The Thirst

I looked up at the sky, towards the crescent moon hanging in the distance. Shivering from the cold, i bundled up in my jacket and walked back towards my campfire. The thunder in the back ground was growing closer, and I knew that my fire would not keep me warm for too long. Going through my ruck sack, i pulled out my one man tent and began to set it up. I didnt even need the light to set it up, after doing it every day for about four months, the tent was up and ready to use in under five minutes. Walking back to my ruck, i heard a rustle in the bushes by my site. Looking over, in a steady voice i asked, " Is anyone there?" No answer. Assuming that it was just a racoon, I continued on preparing for the storm. While setting up a tarp up over the fire using sticks i found, i heard the same rustling noise coming from the bushes opposite of the last noise. This time i threw a rock at the bushes and prayed for the best. Nothing happened. Once again, I went back to the task at hand and began water proofing my ruck, covering it with some old trash bags i carried for just this purpose. Once everything was ready for the coming storm, i moved to the fire, reached in my pocket, and pulled out a pack of Camel's. Pulling one out of the package, i put it to my lips and leaned into the fire to spark the cherry. I drew deeply on the cigarette, and exhaled. I couldn't tell when the smoke stopped and the steam caused by the bitter cold started. A lightning bolt cracked through the sky, and then 8 seconds later the thunder followed. Taking another drag from my Camel, my mind started to wander.
It was four and a half months prior, i was sitting in my office, waiting for my 3 o'clock appointment. Looking at my desk, i saw the picture of me and my drop dead gorgeous fiance'. Thinking about her always made me smile, and this day was no exception. We had the perfect relationship, full of love and trust, and just this urge to be with each other. I looked at my watch, 2:45 pm, i had just enough time for a quick call to her before my appointment came in. I picked up the phone, and dialed her number. After 4 rings, her voicemail greeted me, so I left a quick message telling her how much I loved her, and that i would probably not be home for another couple of hours. I then hung up the phone, and started to light a cigarette when my secretary buzzed me on the intercom. " Mr. Hall, your 3 o'clock just cancelled." Dammit, i thought. "Thank you Vicki," i said. I really needed to speak with this guy, it was a very important matter that could possibly be the difference between life and death for this guy, well financially that is. Reaching for my intercom, i buzzed my secretary. "Hey Vick, I'm going to be leaving the office early." "Yes Mr. Hall," she responded, "I'll hold all your calls." "You're the best Vicki," I said. Gathering all of my personal belongings, I walked out of my office, out of the waiting room, and down the hall to the elevator. Pressing the button for the lower levels, i stood back and waited for the doors to open. A few moments later they opened, I got in, and took it to the basement. I walked to my car, a beautiful sports car, bright and shiny red paint job, and I smiled. I loved that car, and could remember the first day that i drove off of the lot behind the wheel. It wasn't only the car, but what it represented. Financial freedom. I finally had enough money to live comfortably, I had a beautiful woman waiting for me at home, what else could a man want? I stopped by a street vendor and picked up an assortment of flowers for my love, and then drove straight home. I pulled into the drive, and then walked up to the front door and tried to open it. It was locked. That's strange, she never locks the door. I unlock the front door and walk into the house. I dont see her in the living room, but i hear music coming from upstairs, so i follow the slow tunes. The bedroom door was cracked, so I peeked in. I saw my girl, on top of someone, grinding on him. They were both completely nude, except for her high heels. She is moaning in ecstacy as i grip the door frame to steady myself. My eyes start to tear up, and then i screamed, " What in the hell is going on in here?" She immediately jumped up and covered herself, a look of sheer surprise in her eyes. Looking towards the bed, I realize who it was she had been fucking. "Holy shit" I screamed, "Chuck? You are supposed to be my best friend, what in the name of shit is going on here? How long has this been going on?" Neither of them seemed to know what to say, they just stuttered apologies over and over. I've never really been a violent man, so i just walked out, went downstairs, got in my car, and then hit the road. I made one stop at a sporting goods store, where I purchased my camping gear, and headed for the mountains.
