Undying Love
As soon as Sarah entered the nightclub she was noticed. Sarah was the focus of everyone's attention; her stunning hour-glass beauty, slender red dress and pale white skin seemed to brighten the room as she moved gracefully across the dance floor towards the bar, her long black hair bouncing with each step like a models from a shampoo commercial.
She sat at her usual stool and winked at the barmaid who promptly poured out her usual, a martini. With a slow and deliberate turn of her head she studied the man seated next to her. He was of slight build and looked slightly out of place in a grey suit. It was obvious that he wasn't used to nightclubs. His eyes glanced quickly at Sarah, shortly followed by the rest of her body.
"Hi", he started, "may I buy that drink for you?"
It was a corny question and he knew he didn't really have a chance with her but he had to try.
"You may. Thank you."
"My pleasure. I don't believe I've seen you here before, what's your name?"
Sarah decided to play along even though she'd been coming to this nightclub regularly for the past two months.
"Sarah. And yours?"
"Pete; pleased to meet you."
"I like your hair", Sarah moved her hand slowly up to Pete's face and began to comb her fingers through his thick black hair, "Would you like to go somewhere more… private?"
"Whoa, you don't hang about do you?" Pete was notably shocked but he wasn't about to pass up this chance, after all Sarah was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
"Is that a yes? Or a no?" she softly whispered in his ear.
Pete slipped off his stool; he clearly wasn't used to this sort of behaviour. Sarah took his hand and they left the nightclub by a fire exit at the rear of the building.
The fire exit led to a tradesman's entrance in an alley at the back of the club, it was getting very late and the tall wooden security fencing around the club made the alley extremely dark. Sarah lent into Pete and continued to fondle his hair. Pete in turn began to very softly kiss Sarah on the neck, moving slowly down to her bare shoulder. Sarah moved away from Pete and as she did a small crease of light illuminated her face. This time it was far from perfect. Her forehead had begun to ripple and distort becoming more and more aggressive and demonic in appearance, and her two canine teeth had extended over her bottom lip.
"What… What are you?" Pete fumbled back against the alley wall.
"Guess?" Sarah didn't bother waiting for a response, she lunged forward grabbing Pete's head, wrenching it to the side and with one quick movement she sunk her teeth deep into his neck. Pete struggled with all his might but was unable to get free, and within minutes he had been drained of blood and his lifeless body slumped to the ground. Sarah took a moment to compose her self, straightening her dress and licking her lips clean of Pete's blood.
"Blood is life", she said aloud as she left the alley.
* * * * *
It had been almost one year since I had been turned. It was Halloween and my boyfriend, Darren, and I were walking back from a marvellous meal at the newest restaurant in town.
Darren had surprised me by taking me out; it's not something he would usually do without me mentioning it first. His usual idea of a good evening would have involved watching a game of football. This time however he'd gone to so much effort; hiring a dinner suit, getting his hair cut and having a decent shave for a change. It was very pleasant to see him out of his ill fitting security guards uniform for a change. Everything was so perfect. I had half expected him to propose.
The streets were littered with children of all ages dressed in elaborate costumes; witches, ghosts, skeletons, all the classics were there, even a clown, which seemed an odd choice for Halloween. With all those people walking about who would have noticed a real vampire amongst them. Halloween was the perfect cover. Of course back then I never would have believed in such things, but those days are well and truly gone.
I remember there was a group of children fighting, probably over candy, and Darren insisted on going over to 'sort them out'. Darren did like children but he hated badly behaved, ill mannered teenagers. I watched him stride away towards the kids to give them a piece of his mind; and that's when it all happened. A strange man approached me, dressed in a red and black suit with matching cape. I remember looking at his face and noticing his skin was very pale and he had unusually long canine. I made a witty comment about why a grown man would be wearing a costume, but it fell on deaf ears. He spoke about wanting to show me how powerful I could be and how I could get anything I wanted by using my beauty (his words, not mine) as a weapon. I laughed, and then without warning, he attacked me, his teeth burrowed deep into my neck, I tried to scream but nothing came out and as the blood drained from my body I could see Darren in the distance still talking to the children.
Then there was darkness. So dark that my eyes couldn't adjust. Feeling around, it soon became clear to me that I was in a wooden casket and I realised with horror that I had been buried alive! Something was different though, I was different, somehow stronger, I could feel a strange raw energy coursing through my body; and with one quick punch with my fist the casket cracked open and I could make my escape.
After clawing through six feet of earth I finally felt the night's air on my skin. Quickly clambering back to the surface I noticed a man sitting quietly on the top of a tombstone. The very same man who had attacked me and he was still wearing the same vampire costume.
