Endless Twilight

Chapter 3

Five hundred years is a long time.

Humans had advanced into space. The Gates of Avalon opened, once again letting fanciful creatures such as faeries and dragons roam the earth once more. Vampires could now walk freely through the streets without hiding their nature. In fact, we vampires even had our own cult-the CNO.

The CNO is an organization of human set out to make vampires productive members of society. They were often pale, with smudges of black over their eyes and black lipstick on their mouths. Drawn to the romanticism and eroticism of the vampire world, they often wanted to become one themselves.

I generally avoided them like the plague. They were often whiny little snits that begged me to turn them. I always refused, not wanting to curse anyone with this endless, lonely life.

So, it shocked me that I was drawn to one of them like a moth to flame.

He saw me when I was feeding. He stood there in the alley, watching me as I drank my fill. When I lifted my head, my eyes met his amber ones.

He was a pretty boy, his frame slight and somewhat bony. His face was long and foxish, almost covered by his long red hair. He dressed in somewhat over-sized pants and t-shirt, looking almost lost in them. He smiled at me, and I found myself wanting to see him smile more often.

He glided over to me and ran his hand down my cheek. "You're a vampire?" he asked, his voice soft and thoughtful.

"Yes," I replied, our eyes still locked.

"I see..." He leaned forward, onto his toes, and kissed me. I found myself kissing back, lost in the fire of his amber eyes.

I took him to my apartment, a large flat with sparse furniture. We tumbled upon my bed and made love until dawn. I fell asleep, protected from the sun by my heavy black drapes and a curtain of red hair.

Making Llorn my lover was a huge mistake waiting to happen. He was as obsessed with vampires as any of the CNO, and often asked me to turn him. He had to content himself with me merely feeding from him, but I suspect he always hoped I would take too much and have to turn him anyway.

"Why don't you turn me?" he demanded one night, both of us naked and tangled in the sheets of my bed.

My eyes met his, and I held them for the longest time. Foolish little boy...

"You do not belong with us," I said softly. "You deserve to wander through a world of sunlight and laughter." He did not belong in a world of darkness, blood, and longing.

Llorn gave a frustrated cry, and tossed a pillow angrily at me. He got up and stomped angrily out of the room. I closed my eyes and sighed. I opened them when the phone rang.

"Hello?" I said when I picked up the phone.

"...Ren?"

I paused. The voice, even after five hundred years, sounded so painfully familiar. "...Tadashi?"

"Yeah." He sounded exhausted. "Sorry for calling you. I tried to keep from contacting you so you'd be safe from Tetsu."

"That's all right," I said. "Where are you? Are you all right?"

"I'm...fine..." He did not sound anything of the sort. "I'm in Nocteria...I hate to ask you of this...but could you come here?"

I frowned. "Go...to Nocteria? Why?" I've only been to that lifeless planet a few times, and I saw it was nothing more than a tribute to human greed and vampiric decadancy.

"Sorry, I can't say. He might find out, should this phone be tapped," Tadashi replied.

"I'll go."

"Thanks...well...goodbye..."

"Oh, Tadashi?"

"Huh?"

"Get some sleep."

Tadashi was silent for a moment. "I will." He hung up.

I called the nearest spaceport and booked reservations for the next flight to Nocteria, then got out a suitcase and started packing. I would waste no time to go help my sire. The debt I owed him for saving my life and freedom had to be paid.

Llorn came back into the bedroom. His shoulders tensed when he saw me packing. "...Where are you going?"

I didn't look at him. "Nocteria, to help a friend."

He brightened at the mention of that vampire-infested planet. "I'll go with you."

"No," I said, looking at him.

He glared at me, but knew he couldn't follow. With his job as a waiter, he'd have to save up for months to be able to afford a ticket to such a place.

I kissed him gently. "Goodbye, love."

He looked at me, his eyes amber ice, then turned away. "I won't be waiting for you when you come back."

I closed my eyes. "I understand..."

I left, my heart heavy with guilt, knowing I could never give Llorn what he wanted.

Yet I feared the day when he did find someone who could.