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Tom Boscarelli
It was all so absurd! Me! In Jail! Without any means of escape! The only
minion for me to hold dominance over was a trained rat, and, if things hadn't
changed, I would have lost control over him too. Things did change, however,
and now.. .Oh Johanna...
I guess it all started when I was foolish enough to fall in love. Although it was
hundreds of years ago when I first laid eyes on Johanna, I can still remember the
dress she was wearing, how her mahogany hair fell to her breasts and caressed
them with each turn of her head. I remember her innocent, deep blue eyes, and
how helplessly lost I felt as I gazed into them. She was a mere child, barely
seventeen, immune to the ways of the world - until me. I seduced her like I had
done to so many before. But, at the moment when I would usually drain their life
force (leaving them to die, after experiencing the deepest ecstasy they had ever
known) - at that very moment I realized that it had been me who was seduced. I
took Johanna as my bride, and gave her the greatest gift that I had to offer:
eternallife!
I probably should take the time to dispel some of the fairy tales associated with
my species. We are not allergic to sunlight - we simply prefer the night. It helps
us to remain anonymous, and the prey is so much more suggestible when they
have 'let their hair down,' so to speak. We do not need to feed every day, but,
when we can, we do. You taste exquisite, you know! Why should we feed only
when we require nourishment! Sleeping in coffins - how quaint! A mere pinch of
unconsecrated cemetery dirt is all that we ever need. I have found that I can
secret some on my person at all times, (you don't want to know where!), in case I
find myself unable to return home, as has been the case for these past
too-many years.
How happy we were! I taught Johanna most of what I had learned in the many
centuries before her existence and transformation - "most" because we wouldn't
want the servant to forget her place, now, would we? Together, we traveled the
world - there was nothing that could stop us! We amassed great fortunes, lived
like royalty, and, as the world grew increasing modem and decadent, our prey
became easier and easier to come by. No longer were the humans afraid of us -
- hell, they didn't even believe in us. Whereas, previously, they would cower in
their homes as night fell, they now roamed from bar, to party, to bar, on the
streets of the great cities, drinking and drugging until the sun rose - and after.
(Of course, what they did after the sun rose was of no consequence to us - we
preferred to rest by day and to secret ourselves from the pedestrian human
horde). Also, with the violence that was being reported within newspapers
throughout the world, humans hardly noticed the one or two nightly victims that
could be attributed to Johanna and me. We were the least bit careful, the world
would bear its neck to us willingly forever.
That is why I found it so strange, so - out of character, when Johanna didn't
finish her meal, and left that one human alive. Feeding on him, as she had on
others, countless times before, she failed to complete the task. I was busy with
the man's wife, a tender morsel at that, and was gleefully looking into his eyes,
as I ravaged his woman. I looked away at the moment of my own climax (no need
to be that cruel), and didn't notice that he was still swooning when we left. As I
read about his battle to recover, in the papers the next day, I confronted
Johanna about her mistake. She was so contrite, so - devastated, that my anger
soon dissipated. We decided that his blood must have been addled with liquor
and drugs, and that Johanna had become intoxicated herself. In fact, that was
the word that Johanna used - intoxicated. Often, we had dined on humans who
were, to use one of the vulgarities of today, blotto. We had built up quite a
tolerance. Mine was greater than Johanna's, however, since I had eons more
time to inure myself to drink and drug. But, every once in a while, a meal was so
inebriated that it affected us too. When that happened, we covered for each
other, completing the feeding, and cleaning up for one another. So, you see, it
was as much my fault as hers. I did not tidy up for her. Maybe, the human's wife
was just as "stoned," and I was affected too?
I awaited the word of the man's death, but it never came. The transfusions! They
must be what kept him alive. Soon, he was strong enough (I found this out later)
to help the police sketch-artist in a very life-like rendering of - me! He had no
recollection of Milady. My features would never be lost to him again, he said,
and he told of how I stared at him, mockingly, as I tortured and killed his dear
wife. Tortured - indeed! The moaning he heard wasn't from pain, I tell you!
