Lost Lies

It took Danny and me ten minutes to shift through clothes I could fling on and about two minutes to run through the woods at vampire speed, with myself on Danny’s back.

We were stood before a set of concrete steps, which led down to an aerially quite cave. I shivered, just thinking about what could be down there, when my thoughts were answered, when a group of bats, came squeaking out.

I let out a defining scream, jumping backwards, tripping over a log and losing balance. I fell backwards over the log and onto my back with a thud, onto the soggy cold winter floor.

“You ok down there?” Danny asked, struggling not to laugh.

“No,” I choked, slightly winded.

“Here,” he said, helping me up and brushing of the mud and leaves.

“You can laugh about it when I’m not around,” I scorned.

“Sorry,” he said, as he pulled out two candles and a box of matches, from his jeans pocket, handing a candle to me.

“Apology accepted. So, why are we here?”

“You wanted to know how I become a vampire right? Well down there is my past, with Alex’s. Casper burned away his past, because he never wanted to remember it,” he explained, as he lit the candles.

I followed him down the steps, only the warm glowing flame to light the way and Danny to guide the way.

In the distance something howled and I stopped to look back up the steps, when a shadow whizzed past the open cave steps, in a blur.

“It’s Alex,” Danny said reassuringly, grabbing my hand and giving it a friendly squeeze. “He’s just passing by.”

A second howl echoed down from the woods, as we plunged deeper down, until we came face to face with a large steel padlocked door. Danny let go of my hand, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small key.

“Hold this a minuet while I unlock the door,” Danny asked, handing me his candle.

“By the size of that padlock and door, you definitely don’t want human eyes on whatever you have down here.”

“No or our existence would be blown,” he said, putting the key and padlock in his pocket and yanking open the door.

I handed back his candle and followed him into the dark.

“Watch your step,” he warned, catching me when I tripped on something hard.

“Thanks, could have warned me before I come in.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t expect there was a lot more added.”

I gasped at the stacks of papers and chests that scattered the floor, the large portrait paintings and racks and racks of clothing, when Danny lit several candles around the room, before blowing out his own and then mine.

“Welcome to mine and Alex’s past.”

“How how old are you guys?” I asked, dodging box’s and papers scattered across the floor.

“Me, I’m from the roman era and Alex and Casper are from the dawn of time,” he said, rooting through a box, marked with his name.

“Whoa, I didn’t expect you to be that old. I have an old man as a friend,” I laughed.

“Hey less of the old thank you. If you haven’t noticed but I look devilishly hansom here,” he smiled, with a wink.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, picking up a portrait of Alex, dressed in a suit and tie, with a dark and inviting smile on his face, his hair perfectly combed back.

“Oh la la,” I grinned.

“What?” Danny asked, pulling out an old dusty photo album, from the chest.

“Alex looks hot.”

“Funny, now come here, I found what I was looking for.”

Danny held up the photo album and sat down on the floor his back against the wall. I went to join
him.

“Don’t expect any photographs, there paintings, photography didn’t exist back then, there photo copied versions anyway,” he said, as I sat down beside him.

He opened up the book and flicked through several pages, until he found what he was looking for.

He pointed to an old fading painting, of a young roman soldier, with what seemed to be his wife and three young children, two girls and a boy.

“This was my family, before I turned,” he said, with a gloomy sigh.

“You had children and a wife. What happened?”

“I was out in battle, when I was hit and cut badly, but I was so busy trying to protect my village, I ignored it and it became infected and spread round my body. A month later, I lay dying in my bed. My wife Elizabeth and my three children Rosemary, Aiden and Lela, stayed by my bedside until the very end, the fateful night I became who I am today.”

“How old were you all back then?” I asked, taking the book from Danny and examining the small painting closer.

“I was twenty five, my son was six and my two daughters where five and three and my wife were twenty three, it was common back then to have children at a young age.”

“Wow that must be rough.”

“Yeah, your wife had a fifty fifty chance of surviving child birth.”

“Oh,” I choked, a bit shocked.

“So what happened? How did you become a vampire?”

“I was just about to die, my children and wife were asleep beside me, when an old women appeared by my bedside. She claimed she had the power to heel, but it would come at a fatal price, but I didn’t care, I begged her to save me, whatever the price, I wanted to be around to watch my children grow up,” he explained, taking the book from me and staring at the picture.

He closed the book, a tear landing on its cover, before he placed it on the floor besides him.

“Hey,” I said, wrapping him into a hug. “If you don’t want to go on just tell me,” I whispered, in a comforting tone.

“No,” he choked, pushing his self from me and whipping away a few tears. “You asked to know, so I’ll tell you.”

“If you wish, just remember, when you don’t want to go on, just tell me,” I said, taking his hand in mine, to comfort him.

“Thank you Winter,” he smiled.

“For what?”

“For understanding how hard it is for me,” he answered, lifting up our hands and brushing a kiss along my knuckles.

“No problem, but over the past few days, you have took care of me and treated me like family, so it’s my turn to show that I care.”

“So, as I was saying,” he sighed, “I begged her to save me, no matter the cost, so she saved me, but not the way I expected.”

“Hence you are a vampire.”

“Yeah. She began chanting some words and pulled out a veil of blood and asked me to drink it, so I did. Before I knew it I was up and working again. When everyone in the village found out I survived, it was seen as miracle.

One night I was curled up with my wife in front of the fire, while my children were asleep, it was my last night, because in the morning, I was going back to battle. We were making love for what could be my last time, when she cut her finger on a shard of pottery, when she dropped a plate early on. That’s when the lust for blood came.

I screamed in pain and she asked what was wrong and that it was only blood, but it wasn’t that, my gums were killing as my canines began to grow and my eyes were burning as they changed colour. I had to turn away so she wouldn’t get scared.”

He paused a moment, his face clouding over as he watched the events reveal in his mind, when he took a deep shaky breath and continued. I gave his hand another squeeze.

“She kept begging me what was wrong, but I couldn’t speak, here blood was making me lose control, that’s when I finally snapped and I tore her apart, draining the blood from her neck, while she kicked and screamed, until she was dead.

My three children then walked in at the wrong moment, just as I finished draining mummy, then that’s when I turned against them. Their poor little screams still echo through my head every night, they couldn’t fight me, I was too strong, but I couldn’t control myself, I killed everyone in the village.

That’s when she returned. I was sat crying, my wife and children in my arms, their limp, lifeless, broken bodies. I went crazy, I tried to killer her, but she always defeated me. She warned me of a fatal price and there it was, to stay young forever, I can walk in the sun that’s clear, it’s a myth and I never grow old, never die, unless I stop drinking blood, but no matter how hard I tried, I could never control the thirst when I didn’t. I was blessed with both a gift and a curse.”

“Danny,” I choked, tears swelling in my eyes and spilling over.

“Hey,” he crooned, wrapping me into a hug and stroking my hair.

“I know how hard it is to . . . to lose the ones, you love,” I sobbed.

Danny pushed me up to face him, his hands on my cheeks, his thumbs wiping away the tears.

“We may have lost one family, but we gained another,” he said kissing my forehead and pulling me into another hug.