“Yes, I suppose you're right. Where are you going with this?” Mr. McHugh sighed. “You aren't thinking about doing something crazy, are you son?”
Del begged him with all his heart. “Mr. McHugh, I truly care for your Demy. I also want to make this right in your eyes. What can I do to prove my intentions are best for your daughter?” Del spoke with sincerity.
Mr. McHugh was blunt. “I will not have a dirty young man marry my daughter. And there is no amount of money someone in your line of work can make to ever make me condone what you have planned for her.”
“Then I will make it right sir. I will become what you require of me. For Demy's sake and for yours.” Del waited for Mr. McHugh's reply.
“You are not what I had ever expected to come into Demy's life. Let alone the man who would be the father of my only grandchild.” Mr. McHugh lowered his head and sighed. “However, I am not a cruel man. Change your profession, make yourself into something you and I can be proud of. Only then will you have my blessing.” Mr. McHugh reached into his jacket pocket for a cigar. He placed it in his mouth and struck a match to light it.
“What do you want me to be?” Del was pure and put himself in Mr. McHugh’s place. He wanted nothing more than to do the right thing by Mr. McHugh.
“Go to school boy. Become a lawyer or a doctor. Do something to make people happy and right the wrongs of this world.” Mr. McHugh had no idea the power and precedence he set when speaking those words to Del.
Six months transpired. Del had gone to law school. He was in his second semester of college on his way to a full law degree in Richmond, Virginia. Demy felt full of pride for her soon to be husband. She was a good twenty six weeks pregnant and very happy. Mr. McHugh was happy. Del was following the advice he was given. It was not his preference to become a lawyer at all. He was merely completing another task at hand. He needed to be something he was not in order to marry the woman he cared for. College was only a stepping stone to achieve that goal. Del did not find difficulty in the material, he simply absorbed it and learned as he went. Del's vocabulary increased, he became a scholar in the eyes of his professors. Demy and Mr. McHugh were beginning to notice that Del was no longer a simple farm hand. He had become a man of education. Until one night, when Del's morality shaped the events of his destiny.
Each day after Del's classes, he studied and reviewed what the teachers taught. Through self-review, he had managed to swing perfect grades. His methods were not so much thought out as they were methodical. Del simply kept at it. Earning him a high place in his soon to be profession. Day to day, nothing much changed until one night in the middle of winter. Del was walking home from the Richmond campus just after eight o’clock at night. The sun had been down under the horizon for hours. The last study group had let out more than ten minutes before he had packed up. On his way out from the campus, there was a quiet, but definite scream. Del was one of the few people around to hear it. The sound was of a woman being attacked between two of the outer buildings.
The smell was disturbing. Del ran to help. He reached the woman as a tall dark figure dropped her to the floor. The woman's body sloshed on the ground, covered in visceral blood. Her throat had been torn apart. The little moonlight from the clear sky opened Del's eyes to the shadowy horror of this dying woman in front of him. It was dark, he couldn’t see who or what this other person was. Del was able to make out one distinguishing factor, white silver hair. It was somewhat short and hung straight down, splattered with dripping blood.
Del had intended on saving the screaming woman. The pile of flesh on the floor was no longer alive. It bubbled as the last remaining remnants of air escaped from the woman's lung. A gurgling sound spit blood onto his shoes. The woman was dead and now he was soon to be the next victim. Del looked for a knife, something shinny that the killer might have. To Del's confusion, there was nothing.
The shadows cloaked a fine line inches beyond the dead woman's body. Barely any light illuminated either Del or the unknown figure. Somehow the figure moved as if it knew what Del was about to do. With each movement Del made to advance, the stranger copied. Del slowly shifted towards the fallen woman. He felt watched as he made his way into the moonlight.
Before Del could reach the girl, the unknown presence moved. Del intended on taking the girl to at least be identified. This would make him a small time local hero in the town’s eyes. He felt that no one should die without a name. Having her family identify the body would be the least he could do. Del wanted dearly to fulfill Mr. McHugh’s second condition, the request of righting the wrongs in the world and making people genuinely happy. He considered this one act in accordance with those wishes.
