One chilly, October night in the early 1980's, Lillith Mannheim ran frantically through the Miggit Forest, which was a few miles from where she lived. Lillith was crying and was clearly distraught. At some point during her flight, she realized that she had gotten lost. She came to a stop and confusedly looked around her. As it was dark and she did not want to journey further into the forest that night, she began to slowly wander about, looking for a good place to spend the night.

Suddenly, as if it had appeared out of nowhere, there stood a huge house. The lawn was greatly overgrown with weeds and the house was probably uninhabited. Lillith tried the front door, and it opened easily despite its heavy weight.

Lillith walked through the front doorway and stepped into a large atrium. In the center stood a crumbling old fountain, completely dry. The one door in the room, which presumably led to the rest of the house, was partially blocked by rubbish and brush. Lillith decided not to venture farther into the house, rather she lay down in one corner of the room and decided to pass the night there.

Despite her distressed state, Lillith was actually able to get a few hours sleep. Towards daybreak, however, there would be another shock to her nerves.

Lillith Mannheim awoke to find a young man hovering over her sleeping body. She quickly sat up and backed away, but, unfortunately, she had backed herself into a corner.

At her sudden movement, the young man also backed away.

"What are you doing?" Lillith demanded of the man.

"What are you doing?" the man rejoined.

"Don't you come near me!" Lillith ordered. "You just stay there. I have fought off one rape attempt tonight, and I will not hesitate to do it again."

"Well dressed like that, I would imagine."

"I don't want to hurt you. Don't make me," Lillith said, producing a pocketknife from one of the back pockets of her jeans.

The young man put up his hands.

That was when Lillith began to notice the man's appearance. He was thin and very pale –nearly pure white in complexion. He looked almost feminine in stature. Both his hair and nails were long and there was a gentle tone to his voice.

The young man put down his hands and gave a sly grin and a quiet chuckle.

"What? What are you laughing at?" Lillith asked.

"You can't hurt me.” He frowned and gazed in her direction. “If only you could."

Lillith raised an eyebrow.

The man merely smiled. His grin subsided, however, when he noticed that the sun was about to rise.

The young man nodded to Lillith and then began to walk toward the formerly obstructed door, which was now partially cleared.

"Wait!" Lillith called, impulsively.

The young man turned around. "Yes?"

"I -- I -- how do I get back to town?" Lillith stammered, with some embarrassment.

The young man smiled. "There's a path you can take from the side of the house," he explained and again turned away.

Lillith did not want to ask further questions. She watched as the young man disappeared through the doorway. Then, she too exited through the front door.

Lillith found that the young man had been right. There was a gravel path on the side of the house, which led to one of the side streets in town.

Though frightened and intrigued by the stranger, Lillith was grateful for his help. Within a week, she could no longer contain her curiosity or her desire to see him again.

One evening, Lillith cautiously followed the path from town to the decrepit house in the woods. The area was eerily quiet, and she jumped at every fall of a leaf or snap of a twig. When she neared the house, her uneasiness proved to be justified. Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground. She lay face down and listened to a familiar voice whisper in her ear, “You think you can get away that easily? You think I’d let you go? Now, you’ll see who’s in control.” The man began tugging at her pants as Lillith struggled to break free. Lillith screamed with desperation and clawed at the man so hard that she scratched the skin from his arms. Injured and bleeding, her attacker rolled her over and clamped his hand over her mouth. Lillith eyes opened wide in surprise when she saw someone else approach.

The stranger, whom she had met the previous night, grabbed Lillith’s attacker and ferociously pulled him to his feet. The attacker staggered back a bit before charging forward. The stranger punched the man in the stomach, rammed his head into a tree, and tossed him to the ground. He then knelt over the would-be rapist, pushing his face into the dirt. The stranger lifted up his head, his hair blowing in the wind, and bared his sharp teeth. He then quickly bent towards the attacker’s neck, but stopped just short of touching the man’s flesh. Slowly, he backed away. Incensed by the incident, he gave the would-be rapist a vicious warning. “If you ever touch her again, I will hunt you down like an animal. Then, when I find you, I will rip open your throat for pleasure and drink your blood for cocktails!” He held the struggling and trembling attacker for a few more moments allowing his message to register. “Do you understand me?”