The rustling noise was back, and it was louder now. It seemed like it was coming from all directions. I grabbed my lantern and walked towards the bushes. All I saw was a quick movement heading away from me, so i thought that my assumption of racoons was correct, and then headed to my tent to get some sleep for the night. Once I set foot in the tent, the rain came. When i say it came, I mean it was pouring more than I've ever seen. Luckily my tent is waterproof, but I doubted that the fire would last too much longer. I decided that in the morning I would look for a cave in the nearby mountains to occupy for a little while to stay a little dryer. Laying in my sleeping bag, I closed my eyes and drifted quickly into a deep sleep.
While sleeping, I dreamt of the day that lead to my days of living in the forest. I saw it all over again, her on top of him, the moans of ecstasy, the look in her eyes. Why God, why must I relive the moment that lead to the destruction of my life over and over again? But this time it was different, while riding Chuck, my former lover looked at me, with a twisted scary look on her face, and screamed “WAKE UP!” At that exact moment, I did exactly that. I woke up in a cold sweat, breathing heavily and shivering. I then noticed that I no longer heard the violent torrential downpour from outside of the tent. Getting out of my sleeping bag, I unzipped the tent door and stepped outside for another dose of lung cancer. Putting the Camel to my lips, I proceeded to light up. Damn, it felt so good, this deadly addiction of mine. Why is it that everything you love can end up being the thing that stabs you in the back in the long run? Oh well, I checked my camp site, the fire was completely out. No wonder it was so fucking cold. I bundled up in my fleece jacket, and started to bounce up and down on my toes for a little extra blood flow, and some warmth. “Swish swish.” There was that damn noise again, I was really getting pissed and went to investigate again, but as soon as my foot left the ground to take a step, he was standing about a foot in front of me. “Holy shit” I screamed, and put on foot in front of the other and my arms up, preparing to defend myself. He just looked at me and said, “Do not fear me, I mean you no harm, but we must leave this place at once.” This threw me off immediately, but put me a little at ease at the same time. He was a very pale man, about 2 inches taller than my 6’0”, but he was also very scrawny. I’m talking to the point where I could have picked him up and just tossed him with no problems. The look in his face was what got me though, it was a look of pure fear. This man felt threatened for his life, for some reason or another, but I stood firm. “Who are you, and what in the hell are you talking about?” “Who I am is not important right now, but us getting out of here is. There is a small cave about a mile or so from here, there it will be safe to talk and relax for a while.” Well I have to tell you, if you were to be in the same situation, and some crazy guy appeared out of no where in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night, then might be a little freaked out by how scared he was also. So I did what I thought I should, I went with him. We packed up my gear and tent and put everything into my rucksack. “We must cover up that you have been here my friend,” he said. I didn’t argue, so we went to work in scattering the soaked logs that I used for my fire, and I buried all of my trash in a small hole I dug, then covered it up. “That will have to do for now, we must leave this place at once, I can smell them.” “Smell who, who are you talking about?” “There is no time, we must leave at once.” Son of a bitch, I was getting tired of him telling me to hurry up, and that we have to go, without some sort of explanation. I felt my pants, just to make sure that my field knife was still clipped to my belt, it was. I might be going somewhere I have no idea where it is, but I wasn’t a complete moron, I was going to make sure I had some protection. I then loaded my ruck onto my back, and the strange man carried my tent. “We are heading that way.” He said, and pointed towards the thickest part of the forest. “We have to go over a mile through that shit?” I asked, he merely replied “The longer we wait, the closer he gets.” Now that sounded completely logical to me, but I was still tired, and freaked the hell out. We started the long walk through the thickest brush I have ever been through, and after the first mile, I had cuts and scratches on my face and hands. With each step I took, I got madder. Starting to come to my sensed, I yelled “What is the point of this bull shit? Where are we going?” He looked ahead, and pointed “ Right there my friend, that is where we are going.” I looked, and saw a big boulder at the base of a small mountain. “I don’t see anything” I said, I started to say something else but the man cut me off. “Keep moving, or you won’t be alive to bitch tomorrow!” Now that wasn’t something you hear everyday I thought, I wasn’t sure if I could trust this man, but I kept going towards the boulder anyways. Upon arriving at the base of the mountain, I noticed there was a small hole in the wall behind the boulder. He dropped to his hands and knees, and