The figure pinned Del to the wall with exacting force. Dust plumed off the well built structure. The sound was painful, the feeling was unreal. A thin delicate hand held him against the concrete wall. The light shown up to a black cloak the unknown person was wearing. Shielding the remaining body from the elbow. Its sharp fingertips were cutting into Del's chest. Blood was dotting his white shirt. Del watched as a pair of red eyes glowed from the blackness. It was terrifying. Del was a strong man, fit and toned well enough to defend himself in an average fight. This was no fight. There was no contest here. This person held him with one hand outstretched, with little effort. Del weighed over two hundred pounds, he was not easily lifted. The stranger managed to pin him solidly without any continued exertion. It was impossible. As inhuman as it was, it was happening.
Del fought to gain a forward foot hold on his attacker. Pushing against the wall for leverage. The stranger didn't budge. They only kept an unrelenting pressure on Del's chest that seemed to be slowly increasing.
“I need to save her.” Del was able to whisper to the dark shadow as it crushed him further.
A hissing voice spoke, slightly feminine, yet with a deep presence to it. “That woman is dead, you have nothing left to save.”
Del’s lungs were being deflated. The figure was slowly killing him, not waiting for a response.
Del mouthed two words, ‘Her dignity.’
The stranger dropped Del instantly to the ground. Del coughed as the figure stood over him. Del spit up a hand full of blood and cleared his throat.
The voice, now softer than before, spoke again to Del. “You would carry her back? To her town, to the rest of them? To preserve her dignity?”
Del nodded.
The shadow let out an eerie laugh, shouting out into the heavens with an unreal tone.
Del grasped his chest as he pulled himself over to the mangled girl. He checked for signs of life. There was nothing. There was only a corpse, nothing more. Del's hands were covered in the victim's blood.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” The shadowy stranger laughed again. The same infernal feminine howl escaped its mouth. “You have a death wish to play with my first meal of the night. Is it really worth it?”
Del nodded again. There was a pain growing in his chest, something was filling his lungs. Del had trouble breathing. He clasped his neck. Blood from Del's hands soaked the front of the white shirt he was wearing.
“You are diligent. I’ll give you that. Stupid, but diligent.” The stranger held still in the dark, just beyond the reach of the light, the same red eyes glaring.
Suddenly, the figure rushed at Del and threw him against the wall again. Its pale white hand gripped the lower portion of his rib cage. Its fingers had pierced his skin, blood flowed down Del's stomach. Spilling over his belt and pants to the ground.
The stranger taunted Del. “Do you want to die boy?” The figure leaned into Del positioning itself inches from his face. It came into the light willingly. This was no man, it was a young woman with silvery white hair. She was thin and small, nearly five foot three at best. The girl had porcelain skin, flawless to Del's sight. Her chin was small, her jaw pointed to an angle. She had a large effeminate forehead that dwarfed her cheek bones. She was petite and gorgeous. The only part of her face that was difficult to understan
d was her eyes. They were a translucent red. There was a small pin of a black center, the rest was a thin veil of red that Del could see through. Her eyes seemed to shine in the moonlight. Her hair shielded part of her face. The white strands overlaid with blood splatters. Del peered into the darkness of her eyes and saw nothingness.
Catching his breath, gasping to inhale, Del answered. “I will do what I need to.” Blood poured down Del's lips. It flowed down his chest, painting a red streak.
“A curious reply, warranting an unusual course of action.” The girl took a hold of Del’s neck tightly with her left hand.
Del was suffocating.
The girl was preventing Del from breathing. “You will do what I need you to. I will make sure of that. I will turn your flawed sense of mortality into your curse. You will be forced into a grave scenario to which there are few solutions. You will forget me, you will never speak of me, and you will not witness the measures I take to ensure this.”
