Vampire Manifesto (30 page)

"Some thought they died out. Others, hunted until the point of extinction, though personally, I think they just got...better."

"What do you mean?"

"Policing their own, killing those that drew attention to the others. That was their major setback you know. Bodies stacking up, all drained of blood. Fang marks on the neck, back when the Humanity Brood still believed in Devils, Demons and everything in-between. Then of course there were the Hunters. Men and women, dangerous and insidious these people were. They weren’t special, didn’t have increased strength or any magical attributes to speak off, well not inherently, but for the most part, they were just wives and sons, daughters and fathers, just regular folk who have lost someone close to them, yet that is what makes them the most dangerous. An enemy that feels he has nothing to live for, full of hatred and vengeance, tears and blood, all this pain directed towards whatever they believed wronged them…like say, a Vampire, there are many that just believe your race was decimated into extinction.”

“
And all this is real?” I questioned. “Everything?”

“
Everything is everything and everything is nothing. Even silence is a sound unto itself. You must find your place in the unseen tapestry of reality, yet not lose yourself in the stitching of the world.”

The man speaks madness, coated in riddles, dipped in sanity, served up in a conversational tone befitting a Sorcerer Supreme.

“
You think the world or the universe itself made you what you are?” John Rogers took humor in this. “Foolish little Vampire, you’re a Fledgling if you’re a day. Your kind, the Noctol as they were originally called in the time before Christ, was a merging of the science and of magic, an afterthought of the Gods, conceived, created and forgotten in less time than it took me to explain it. A remnant. A byproduct of the Genesis colonization.”

He had enraptured me with his words even though I could not comprehend their meaning. “The Genesis colonization? What’s that?”

“
Before even my time, Madison Rose, yet some Futures are best left Forgotten.”

“
Have you heard of the Translucent Man?”

“
The Translucent Man?” Johns eyes seemed to display some sort of emotion briefly. “I’ve…come across the name in some of my travels.”

“
Who is he.”

“
Someone you would do well to avoid.” John said.

“
Why? Is he here in California? Is there a way I can contact him?”

“
You ask far too many questions, Vampire.”

I leaned back in my chair, absorbing all I’d been told up until this point. This man, this John Rogers who seemed subject to insanity if gauged by the words he spoke, yet since spoken to a Vampire, they may ring truer then anything I ever imagined.

"Come with me.”

John rose, assuming my complete compliance in the matter, not even glancing behind to see if I had followed suit. I did of course and it wasn’t long before the nights air was cool against my face as we took to the streets. John walked as if the world belonged to him, faster than I would have initially imagined and even with my increased Vampiric speed, I had trouble keeping pace and still look human in the process.

“
Fire.” He called out randomly.

“
What about it?”

“
Stay away from it.” He replied.

“
Too late.” I chuckled to myself, the morning’s events flashing in my mind. Vampire soufflé anyone?

John turned to face me, his demeanor inherently more serious than before. “Pay attention Vampire, this is not some Frat house fraternity where the Deans rules are scribbled in whores lipstick across a chalk board by some drunken pledge with halitosis of the crotch. Just because you are Immortal doesn’t mean you cannot die.” John shook his head the way a parent would to an uncomprehending child. “Immortals, True Immortals cannot die. You can burn them to cinders and scatter their ashes to the wind, rip them limb from limb, drown them in a vat of acid, behead them with…”

“
I believe I get the point.”

“
I sincerely doubt it.” John Rogers picked up the pace. “The Reaper, the Death God, Thanatos the White Wolf, she is not a metaphor, Vampire. It is an Old-New World for you Madison Amber Rose. Old, because it’s always has been here, lurking just underneath the surface, tearing at the Fringe of Reality. New, because well…this is all new to you, isn’t it?”

“
The Death God?” I whispered.

“
You’ll meet
them
soon enough Vampire, just not right now.” John stated. “But True Immortals cannot be killed permanently, only neutralized…briefly. You however? No matter how Immortal you think you are, a guy with a blowtorch, a plan and some intestinal fortitude could spell out a really bad day for you.”

“
Fair enough.” I responded.

“
Suicides heart sunrises.”

“
Huh?”

With each word, John jabbed me in the chest with his finger for emphasis. “Stay. Out. Of. The. Sun. Vampire.”

I pulled my shirt up slightly, revealing a portion of my seared torso. “I think I’ve got the whole sun thing covered.”

“
Hmm.” He came close to me, running his fingers lightly over the burn scars in a somewhat intimate fashion. “Little blood will clear that right on up.” He was off again, skipping along at top speed, yellow brick road style.

“
Where are we going?” I yelled after him, trying to catch up.

“
To dance with the Devil in the Pale of the Moonlight.” Answered John.

“
What?”

“
I always ask that of all my prey.” We were in the middle of the warehouse district, nothing but office buildings and stockrooms as far as the eye could see. “We’re here.” John Rogers came to a stop so abruptly I almost ran into him.

I didn’t recognize my surroundings at all. “Where’s here?”