proceeded into the opening. I pulled out my flashlight and clicked it on, and then followed his lead.Crawling through the hole, I didn’t notice any cob webs, so I guessed that this was not this man’s first time through here. Also, I realized that I would be in a very vulnerable position when I got to the end of the tunnel, so I pulled out my field knife, which I got as a gift when I got out of the Marine Corps. It felt like eternity before I came to the light at the end of the tunnel, although it was more like three minutes or so. I readied my knife, waiting for an ambush when I finally popped out of the hole. It never came fortunately, so I looked around the inside of the cave. There was no sign of the man that had practically begged me to follow him here, this guy was really starting to piss me off. Continuing to examine the room for a clue to his whereabouts, I realized that the temperature was surprisingly warm considering the bitter cold outside, this must have been because of the numerous torches lining the walls. Above every torch in the circular room, were markings that looked to be of an ancient religious sect. I’m no expert on the subject, so I had no idea of what they meant, but it did strike me as odd, and made me a little uneasy. Besides the torches and the religious markings, there was a large wooden table in the center of the room. On it were two black candles, unlit, and a rather large ancient looking opened book lying in the center. I took a peek at the pages, but the writing was in a script that I had never before seen. I have to tell you, all of this was adding up to one thing… me about to piss my pants. I was damn near terrified, the stuff I was seeing was like something straight out of a horror movie, and I for one did not want to be a victim to some twisted serial killer. Sheathing my knife, I took of my pack, and began to rummage through it quickly, hoping to find what I was looking for before my host returned. I had my arm in the pack up to my bicep, and I started to panic when I didn’t feel it, and then I noticed a light coming from the one hallway in the room. It appeared to be torchlight and was moving in my direction. Moving my hand around frantically in my bag, I finally felt it, the familiar feel of cold metal. My military issued Beretta 9 mm service pistol. Man did we have some history together in combat, with 10 confirmed kills in a small town in eastern Iraq. I was a damn good shot too, so my unease was lifted slightly.
The light was almost to the room I was in, so I tucked the Beretta into the back of my pants. One second later, and he would have seen what I was trying to conceal, God bless my luck. He smiled when he saw me, and said, “Sorry to disappear, I had to conceal the only other entrance to the cave. It would not have been good if He would have found a way into this place.” “Who are you talking about, and while we’re at it, who the hell are you?” He motioned to two wooden chairs that were in front of the large table. I was almost certain that they were not there when I looked before… maybe I just missed it due to fatigue. We sat in the chairs, and he began to speak. “My name, is Vladimir, you can call me Vlad for short. The reason for my strange behavior is that I am being chased by a vampire, possibly more than one, but of this I cannot be certain.” My mind went crazy with thoughts, whirling around my brain, is this guy crazy? Does he actually believe that he is being chased by a vampire? But at the same time, it also triggered something deeper in my subconscious. It felt almost like déjà vu, but I didn’t know why, I didn’t know anything about vampires, or necessarily even believe in them. I had to assume for the time being that this guy was just crazy, and possibly dangerous, although he didn’t appear to be armed. But hey, who knew what he had in this hidden cave? I decided to pretend to take him seriously, so he didn’t get pissed. “Um, how do you know you are being chased by a vampire? Have you seen him, or been attacked by someone?” “No, he replied, but I have been having very vivid dreams about this vampire who has been after me for over a week now. The dreams feel as if they are real, and I know for a fact that he is after me. He projects images into my head more than once a day, and quite frankly, it is driving me crazy.” “Yeah no shit.” I thought. “Ok, so let me get this right, you have never seen anyone chasing you, you have no solid proof that someone is chasing you, and also you have no way of knowing that even if someone was after you that it is a vampire.” I asked. “That is incorrect, the dreams are more than just dreams Reed, they are real, and I know it, I feel it.” He said. “I don’t seem to remember telling you my name Vlad, can you explain how you know that?” I asked. “You have also been in my dreams Reed, the vampire, who’s name is not known to me, has been projecting you into my dreams as well. I didn’t know why at first, or who you were even, but now that we have found each other, I realize that it cannot be just a mere coincidence.” I rolled my eyes and thought, “ Wow, this guy is really willing to go the extra yard to get me to believe him.” Then Vlad went on, “I know that I am supposed to hunt him down and kill him, and it is very clear