by David Paul
Once again, I found myself on the ground, but this time with broken ribs and bleeding from a different wound. Capello’s spell had worn off sometime ago, and I was now my normal self. The pain was becoming worse, and I was drained from exhaustion and blood loss. I felt myself fading in and out of consciousness. My body was in shock. Somehow, I was cast into this bizarre world of evil. My entire life was spent in complete naivety to the ways of the seedy wicked underworld. It lurked right under my nose, the entire time.
“You are mine,” Regina said. Those were the last words that I heard before I became faint and collapsed.
Chapter 4: Captivity
“David, I can’t believe what you’ve been through,” Fiona said. Concern is heard in the tone of her voice.
“My life,” the vampire said, “has been a long and painful journey that has yet to end.”
“I want to know more,” Fiona said. “I want to know everything about you. It will help me understand you better. This will help explain so much between us.”
She seemed genuinely enthralled with David’s past and how it relates to their present day relationship.
“I hadn’t spoken of my past to anyone in centuries. Old names and ancient enemies really bring back what once was.”
“You’ve never spoken to me of any of this,” she said. Her eyes have stopped crying, but they are red and bloodshot. “I mean you’ve breezed through the past touching upon some interesting highlights, but never anything of real substance like tonight.”
“Tonight is the turning point in our relationship, and you are at the crossroads of your future.”
“You’ve always been such a mystery to me since we met, and you’ve kept me at arms length.” Fiona feels relieved that the vampire has opened up. She is very emotional. She is baring her soul as well. “Its like,” she said, “you’ve always had this wall up, and I could never get through to you.”
“I only did it to protect you,” the vampire said. He pulls her close to him. “I’ve been trying to shield you from an entirely different world that exists out there.”
“You don’t have to hold it all inside. I am here for you, always,” she said. She grabs onto him tightly. “You didn’t have to keep all of this to yourself.”
“I didn’t think that you would want to listen to these horrific stories.” David pulls away slightly. He drinks more wine. The vampire feels what Fiona is saying, but he cannot articulate his feelings of love to her. He is not a human. “Thank you,” he said. “I’m pleased that I can speak of these things with you.”
David had always been very emotionally closed off with his partners because he didn’t want to allow himself to ever be vulnerable. In the end, it was always David who mourned for a lost lover. It was very convenient for him to remain silent about his past. David could just put a protective bubble around his love without having to share the uncomfortable details.
Besides, living in the past was very painful to him. The days of being a human had long surpassed him, and another morbid reality had materialized. Reminiscing about the past joys as a man had its merits. Being eons away from that past point in time made those old times feel like a vivid biographical journal of someone else’s life.
He had only lived as a man for almost thirty years, and he existed as a vampire for many centuries. The persistence of time itself has played against his humanity. The bitter taste of the curse finds a way to poison every fruit. David never willingly chose this existence as a vampire, so he’ll do anything to defy it. Changing the nature of the beast is a difficult task.
It’s almost like asking a murderer to become a saint or asking a tiger to become a tame house cat. The whole thing defies nature itself. David has the power to choose who he feeds off of, but he is not able to completely neutralize the hunger itself. It is not like he is a lowly werewolf running around madly on the full moon killing whoever crosses his path. David has mastered control over all of his dark gifts, but the hunger for fresh blood cannot be undone.
In the hierarchy of evil, the vampire’s role is to wreak havoc, create fear, and torment the living. They are the epitome of evil and portray the wickedest personification of evil capable in a human being. Vampires are the recruiters of souls. They feed and perpetuate their own wicked kind. The vampires help tinker with the universal balance of good and evil. With too much good energy in the world, the balance is off because of a lack of evil. The universe would also be askew with an overabundance of evil energy. A delicate balance between the two exists both concurrently and co-dependently.
Minor ripples of fluctuation occur daily, and this can be trended out mathematically through the centuries. Basically, a fifty-fifty percentage is maintained for cosmic equilibrium of the two opposing forces. Major disruptions in the norm occur sparingly, but they are disastrous when they do occur. Minor spikes and valleys will happen frequently, but usually level off after a short while. This brings the equation back to equilibrium.
There can be no understanding of good without knowing how to gauge it versus what is considered to be evil. Every creature of the night with an allegiance to evil has its own role in the campaign. In the end, when there are wars to turn the balance, and gods step from their thrones to intervene, all that is evil will band together. Conversely, good would side with all that represents the righteous.
Mostly everyone, except David follows their role in this insane system. David tests the limits and rules of his curse. He rarely procreates by turning humans, and he usually likes to feast on people that he thinks deserve it. This makes him feel like he has some power over his curse. The fact that he makes a conscious choice gives him a sense of control over his cravings for blood. Also, this is an act of defiance towards the entire evil infrastructure.
