bones, burns from light
and embarassment and shock.
"However bizarre, please accept that from now on. This
is your new reality, Alex. Now rest, it will be night soon enough," said
Ekimus, picking up on Alex's thoughts. He picked the boy up in his arms,
and carried him to the back of the church. "Now rest. It will be night
soon enough."