But I digress...I was torn between moving on to another city or turning myself in,
in order to limit the time that the "victim" was being asked to search his memory
for details. The less he thought about it, the better the chance that he would not
remember the lovely face of my Johanna. I would be protecting her against
discovery.
It was not like I hadn't been imprisoned before. On several occasions, I had
been set upon when I was sleeping or otherwise weakened. What a joke! A wisp
of smoke, and I was gone. However, when Johanna joined me, to share our
eternity together, I had devised a system to protect us from such intrusions.
Johanna had never suffered the indignity of imprisonment, and, in this case, I
was not going to let that happen. With the appropriate flourish, after a tearful
goodbye to my beloved, and with the promise of eminent reunion, I surrendered
to the authorities.
Of course, the court procedures were farcical. I ordered Johanna to stay away,
ever fearful that the human would recognize her. I elocuted to the fact that I had,
indeed, feasted upon the poor man's wife. The rest was not so clear, I said
maybe due to the fact that I had imbibed so vigorously that night, and was surely
too drunk to remember much of it. My companion? No, I don't remember who
that was. Why did I do it? It must have been some psychological defect that
overcame me. With the proper therapy, I'd be right-as-rain. Oh, yes, Your
Honor, I am sooo remorseful! Maybe some cocktail of prescription medications
would help me to curtail the animal within me. I am also an alcoholic, sir. With
the proper support group... blah, blah, blah...
I was having a jolly old time. It didn't matter to me where they put me - I would
soon be out, and back in the arms of Johanna. Then, it all went wrong. The
"judge" berated me, mocked me, cursed me, and otherwise used his position of
high standing to cut me to-the-quick. Mere fifteen minutes of it, I'd had enough.
I was going to lay waste to this obnoxious little man, vaporize, and escape. I am
sure that he felt quite safe, sitting as he was at such an elevated position forty
feet away from me. The bailiff and guards that stood between us must have
given him a sense of total security. But they had never dealt with the likes of
me! I sprung from my chair, and, did not alit again until I held his puny neck with
my left hand, and crushed it like a soda can.
Then it happened. Due to the excessive amount of crime that permeates society
today, I had spent more time in jail, awaiting trial, than ever before.
Furthermore, the human who accused me - Corbin - requested, and was
granted, for a series of continuances, which lengthened the amount of time that I
was being drained. Although I had done everything all that I could to preserve
my powers, it had been too long between feedings. I willed myself to change
form, and - nothing happened! The leap to the judge had sapped me of all of
my reserved strength. I sunk helplessly under the weight of the guards, and felt
the pain of their retaliation for the first time in my entire existence. Soon it all
went black, as I slipped into unconsciousness.
When I came to, I found myself in a chamber like no other that I had ever seen,
or even heard of - and no Human Rights Commissioner would ever lay eyes on
it, I assure you. The walls were reinforced, inch thick, two-way, Plexiglas. The
floor four feet of solid concrete. There were no crevices - no cracks from which I
could escape in a morphed form (were I strong enough to morph, that is!). The
"food" that I never ate came to me via a vacuum tube. It fed, instead, the rats,
which swam up the pipes of the toilet. There were no drains - there was no trash.
If the rats had not been such efficient eating machines, the food would have
decayed on the floor, furthering the stench that arose in my cell. You see, if I
wanted to clean myself, I would have had to use the toilet. Obviously, my
exhibition at the courtroom had made believer of at least some public officials,
although they would never admit it publicly. With modern times comes modern
technology, and the cell in which I was imprisoned was designed so well, that, in
my weakened condition, I could find no means of escape. Of course, if I could
find some way to nourish myself...
I could not see out (due to the two-way glass), but my extrasensory hearing was
not affected by my lack of strength. For the first three or four years, I was under
constant observation. But, after time, I became less of curiosity and perceived
threat. Society and its keepers had moved on to the other "monsters" that it
created. Eventually, I spent my time without even the voices of the humans to
keep me company. Johanna wrote religiously - what a devoted servant she was
to me. She was quite careful: changing handwritings, names, ink and stationery,
so as not to be discovered as having been my accomplice on that fateful night,
so long ago. She even added pictures of other women (some naked!), so as to
complete the ruse. These women were food, of course although Johanna had
always preferred male prey. I am sure that, although human men were so
inferior to me, their very maleness would have evoked memories of me, causing
Johanna to yearn for the perfection that she could not have. She even included
marriage and conjugal proposals to throw the authorities off track. I had heard
of prisoner "groupies" - so must have Johanna. She was so smart to continue
my contact with, and lust for prey by sending me these letters and photos of her
victims. At times, I thing, they were the only thing that kept me from giving up,
and allowing myself to dissolve into the dust from which I came.