David refused to be drafted into an army that he didn’t willingly sign up for. In the grand scheme of the cosmos, taking the life of an evil person weakens the earthly balances of evil. In the end, an evil soul would most likely find himself or herself in Hell, and that counts toward the balance of Heaven and Hell. The earthly balance is very important because spirits can only influence and infiltrate weak minds, but the truly evil walking the Earth can act without influence. Wormholes in the time-space continuum allow the demons and other spirits to enter this dimension.
A spirit or demon may search for centuries just for the opportunity of only one single soul to possess. One the other hand, Adolf Hitler possessed an entire nation and sold genocide as being acceptable. It could be argued that he was under the influence of a demon, and many braggart demons tried to take the credit for it, but a man carried out the Devil’s work nevertheless.
The age-old war is waged on a multitude of levels, on many planes of reality, and every battle counts. An intergalactic, inter-dimensional chessboard is all that it boils down to. The battle of ivory versus ebony or darkness versus the light balances an intangible scale that controls the world we live in and beyond. This is the entire the universe, paraphrased for easier comprehension.
David has never tried to explain the inner workings of the universe to anyone. It is almost unable to be comprehended by the human mind. Most humans can’t get past the concept that they are on the lower realm of the food chain. Years of being the hunter gave a false sense of power to mankind. Man’s skyscrapers give the illusion of being near the heavens, but in reality, they are closer to Hell.
David has walked in both worlds, and knew the dark secrets of the two. With almost eight hundred years roaming the world and beyond, David has seen many things. Time and wisdom go hand in hand. His wisdom is great, and he’s trying to impart some of it on Fiona. Her willingness to learn and accept his wisdom will determine her fate.
“I feel privileged that you would share this with me now,” she said. Fiona feels stupid. Many years of her life were lived in ignorance. She never thought of the possibility of there being others like David. The vampire left a great deal of details out of his past stories. She was always so smitten over David that it never
occurred to her. “I’ve been living with the wool pulled over my eyes for quite some time.”
Fiona sounded like she was having some kind of an epiphany.
“Fiona, I am doing all that I can to enlighten you.”
He lights another cigarette.
“Tell me everything, babe. I want to know what happened, especially with Regina.” David’s story has sparked her interest greatly. She pours herself more wine.
“Be patient,” he said. The vampire was wearing a minor smile. “I was getting to that part, my dear.”
Abruptly, I awoke in a lavish, stone tiled room on a huge comfortable bed. At first, I thought that I had awoken from a terrible nightmare. A familiar scent was radiating throughout the room. As I tried to rise from the bed, the pain of my broken bones snapped that illusion right out of my mind. My entire body ached from the plethora of bad bruises and deep cuts.
I was bandaged as if a medicine man had worked on me. Every time I breathed in the dank air, my ribs shocked me with an intense jolt of pain. The last facts that I remembered were Regina beating me severely and finding Katerina dead. I had no idea where I was, or what was going on. Suddenly, a voice echoed throughout the sleeping chamber and startled me.
“Why Davide, you are awake.” I didn’t even want to know what was coming next. “Come with me,” Regina commanded.
Her beauty was stunning, and it made one easily forget what she really was. She captivated me. Even her aura of pure evil was overcome by her charisma. The taboo attraction to Regina made me feel ashamed. No man could resist her. No woman could resist Regina if that was her chosen persuasion. I wanted her. At the same time, I wanted to kill her. The bizarre twist of emotions led toward the same place, the unknown. Besides, I was in no shape at all to attempt to fight Regina, and I decided to play along until a better opportunity knocked on my figurative door.
“You make it sound like she was the most beautiful thing,” Fiona said. David detected the slightest sting of sarcasm behind a wall of budding insecurities.
The vampire knew what her tone meant.
“Vampires have an evil charm that attracts people.” Fiona’s body language denoted that she wasn’t particularly fond of his answer. David knew the next question was coming as soon as he had heard her first comment.
“Babe,” he said, “I know what you are going to ask me next.”
“Be honest. Was she prettier than me?” The vampire knew it was coming. Fiona strikes a brief pose, and she awaits his response. She looks electrifying. “Well?” she asked.
She doesn’t give him much time to respond.
“She wasn’t prettier than you.” What Fiona didn’t realize is it wasn’t a question of prettier. It was a matter of Regina being like a black hole that sucked you in. No woman could compete with that. Fiona looks him right in his eyes. “No,” the vampire said, “she wasn’t prettier.”
“Do you really mean that?”
Her confidence needs a boost.
“Of course I do,” David said.
David does his best to wiggle off the hook and segue back into his tale. He was caught between a rock and a hard place, and he told a white lie to protect Fiona’s feelings. He can already see the wheels turning inside of her mind. She could never know the whole truth about his past. His affliction will not allow him to feel the guilt, but his soul burns. He doesn’t feel what humans would typically define as remorse or guilt. His own intelligence works against him and torments his mind. He cares about Fiona, and this is the only way that he can express it, and it falls short of the human standards of truth and honesty.
