by J N Moon
“Good. I believe in you, Jack. Don’t let me down!”
And so, I bit his neck again and bled him dry. Curiously watching his life slip away, knowing I would give it back, I felt almost...fatherly.
Quietly, sedated he slipped into unconsciousness. I stood over him, looking at his worn features. Regret is what had made his blood taste bitter. Regret and loneliness.
Crouching down, I bit my wrist a wave of sadness swept through me. Sympathy for the devil, indeed. As I let my blood drip into his cold, dead mouth, I hoped I wouldn’t regret it, but in all my years, the blood has never lied.
Confused, I shook my head and left him there to turn or to die, who knew. The next bit is unpredictable. And grisly, wracked with illness and fever. He may be my brother, but hey, we’re not close.
Besides, I spent the first few days going through this on my own. No, who am I kidding, I just wasn’t going to clean up after him.
So, into the night I went, heat prickling my skin and I was almost overwhelmed by the amount of vice I could smell. I kept the invisibility magic going. Not that I was afraid of mortals, that was like being a kid in a candy store, but no doubt the many, many vampires — and God knows what else — lurked here.
I fed so fast I didn’t know what to do next. I did the usual tourist stuff, walk of fame. I used the ring and found myself on the sign of Hollywood, then I rematerialized, got a cab, and looked at the homes of rock legends. I wasn’t interested in movie stars. Marilyn Manson, though, I wanted to see his home. Before I drank blood for a living, I was a fan. A stirring swelled inside my stomach, I could live like this now if I wanted. I could choose this wealth. But behind the manicured lawns, the crisp architectural lines, was a life hidden away from normality where the richer you were, the more bodyguards you’d need. Ok, maybe not for a Prince of Hell, but we all have enemies. Secluded, that’s the word that sprung to mind. Opulent isolation. As much as I was socially selective, this took it a step too far. For me, anyhow.
The divide here is starker than the UK. The wealthy hide behind their walls whilst the poor sleep on streets. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Victorian Britain. Passing these people, they had the same desolate glaze in their eyes, hopelessness. Existing every day only for the next high. I wondered how society had come to this. Easy prey with so many vampires and demons, and it was tempting to meet them, but I remained off the radar. Lost in thoughts, I noticed my phone buzzing. Checking, I had a lot of missed calls and messages. Some from Marcus, from Acacius, and from Bael.
It’s impossible to walk here, it being so vast, so I grabbed a taxi and headed for the coast. I took rooms near the beach and as it was early evening, I grabbed some shorts; I was going swimming.
I wondered about sharks, me being whatever I am now, but the water soothed my cold skin, I was only surprised it wasn’t warmer. I’d found a little cove away from the masses and bathed in the fading sun. In the distance, surfers crested waves, almost flying. I’m going to have to come back some day and learn that!
Diving down, this underwater world surrounded me in all its beauty. I wondered how Jack was doing I’d have to go check tomorrow. I had five more brothers to wake from their mortal spell, but for now, I floated under the moon in the Californian ocean trying to wash away my past. Peaceful, I made the most of the time I could just lying semi-submerged before the currents started to pick up and I had to get out.
As I got back to the beach, relishing those little moments where the sand brushes between your toes, I was acutely aware of being watched. I couldn’t see who, but I did sense a familiarity. A scent, a feeling of heat rolling in my belly. Dread. I got dressed, eager to see who it was.
Striding up to the road, I saw no one. Deflated, I rang for a taxi to check on my strange brother.
Jack was alive, just, and I held my hand over my nose as the smell from his apartment assaulted me. Changing is a messy business. You’re violently sick until everything you’d ever eaten is gone, like a brutal cleansing of sorts. My blissful calm from the ocean was gone completely. Suddenly, I didn’t feel as fatherly.
Moaning in pain, his face wet with sweat, I went to his bathroom. He obviously was a messy bastard. I contemplated cleaning up his mess. Then I had a thought. Pulling out my phone and walking back out to Jack’s tiny balcony to breathe fresher air, I phoned Bael.
“How’d it go?” he asked as soon as he answered.
