by Dani Hoots
She laughed gently, unlike the laughs I had heard earlier sounding like ones from Satan and his minions. “You really do love her, don’t you Henry? Your dear Alice? “she asked tauntingly.
I wondered where she was going with this, and why she even cared, being the evil creature that she was. At least I knew Alice would be safe since these creatures only stayed in the Highlands and Alice would never come up here to find me. “I love her more than words could ever describe.”
The baobhan sith smiled. “Well then, I’m going to give you exactly what you want, Henry,” she gently placed her fingers on my eyelids, making me close them. “Just don’t resist any of it.”
She dug her nails into my throat. I gasped in pain, thinking that this was the end. But instead, it felt like more energy was being pushed into my body, more power in a sense. This wasn’t how I thought death would feel, I imagined something a bit more energy-draining than this. Darkness started to overcome me and the last thing I remembered was the cackling laugh of the baobhan sith.
When I opened my eyes, all I saw was light. I panicked for a moment, believing temporarily that I had found myself in the afterlife. I blinked a few times, my eyes trying to adjust to the light. It didn’t seem like my eyes could adjust themselves to the light. Pain burned them. After I moment, I found that I wasn’t in the afterlife, but rather in some kind of room. A medical bay.
I was no longer in the Highlands. What had happened?
“Henry?” a voice called. It sent shivers down my spine. Those creatures. I couldn’t get away from them. How could they have followed me? I started to panic when I felt a hand rest on my cheek.
My eyes adjusted a little better to the light coming from the window and I looked up to find my fiancé standing there, her hand gently stroking my cheek.
My Alice.
“Oh, Henry,” she wrapped her arms around me. Happiness rushed through my veins. I took in a deep breath of her scent. She always smelt of raspberries and... something different, something strange I never noticed before. It smelled sweet and refreshing. The scent was oddly… satisfying.
I had no idea what this new smell was, but it made me feel complete. I was so glad to see her safe and sound. After all this time, after all the pain I had endured, I could finally be with her. I could finally enjoy the sight of her face.
She released her embrace and I took a look around. I had no idea where I was but found other cots piled around with wounded people. Was I back home?
“They said they didn’t know when you would wake up. You had a concussion and had lost a lot of blood. You are the only one who survived.”
I tried to take in what she was saying. “Survived?”
She combed her finger through my hair. “Oh, dear. You don’t remember do you? Some rogue Highlanders attacked you and your men while at the inn. You are the only one who made it out alive. They rushed you to a hospital and worked on you in Glasgow and moved you here in Nottingham. You have been asleep for over a week.”
An attack? I didn’t recall any of that, I remembered something completely different. I remembered a storm, and those creatures. They tore up my men and drank their blood. I had witnessed it, at least I thought I had. I rubbed my head. Maybe she was right, maybe there was an attack. Everything seemed so fuzzy, but I could imagine those creatures perfectly, especially the one who called my name.
Was it all just a dream?
She embraced me again, while I was lost in my thoughts. “I was so worried, I’m so happy you are awake.”
I held her tight. I didn’t want to let her go of her ever again. I had lost so many people, my entire group had been killed. I wanted to forget them, I just wanted her at my side and forget all of this. I tried not to think of my men, I swore that they had died a different way, I swore a creature attacked us. But Alice wouldn’t lie, maybe a rouge group did attack us. It did seem possible.
Once I wedded her and we had our pub, there would be no necessity to return to the battlefield. I wouldn’t have to deal with death any longer. Whether it were creatures or men that had attacked me, I knew one thing for certain. I didn’t want to wait for life any longer.
“Marry me, Alice.”
She pulled back and stared at me, confused. “We already planned on it, Henry, don’t you remember? We are going to have a summer wedding and...”
I shook my head. We had been planning the wedding already, but I didn’t want to wait until summer to be married to her If anything, I needed to escape my haunting past. “No, marry me now. I don’t want to spend another day without you. I am retiring from the Royal Army, we can start up the pub, just you and me. We can have a celebration later, but right now I just want you. Let’s elope.”
Alice stared at me, her eyes sparkling. Coming from a poor broken family, the thought of marriage always brought a smile to her face. She didn’t want me to leave for battle, in fear that our love would be all for nothing. Now that I was back, there was nothing stopping us. Finally, she nodded her head. “Yes, Henry, let’s do it! Let’s get married!”
I pulled her in and kissed her hard, her lips tasting of cinnamon and sugar. If I could, I would kiss her at every moment of the day. I had missed her sweet lips for so long.
She moved back and smiled. I stroked the side of her cheek. “Now go find someone to discharge me from this hospital. Then we can go find a priest.”
“Are you sure you are up for it? You were badly injured when they brought you in,” she fretted, concerned about my personal welfare.
I grinned. “I feel fine now that I am with you. There is nothing to worry about, the doctors will check to make sure I am fine. Now go get them.”