now, that you are the one supposed to help me. I know it sounds ridiculous, but you have to help. We have to stop him from spreading the disease to the local public, if that were to happen, well you can only imagine the effect of a vampire epidemic.” I spoke slowly, “I do not believe in vampires, and I’m sorry if you think someone is after you, but I have no time to help you on some ridiculous, story book quest.” “ I assumed that you wouldn’t believe or help me Reed, and there is nothing that I can do to change your mind, He told me that also, but I really wish you would reconsider. I need your help. We all need your help.” Vlad said. “You assumed correctly, I cannot and will not help, I do not believe in ghost stories, and on that note, I’m getting the hell out of here!” “I will not force you to stay or help, I just warn you that you are in danger also, and should be careful and prepared while staying out in the wilderness. He is very deadly, damn near silent when approaching, and he seems to know a lot about the both of us already.” he said. Right around then I realized I was in no danger, and also that this guy probably just read my name on my ruck sack, so mystery solved on that one. I also realized that this guy thought he was telling the truth, he actually believed that a mythical creature wanted him dead for some reason. I kind of felt sorry for the poor bastard. Not sorry enough to stay though, so I grabbed my pack, and attached my tent to it, and began to head towards the tunnel from which I entered. “Sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful, but I have my own problems.” I said. “Yes, I know all about your fiancee Reed, and I am truly sorry that you had to deal with that, I wish you luck in finding whatever it is you are looking for.” he said. His last comment threw me off big time, how could he know about her? I decided not to think about it and merely said, “ Good luck to you as well Vladimir.” Then, crouching to my knees, I began to crawl through the cramped tunnel towards the woods, and freedom.
Three days had passed since my strange encounter, and luckily, I had not run into Vlad, or any crazy monsters in the woods. I won’t say that I wasn’t cautious about every noise that I heard in the forest after my little meeting with Captain Crazy at first, but after a few days of quiet, the whole thing seemed to leave my memory all together. I was back to the old routine, hunting my own food, cooking over the fire, showering wasn’t really an option during these cold months, but I was alone and no one was unfortunate enough to have to smell me. The only strange thing about these few days was that I kept getting the feeling that I was being watched. I thought I kept hearing noises coming from the woods, but upon examination, nothing was there. This went on day in and day out, so I kind of got used to it. At the present time, I was just sitting in the makeshift camp I had set up, and had just finished eating some rabbit that I had trapped and cooked, when my eyes started to sag a little. The next thing I knew, I was in a deep sleep, dreaming that I was back in the area where I ran into Vladimir, and it had just finished pouring down rain again. Everything was exactly the same, I went outside, lit my cigarette, and then heard the same rustling in the bushes. It was all exactly the same as when it really happened, except when I looked towards the noise, Vlad didn’t appear. I looked all around my area, only having the moon for light, and I saw the figure of a man to my left. All I could see was his outline, so I called out, “Vlad, is that you? I told you I wouldn’t help you on your crazy quest.” No answer. The figure remained motionless, so I moved a little closer, on my guard, with my pistol drawn. “VLAD, IS THAT YOU?” I yelled again at the figure. This time, its head turned towards me, then he disappeared completely. Instinctively, I flipped the safety off of my 9 mm and surveyed the area. “Hello Reed,” a voice whispered into my ear. I turned around quickly to see a different man, a more intimidating man standing right behind me, mouth open, and baring his fangs. Long, sharp deadly fangs. I whipped my pistol towards the man and attempted to pull the trigger in his face. His hand shot up with an uncanny quickness and he grabbed the gun and threw it into the woods. I was in a daze, “How could he move so fast, and he couldn’t be human could he?” I thought. Then he spoke, “ My name is Drake, and I am one of the eternal.” I stood there in complete and utter terror. I tried to run, but my legs would not listen to what my brain was telling it to do. I screamed, “ This is just a dream, this isn’t real and you cannot hurt me asshole!” “That is correct, you are dreaming, but you are wrong in thinking that I cannot hurt you.” At that moment four other vampires stepped out from behind the trees, fangs dripping with saliva, and famished looks on their faces. They surrounded me, and started to move in closer. I drew my Beretta, and racked a round into the chamber. I quickly drew my weapon and put a round right between one of the new creatures eyes. He stumbled for a second and dropped to one knee, then looked up at me in disdain. I noticed the bullet hole in his face begin to close up and heal itself, after