MV1 COMICS PRESENTS		#50
	by Paul Roof

(Note: The following story contains graphic language and some violence. Reader discretion is advised)

This is a tale of Orion Gravely, a man of wealth, and his life after a visit from Dracula.

DECEMBER 27, 1999

I awoke in the secret room that I had built in my home after he took me and made me one of his living dead.

It was six in the evening and I’d been waking up at this time for the last few nights. I would watch the sun descend through thick black curtains, knowing that would be all that I would ever see of the sun.

There was a hunger in me that I could not satisfy--the first night I ate some food, and the smell made my stomach turn. The taste made me puke, and when that didn’t work, I tried some wine. That went down a lot better, but it didn’t quench my hunger. I knew what I needed, but I didn’t want to drink blood.

But now I was so hungry that I was going mad. I couldn’t wait any longer.

I left my chamber and went into the outer chamber of my bedroom, then Maggie came in to clean my room (oh, why did she come into my bed chamber?). She was average in looks with red hair and brown eyes, and her pulse sped up when she saw me. I was so pale and gangly. Oh, how her sweet fluid screamed at me, and the smell of her flesh drove me wild.

I moved faster than her eyes could see.

I grabbed her by the shoulders, and I held her in front of me for a few minutes, looking at my dinner and hearing her inner voice yelling for help and not caring because this would be my first feast since Dracula turned me into one of the living dead.

Her face held a look of terror, her eyes screaming, Not me, O Lord, not me.

Then it happened.

I sank my teeth in to her neck. Oh, how that sweet juice tasted as it flowed into my mouth, over my tongue, and down my throat. Every drop seemed like a gallon just oozing from her lovely neck. Yeah, that was what I had needed for so long.

December 30, 1999

It had been three long maddening days since I fed on Maggie, my housemaid. I still could taste that pure liquid she called Blood, and the smell of her flesh was wonderfully sweet. I’d properly never find another like her, for she was a true virgin, and as you all know that was hard to fine these days.

Still the hunger beckoned me, pulling me to the streets of this Ohioan city of Columbus. Still I’d only made it as far as the window, looking out and watching all of that food walking right past me. Would they still be walking past here if they knew what kind of monster was living here?

I think not.

Then there was a knocking coming from the backside of the house. I went to see who was calling this early in the evening.

Coming through the kitchen window was a muscular black man, his pulse racing and his blood flowing though his veins faster than water through a dam.

I knew I would feast again that night.

Still standing at the window, he was looking out and watching something as I spoke.

“May I help you?”

He turned around faster than I expected.

“What the fuck are you doing here? Thought this place was empty.”

“So, you figured you could just come in here and rob the place, eh?”

“No there’re a couple of guys after me, and I figured I could hide in here.”

This time I used my head before I ate. This guy could be a lot of help to me. I needed someone to watch over both my house and me, and he looked like he could handle the job.

“If I handle those two, will you discuss something with me?”

“Sure, mister,” he said with a smirk.

I went out into the darkness, walking like I was in mid-air. Not a noise did I make.

Between two buildings, I could hear the pounding of two separate heartbeats. The men had running and now were waiting for the one in my house. I moved fast and got behind them. I wanted to watch them for a few minutes.

Yes, they were watching my house.

The bigger man stood around six-six and weighed in at two hundred and forty pounds. He motioned for his smaller companion to go across the street to look into my house and see what he could find.

In a few minutes, he was gone, leaving the bigger one for me. While he was looking in the direction of the house I came up behind him, put my mouth close to his ear, and spoke in a whisper.

“Don’t turn around, or you will surely die.”

But, just as I figured, the stupid bastard turned to face me.

That was when my left hand grabbed his throat and, in his eyes, I could see his astonishment. Then I pinned him to the side of the building. His eyes grew wider when I bared my fangs. If I wasn’t holding him by his jugular he would’ve screamed.

Then came my reward, as I sank them deep into his neck, and the fluid of life, that precious blood, went flowing into my mouth. I drank it without spilling a drop, then when I was done, I decided to cover my tracks. Instead of removing my fangs, I just ripped them out, which took a chunk of flesh out of his neck, and a little bit of blood splattered onto the concrete.

