The winter, though harsh and brittle, seemed to pass in a blur of time once I had my epiphany. Even though my blood lust presented itself with vengeance on a daily basis, the temptation was never as great as those first weeks of my second life, and therefore, not as bothersome or distracting. The dwindling connection to my "home" (due to my lack of human memories) caused me to rethink my situation and literally where I was in this new life. With my newfound speed and strength, I wasn't limited to London any longer. I had no family ties, no apprenticeships to honor or any purpose whatsoever here. I could leave for Liverpool or Manchester or even as far as Edinburg! Then again, why limit myself to England and Scotland? As I found in my failed suicide attempts, I didn't need to breathe, so swimming to the continent wouldn't be difficult at all. It would be more like climbing a tree or tackling a fickle stag.
I decided that one the snow melted away from the land and the ice disappeared from the swallow shores, I would send myself on a journey but little did I know at the time that it would be never ending. In the spring, I would send myself across the channel between England and the continent, and arrive in France, where I would study, hunt and meditate. Perhaps somewhere I would find more of my kind, someone with similar values to me. After all, I couldn't be the only vampire in the world that discovered the satisfying physical and moral effects of animal blood, could I? Perhaps I would settle down in France after that, but even if I didn't, I had the world before me, and I could go anywhere I wished.
However, like most great plans, something comes along to set it off course. One mistake, one decision, delayed my departure by months. Audrey Gray had been on my mind since the blood lust had died away substantially. Where was she? How was she? Did she still think of m—no. No, not such a selfish question would pass through my mind completely. This was about her, not me. Yet I still needed to know. I needed the closure. The day I planned to leave for France, sometime in what I assumed was March, I observed my area of London from the steeple of my father's own church, unnoticed by the townspeople below that seemed very preoccupied with the ground. This preoccupation brought me frustration, as I couldn't see anyone's face. Everyone's gait looked similar, a lumber which everyone seemed to possess after their long winter hibernations. Even my sharp eyes couldn't tell the difference between a man and a woman, but my acute sense of smell could easily pick her out of the crowd. Jasmine, yes it was jasmine and it wasn't perfume; it was her. Audrey Gray My-
No, she wasn't. She wasn't My Audrey Gray anymore.
Even from above I could see it—a bump, a bulge protruding from her once flat stomach area. Her humble cotton gown showed it all, but no one would notice unless they were me. I wouldn't have taken notice if I hadn't heart another faint little heart, or smelled thin blood running through tiny little veins. A baby, a new, living life. The man I assumed would be the father, and her husband, walked next to her. I knew him, but we were never really heavily acquainted. He was a member of my father's church, a good man to be sure, but nothing truly special—not that I had been. Was it envy that got me to stay? Perhaps. Was it concern and love? Definitely. I wouldn't allow myself to run away from all of this, not just yet.
For months I sat on that steeple, accompanied by crows and owls and a whole manner of birds. One night early in my watch I snuck into a shop, and snatched a tome away, a dusty volume that hadn't been touched in years. A Leonardo DaVinci medical study. Through all weather I waited and watched Audrey like a hawk, like a guard, like an angel, but I was none of those things. If anything, I was a man desperate for the familiar, as I feared the unknown. The fertile spring passed into the growing summer heat, and gradually into the fading fall. Audrey came out less and less, but I knew she was still alive. The baby's scent started to dominant its being during the sixth month, and its heart still beat strong, even though hers would falter. When the time finally came for the child to be born, I had moved from the roof of the church, to the roof of their home, where I listened in sheer agony for hours while she painfully brought a new life into the world. With each passing second my fear that Audrey would meet the fate of my mother grew. Ever since I was a teenager and aware of how anatomy worked in the most basic sense, I was curious on how women ever managed to survive through the ordeal of childbirth, pushing a being as long as my forearm and fully formed through an opening so small it could still hold the child inside her through its developing months. Yet there were still mothers in the world, even if I had lost mine. I suppose it would remain a mystery for years to come. I left soon after the birth of Carlisle, yes, she named the babe Carlisle, and that came as a shock even to me. I never saw the baby, and I never would, but as I finally left England for the continent, I never thought that the child would be so important to me much later in my life. Our stories of our lives were only beginning.
Hello ! I didn't even truly realize how long it's been since I've updated this fan fiction. I was a sophomore when I last updated, and now I'm going into my senior year. I'm so sorry I haven't written, but I've just fallen into complete disarray when it comes to inspiration and confidence in the writing department. Hopefully I'll get back on track. Please don't lose faith in me! This is just a little update I know, but it's to prove that I'm still alive and to get you all to come baaaaack. Thank you! Please rate and review, because it makes me happy and gets me to write more!