In Love With A Vampire

by M. J. Stevens

  “Lipton,” Jesse called as she swiveled her glance back at Lipton. Her voice had gone softer, a huge contrast to the storm that was brewing within her. “Is-is … that really you?” Jesse looked deep into Lipton’s eyes, trying to see into his soul, trying to see if he really was the Lipton whom she knew.

  “Jesse,” Lipton began to say, his voice edged with pain. “I-I …. yes … I’m Lipton.” It seemed to took all the strength of the world for him to form those words.

  Jesse recognized the timbre of his voice, the gleam of his eyes, the way he twitched his head when he was emotionally overwhelmed … everything about him convinced Jesse that he was really the Lipton she knew. She couldn’t even detect a single trace of evil in those eyes, or anything that would associate him with Catan. He was the complete opposite of Catan, and there was no way this man could be Catan. Initially, Jesse had thought that the man standing before her now was actually Catan, who had magically disguised himself as Lipton to deceive both Jesse and Maggie as a ploy to gain sympathy from them. But when she really studied Lipton’s face and gazed deep into his eyes, Jesse couldn’t see Catan in those eyes. Even if Catan were to disguise himself as somebody else, Catan wouldn’t be able to conceal the evil gleam in his eyes because that was a natural part of him, just like the way a leopard couldn’t change its spots.

  When everything finally sank in and Jesse realized that it was the real Lipton she was seeing, she broke into tears and slowly approached Lipton, her body trembling with the weight of emotions pressed against her.

  “Oh my God!” Jesse cried. “It’s really you, isn't it? B-but … how? I saw you were transformed from someone else … I-I ..” Jesse’s voice trailed off, her body still trembling from the shock she was feeling.

  “Yes, you’re right, Jesse,” Lipton confessed, his eyes filled with grief and pain. “I underwent a transformation … I changed from Catan into me.”

  Hearing the name Catan stunned Jesse as though she was slammed by a heavy brick inside and it sent chills down her spine.

  “Catan?” Jesse cried. “How can this happen? I don’t understand! Is this part of some spell? I don’t get it. I don’t get what is going on.” Jesse looked like she was on the brink of hysteria, but when she realized that her emotions were getting to her, she mustered all her will to calm herself down, and she was able to attain some degree of self-composure, even though her insides were churning like a whirlpool.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this …” Lipton said in a heavy tone, occasionally flicking his eyes to his feet as if part of him was ashamed of himself, “but I’m not who you think I am. I’m someone else as well. It’s really hard to tell you, but I think that I’m wronging you if I withhold this secret from you any longer …”

  Jesse’s eyes widened. “Secret? What secret?” Even though Jesse had a hunch where Lipton was going with all of this, Jesse wanted to believe that this was just a dream, and that when she pinched herself hard, she’d wake up from this horrible nightmare and hopefully never had to relive it.

  Lipton let out a heavy sigh, his wings arching as if he were ready to divulge an important secret. “Catan and I are both the same person. Catan had transformed into me, and now here I am. And I’ll transform back into Catan anytime from now, and vice versa …”

  “What? You’re Catan? How could this be possible? I don’t believe you!”

  Lipton’s shoulders sagged dejectedly, his heart stricken with the pain of pushing the ugly truth out to Jesse, making him seem like the devil in her eyes. He didn’t mean for her to see him like this, changing from Catan into himself, but Jesse had already seen the transformation, and there was no way he could run away anymore and hide the truth from her.

  “Jesse, I’m Catan,” Lipton squared his shoulders, mustering as much composure as he could even though he felt somewhat fragile inside, vulnerable, revealing the secret part of him which he’d attempted to keep from Jesse all this time. “I’ve been cursed centuries ago …”

  Lipton began to tell Jesse about how he’d been cursed a very long time ago by a powerful sorceress named Jacelyn. The curse had bound Lipton and Catan as one entity, so when one of them manifested, the other would be suppressed, and vice versa. There was no cure for the curse, so Lipton was damned to live with the curse for the rest of his life. Lipton had tried to kill himself many times as he couldn’t bear to live with the curse, but he couldn’t die because his spirit was bound with Catan, who was an immortal, so there was no way for Lipton to die.

