Chapter Four

I stood completely still. Why would a vampire approach one of my kind like prey. Even Romulus himself, vain & proud as he is wouldn't dare get so close to us, unless it was to strike. He certainly wouldn't play w/ his victim, & give us time to react.

I resumed subtle movements, staggered breathing, slight trembling, pretending to be human.

"You shouldn't be out here alone this late at night. Do you know what kind of dangerous people lurk in places like this, waiting for pretty young things like you?"

"Please just let me go." I moved forward, but he rushed in front of me to block my way.

"In time. Why don't you tell me what such a lovely girl like you is doing out here so late. Shouldn't you be in bed with your lover?" the vampire picked up a strand of my hair from my shoulder, but I tugged it away before he could bring it to his face. Why he didn't realize I smelled different was puzzling me.

"My lover is gone. And he is none of your concern."

"What spirit you have! I like a girl with spirit." He grabbed me and leaned in to bite, but I overpowered him and pulled him off. Shocked he fought back, this time with all his strength, enough to crush a human, but I matched him in strength, managed to push him off me again, and threw him to the ground. "What are you?" he asked in honest fear.

I appeared before him in my full self, a form few have seen, and only non-humans could fully perceive. I was both material and immaterial, I was in this world and the other, I was mortal and everlasting. "I AM FIRST BORN, I AM FAE, I AM THAT WHICH IS NEITHER OF THIS WORLD OR THE OTHER, I AM IN WHOSE LIKENESS YOU WERE CREATED AND I AM ETERNAL!"

...And he did something I did not expect. He fell to his knees and prostrated himself before me.

"Please, have mercy on me, forgive me, I did not know!" he cried to the ground.

I wasn't sure how to react. "Get thee up, I am not thy sovereign."

"But you said that I was created in your image. Surely I owe you my allegiance my queen."

"Oh don't be a fool." I blurted before walking away. Completely unsure how to handle the situation I wanted nothing more to do with it. What a fool this child was to have no knowledge of my kind and to so easily embarrass himself with his naïveté.

"Wait, don't leave me. I'm serious. I will give you my utmost loyalty. Please, I ask only to accompany you."

I stopped and turned to him. "Why?"

"Why?" he repeated.

"Yes. Why? Dost thou desire power? Look for the biggest dog in the yard and befriend him to elevate thyself?"

"What? No. I... desire only to revere you."

"Why?"

"Because... I... you... thou art..."

"Do not 'thou' me child." I corrected him sternly. "Thou is for one who is of equal standing or lower, not higher. Thou will use the formal 'you' with me."

"Yes ma'am." he replied in a pupillary manner.

"As you were saying. Why does thou desire to revere me."

"Because... you are, clearly, so... so great! I mean..."

"Thou dosn't even know what I am! Go home, go hunt, leave me be child."

"What are you?" he asked in earnest.

I sighed. "Does thou truly wish to know?"

"Please." he begged.

"I am thy enemy. The Nocturnal Ones were born as a perversion of my kind. Man was made mortal due to our negligence, and until the ending of the world we will do penance by protecting their kind." I turned and began walking back home again. He followed.

"What exactly do you mean by enemy."

"My duty is simply to keep your numbers. I will not stop you from feeding, but I will stop any vampire from multiplying."

"That's it?"

"Thou are not my greatest threat. There are those much greater in power and influence who threaten this world."

"Like who?"

"Pray you never meet them."

We arrived at my home. As I ascended the stairs, I noticed the young vampire was still following me. I stopped, turning to him standing one step below me, looking at him disdainfully. "Are thou going to follow me in as well?"

"May I?"

I rolled my eyes. "What seriously is thy fixation with me?"

"I've never met another type of immortal! Wouldn't you be fascinated?"

I sighed. "Come inside, I'll make some tea."

"I don't drink..."

"For myself" The entire situation was trying my patience, but I suppose it was good for everyone to teach the creature a thing or two about his nature.

We entered the house.



After the water was boiled I walked to the kitchen table where he was already sitting. We were silent for a moment while I sipped my still piping hot tea.

"Doesn't that scald?"

"No. I cannot be harmed by extreme heat or cold. I am also incapable of feeling pain."

He nodded. "Me too."

"I know."

We were both silent again for a moment while I settled. Finally I put my cup down and looked directly at him. "What is it thou wish to know?"

"What are you?"

"I am of a species that walked the Earth before humans. We are immortal, in the sense that we have infinite life spans, but not indestructible. It is possible for us to die. Just like thine kindred. We are able to eat and drink, but we require no sustenance, we are able to walk in the sunlight and the moonlight, we are able to make love and have children, even mate with humans. We exist somewhere in the Veil between this world and another, belonging to neither completely. My kind once ruled this planet, but it was not made for us, and so we diminished and faded. Only a few of us are left to defend the humans due to our own folly."

"Were you there? Before the humans, when you're people were first born?"

"No." I smiled. "I'm actually only 2,790 years old.”

His mouth dropped open. “Wh...what! Are you serious?”

I laughed. “Why, how old are thou?”

“132.”

“Just a baby!”

“I guess! Wow. Almost 3,000 year old! I mean... just... the things you must have seen!”

“I’m not the oldest of my kind either. By about half! There are some of they kind as ancient as well.”

“I can’t even imagine. Do you ever get tired?”

