The Vampire Hartwell

by Phil Wohl

  “Daniel Thompson is that you? Come on in here!” Maggie exclaimed with joy over seeing her favorite new student from the previous year. She hugged Daniel and then moved on to me, her life mate.

  Maggie kissed me and then we all started walking toward the living room of her ranch house.

  “So Thomas, how do you know each other? I’ve never heard you mention Daniel before,” the full-fledged detective voiced.

  Daniel slowed Maggie’s heartbeat enough until she was essentially frozen in time.

  “How are you going to answer that one?” Daniel asked me.

  “As much as I appreciate you trying to make this one a soft landing, you’re going to have to let this one play out naturally. There’s really no other way, son.”

  Daniel became more nervous with each passing second, because those moments went by excruciatingly slow in his frenetic world.

  I was ready to answer Maggie’s question as directly as possible, or so he thought.

  “We met a long time ago,” I replied, trying to string the conversation along at an orderly pace instead of hitting Maggie over the head with the truth.

  Daniel was playing along with me. “Yeah, me and Mr. Hartwell go way back.”

  Maggie was satisfied with the explanation – for now – but it still didn’t explain why her beau had to bring Daniel over her house.

  “So Daniel how is college?”

  The conversation kept getting murkier, as Daniel had amassed multiple doctorates by the second half of his freshman year and had also completed a full residency.

  “It’s definitely an adjustment,” Daniel said trying to dumb himself down to the college level. He then turned to me.

  “Remember I told you that Maggie – I mean – Miss Hollingsworth, helped me with that year-end paper I was writing last year?”

  Maggie wasn’t used to her students referring to her by her first name. She was a little curious about how much Daniel and I had talked about her.

  “Yes, Daniel was my favorite student to work with last year. He and I seemed to mesh from the moment he walked up to the library counter. Made my transition into the school so much easier.”

  I was already growing impatient. I was never a big proponent of idle chit-chat, either as a mortal or especially as a vampire. There was never a set-up when I fed off humans. Strengthening my base with their fluids had nothing to do with giving people closure at the end of their lives. To me, I was simply the beneficiary of blood sourcing being at the wrong place at the right time.

  “Why do you think that is?”I asked, interrupting the harmless flow of conversation.

  Daniel could sense that the conversation shift was coming by my elevated heartbeat. He knew that the secret could be contained for only so long.

  “I don’t know?” Maggie replied. “I guess I just have a better connection with some students.”

  I wasn't about to let the flow of the conversation run of his tracks. My head dropped and tears started flowing from my eyes.

  Maggie was looking at Daniel and did not immediately notice my abrupt change in demeanor. Daniel smiled at Maggie and attempted to hold her attention to give me a chance to pull himself together, but there was no turning back now.

  She was smiling until my sorrow became visible.

  “Thomas, what’s wrong?” Maggie said as she quickly moved toward me.

  Daniel spoke for me.

  “Do you believe in destiny, Maggie?”

  Maggie turned to Daniel, “Maggie? Why do you keep calling me Maggie?”

  “Because we know each other.”

  Maggie was confused only because she knew something was happening that was probably beyond mortal comprehension.

  “Of course we know each other!” Maggie exclaimed. “Thomas, what’s going on?” she said to me, after I had finally turned off the sprinklers.

  “We have a history.”

  “Of only a year,” she stated.

  I picked up his head and looked Maggie in the eyes. “Of more than 100 years.”

  Maggie stood up and initially felt like running out of the house, but her legs were powerless.

  An innocent bystander might have surmised that Maggie’s inability to move had something to do with Daniel’s influence. She was so frustrated, but her temporary paralysis had nothing to do with the original son.

  “That isn’t logical! What are you talking about 100 years, Thomas? And what does Daniel have to do with this? No offense Daniel, but why are you here with Thomas?”

  “Would you rather have us answer each question sequentially, or would you rather see a sensory presentation?” Daniel asked.

  “Sensory presentation? What is he talking about, Thomas?”

  I stood up and walked a few paces over to Maggie, “Why don’t you sit down, my love.”

  I guided her to the couch and we both sat down facing the middle of the room.

  “You’re on,” I said to Daniel.

  Life-size 3-D images of our family back in early 20th century San Francisco appeared as we all watched.

  “How is he doing this? Is that me?” Maggie asked as I motioned for Daniel to put the image in her head so she couldn’t talk over it.

  The men watched the 3-D image while Maggie had the story of their lives played internally. She was walking in San Francisco – much the way she did when she went on her modern-day interview. The action played out again as Maggie saw herself holding a little boy’s hand and walking next to a tall, sleek man. In her previous flashback, she had a full view of the young boy but couldn’t quite make out the man’s face.

  “Look at Nathanial, honey. He’s so happy!” she gushed.

  “So am I,” a familiar male voice replied as Maggie moved in for a kiss. As she got closer, my face finally came out of the shadows.

  Maggie’s body in the present and sitting on the couch twitched at the sight of Hartwell. Her former self said, “I love you, Thomas.”

  Daniel had cued up another five minutes of highlights, but he could see that Maggie was struggling to get out.

  I commented, “I used to have a lot more flair back then.”

