Nocturnal

by David Paul

  We sat down at the table, and she found a good offering of wine to drink along with two goblets. Her parents had an extensive collection of wine at the chateau. They were people after my own heart. The two of us talked into the latter hours of the night. Sparing no details, I told her my life story, and she did the same. Apparently, Chloe’s family was pretty wealthy and tied to a noble French bloodline with an impeccable reputation. The furnishings in the home reflected her stature in society.

  She spent a good deal of the evening showing me expensive trinkets that belonged to her parents. The shock of losing her parents was still not over with. The beautiful woman sobbed over certain items that held sentimental value. I did my best to comfort her and tried to relate to what she was going through. Chloe had saved me from Regina’s castle, and I would repay the favor by being there for her. The woman just needed to sort out her feelings and mourn.

  A part of her was angry because she finally escaped the grasp of Regina, only to make it home to find that her parents had passed away. Life was unfair to everyone at times, and I certainly could attest to that.

  After a few goblets of wine, Chloe urged me into the bedroom and made love to me passionately. There was no guilt or hesitation. There were no words or gestures. There was only the moment, and we acted upon it. A definite sexual connection existed between us, and my attraction for her was strong. Her beautiful body joined with mine for an explosive impromptu, lovemaking session.

  It was not her first time. In the back of my mind, I wondered how many more had come before me. Regina had put her to work in the castle. Chloe showed me more of what was unknown to me. Chloe wanted me to do dirty things to her. She said things in the middle of it that flashed evil on my inner radar. The free-spirited woman liked it rough. It wasn’t a sweet love. It was cold, mechanical, and animalistic. Chloe was the second woman that I ever made love to, and she was my first as a vampire. In less than a week, I lost my virginity on many different levels figuratively.

  The sexual experience was different as a vampire than that of a human. The actual pleasures of the flesh were intensified, but the emotional connection was less evident. It just wasn’t the same without a beating heart. My lack of sexual experience wasn’t the blame. Maybe my feelings for Chloe were tainted. Maybe Katerina’s memory haunted the inner sanctum of my soul.

  The truth about the reasons why was not entirely known. This sexual encounter fulfilled my lustful desires, but fell short emotionally. That feeling that you have when you are in love was dead, but the darkest regions of my psyche rejoiced. All that was twisted and perverse inside of me begged for more. I analyzed my thoughts in silence.

  “Davide, I want to spend my life with you,” she said. She confided in me with tears streaming down her face. Chloe touched my body softly. “I have no one else, but you. Any relatives I have are scattered throughout the provinces, and I have no closeness with them. I feel safe with you.”

  “I will not leave you,” I said. “You are my only friend that cares for me in this cold world.”

  We were lying in bed caressing before she had asked me the haunting question.

  “Will you make me like you, Davide?” I knew that question was coming. “We can live together for all of eternity.” Before I could even answer Chloe, she started to ask more questions. “What does it feel like?” She asked.

  I explained to her that with the exception of the hunger, it really wasn’t that bad being a vampire. This was the wisdom of a two-day old vampire speaking at the time. The question arose again.

  “Will you make me immortal as yourself?” She asked.

  “Chloe, if that is something that you really want, then I’ll do it,” I said. There was a slight reluctance. “I just do not want you to regret your choice.”

  “How will I regret my choice? She asked. Chloe smiled. “I am the one asking you.” Her excitement grew, and she became more and more enthralled with the idea of becoming a nightwalker. “We can spend all of eternity making love and traveling to foreign lands. That would be great!”

  “It would be great,” I said. I started thinking. Honestly, after what I had been through, her idea was very appealing to me. The notion of having someone for all of eternity seemed like a great idea at the time. After losing everyone that I loved, I wanted eternal happiness just as much as she did. I agreed to her request without further consideration.

  Maybe the two of us could figure out everything together.

  “We can own the night,” Chloe said. A bizarre sensation rang briefly through my mind. I ignored the bad feeling that came over me. The selfish side of me won the battle. I desired a lifelong lover, and here was my chance to have that. I could bestow the gift upon my woman.

  “Come here. It will be you and I together for all eternity,” I said. Chloe came over obediently. I took her by the hand and pushed her beautiful hair over to one side baring her perfect neck. I gazed deep into her eyes and felt love behind them. I had no doubts about what I was going to do to Chloe.

  “Do it, Davide,” she whispered.

  The desire overtook me, and my fangs appeared from inside my mouth. I bit down softly on her neck and willed for Chloe to be mine for all of eternity.

  Chloe gasped, and her sweet blood was in my mouth once again. This wasn’t the same as when I killed Damien. This was different from when I drank from her blood earlier. This was something so different. I think that I took her soul from her. Something about it was unfamiliar. I felt more connected to Chloe, but in an unknown way. The sensation was impossible to describe, but it was present. Her heartbeat slowed, and she started to panic. Each beat was slower than the last.

  Chapter Seven: Finding the Path

  “Davide, am I dead?” She asked. Chloe was panicking and hyperventilating.

