Education
~ ~ ~
"There are many things I must tell you, ma chere," he said to me as I was seated at the table, "the first of which being what you are. You are a vampyre. You shall never grow older, and you shall never die. The details I shall go into later. Second, I shall tell you who I am. My name is not Louis de Pres. It is Chancus. Chancus Ambanca. I am the eldest living vampyre that I know of. I have traveled the world in search of one who might at least be near to a peer of myself. I have come up with nothing. But my story is something I shall bore you with later."
A certain sadness crossed his eyes when he mentioned his search. I could tell that he truly desired a mate. It was then that I realized this to be my purpose. But he broke in on my thought.
"A mate? Perhaps it is what I want. But I hold no expectations. You are nothing more than a pupil to me right now, sweet girl," he said to me, a warmth still lingering in his tone. But I blushed none the less. I knew from then on that I should be wary of my thoughts. Surely, if he could pick through them, others could.
"You must also, now, remember that you are a killer. A vicious killer, who does so to survive. Do not allow the sentimentality take control of your ability to take a life, for if you do no kill, you shall die. Though so ruthless a killer you may be, you are yet governed. The sunlight will destroy the blood in your veins. Therefore, you must stay within the cover of nightfall. The rest of the logistics you shall learn as you go."
My many questions swarmed in my brain. Hr seemed to take no notice of this, though. He led me quickly out into the busy streets of the nearby town. The smells of delicious foods graced the air. I inhaled them deeply. Mardi Gras. I had nearly forgotted that was this day. He led my through the festivities to a point in the middle of the croqs. He then stopped, stared around the crowd eagerly, and then turned back to me.
"Pick one. Any you wish. Perhaps a criminal, their blood is always sweeter," he said to me, "Then, let instinct take over."
And so it was that I killed my first. It was delicious, a reinactment of when I held to Chancus' arm and tasted the delicious red liquor for the first time. The nights would continue this way, soon becoming years and decades. It was shortly after the passing of my 90th birthday that I would lose my beloved master.
It was when I returned from my hunt that I found him. His palor told me that he had not fed accordingly. He smiled at me as I entered the room. I walked to where he sat and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"What troubles you, maestro?" I asked. He moved gently from my embrace and pulled me down to sit next to him.
"My time grows short, I feel it," he said to me. His eyes wandered the room, but I could feel a nervousness in him that I had never known him to show before.
"You're letting your worries get the best of you, maestro. Come, feeding shall make you feel better," I said and tried to pull him from the setee. He did not budge, but looked up at me with a certain urgency in his eyes.
It's best that you leave me, ma chere. It's not safe."
I dismissed him at this. The hunger occasionally would to this to one who did not feed. I kissed his forehead and left the room, back out to the street.
~ ~ ~
I led the boy back into my home, supporting him against my shoulder, as he was somewhat enebriated. But I knew that by his mere physical form, he would be pleasing for the maestro. Taking him to the end of the hall, I propped him up in a chair.
"I shall be but a moment, love," I said to him and went into the parlor where I had left Chancus. The sight that I found nearly destroyed me. The setee was coated in deep red. Chancus, my beloved mentor, lay on the floor near it, his throat gashed ear to ear. I let out a cry and fell to the floor. Crawling to him, I picked his head up into my lap and brushed my fingers over his cheeks, rocking gently. Red, vampyre's tears poured from my eyes. Through my sobs, I ran one of my long fingernails across my wrist, and then pressed it gently to his mouth, hoping that I would feel the soft lips accepting my gift. But all I felt was the cold death eminating from them. I issued a cry of pure rage from my lips and stood, just screaming in my sorrow. It was then that I turned and noticed the boy had wandered into the room, hearing my cries. I howled, flew across the room, and tackled him. Before he even knew what had happened, I had snapped his neck. I then tossed his body aside like a rag doll.
A bit of gold gleamed from behind the table leg in the center of the room. I walked over and bent down to see what it was. The gold was from a seal that had been left on a note. The seal depicted a phoenix in mid flight. I tore through the seal to the note within.
A life of lies is worth a thousand deaths.
