The vampire hovered over my neck, poised to deal the final blow. But I was not frightened. Not in the least. I mean, why should I be? Vampires are amusing figments of our imaginations. To be killed by one would be...interesting.
"You are not afraid," he said, postponing the moment.
"Of course not," I stated flatly, annoyed at having my moment of glory being put off for the lack of a simple emotion like fear.
"Why not?" he demanded.
I sighed, giving up any hope of meeting my demise until all had been explained to this obviously social dinosaur.
"No one believes anymore," I said, pulling out of his loosened embrace, "You no longer exist to the modern world, except in children's nightmares and fanciful stories."
"That is not true!" he shouted just a little too close to my ears. His tone reminded me of a child refusing to accept the death of a pet.
Hmmm, perhaps staying alive would become more entertaining than dying.
"Prove it." I replied. Although I could not see him in the darkness of my home, where he had attacked me, I could just imagine the child-like features of his face turning a furious red in anger.
"How?" he asked, his voice on the edge between curiosity and indignant.
"Easy. Go out and scare somebody. In the park," I continued, trying to think of a place we could find someone to scare at this time at night, "yes, the park. There are always people out there, walking around, tempting fate." I would have rambled on that proverbial vein for some time if he had not cut me off.
"You will come with me," It was a statement, not a question, and therefore could not be argued with. Not that I intended to argue. This was setting itself up to be a very climatic night.
"Of course." I said, and off we went.
We found a group of carefree girls easily. I had a feeling that that ease came from the vampire's innate skills, but I am not pointing any fingers. That would be distasteful and very unlady-like and, I am, after all, a lady of taste. Most of the time.
"Okay," I said as we stood off the path watching the girls approach, "all you have to do is make them scream for the pure terror you somehow will impress upon them. I dare you."
"You have already dared," he said, disappearing in the shadows, leaving me to silently laugh by myself in the moonlight. This guy was a riot. So solemn, so refined, so Gothic, and oh so sickening.
The girls were walking on a lighted path, which was convenient for me, since I lacked the ability to see in the dark, and so I could easily watch the whole scene unfold as the vampire appeared in front of the girls. At first, they did not notice him, then, one by one, they realized someone was standing in front of them, and silenced their snickers. They watched him cautiously, and yet curiously.
I must say that I would have done the same in their situation, had I been lucky enough to be in such a circumstance. Then again, I guess I was in their situation, more or less. Here they were, out for a walk in the park, and up steps this guy dressed all in black, complete with a black cloak. Of the many thoughts that would be running through my head at that moment, one of them might have included, did I miss Halloween or is this guy just a nut?
"Would you girls like to join me for a drink?" he said flashing a grin exposing the overgrown canines, "I am so thirsty." I collapsed in hysterics at the last comment, and I was quite surprised the girls did not do the same. Somehow, I managed to pull myself up to see what happened next.
The girls stared at him, then at each other, then burst into laughter, blithely brushing past him and uttering comments that included but were not limited to "freak" and "jerk".
I regained my composure by the time he returned.
Barely.
"See, I told you," I said to him smartly, "you just aren't scary anymore."
"The world will fear us again." he said in a deeply serious voice after giving me a long measuring look, "I shall make them. Mark me, mortal, the world will fear again. And you," he said, bringing his hand to my chin and leaning close to me, "will be the last of the fearless, the foolish, to die. I promise." And then he was gone, lost in the shadows of the night.
So my life had been spared. Again, it was of little matter to me. Life is a fleeting moment which we are given on lease. And the bonds of the lease are so fragile, the slightest touch in the wrong way would destroy them.
Yet, even as I thought over the amusing events of the night, up to his last words, something occurred to me.
It wasn't quite so funny anymore.
The age of terror followed that midnight meeting. The three girls in the park were found dead the next morning. Not surprisingly, to me at least, their bodies had been completely drained of blood.
At first, people causally brushed off the strange murders printed at the bottom of the front page of the local newspaper. Tragedies such as these were common in the world, they told themselves, it won't happen to me.
But, in the following weeks, over twenty people died in the same way. The police were at loss for a motive. The victims came from all social and ethnic castes, all different ages, and were killed at random areas. They put a curfew into effect in order to protect the people. Until then, all the murders had taken place outside. So the police reasoned that if they kept the people in at night, then they would keep them safe.