  “Relax,” I said, “you are just changing.” She didn’t ask for my help, but her distressed expression begged for my support. “Your body will stiffen, your heart will stop, and you will feel very strange.” I tried to coach her through the odd sensations to calm her down.

  “I can hear everything in the woods at once.” She looked around in wonderment.

  Chloe’s senses quickened.

  “All of your senses will start to sharpen far beyond your human capabilities,” I said.

  “I’m glad that I have you to walk me through this,” she said. “I think that I would lose my mind if I was alone right now.”

  “It is a unique experience with no comparison to anything else in you may have encountered in your human life.”

  “Hold me, please,” she said. I obliged her request and held Chloe tightly until her heart ceased beating. “I feel cold inside.”

  I just held her. My life as a vampire had just begun with my first kill, and now, this was my debut turning a human. Both Chloe and I would learn the way of the vampire together. As much as I worried about what had been done, I was happy to have Chloe at my side. She basically sacrificed her life to spend the rest of time with me. In my eyes, she made a huge sacrifice to be with me on my terms.

  My thoughts drifted to finding a solution to her growing thirst, which will be coming upon her. Also, my own needs worried me. I didn’t want to harm any innocents because of our curse. My alliance was not with evil, even though technically, a vampire is an evil creature. A certain part of my humanity remained when I turned into an undead creature.

  Deep down, I wanted to rid the world of undesirables, and this gave me a purpose where I could use the curse positively. The both of us could make sure that fiends like Zurelda and Regina would not be allowed to torment the living. Righteousness could come from wickedness. I held Chloe silently and thought of ways to use my new powers to upset the evil regime and weaken their power on Earth. I needed to come up with a strict standard of operation to remain consistent. I didn’t want to fall off of the path.

  A code or rulebook would be needed to follow. Maybe I could start off with the rule that no children could be harmed. Several scenarios ran through my mind
. What if the child was an Antichrist or was true evil? Every rule has its exceptions I guess, and this made things difficult and clouded. Not everything was black or white, and these gray areas would be burdensome. I decided to form a basic set of rules that I would adhere to and make adjustments as necessary. My soul was already damned to walk the night in search of fresh blood, so any mistakes would not be too costly to me in a spiritual sense.

  Easily, I could give into the power that comes along with this curse, but I didn’t want to be like Regina. My previous life had been one of piety, and somehow, I wanted to remain as close to that path as I could under the insane circumstances. Hopefully, the creator would have mercy on my soul for being a beast of the night.

  “Chloe,” I said, “together we can make a difference in this world. We can make sure that no one has to endure what we had to live through.” I attempted to bring Chloe on-board with my idea.

  “We should just spend eternity together and forget about the rest of the world,” she said. My new vampire companion already didn’t see eye-eye with me. It was obvious. “We cannot make a difference in this cruel world. It is pointless. Let’s just worry about each other.” Chloe reacted unfavorably to my idea. Maybe she was correct, but inside my mind there was a higher purpose to be served.

  “I do not want to randomly kill innocent people to feed our hunger,” I said. Her body language was defensive. “I was thinking that we could choose victims that deserve to die.” Chloe gave me more of the same expression. “We can rid the world of filth.”

  “Maybe you are right.”

  Her words were spoken with little enthusiasm. I could already see the potential problems forming within this union. This evil marriage of two damned souls was going to get complicated. The two of us were bound for eternity. Before you knew it, she would need fresh blood to complete the curse. I also wondered when the feeling of maddening hunger would return to me.

  “The night is still rather young. Let us explore it and embrace it,” I said. I called for her hand. I had to at least try to make this work. “I want to see what the nighttime feels like as a vampire,” she said. Her quirky grin gave me a bad feeling. We left the chateau and made our way into the winding dirt roads that converged around the town.

  Chloe was running and jumping all along the roads like a child in a playground. She loved her new abilities and tested them. Chloe was learning about her new self. Her back flips and somersaults were very impressive, and it seemed like her body was taking to the vampirism well.

  “This is amazing!” she said with enthusiasm. “You were not kidding about feeling wonderful!”

  I gave a fake smile, but no response. Chloe looked as if she was admitted into the gates of Heaven themselves. Her happiness was evident. This worried me a great deal because she really liked being a vampire. In retrospect, she was the one who requested the curse. I feared that I had made a mistake in my ignorance.

  We came upon two men on the northernmost trail leading into the town. Before one gentleman spoke a word to us, I sensed evil in his heart. He wore a ragged coat with a newish looking hat. His left eye was opaque and flanked by scars on either side as if he lost the eye in a knife fight. His crony was silent and dressed rather shoddily as well. It seemed odd that they would be traveling this late, but we played along.

  “‘Sorry to bother you sir and madam,” the stranger said. “My name is Charles. How are the both of you on this night?”

  “We are doing quite well, Charles.” I responded for the both of us.

  “How about yourself?” I asked.

  “I’ll be doing so much better when you hand me over your purse,” Charles said. The thief took out a small dagger and brandished it in our direction. His nameless friend did the same. For a brief moment, I was scared, but then realized that I had nothing to fear. Once again, the nervous habits of a mortal blocked out the harsh reality of what I now had become. That nervousness was temporary. “Give it over,” the thief said.

