I remember, as a child, when I would have nightmares. But they were not nightmares of what you would expect, no, not the usual horrible monsters and goblins. It was of one person, one thing. I lived, a long time ago. I lived in a time in which vampires and witches were widely believed in, and feared. When God was the salvation and the light, and anything distracting you from that was evil, the devil, and should not be trusted. I had nightmares of which I could tell noone for fear of being damned. The nightmare was of a vampire. He fed nightly. He was a horrible monster, a murderer, with my face. I told noone of them but perhaps if I had, maybe I would be lying cold and dead in my casket. My name is Lorian, though those when I was mortal, called me Lorus.
Some tales you may have heard, others you may have not, but here is the true story of my life. Or perhaps my death. I became what I am nearly two-hundred and fifty years ago. What I remember of it is surprisingly accurate. It was after I left the church, I believe, as I had gone there to pray to the Holy Spirit to relieve me of my unseemly dreams. Instead he delivered me Lysia. I was walking along the back road home when suddenly I heard a voice, so beautiful and sweet it had to be from a dream.
"Hello Lorus," it simply said. Then she, Lysia, stepped from the shadows into the lantern light. Such a beauty she was, any sensible man would have thought she couldn't be real. She had black as midnight hair, long and flowing, and she had a pretty face, with river green eyes that would bewitch a man and have him drown in them. Her lips were inviting and full, and her body was round and curvy. She stood almost as tall as I without shoes on, and seemed to float when she came towards me.
"Come, Lorus, walk with me," she said. Her accent was enticing, yet strange.
"Who are you? Why haven't I seen you before," I asked, quickly, because this was a small town, a religious town, and everybody knew everybody else, like it or not. The people that weren't known, were outsiders, and outsiders were not permitted unless they were known. As in someone expected from out of town.
"My name is Lysia, and if you walk with me, you might get to know me. Then I wouldn't be a stranger, would I? You haven't seen me before because Iv been hiding. Iv been waiting for you child. Come. Walk with me." She reached out her hand and grabbed mine. "You have no need to be afraid."
"No need? You must be younger than me yet you called me child," I exclaimed. "What do you mean, you have been waiting for me? " There was no doubt I was scared, and for good reason.
"Why do you think I have been waiting for you," she asked, and then smiled fully, showing her even pointed teeth in the lantern light."
I screamed, horribly, and jumped back, tripping over a tree root, and dropped the lantern. Suddenly I was plunged into total darkness, and there was no moonlight to guide me because the small acre of woods that grew on that old back road blocked it out. Since I couldn't see, I relied on my ears. I turned my head left, and right, but I could hear nothing. I finally decided that Lysia had run off after I screamed. Suddenly I heard something behind me and took off on the path, running as fast as I could. My heart was beating so fast I could feel it beating against my chest. Soon my lungs began to hurt from the cold air, and the stitch in my side was killing me. I finally decided to stop, and rest. I knew this road well enough to know I was almost home.....until,
"Lorus, don't run from me, please."
I yelped, and turned around. It wasn't possible she could have kept up with me. Not at all. Nothing human could have at least. "What are you?" I asked, half afraid of the answer.
"My name is Lysia, of the Silver Clan, and I am a vampire. As you are about to be." With that she grabbed my hair, turned my head to the side, and her fangs tore into me.
I have never known so much pain as I have that night. The heartbreaking, soul-tearing pain I hope noone, man or no, shall ever have to experience. Noone should have to be alive while feeling their own heart stop. I have heard stories that many in my clan have felt it, but none were conscious when it happened. I had the unfortunate experience of being so. Memories flashed through my mind, of my family, of the little town, of my life. I saw no white light, and I felt no heavenly embrace. I was alone, and I was cold, and I was in pain. Lysia had fled long after she fed on me. I stayed that way for hours, just curled in a ball on that old dirt road. Finally, I had the courage to get up, and look around. I was in the same place. I could remember everything. But something was missing. It was like everything that ever mattered was gone. Someone had taken out the grey and the white in my life, and all that was left was black. I was empty. My physical self, however, was fine. I could see, perfectly, even though it was night, and though there was a faint throbbing in my head, the pain was being to lessen dramatically. I heard a noise to my right, and turned my head, quickly.
"Hello Lorus. I saw Lysia sneaking up on you, and figured she make you into one of us. I was right. Damn the girl, she needs to stop doing that. My name is Lodon, of the Silver Clan, and I have come to help you. We're brothers.
Lodon had blond hair and slate grey eyes that saw right through you. He was around my height with a sort of rangy build. There was a scar on his left cheek running from the bottom of his eye to his jawbone. His clothes were like mine, though they were a bit less dirty. He didn't look anything like me.
"Who are you?" I asked, frightened, very, by the thought of this....man. "What happened to me," I asked, shakingly, afraid of the answer.
