I long for that luscious sweet smell of fresh innocent blood. Ah, how I yearn for that taste in my mouth. I can almost feel the blood slipping down my throat and running hotly through my veins. I cannot suppress my desires any longer, I am a killer. Life has given me a second chance, and I shall take it willingly, as willingly as I would take a human life.
I can smell the innocents walking quickly through the darkened streets completely unaware that I am waiting in the shadows watching their every step. I must wait for the right moment to strike and finally succumb to that insatiable thirst that plagues me. I tried for years to resist, but the temptation is too great- I must feed! This killing is like a sexual ectasy I cannot hope to describe. The blood coarsing through my veins thrills me, sets me soaring to new heights I never thought I could possibly reach. But, I must wait for the right moment. It cannot come too soon for it would spoil my intentions. One more minute and it will be complete. I will be what I have always been, what the ancients have called-Vampyre!
My eyes narrow into tiny slits as I pick up the scent of a young male. At last! The moment I have waited for has come. I creep steathily out of the shadows, coming up behind this tantilizing youth. I lightly touch his shoulder and I sense his fear escalating.
"Who...who are you?" he gasps his entire body trembling. He turns around to see my stark white face set against the complete darkness of total night. He is a young one, not more than nineteen years old, yet old enough to be frightened of alley's such as this one. He had been in a hurry, perhaps scurrying home to his beloved family.
I smile at him revealing my ivory teeth, and I see him shiver at the sight. "I am your death," I whisper into his ear as I pull down the collar of his shirt. Ah, the pure beauty of human flesh, how I missed it! "I am the Empress of the Damned," I enlighten his small little human brain.
As I stare down at his perfect pink flesh, I feel my fangs elongate and I know the time for feeding is now at hand. As I sink my teeth into his glistening neck, I place a hand on his shoulder and ease him down to the cold cold ground. Ah, the sweet taste of blood, how could I have survived so long without it? The hot liquid springs forth from the cut and I feel it hit the roof of my mouth. I let it stay there for only a moment, savoring the flavor of fresh human blood. As I let it drift away from my tongue, I feel it slide sensously down my dry throat. The complete and utter ectasy I feel at this moment of feeding is unparalled and no human can ever hope to achieve it, only us immortals are blessed with this wonderous pleasure.
I hear him moan softly and I know that his death is coming swiftly, he is almost completely drained. I stop suddenly recalling how my maker did this. He too drained me to the point of death, but instead of leaving me to die, he took it upon himself to bestow the Dark Gift on me. He took me away from my painful human existance and delivered me into the gates of Hell, for at that moment I became damned for all eternity. I am cursed to walk among the living as if I were truly one of them, but I could not deny the hunger for long. I had tried with all my might to destroy my vampire nature, but to no avail. Once I had chosen the path of darkness, there was no escaping my destiny. I have been encased in a cloud of darkness ever since. I have never felt the warmth of others, only their suffering in the last moments of their lives. I am a child of darkness, I can never step into the light. I now live on human warmth, I flourish on their blood. I will never die, I shall live for all eternity. I kill without feeling, I kill to live, but die every time I drink.
However, this would not be the fate of this young one. It is better to kill him than to damn him and keep him forever bound by the constraints of the Dark Gift. "Good night my young one, and thank you."
I stand at the bay window in my Georgetown flat later that night contemplating the kill. To most, the kill is inconsequential, but for me, it means everything. Ever since Arturo's return, I have not fed on another human being until tonight. I am not quite certain what prompted this feeding, but the thirst has been unbearable. It has been one hundred and fifty years since I last fed, and not once has the hunger come upon me in such a fashion. I almost feel remorse for the boy yet I feel relieved, almost as if I am finally whole.
The dark city streets once busy with people rushing from place to place now are silent, not a soul stirs. I have watched this street for many years now and things have changed so much and I am still trying to grasp the magnitude of these changes. Through the years, industry has crept up on me and my places of refuge have disappeared one by one, until only this remains. I find it a sad fact that even one who has walked this Earth for hundreds of years is almost homeless too. When I was still mortal, things were handed to me on a silver platter and now, things come so terribly hard.
I move away from the window lost in my own thoughts, these humans now seem obsessed with the past yet when I look back, things are not as pretty and perfect as one might imagine. Life or lack of life has been difficult and I can only hope that by writing my story down for all to read, it will serve to remind people to cherish what they have, not what they wish they had...
� 1997