five seconds it was like he had never been shot at all. I started to think about all the vampire movies I have ever seen, and tried to remember everything that would kill vampires. I pulled out my necklace which had a cross on the end of it, and held it up to the group of weirdos. They just kept coming after me, this was having no effect on them at all. Drake laughed loudly, “ Haha, you watch too many movies my friend, the symbol of your foolish God cannot hurt us. We were around way before the Messiah saved you of your sins.” I thought, “What else can kill these fuckers? Silver? Or was that werewolves? Son of a bitch, these guys are getting closer and closer, I have to get out of here before I’m torn to shreds.” I attempted to step back, and luckily, my legs decided to obey this time. I took off like a bullet exiting a gun, I weaved in between two of the monsters and headed for the trees. Drake screamed, “ After him, if he gets away, you all will be sacrificed to Lucifer!” I could hear their foot steps pretty close behind me, damn these bastards were fast. I started to run even faster, which was hard, for the trees and shrubs were growing thicker and thicker with every step. I had to move side to side just to avoid knocking myself unconscious, which slowed down my progression. The crazed vampires were getting closer and closer with every step. I was coming closer to the mountains that, just three days before I had used as a refuge. The trees started to thin out some, so I kicked up the pace a bit, I was running so fast that my heart felt like it would explode, and my lungs felt frozen from the chilled night air. I could see the big boulder which hid the tunnel to the rooms where Vlad stayed. I decided to head towards it when all of a sudden I took another step, but the normal resistance of the ground was not there. I fell through a pile of leaves, and landed on what felt like a mattress. I looked up, but could see that they leaves were still in place, and my little hole was still a secret. I could hear the angry hisses from the vampires as they looked in despair for me. They must have decided to look elsewhere, because I heard them say something in a strange language, and then heard them run away.
Getting off of my ass, I started to walk towards a glowing light I saw in the distance. When I put weight on my left foot, I crumbled to the ground. The pain was intense, it felt like I had torn my foot completely from my leg. Upon examination, my foot was still in place, Thank God, but I could not move it at all. I felt my ankle, using my fingers to trace my bones, nothing seemed to be broken, I must have just sprained it. I sat there in pain for a moment, trying to weigh my options, when I heard a voice. It said, “ I see you have found the secret entrance to my safe haven.” From out of now where, a tall, skinny man stepped towards me from the darkness. I immediately recognized him as Vlad. “Welcome back my friend, I have been waiting for you.”
I was back in my tent, shivering from the cold, terrified that what I dreamt had been real. I unzipped my sleeping bag, threw on my long johns and clothes, and stepped out into the open air. Judging from the sun, I guessed that it was about noon. I sat down in front of the burnt out fire pit, and proceeded to light a cigarette. Breathing my first drag in deeply, I contemplated the meaning of my dream. At first I just wrote it off as my sub conscious recalling the events from 3 days ago, but it felt so real. I have never had a dream like that before, and there is no way that it was just a dream. I immediately thought of the story that Vladimir had told me, of how his dreams were the same way. He just knew that they were more than dreams, could it possibly be a premonition? My mind started to wander some more, deeper into my past, back to my pre adolescent days. This is all feeling strangely familiar, like something like this has happened to me before. I just couldn’t place it, and as fast as the thought hit me, it was gone again.
Flicking my cigarette into the fire pit, I made up my mind to return to the mountain in which Vlad made his home. It seemed the best decision, considering the evil force that was possibly after me. I must admit, I do feel a little crazy running away because of a dream, and I began to understand what Vlad was going through as well. Also, a companion in this craziness would not necessarily be a bad thing, and he seemed to know already what we were up against.
Well, since I was going through with this crazy trip, I figured I might as well be prepared for anything I might encounter. Thinking once again of all the things the old movies told us about the vampire’s weaknesses, I remembered the wooden stake through the heart. I grabbed some thick sticks from the area, making sure they were solid, and not rotten, I proceeded to sharpen points on the ends of six of them using my field knife. When I was done, I began to sharpen my knife’s blade with my wet stone. When everything was complete, I sheathed my knife on my left hip, made sure my pistol was loaded and easy to access on my right hip, and I fixed the six stakes onto the shoulder straps of my ruck. If any vampires decided to come after me, I would make sure they would regret ever running into me.