"Do not know yet, little brother? Do you not feel the pain any longer? You are a vampire, Lorus , and as it is custom for our clan, spread apart as we may be, to change our names after we change from mortal to immortal, your new name shall be Lorian. Now, come, you need to feed, and as fond as I suddenly am of you, Im not going to spoon feed you." With that he began to walk off into the woods, and seeing as I really didn't have anything better to do, I followed. At the word vampire I stopped shaking and listened to the man. I really didn't fathom over the impossibilities of being a vampire. The priest and other men in our village had beheaded and burned and dug up bodies for years that were rumored to be vampires. I basically just accepted what I was. But when faced with the fact that I had to kill to live, I refused. The human in me, no matter how gone was my soul, refused to die.
"No," I had said, angrily, when Lodon had tried to force me to feed. "You honestly can not expect me to bite that person and suck its blood. It's completely immoral, not to mention disgusting."
"Look, do you want to live Lorian? Or do you want to die and wither away to skin and bones, until your whole body goes up in flames? Look, I know its not right, and its not easy the first time, but you have to do it. Do you honestly expect God to come and surround you with his white light because you didn't kill the already condemned? God doesn't care, Lorian, you have no soul, and it doesn't matter what you do, you are already sentenced to hell whether you like it or not. So you might as well feed already. This person is going to die tomorrow anyway, so might as well put her out of her misery." The reason he was talking about killing the condemned was obvious. We were in a jail cell, a dungeon as some would call it. The two women there were convicted of being witches, the whole town knew of it, and they were to be hanged on the morn. He was right, but I still didn't want to do it. I sighed, sadly, and felt horrible. But I knew I had to do it. I walked towards the woman, and she screamed and tried to run, but I caught her and held my arm around her throat till she lost consciousness. Lodon was drinking the other woman already, and slowly I lowered my lips to her neck. And fed.
The feel of the blood sliding into me was wondrous. I felt powerful, alive, like I was the ultimate being, and this woman I didn't even know was just a weakling. Her blood tasted like rich wine, warm and succulent. When I drained her dry I stood to my full height and faced Lodon. He was smiling at me, almost sadly. Whatever you have heard about vampires, about them not having souls, the feelings are still there. The sadness, and the loneliness is always there, and love between two vampires is just as real as it would be were they human. And it never dies, as you never die. But that love has never happened with me. I have been in love. But it was nothing like that. That night I felt like I was free, free from all of the mortal trappings that misguide so many humans. After that night, I had no qualms about feeding, but for the fact that I was taking the life of people who didn't deserve it. That fact was quickly squashed while I was feeding, but it was always there, just a little nagging feeling that never deserted me.
I stayed with Lodon for five years, and in that five years he taught me so much more than I can account for. We split ways after awhile, simply because I needed my own space. I met Lysia several more times while I was in France, and not long after I moved in with her. We fell in love but it was nothing special. She was killed by a vampire hunter right in front of my eyes, and I remember ranting at Lodon about being immortal. Of course I had wondered why I never aged, and why I always looked the same, but I took that as just being another vampire. I figured we all had to die sometime.
"What do you mean we can't die? She did! She died, and yet we are still immortal? What was so different with her?!" I was furious at Lodon, because although as I said our love was nothing special, I still loved her in my own way. Having to see her fall to ashes right in front of me was too much for me to handle. Sooner or later, I got over it, but I moved. Away from Lodon. Away from Lysia's death. Away from my past. It was about a hundred years after I had been made into what I am that my past caught up with me. I move every fifty years or so, just to keep away the suspicious minds, but there is one place I always come back to, and that is where, my life, or my death as some would say, changed, in a way some wouldn't think possible. In a little town in Mississippi, called Silver Cross, I found my destiny. But, back to where I was. Or where I will be.
Silver Cross, Mississippi, June 2000
The music in the club I am in surrounds me. It is the only club in town. It's night, but there is still a heavy crowd of teenagers dancing, talking, laughing, kissing. I am sitting in a back corner, away from the huge mass of people. I can barely hear the music, but what I do hear I like. My tastes fairly changed over the generations, and I moved from the subtle tones of Brahms and Beethoven to the hard tones of Metallica and occasionally Led Zeppelin. The sound of the guitar just moves me in a way some people wouldn't think possible. I have learned to play in time, and I occasionally play lead guitar in a band called Precipice. I have a steady night job, which happens to be working in this same club, but I did not choose the night job because I can not walk in the day time. All vampires can. It's just the way it is. We are everywhere, and the common person just has to look around to see us. Tonight is just my night to sit back and enjoy. Most vampires, however, feed at night and I suppose that is where the myth came from. Not all of us are the same, though. There is one difference we have from humans, other than the bloodsucking. We do not destroy each other. We have our fights, and the occasional curious vampire who wonders what will happen if he eats another, but that doesn't come often. There is no disease alive that will kill vampires, so we do not pass it to each other, knowingly or not.
