Chapter 2
"Mom! I'm going for a ride!" I yelled as I dashed out the door. "Okay, be back by dinner!" she said. I Had my saddle bag full of the old myth/story books from my grandfather's library. As I walk into the stable, the smell of Horse manure and fresh straw meets my nostrils. 'ah.' I think. I've always loved horses. But we can't keep them in the city. So whenever we come to Grandma and Grandpa's I ride as much as I can. "Hey freckles." I say to the horse that I saw birthed myself. We had always been close. She was a dappled grey colour, with a bunch of small brown spots. Thus, freckles. "Ready for a ride?" I asked. She snorted. I suited her up, blanket, saddle. There were these woods on the edge of my Grandparent's property. Just inside one enclove of very large trees is a little stream and pond. It's absolutely beautiful there, I always go there to think. I hoisted myself up, and started off. It felt good to be back on a Horse again. Within minutes, we were in the enclove, I tethered freckles to a tree near the stream, then I sat down under my favorite Oak tree. The Stream and pond were frozen over, and he trees had no leaves, but it was serene and calm. I looked through the books. 'Romanian Myths and Legends, Romanian Folk Stories, Romanian Myths Decoded. These are all weird titles.' I thought. I picked up Romanian Myths and Legends, figuring I'd start with that one.
"When the Earth was young, the people of Romania worshiped gods of the Sun, who was golden, and warm and, named Soare. And the God of the Moon, who was Dark and malicious, named Noapte. More people flocked to Soare, because he provided warmth, sunlight, daytime and happiness, were as the God of the Moon provided rain, darkness, nighttime and anger. Noapte became angered greatly by this. So he decided to send his children onto the world. He came to Earth one day, on a farmer's field. 'The first man and the first woman I see shall become my first children." He said. So he walked into the village. It was night, so there were not many around. He walked into the local bar, and a man came up to him. "Come and drink with us!" He told Noapte. And he did. He waited until the man had become drunken, then he took him outside, Beginning the process of changing. He fed from the man three times. On the third feed, He drained the man of blood, and then gave the man some of his own. When the man woke up, he looked like Noapte. This took three days. On the forth night of his stay on earth, He went to the inn at dusk. The Inn-keeper's daughter came up to him and asked, "Sir, would you like a room?" He agreed. He waited until the girl was asleep, then began the process he had gone through with the man. After she was transformed into the Likeness of Noapte, He took them back to his palace by the Moon. "Welcome my children!" he told them. But this was not where they belonged. For even though they were like Noapte, they were also human. So he sent them back to Earth. Not a day later, his brother, the Soare came to him. "Brother, what have you done? First you take two innocent people, and change them to your likeness. Then you sent them back to reak havock on Earth." Soare said. "But brother, they are not reeking havock. They are just simply bringing me my followers." Noapte said back. smirking at his brother. "You must bring them back! Change them back!" his brother said angrily. "No. They are just simply doing what I created them to do." This angered Soare. So he himself went down to the same village where Noapte found his followers, And Soare went to the Man's house, where his family was grieving at the dissapearence of their son. In the house, their now only child, a Girl waited. She was younger than the Man. Soare told them who he was and what had happened to their son. The family, being a follower of Soare, was honoured to have him there. He asked if they would like to help teach his brother a lesson, they said they would. So Soare took their daughter, and taught her the art of Hunting, tracking and Killing the Night Children. Then he gave her a special compass, hidden in a silver locket. "This will point you at the spot in the world where there are the most Night Children." He told her. Then he sent her to his palace. He went back to the village again, and did the same thing, but With the same Innkeeper's family's only child, Their Son. Soare gave him two Silver daggars. "These will kill the Night Children." He said. Then He sent the Girl and the Boy on their way. But they were not like What his brother had created. They were still themselves, and were still completely human. And from that final day, The Night Children have Created Fear and Distruction, And the Light-bringers have made it their only goal in life to seek and kill the Night Children."
"Okay then." I said out loud. "That was all nice but it didn't seem believable." I picked up one that was titled 'Vampires; A History?' She opened it to the Vampire page.
"Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures and in spite of speculation by literary historian Brian Frost that the "belief in vampires and bloodsucking demons is as old as man himself", and may go back to "prehistoric times", the term vampire was not popularized until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.
While even folkloric vampires of the Balkans and Eastern Europe had a wide range of appearance ranging from nearly human to bloated rotting corpses, it was the success of John Polidori's 1819 The Vampyre that established the charismatic and sophisticated vampire of fiction as it is arguably the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century inspiring such works as Varney the Vampire and eventually Dracula.
However, it is Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula that is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and which provided the basis of modern vampire fiction. Dracula drew on earlier mythologies of werewolves and similar imaginary demons and "was to voice the anxieties of an age", and the "fears of late Victorian patriarchy". The success of this book spawned a distinctive vampire genre, still popular in the 21st century, with books, films, video games, and television shows. The vampire is such a dominant figure in the horror genre that literary historian Susan Sellers places the current vampire myth in the "comparative safety of nightmare fantasy"."
The Next page read: Vampire Description and how to tell them apart from Normal Society. 'Holy crap.' I thought. 'These books seem to like long titles.' But I read it anyway.
"Vampires are known for their pale skin, And hypnotizing Purple eyes. Small children and Dogs can spot them for what they are, and therefore are weary of them. They are extremely attractive. Dispite normal legend, they do NOT have fangs, except when they are fighting or feeding or thirsty. They have an adversion to the sun, but they have gotten used to it, so they will no longer go up in flames in it. And unlike popular legend, Vampires are not the 'living dead'. They are in a manner 'alive' but they are not fully alive. Since they must drink blood to survive, they have a cursed life, a half life. They cannot feel heat, or cold. They have no beating heart. Some of them have 'talents' like mind reading, and shapeshifting. So be warry. As these talented ones are the most dangerous. Vampires can Live forever if not killed."
"Okay, show me something believeable. " I said finally, picking up the final book in the stack. It was ironically titled 'Vampire; Fact or Fiction?'
"The commonly called 'Vampire' has had many other names throughout history. The Vrykolakas of Greece, and the Strigoi of Romania are the most commonly known terms. But with all the literature and films on them today, they are more widely known. Now, Humans grow up thinking of them as 'monsters' And most humans do not believe in them, though there are obvious signs that could point to vampirism in today's culture. Nowadays, Vampires are shown as romantic creatures, full of angst at what has happened to their bretheren in the past. This is wrong. As most Romanian children's stories will tell you, Vampires are bloodthirsty killing machines. There have been many streaks of 'serial killing' as the people call it. Where many people die in a short amount of time. Some are actually humans. But what about the unexplained cases? What about the ones where people go missing, then show up, drained of blood? The people with puncture marks? Some of these 'serial killers' will go away for 50+ years and then come back. No human could last that long! So I ask you this, How do you explain the so called 'unexplainable' cases? What about the so called 'unsolvable' ones? In known history there has only been one race of humans who openly oppose these killings, and have actually done something about them. And that is the so called 'Vampire Hunters' They are a vampire's worst nightmare. Trained in the arts of vampire hunting and killing, they hunt down the trouble vampires, and take care of them in ways that an entire police force could not. These Vampire Hunters normally are of Romanian dessent, and are young. The oldest recorded vampire hunter was 40, the youngest, 10.
"Okay. I have to talk to grandpa about this." I said. Deciding to head back, since it was starting to get dark.