by David Paul
Rawley accepts the evil invitation.
The detective watches in horror as Rawley embraces the diseased looking body of Carver. It nauseates him. Detangelo throws up uncontrollably. The vampire walks in the door.
“You still want to eat my pussy?” Gloria asked. Xavier quickly comes to his senses and looks down at Carver’s disgusting face.
“Rawley!” David yelled. Rawley looks at David. “Get out of there!” With attention off of Carver, the doctor bites down hard on Rawley’s right shoulder. Carver instantly draws blood.
“You piece of shit!” Rawley yelled. Rawley feels the painful bite.
The doctor will not release his vice-like grip on Rawley. His jaw is locked like a pit-bull. Blood streamed down the doctor’s face and neck. Out of desperation, Rawley pummels Carver repeatedly with his free hand, breaking the doctor’s cheekbone. The doctor has a huge gash where Rawley smashed his face, and he finally releases his powerful grip. Rawley jumps back from the bed gushing blood profusely. The demon laughs relentlessly. Rawley gives another fierce shot that snaps Carver’s head backwards violently and blasts several teeth out of his already blood filled mouth.
David notices Rawley is about ready to strike him again.
“Enough,” the vampire said. The vampire restrains Rawley. The demon laughs even harder.
“Poor Dr. Carver,” the demon said, “it is a shame that he is not a dentist, so he would could to fix his own teeth.” The demon continued his torments with blood flowing freely from his mouth, soaking the bed. He laughs a demonic laugh. “Hit me again, you stupid fuck!”
David looks at Carver in disgust and then turns his attention back to Rawley. “Are you alright?” David asked.
“I’ll live,” Rawley said. Rawley inspects his grizzly wound. “I just need the first aid kit out of the truck.”
The warrior leaves the house and goes outside. Rawley shakes his head and tries to cool himself off. In his entire history of exorcisms, he has never lost his temper like that. This exorcism is much closer to him on a personal level. He has the chance to deal with the demon responsible for killing his wife. Devin has evaded him several times already in the past. This is definitely business mixed with personal.
Rawley checks on Kaye, and she is still fine. In the back of the truck, he pulls out an extensive first aid kit and washes his wound with peroxide and alcohol. For a protective measure, he also rinses the bloody bite with Holy Water. In his mind, the Holy Water may protect him from the demon’s influence. Rawley is blessed with the power to heal himself like that of a cleric or a medicine man. Within minutes, the wound is no longer bleeding, and by the end of the day, it will be all but gone. He also cleans the wound on his calf, which has also stopped bleeding.
The warrior finds one of David’s cigarettes in the front seat of the truck, and he lights up. He isn’t a smoker, but the cigarette seemed like a good idea to him at the time. The first cigarette is always the best, and he enjoys the temporary light-headiness as he slowly takes long deliberate drags. The knight seriously needs to get a grip on his emotions or channel the energy into positivity. If he doesn’t center himself, the demon will continue to exploit his weaknesses.
Unfortunately for everyone, the demon is completely exploiting all of their weaknesses. For both Rawley and David, their main flaws are anger. The vampire also has his curse to contend with. The detective’s shortcomings are guilt, insecurity, and alcoholism. Devin chose the detective first because he was the easiest to invade followed by Rawley, and then finally, the vampire. Normally, a vampire would never be an issue for a demon, but David is a special case.
David is in the house with Detangelo and Carver. The detective is worn out because the elixir that he took prior to the battle has worn off, and now his fatigue is realized. Detangelo is emotionally and physically drained. The vampire is still going strong because the nighttime invigorates him.
“Jack, are you alright?” David asked.
“I’ve seen better days,” Jack said. “My head is absolutely pounding, and I feel like I just ran a marathon.”
“That’s pretty normal.” David said. “I’ve used a similar elixir in the past as a human, and you really crash when it wears off.”
“Is that when you tried to save your precious Katerina in the Black Forest?” Carver asked abruptly. Carver decided to chime in on the conversation.