What little strength I did have was garnered from the blood of the rats which
came to devour the food that I did not eat. Their blood was diseased and non
human in nature - it kept me in a permanent state of illness - like a flu or food
poisoning feels to you readers. But their blood sustained me, and, if alive, I still
had a chance to see my Johanna again.
One night, two rats came up through the toilet. I set upon the first before he had
even left the inside of the bowl- I found that they were easier to catch when they
had not yet found purchase on the concrete. That first rat left me feeling so ill
so utterly dissipated, that I could not swallow the idea of eating his brother much
less the rat himself. He ate the decaying food, and stared at me with such
intensity that I began to wonder what his intentions were. But, once he saw that I
was not going to kill him, he began to investigate my cell - his new home. I so
enjoyed the fact that I finally had a companion that I waited for my next meal at
the toilet, without even thinking of eating him. He cared at all about the fact that I
was feeding upon his brethren, he never showed it.
I named him "Corbin," which was the name of the human who "ratted" on me
quite poetic, no? He slept cradled in my arms, and made no move to bite me,
nor I - him. He feasted on the food being sent to me, and I feasted upon his
brothers. His food, however, never made him ill, as mine always did. I hadn't
become immune to the diseases coursing through the rats' blood, and, it
appeared, I never would. That was when I hatched my plan. I would teach
Corbin how to suck blood! To what end, you might ask.. ..read and learn.
First we both dined on the other rats (cannibalism came easily for Corbin, as did
the sucking of the blood). Soon, I was letting him suck from me (and, I asked
myself: was I creating the first rat with eternal life - who knows?). Finally, after
withholding his food for three days, I sent him back down the toilet, to seek other
victims. When he returned to me, I siphoned a few drops of Corbin's blood - ah,
sweet nectar! I continued to feed - careful not to drain so much that Corbin
would be too weak to continue his daily journeys. I carefully tested myself, and
practiced those feats that set my kind so far above you, and your ilk. Then, one
day, I realized that I was at full strength for the first time in...I had lost track of the
years. The next night, without so much as a backward glance, I flushed the toilet,
transformed myself into a specter, and followed Corbin down the pipes to the
outside world. I was feeding on a human before my clothes were even dry.
I placed Corbin in my pocket, and set off to find Johanna. It would not be hard,
you know. But first, I needed to replace the only affectation that allowed myself:
a walking stick, which hid a rapier. It was not for self-defense. I needed no
self-defense, other than my powers. I used it, sometimes, to amuse myself.
There is no look of astonishment that compares to that which is on the face of a
human who has just been beheaded. It is a pure joy to observe!
But, again, I digress. I floated about until I found a suitable walking stick, then
rose to the highest building, in order to "see" all that I needed to see, "hear" all
that I needed to hear, smell all that I needed to smell, and feel all that I needed
to feel. THERE SHE WAS! I would have to cross only one continent, and then,
my beloved servant would again bring me to rapture!
Daylight be damned! I neither hid during the journey, nor felt the minimal
discomfort of the sun upon my back. Those humans, who saw me, thought that
they were seeing a bird, or a bat, or...whatever incarnation I needed at that time
to help make the swiftest time to Milady. Corbin rode on my back, or in my talons
- wherever was necessary so that he could safely make this trek with me.
I remember how my body tingled when I neared her. She was sleeping in a
ramshackle motel, which was long abandoned, as was the ghost town in which it
sat. You see, "progress" caused the new highway to be built along such a route
as to bypass the area, and humans were bypassing it too. They were close
enough for feeding however - I mused that I had taught her well. The location
was perfect - at least until Johanna and I moved on to an abode that better
represented my elevated status. I was so excited at the prospect of finally
being with my lady, that I neglected to notice that there were other scents -
other.. .sensations present. I glided through the window, and became the form
that most resembles you humans - but is, of course, so much more so. I thought
her name, and she awoke.
