by Bree Pierce
Black Death had spread so far and killed so many, people were no longer allowed to bury the victims of this vicious plague. They had to be burned and it was usually in a big heap of other bodies. Not her. Elisabeth deserved better so I built my own funeral pyre behind our home and laid her carefully on it, putting a small bouquet of her favorite blue flowers on her chest. She was at peace now, but I wasn’t. My heart was torn asunder in a way that I didn’t know possible. It hurt worse than the day I murdered my brother. I set fire to the pyre and watched the flames take hold of the dry wood and hay, quickly consuming everything. It took several hours for it to burn completely, but I stood watch for her, never leaving.
At sunset, I visited Elisabeth’s father to tell him the news. Her mother had succumbed to the plague as well. I told him that I would be leaving the village tomorrow for good. He tried to persuade me to stay, but my mind was made up. I needed a fresh start elsewhere, a place where the memories of her couldn’t haunt me at all hours of the day and night. I know he understood how I felt, losing her mother and all. In fact, I let him buy my house and land for a much smaller sum than it was worth. It was fitting that it should go to her father since he was all that was left of their family. Elisabeth had been an only child.
Running Away
Early the next morning I left the village behind me, following new trails to places unknown to me. I didn’t look back. There was no need when every little thought and detail was etched so deeply inside my heart.
I wandered around for the next several hundred years, going from place to place. But I never settled down in one area long enough to get attached to anyone and I never got involved with anyone. It was too much for me and frankly I couldn’t handle watching loved ones die continually because of the curse.
Once Columbus had found the New World, I decided to follow. It sounded like a good place to start over, this new and uncharted territory. And it would be far from Europe with all of its hard memories that it held for me. I could never forget Elisabeth, but I needed more time to heal. When you lived forever, you had a lot of time to think about things and relive your past memories. She was one I would always treasure in my heart. The beautiful and wonderful Elisabeth. There could never be another woman as perfect as she was. This New World was the perfect distraction. I sailed to North America for the first time in my life and found a vast wilderness at my disposal. Most of North America was unsettled and wild. Many of the settlers coming there stayed in certain areas and settlements. I went as far as I could west and settled down alone. And I stayed that way for a very long time. It was refreshing to be so alone. There was no one around to gawk at my face besides the natives. And after seeing my face and eye, they left me alone. Seems like they thought I might be cursed too. Go figure. Leave it to the natives to figure out more than the settlers merely because they were more superstitious. Funny thing was that they were right. I think one or two of them actually felt sorry for me (or maybe they thought I was going to curse them too) because occasionally I would find random things on the front porch of the tiny cabin I had built myself. After so many years being around, I was remarkably handy with a hammer, nails, and a saw. For a few hundred years I stayed alone like that. And because of that, I didn’t think about the fact that the natives had been watching me all these years and had definitely noticed that I didn’t age or die.
Once civilization started growing up around me, I decided it was time to move on. People would always ask about me and I would just say I was from Europe. If they asked about my face, I was terribly burned in an accident. It was more readily accepted now as being a horrendous burn. It’s strange how things keep changing over time, including our perceptions of things and people.
Later I moved to New York, which is where I am now. Once again, the ideas on my mark have changed. Now people think it’s a tattoo and my eye has a contact in it or something. And what’s even more interesting? A lot of people think it’s cool. In fact, it’s how I got my job at Slayer, a video game store. I had the look and Brad, the manager, hired me pretty much immediately. Not only that, but he took a particular liking to me for some reason. I don’t really know why since I didn’t like him that much. The guy was kind of a tool. But Brad liked me to go to a bar called Tilt with him to be his “wing man”. Chicks liked him because of his attitude and his looks. Apparently a certain set of chicks liked me because I looked like the dark and dangerous type. I’ve never considered myself to be that type at all. If anything, I was brooding and disgusting. My face used to appall people. Now it was cool. If only they knew my secrets, they would reconsider everything they thought about me. But I wasn’t about to just open up to anyone. I kept to myself most of the time. After losing Elisabeth, it was the last straw for me. No more getting involved or attached. I did the whole one-night-stand business once in a while, but it was as satisfying as one single drop of water would be in a dry, dying desert. The type of women who liked me was typically the hot goth chicks; nothing like Elisabeth, who had been perfect.
Christine
Then I met her. She came along and changed everything for me, even the very foundations of my beliefs about life and its makeup. Christine. She wasn’t like any woman I had ever met. Not that she was fully human. Oh no. You see, she’s a vampire that was created in Hitler’s labs a long time ago, quite by accident. She has no idea about anything regarding her creation besides what she is and how she has to survive. You see, now I was no longer alone in the world. She stopped aging a very long time ago. Her sunshine is so obvious with her deep golden hair and sapphire eyes, but she has a deep, dark side too. I don’t even know if I could handle a relationship between us now that I know what she is. Christine defies logic in many ways. And it spins my brain out of control trying to think about it. She is light and I am dark. But how can a vampire be light? Some of those old rumors about them are true; particularly the ones about them being blood drinkers. It makes no sense at all, but I just can’t see her as being a bad person. After all, she can’t help what she is any more than I can. The only difference is that I made my bed and now I must lie in it. She was created and I was cursed. Her talents allow her to surmise what I am without me telling her, and it’s unnerving knowing that I can have no secrets from her, but she can hide everything from me. But it comes down to one thing for me: I am no longer alone in this world. All I know is that there’s a good possibility she’s an immortal, and so am I.
I am Cain, The Immortal.
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me in this endeavor! Thank you to my biggest fan and supporter, my husband. I could never have reached this far without you! You have always been there, pushing me towards my dreams.
Thank you to those of you who took the time to answer my many questions about the whole writing process and to those who took the time to help me edit and make this book possible. And to those who gave me valuable feedback before this was even published. You have been wonderful!
To my author friends Erica Stevens and H.L. Burke, you have pushed and encouraged me and I will forever be grateful for that!
And a great big thank you to all of my readers out there! Without you, where would an author be?
About the Author
Bree Pierce grew up in a very small, rural area in Arkansas. She grew up in what some would call the sticks, or the backwoods. Bree has been writing since she was a child. It has always been a big part of her life and becoming a published author is a dream that was finally realized. Still residing in Arkansas with her wonderful husband and three beautiful children, Bree is, as always, working away at a few other ideas she hopes to have published sometime in the near future.
Email: [email protected]
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