Cursed ever after – Chapter 5

I did my best not to look at him. Meanwhile the necklace broke into my skin and I felt the warm blood gushing underneath my clothes. I wore a black turtle neck sweater and a leather jacket over it but it was only a matter of time until the blood would soak it all.

My hands formed fists and the blood moon seemed to whisper to me, urge me to kill the vampire before me.

It only got worse when he approached. Because of his action, I wanted to break the necklace and let myself turn.

‘Hey, are you ok?’

I nodded, a part of me trying to keep him away but what I really wanted was to break his face and pull his heart out. Strangely, he stopped approaching me as if something told him to. Did he sense danger?

The moon kept pushing me to kill, to attack, its light hissing on my skin like acid, though in reality nothing was happening.

The blood kept gushing down my body and quickly spread until it reached my boots. But Christian’s attention was drawn to someone talking to him from the bar. I forced myself to put one hand on the doorknob. But that was all I could do. I couldn’t move it any further. Worse, my hand was all covered in blood, my own warm and thick blood.

I needed the power to get out. I was almost there. That is when I looked at Christian, though my entire body was trembling and my sight was weakened by the loss of too much blood. If I watch his face perhaps my anger will cease. Please let me get out of this place and leave him be. Imagine Gabriel, remember Gabriel!

‘What’s happening?’ someone said as he was approaching Christian. I wanted to shout to them,  make them run, leave. But all I could do is stare at them.

Push the damned door, I screamed inside. Yet I could not move.

‘Is she…’

‘I don’t know what she…’

The man now standing at Christian’s side was watching me. He wanted to approach me but Christian stopped him. I looked at the man’s face. His face was familiar. And what made it strange was that I thought he was a vampire but I had no urge to kill him. He was not the boy I had seen at the pool table. I had no idea where he had come from but he was…

I recognized his face. Suddenly I have the power to push the doorknob and exist the pub. They kept staring at me as I hurried outside, my boots sliding on the trail of blood I left behind. Dizziness and numbness took over. If I were human I’d be close to death but I wasn’t.

When they exited the pub I was hiding on the rooftop. Both of them were there looking in all directions.

‘Who was she?’ asked Christian.

‘I thought you knew her!’ responded the other.

‘She…she seemed familiar but…’

‘Well, brother, that’s the weird part. She seemed familiar to me too.’

I stood there on the rooftop watching Christian and his brother. I have forgotten his name but I haven’t forgotten that I saved him 150 years ago. If I haven’t turned him into a vampire, what in the name of Dracula has he become?

 

Cursed ever after – Chapter 4

It will not go like last time. That’s what I told Rodney. And I prayed it won’t, because last time…was a complete disaster.

They called him Christian but I did not care much for that name. To me he was and will always be Gabriel. He wore Gabriel’s face. He had Gabriel’s features. And faith had brought Christian and me in this city at the same time. An insignificant city but to me this city was very important. This city was a village 500 years ago and it was in this village where I had met and later buried my beloved Gabriel. Every year since I lost him I came to this cursed place and visited his grave. A place no one knew about. It was not in a graveyard…it was hidden in the forest nearby.

So was it a mere coincidence that Christian visited this city at the same time I did? Did he not know that a man with his exact features had lived and died here? Did he perhaps know I was here?

The last time I saw Christian was two days ago, around midnight. I was coming back from Gabriel’s grave when I saw Christian walking down the street entering a pub. He looked exactly the same as 150 years ago though fashion changed his clothing and hairstyle.

To my stupidity I just followed him.

I entered the pub. I was overwhelmed by how crowded it was but I calmly found a seat in a corner, on a torn up leather couch from where I could watch him.

He was sitting at the bar wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of dark jeans. He ordered a drink while whispering to a girl sitting next to him. She chuckled. I heard what he told her though it was hard to concentrate with all the buzzing.

The crowd irritated me. The noise, the people. Usually I could concentrate better. I did my best to watch Christian but I couldn’t. I quickly became irritated. It surprised me especially because I was sitting at a safe distance from him.

I became aware of the surroundings. Not six meters away from me, a group of teenagers were playing pool. They were making me mad. It was only then I realized that one of them was a vampire. I had entered the pub without checking if it was safe. My obsession for Christian had made me ignore everything else.