The attacker nodded quickly.

“Then on your feet and don’t turn back,” the stranger said, releasing his grasp and pulling the man up by his collar.

The attacker obeyed the instructions and trotted away through the forest. The stranger stared after the man until he was out of his view. Then, he turned to look for Lillith, who stood a few feet away, trembling and clutching her clothes. The two stared at each other for a minute, but said nothing.

Finally, the stranger walked passed her and entered the decrepit house with Lillith in tow.

When they both stood in the atrium, the stranger turned to face her. “The same guy?” he inquired.

Lillith understood his meaning. “Yes, he was the same one who I ran from the night you found me here. He must have followed me from town.”

The man nodded. “Why are you here anyway? Are you lost again?”

“No," Lillith half-laughed. "I came because I wanted to see you again."

"Why?"

Lillith was a little taken aback by his blunt question.

"Well, to thank you for showing me the path the other night. Now, it seems that I have something else to thank you for. I’m certain that he will not bother me again. You were very forceful. ‘Drink your blood for cocktails’ was a nice touch,” Lillith said, with an anxious smile.

She reached out to touch him, but the man quickly turned away. “You shouldn’t have come here.” Lillith was surprised by his coldness. “Maybe not, but I’m here now, and I am very glad that you were there for me tonight. “ And look,“ she added, attempting to lighten the mood, “I’m even dressed demurely tonight.”

“Yes,” the man smiled.

After a few moments of silence, Lillith tried to change the subject. "So, do you live here?"

"Yes."

"You - you're homeless?"

"Um, you could say that."

"Sorry, I don't mean to pry.”

"There's no way you could know," he said, putting out his hands.

"Well, that's -- uh -- why I came by -- to say 'thanks.'"

The young man nodded and simply stood there. Lillith got the impression that he was waiting for her to leave; however, she was not ready to leave him just yet.

"Maybe I can see you again -- away from here. Especially after what you did for me tonight, I feel that I owe you. I want to know you, to help you."

"You want to see me again?" The young stranger turned away from her sharply. "How could you say that? If you only knew. You have to get away!

Just go away! That's what's best."

"Why?"

The man turned around to face her. "You don't understand! I'm a vam --! " He screamed, but then suddenly broke off in mid-sentence.

Lillith and the man stood silently for a few moments then; Lillith stretched out her hand. "I'm Lillith."

"Vambusen," the man said, lightly taking her hand, then quickly pulling his own hand back.

Lillith nodded. "I won't just leave you here. We can find you a better place."

The young man shook his head and looked down at the floor.

She took his chin in her hand and lifted his face to meet her eyes. "I won't leave you. I want to spend time with you."

The man shook his head again. "If you won't give up, then come with me now.

Come now, and we can be together for a little while," he said, with urgency.

Lillith agreed to go and Vambusen quickly walked out the door, with her following him. Vambusen took her to the park on the outskirts of town.

Lillith took a seat on one of the benches, and Vambusen chose a seat on a bench several feet across from her.

Vambusen was silent and waited for Lillith to speak first. She smiled at him. “Here we are,” she said, shyly.

Vambusen nodded and smiled in return.

“What do you do with your nights?” she asked, flippantly. “I’m glad that you’re always lurking about in the dark, when I need help, but really, why are you out there?”

“I’m a night person,” Vambusen said, with a sly grin. “Quite literally,” he added under his breath.

“I see. Where do you spend your time? In town?”

“Yes, I usually hang about in one of the bars.”

“Ah, yes, that’s a very popular pastime among young men,” she said, smiling.

“It’s not that I’m into that scene. They’re basically just the only places where you can loiter about late at night.”

“Oh, I see,” Lillith said, with slight embarrassment. “What is it that you do?” she asked.

“What I do?”