Slowly, I hobbled off of the comfortable bed and followed her as she had asked. My hands ached, and they were useless. I tried not to grimace because I didn’t want to give the bitch the satisfaction. Vampire or not, as a man, it was embarrassing to catch a beating from a woman. She led me down a corridor into a foyer overlooking a beautiful dining room.
Twin grand staircases led down to the dining room. Regina walked coldly ahead as I struggled to manipulate the stairs. A huge chandelier made of platinum and adorned with ornate rubies hung over an impressive oak dining table. The large table was set eloquently for five guests, but no one else was present except for the two of us.
“Be seated, my little pet,” she said. She sat down at the head of the table. I obliged Regina and took a seat as best as I could after fumbling with the heavy padded chair with my broken hand and wrist bones.
“Where am I, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“You are in Germany staying at my castle.”
“Germany? Why am I here?” I asked. Germany was hell and gone from his farm. “I don’t understand what you want from me”
“I went through all of this, just to have you as a guest for dinner.” Her sarcastic tone bit me, and her voice echoed in the dining hall. “I want your blood, Davide,” the vampire said. Her words were chilling. She didn’t try to pretend it was something else. “You have one of the rarest types of blood known to mankind, and your virginity adds a pureness that cannot be surpassed.”
“All of this for my blood?” My voice was insolent. “You ruined my life for my blood?” I asked.
“Don’t be so over-dramatic, Davide. There are many splendid things in this world that you have yet to see.”
“I don’t want to see you or any more of this God awful filth” “Watch your tone with me mortal,” she said. Her eyes were so damn cold. “I can do this in many ways. Either way, I will get what I want from you.” Regina had a royal arrogance about her. “The only difference is how much pain or pleasure that you will feel along the way.”
I saw the definition of true evil in her eyes. Regina spoke in a biting evil tongue.
One thing about Regina that I noticed was that she spoke in a manner uncommon to this time period. This was very strange because she spoke in a weird lingo that was much more modern than I was accustomed to in that period. I smelled the aroma of food, and it overpowered the stench of ancient stone and wood in the grand dining hall. Several attractive servants dressed in risqué maid outfits brought out dinner. We began dinner. This evil bitch put out quite a spread for the meal. A variety of meats, fruits, and exotic vegetables were all brought out to the table on fancy silver platters.
Surprisingly, she even served good wine.
My suspicions were that she wanted to make sure that I was very healthy for her own evil motives. It actually would have been a pleasant
Carefully watching Regina, I observed that she only drank red wine and picked at ripe fruit. One of the beautiful young servants, Svetlana, fed me like I was a child in a high chair. The servant, Svetlana, was a curly blond-haired vixen that Regina eyeballed constantly. Svetlana was the stereotypical tall, chesty Russian girl that any man would drool over. I got the awkward feeling that Regina was attracted to her as much as I was.
Unfortunately, it would have been extremely hard to feed myself without the use of my hands. Regina watched her feed me the whole time. This whole situation was entirely bizarre. Regina was so unbelievably attractive that I couldn’t stop looking at her despite my urge to kill her. Her face was flawless, and I kept finding myself lost in her eyes. Those sparkling blue eyes were both ice cold and captivating at the same time. There was no love in those eyes, only timeless mystery and deceit.
Jet-black hair that was blacker than midnight inside of a void parted uniformly on each side of her face. Pin-straight strands shimmered in the light, and her long locks hung down in sharp points. The strangest feelings of guilt were coming over me. I had no intention of being attracted to Regina. The response was almost involuntary, but my heart ached for my lost Katerina. Feelings of rage coincided with an evil brewing lust.
A childish curiosity about Regina had taken over my mind, and I wondered if it was her vampire charm or her stunning fatal beauty. Into a strange world, I had fallen. Gone were the days of a simple good life. Those days had been replaced with a seedy new world that had been unearthed from below
my everyday consciousness. Svetlana continued to feed me everything I desired from the banquet-like meal.
There was something so sensual about the way Svetlana fed me while Regina just watched us. There was some wild unspoken sex-type thing transpiring at the table. This was a bizarre novelty that I was not used to.
“Eat well, Davide because we have a long night ahead of us,” Regina said.
I didn’t quite know what she had meant by that, and I didn’t grace her with a response. All I could do was wait there quietly dining while I took in the lavish decor of the dining room. Deep down, I knew that I was in danger, but I really didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t even harm Regina when I was armed with a demon slaying artifact and under Capello’s enhancement spell. In my sorry state, I wouldn’t even be able to take out one of the pretty servants. My game plan was to keep my eyes open and observe as much as I could in this castle with hopes of finding a way out of there alive.
Dinner lingered on for hours, and the candlesticks started to burn down to their nubs at the holders. Wanting to dull my pain, I drank a decent amount of red wine. Svetlana made sure that my thirst was quenched. The red wine was something from an early French period and most likely pricey. The wine was decent by all means, but I laughed to myself knowing that I could have produced a better pressing than this. In my opinion, the pompous French didn’t know how to make a good wine.