My heart was pumping fast. I was breathing hard…I needed air. My head hurt and all I could think of was spilling vampire blood. I was wearing the necklace device and I could feel the pressure on my skin as I was turning. I had to get out!

Quickly walking towards the exit I reached the doors. I stared at the outside horror. Once again, my obsession got in the way and forgot to make me take notice of the red moon outside…red like blood.

The doors were before me. I needed to exit. Why was I not leaving? Why was I paralyzed with anger and hatred? I had two choices: open the door and leave or…stay and kill the vampires within the p  ub which would eventually lead me to killing everyone in the pub. My anger would not cease after two killings, I was sure of it.

Kill all or leave all?

‘Hey, have we met before?’

I was trembling. The urge to kill was beyond control, especially because the man addressing me was…Christian…

Cursed ever after – Chapter 3

‘Are you sure you want to do this?’

He looked at me and I knew he did not approve. Rodney was not only my best friend but also one of the best weaponry men in the hidden history. Throughout time he had created many devices for me and over the years, they improved tremendously. For example, one of the main devices was ‘the necklace’ which was a special collar with iron spikes on the inside. I often wore it to prevent myself from the full moon rages and any sudden outbreaks. During the transformations, my neck was the first to expand so that’s the first thing I wanted to stop. As spikes entered my neck, I would lose much blood but the pain would calm and weaken me down. This time I was planning to face a vampire and I needed much more than a necklace.

‘Yes, neck, thighs and waist.’

We were standing in one of Rodney’s hidden workplaces. I stared in the mirror as he sat on a stool holding the necklace in his hand. He looked at me as he was frowning. He wore short dark blond hair and a beard that made him look older. Rodney was 256 years old. He was neither a vampire nor a werewolf.

Rodney stood up and applied the necklace.

‘What will you do?’ He asked as I felt the cold iron touch my neck.

‘I have to look in his eyes, long enough to see something or make him see something.’

‘That’s your plan?’ he did not seem impressed.

‘I know…’ I whispered because I agreed.

‘It’s not a plan at all.’

‘I am aware of that. What else do you want me to do?’

‘I don’t want you to do anything. I think you know very well my opinion about this.’

Rodney had been trying for years to make me forget about my obsession and enjoy my life ‘the way I was supposed to’ but I guess I was stubborn.

‘Yes, I do. I truly do, but I don’t know what else to do. I must see him.’

‘You do what you must. But please be careful and don’t let yourself bleed to death.’

‘You know that can’t happen.’ I smiled while I watched the bitterness of my own smile in the mirror.

‘You know what I mean.’

‘It won’t go like last time.’

Cursed ever after – Chapter 2

My heart stopped, my mind blocked. I could not approach him anymore. I climbed down and ran, the image of him feeding on the girl stuck in my head.

My heart had blinded my eyes! I had not even stopped and looked at the way he truly was. His perfect features, the way he moved, and the way he looked! I should have known. It was stupid to not stop and think of how inhuman he was. The memories made him look so divine to me. I should have realized the woman at his side was just another one of his victims; that his brother and his parents had no idea what was happening.

A vampire!

What a twisted happening it was but that was not all.

I thought he was human and I was planning to speak to him. That was impossible now.
Beside my pitiful life, I had another curse. I have been cursed so many times over the years but this one particular curse decided to stay with me. Although I am half vampire whenever I meet a vampire…the urge to kill it is intoxicating. I always tried to avoid vampires in my journeys and the ones I could not avoid, died. Never have I met a vampire I did not want to kill. The curse brought out my lycanthropic nature. I hated vampires. My parents were killed by vampires and by vampires only. My father, the werewolf, was not good enough for their royal blood. Perhaps love affairs between vampires and werewolves, the rich and the poor, always end up in a tragedy. Not that my situation was any better.

I decided to keep my distance from the man, the vampire I so desperately loved. I kept my distance from the ones around him as well. Instead, I followed him everywhere, hoping that he might show me there was something good in him.

I watched his life and the ones around him. The woman he kept at his side was completely manipulated by him. He was cruel, different from the man I lost and loved. Yet, his perfect features forced me to stay around. His brother was different. He was sweet and seemed a goodhearted man. Perhaps the vampire had been good once until he turned into a monster. But who turned him? And why did he become like this? He did not seem very concerned that his family might discover him. He lived among them and continued to do so though his ignorance did not once seize to let him realize he was putting them in danger.