Utilizing my jungle warfare training from the Marines, I stealthily and quickly made my way through the forest, towards the mountain. Not remembering exactly where the entrance was, I had to continuously look for anything familiar. This might sound easy enough, but after a while every tree and fallen limb looked the same. After what seemed like hours, I finally came upon the mountain. I began to walk along the base of it, looking for the boulder that hid the tunnel. My feet were killing me, and my legs felt like they wouldn’t carry me another step, but I continued on. After about twenty minutes, I came to the boulder. I walked behind it, removed the makes shift cover of sticks and leaves, and backed into the tunnel so I could set the camouflage back up over the entrance. This also forced me to back all the way down the tunnel, which put me at an obvious disadvantage. I just had to pray that Vlad’s safe haven had not been compromised. I looked over my shoulder and saw that I was coming to the end of the tunnel, so I readied my Beretta once again. I backed into the room as fast as I could, but it was no use, as soon as I was in the open, someone had pounce on my back and put a blade to my throat. I froze immediately, and said, “Vlad, it’s me, Reed.” “My name is not Vlad, and I know who you are.” A million thoughts were running through my head, and the top one on the list was that this is Drake, and my life was over. He released me and said, “ My apologies Reed Hall, I didn’t know it was you, and we have to be very cautious in these times.” “Thank God,” I thought. I started to breathe normally again, but my heart was still racing. I turned to the man, and asked him who he was. “My name is Michael, and I am also in the same position as you. Vlad came to me in my dreams, as did Drake, so I came to this place.” “How did you know how to get here?” I asked. “From my dreams, it took me a while to find, but I did, as you can see. Vlad is in the other room resting, he has had a long busy night. As for you, you can also rest up if you like, would you like anything to eat? Selection is slim, but whatever fills the void in your stomach is better than nothing.” “I’m not really tired, but I am freaking starved, what do you have to eat?” “Just some jerky and bread, but we have enough to live off of for a while, follow me to the kitchen area.” What he called the “kitchen area” was really just a small room with a pantry and a fire pit in the center, over the fire pit was one of those old brass pots, like you would see a witch have in a scary movie. He walked to the pantry and opened it up. He pulled out a loaf of bread, and a bag of jerky, and then opened the bottom section of the pantry and pulled out a bottle of water. I sat down at the table in the room and he brought me my meal. The jerky was salty, the bread was hard, but at least the water was cold. I started to devour the jerky sandwiches I made, and rinsed them down with the water. Not the best tasting food in the world, but who was I to complain, my stomach appreciated it. Michael said, “ You better slow down with that, or you’re going to get sick.” I agreed with him, I knew I should slow down, but my rumbling stomach was begging me for more. I finished off my water, and what was left of my sandwich, and I thanked Michael for the food. He ushered me out of the kitchen, and led me into another small room with a small mattress laying on the ground, and an abundance of blankets and pillows. “You can stay in here while you are with us Reed, I do hope that this is satisfactory for you.” “Michael, this is great, I really appreciate you and Vlad’s hospitality, especially after how I treated him the other day.” “That was totally understandable, I didn’t believe all of this at first either, Vlad probably felt the same way at first as well. Now you rest up, and we will all meet up and discuss our plan of attack in a few hours, sleep well my friend.”
I placed all of my gear in the corner, and sat on the mattress. It had been three or more months since I have had real human contact with friendly people, and I found myself missing being back in the regular world. Also, I found myself thinking about my ex. Lisa was her name, and I missed her despite what had happened. We had been together for what had seemed like our whole lives, with no fights, a perfect love life and all of the same common interests. I find it impossible to believe that she was sleeping with another man, him being my best friend only made the whole situation even worse. What had I ever done to her to push her into another mans’ arms? I provided her with everything she could have wanted, loved her more than anyone ever could, never forgot her birthday or our anniversaries and was basically the best thing that ever happened to her. I put my heart and soul into our relationship, only to have my heart broken, and my soul demolished. The first few weeks in the woods alone, I put my pistol in my mouth every night. Every night, I wanted to finish this hurt, end my pain, but every night something stopped me from doing it. I don’t know what it was, I might have been too big of a pussy, or it might have been God stepping in. All I knew at the time was that I wanted to die, if I couldn’t do it myself, maybe the wilderness would take care of me. No such luck. It’s surprising what someone can adapt to when there are no other options.