I chewed on the flesh I had torn from my prey as I stood there watching the other guy looking through my windows.

He headed back in my direction. I slipped back into the shadows, pulling his friend further back, and stood him up against the wall. As he entered the alley, his heart was beating erratically from running so hard. He whispered his friend’s name and waited for an answer.

I answered him instead.

“Over here.”

As he started over towards me, I realized that I wasn’t hungry, but I still needed to get rid of him.

Then I got an idea.

As he got closer, I could feel his pulse beating faster. Then he saw his friend and gasped.

He stared, unmoving, at his friend’s lifeless body. It was obvious he wasn’t sure what to do--scream, yell for help, run home, or puke. But before he could do any of those, I came up behind him and reached around him. Making my thumbnail grow, I slit his throat. As he laid there looking at me, I reached into his stomach, pulled out his guts with a sense of sick joy, and scattered them over both bodies.

Ten minutes later in the living room after I cleaned up...

“Your troubles are over with those two, so have a seat. I have a job offer for you, if you want it. But, first tell me your name.”

“It’s Jerome Wilson…and what kind of job? How much does it pay?”

“Well, Jerome, I need a body guard, and it pays a thousand a week. Tax free.”

Jerome hesitated but then said, “Can I think it over and get back to you in the morning?”

“Make it tomorrow night around seven and, you got a deal.”

I left after Jerome. I needed to follow him to make sure that I could get him under my power. The only way to do that was to bite him just once.

He finally went into a small apartment building on the east side. I waited until he fell asleep then slipped into his room, bit him without waking him, and left.

December 31,1999

As I awoke at my regular time, I got up and went downstairs and got ready for my visitor. The doorbell rang two minutes before seven.

“ Come in, Mr. Wilson,” I said with a sheepish grin on my face as he entered.

“I did a lot of thinking last night, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt if I accepted your offer.”

“Good. Glad to hear it.” I paused. “Could you move in here? Of course, the rent is free, but I need to make sure someone is here during the day, and you would have your evenings off to do what you want.”

“I don’t see why not.”

“I sleep during the day and work all night. Sometimes I’ll be here, and, at other times, I’ll be out doing research for my book.” As an afterthought, I added, “No one is to enter my room during my sleeping hours.”

He left to gather his belongings, and I figured while he was gone I would go out, find my dinner, and get home before he returned.

After I arrived downtown, it hit me that it was New Years’ Eve, and parties would start soon. That would mean easy pickings, and I could walk around looking like myself, and these human idiots would think that I was going to a party.

I guess I was, and they were my refreshments.

As I walked around in the otherwise freezing weather, I knew that the party-goers’ blood was ready for drinking because I could smell the warmth of their blood.

As I walk into a strip joint, I saw her, a very lovely girl about eighteen years old and a petite one hundred pounds with long blond hair and the most captivating baby blue eyes that I had ever seen in my forty years on this earth. She danced on top of a table for another man, but I knew she was mine tonight.

I didn’t want to drink her and then kill her, for I was still a man. I wanted her forever, and I knew she would be the first in my family of the living dead.

JANUARY 1, 2002

My last journal entry was over two year ago, but the memory of those few nights seemed like yesterday. I still woke up at six in the evening; yes, I still fed once a night because that was all a vampire needed to feed. If one fed on anything else then he was just having fun.

Vampires enjoyed watching their victims die, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

I looked out my window. It was a slow night, and very few were out walking, and even fewer cars, than I remembered. This was New Years’ Day, and there would still be many parties going on. I, myself, would go to a local bar and wait for my dinner. I didn’t drink from just anyone’s veins—only on those that were already dying.

A sad way to justify my habit.

Their blood wasn’t as sweet as my maid’s was, but it did the job without killing the healthy. That was the law of the wild, and, as I saw it, a vampire was as wild as you got.

But that was getting ahead of myself. I needed to write down what I did after I turned into a vampire, so you would understand the whole story.

Next issue: "A Vampire's Journal" Part 2: Family Ties!