One night he drank blood from a maid. He was reckless, cruel and I fought with myself not to kill him. But I was not the only one who saw him. A few locals spotted him and ran away before he could see them. I did not intervene.

Only tragedy followed from that moment on. I always blamed myself for it even though I was merely a spectator.

The locals rebelled against the vampire and his family. They set the house on fire. As I expected, the vampire fled leaving his family burn in agony. Though not his entire family died…for this I do take the full blame…his brother….he was able to exit the house though he was badly wounded. I did not want him to die so I…did what I could to save him. I turned him and I left him in the forest.

A few moments later the vampire approached him. He sensed his brother had been turned, looked around but could not see me. He carried his brother and disappeared in the darkness.

I wanted to follow them but I couldn’t. I knew I would probably kill the vampire and I did not want to cope with that. As for his brother, I had turned his brother into hopefully a vampire but I was not sure…yet another strange part of my nature. But I hoped that someday I would be able to approach them both…

They say if you love someone you have to let them go…I did but a few weeks ago faith brought him my way once more. I decided I have to face him once and for all.

Cursed ever after – Chapter 1

Perhaps my curse is that I was born.

My mother was a vampire and my father a werewolf, nothing more but nothing less. I have lived over a thousand years and have experienced every aspect of humanity and wilderness there could ever exist. Pain is my every day companion and I have grown used to it. I torture myself regularly and I have committed suicide more often than I can remember, in many different ways. I found jumping off a building the most deliberating one.

My name is Simone and this is my story.

One thousand years have passed but I only remember the last 500 years. I met someone, someone that did not spit on me for who I was and did not invent ways to kill me. Someone who loved me for who I was and made me laugh every morning and smile every evening. He was human and I was happy.

As all good aspects in life, this one too had to be destroyed. One day he was taken from me. We were together laughing and joking. Then he died just like that, right before my eyes, killed and burned, gone. I could not rescue him. They killed me as well but what does killing mean to an immortal? I truly mean the word and every sense of it. I cannot die. So help me God I cannot die in any way: head cut off, burned, injected with silver, shot, stabbed in the heart, you name it. Once I was locked up for 50 years. I believe that is the only way to stop me. Stop me from what? I don’t know but people tend to believe bad things about me. I guess a vampire with lycanthrope tendencies does not look very friendly.

For hundreds of years I longed for the love I had lost and searched for similarities in others but never found them as precise as I desired. Until 150 years ago.

I was chasing a wolf pack for my own amusement or desperation. I liked being surrounded by wolves as they made me feel accepted and part of a family. But it was always temporary until they sensed my true nature and ran away.

Running through the forest I reached a house. It was tall, white and impressive though it took me a moment to see it all. And as simple as some things in life can be, I saw him. He was just sitting on the porch.

Years of searching, dreaming, praying and giving up and now there he was. Imagine my reaction.

I did not approach him. I just kept watching hidden behind a tree, studying his features.

He looked wonderful: black smooth hair falling over an angel face with dark eyes and perfect skin. I tried to find the differences between him and the one I lost. But, I couldn’t. He looked exactly the same, as if he had stayed alive all those years but that would have been impossible.

I did not approach him. I decided to watch him that whole day instead. It all seemed normal for as normal as life was in those days. He lived in a small town inhabited by a few people, all knowing each other of course. From the looks of it, he was fortunate with a house, a family, he had a brother, a mother and a father with whom he dined. In addition, he had love. Naturally, there had to be love in his life, a woman who would touch his face, kiss those lips and be held in his arms. He was living a life my lost love did not. He was happy and his future lay ahead.

I knew I should have left him alone but I was selfish. I wanted to see him that night and tell him I loved him, look in his eyes and maybe see something. The resemblance was so great, maybe he was brought back to me.

I climbed to his window and waited for the perfect moment.

He stood in his room, a beautifully decorated chamber with gold and white colors and flowers on the ceiling. It was now or never.

Then it happened.

It was horrible. I saw him. I saw him for who he truly was. He was not human!