“You are actually correct,” the vampire said. “That was your mother, and you grew up without her because of the same Beast that you pledge your allegiance to.”
“My real mother is darkness, fire, and chaos…she nurtured me well. Your Katerina was simply a carrier.”
“You were created out of love,” David said. “You are from my loins and my seed.” The vampire reminded Devin of where he came from.
“You disgrace me by your actions,” Carver said, “and I am ashamed of my natural father.” The doctor chuckled with an evil tone.
“It is you who is a disgrace to all humanity. You walk with the deceiver and perpetuate his lies. It is inherently easier to be a follower, then a leader.”
“My real father has told me the truth about you. I know your story. Your own sins are the reason that Katerina is dead,” Carver said. He expelled more putrid foulness mixed with Carver’s blood. “The pleasures of the flesh corrupt us all.”
“You will soon be imprisoned,” David said, “and you will no longer be a threat to us.” David spoke with absolute confidence.
“Don’t be so sure of yourself, nightwalker,” Carver said. “You will find yourself at the Devil’s feet groveling for forgiveness and acceptance.” The doctor’s eyes roll around in his head. “By then it will be too late, and Lucifer will piss on your head.”
“I find that very hard to believe,” David said.
Carver looks David straight in the eyes.
“Perhaps, you need to walk with me, father.”
Chapter Sixteen: Dancing With the Devil
The vampire loses himself in the Carver’s dark and emotionless eyes. David finds himself in another place, far away from Rhode Island and perhaps in a different era. The disoriented vampire feels like he is walking on clouds, and he has strange visions. He sees the same mother as he saw in his dream nursing the demon child. The mother is in pain, and she appears to be forced to nurture the child. Her own child was taken from her and fed to the hungry wolves.
David figures that the child is Devin growing up, but he is not entirely sure. The vampire knows that all of this could be a ploy to bring out emotion in him. David smells jasmine and sweet basil, which reminds him of his farm and his deceased family members. A barrage of intense visuals enters his mind, and he can see the bizarre events with his eyes.
The vampire sees Katerina in a flowing white dress, just playfully dancing in the sunlight. The vampire watches on in wonderment. It has been over seven centuries since he has seen her face, besides in memories or dreams. Even with his sharp memory, he has forgotten just how beautiful and perfect she was.
A bundle of raw emotion comes over David, yet he cannot produce a tear. The unresolved emotions are trapped inside his black heart and tainted mind. David tries to fight what he feels inside. He is fully aware that Devin is the one showing all of this to him and completely knows the reasons why. Even knowing all of that, the vampire is caught off guard. He made the mistake of locking eyes with Carver, and now he must endure these taunts.
The beautiful Katerina bleeds through her pristine white dress, and then she to rips in half as she had done while giving birth to the winged serpent, Devin. A grotesque rerun of that event is being viewed in quick flashback style. The visuals also include his aunt and uncle’s funerals. The vampire is surrounded by a whirlwind of joys and horrors meant to send him on an emotional roller coaster.
Some visions invoke sheer joy, and others bring forth complete horror. The sequence of the visions is by design. They are flashing in a manner that is meant to attack the mind subliminally. This is much like how they wo
uld use subliminal messages in the past to sell food products in movie theaters. The conscious mind may not register the brief visual, but the subconscious records and absorbs the material. The masters of trickery continue their assault on the vampire.
Everyone that he has ever loved and lost is a co-star in this visual attack. The demon is really laying it on thick with sentimental moments. Over the years, David has had countless lovers and friends that have been lost. Some died of natural causes, and others were taken from him. Either way, there was a growing void left inside of David. The vampire had a huge heart before it was turned to black, and all of these events torment him still.
His memory is so powerful that time is not an effective healer for him. He has had plenty of time, but the wounds are still fresh as if these events had happened only moments ago. David can recall every single one of his senses during a given memory, which makes them so much more intense than that of a human. The only thing that David had been able to do is to block some of these events out of his ever-evolving mind. The vampire is seeing moments that he had buried so deeply in the darkest depths and corners of his dark soul.