But they were wrong. After the curfew, whole families were found dead. Sometimes, they were in their beds, sometimes, all together in the parlor watching television.
Now the police were as scared as the people. The city was convinced that a mass murderer was on the loose and that, somehow, he had the power to enter peoples' homes without much trouble, and then leave without a trace, other than the bloodless bodies.
The city was afraid.
I was not. I knew better.
Then, as suddenly as they had started, the murders stopped. After forty-seven deaths, the murderer, the vampire, apparently left town. Soon after, people felt safe again and began to meander about in the lunacy so prevalent in humans.
As for me, I found the entire situation a very stimulating research on human behavior. I noticed that humans will cause themselves to forget certain ideas that society has taught them to be impossible. That is probably why no one ever suspected a supernatural being to be the killer, and why the world was taken so much by surprise by the Plague.
Five years after the massacre in my town, a worldwide mass murdering began. Thousands of people were found drained of blood. In the streets, in their homes, in their cars, even in the prisons. No one was safe from the killing. The people of the world were, as the people in my town had been in a panic and frantic for answers. It was estimated that at least five thousand people died every night from the "vampire cult," as the killers were dubbed by the tabloids. Yet no trace of the murderers could be found. Not a fingerprint, a hair, or even a footprint in the dirt. It seemed to the authorities that the murderers were being committed by specters, or so they joked to the media. Since the governments could not find an answer, people began to guess for themselves. They fell back to superstition to protect themselves.
They believed in the vampire.
It was funny in an odd way in the beginning. Shops opened up specializing in ways to kill the undead. Holy water, garlic, salt, crosses, and wooden stakes are just some of the examples of the supplies that the stores carried. The shops made good business.
People feared the vampire.
Not long after these shops opened, the first vampire was hauled in. Although it was very dead, the body was sent to a university for analysis.
The results were astounding. The vampire was genetically engineered. Somebody had released a infestation of genetically engineered bloodsuckers on the earth. Why?
No one could think of a reason. Neo-Nazi groups were suspected, as were background cults, but no evidence could be found.
So people kept on dying.
The situation has changed much since I wrote the last section. Police and people are armed with sharp wooden stakes, which have proven to be effective against vampires.
True, vampires have not been completely extinguished. That could never happen. They spread like rats and are harder to kill.
But people are not afraid anymore. Just simply more aware of their surroundings and their lives.
As for me, boredom had returned to my life.
When the Plague had broken out, I had done my best to get killed. I wandered about alone at night long after curfew, never tried to look aware, and even left my doors and windows unlocked at night.
Nothing happened. I had guessed as much. He was saving me for himself. Even though I was sure of this, I made no attempt to move or get away. There was no need to prolong the inevitable. Anyway, death was to come to us all at one time or another, so why do I suddenly find myself desperately wanting to go to a church and deck myself with holy items?
I did not buy any of the protective items now found at the grocery store. I did not sharpen any stakes. I knew they would be of no use against the real vampire, the one that was coming for me.
I hear a tapping on my window. Tap, tap, tap...so, he is here. A footstep---deliberate, and yet discreet.
"It's about time you got back," I said as he walked in.
"I had a promise to keep." he said in the same solemn voice that was so pathetic before. Why do I say before? If anything, it is even more pathetic.
"Of course you did," I said. He moved closer to me, within touching distance.
"I told you I would make them fear." he said, "Now the world fears the vampire again."
I laughed. "There you are wrong. Yes, they did fear, but that was some time ago. Now they know. If you had come to me earlier, you might have won, but now, you have lost. No one is afraid anymore." I watched him silently get angry, then continued, "It was a very interesting experience, however. I even wrote a story on it." I waved at the papers at the desk.
"No matter," he said calmly, brushing his hand across my face, "no matter."
The vampire left the body of the woman where it fell, knowing full well it would rise later. Then he looked at the papers on the desk. Taking up a pen, he finished the story, then looked at the words at the beginning and placed them at the end. Reading them silently to himself as he wrote;
"The vampire hovered over my neck, poised to deal the final blow..."