I nodded solemnly. “I do. But I have many loved ones here. And elven memories are infallible and never fade. It helps with the pain of loss, though it doesn’t quench it.”

“May I ask... do you know how this all got started? How were my kind made?”

I took another sip of my tea. “I only have stories. It happened many thousands of years before I was born, and though our memories are infallible, our tongues are not. It’s believed that man was first born about 250,000 years ago. The longest of an elf enduring this world is approximately 11,000 years, so you see how even we can loose these things to antiquity.

“That being said, the story goes as such. The elves had arrived from ‘across the Great Sea to this world...”

“The Great Sea? Like the ocean?”

“Probably not, I’ll tell that story another time.”

“Sorry.”

“Thank you. The elves lived in this world for a long time before Man was born, but born he was, in the likeness and beauty of an elf. At this time Man had two wives, Breath and Air they were sometimes called, though they became known as Life and Death. Man and his wives lived eternally, as the elves did. But this came with a condition. Because we did not need to take a life to sustain our own, we were never allowed to eat. The delicious scent of things was enough to appease us, and we lived happily.

“But Man’s wives were not. The woman called Air, who’s is now often referred to as Lilith, was possessive of Man, and didn’t want to share with her sister-wife. The woman called Breath, who is now called Eve, was kind to a fault and loved her husband and sister-wife so dearly she could not see the malice in Lilith’s heart. While out together one day, Lilith, in an effort to condemn Eve, convinced her that they should take a fruit from the tree and eat it’s flesh to see what would happen. At first, Eve claimed it was cruel to take the life of something that only had a limited life span anyhow, but Lilith seduced her by showing her how beautiful the fruits still on the branch were, and how ugly the fruits that had rotten and fallen to the ground were. Weren’t it better to pluck the fruit in the height of it’s beauty than to let it whither and die decrepit and foul.

“Eve, being moved by Lilith’s words held the fruit, still on the branch, but Lilith, who was holding the branch, let go, causing Eve to pluck the fruit. Lilith then convinced Eve that they should eat the fruit, as the beasts did, in order that the fruit’s life not be taken in vain. She promised that they would bite together, sharing in the same fate, but at the moment that Eve bit down, Lilith did not, instead running to their husband to tell him what Eve had done. Immediately, Eve knew she had become mortal, and followed Lilith back to her husband, weeping along the way. Seeing her crying, the elves followed her asking why she was so sad, but she didn’t answer, still holding the offended fruit.

“When Eve finally approached Man, the entire nation of elves were there as well to witness what happened next.”

“‘See what she has done. She took the life of that fruit in her hands, and now she is mortal. Cast her aside and take me as your only wife, for I am still immortal.’ But Man saw through Lilith’s treachery, and immediately hated her. Taking pity on his beloved Eve, he took the fruit from her hand and also ate from it, to share in her fate. Adam and Eve became mortal for their offense, and forced to take the life of others to sustain their own, but they were granted the ability to reproduce, so that their kind would not end with them.

“Because the elves had kept their honor, they were allowed the privileges of the humans. They were allowed to enjoy the tastes of food and drink, but felt no hunger, they were allowed to give birth, but felt no pain or old age. However, because in all their experience and wisdom, they refused to pay heed to the dangers of Lilith’s possessiveness and cunning, and failed to stop the downfall of Man, and for the fate that Man would ultimately suffer, when Cain killed Able, they were forced to share Man’s condemnation of a destructible body.

“Lilith ran into the the desert. Since she was cunning, and did not directly take the life of the fruit, not did she eat of it’s flesh, but because she was still guilty of tricking Eve, she was left in the same form. Eternal, indestructible, but she would never bear live young. Furious and jealous of all other woman’s ability to procreate, she searched everywhere for a mate.

“Eventually she found him when Cain killed Able and was exiled. For his offense, killing not for sustenance, but out of rage, he too was forced to wander the desert, double cursed for the Earth refused to take his body when he died. Cain feared what would happen when he died, if the Earth did not accept his body, it would be consumed by the wild beasts, and not buried as was demanded. Soon, Lilith found him, promising him some of her everlasting life if he would lay with her. He did, and because he was the son of her former husband and sister-wife, he was able to impregnate her. Their offspring were the first vampires.

“Because they were the progeny of Lilith, Adam, and Eve, they were given everlasting life from their mother, but only by the blood of the slaughter, blood that the children of Man were not allowed to eat, the stolen life of Eve’s transgression, the blood of Cain’s violation. They were allowed to wander the earth, but only at night were they safe, for Lilith was the queen of night. Because of Lilith's infertility, they too were unable to give birth to live young, but because of Cain's potency they were allowed to create their own progeny in their own blood."

I stopped there, for that was essentially the conclusion to his query. He digested it all in deep contemplation. It wasn't long though, before I saw the blue light of dawn creeping in through the window.

"Dawn approaches. Thou best turn in."

"Oh. Yeah. Is there some place I can stay?"

"The basement. There are several closeted area's with no windows."

"Thank you."

"Thou are welcome."

He stood up and walked towards the door I directed him to. Just before he descended the stairs he turned back to me. "Really and truly. Thank you. Not just for the hospitality, but for... well, telling me those stories I guess."

I nodded. "I'll see thee in the evening."

He closed the door as he walked downstairs.