  When Lipton finished with the whole story, Jesse finally understood everything he had said and she burst into tears, overwhelmed by the thunderous emotions that ran through her. She couldn’t believe that Lipton and Catan shared the same body, and the mere thought of that sickened her. How could one person so evil be melded with another person who was kind and good? How could the sorceress be so heartless as to bind the two of them together into one entity … for eternity?

  Jesse stared at Lipton through the blur of tears in her eyes, her heart filled with a rush of deep sympathy for him. Imagine living with a demonic vampire serial killer for the rest of your life … It ripped Jesse’s heart to think that Lipton had to go through such an agonizing ordeal for eternity.

  Jesse edged closer toward Lipton, gazing deep into his eyes, her heart melting when she saw the pure gleam of kindness in those eyes, a stark contrast to Catan’s sinister appearance. Lipton was the epitome of perfection, goodness … and Jesse couldn’t comprehend for one second that this man who was standing before her could possibly change into the evil form of Catan any moment from now.

  How could he be cursed as such? It wasn’t fair for him. He was a man of honor, and Jesse could sense that he had a heart of gold from the first time she set her eyes on him. She could look into his soul, and maybe that was part of the reason why she was somewhat attracted to him, even though she tried hard to resist, stuck in her own denial. He had a pure soul, and Jesse knew that he would even sacrifice his life for what was right and just.

  “Lipton!” Jesse cried, suppressing the urge to run to him and throw her arms around him. “Why have you never told me all about this? A-about this curse? Why did you keep this all from me?”

  Seeing that Jesse was trembling anxiously again, Maggie quickly draped an arm around her, providing as much comfort as she could to her and assuring Jesse that things were going to be alright.

  “I couldn’t tell you!” Lipton responded, his voice raw and hoarse. “If I told you, you’ve have hated me and turned me away. You’ve have seen me differently. I-I couldn’t bear for you to hate me … I just can’t. I-I …” Lipton couldn’t keep the words out, but he knew that he wanted to say them aloud … say how much he loved her, and wished for all eternity that she could be his. But he couldn’t tell her that, not when he wasn’t sure what she felt about him.

  Jesse waited for him to continue, but Lipton stumbled on his words, and when he realized that he couldn’t utter another word, he just kept quiet, his face etched with agony and sadness.

  “Lipton, what is it?” Jesse demanded, her voice shaking.

  “I-I … love you,” he finally confessed, looking at Jesse’s face to see her reaction.

  Jesse gasped. Lipton had just told her straight in the face that he loved her. Suddenly, a plethora of emotions swirled within Jesse’s chest with full force, shattering her senses. She couldn’t think, she couldn’t speak. Her mind was a complete blank for that brief moment, and it felt as though her world had suddenly become detached from her. When she finally regained all her senses again and was able to attain some degree of composure, she finally knew what brought Lipton here in the first place.

  It dawned upon Jesse that Lipton was here because he was the person that she loved, not Ken. Even though she had tried to deny her own true feelings for Lipton, the Return Spell couldn’t be fooled. The Spell knew the intimate part of her heart, where it detected her real feelings of love … love for Lipton, and not Ken. And because of that, the sp
ell actually brought Lipton to her instead of Ken. Of course, it inevitably brought Catan to her as well because Lipton and Catan were the same person, who were bound by the horrendous curse which tortured them for centuries until today.

  Jesse finally understood everything that had happened. The spell had worked fine. Jesse had to finally let the walls of her defense and admit to herself that she couldn’t fool herself anymore by pretending to love Ken when it was Lipton whom her heart desired and loved.

  Jesse sprang toward Lipton and sobbed in his chest. “Oh, Lipton … I love you too. I’ve been meaning to tell you how I felt about you, but I just didn’t have the courage. I had a husband who was loving and caring, so I tried to push you out of my life because I actually have feelings for you, and I didn’t feel that it was right because I was a married woman. But now I realize that I can’t hold back those feelings anymore … and it is you whom I love, Lipton.” Jesse tilted her head back to see Lipton’s expression.

