by Wooden, E M
“Life as you know it is fake,” she began. I had to smile. I am pretty sure there was enough that happened to me in the past couple of days to explain that one. She took her head off my shoulder to look at me.
“I knew you would be smirking,” she said confidently. I let my smile fade. She continued.
“A long time ago a war raged between two factions,” she said. I interjected quickly.
“Between Vampires and Werewolves, talk about cliché.” She gave me a look that I received all too many times. It said that I should wait and listen to the whole story first.
“The war is between Heaven and Hell, Angels and Demons.” I couldn’t help but think of the Dan Brown book.
“The war was fought in their realms until Hell brought the fight to Earth. Lucifer sought to turn humans against the Angels. Without their followers, Angels would cease to exist. But Lucifer did not count on the faith of humans and so the battle raged. When the Angels seemed close to victory, the Demons created warriors to fight for them, the Vampires. In order to keep the balance, the Angels created Werewolves to fight for them. After a time, both Werewolves and Vampires became tired of fighting for the latter and decided to become their own factions. So as it is today, there are four factions that try to maintain a balance on the Earth, the Angels, the Demons, the Vampires, and the Werewolves. There is one immortal that sits at the head of each faction, guiding them through time. All the factions also maintain the secrecy of the others no matter what happens. If the rest of the world were to know, it would be chaos. There are some humans who are granted the knowledge, but they willingly serve and are few. The fact that you seem to be a target makes me telling you matter little. At least this way you will know what is after you. And why are they after you, William Drake?” I paused a moment.
“I wish that I knew. Only a few days ago, I was just me. Now, it seems like my friends set me up, I am Wolverine without the claws and I am in love with a Vampire,” I responded. She sat there reading my eyes. I continued.
“I understand the secrecy. I don’t think the world could handle the truth. But why keep it from me? No matter what, I kept coming back. Why not tell me? It has to be lonely keeping such a huge burden a secret. How long have you been a…” The word caught in my throat, almost like I was finally realizing what she was. “…Vampire?” She turned away. I could tell it took a lot for her to say what she was about to.
“In 1422, I was born Evangelynn Clervaux in Yorkshire, England. My father was a knight of little status. My mother was a maiden of the same. They sought to better their holdings by wedding me to a lord when I was 19. Lord Thomas De Richmond had a small castle with various serfs and peasants as well as 50 knights under his command. My father arranged for the marriage in the hopes that he too may someday become a lord. The first year of marriage was tough and loveless. I heard little if not at all from my parents. After a time, I genuinely grew to love Lord Thomas, but by then he was becoming frustrated that I had not given him a son. A week after my 22nd birthday, I went to the master chambers to surprise Thomas. I had been away on an outing with some of wives of the lord’s knights. Lord Thomas had arranged the whole thing. He said I should get out of the castle and enjoy myself. I was the one surprised. I found him in bed with the Baroness de Statford, the baroness from Staffordshire. It had appeared that Lord Thomas was trying to increase his own holdings. I gasped and could only stare. My heart broke. The man I had come to love was in front of me deep in his betrayal. He didn’t even have the decency to cover up. He pulled out of her and walked towards me with his hands behind his back.
“My dear Evangelynn, this is not what it seems. I am doing this for us, for our future.” When he finally reached me he held out his arms like he meant to embrace me. I felt the sharp pain of a knife go through my ribs and into my lung. He let me slump to the ground and called for one of his knights.
'Sir Michael, see to it that Evangelynn is properly dealt with.' Sir Michael’s face was as blank as stone. He scooped me up and carried me down to the stables. There he spoke.