My eyes scan the club for a break in the crowd so I can leave, and I slowly get up and stretch my muscles. I am dressed in a favorable black shirt and black leather pants, and combat boots. I have a hat hiding most of face, though I am very tan as I like to walk about in the sun, go to the beach, and sometimes just watch the simple sunrise. I have dark hair, cut short, and which has the bad tendency to stick straight up. I wear hats often, because my insecurities lead me to believe im not that easy to look at. I quickly walk through the crowd and the open doors, and breathe in the cold night air. I begin my trek home, an apartment that is more or less my style. To someone else, it would seem extremely cramped and minuscule, but I don't mind. It's home. I do not sleep in a coffin, either. I much prefer a nice bed with soft sheets and a pillow. I never liked being closed in in a small place like that anyway. While im walking home, I hear someone walking behind me. I stop for minute but I do not turn around. I began walking again, and the footsteps begin again, though this time, when I stop, they don't, and I quickly turn around to be faced with only darkness. I stop and stare for a moment before turning back around. I gasp when I see the pale face staring only inches from mine. The lighting blue eyes stare at me and make me wonder. Her name is Lykidia, and she, like me is a vampire, but she is forever stuck in the horrible, wonderful face of a twenty year old. We are both of the silver clan, but I did not sire her. I have never sired anyone.
"Lorian, hi. I haven't seen you in ages. God, how long has it been? Two decades? Three? I've been looking for you for what seems forever. You remember Lodon, of course you do. Well it seems he's sick, and he's been asking for you. We can't seem to figure out what's wrong with him, and he's getting worse and worse. He got crazy in his old age, also, but of course if you were born in the thirteen hundreds you would too. Anyway we, as in me, Lodon, Noral and Shaw, had traveled to the states looking for this witch named Tessa. We needed her to cure Lodon, it was something he would have wanted us to do. While we were looking for her we decided to come and pick you up too. Wow, it's been so long hasn't it. We couldn't seem to locate you. Well, how have been?
Did I mention that Lykidia was a bubbly blond cheerleader in her human days? As long as I have known her, all she has ever done is talk. Im not surprised Lodon went crazy, if he's been hanging with her. I don't know who Noral and Shaw are, so im guessing they are fledglings of hers.
" Look, Kydia" I saw her smile at the use of her old nickname. It's just too hard to pronounce her name. "I have a life here, away from Lodon, away from England and I am happy here. I have a job, an apartment, friends. I don't want to go see Lodon. He's not a part of my life anymore."
"But, you have too."
"Why?"
"Because he's dying, Lorian. No, don't shake you're head. Something is wrong with him, and he wants to see you before he ends up turning to ashes.
"I said no, Kydia, and I mean it. Didn't you hear me? I have a life here, and I don't plan on screwing it up anytime soon.
"Please Lorian, I am begging you. He needs you." Her bright blue eyes gazed at me beseechingly. I never liked her much. Her motor mouth tended to get her into trouble. I sighed. I hadn't seen Lodon in so long though. But what kind of sickness could hurt a vampire? I had to admit I was curious. Also, I was starting to feel little tugs of guilt coming over me. Poor old guy, what would it hurt? I would go, say some words, and come back. Easy.
I sighed, and said "Alright, but we have to set some ground rules, and please, do keep that busy mouth of yours shut. Im going to have to find someone to take over my job for the time that I am gone, and I also have to find someone to watch over my apartment." I really didn't wish to come back and find that my cat, Iris, dead, so I assigned my neighbor, Ada, the happy task of taking care of her. She didn't ask me why, and she didn't ask me where I was going. That's one of the reasons why I asked her to take care of Iris. She's isn't nosy. I packed a light bag with a change of clothes and a hat, little necessities such as a toothbrush, comb, and deodorant, some shampoo and soap and threw it all pel-mell into the bag. I marched out of the house, and, after locking the door and giving the key to Ava, I walked over to where Kydia waited in a blue beat up Nissan Ford. In the back were whom I supposed to be Noral and Shaw. Noral had bright blue hair, cold violet eyes, and was wearing a black T-shirt that said Bush on it. Her cargo pants were also black, but with numerous holes and safety pins in it. I couldn't even count the number of pockets she had. Her shoes, also black, bore the label Converse, and on her left shoe was written Bite, and then You on the right. So much for subtlety. Shaw was dressed in a bright baby blue sweater and a light brown pair of dress pants. His shoes were also dress shoes. His face was round and jolly, with laughing green eyes and shocking blond hair. Great. The prep and the Goth vampire. We were going to stand out like sore thumbs.
"So your Lorian," Noral sneered at me in a highly British accent, "Doesn't look like he's gonna get us anywhere. Why did we have to come and get the old chap anyway? Lodon is so crazy, we could just pretend to be him.
"Shush, don't be so rude,"scolded Shaw. He grinned at me and said in an equally British tone "Hello. Im Shaw, and this rude creature next to me is Noral. And I', certainly glad to have this pleasure of meeting you."
"Yeah. Hi." I was short to the point of being rude to him, but I didn't care. The sooner I got started on this ?'quest' the sooner it would end. I climbed in the truck and slammed the door. I looked over at Kydia. "Well? "
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