  “Please, Charles, we don’t want trouble with you or your friend,” I said. Chloe smiled wickedly. “Please let us pass freely.”

  “Give me all of your valuables before we hurt the both of you,” Charles said. His partner in crime backed him up.

  “Or what? Are you going to kill me?” I asked. I felt the evil inside me grow. The rage inside started to boil, and I gave into my impulses.

  The suppressed anger was coming out beyond my control. This was the curse working at its finest.

  “Yes, I’ll kill you, and then maybe we’ll have our way with your beautiful lady friend.” His crony nodded with a rapist-like stare. The crony’s eye wandered over to Chloe. The thief was thinking bad thoughts. I laughed in his face. The two of them were boggled by my laughter. In their eyes, they had the upper hand.

  “Kill me then.” He responded by stabbing my chest with his puny dagger.

  Most physical pain suffered as a vampire is pain that is perceived in the mind. This fact was learned when Svetlana had stuck me with her blade. I saw his dagger coming, but decided to let him stab me for dramatic effect. The would-be thief froze in his tracks when I didn’t even flinch from his puncture wound. I laughed in his face once again, and Chloe joined in with laughter to the point where it was excessive. We kept laughing as the curse prodded us.

  “What are you?” He asked. They were scared. Both Charles and his nameless friend backed up in amazement, and Charles had left the dagger in my chest. The curse kicked in, and my actions were swift and devious.

  “I am your worst nightmare walking outside of your dreams!” I said.

  I grabbed Charles by his arm and fractured it into many pieces. The fragmenting bones were loud and definitive. Charles staggered with his limp twisted limb. He fell to the ground. Chloe laughed like my evil sidekick because she truly enjoyed the show that I put on. In a sick way, it encouraged me to be more creative with my torments.

  “Please, take my purse,” Charles screamed. He begged for mercy. The demon inside me would have no such mercy.

  “It is funny how a moment ago, you were flashing a blade in my face, and now you are crying on the ground,” I said. His whiny voice fueled my rage. His whimpers only made we want to kill him more. “Shut your mouth, mortal.”

  I started to sound more like a true vampire. His good arm, I ripped off at the shoulder, and his blood splashed everywhere as if a garden hose had sprayed it. The smell of blood flooded the air. That was all it took to set off Chloe. She flew at him mercilessly and went for his throat with her protruding fangs. She drank so much of his blood in a short time that his wounds ceased bleeding.

  Just as she finished drinking his blood, she tore off his head in grotesque fashion. His neck muscles and vocal chords stretched like the cheese on a pizza slice as she removed the head. The blood from her first kill had given her vampire strength as well, and she was now a full-fledged immortal as I. The other assailant was also frozen with involuntary terror, and didn’t even flee. A puddle of urine was at his feet.

  “What is your name?” I asked the thief in an authoritative tone. “It is Marceau.” Perspiration dripped from his forehead. I smelled his fear. His mortal voice irritated me. His pathetic fear infuriated me. His helplessness brought me joy.

  “Well Marceau,” I said. I felt the evil nudging me. My fury revved higher. I felt the evil vibrating inside my body and twisting my mind. “Tonight, you get to die.” My fangs grew, and my eyes showed red. I grabbed Marceau and went straight for his neck without wasting time. He didn’t even have time to scream. Before long, I had drunk my fill, and he had expired.

  I was covered again in fresh blood. I loved it.

  The foolish unsuspecting thieves did not have a prayer against us. Their dead bodies were in the middle of the road, and I dragged them over to the side to toss them into the woods. My mood teetered back and forth. A part of me felt really good about stopping these murderous thieves, but another part of me didn’t like how much I actually enjoyed the killing. I had succ
umbed to the murderous urges. It felt good.

  It could be easily seen how a vampire could fall in love with the powers of the curse. I had tasted its power. I had let the power overcome me. Chloe seemed to thrive on this energy, and she enjoyed the power just a bit too much. Because she had spent so much time powerless at the hands of Regina, she really liked being the one in control. This could have been a product of her being traumatized by Regina. Whatever the reason, the curse overtook her, and she seemed to embrace it.

  It seemed like this curse thrived on pinpointing one’s flaws or insecurities, and then used it against them. This was similar to what the Devil did to get someone to sin. That made sense because vampires were minions of the Devil. The first vampire’s origin was right after Lucifer had fallen to earth, and God had created man. Once the Devil had a playground to play in, he created all kinds of creatures to wreak havoc upon mankind. In the battle of the Apocalypse, his evil creations are set to fight the angels in the heavens above. That has been prophesied, but has yet to happen.

  “That was fantastic, Davide,” Chloe remarked. She smiled wickedly with a huge blood-smeared grin. “We should do this every night.”

  “Do you think we were excessive?” I asked.

  “They got what they deserved,” she quickly responded. Without the slightest hint of remorse, she licked the blood from her hands. I noticed the change in Chloe almost immediately. Something was missing from her personality, and she obviously lacked any sense of compassion as a vampire. The curse works in many ways, and I was learning how it affected different people.