by JN Moon
In the beginning, I thought of him as a friend, a confidant. And he still was in his own fiendish way. Maybe my feelings towards his friendship were in part because it was him who had saved me at the beginning of this nightmare, or at least I thought he had. Before him, I was alone and terrified with this transformation of horror, and he had befriended me. And again, when destiny led me to a fate worse than death at the hands of the Elite, it was him that saved me. I didn’t trust him, but I did miss him.
A unsettling and strange power surged within me. It was a bit like wearing a new coat; I liked it but I didn’t fit it yet. Cumbersome but warm.
Emidius, it was said, was thousands of years old and protective of her fragile humans. To have her blood changes you, keeps you out of reach of humanity, and I had started to sense this.
Having seen the brutality of other vampires, I was determined not to succumb to that.
Wandering back into the crypt, I took one last deep breath, trying to drive away the darkness that haunted my soul. If the Elite found me now, I’d have to face them, but I was done with this. This was not living, and living is what I wanted now more than anything.
I found myself stooping over Rachel, her pale face and pink lips, an ethereal beauty.. As I bent to kiss her a powerful yearning stirred in me. She awoke to find me drinking on her slender neck.
She sighed and I unlatched my teeth, looked at her, and grinned a bloody grin. Then I took her blood again and as my teeth sunk into her flesh, my passion awoke. As I drank from her I thought of all the people who I had bled, of my debauched past. It was as if my passion and blood lust were automated, animalistic and now I hated that. That as a vampire I cannot have one without the other. I wondered if she felt the same. Vampires, emotionally cold. Driven by sensation. It reminded me of a quote from Dorian Gray. He sought pleasure but that is not the same as happiness.
Rachel was the lover I had lived with, but she was not the same person now that she was a vampire. I listened to the pounding of her heart, and felt her emotion travel through me as her blood touched my lips, my tongue, and my throat. That incurable addiction. Blood is more intimate than sex. That sharing, the emotions and the knowledge coming from the giver, no secrets.
Covered in filth, the lust that had lain dormant came back like a force of nature.
“I love you, I missed you,” I told her as I grabbed her and held her close looking into her eyes, as lovers do. Searching for something more than lust, something deeper.
That kiss was powerful, Rachel with me and our blood mixed in our bodies, we were enraptured and my previous cold thoughts evaporated in an instant.
Now I felt connected like no other. I forgot about that feeling, that emotion about outside, about needing to be in life. Emotion is a powerful force. So I had answered my own question. I did feel deeper, emotionally connected, but I knew not all vampires did.
She was mine and I, hers and the bond between us through blood and love felt unbreakable. Intense.
“Anthony,” she whispered her voice dry. “I don’t want to lose you again.”
“You won’t, I promise.”
Maybe we had transcended from lust to something else, something stirring, something profound. I hoped so. I hoped it wasn’t just me feeling this. Falling for an illusion like I had done, so many times before.
Love is so consuming, so erotic no words could be spoken.
That night, we made love, laughing, loving, caressing. Until now, I hadn't known that was even possible as a vampire.
For three months, we'd slept in that dark crypt, arriving in autumn, and now the signs of winter had come I couldn't even remember when I last showered. But that hardly mattered. As I let myself bond with her, nothing mattered. I'd just stay here with her and we would drink each other dry.
We lay there, like true children of the night, listening to the owls screeching and the foxes wailing in the distance. Bitter winds chilled my cold body more, but emotion inside me burned like a furnace. Nothing ventured near us and only the sounds of nature surrounded us. Dirty and dusty, we were happy.
Laying together in each other’s arms, on that soil floor, watching the shadows chase across the ceiling as the light moved and bounced around I felt peaceful. If it wasn’t for the hunger, I believe we could’ve stayed there indefinitely and just let the time of man pass us by and come out in maybe fifty years. But the hunger did start. Once awoken, it rages within our bodies like tidal waves, rushing on us and leaving us heady and dazed until we get our next fix. The blood of another vampire quickens us, but unless that vampire is powerful, it ceases to sustain us. My head spun and I felt disorientated. It was time re-join the world.
What we would find out there we could only guess, so reluctantly we left our earthy haven and made the long walk back to civilisation.
But living; life yearned for me. Gripped by anticipation to return with Emidius’s blood in my veins, stronger than ever and my lover by my side. With that precious elixir my body, mind, and heart forever changed, wielding a power unmatched by my kin. I had felt that confidence growing inside me unfluctuating. Not designed for sedentary life, the mundane.