“Messy. Can I use my gifts to clean up his mess? Can I just annihilate it away?”
Laughing, he answered, “Of course. See it done, click your fingers. So, you turned him? I didn’t think you would.”
“You’re not wrong he’s an asshole. Tasting his blood, I realised he was just frustrated, angry. If I’d thought otherwise, I would’ve left him.” I looked over at Jack, his sweaty face was grey, eyes almost popping out of his head.
Whilst still talking to Bael, I went back to the bathroom, saw it clean and clicked. A burst of fire shot up, leaving that familiar sooty mess on the floor, but it was better than it had been. With the balcony door open, the hot air swept through, and any smell was preferable to what it had been minutes ago.
I had another five mortals to do.
“Have you ever turned anyone before?” Bael asked, his voice full of worry.
“No. He’s still weak, but I think he’ll survive, no doubt because his soul isn’t mortal. Ok, then. I’m going to have to stick around anyway until he’s ready to travel. I can’t leave him, he’ll bleed the city, and I’m not sure about other vampires and demons here,” I sighed.
“Rachel. I found out some information for you. My sources say she was a succubus? I mean, I don’t know if that’s right, but if it is, you could potentially bring her back if that’s true.” He stopped and cleared his throat. “You’d need something of hers, obviously, but it wouldn’t be hard.”
I was dumbstruck. I hadn’t thought Bael would give a shit and would actively dissuade me, but here he was helping me. I didn’t trust him, but then I guessed he knew if I was happy and he helped that, this would be to his advantage. I didn’t know what his plans were when we seven were back. I didn’t really care. I’d sacrificed too much already, it was time to put me first.
“Good. Of course, I have some of her personal belongings. Not on me, though. Nathaniel. I want him back too.”
I heard him snigger over the phone. “You always were demanding. Not so much as Lucifer, but close. Well, you have Nathaniel’s house now which is full of books, no doubt.”
“How do you know that? Have you been —”
“Calm down. I’ve met Nathaniel on several occasions, and I’ve been to his house when he lived. I’m not promising anything with either of them. It’s possible, but it also depends on them. Immortal souls are harder to contain, harder to control, if they choose not to come back,” he breathed deeply. “If they struggle and you do it anyway — especially in the case of Nathaniel — what comes back could be a darker, malevolent version of the vampire you knew. You need to know that. You won’t be able to control him, or her, unless you lock them up. But even then...”
“He was dark anyway, so it wouldn’t make much difference,” I spluttered.
“Well, I see you’ve made up your mind. I’ve emailed you some information about the magic involved, and what I could find out about Rachel. Where will you head to next?”
“Might as well do Mexico where Amon is since we’re in the area.”
“Good. Keep me posted.”
He hung up, and I looked at Jack, whose eyes were pleading to me. I went back to the bathroom, wet a flannel, and brought it back, putting it on Jack’s forehead.
“What’s happening to me?” he squeaked. He hadn’t spoken since the day before, his body, his mind in shock. I answered him as I walked back to the bathroom, running him a bath.
“You’re changing. Leaving your weak mortal form into that of a vampire, an immortal. It won’t be long now. In a few days, we’ll leave to go to Mexico to get our brother, A
mon, and do the same to him, maybe...”
It occurred to me then that since I had changed Jack, he would be forever under my control. Unless I died, as his maker he was bound to me. As Rachel had been to Nathaniel. Good to know.
I helped Jack to the bathroom, his weak frame barely able to stand, and undressed him, aiding him into the bath. Being a maker isn’t as glamorous as you’re led to believe. But he stank, felt like death and I’d had the benefit of Rachel when I’d been in this state. I shoved his clothes in the washer, switched it on, and looked for something better for him to wear, but it was all fairly rubbish.
After an hour I went back in. To my surprise, his skin and his hair gleamed. His muscles were slightly defined. Demon blood! For me, the transformation lasted over a week. Opening his eyes as I stood there, he whispered, “I’m hungry!”
I handed him some clothes and waited outside. He took a deep breath as he emerged like he was breathing for the first time. Still a little shaky, Jack was now mine, my charge. “You will do what I say, don’t question me. I can end your life in a heartbeat, understand?”