"Who are you? What happened to me?" I so wanted to rip out his throat for attacking me; which seemed very unusual to me, I wasn't a violent person.
"You have become, like me… a vampire", his voice was completely serious, direct and to the point.
"What? Don't be stupid."
"Trust me, you are in fact quite dead", once again his voice lacked any emotion, "check your pulse if you don't believe me."
I pressed two fingers firmly against my neck. Nothing. This was madness, vampires didn't exist; or that's at least what I thought.
"It's just not possible", I screamed.
"And yet you stand before me - Dead - a vampire. Allow me to explain."
We sat and he explained everything about being a vampire, the do's and don'ts. Don't walk in sunlight. Drink plenty of blood. The usual stuff. I expected to throw-up at any moment as he spoke of killing for blood and yet my stomach remained still; the very word seemed to spark a deep urge from within. He told me that he would teach me how to become a powerful vampire, that using my sexuality, I could prey on men for their blood; and so we travelled across the state tasting entire towns, leaving dozens of unexplained deaths in our wake. It was an incredible feeling, each sip of blood felt so empowering.
"Most importantly blood is life, without it, we are dust", I remember him saying; and with each drop of blood I consumed I could feel my humanity slowly ebbing away.
10 months had passed and we had arrived in a new town. A carnival was setting up on the outskirts and that's when I had an epiphany; for at the back of the carnival there was a clown practising his slapstick routines. The very sight of the clown made me shiver to my core and all of a sudden I had an overwhelming sense of emptiness, and I realised that after all this time I had forgotten Darren, my boyfriend, my love. Without him I had become lost and I knew I had to return to him.
* * * * *
With the thought of being with Darren once more in her heart Sarah had left her mentor and returned home. Her mind constantly running rehearsals of the conversation she was going to have with Darren. She walked the same streets as she had on that ill fated evening twelve months ago.
Darren's house stood in front of her exactly as she remembered it. Children once again raced from door to door in the pursuit for candy. This year, however, the clown was nowhere to be seen.
Sarah walked up to the door and rang the bell. Inside she could make out shadows moving from one room to another and then the door opened and Darren, now slightly over-weight, stepped out. As soon as his eyes met Sarah's he staggered backwards against the house and passed out.
20 minutes later Darren stirred and his eyes flittered open.
"You… died! I mean… you're dead!" His eyes were obviously in error.
"Yes, but I'm better now."
"No! It's not possible. I was at your funeral. I arranged your funeral. What the…?"
"I've returned for you my love", Darren didn't seem overly impressed; he was still trying to wrap his head around the living dead concept.
"wha?" Darren was on the verge of passing out again.
"Let me explain…", Sarah grabbed Darren close to her. Sarah's slender face rippled and contorted, ridges extruded from her forehead, her canine teeth extended twice their normal height, and once more she had taken vampiric form. Finally with one sharp movement she pierced Darren's neck with her elongated teeth and drank deeply. Darren once again passed out.
Once Sarah had finished tasting from Darren, she lifted him in her arms and carried his lifeless body across town back to where it had all started. The graveyard. She laid his body down upon her former grave and then perched herself on the top of a nearby tombstone and waited.
Eventually Darren woke. He sat up abruptly as if he had been startled.
"What have you done?" he panicked, remembering Sarah lunging at him with those teeth of hers.
"You are now, like me. A vampire." Not the answer he was hoping for. "Can you feel the raw aggressive power coursing through your body?"
Darren didn't answer, instead he jumped to his feet and stared at her in disgust.
"Now we can be together forever, my love."
"No - This is wrong."
"Don't be silly darling."
"SILLY!" yelled Darren. His temper had taken over, "You stupid BITCH... I'm married - well - was married, thanks to you. You've destroyed my life."
"I… I didn't know… It's only been a year."
"Yes, and you were… are… dead. I had a terrible time getting over you, but I did, and I moved on", Darren's voice wasn't showing any signs of cooling down, "and then you turn up, kill me without a moments notice and expect everything to be hunky-dory… Well, excuse me."
"But…", Sarah was becoming tearful. Darren had never yelled at her before.
"I suppose the vampire stuff from the TV is correct? No sunlight? No crosses? No holy water? No stakes through the heart? No LIFE!"
"Yes, but the blood…"
"BLOOD, Oh God! I've got to drink blood for the rest of my…" Darren wanted to say 'life' but that had been over for a few hours now, "exactly how long do vampires live?"
"Forever, my love. Forever."
"Don't you dare 'my love' me. I never EVER, want to see you again", Darren turned and began to walk away. Sarah remained on the tombstone gently sobbing, her face now back to normal, mascara tinted tears softly trickling down her cheeks.
"But we were to be together forever", she whispered as Darren disappeared into the night never to be seen by Sarah again.
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