The Anatomy of Vampires: Volume 1 (7 page)

But after a few moments of repeated violent swallowing and attempts to catch my breath, I opened my eyes and found she was gone. Once again, I was surrounded by nothing but forest. The world-weary city square was nothing but a memory, and I realized then the dust had somehow transported me back to safe ground.

That night was as mysterious and filled with intrigue as it was enlightening for me. Elda provided so many answers, but it seemed each one branched into many new questions. The Vampires are being ostracized and outcast by those who rule. That much, we know. For some reason, the Regime both fears and hates the Vampire kind. Is it because they are made from mortals? Is it a threat against
Law One
? Is it because, they fear the power of the night? I think yes to all. But as long as other races of the Occult are there to assist their dark friends, the Vampires will always be lurking in the shadows. As long as the gray area still exists between the light and the dark, the Vampires will remain a threat to whoever oppresses their society.

As it stands, I fear for my wife’s existence. I pray she keeps her head low, for now. I, being but a lowly human, am the least powerful in this great endeavor. But perhaps, my limitations will work to my advantage. Just like the invisibility potion, perhaps the lack of magic in my blood will allow me to move undetected about the Occult Cities, under the nose of the Regime. Perhaps, through these texts, I’ll be able to reveal the hidden truths.

Vampires Versus Elves

“Since the advent of life on Earth, there has been the existence of good and evil. Light and dark. However, sometimes, it is difficult to detect which is which.”

~Baba Yaga, the most infamous of Spellcasters

I believe it goes without saying there is a massive divide in the magical society. It has revealed itself as the very topic of this volume, and is such because it is the very subject propelling my studies.

The Seer I spoke to in the Irish Occult City provided information that allowed me to rest easy, even for a short time. My wife was safe. She was being looked after by a creature called a ‘Phaser’. But how long would it last? How much time would go by before the tumultuous feelings between Elf and Vampire would go on unchecked? One thing I know from my mortal life, was despite mankind’s best efforts, there was little to do with acceptance. Little to do with understanding. Race. Religion. Nationality. Social class. We differ. We war. And so, that was exactly what I expected of the magical folk. Eventually, I know the Elves are going to take action. The divided can only coexist in fear of one another for so long before a catalyst occurs. As I write this, their world is waiting. An eerie calm is very much present now.

Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to come across an Elf I thought would speak to me candidly. From what I understand, they are all secretive about their true thoughts on the Regime and its intentions with the dark kind. However, there was one individual blood-drinker who sought
me
one evening.

As I sat alone with my thoughts and my journal one autumn night, outside of a quiet, city café, I peered up and noticed a man standing stock still just beyond the reach of the nearest streetlamp. It was purposeful. He probably did not want me to notice him there. He was probably trying to collect himself before he came to speak with me. But there is something about a Vampire’s gaze. It is something I believe we, humans, can inherently feel with our sixth sense. It is as age-old an idea as predator and prey. His silhouette stayed frozen there in the night, and I knew the only thing he sought from me…was my help.

Gently, I put down my pen, making no abrupt movements. Vampires dislike attention, I’ve come to find. They’d much rather move through their existence undetected, for the most part. It is a solemn need of theirs to distance themselves from life and humanity, perhaps because it saddens them to realize they will never have it again.

People moved about the main road. It was only very early in the evening. All of London’s boutiques and restaurants were still open. Horses pulled their buggies along the roads. Women carted armfuls of parcels home, some accompanied by either friends or husbands. I narrowed my eyes at the cursed man in shadow, noticing he was wearing a hat, but that was about the only detail I could make out in the darkness of the unlit street. I knew he was one of
them
because of how unnaturally still he was. To anyone paying enough attention, it would have been unnerving. He was like a stone carved into the shape of a man. And I could tell he was looking at me. I could feel his enchanted gaze piercing my skull. Slowly, I nodded my head, allowing him to proceed when ready.

He did, taking careful, human-paced steps toward me in his mission to pull off the façade. He kept is gaze lowered, and his collar turned up high around the lower half of his face. He moved with an elegant walking stick in his gloved right hand. The lip of his bowler also did something to guard anyone from noticing the unnatural shade of his eyes.

Finally, he reached my table and I gestured silently for him to take a seat. He nodded and did so.

“A very pleasant evening,” I commented, my gaze still cast on the thriving streets before us. I did my best to keep my tone low and even. They—the Vampires—had a lust for fear. They could smell it, and it whets their appetite for blood. I inhaled and exhaled, doing my best to maintain calm thoughts to keep my pulse from speeding.

“Tis,” he agreed, the depth of his enchanted voice bristling the hairs on the back of my neck. “Very pleasant.”

I detected an accent of sorts. Was it Italian? In the event someone was listening, I did not ask him any curious questions, deciding very quickly to let the charade make it seem like we knew each other. I’d never had a Vampire or anyone from the Occult come to me before. Word of my studies must have gotten around.

“My friend,” he began again, resting both of his hands atop the silver ball of his cane. “Firstly, I wish to thank you for your efforts.”

I nodded. “It is most certainly a labor of love.”

“I understand.”

I side-glanced at him in time to catch his gaze brush quickly across the messy scrawls of my handwriting.

“You are correct,” he said. “There will come a time when our society will find itself in great peril. The Elves—the Regime—will never be an ally to the dark.” I watched his hand move gracefully to his breast pocket, plucking a parchment envelope from it, and sliding it across the table to me. “Read this when you are completely alone,” he instructed.