Instead of being overjoyed at my return, I sensed that she was terrified. I bent to
reassure her - and that was when I saw.. .HIM! It was Corbin, and he was laying
in the spot, to the left, that I reserved for Johanna - MY servant. SHE was lying
where the Master should be, and, in a flash, I understood. She had intended to
give eternal life to this human from the beginning. She saw him, and felt as I did,
when I first saw her. He was kept alive by her, not the transfusions. He did not
forget her face - he had no intention of turning in his Mistress. I had been
sacrificed so that their love would endure. He understood the modern legal
system, and Johanna had taught him about our race - hence the elongated trial
and my weakened state. And the letters! They were not from my Johanna at all,
but were actually what they appeared to be. What a strange species you
humans are! There were women out there who would die willingly to nourish me -
I would never be able to understand you.
Even in my rage, I felt the love that these two shared. I smiled peacefully at
Johanna ...as I raised Corbin's head, and severed it from his body. I could not
stifle a quick glance at his astonished eyes, even as I drove a makeshift stake
through his heart. My pet, Corbin, was lapping at his blood before it turned to
dust, and, when it did, the rat looked at me in confusion. Corbin drinking
Corbin's blood - could there BE any more irony in this story!
Johanna was beside herself. So many emotions! I sensed fear (of course), rage
and confusion as her heart broke before my very eyes. She would never be my
Johanna again.
I, too, was awash with feelings, not so different from hers. But I had a decision to
make (unlike Johanna, who was helpless under my gaze). What was I to do?
How was I to go on, after this betrayal? All those years! I survived with the sole
purpose of being reunited with my Johanna - and now... THIS!
I did not want to live without Milady. So, how should I perform the act? I did not
see how I could possibly dispatch Johanna before I took my own life. I looked at
my sword, and a plan took hold. I would fall on the blade, and, soon after it
pierced my heart, Johanna would also turn to dust. So perfect! I would watch,
as Johanna grasped the meaning of the act and realized her fate. So,
momentarily, I averted my eyes from the beauty, held her down with one hand,
and, with one hand guided the blade so that it rested between my ribs, directly
over my heart. I turned to hold Johanna's eyes, and, as I did, I saw my little
Corbin, watching me. At that split second, my life changed.
Getting back in and out of the prison was much easier than getting out had been
the first time. Unnoticed, I flew about, until I found those items for which I
searched. With them secreted upon my person, Corbin and I left the
penitentiary behind, never to return.
I have presented myself to most of the women. Some were terrified, so I fed
upon them. Others were not anything like their pictures would have led me to
believe, and they too became food, for Corbin and me. But a few of the ladies
who had written - they were true beauties. And, when they espied me, at the
foot of their beds, they tilted their heads to reveal the pulsing vein from which I
would derive nutrition. These chosen ones became my brides. And, if any of
the others, who had written to me while I was imprisoned, are as bold and
beautiful as their words and pictures would indicate, they would join the others
as my servants.
Still, even with this ever increasing bevy to amuse me, I cannot help but think
back...
Johanna's eyes - those two blue pools of deceit, had stared at me - not
believing. But, as her amazing body tumbled to the ground while her head had
remained in my hand - she knew. And, with her last act, as I plunged the rapier
into her heart, she had spit in my face! Her impertinence enraged me, and I had
held her gaze until she had no eyes left from which to see. I then picked up
Corbin (who was licking the last of Johanna's blood off his whiskers), placed him
gently in my pocket, had taken one long, last look at the two piles of dust which
were already beginning to ride the winds that swirled through the
motel-without-windows, and walked off to begin life anew. I wish that I could say
that my stride was steady. But there was a weakness in my legs that I had never
felt before - or
since.
Surrounded by the beauty that is my new brides and servants, Johanna will soon
fade from my memory. It shouldn't take more than a millennium...or two.
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