  The look of relief and renewed joy was plastered on Lipton’s face, brightening his features and chasing away the last vestiges of gloom from his expression. Lipton pushed Kalista’s head toward his face and started kissing her, and Jesse reciprocated his love by deepening the kiss, wrapping her arms tight around him as he did the same.

  Maggie stared at the loving couple with utter shock, and she couldn’t believe that Jesse was in love with this mysterious man … this man whom she had never seen before in her life but heard about. Jesse had told Maggie about Lipton before, and it seemed that everything Jesse had said about Lipton was true. He was indeed the picture of raw beauty, with his chiseled body and majestic white wings stretched out behind him. Maggie had to admit that Lipton was indeed a handsome creature, who could probably make women swoon over him and worship him at his feet. Maggie’s heart warmed at the sight of the two of them showing gestures of love to one another, and all the shock and fear that had consumed her dissipated into thin air.

  Jesse was lost in that moment, and she couldn’t think of anyone else but the man who stood before him, with an aura which awed her, delighted her. Lipton showered her with kisses all over face, sending a jolt of electricity across her body, making her feel like she could explode with a level of joy she had never experienced before. Ken had never made her feel that way like Lipton did … it seemed as though Lipton knew all the right buttons to press, and he was always hundred per cent correct all the time. Jesse felt like the luckiest woman in the world to be shown such love by this man, who had always seemed like an enigma to her. Even till now, there were still many secrets about him she had yet to uncover, but that was probably part of the reason why Jesse was attracted to him. There was something sensual and attractive about the mysteries that surrounded him.

  She’d completely forgotten about Catan, and everything about Catan went into the history books. Catan was obsolete to her now, and all that mattered to Jesse at this point of time was having Lipton by her side.

  When they finally stopped kissing and pulled back, Jesse took the time to gaze deep into Lipton’s dreamy eyes. Jesse could look into those eyes forever, drowning in the deep blue sea of his eyes. Her heart rate accelerated just the sight of him, and she could just stare at him forever. His perfectly shaped nose and strong jawbone. The alluring way his eyebrows arched whenever he had that look of love on his face.

  Jesse relished in that rare, tender moment which sent sparks of electricity all around her, and she felt like she could rocket all the way to the clouds as the overwhelming sensation surged through her. She was lost in his eyes as she continued gazing at him, and when she thought she saw a flicker of darkness flash in those eyes, a loud siren thundered through her thoughts, and her heart pounded heavily as cold dread filled her. Did she just see something ominous in his eyes? She suddenly felt conscious, and wary at the same time.

  Catan was lurking within those eyes, waiting for a chance to manifest. Jesse was positively sure that the momentary shadowy gleam she saw in Lipton’s eyes belonged to Catan. And instantly, her heart fell, and she cowered, tilting her head backward as though she was afraid that Catan was going to manifest at any moment without warning. She had enjoyed the feeling of being locked in a tight embrace with Lipton earlier on, but she also realized that she was hugging Catan at the same time, even though he was suppressed within the confines of Lipton’s body. A shiver went down her spine at the thought that she was enveloped in an intimate moment with Lipton, but at the same time she was also doing it in Catan’s presence, and it chased away all the ribbons of joy she had felt earlier … into oblivion.

  “Is anything wrong?” Lipton asked, noticing that Jesse’s expression had suddenly become slightly gloomy.

  “I-I …” Jesse began, feeling both fear and joy at the same time. The fear that she was in such close proximity to Catan, who was trapped inside Lipton’s body for now … and the joy of being in the presence of the one whom she loved … Lipton. Those mixed emotions whirled within her, sending her into a state of confusion.

  “What’s wrong?” Lipton demanded, cupping Jesse’s chin while staring at her with those loving eyes. That dark gleam in his eyes had vanished, but Jesse’s heart still beat in anxiety, knowing that it wouldn’t be long before Catan would manifest again. How could she ever have a relationship with someone like Lipton? She couldn’t possibly imagine spending a life with him and building their own family. Not when he was bound with Catan in this treacherous curse. All the happy thoughts of building a life with Lipton behind that perfect white-picket fence … all vanished when the image of Catan seeped into her mind like a deadly poison.