  “That was a nice three-piece suit,” Daniel replied.

  “Tweed,” I stated.

  Maggie rubbed her eyes and immediately went on the offensive. “Are you two saying that I was married to Thomas in a prior life?”

  We both nodded in agreement.

  “Daniel was that boy – what was his name – Nathanial? What that you?”

  “Yes,” Daniel replied.

  “How is that humanly possible?” she asked.

  “How is that humanly possible?” I inquired. “That we were together back then?”

  Maggie furiously shook her head, “No! No, I’m willing to accept that we were all together in what appeared to be the late 1800’s or early 1900’s…”

  “She’s good,” Daniel said to me.

  “What I’m really having a hard time with is how we are all sitting here now? Again, how is that humanly possible?”

  I simply stated, “It’s not.”

  “What do you mean, Thomas?"

  “I mean that it’s not humanly possible, my dear.”

  Not only was Maggie agitated, she was also extremely uncomfortable with the thought of the life she knew being in question.

  She stood up again as her legs regained their ability to function again.

  “Are you saying that you two are not mortal beings?”

  I replied, “I am, but he’s not.”

  “But there was a time – actually most of the time – when I was and you weren’t,” Daniel said to me.

  “That is true,” I replied.

  “Thomas, you are mortal?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a relief,” Maggie said as she smiled and let out a huge sigh. “What are you Daniel? That is, if you’re saying you’re not human.”

  Daniel looked at me and I nodded that it was all right to disclose the truth.

  “I am a vampire,�
� Daniel stated, as he edged up to the end of the couch cushion.

  “A vampire?” Maggie exclaimed. “Thomas, how can this be? How can this boy be a vampire?”

  I looked at Daniel this time, and nodded that I had to tell her the truth.

  “I turned him.”

  “You turned this boy into a vampire?” Maggie shrieked as her maternal instinct kicked in. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because he’s my son. Because he’s your son.” Maggie was starting to unravel.

  “Are you going to ‘turn’ me now?”

  I replied, “I can’t turn anyone anymore.”

  “Why is that?”

  “Because I was killed for the 100th time and then became mortal.”

  “How long were you a vampire?” she continued her straight line of questioning.

  “For more than 100 years.”

  Maggie paced back and forth as the information slowly permeated her brain.

  “I can show you more if that will help?” Daniel offered to help.

  But that only put him in harm’s way, “There’s more? I think I’ve seen and heard quite enough for one day, wouldn’t you say, Thomas?”

  The question was rhetorical, so it was apparent that Maggie was at the end of her rope.

  “Good day, gentlemen.”

  We stood up, and I moved toward Maggie, somehow feeling as if intimacy would rule the day.

  She looked up at Hartwell, who looked back with his sad puppy-dog eyes.

  “I think we’re done here, Thomas,” Maggie said without a hint of emotion.

  “But Maggie…" I started to protest until she put her hand up in a stop sign.

  “No buts, Thomas. It’s time for you to go.”

  “If that’s your wish,” I said.

  “That’s my wish,” Maggie stated.

  Weeks later, Daniel sought Maggie out and explained that there was a time just after they both had passed away from the black plague. Hartwell was so distraught that he was seconds away from ending his own life. He then brought her back to watch it all unfold.

  I picked up a gun off the table and slowly lifted it toward my head, but was interrupted by a loud knock on the front door.

  “Don’t do it, Thomas!” Maggie yelled as if she could alter the outcome. She and Daniel were standing only a few feet from old me – it was one of Daniel’s newest innovations: virtual reality. He could now be in the scene during the flashbacks, but could not affect anything around him – at least not yet.

  I let a man into the house and then was told that if he ever wanted to see my wife and child again, that there was only one way to do it. And that way was to die and be reborn as a vampire.

  “Oh my god,” a shocked Maggie said when she could finally exhale. She then turned to Daniel and said, “Look what he did for us,” as she watched a PG version of me being brutally killed after the vampire, Alexander Lowery, fed off me.

  A montage then ensued of my emotional struggles throughout the 100 years I was without my family. All of the times I thought I saw Maggie and my son, only to stare defeat down with each passing day. The loneliness, the heartache, the lingering doubts over whether Lowery was telling the truth.

  Of course, Daniel left out all of my carousing and hedonistic partying – not exactly required viewing for a relationship on the mend.

  Maggie and Daniel were back in Beach Haven, sitting on the beach in a couple of beach chairs.

  “So, how did you become a vampire? I mean, I assume that Thomas – your father – what’s the term? ‘Turned’ you.”

  Daniel had a flashback for every question and occasion. He was going to beam them into the hospital, but Maggie said, “Could you do one of those 3-D things in front of us? I like being on the beach, she said as she wriggled her toes in the sand.

  Maggie looked down at the picture and said, “That’s nice, Daniel. Daniel had replaced himself in the room with me, who was

  walking aimlessly in town.

  Maggie looked up and said, “Thomas!”

  She jumped in his arms and they hugged like their lives depended on it.

  “I never want to be apart from you again,” she said in an emotional whisper.

  “I can live with that,” I replied.

  Daniel was watching the reunion from the next room and started to feel for the first time in his life - or death - that the family was finally coming together, which was my dream all along.