We ran mile after mile and I was determined to start over a new leaf, not to steal a life or a car this time.
“I wonder what we’ll find back home, who’s left. You know, Nathaniel refused to help you when you and Jamie went back to the Elite to destroy them,” Rachel spluttered.
“I saw him leave with you.” As I said that, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Before she could say any more I added, “Rachel, I had to make to make a choice. It’s not because I don’t care. If we didn’t destroy the Elite, there would be nothing, we wouldn’t be here now. Believe me, I would have rather been with you.”
Pausing a moment for the words to settle I continued, “Jamie and I took a bomb, two actually, made by a resistance group. We killed Tyrell, that mad leader and his foul son, Alexander. Actually, Tyrell lived through the bombing, but Jamie cut off his head! God it was gruesome, but appropriate. Then we hunted those things, the Experimentals. I was bitten by one, we failed in killing any, and Jamie took me to Emidius. Her blood saved me. Though she was insistent that Jamie could’ve done that.”
“What of Jamie?”
“The last I saw was Emidius looking for him. He wanted to be with her, he was sick of being a vampire, sick of taking orders from the Tyrell and killing the lesser immortals. Other than that, I don’t know. I recovered, I came to find you, I sensed where you were, we went to ground. I don’t know anymore.”
The silence between us wasn’t unsettling, it was peaceful. We ran again together. We had both changed beyond imagining from our human existence. Life would never be the same.
Eventually we arrived in Bath. As the Elite had been less interested in Rachel, I thought her home would be safer for us to stay. Her tiny Georgian terrace home on the outskirts of the city was musty and cold from the months we’d been away. Mail had piled up so we had to shove the door open. As we plugged in our phones they buzzed with missed calls, all out of date by now. After switching on the heating to get rid of the musty smell and warm up, I went upstairs in search of a much-needed shower. I had no clothes to change into so I chucked the filthy rags into the wash. We feel the cold, being sensitive to everything—noise, light and weather.
We logged onto the net to check the news to see if there were any unusual stories related to Tyrell and found a story about the complex that the Elite had used as their HQ. The building that Jamie and I had blown up. Of course, the news was false and reported the explosion due to faulty gas mains. Plausible I guess, because the site was very old. I suspect that other members of the Elite vampires gave that report to the media. I know enough to believe they have a powerful empire around the world.
I had a ton of unanswered messages and emails from family and friends. My stomach felt heavy answering these. I had to lie. I lied that I had been called away as a close friend had been ill, though I guess it wasn’t so far
the truth. I hated lying, especially to family and the few close friends who’d been brave enough to try and maintain contact. But what else could I do? For the time I shared with them, in their mortal existence, having to lie made the breach even wider.
I heard nothing from my vampire friends. I had expected something from Jamie. Our friendship had been short, but we had been through Hell together. I hoped he was alright. Maybe he wasn’t even a vampire now.
As I wandered into the living room, Rachel blurted out, “I had a dread about the payments for my home, my bills, but it seems they’re all up to date. And I just checked my bank statement and it says I’m twenty-seven thousand pounds in credit. Where the Hell did that come from?”
I knew the answer to that and I knew she’d hate it. And I had to tell her...
“When Nathaniel turned you, when he stayed with you, he set up a fund for you. You know he’s wealthy, you don’t know how rich he is. He made you, he saw it as his duty to protect you. Things, as you’ve seen, get out of hand when you enter the paranormal world and having a base, a home to flee to is important. I know you’re probably pissed off about that, but really, he cared. He just wasn’t stable. Something happened to him in his past that tipped his mental state. I don’t know what. But anyway, that’s why you’re fine.”
She didn’t say a word. I could tell by her stern expression she was angry but at the same time, without his help, she may not have had a house to come back to. He was unbalanced, that’s putting it mildly, but going from human to vampire isn’t exactly the easiest trick for anyone to pull off. I would know. Any weakness seems highlighted. Any deviance becomes exaggerated.
“Any news?” I asked.
“Family, friends, work...all good stuff. Nothing macabre. Thank God.”
We closed up the computers and went to get dressed. My clothes were washed and dried, though shabby from the time in the crypt. Then we were ready to head out into the city to merge into society again, and it felt odd being so completely surrounded by humans.
Even before our sleep, I had only kept the company of vampires for a long time and I had forgotten what it was like to be surrounded by mortals. Staring at them with their drinks and their carefree living, laughing, relaxing. I envied them. Life is so easy for them. They have innocence about them. They are like children, deceived, misguided and susceptible. I wanted that.