“
Keep your brains on the inside!”

“
What?” But he was already gone. I turned, full circle, scanning from top to bottom and everything in-between, but I was alone. It was crazy, but I just took it at face value. This was my life now. Blood lust, spontaneous combustion when in direct contact with sunlight and now, apparently random, time traveling old men who vanish while screaming, “K
eep your brains on the inside
!” Like I made a habit of keeping them on the outside. It's only what all the cool kids seem to be doing these a days.

It was late, but not that late. I wanted to go home, yet I couldn’t. There was no place for me to go. I didn’t even have enough money to catch a flight back to Palm Coast. Could I even go back to Florida after all this? Could I trust myself to be around my family as a Vampire? I can’t even go to school anymore because I’d burn down homeroom.

I began to walk. Nowhere in particular, but I couldn’t just stand on the corner in one spot all night, that was bound to draw undue attention. I needed someplace to go, someplace to just sit and think about my wayward life and what the next chess move was going to be. After talking with future John Rogers, bum rushing a Werewolf Den all by myself just didn’t seem all that smart of a move right now.

I needed to find Connor.

I could smell blood. The scent was filling my nostrils, the sweet smell sticking to the roof of my mouth like plasma flavored Now-and- Laters. I could vaguely hear music and I followed it, picking up the pace, testing myself once more, seeing just how fast was fast for me now. In an instant I was there, barefoot as can be, standing in front of this bar, tucked far enough away that one could not find it on accident, you would have needed the address, yet from what I could tell, it was packed to capacity. The name of the place was called
Sacrifice
.

How fitting…

I slipped through the entrance, past the bouncer, moving fast enough that he didn’t take notice and just like that I was inside. It was bigger than I expected, the music blasting at an insane level, yet I was able to turn down the volume of it in my mind, so that the tempo wasn’t as loud to me as it was to the patrons that flocked about.

The dim lighting, the ambience, the cute boys, yes, this would have most definitely been a place I would have partaken had I been human, but now? Now that I was a Vampire the experience was something different altogether. I scanned the area, the dim lighting meaning nothing to me now, I could see as well in the dark as I could in daylight. In fact, I think my vision actually improved the darker it became.

I found what I was looking for, a nice little spot tucked away from it all and as soon as I saw it across the room, I was already there, sitting comfortably, admiring my surroundings. It was hard at first, to observe these beings in their natural habitat, unbeknownst to them that Daniel was dead, the lion’s den was empty and the Queen of the Jungle now prowled amongst them with blood on her maw.

I wasn’t sure if I could do this, live like this. The blood scent of the crowd was overpowering me, driving me into the hunt. My teeth sharpened again and I couldn’t get them to go back to normal. I closed my eyes, attempting to mediate, as if I’d ever done that before. Not that it helped, in fact, it was making everything worse.

One hundred and twenty five.

That’s how many separate heartbeats I was able to detect. Fourteen of them had an additional, separate heartbeat within them. Pregnant, I figured. Wonder if they even knew themselves, or maybe they did and just didn’t care. Whatever. I want to eat their babies. Okay, that’s enough of that. I opened my eyes and found this PYT, this pretty young thing sitting at my table, sipping something fluorescent blue, staring at me intently.

“
You know, you’ve been doing that for the past forty minutes straight.” There was no way another person could have sat in my seat and heard her over the thundering of the base, yet to me, it was as if she whispered the words directly into my ear.

“
Been doing what?” I asked.

“
Just sitting there with your eyes closed.” She responded. “Damn your eyes are beautiful.”

She’s cute and she’s hitting on me. “How do you know it’s ben forty minutes?” I didn’t think it’s been that long. Time for me is…different now. I processed it differently.

“
I’ve been sitting here watching you. I thought you were sleep at first, but then I figured it must be some kinda Zen thing. Its way to loud in here to sleep.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been sitting here the whole time?”

“
Yes, I know, it’s very stalkerish of me, but I’m extra cute so I get leeway.”

Yup, she is most defiantly hitting on me.

“
My name is Chloe by the way.”

Right…

“
You’re lying.” I stated.

“
About?”

“
Your name. It isn’t Chloe, it’s a fake name.”

“
How did you…”

Yes Madison, that’s an excellent question. “Pulse rate, oxygen intake, glandular sweat increase…”

“
Okay, okay, Ms. CSI…”

“
Madison.” I offered.

“
Hmm. Madison. Kinda rolls of the tongue like cherry stems.” She smiled, placed her hand on mine and I knew she wasn’t going to survive the night. I knew there was no way she was going to live. My body was electric in anticipation for the kill, there was no denying it.

I am Vampire.

That is what I am and I can only be that or nothing at all. Was there even a choice?

Chloe stayed with me for the remainder of the night, never leaving my side. We laughed and talked, once she even convinced me to dance for a few songs. By the end of the night, when it became apparent that I had no intention of inviting her back to my place, as if I could,
sure have a seat on this burning ember here
, she slipped me her number, kissed me with all the passion my previous life never had, then made her exit.