Now look at me, laying in a strange bed in a strange place in the middle of the woods, with two guys I knew almost nothing about, yet I trusted them with my life. No one back home would ever believe this shit.
I closed my eyes, and drifter into a deep, much needed sleep. I dreamt of Lisa, just like most other nights, before the vampires decided to poke their ugly faces into my dreams. We were still together and happy, and after an amazing day trip, we got back to our house and started to fool around a little. “ Reed, I love you more than anything in the world, I don’t know what I would do if I lost you, you are perfect.” She said. “Babe, I love when you tell me that, I cannot even imagine living one day of my life without you, you are my everything.” I told her. With that, we kissed deeply and passionately, our bodies molding together as one. We knew each others’ bodies as well as we knew our own, and the pleasure was immeasurable. While Lisa was on top of me, she got a crazy look in her eyes, and looked directly at me. She bared her teeth, and I saw her fangs. She lunged forward and sank her teeth into the soft skin of my neck, puncturing my carotid artery, and drinking of my life source. I began to scream, and the next thing I knew, I was in bed alone, in the cave. “It was all a dream, it wasn’t real.” I told myself. The door to my room flew open, and Vlad rushed in. “ Is everything ok Reed? I heard you scream?” “Yeah, it was just a nightmare, sorry about waking you.” I said. “ I was already awake, we were just worried that someone had come into your room. Were you dreaming about Him?” “No, it wasn’t him, but it was a vampire, my ex fiancée to be exact. She bit me.” “Oh no, this is not good at all, do you have any idea of what this means Reed?” Vlad asked. “ Of course I don’t, I don’t understand any of this crap that’s going on with me right now. Its crazy, and I don’t know why I believe any of it.” Except I did, the dream helped, but it was whatever was hiding in the part of my brain that I didn’t use that was the real reason I was here.
“ It is very simple Reed, your Lisa was a vampire. Maybe not at first, but definitely before the end of your relationship, which means that she still is.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “ That is bullshit, I would have known something like that.” I said. “Not necessarily, there are vampires living amongst us as we speak. They blend in with us, adapt to our ways of life, and even appear to eat like us as well. Vampirism is merely a disease, like an std, you can go on with life, almost normally.” Vlad said. “But what about the whole going out in sunlight thing?” I asked. “ In modern times, the vampires have spread throughout our society, they are doctors, lawyers and congressmen. They have labs for research on the cure, and all kinds of different things, there is a vaccine that must be given once a week, but it allows all vampires to live in the sunlight, which once would have destroyed them.”
“Well that explains that, what about the whole drinking blood, and having fangs?” I asked. “Another easy explanation. There is no way to cure a vampires’ thirst, so they have very discreet little ‘restaurants’ all over the place. The government donates a certain percentage of all the blood from blood drives, to these establishments.” “Wait, the government knows about these monsters?” I asked. “You are not listening Reed, they are not all monsters, they just have a disease, and all that they want is to go on living just like every other person does. The government has created these blood shops for all of our well being. If they were not around, then where do you think the vampires would go for food?” “Ok, ok, so they are provided blood for our safety, and I guess I could understand why Lisa wouldn’t have told me about this, but how do you explain the fangs?” I asked. “ Another easy one, the vampire fangs are retractable, like cats’ claws.”
“Okay, so I get it, I understand, but the one thing I don’t understand, is how do you know all of this, if it’s so covered up?” I asked. “ I am a vampire Reed.” Vlad said. I immediately began to panic, and he noticed it immediately. “Reed, I have told you many times that I am not here to hurt you, if I wanted that then I would have done it already.”
That made sense to me, so I apologized for being weird about it, and then asked, “ So what do you guys need me for then?”
“That is going to be a long story, and possibly hard for you to accept. Come with me to the kitchen where we can all discuss this over food.”
I got up, and followed him to the dining area of the cave, where Michael had already prepared us some jerky sandwiches. We all sat around the table, started to eat our food, and then Vlad began to speak. “Like I said Reed, this might be a little difficult to accept, but please listen until the story is over, I do not like to repeat myself.” “Okay, I can do that,” I said. I leaned back in my chair, took a bite of my salty sandwich, and turned all of my attention to Vladimir.