Mind your actions
- The Abbey
I reread the note. A curious note, written on parchment, not paper, I could feel it in the texture. But strange, yet, was the writing. It was lovely, developed in nature, but yet, it was not vampiric as one might expect it to be, as the nature of the murder seemed to allude. I looked back on Chancus' body, and crumbled the note in my hand. Revenge would thus forth be my motive.
I disposed of the bodies deep in the woods behind the house. Soon after, I sold the estate, freed his slaves, and set sail for the Americas. It was a lovely shipride. I tried to sustain myself on the vermin of the ship, but every once in a while, I would seek out a human to entice into my room. When we hit the shores of South Carolina, I was struck by a strange feeling. A feeling that my enemies were nearer than I imagined.
In South Carolina, I bought a furnished Spanish flat on the main street of the small town that I decided to reside in, a town that I am sure no longer exists. My neighbors had learned the fine art of minding their own business, and I was left to myself. I spent the nights prowling for food and, at the same time, looking for the ones who had taken my master from me. I could feel them near, hear their thoughts in my head. But I remained to myself. It was only until I met him that did my life change.
It was the summer of 1719. The lights and festivities of the carnival could be heard for miles, and being of a generally joyous nature, I was directly in the center of it. It was there that I first saw him. Standing at six feet, a regal creature, he had a certain childish quality to him, even though I could read in my mind that he was nearly twenty two. Not yet married, and for the time, this was strange indeed. But he kept no worry of it in his head. Moreso, he spent his time with his friends, none of which were married themselves, hunting or making merry, or seducing their women. Such elegance in features, though, I had barely seen paralleled in my life. I decided that he should be the one I would take this evening. I wanted to experience this one.
"Bonsoir, Monsieur," I said to him from behind. He turned in his normal manner, all too used to the worship of women. By myself, however, he seemed struck. His eyes widened as he took me in, my face, the curve of my waist, of my breasts. I offered him my hand, which he took and kissed gently.
"I am Coletta de Fantaine. Might I trouble you for a name?"
He seemed to fumble over his own tongue for a moment, but after a time, he manage to eek out, "Jean. Jean le Monteaux. . ."
He trailed off again as he began to study me. I glanced over his shoulder to see his friends there, in wide-eyed awe of their counterpart's luck. Disperse, I bid them with my mind, and they scrambled to do so, tripping over one another.
I turned back to Jean, who seemed to have gathered his composure back to himself. He bowed to me gracefully, "Mademoiselle, might I be so forward to ask you to dance?"
I nodded to him in agreement and he led me to the floor. I studied him as we danced to the rapid beat of the waltz that the musicians played. The longer that he held me to him, the more I desired him, to taste him. By the end of the dance, I realized what I wanted to do. We stepped off of the floor and I led him further and further from the carnival. Finally, I stopped the two of us next to a large tree. The moonlight shone through the branches, and I was reminded of the night that Chancus had taken me from my family. I bid him sit, and I followed him, sitting nearly in his lap, but at the same time, keeping the air in my movements that it was I that would be the initiator of anything.
"Unmarried. And at your age. Such a surprise. Certainly one would think that you would be well married off at this point, " I said to him. I could see the puzzlement in his eyes that I knew of his marital status, and I smiled at this. Standing, I continued, "Perhaps you are what I have been looking for these long years. Believe me when I tell you now that I am not what you think that I am. When I say these long years, I mean decades, and now, even, nearly a century. Tell me, would you like to live forever?"
He chuckled at this, but I could see a slight skepticism and even fear in his eyes.
"W..what do you mean?" he asked and began to stand. I rested a firm hand on his shoulder and he sat once again.
"I mean that I am offering you the opportunity to live until the earth ends. An easy decision, one would think, " and with that, I bent and sank my teeth into his neck. He quivered beneath my grasp, but soon, I felt him go limp. I laid him on his side near the tree. He looked up at me as I had once done Chancus.
"I shall ask you again, for now is the time you will decide. Do you wish to live, or die?"
He struggled to speak, but finally just nodded an affirmation to me and mouthed "live." I then knelt next to him and picked his head up into my lap. Cutting my wrist, I fed him of my blood.
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