She nodded and did just that. The doctors checked me out to make sure I was fine before being released. To their surprise, I had healed just fine and more quickly than they had thought. I figured it was the power of love, not focusing on the strange sensation that was settling in my gut. There was pain there, even though the doctors had given me something to eat. I ignored it though, figuring it was just my nerves acting in advance of the marriage that was about to happen. The doctors dismissed me from their care, still curious as to how I had regained my strength back so fast when I had been asleep for over a week. I told them that nothing would hold me back from getting married that day.
But something in the back of my mind was telling me something different. Something told me that I had changed that night on the Highlands, but I just couldn’t figure out how.
Alice and I ran to the nearest church and demanded the priest at the church Alice to marry us that day. It was a small little church that I had been to once or twice in one of the corners of Nottingham. At the time, the church was unoccupied by any parishioners, which we were both happy for. We didn’t want to have to wait until some other marriage or solemn occasion happening there that day was finished, before we got married as soon as humanly possible.
To be honest, I was a little afraid to get married. It was a big commitment after all, but it was one I was willing to take. I loved Alice with all my heart and nothing would change that. I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. I wanted to forget everything that transpired before this moment, I wanted a new life with her, erasing everything else.
After some convincing, the priest did marry us. I told him my tale of fighting throughout the war and escaping death more than once. Given the circumstances now, marrying my beautiful Alice would be the best way to escape the past, and occupy the future with new prospects of marriage, and the creation of a new life for the both of us. He agreed it to be a good reason to marry and, after the ceremony, I swept Alice back to my home just down the street above a little shop, where most homes or flats were situated in these kinds of English cities. It wasn’t just my home any longer—it was our home.
Walking through the threshold of my flat, I carried Alice and placed her on my bed. We were both ready for this, wanting to become one flesh again. Although we had gone to bed with each before I left, this was differe
nt. This felt more official.
I kissed her gently on the mouth. She tasted sweet, satisfying even. I wanted this so bad, dreaming of it the entire time I was away. I climbed on top of her, adjusting my hips between her legs. My lips moved down her cheek and then onto her neck.
Something entranced me as I brought my lips onto her neck. An internal feeling, a longing. It felt like a hunger, like I needed it to survive. The pain in my stomach grew stronger and stronger.
I bit down.
“Ow!” she exclaimed. “Henry, why did you bite me?”
I blinked, realizing what I had done. What had possessed me to do such a thing? It wasn’t something I would ever dream of doing. “I’m sorry dearest,” I looked into her eyes. “I didn’t realize what I was doing, Alice. I just...”
Her eyes were glossy, as if in a trance.
Just like the men’s eyes were on the Highlands, after those damnable creatures put them under their spell.
I gulped. “Alice?” How could have I done this, and why was this happening? It didn’t make sense.
Unless something happened to me that I didn’t remember. I recalled something cutting my throat. I felt my skin. There was no wound, so what had happened?
Alice didn’t say a word as her eyes glossed over and she became entranced with me, not refusing any of my movements. I was about to ask what was wrong again when I glanced back down at her neck. I could feel her pulse, smell the sweet scent coming off her. Something in the back of my mind was beckoning me, something was drawing me to bring my hand to her neck. I traced my finger against her throat, feeling the blood pounding with every beat of her heart. It was pleasing, it was satisfying, as if this was what I had been longing to do since I had opened my eyes, before our impromptu wedding plans. Her skin was soft. I kissed her once more with my lips. I couldn’t breathe, the haunting feeling drawing every last breath. I stroked her throat with my thumb once more as she didn’t move, seeming to be put in a trance by the sound of my voice.
Then I dug my nail into her skin.
Blood came dripping out of her throat and I brought my lips to it. Alice didn’t move nor scream as I drank the sweet nectar coming out of her veins. It tasted better than anything I had ever consumed. It was more intoxicating than any scotch, sweeter than any ripe fruit I had ever had. I let it take complete control over me. I didn’t want it to ever end. The pain in my stomach subsided, as if this is what it had been longing for the entire time. For blood.
But something in the back of my head repeated the word: Alice.
I jumped back, blinking, coming out of the trance that I had put myself in. What was I doing? What had I done? She was my love, she was my life. I looked down at Alice. Her skin was white.
I shook her. “Alice, Alice, wake up!”
She didn’t move. I shook her again but I knew she appeared white as ghost, just as Ralph and the others appeared on that horrifying day back in the Highlands, the day I wanted to forget. She was gone. I couldn’t comprehend what had happened. It was just like what those creatures of the night, back in the highlands, had done to all my men.
But this time it was me.
I laid my head down on her soft, motionless body, tears falling down from my eyes without cessation. I was shaking uncontrollably, not understanding how I could do such a thing to the woman I loved. They had done this to her, it was their fault. They had done this to me. I wanted my Alice back, but I knew that wasn’t possible. All I wanted now was revenge, revenge for what I had done to her.
I had to get answers. I had to get away and get revenge. There was only one place I could go.
Back to the Highlands.
It took days to get back to the Highlands. I had to jump from town to town in the night, not being able to stay out in the day. The sun burnt my skin, after I had taken more blood into my system, even if the clouds hid the sun away on any given day. I stayed in inns along the way, hoping no one would take notice that I traveled out during the night instead of the day. Nothing stood out about this time, at least not that I recall. I took the blood of innocent lives on the way. Every time I drank their blood, I remembered Alice lying there, staring at me with lifeless eyes. I couldn’t even think about it without driving myself insane.