Del's mind became hazy, it faded to black. The white haired girl watched him pass out. Making sure he was unconscious before she loosened her grip on his throat and chest. Del fell to the side, motionless on the ground. The young woman opened her mouth, baring a set of large fangs. She came forward and into the light. She bit into Del’s throat, sucking and drinking most of his blood, nearly leaving his veins dry. She raised her left arm and placed her hand in Del’s mouth. With a quick motion, she struck Del's jaw upwards. The trauma forced his teeth into the girl's flesh. It caused her blood to draw into Del's body. She pressed on his stomach and chest to force it through his system. Del unknowingly drank the blood of this strange woman.
“You will be something none of us will.” The girl removed her hand and wiped Del's mouth. “A walking contradiction. A paradigm.”
The following day Del awoke next to the body of the murdered young woman. He was not in the alley. He was in front of the local police station, soaked in what looked like her blood. The town’s people believed he had tried to save the girl, but didn’t have the strength to carry her all the way to the hospital. They cleaned him up, stitched Del's stomach, and put him on an all liquid diet in their intensive care unit of the hospital. They saw Del for what he was, a hero. The cops told Del he was lucky to be alive. The killer left two others dead that night. The whole town searched for the culprit, though no one was ever found.
To everyone's surprise, Del returned to his classes in the morning. He was exhausted, but perfectly able for some reason. Most of his injuries had healed, he was walking again without any trouble. Del was happy everything was falling into place. Everyone treated him fondly. Mr. McHugh approved of His and Demy's marriage earlier than projected. Demy happily accepted Del’s wishes for the wedding to be set the following month.
The day passed and Del became sick. His body harbored a high fever and his limbs were cold to the touch. Rather than be hospitalized again, Mr. McHugh, seeing Del as already part of the family had every doctor in the county examine him at their estate. Each doctor gave Del what treatment they could, nothing eased the fever of one hundred and nine.
The second morning Del’s temperature fell. He had strong chills and uncontrollable shaking. The five attending doctors covered him in thick blankets and warmed his bed with an old sterling silver ember style bed warmer. His body was ninety-four degrees and dropping. His eyes were sensitive to the light and he shied away from the open windows. Demy was worried in the other room as Del spent the entire day shivering. He was incoherent.
By the third morning, Del’s shaking had subsided. He was feeling much better, though still weak. His pupils had closed to a point and the brown color of his iris had disappeared. The doctors were dumbfounded. The greater change was that the whites of his eyes and the iris itself had turned to a transparent blood red. Del's skin lightened. His fingers thinned as his body lost weight. He was looking sickly.
Mr. McHugh’s maids served Del hand and foot, giving him warm liquids and hot food. They tried to avoid looking him in the eyes as much as possible. His appearance disturbed even the doctors. Mr. McHugh refused to let Demy see him. Del’s temperature remained low, though he was recovering steadily. He slept more during the day and was up during the late hours of the night. He still had an aversion towards light, barely able look at the sunlight through the windows at dawn. Though his body was cold, his legs had severe burns on them near where the silver bed chamber warmer was. The doctors weren’t sure why he hadn’t died yet. Del's core body had stabilized at 51.5 degrees, though his limbs were far colder. He was now cooler than the late winter days outside.
Demy no longer sat in the other room next to Del. From Mr. McHugh's description, she found him terrifying. Demy spent her time away, taking the time to think about the baby inside her. Demy’s feelings were waning.
By the morning of the fifth day, Del had to have the windows completely covered. Even the reflection of the sunlight in the room was burning his skin. The doctors concluded that he would have to remain indoors to avoid further injury. A prognosis Del did not enjoy. He had been a day laborer his entire life, his future did not look good. He felt weak all the time. His normally sturdy constitution was failing him. All of the doctors left, believing Del no longer had a condition that was treatable. He was slowly being abandoned.
Del knocked on Demy's door the fifth night after the incident. He spoke through the door when he received no answer. “Demy, I will always love you and respect your choices. I am glad to of had you in my life.” Del's voice was raspy, darker than his normal self.