He nodded, a slight frown on his face.
“If I tell you to do something, or to not do something, it is usually because you could put our lives, our existence, into jeopardy. I have made peace with being a vampire. If that’s something you can’t do, you tell me. I will sort that. Ok?”
“So, I’m your slave now?”
Interesting. His voice sounded softer now. Less snarky. “Not at all, but in the beginning, you need guidance. Rules. Especially here. Out there will be many others, vampire and demon, and they will challenge you, torture you, beat you if they can. As for mortals, aside from the evil ones, never disrespect them. Without them, we cease to be. We don’t kill. I’ll show you. Come.”
“You said you would have killed me, had I been evil. Now you say we don’t kill? Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad — I don’t want to be a killer,” he shook his head in horror of that word: killer. “But...”
“It’s the law. We, too, are governed by laws. Otherwise, it’d be a bloody homicidal mess and humans would hunt us, probably infect us with some virus or another. I have killed, but I’m older. I’ve fought Hell and more. Sometimes I am reckless, that ends now, seeing as I’m responsible for you.”
“Because you turned me...I am so hungry...I can’t eat?”
“Come on.” I wouldn’t bother telling him all the ins and outs, I just needed him on track. A shiver of excitement ran through me. Jack’s first night as a vampire. Mine had been a nightmare. I would make sure his first night was a dream.
Since I’d had nothing to do but explore since Jack lost his mortality, I’d researched the area and was in awe of the many things to do. As we stood next to his front door, I said, “Hold onto my arm.” His lips downturned, I added, “Take a deep breath. Shut your eyes.” His grip tightened. I rubbed the ring, and after a flash of darkness, we stood on the outskirts of the Boardwalk, salty air filling my lungs. He stumbled, I grabbed his hand, his eyes like saucers.
“Jesus, we can teleport?”
“No, I can. It’s not a vampire ability.” He scanned around us, not recognising the place.
“Jack, how old are you?”
“Forty-six, or I was...”
“Santa Cruz, for posterity. When I was a teenager, the movie The Lost Boys had been one of my favourites.” I laughed. “Funny. I remember thinking, that’s for me. I want to be a vampire. The irony. Anyway, as I can take you anywhere, I thought this would be apt for your first night, as it were. Have you ever been here?”
“I loved The Lost Boys! Are you kidding?” His smile was as wide as his face, and I noticed a small glint of red in his eyes. He was no ordinary vampire now. A thrill of fire rushed through me seeing the change in this man who I’d only met a day ago. He even stood differently, taller, in awe of the world around him. Laughing, he joked, “I’ve never so much as left my hometown. I never had the money, and now this! Wow! I can’t believe it. I...have...to admit, I’m a little nervous, though.”
“Good, then you’re less likely to get us killed. Now, we’ll wander through the outskirts first. Experience says this is where the vilest humans hang out, waiting in the wings to pounce on unsuspecting people. I want you to allow yourself to open up. You should get a feeling from humans, either good or bad, and in a lot of cases, you’ll smell their evil. It’s hard to explain. You look worried?”
His face was scrunched up and, in a moment, he was on his knees covering his ears. Memories flooded back to me; this was me some years ago. Nathaniel had helped me whilst my makers, strange ghoul-like vampires, had left me.
Crouching down, I held his arm, gently pulling it away from his ear. “It’s the noise. Your senses are overwhelmed. You’ll control this quickly. Breathe deeply and focus on me...now.”
“Huh...Ok.” He trembled.
“Come, keep your focus on blood, and on me. We don’t have to go into the main town if you don’t like.”
A slight glimmer of sweat shone off his face as we tread lightly through the back alleys of the Boardwalk. Rustling sounds and the smell of sweat let me know humans were there watching us. A rush of exhilaration tingled through me. I whispered to Jack, too low for our prey to hear, “Don't act impulsively. Let them come out and reveal themselves. It'll take seconds for them to realise they are the ones in danger. You hold immense power now, try and use it wisely.”