Lucifer and Devin edited this highlight reel like an award winning reality show preview making sure to capture the absolute perfect, compelling moments. Perhaps, Lucifer has a big future in Hollywood. After a slew of people that he had loved, Devin switched it up and started on those that David has destroyed. The flashback seems ever more endless than who he had loved and lost. The vampire has been busy throughout the years, and his list is vast.
The images are quick, but effective, and David is inundated with more memories. In some cases, the families of the victims are shown. Everyone he ever killed is shown in chronological order. Each victim is given a before and after and kept in sight long enough for the brain to register. David feels like he is being judged in Purgatory on every instance in his long existence. His life is flashing right before his dark eyes.
The vampire remembers the joys of killing so many and the taste of their warm blood. His bloodlust grows as he is tempted like an alcoholic watching liquor commercials on television. As righteous as he has tried to be, his hands are still stained with blood. Not everyone presented a painful experience to David when disposed of. David has enjoyed his work as well at times.
His first taste of killing started with Zurelda, and he enjoyed it almost too much. At the time, he was human, but he enjoyed the way her face caved under his clenched fist. Decapitating the evil witch gave him a rush like nothing else on the Earth ever did. Even before the curse was bestowed upon him, he had flirted with giving into his natural violent impulses. Regardless of revenge or duty, the animalistic part of him loved killing the witch.
What makes murder a crime? Is it the actual act or getting caught? David had a free pass to take the life of Zurelda, and he took pleasure in her demise. The bloodlust is growing even stronger, and it is harder to resist. The demon is using bitter temptation against the thirsty vampire.
Rawley returns from his small break to find David standing beside the bed staring off into outer space. Carver is also motionless and docile. Xavier knows that the demon must be preoccupied with David, and he can only pray that the outcome is favorable. Rawley puts his hand in front of the vampire’s face, and the vampire is oblivious to it. There is no response even after a tap on the shoulder. Detangelo has been a silent onlooker the entire time.
“How long has he been this way?” Rawley asked. Detangelo doesn’t answer. “Jack! How long has he been this way?” The detective seems to snap out of a haze.
“What?” Jack asked.
“Never mind…” Rawley has a look of utter disgust.
Because Devin has all of his focus on David, this presents Rawley with an excellent opportunity to better prepare himself for the procedure. The vampire is entangled in his own challenge, and there really is not much Rawley can do except to move forward. Hoping to take advantage of this momentary edge, the exorcist meditates. He brings himself to a tranquil place of soft trickling waterfalls and healing gentle winds. The man goes to the place inside himself where thought is a unified and channeled stream of consciousness. It is a nil zone of singular purpose. This is a trip to the dead center of his being.
While Rawley is entranced with intent, the endangered vampire still wanders through the void. Devin wants to brainwash him. The sly demon reminds the vampire of Falcon’s Landing and all of the dead frozen faces in the snow. He reminds David of the thrill of the kill. The nightwalker remembers the sheer satisfaction of mangling an opponent. The joy of watching the life drain from a contorting dying face was unrivaled pleasure.
The vampire relives his moments as a gladiator at the Bloodstone. David hears the frenzied crowd beckoning him to spill the blood. He feels the electricity of the pounding African drums foreshadowing certain death. These were the times when David admittedly felt the least conflicted. The guilt he felt afterward soured and diluted the elation. The thoughts occur to him. What if there is no guilt? Why should I be so conflicted? The demon is cracking him.
David has dark secrets that have yet to be told. Chloe’s past tale was justified in a sense, yet it left him guilt ridden. Darker truths lie in the murk of his twisted soul. The vampire has many skeletons in his closet, along with many regrets. David is a vampire and not a pre-adolescent choirboy. He hasn’t always been able to control himself. When he was a less experienced creature of the night, he had made most of his terrible blunders. His first years were the some of the most confusing for him. Devin is trying to exploit all of his father’s mistakes that ever occurred during his existence. The ancient vampire has stories that have never been spoken of to anyone, and they are kept in the black annals of his mind like unusable junk in the attic.