“Yes, I mean, as a job.”

“Oh, a little of this, a little of that,” he answered, evasively.

“Oh,” Since Vambusen did not seem too responsive to that question, Lillith decided not to pursue that topic. She went back to a previous one. “Who do you spend time with during your nocturnal wanderings?” she asked lightly. “Friends? Wife? Girlfriend?”

“No,” Vambusen shook his head, and could not suppress a grin. “Usually the other guys in the bar.” Vambusen and Lillith laughed at his remark and shared a light-hearted moment.

After a pause in the conversation, Vambusen was the one to ask a question. “I hate to bring this up to you, but -- who was that guy tonight? Someone you know well?”

“No, not at all,” Lillith answered. She stood up and started walking about aimlessly. “He’s just someone I met and went out with on a date. He wanted it to go farther and I didn’t. He’s a sore loser and a spiteful person.”

“I see.”

“To be honest,” Lillith said, thoughtfully, “I have trouble with men. I always want more than they will give or they always want more than I am willing to give. Sometimes I think it’s pointless to look for a match anymore. I’m not even sure that I know what love is. Shouldn’t a person wait to find someone to love who loves you just as much? Am I totally misguided?”

Vambusen smiled but did not answer. Lillith continued with her musings. “I used to think that I understood love, but now I’m not so sure. What does it mean to be in love? Does it count if you love someone who doesn’t even know your name? Is it love if someone loves you, but you treat them as just a friend?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Vambusen said.

“You’ve never been in love?”

“No.”

“Sometimes I wonder if there is such a thing. Maybe it’s just a delusion or a label that people give to companionship and the craving for a relationship.” With a change of thought she suddenly said, “I’m sorry. I’ve been rambling.” Vambusen shook his head and waved away her apology. “Don’t apologize. They’re good questions, but it’s getting late. You should be getting home.”

Lillith nodded and allowed Vambusen to walk her home.

Over the next few weeks, Lillith visited Vambusen every night. She often asked to see him in the daytime, but he always vehemently refused. She guessed that there must be more to his situation, which he was not telling her, but she did not want to pressure him into confiding in her.

Finally, one night he was forced to reveal his secret. When Lillith unexpectedly stopped at the house to see Vambusen, he was not there. She walked around to the side of the house and was frightened by the curious scene before her. Vambusen was kneeling on the ground beside a man’s body and was holding the man’s limp wrist up to his mouth. At the sound of footsteps,

Vambusen turned around quickly and Lillith was horrified by what she saw. Vambusen’s large, pointed teeth dripped with blood. Lillith stared with horror as Vambusen dropped the arm of the dead body. When she finally recovered from the shock, she turned around and bolted through the forest.

Vambusen raced after her. Lillith could hear him quick at her heels. As she began to tire, Vambusen overcame her. He grabbed her around the waist and she stumbled, sending them both sprawling to the ground. Lillith tried to get up, but Vambusen had her pinned down.

“Please, please, let me go,” she pleaded, staring up at him with wide, frightened eyes.

“No, no, I can’t. Not until you hear me out.”

Lillith saw that a battle of physical strength would prove fruitless, so she relaxed her muscles and agreed to listen to Vambusen. . “All right,” she said. Her eyes began to well with tears. “I’ll be still.”

Vambusen studied her closely and then decided to release her. Lillith quickly scrambled from his reach and sat against a tree. “You killed that man. You killed him,” she accused.

“No, I did not kill him,” Vambusen contradicted, standing a few feet away from her. “I’m sure that you would have little pity for him, if you knew that it was the same man who tried to rape you, but I assure you that I was not the one to do him in. I’m sure he’d crossed many people.”

“So, you didn’t kill him?” Lillith asked, skeptically. “But I saw you – I saw you leaning over him. The blood – the dried blood is still on your face. It’s heinous!” she shivered.

“There’s something that I need to tell you,” he said, pacing back and forth in front of her. “Something that I should have told you from the start. I did try to turn you away, I honestly did,” he said, pleading more with himself than with her. “I couldn’t. I’m not sure why, but I couldn’t completely turn you away. There was some sort of pull, a type of magnetism that I could not ignore.”

