A/N From Vampiri Amare: This chapter is mostly a deeper look into Luke. A look into afterlife of Luke to be more precise, namely, his reasoning for wanting to die, and other various issues he has with being a vampire. Oh And Thank you sooooo much to everyone who has reviewed, they are my life force.
Luke followed Percy into the cabin, and they sat across from each other on separate bunks. Percy began to talk, telling Luke that they had plenty of time to get to know each other, since he usually went to sleep around one AM, and it was only eleven PM now. "Thanks again for saving me back there." Percy said, offering a grateful smile.
Luke frowned momentarily, "If I hadn't been there you wouldn't have needed saving…." The vampire said, sounding slightly guilty. "It wasn't really your fault, and besides, that doesn't change the fact that you saved me." Percy said politely. Luke smiled, grateful for Percy's kindness.
"So, how is life here? I was supposed to come, before I was turned into a vampire." Luke said, voice turning slightly saddened as he finished. "It's really pretty great. I came when I was twelve, and I've been on some quests since then, and there has been a lot of changes, but it's really nice." Percy told the vampire. Luke wished he could've had such a life; to have lived and enjoyed the mortal experience, not this life where to live, he had to kill on a regular basis.
"And what about your godly parent? My dad has pretty much stopped thinking of me as his son, and I have little contact with him." Luke said, trying not to sound resentful. Percy had a similar look to Luke's, "Well, I don't see him much, but he occasionally sends me a gift, or sign, stuff like that…." The dark haired teen said, not really sounding resentful, but more wistful, like he wished for more contact with his father.
"I know how you feel, when I was still mortal it was like that for me." Luke told the demigod, glad he'd found common ground. "If you don't mind my asking, how did you become a vampire? And what is life as a vampire like?" Percy asked, genuinely curious, the demigod moving to sit next to Luke on the bunk. Percy's question sparked memories in Luke, memories he generally avoided, but he decided he would tell this teen who he felt strangely connected to. And soon found himself revealing far more than he'd intended. As Luke spoke the memories replayed themselves in his head….
Luke had become a creature of the night thanks to Aphrodite; the goddess had made sexual advances on a seventeen year old Luke, who had denied her, refusing to give in to her charms. Angered by his refusal, Aphrodite had cursed him to be forever young, forever beautiful. But also to have to murder to survive, and if he didn't feed then he would kill more and more, going on an uncontrollable rampage, and that Luke knew from experience, was far worse.
After that Luke had been thrown out into the streets of 19th century New York, his parents, upon learning of his aberration, wanted nothing to do with him. At first Luke had thought nothing of the curse, thought of it as a gift really. Until about three weeks later, when the thirst came…. Luke had been living in a shelter, stealing from nearby establishments to survive.
When one night, he felt a horrible burn in his throat, he woke up gasping, clawing at his throat. When he recovered from the initial shock, he realized he could hear the heartbeats and pulses of the other humans in the room calling to him, singing sweetly with promises of relief and restoration. Luke had silently crept across the room, to a sleeping figure, it was a man who appeared to be in his late forties, with receding brown hair, and worried wrinkles lining his face.
Luke had knelt beside the man, he instinctively reached out mentally, feeling the man's subconscious, not knowing how he was doing it, Luke deepened the mans sleep. When he felt as though the man wouldn't awaken, Luke had lifted the man to his chest, cradling him from behind then shifting his neck aside, exposing the pulsing veins. Luke was acting purely on instinct, wasn't at all aware of the consequences of his actions.
Luke moved down, placing his open mouth over the mans neck, fangs positioned directly above a central vein. Luke's fangs pierced the mans skin; warm liquid flowing into his mouth, the taste was unlike anything Luke had ever experienced, it was unexplainably delicious, causing Luke's world to haze, everything becoming centered on the sweet nectar flowing into him.
Luke pulled the man's neck closer, sucking harder so as to force more blood into his mouth. When finally the man was drained, Luke pulled back, tongue quickly catching the dribbles of blood on the corners of his mouth. As the somewhat sated feeling settled over Luke, he realized what he'd done; that he'd ended an innocent life. The vampire looked down a the dead man, his skin now unnaturally pale, lifeless. Luke choked back a sob, and his eyes stung, but no tears would come.