“ 'Dear sweet Eve, what has he done to you? I can make it better, please just trust me. It will hurt at first, but then the pain will be gone.' He bent down and bit my neck. He was right, the pain was almost unbearable. I forgot about the wound in my side. I tried to scream, but nothing came out. After a few moments, there was only darkness. I awoke some days later in the knight’s manse. I knew I should have been dead. I was afraid. I wandered the manse until I found Michael in his study. He was waiting for me. He explained what he had done, the gift he had given me. At first, I was terrified. I thought I was a monster, but Michael calmed me down. He said I was special and that he gave me the power to exact revenge on those who wronged me. It wasn’t long before I knew what he was talking about. A month after I changed I sought out Lord…no I should say Baron Thomas and his whore. Michael said the first kill is usually the hardest and the messiest. I remember the look of sheer horror when Thomas realized who I was. His halfwit whore had no idea. When I was finished, the room was coated crimson. It looked like a massacre. It was a massacre. After that day, I vowed not to be the monster that Thomas made me. I vowed to stop any injustice whenever I saw it, no matter the cost. It was hard for Michael to let me go. Michael had loved me the whole time I was married to Lord Thomas. He had hoped that by turning me he would be my champion, but I had my own path. When times got hard I always knew I could count on him. He would always be there for me. So no William, when you say you always came back, his tale is much more harrowing.” When she turned to look at me her face was stone, though a single tear fell down the side of her cheek. The stone who weeps. I was speechless. It helped to explain so many of the questions I had about her. Suddenly, I felt very guilty, very shameful. I had to turn away. It was too much pain to look at her. All the times I tried to dig, all those times I tried to get her to open up.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“It’s not your concern,” she replied. Her shield was back up.
“Michael…is he the same guy from the Colosseum?” I asked.
“Yes,” she responded. That helped clarify things even more. I felt even worse. William, you are a jealous fool. Some things began to fall into place.
“When I left that night and I was jumped. He was a Vampire, wasn’t he,” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“That’s why you called. I should never have been able to beat him. I should have been destroyed. But I wasn’t. You said you followed me the night I was attacked by the Werewolf. How long have you been following me? As a matter of fact, how have you been able to follow me at all? Some places I went to during the day…” I let the last part linger.
“William, Vampires aren’t like the ones you see in movies. There are some similarities, but mostly differences. We don’t sparkle when we go out into the sun,” she said.
“Right, aren’t you supposed to burn to a crisp?” I asked, rather unkindly.
“We have evolved. If we feed, we are generally afforded the ability to withstand the sun's effects for a brief period, say six to ten hours. That is how we were able to go out during the daytime.” Things were getting a little too intense.
“So let me get this straight, you are almost 600 years old and you need to feed on men to come out during the daytime? You are the ultimate cougar,” I joked. She wasn’t expecting a jest. She let out a genuine laugh and a smile.
“Yes, I suppose you could say that,” she agreed while still chuckling. All I could do was smile. Something else fell into place.
“The warehouse district a few days ago, that was you wasn’t it,” I asked. She turned away.
“The world is full of bad people, William,” she replied.
“Who were they? What did they do?” I questioned.
“They were mafia. It doesn’t matter what they did. They were evil. They deserved their fate,” she argued.
“Eve, 600 years is a long time to harbor so much hate,” I said softly. Sh
e stood up.
“You don’t understand. You couldn’t understand,” she said as she walked towards the wall. She was taking flight again and I couldn’t stop her. I never could.
“Help me understand, please. I just found out you are a Vampire and are six centuries old. Give me some credit. I don’t understand how you could live so long and still feel the need to avenge yourself,” I pleaded. She was atop the wall in a single bound. She turned her head slightly and spoke.
“Myself? I am not avenging myself.” And then she was gone.
Chapter 17
It was just passed three in the morning before I made it back to my apartment. I had entirely too much time to reflect on the previous couple of days. When I made my way down from the garden, I got lost trying to find Eve’s safe house. When I finally did find it, she wasn’t there. So now, my head was reeling with thoughts of what Eve had told me and trying to deal with what was happening to me as well. I always seemed to be right on the cusp of getting real answers before I do something to screw it up.