I remembered when I had thought briefly I could've been turned back to human by the Elite, and that was an interesting idea though not possible. There had been reports of the Elite’s genetics plan. They were in fact breeding an army of vampires by splicing the genes from the Elite and injecting these into the lost souls they thought fit for carrying out their orders. Gene therapy not used much in human medicine and for good reason. Nathaniel had saved me, having his genes infused into me. I think that’s why he has such a hold over me. I am in now part of him.
I wondered at the lengths Tyrell had gone to, to breed his Elite army of immortals before Jamie removed his head. “Ah, Jamie, I guess you’re with Emidius now?” I mused.
I ran my fingers through Rachel’s hair. She looked good enough to eat! We stood in a small, crowded bar, so close to humans. I loved their smell. It intoxicates me and makes me feel wild. Intentionally, I stand close, envious of their mortal existence, their life that is not driven by blood-lust. So fragile, so pure, even the nastiest humans are to me, so frail.
Sometimes a thought will rush into my mind; I could just drag them off and drink them. But I don’t.
And so we stood there looking like them with our untouched drinks in our hands. It came to me then the reason I felt so disturbed.
I would have to teach her how to hunt. Humans. She’d only ever drank the blood of immortals so far and I don’t think it had even occurred to her that she would have to drink a living human’s blood. I would teach her to drink only evil doers. She had drunk the blood of her Maker and of me. It sustains us but we cannot thrive on it. Only human blood can do that. As she had been changed in haste during the Elite war, then captured, she hadn’t spent any time with mortals. She had been held captive by Nathaniel at the Elite’s complex, my being unable to be with her due to Tyrell’s evil campaign. I had entrusted her safety to Nathaniel, who I had also injured, but that is another tale...
When I was first changed, I had almost bled her dry. And after her I had killed innocents. I couldn’t tell Rachel this. I couldn’t bear the way she would look at me if I told her that. She would see me as a heartless murderer. Which of course, I was. My first kill. I would tell her about that in time, a long, long time in the future. But for now, for tonight we would head home and I would try and put this out of my mind.
Marcus.
Anthony
His presence was like a nightmare. His great wings beating slowly, he was a sublime manifestation. Crouching on top of a small Georgian terraced house, near Rachel’s home, he looked more animal in his stance. Not human.
His eyes followed Rachel and the slight upturn of his lips gave away his intention towards her. His thoughts seemed to muddle inside my mind and I realised he was in my head. Standing up slowly he then jumped to the ground softly, pulling in his huge black feathered wings. As he stepped towards us, instinctively my body tensed, my mouth parched whilst adrenalin pumped like wildfire.
We faced each other eye to eye, my feet planted, heart racing, and heat flushing through me. Silence echoed around us, wispy shadows flickering on buildings under the slight moon light. The only sounds our breathing.
One more step towards us and Rachel gasped, making me jump instinctively.
Lunging forward, I threw all my power at him, but he laughed and made no effort to push me aside. His expression changed when he realised he’d underestimated me and staggered back a few steps, his mouth dropping open, his arms flayed and then a huge grin appeared. He grabbed my arm, I struggled, bringing my other arm up to punch him, jerking my body back at the same time. The death grip on my arm didn’t allow me to move though. I felt like a child or a fish as I wriggled from the end of the fishing line. I wasn’t going anywhere. My grunted curses were cut short as the winged man spoke. I looked up to see Rachel speechless and motionless, terror etched on her beautiful face. My anger was quickly morphing into hatred as I saw her fear, but at that moment, I was powerless to do anything but listen.
“I don't want to fight you. I have come to ask for your help.” His voice sounded preternaturally deep and echoed around the buildings.
In place of anger, cold fear ran through my body. My throat dry, I swallowed hard. I forced my words out of my mouth. “Leave, whatever the hell you are!” I didn't want this. The supernatural world was bigger than I could imagine and every time I went out something crept out of the shadows to bring its messed up world into mine. Or so it seemed.
Dark Nephilim: Book 2 release January 2018.
About
JN Moon is a new author who has currently written three books in her first Urban Fantasy Series. She writes Paranormal Thrillers/ Urban Fantasy.
She can be found wandering in nature, reading or upside down.
Not that she thinks she’s a vampire bat, she enjoys aerial arts.
And likes hanging upside down... She’s also an aficionado air guitarist.
She lives with a myriad of animals and loves nothing better than talking to like-minded souls so get in touch.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: alwaysdarkangel
Facebook: Moon Council of the Supernatural
Web: http://alwaysdarkangel.com
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