He started, “You, my friend are one of a kind. When your parents married, they tried fruitlessly to have a child, with no luck. They both loved kids, and wanted one of their own very badly. Unfortunately, your father was unable to produce adequate semen to impregnate your mother. The doctor suggested artificial insemination, so your parents looked into it, picked a donor, and had the procedure done. The procedure was a success, and your mother became pregnant with you, Reed. Back then though, the regulations in vampire registration were not as strict, so they were able to live a little more freely. Vampires are not allowed to donate semen for obvious reasons, but your parents’ donor had not been registered, needed money and was able to slip through the cracks. The Vampire Tracking Agency, or VTA found out about the infraction a little too late, your mother, even if she wanted to was unable to abort you. We all expected you to be born a full fledged vampire, so medical precautions were taken, but apparently, due to the sperm being cryogenically frozen, that was not the end result at all. Instead, you were born seemingly normal.”
“Seemingly normal? I’m as normal as they come,” I retorted. “ Reed, hear me out! Yes you seem normal, but genetically, you are not. Have you ever noticed that you have never been sick before in your life? Or that you can senses are a more honed than others?”
“I was a Marine, I had to be more alert than others.” I said. “Yes, but were you not one of the best Marines that you knew? Weren’t you able to make rank faster, perform better and generally outdo everyone in your platoon?”
I thought about that, and realized that it was true, but I thought that I just caught on faster, and wanted to be the best. I simply agreed with a “Yes.” Vlad began to speak again, “ Yes, you were the best. What we know of you so far, is that you have heightened senses, you do not have the thirst for blood, you can walk in the sun without harm and because of your injuries in Iraq, we know that you are able to heal faster and withstand a lot more physical pain than others. Yes, we have been tracking you throughout your entire life, and there is little about you that we do not know.”
I breathed in deeply, trying to take in all that was being said. That was no easy task, being told that you have been tracked your whole life, and were barely human. I was doing surprisingly well though I thought, but I guess it all made some sort of sense. I always had felt I was better than anyone at most things. What most people struggled at, I picked up like it was second nature.
“Okay Vlad, so that’s why you want me? Because of my heightened senses and all?” “Yes, but there is one more reason. We believe that because of your DNA, that the full vampire curse cannot be passed on to you. We will have to run some tests to find out, but all of the evidence points to you being impervious to the full disease.
“What kind of tests?” I asked. “Well, we will draw your blood, and introduce the vampire virus to it. The theory is that your blood will fight off the virus.” “So if it does, then what? I’m not immortal, they can still kill me.” I said. “Very true, but you are already trained in close quarters combat, plus we will be training you some more of that ways and weaknesses of the vampire.”
I was a little nervous about the whole thing, but what chance did I have, Drake was going to be coming after me regardless, so I might as well be prepared.
“So when do we start the tests?” I asked. “Right now actually, just pull your sleeve up so I can draw some blood.” I pulled my sleeve all the way up, and he wrapped a tourniquet around my upper arm. Then he wiped down the area he was going to stab with alcohol wipes, I noticed my veins stand out a little more once he used the alcohol. Vlad then pulled out a needle inserted it into my vein, and attached what looked like a test tube to the needle. He then took off the tourniquet and my blood began to fill the tube. When it was almost full, he pulled the tube out, then the needle and stopped the bleeding with a piece of gauze he taped to my arm.
“That should do nicely, now lets see how this reacts to the vampire virus.” Vlad said. He pulled out another vial that was half full of a black liquid that must have been the virus. Vlad then put two drops of the virus into a Petri dish, put the stopper in the vial, placed it in the holder on the table and pulled out the vial of my blood. He then dropped two drops of my blood into the dish, about two inches away from the virus. Nothing was happening.
I started to say, “ Shouldn’t they be mixed together?” But as soon as I started to open my mouth, the black liquid oozed towards my blood. It almost appeared as if it was attacking the blood. The two liquids mixed together, and there was no more red, only black liquid. “Well so much for that idea I guess.” said Michael. “Yes, this is a pretty big blow to us, we really could have had an advantage if our hypothesis was correct.” Vlad agreed.
I suddenly felt like a huge disappointment, I actually had wanted to be different, to be able to help. We all started to go into the other room when we heard the sound of breaking glass.