As I made it to the Highlands, it was raining, as usual. I didn’t know this place unless it was cold and dreary. I came upon the hills and I could hear her calling me.
“Henry...”
The voice of the devil, as I now considered her. I looked all around, but I didn’t see any trace of her. I screamed out, my voice echoing through the valley. “What have you done to me?!”
She appeared in front of me, slowly caressing my face with her hand. She was as silent and beautiful as ever. I hated her beauty with a passion. I wanted to destroy it, slash her, and make something imperfect out of this seemingly perfect monstrosity. But I couldn’t move, she still had a hypnotic effect on me.
She smiled. “I gave you exactly what you wanted.”
I shook my head. “No, I didn’t want this! You made me into a monster! You made me...” I placed a hand over my mouth and collapsed to my knees, the tears falling from my eyes quickly disappeared in the rain. I had killed her with my own hands. Nothing could make the pain go away.
My sweet Alice, what had I done?
“It was up to you who to kill, it was you who couldn’t control it,” she whispered in my ear. “You didn’t want to live with her, you didn’t want to be with her forever.”
“Yes I did!” I shouted back at her. “I wanted to have a family with her! I wanted to grow old with her! To be with her forever!” I could barely choke out the rest of the sentence. “Now she’s gone.”
“If that were the case,” she lifted my chin to look at her. Her eyes were like diamonds, glistening in moonlight. I hated their eyes so much, their beauty hiding the hideousness that was inside. “You wouldn’t have killed her. You would have brought her here, knowing I could make her into the same type of creature as you, as us, and you two could have lived forever.”
I stared at her. She was right, I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to drink her blood so badly. My face collapsed in my hands. It was all me. My hunger. My thirst. My desire. Nothing would change that fact. Nothing could change the fact that I had killed her, not the lady I saw before me. It hit me like a wall, a wall that destroyed every emotion in my body, every caring feeling for humans. The only pain I felt was her death, which would haunt me for the rest of eternity.
“Now you are stuck living an eternity without her, because you couldn’t control yourself. You should have put it together, Henry, you should have made her into what you are,” she scratched my cheek and licked the blood off her finger. “Then we all could have lived happily ever after.”
I shook my head. “I would never do this to her, I would never go to these lengths.”
“Then you must not have loved her like you say you do. If you loved her, you would have made it so you would always be with her till the end of time.”
“No, love is about putting your loved one’s life above your own. I would have never done this to her without her permission, that isn’t what love is about.”
“To put one’s life above your own is ridiculous. You won’t survive out here if you live like that. And believe me, after time passes, you will begin to think the same,” she let out a little laugh and disappeared into the fog.
That’s what it was like, talking with these creatures. Being with these creatures. They made you realize your deepest and darkest desires. They made you do things that you never thought you would do. And why? Just to pass the time. They didn’t care about who they hurt, they didn’t care about who they played with. It was all just a game.
Now, as I walk the nights through Nottingham, I watch as couples look up at the stars, giving them a moment of bliss before I take away from them what was taken away from me. Their love would never last anyway, I was doing them a favor. It wouldn’t work, something always would get in the w
ay and they would get hurt. I was just ending it for them, letting them not live in torture as I had been doing for the past few centuries.
With every kill, with every human who looks up to me and begs for me to save them, I think back to the night when I pleaded with her to save my life.
I wish I had never resisted death.
Even as I stay in this place, I can see the rapid changes occurring all throughout the land I’ve called home for so many years. Centuries have passed and I have watched as people, inhabitants or not, come into this land, looking for adventure or just to settle down. I was once one of those people, a young girl wanting both adventure but also a home. I must have wanted adventure more than a home because only adventure could have trapped me where I was now, dreaming of the day I can return to the real world, if that was even possible. I knew myself to be a fool for thinking that, but one could always hope.
As I look out into the world, I can see the ongoing thirst for vampire stories, both old and new, resonate through the land, and, I presume, through the world. I’ve watched as trucks zoomed past, logos of the newest media trend plastered on their sides. How can they believe that a creature as vile as the vampire could ever have feelings for a human being? It is a lie, they will never understand the truth of the creature who is hiding in the shadows, waiting to take another human victim as their prey. They will never understand the lies of all the stories they hear about the monsters that hide in the night. They didn’t sparkle, they didn’t have feelings or remorse. There was no stopping them from doing what they want. They will go to whatever lengths they could to survive, destroying only God knows what just to get their way in the end.
If I could, I would leave this place and knock some sense into these humans. They don’t understand the horror and pain that these creatures are usually known to cause. Every time I hear of a love story between a human and vampire, I feel like I might spit out the vile taste such an idea tends to leave in my mouth. They aren’t loving, they aren’t caring. If anything, they are evil beings, who only care about themselves. And if anything, they are conniving, selfish bastards that will do anything to survive.