Scared and guilty, Luke fled. Fled the corpse, fled the shelter, running a few miles before turning down an ally and collapsing against the wall, quiet, tearless sobs shaking his shoulders. After that night, Luke had tried not to feed again, had ignored his burning thirst a month later, and continued ignoring it for another two weeks. Then everything had hazed, becoming distant, like Luke was watching from outside his body. He had went on a rampage through a hospital, sneaking into the building in the dead of night and draining more than four people before he felt truly sated.
After that Luke had fled New York, fleeing far into the wilds of Canada. There he had hunted on a monthly basis, trying to only kill humans who were either close to death, or no longer wanted to live. It was a horrid existence, every time he killed a human he would cry, though tears would never come. And he would wait until he knew he was close to losing control before feeding again, and then he would regret it immediately afterwards.
Soon Luke had tried to kill himself, by leaping from an enormous three hundred foot cliff, onto the jagged rocks below. But Aphrodite had stopped him, showing a measure of kindness and explaining a few things to Luke. If he were to die by any hands other than those of a loved one, he would be completely gone, no afterlife, no rebirth. And while Luke almost felt that would be a better alternative, Aphrodite had showed him in detail how horrible that would be….
So Luke found himself stuck in the undead existence again, slowly learning to control himself around humans, to accept this existence in a way. Soon he was ready to move back into more densely populated areas, and he had wasted no time in exploring the world…. But gradually he tried to lessen the time between his feedings, wanting to lower the amount of lives he ended.
And soon, after three long, painful months, his control had left him again. He killed seventeen men and women, and one young boy in a small village in Russia before feeling sated and regaining his senses. After that horrific event, Luke had fled again, realizing the need to feed was necessary. Soon Luke found himself searching for a way out of this life again, he remembered Aphrodite telling him the only way to release his soul was for one who loved him to set him free.
So he found a lover, with his vampiric looks and charm it wasn't hard. A girl of sixteen years named Thalia Grace, he soon found himself deeply in love with her. And even after he revealed his monstrous nature she had stayed by his side, holding him, and comforting him after his kills. But soon, that too had to end. When Thalia turned twenty Luke found himself preparing to ask her to end his existence, and he knew she would be able to, she was strong and brave, and would understand his plight.
But one night, in their small cottage in the English country side, Thalia had slipped while cutting carrots, slicing a gash in her hand. Luke had lost all control at the sight of her blood, he had attacked her, losing any semblance of the man she had loved. Luke had snapped her neck, then drained her dry…. After recovering from his blood lust induced fit, Luke had seen Thalia's broken and drained body.
He had fallen to the floor in a fit on tearless sobs, cradling Thalia's lifeless corpse close, trying to deny reality. Luke spent the next week in the cabin with Thalia's corpse, just holding her lifeless body close, refusing to even sleep. Again Aphrodite had taken pity on him, she came down in human form and comforted him for the next month, burying Thalia with him, and helping him to recover from his loss, then helping him to find humans already near to death before feeding from them.
But the goddess still wouldn't remove her curse, and she soon left Luke. In many ways returning him to where he'd started, after that, Luke tried to kill himself again, not caring that there would be nothing after that. But this time Hermes made him incapable of doing so, but the god couldn't, or wouldn't remove his curse. Soon Luke accepted that he was stuck in this 'life' and soon came to fear the nothingness after this life again. He vowed to never again use love to find a way out. And he returned to traveling the world, and that is what brought him to New York again….
By the end of his story Luke was sobbing tearlessly, and Percy was holding him close, comforting him and listening sadly with tears streaming down his face as the vampire told his dark history. Luke had revealed far more than he'd intended, but he found that he didn't regret it. Telling Percy those things had been very freeing, and had made him feel almost alive in a way.
Percy held Luke close, whispering comforting words as he leaned back against the bed, pulling Luke down with him, the vampire's head resting on his chest. Percy stroked Luke's hair, hands sliding through the blond locks, as he comforted the sobbing vampire. Soon Luke drifted off to sleep, and Percy smiled sadly, feeling strangely drawn to the vampire.
The demigod didn't even think about the awkwardness of this situation, he felt a strange sense rightness and comfort from it, in fact. Soon he drifted to sleep too, an arm sliding around Luke's waist and pulling them closer together…