First Sight

I arouse from my slumber with the moon shining on my face. I glance around at my family, at those who made me what I am tonight. One by one they slide out and prepare. We are going out tonight I see. The women put on their most alluring clothing while the men slip on their most dashing costumes. “Kael, my son,” the eldest among the women, Matrael, greeted me. “Tonight we go our separate ways for the hunt.” She gave him a sly smile. “Do you feel up to it?”

“I was made ready grandmother,” I answered. Though I was not made willingly, I was ready for whatever life or in this case death had to offer. I have not changed my attitude in a century. Why start now?

“Good. The others have already gone. We must hurry. I will leave you now my son.” She was gone. It is time to leave. I step out and feel the moonlight full on my face. It strengthens me so. Gives certain warmth to my otherwise cold body. There is only one other thing that can do so… I now hunt to claim it.

I wander alone through the streets. I purposely ignore all those who stare at me. They do so with a longing in their eyes I do not feel for them. I am not in the mood for games tonight. I am just ravenous. I made my way through the throngs of people. So many people. I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around. “Hello love. Need someone to keep you warm tonight?” A voluptuous blonde said flirtatiously.

A whore. She could be nothing else. An appetizing victim for tonight. How appropriate her statement was. “Yes. I believe you will keep me warm tonight.” I led her deeper into the dark alleys that lay ahead. She was frightened. I could feel her small body tremble against mine. I spoke to her and she quieted down. When our kind is made our bodies change. All our flaws disappear and we become the very best of ourselves. We also inherit special gifts. Mine was my voice and that I can enter a person’s mind as well as their heart. With these gifts I could make anyone feel the way I wanted them to, mortal and immortal alike.

She was cold. We neared a secluded spot. I set her down gently, still calming her with my voice. She closed her eyes. She trusted me so much. What fools mortals are. I tasted her lips, her chin, and then her neck. Slowly I pierced her neck. Her blood was warm and sweet just like aged wine. I savored the taste of her. I untangled myself from her dying body. I wiped the blood from my lips as I stared down at the poor girl. Pitiful sight indeed.

I heard a scream from the graveyard. I knew who it was. There was only one among us who would kill in a graveyard. I was there in no time at all, as if I floated. I probably did. I arrived just as my father, made by Matrael, let a woman’s lifeless body fall to the blood stained earth. He looked proud of himself. I stared at the woman. She was an attractive girl, not even in death was her beauty tarnished. He smiled at me. He was proud of himself. He did not like taking those that would not be missed. Not my father. He wanted those who would leave behind sorrow at their death. “Kael, my son,” I looked at him, “Have you fed?” I saw his eyes glitter. They were no longer on me now.

I looked where he did. Beside the woman was a tombstone. And beside that a child no more than three quivered. I thought she trembled with fear but as I looked closely I knew I was wrong. She trembled with anger. She fixed her eyes on Resal, my father, and ran at him. She began to tear his face apart. I saw her eyes for but a moment. She was not like the other mortals. No. This one had no fear in her eyes, only a sense of purpose. Resal growled and threw her off. She fell helplessly to the ground beside her mother. He was about to deal her a death blow when I stayed his hand. “Father, no.”

“How dare you presume to order me?”

“She is a child father. Unworthy of such energy from someone as great as yourself,” I reasoned. He was a proud man. I knew appealing to his pride would restore his sanity. He let his arm fall.

“Come, my son. Our business here is over.” He gave the child one last hateful look and disappeared into the night, leaving me with the child.

She had somehow managed to lift herself up. She did not even glance at me. Her eyes became fixed on her mother’s body. She gently stroked her mother’s face, as if recalling each single detail. She sat there trying to erase this picture of her mother and trying to remember her as she was. It was then she gazed at me. Our eyes locked. I have never looked a mortal in the eye for long since I was made. She looked at me with sorrow in her eyes. No one this young should feel this way.

In a moment of weakness, I was moved to pity. Unexpectedly I was filled with a deep desire to comfort her. To hold her in my arms. I knelt beside her and embraced her. I anticipated her to start beating me. To hate me because of my relation to Resal, the man she just saw murder her mother. She didn’t. She was still in my arms, her eyes shut. She leaned in closer to me as if my embrace was not enough. She needed more. Perplexing though it was, I wanted to give her more. I wanted to just take her and make her forget. She opened her eyes and gazed into mine. Her chocolate brown eyes seemed to go beyond my dark ones. Her gaze penetrated the very essence of me. I felt like she was looking into my soul.

I shut my eyes. I inexplicably could not bear to have her see me. I began to run. The night was fading. I reached our home just as the sun’s first rays were creeping out. I slipped in and my slumber began again.

It rained the next night. After feeding I went back to the graveyard. There was a new addition. A stone angel stood welcomingly on its stone platform. It was the mother’s grave. I stood in front of it.

I was unhappy that Resal had attacked this woman. I wished with all my black, dead heart that he had not. I wished she was alive to play with her daughter. To watch her grow and bloom into womanhood. To guide her in her life. All that lost to her and to her family. It pained me to think of it.

I heard footsteps approaching. I hid behind a tree. I was going to leave but something nameless beckoned me to stay. So I did. I saw the mortal walking to the grave. It was the child from the night before. She was dressed in a solemn black dress. She walked to the grave and ran her hand over the engraving. I felt what she felt. She wanted to believe that by doing so she would be closer to her mother. I knew the truth. In my moment of thought she disappeared.

I would have turned to go but she was there. She stood in front of me. I saw the tears streaming down her face, almost blending with the rain that poured over us both. That feeling crept over me again. I yearned to comfort her. I embraced her again without knowing I even moved. This time she embraced me as well. She cried against my shoulder until there was nothing left. I looked at her as I left. I felt that the answers to my feelings were closer now but I didn’t know what those feelings were.

Two weeks later the night ship came. I watched her climb aboard with a heavy heart. Her father was holding her hand. I felt her again. She wanted to forget what happened but she did not want to leave her home. She was hoping to see me. The same hope that I had ignored for the past fourteen days.

Once on the ship she leaned over the railing. She was waiting for me. Only when the ship’s whistle blew did I reveal myself. Her eyes lit up but darkened as the realization that she was leaving me finally hit her. She reached out to me. She wanted to be with me. I watched her till she disappeared into the horizon. I was helpless. I couldn’t have stopped her. I accepted my fate, feeling hollow inside. I put my hat on and wandered the streets. I was alone again.