  “It’s Catan,” Jesse confessed, another fresh wave of chills running down her spine at hearing herself mention his name.

  Lipton had a sudden pained look of his face, his shoulder sagging in utter dejection. “I get it, Jesse. I’m not worth your love … not when I share the same body with Catan …”

  “No, don’t get me wrong, Lipton!” Jesse cried, her heart bleeding with the hurt that had slammed into her very core. “I do love you … and I’m not going to give up loving you just because you’re bound by this stupid curse! We’ll find a way to destroy Catan for good! I promise!”

  Lipton chuckled for a brief moment, looking like he had gone insane. Dumbfounded by his unexpected amusement, Jesse asked, “Are you OK?”

  Lipton stopped laughing, shaking his head incredulously. His expression suddenly turned dark again, lined with frowning lines.

  “Don’t you see?” Lipton began, his voice edged with frustration. “There is no way you can kill Catan. You kill Catan … you kill me … we’re inter-related by this curse. Whatever happens to him will happen to me. But you know what? I think it’s a good idea. Just kill me so Catan will be gone for good. I’d sacrifice my life for the greater good, and as long as Catan remains alive, the world will never be a safe place. So just find a way to kill me!”

  “No!!!!” Jesse wailed, the truth dawning upon her like darts, piercing into her heart. “I will not kill you! I’ll find a way … there’s always a way.” Jesse shot Maggie a quick glance, and demanded, “Maggie! There’s got to be a way to kill Catan without killing Lipton. There has to be! Please tell me that there is a magical workaround! Please! You’re the Enchantress! There must be some kind of magic that can fix this …”

  Maggie crossed her hands over her chest, deep in thought as she tried to access the situation. Jesse watched her intensely, her heart praying hard that Maggie would say the words that she needed to hear … that there was indeed a magical way to reverse the curse … to undo what was done upon Lipton centuries ago by this vengeful sorceress.

  “I wish I could do something to help,” Maggie said with a rueful expression on her face, making Jesse’s heart sink lower than the lowest point. “But from what I can sense, this curse is indeed really powerful, and it would take three times the strength of my power to undo it. Yes, it takes high magnitude of power to tackle this wretched curse. I’m afraid I don’t have th
e power or strength to overcome this curse. I-I’m … sorry …”

  Jesse buried her face in her hands, every last ray of hope dissipating from her heart. How could there be no power great enough to undo this curse? There must be a powerful Enchantress somewhere in this world who might have the power strong enough to tackle this curse.

  “Then kill me,” Lipton finally said, his voice firm. “Find a way to kill me.”

  “No!” Jesse protested vehemently, the anger rising in her at the thought that Lipton would just simply give up like that. “I won’t let you do that! I won’t!”

  Lipton suddenly laughed, the lines on his forehead deepening.

  Jesse stared at him with mouth agape. “What’s so funny? How could you laugh at a time like this? How could you take this matter so lightly?”

  Lipton shook his head, easing up on his laughter. “Don’t you get it? I was just joking when I told you to kill me. It was just a joke. You know why? Because no matter what you tried to do … you can never kill me.”

  Jesse tried to let Lipton’s words sink in, and when she realize what he’d just said, she gasped out loud. “Are you saying that you can’t die because you’re … immortal?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. I can’t die no matter how many ways I try to kill myself. Because this curse has bound me to Catan, who is a vampire with an eternal life. With this binding curse, I’m also fated to live an immortal life because of this supernatural association with Catan. So I can’t die because of him …”

  Jesse staggered toward the nearest stool and collapsed onto it, her whole body weighed with hopelessness and dejection. Even though she was partly relieved to hear that Lipton couldn’t die because of his immortality, she was also furious that Catan was able to live eternally as well, and sharing the same body with Lipton for life. It was so unfair for Lipton, and he shouldn’t be subjected to such a torture due to the binding curse.

  “Then we have to kill Catan!” Jesse burst, springing up, fueled with new waves of rage rushing through her body.