“Aye.” Very quickly, I stowed the paper away in my briefcase.

“I’ve come to tell you
we
have been watching you.”

“Who?” I had to ask. “Who is ‘we’?”

“You will find out when you read the document I’ve given you,” he whispered. “You will have our gratitude. And our respect. Two things we do not easily bestow. I have come to warn you. The word is spreading quickly of your plans to reveal their secrets.”

“What should I do?”

“Read the letter, but only when you feel you have completed your studies and collected all the information you can. Be sure you are alone when at last you open it. Only then, will you fully understand. Upon the completion of your studies, you must open that letter.”

“Why?” I leaned back in my seat and reached for my notebook. “What will become of my interviews? My studies?” I demanded. I would not go through all of this trouble, just to have the truth destroyed by those living in fear.

“Read the letter when you are finished,” he said again, and I could almost detect a smile behind his words. The Vampire reached across the table, placing his gloved hand on mine. “You will die. It is inevitable.”

I gulped.

“Your wife, too, will die. But not for many years to come.”

“How do you know?” I could feel my pulse increase then, my breathing becoming erratic. I needed to stay calm.

“The Fates have made it so. But do not be afraid. Dying for justice is a great honor. Your work will not be in vain.” He started to get up.

“When?”

“Watch the daylight, my friend,” he said again, holding onto his bowler, a gust of wind blundering by. “And do not be afraid.” Finally, he offered me a fanged smile.

I said nothing more to him and watched him retreat to the other side of the street. Another horse-drawn carriage trotted by, eclipsing my vision of him for but a brief moment, and as it turned the corner, he was gone. In mere seconds, the other side of the street was empty, and he was nowhere to be found.

I have to admit, though his advice was to not fear what was inevitably going to happen, I did not read his letter for months. Instead, I went on about my studies. I took my notes. I asked my questions. But the entire time, I did so with the strange cursed man present in the back of my mind.

One piece of his advice, I did follow, however. I remained very cautious of the day and of the Elves. Over time, I came to find out the whereabouts of many of the world’s hidden Occult Cities. And as I ventured, there were even a few instances when I spotted an Elf from a distance. But I never dared approach. I never dared ask questions. For if I did, I knew what the answer would be. I knew what my fate would be. It was there—vivid in the words the Vampire spoke to me that night. Anybody who was an ally of the night was a sure enemy of the day. Anybody who worked to assist the Vampires, worked to maim the Elves. And they knew of me. They were watching me. They were
all
watching me.

And soon…death was going to find me.

Vampire/Human Relationships

“True love never dies.” ~Vlad Dracul

It was about a month after receiving the strange letter. And it was a rare moment I did not think about the Vampire’s warnings. Wary at every turn, it was like my gaze was constantly fixed over my shoulder. Also, I must note the strange burning beginning at the side of my throat. At first, it was only very slight, but through the weeks it began to worsen. “You will die. It is inevitable.” Those were his exact words. But when? When would I die? And how? Would it be for my snooping? Would I find my demise at the hands of some ungodly creature? “Watch the daylight,” he had said. “Do not be afraid.”

I had the nagging feeling I was running out of time—running out of time to find my answers. Running out of patience to keep trying. If I were to die without seeing my wife one last time, then all of my efforts would have been in vain. I was doing all of this for her. I was figuring out the secrets for her, so one day, we could be together again. Doing this to free her of what was oppressing this grand new world I was discovering.

Magic exists.

Monsters exist.

That discovery alone was priceless. But to save her from an existence of loneliness and imprisonment, and maybe even a fate worse than death, would prove to be worth more than all of the gold in the world.

At any rate, before I finished my studies, I had to find her. I needed her to hear about what I was doing—to know she would be proud of me for doing it.

I squinted down the hollowed, misty entrance of the Occult. The fog was thick and deep enough that it might have had the power to devour a man whole so he would never return. Raven caws echoed across the darkened, tree-covered path. This time, I dared not enter. There was just something about this night that spooked me. Perhaps it was because the sky was moonless. Perhaps the cursed man’s warnings were still trapped tightly inside my thoughts. Something, inevitably, would kill me. And with the prickle of my skin, I stood still as possible and peered over the borders into a world of impossibilities. I couldn’t shake the fear.

I cupped both of my hands in a tubular shape around my mouth and called, “Andela!”

I knew the action was idiotic and foolish. I was aware of the possibility something sinister like a Lycan or an Ogre might come for me instead. A light wind licked across my skin and through my hair, carrying the scent of pine.

“Andela!” I cried out again, though louder this time and with my fists at my sides and my stance firm. I would not leave until she came, or something else took me.

A fiercer wind came and nearly knocked me from my feet. The fog dispersed into waves of lavender and gray. A darkened silhouette appeared in the center of the path. I blinked through the darkness at the shape of her claws near her hips. Her long blonde hair billowing behind her. She slowly approached me. I watched, holding my breath.

“What are you doing here?” Her bell-toned voice circled me gently and I sighed with the ecstasy of the sound. She was really there before me, for the first time in a long time.

“Are you going to kill me?” I asked. I had to. A voice lived in the back of my head, begging for an answer.

“No,” she answered with the tone of a new question in her voice. “Why do you look so thin and scraped up? As though you haven’t slept in months….”