There were two of them, a short woman with sunken dark eyes and a ghostly grey pallor and her male counterpart ,taller, eyes also sunken, dark bags circled. Their faces were littered with red splotches. My chest tightened. I didn't want Jack’s first blood to be from a junkie. It would work, sure but their blood was tainted. I whispered urgently, “Grab my arm tight!” Worry fell on his face as he did so, and I rubbed the ring, taking us to another part of the city. Here was the main hub of Santa Cruz, so I whisked us off to a side street whilst Jack got his breath back.
Reading his expression, I explained, “No, they couldn't harm us, but I could see and smell that they were drug addicts, and whilst that won't harm you, it's not good either. Your first kill should be a clean human. Well, clean in body, but evil in mind. Don't worry. Fortunately for us, there's always an abundance of them!”
And there was. In less than an hour walking around the backstreets, we found an older man chatting to another, and I knew at once.
“Jack, can you smell it, the malice?”
Furrowing his eyebrows, I smirked. He was like a child learning all the ways for the first time and trying hard to do it right.
His rich accent whispered back to me, “I smell something...like rotten food. No, meat? I assumed it was from a dumpster?”
“That is the smell of evil, Jack. Know it.”
His eyes widened, smiling like a kid who has just learned an important lesson. “Evil...hum. So, I bite one? Which one? They'll let me?”
Grinning again, I muttered back, “Watch!”
The men glanced at us, a quick look up and down then ignored us, wrapped in their conversation. They never really saw their death coming. One second, we were across the alleyway, the next, in front of them. The place, its dark walls foul from years of human waste and litter, the street so thick with filth I had another flashback to Victorian England, no speck of ground visible amongst the dirt.
Small with fear, their eyes fixed on us as they grunted in shock. I nodded to Jack who smoothly stepped up to the larger of the two: a medium built man with strawberry blonde hair, matching beard, and a suit that seemed out of place in this den of iniquity.
His mouth hung open. Jack, to my utter astonishment, was charming and smiled at the man, holding his victim in his gaze as the human fell instantly into a hypnotic trance. As for the other, held in place by his terror, I stepped in, bit, and took his blood.
Thoughts, emotions writhed through my body like a roller coaster, my breathing automatically in and out to the sound of my victims’ heart.
Tak
ing a breath, I looked over at my protege, who was staring at me.
“He can't move! He's alive, just...shall I leave him now?” he called, his voice almost strangled with emotion. So, intent on doing it right, my poor friend had missed the thrill of it. Terrified, perhaps, that I would deem him as unworthy and kill him. Or, worse, send him back to his life of the mundane. I let my victim drop to the floor. Jack did the same and rushed to me like a servant to his master. So, the devil bows to the demon...
His face was softer now, eyes fluttering as the effect of blood rushed and ebbed through him, his power rising up. But these were only emotions to him. He didn't comprehend that the old him had died and his new self was being born, getting stronger with each drop of blood that touched his now-full lips.
Discreetly, I eyed him up and down. Aside from his cheap clothes, a vibrancy and cold ethereal beauty shone out of him, distinguishing him apart from mortals.
Spluttering, I couldn't help a laugh. I slapped him on his back and said, “Jack, you're a natural, but next time enjoy it more. Ease into it. Now, what did you notice?”
Words tumbling out of his mouth like spilled marbles, he couldn't contain himself, “Jesus Christ, that guy was a piece of shit! I couldn't stop. I wanted to drain him as fast as I could, but I remembered your words, so as his heart slowed, so did I.” His gaze fell to the floor. Yes, tasting someone's wicked emotions, sharing their feelings in evil, is an unforgettable experience. Pleasure and pain.
“Our desire for blood drives us. Taking it is the most sensual thing, but the curse of it, aside from the moral side, is sharing their feelings. Knowing their evils, their wickedness. As much as their blood sustains us, keeps us alive and makes us feel raw, erotic so too do we have to immerse ourselves in their malevolence. That is the curse of it, feeling their vile emotions as if they were our own. That could, in itself, drive us insane. So, you see, strength inside is needed. Come, now, let's go back to the UK. We need to get you some clothes!”
He gripped my arm as I scrunched my eyes and saw us in my mind’s eye at Bael’s home.