“What are you trying to say?” Lillith asked with trepidation.

Both the previous incident and his growing temptations forced Vambusen to tell Lillith the truth. At the word 'vampire,' Lillith ran with fury as she tried to shake the revelation from her thoughts. When she arrived home, she shut herself in her room. She needed the solitude to get past the fright that she was now feeling about someone who had offered her both protection and a sense of security for her walks through the forest. She cleared her mind of the matter as best she could, but soon thoughts of Vambusen returned -- but not just her thoughts -- her feelings as well. She knew that she had fallen in love with him, and she suspected that he also cared for her. She reasoned that he had told her the truth, because he cared and that was why he had been so tempted to drag her into his own life of horror -- and that was also precisely why he had not.

With as much courage as she could fathom, Lillith took an encyclopedia from her bookshelf and looked up the legend of the ‘vampire.’ She remembered her words to him; "I won't leave you.” She did not want to leave him or go back on her word. After all this time, Vambusen had not acted on his temptations to drag her into his lifestyle. He also had not touched her with any sexual intent, but had greatly touched her, emotionally. She had to go back; she could go back without fear, and he would see her, because he loved her.

She didn’t return immediately, but on the night that she did, she waited for Vambusen to show up at his house as usual. Vambusen was more surprised to see her now than he had ever been before. "What -? Why -? But, I told you -.”

"I know what you told me," Lillith said, quietly.

"You have to go away. It’s too dangerous."

"I want to know how -- how this happened."

"No, you don't," Vambusen said, shaking his head firmly.

"Don't tell me what I want. Tell me your story."

"It's not all that glamorous or gory," he said quietly, then began his tale. "It began during the Revolutionary War." Vambusen noted her expression of surprise.

"Yes," he said. "The Revolutionary War -- at least that is what you all call it nowadays."

Lillith nodded and Vambusen continued.

"You know about the war. You celebrate the outcome every July 4th. Well --.” Tears came to Vambusen's eyes. Lillith put her arms around him, but he viciously pushed her away. "Don't touch me. It only makes it harder."

Lillith resumed her seat, while Vambusen resumed his story.

"There was someone that I hated, someone who was a Tory. He was not for our cause and not for independence. I found out about his plot to destroy our village – a village that we had both grown up in. That’s when I became enraged, completely enraged and disgusted. If this had been just any man, I might have felt less hatred towards him. Things probably would have been different, and it would not have been so personal. But this man was not just an enemy in our fight for independence, but also a personal enemy of my family. You see, I had caught him just before he raped my sister. I managed to fight him off and save her from him, but I could never quell the rage that I felt toward him in my heart.”

Lillith nodded and remembered the same rage, which he had displayed towards her own attacker.

“One night,” he continued, “as I slept in a field, a man came to me. He told me that there was a way to ensure my vengeance, a way to survive the war, and to get revenge. He offered his help," Vambusen paused in momentary reflection. "That strange man was a vampire, and I willingly chose this nightmare which I now live,” he said, with emphasis. “Because of that one horrific decision I will always live as a good spirit in an evil body. I have the urge to drink the blood of humans, but I cannot. I will drink the blood of animals or the freshly dead, but that is it. That is the best I can do."

"Because you're not evil."

"I have spent all my nights watching others live, watching them have things that I can never have -- all in the name of vengeance. There is no escape for me," Vambusen said, despairingly.

Lillith thought for a moment. "What if there were?" she asked.

"How?" he asked, sharply.

“Since the night you told me your secret, I have been reading and researching about vampires. I wanted to understand. I knew that you were not evil. From what I read, I can’t be sure how much is fact or how much is fiction, so I need you to tell me.”

Vambusen nodded, and Lillith continued. "You never go out during the day, right?"

Vambusen shook his head. "No, it -- it hurts."

"You also avoid and fear crosses?"

Vambusen nodded.

"What if you chose them?" Lillith said, meaningfully.