The vampire is reminded of his torrid love affair with Ophelia. The vampire had met her in the early 1500’s in Italy. They shared a passionate, yet volatile relationship together. She was an extremely wealthy aristocrat who was desired by many men because of her uncanny beauty. Ophelia was very jealous of David and questioned his whereabouts at night. The vampire was only feeding his thirst and had remained true to his significant other.
At this point in time, David was ashamed of what he was, and he hid his curse from her. The tangled web of lies grew deeper and more complicated. Ophelia was correct that David was deceiving her, but she was wrong about the reasons. David’s emotion for her was more of an extreme infatuation, than true love. The vampire was captivated by her beauty, and he admired her political influence in the region.
The vampire has always tried to live a somewhat normal life, and he has experimented endlessly with relationships and attempts to have a successful union. After about a year with Ophelia, the passion had died down. Their relationship became even more of a challenge to maintain. The vampire had to let her go, yet Ophelia was obsessed with him and would not allow him to be free. Many times she would go looking for him at night, and she would find him carousing sometimes with other women in town pubs. She would publicly berate him and cause massive scenes. Ophelia would throw temper tantrums, which often led to chaos and damage.
David finally broke down and told Ophelia what he was, and she didn’t believe him. He hoped that his honesty would sooth her somehow. She believed that he was lying to cover up his womanizing ways. Ironically, the vampire was very dedicated to her, yet the woman felt scorned by her former lover, and she resented him for hurting her. One morning, she crept into his chambers while he was resting and avoiding the sunlight. Ophelia stood over his bed and opened all of the windows in his chambers.
The powerful sunlight instantly brought intense pain upon the slumbering nightwalker. The vampire awoke. He kept closing the heavy black curtains, and she kept re-opening them. Sunbeams penetrated the dark room rendering the vampire very weak. David was able to restrain her quite easily even in his weakened state, but she had driven him to the breaking point. She always brought out the worst in him and often fueled his rage that he kept bottled
inside. The ticking time bomb inside the vampire went off.
Finally, David strangled his former lover right there in his chamber. She gasped and fought for a breath of air, but the vampire had crushed her windpipe. She whimpered one bit, just before she expired. Until this day, David never forgot her bluish lifeless face and the look of surprise in her eyes when she died. He always felt responsible for creating the situation that led up to her murder. He gave into his anger, and the curse that bound his black soul. David was guilt ridden because he made a conscious choice to take her life that he immediately regretted.
David had to flee his city abode in Naples because Ophelia Barone was a well-known woman in the community, and she would be missed. She also made it very obvious to the public that they had an abusive and wild relationship. People would be looking for her and most likely David as well. In order to avoid a murder accusation, the vampire burned her remains inside an active underground, volcanic pocket. Her remains were never found. Ophelia was one more soul added to the long list of those who found death by David’s hand. The vampire’s lips have never told her story, yet Devin knows it all too well. The vampire cannot hide from his past, and he is forced to watch this bizarre collage of his life.
Like the change of a television channel, the film ends. The demon was using it like a form of psychological torture by constantly twisting and turning the vampire’s thoughts. Abruptly, David finds himself seated at a French outdoor bistro. He is unsure of the time period or even if he is in the same dimension for that matter. Devin can travel between dimensions, and it is possible that he has brought the vampire to an alternate universe.
A wonderful spread of food, along with a beautifully laid out table is in front of him. This is a massive mind-twisting ploy on the part of Devin who is seated at the table across from him. The vampire knows that this is all inside his own mind. At least, he hopes that is true. Devin pours him a healthy glass of blood-red wine out of a crystal decanter. The vampire accepts graciously and sips the liquid.