Demy opened the door. Del could feel the sadness in her eyes when Demy met his view. He was a monster to her now. A freak with a simple mentality. He was in no way the strong vibrant man she once knew. He had grown paler by the day, his tan was gone. The years of sun spots and calluses he had built up were gone. Del was changing into another person before her, something inhuman.
Del put on the black tuxedo Mr. McHugh had bought him for the impending wedding. He took his time placing every article of clothing on, ensuring each piece was perfect. There was a red tie Demy had given him as an early Christmas present. Del thought it reminded him of the blood running down his chest the night of the murder. At first he didn't like it, but soon thought of it as a memento to what happened. He found it comforting. It was a symbol for both the event and his love for Demy. He was happy to wear it. Del stepped out onto the porch to look at the partially full moon in the sky. He wanted a moment to clear his mind.
Mr. McHugh was standing to the left of the front door when Del arrived. He had something on his mind. Something he wanted to say that was weighing heavy on his heart. “Del, you know what I asked of you. I gave you the time to make my daughter happy.” Mr. McHugh coughed and lowered his head. “Son, you had all the heart in you to save that girl that died. I’ll give you that much.” Mr. McHugh tipped his head up. “That night changed you, made you into something my daughter is having trouble with.” Mr. McHugh placed his left hand on Del's right shoulder. “Something like what happened to you sticks in the head. It doesn't go away. Especially for the people that got to watch it up close. Del, do you understand what I'm telling you?”
Del's chest was tight, he was anticipating the moment to come.
Mr. McHugh gestured to the door. “You know what I’m asking Del, don’t make this hard on me. Don’t make this hard on her. Please, just let her go. She can't even look at you anymore.” Mr. McHugh kept his own eyes lowered, making sure not to look at Del directly.
Del's blood red eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight. His skin was pale, almost white under the porch. He did not appear as a normal man should. He was gaunt, his face that of a monster. He knew that Mr. McHugh was right. There was a small hint of anger that welled up in Del's eyes. He was feeling a deep sadness that he had never known. There was a chasm inside him that had developed from the love he had grown for Demy. He had become a part of her entire family. For the last six months Del had become accustomed to their way of life. It felt wro
ng to him that it should end.
The moment of anger subsided, Del relaxed. He found a calm that embraced him. He hung his head low while stepping off the estate and out of their lives forever. His heart sank as he set foot on the main road. The same road he traveled when he asked for Demy's hand in marriage. This time no one was there to greet him. No one waved, or followed Del past the corner stores. He was alone as he tread silent, reflective to what had transpired.
Del walked for a few hours before an uncontrollable hunger overcame him. He felt weak, drained of energy. Del's throat was parched. It was different than the normal mid summer’s day thirsts he had experienced in his decade of farm work. He attributed it to his compromised health and walked on. Del was great at ignoring himself before his goals. Always putting others' welfare ahead of his, it was typical. Regardless of his desires to continue, Del collapsed on the side of the road. He was next to the eastern most farmland in the county. He quickly found a horse trough. A place he was more than familiar with for emergency drinking water. He jumped the fence and began guzzling. It was cold and fresh to his surprise. Del drank, but no amount eased his drought.
Del looked around, there were horses on one side of the fence and cows on the other. He approached a tall gallant white horse speckled with bits of black. The horse was cautious, as if it had something to fear from Del. “Settle your apprehension steed, my thirst cannot be satiated by you.”
Del approached the horse and brushed its mane back. The horse calmed. Del exhaled after a deep breath. “But what am I going to do?”
The horse spooked, rearing up in front of Del in the open field. Something inside him reacted to the rapid heartbeat of the horse. There was an urge he was not used to, it was trying to assume control. He noticed his hands ready to attack the animal, an action he did not want to take. The large horse thrust it’s hooves into Del’s chest. The impact threw him back, crushing a section of the fence. He looked down to see that the left side of his ribs were all exposed and broken. The horse ran off with blood on its hooves. He was struggling to breathe. There was a gripping in his veins, he wanted to kill something. Del was beginning to feel a strength in him that he had never known.
Demon Vampire (The Redgold Series) Page 19