"Chose them?"

"You chose evil centuries ago, now choose good."

"I don't understand," he shook his head. "I don't know what would happen. I would destroy myself."

Lillith was silent.

"Do you believe that it would free me?" Vambusen asked, with a slight tone of hope in his voice.

"I believe in the mercy of God and the triumph of good," Lillith said, firmly.

"I will try anything. I am repentant."

"That is why you don't recruit new members. When you first saw me --.”

"I thought that you were beautiful," Vambusen admitted. "I wanted to be with you forever, but I could not do this to you."

"I know. I know." Lillith said, comfortingly, then she and Vambusen made plans for the next night.

When night fell on October 31, the eve of All Saints Day, Lillith and Vambusen sat silently together until dawn.

When the sun began to rise, so did Lillith and Vambusen.

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Lillith asked.

“I have to take the chance, just as you took the chance of trusting me.”

“I do trust you.” For the first time Vambusen let her remain close to him and hold his face in her hands.

“Before we do this, I have to tell you something. In all the centuries I’ve lived, I have never been affected by anyone, the way that you affect me.

Although I have spent all my years repenting what I allowed to happen to me, the one thing that I do not regret is living to meet you. I love you,

Lillith,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers.

“I love you too,” Lillith whispered. “Though generations apart, we are one at heart.”

Vambusen looked deep into Lillith’s eyes and then kissed her passionately on the lips. He rubbed her cheek against his and put his head on her shoulder.

His mouth quivered as he hovered about her neck. He finally kissed her gently on the neck and backed away.

Lillith’s heartfelt longing for things to be different for them deepened. She sighed and asked, “are you ready?"

Vambusen nodded firmly.

When the sun began to shine brightly, Lillith slowly swung wide open the heavy door of the house. Vambusen shrunk back, hid his face in his hands, and moaned in pain.

Lillith rushed over to him, lifted his face and held the cross in front of him. Vambusen’s eyes caught the cross and the bright sunlight, which he had not seen in centuries, streaming and glowing behind his love, Lillith.

Despite the anguish, Vambusen did not turn away. Suddenly, his body was thrown against the wall, his skin began to crust, and he slunk to the floor.

Lillith began to panic. She could not watch the man she loved suffer so horribly. She put the cross out of his view and contemplated shutting the door, but just as she decided to block the light, Vambusen's body crumpled and disintegrated into a pile of ash on the floor.

Lillith let out a scream and let her tears stream wildly down her cheeks. She fell to the floor and writhed in anguish at the destruction of the love of her life.

Suddenly, there was a whistling sound and a strong wind rushed about the room. She looked up and slowly got to her feet. Her mouth opened in astonishment as she watched the ashes in the corner of the room get caught up in a whirlwind and collect at the center of the room. There was a bright, shimmering light and then --

The old fountain began to spurt clean, fresh water.

Although the room was empty, Lillith could feel Vambusen’s warmth fill her lonely heart.

Lillith stood stolidly in the silent room, stunned for a few minutes. Then, she gave a sad smile and started towards the front door.

Right before she left, however, she heard a quiet, soft voice whisper, "It's over."


That was the story. Is it true or did my great-grandmother tell me this simply to teach me a lesson? Was it a warning to avoid the pitfalls and tragic consequences of relinquishing oneself to rage and revenge? Or perhaps her message was one of a more sentimental nature. Was she trying to tell me that following one’s heart is naiveté? Was she saying that falling for a “bad boy” is a bad thing? Was she trying to show that loving an outcast could result in nothing but physical or emotional pain? Well, if that was her intention, her story elicited just the opposite reaction from me. If love is as rare, precarious, and powerful as she portrayed it to be, then it is worth experiencing. Celebrating the birth of a love or mourning the loss of one is part of the package that comes with truly being alive. I do not know if I will ever discover the moral of her story, but rather than ponder that, I ask myself this. Do I personally believe the myth? No. Do I believe in vampires? No. Do I believe in love and the Power of Good? Absolutely.