After I opened my apartment door, I went to my bed and fell back with an audible thud. I lay there for a few minutes willing the world away. Something was wrong though. I sat up and surveyed my room. Light was creeping under my closed bathroom door. And then a strange sound registered. The shower being turned off. I gaped at the door in confusion. When it opened, my eyes had to adjust from the light. A petite figure wrapped in a towel was drying her hair.
“William, I didn’t hear you come home,” she said.
“Syndel…why are you using my shower?” I asked.
“Oh sorry, I was in the area and didn’t think you would mind,” she replied.
“How did you get in and what were you doing that you needed to shower at three in the morning?” I asked. She gave me a rather seductive smile.
“A lady never boasts, William Drake,” she replied. She walked back into the bathroom. I didn’t realize how excited the thought of her in a towel made me. I wanted her to walk back out. She did. She had a slight look of wonder on her face. I imagined her letting her towel drop to reveal what was beneath. Slowly, she stopped drying her hair…the towel fell soon after. I wondered how many men had fallen prey to such a magnificent sight. Lust consumed me. Everything was dark. There was only her. I slowly made my way to her. She stood firm, the look of wonder still on her face. Caressing her face, I kissed her. I felt a shudder and realized she wasn’t returning the kiss. It wasn’t like her at all. My senses returned just as fast as they had fled. I blushed and quickly picked up the towel and covered her up.
“I…I’m sorry. I should have never done that,” I apologized. She stood their holding the towel, staring at me. Suddenly, it was if she realized what had happened. She quickly grabbed her bag and darted into the bathroom. In an instant she was dressed. I had never seen her so shaken before. She made her way to the door and only stopped just before exiting.
“Will dear, how about we keep that between you and me and maybe we could finish it someday,” she said playfully. Now that was the Syndel I remembered. And with that she was gone.
I tried not to linger on what exactly had just happened. She was beautiful, but there was a reason I always kept her at arm’s reach. It wasn’t like me to give in to her. I sat down on my bed and fell back again. I closed my eyes and just relaxed. This time, there were no interruptions and sleep seemed almost instant.
I was dreaming again. At least I thought I was dreaming. I could never seem to tell. They are all so vivid. I was in my apartment, as I usually was. Except this time, I wasn’t looking at myself sleeping, nor was I watching any crazy scenes unfold. It was just me. I tried to move but it felt like I was walking through water. My legs would move, but I wouldn’t actually go anywhere. Slowly, my apartment began to fall away. When I looked up all I saw was darkness. Eventually, I was alone in a dark void. In front of me, I could see something walking towards me. It was very ethereal, ominous. Just as I could make it out, it was before me. It was the wolf I had seen in my previous dreams…except it was different. It had different markings and colorings, but familiar somehow. He looked to my right and I followed his gaze. Seemingly out of nowhere, a variation of the onyx creature was staring at me. It too was different. It was sleek and sexy, it was inviting…and she too was familiar. Then, it was her turn to look away. I turned to see what had shown up behind me. A strong and graceful angel had appeared. He seemed both sad and happy at the same time. He turned to look at something else as well. The final being to appear was the marble goddess. She was just as I remembered her…but not from the first dreams, only the more recent. They all seemed to stare, as if wanting something, or trying to say something.
“Wi”
“ll”
“ia”
“m”
I heard them say around me. As the wolf started and the marble goddess finished, their voices wove in and out of each other as though they were speaking together but separately; yet their faces did not move.
“It’s time”
“The awakening”
“We are here”
“Wake up”
“It’s time”
I spun around in circles trying to face where I heard the whispers coming from. When I stopped spinning, I realized the beings had changed. Where they had stood now stood my friends. Kellan was to my front; Syndel to my right; Eve to my left; and John was behind me. As I faced them in turn they whispered.
“I will obey,” then Kellan was gone.
“I need you,” Syndel was next.
“I shall defend,” then it was John’s turn.
“I love you,” Eve was last. She lingered the longest before vanishing. I was alone again. A single whisper was all I heard.
“It is time for the awakening. You have been bestowed… Awaken!”