|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
Chapter 3:End of the beginning
She looks up from the terminal to check the clock. 9:00, a rather pleasant surprise. She returns her attention to the report that she just finished. After a bit she reexamines her notes on the case for the umpteenth time, checking for something, anything that she might have over looked. Seeing nothing she turns her attention to the window in time to see the sun set. A rather spectacular display. the bright vivid colors reflecting off the few remaining clouds left over from the excessive rain that had plagued the town and area around it all day yesterday continuing well into this morning.. The clouds broke up later in the day allowing for a rather beautiful afternoon. One that she was unable to enjoy because of work. Really a shame to, considering she's the coroner for the police department and the work she had to attend to was a young girl who was killed on her wedding day.
She goes into the lab area to recheck the body, she might have missed something. She looks at the body and shivers as she recalls the actual cause of death, blood loss. She's seen people who bleed to death before but there had always been a definite injury that caused it, a knife or bullet wound, a traumatic injury from an accident, all ways something obvious, accept for this time. This time is different, this time there are no outward signs of blood loss. There are no gaping wounds, no blood stained cloths not even a drop of blood congealed on her body or the area around her, almost as if...
The door opens and Toron enters the room. "Ready for diner?" She looks up with a start. " Yes, I am actually finished here- for the most part." Toron gives her a quizzical look. "For the most part?" She walks over to her desk and picks up her purse. " I'll explain later. You'll just have to wait for the formal report tomorrow. Tonight lets just forget about work and relax." They leave. As the door closes behind them something moves in the lab............
It's night as she drifts down the street. The distance between the lights creates a lonely pattern of alternating light and dark. The street lights add eerie shadows to the area around them. Strangely enough she has no more trouble seeing in the dark then the light. She does not, how ever, take the time to notice this, she does not even notice the difference there is only the drive/need. There is someone/something that she must find.
She doesn't quit know what she is looking for only that she must find it. It calls to her, pulls at her. Her movements are not her own. She is like a robot at the power of some unseen controller. All that she knows is that she must find whoever it is that is pulling her strings.
All she can remember is going to the townhouse were she was to meet Johan's mother and cousin. A rather rainy day, as if that mattered. She had paused out side for a moment, slightly curious as to why she had come so early, before entering the house. Johan had given her a key. She must ask him how he managed to get the use of a town house like that. She went to turn on the lights and then something/someone grabbed her from behind. The terror overwhelmed her and then she blacked out only to awaken on a rather cold slab of a metal table in a dark room.
There he is by a lamp post that hasn't worked in years. His appearance startles her out of her dreamy recollections. He has the look of someone in there late 20's or early 30's, and the feel of something by far more ancient. His hair is ash brown and has a rather wispy quality to it. He is average in build and height as well. In the dim light from the moon, his face looks almost as pale as a corpse's. His hand feels colder then ice as he places it on her shoulder and takes her with him. As he turns her away from the street she catches a pail yellow glimmer from his eyes as thou he had just recovered from some long feverish dream.
They walk in silence threw the dark empty streets until they come to an old stone building that dates back threw the ages. There they stop. He opens the door and they enter. She silently follows at his beckoning, her will still not her own. As he shuts the door she notices her surroundings for the first time in his presence as if having just wakened from a dream. As she looks around her she notices him walking threw a door on the other side of the hall. She quickly follows even as her mind and soul tell her to run in the other direction.
Come my dear and we will get better acquainted, you and I. His voice is a soft whisper and she finds that as before she can't resist his command. The room is a quaint study with only one window that was bricked over when another building was built next to it. The room has an archaic look to it and all the light is coming from gas fixtures and scattered candles. There are cases filled with books of all ages. There are more books staked every where, except for two old burgundy high backed chairs of the victorian style that are sitting in the middle of the room. In one of the chairs sits the man who brought her here.
"Sit down my dear and I shall explain all to you." She sits in the chair across from him as he indicates. She does not exactly remember moving to the chair and it occurs to her briefly the he is controlling her. The thought departs as quickly as it come.
"First is first, we must dispense with a few formalities. I am called John Storn; you are?" " I am Colera. She hesitates a moment as of fighting with something inside her. Colera Jensen, soon to be Colera Lenvel." He smiles a smile that can only be described as cold and dark. A smile lacking all substance. In a moment it is gone leaving only a shiver off remembrance to haunt the mind, as well as ones soul.
"Let me me explain what has happened to you." His voice has a dank ancient feel to it as he talks. "A few weeks ago I saw a painting of you which I talked the previous owner out of." He indicates to a painting that is hanging on the opposite wall. "It was not long after that I first laded my eyes upon the real you. I decided then that I would have you. My first attempt last night, how ever, was a failure. Luckily the present weather conditions gave me a lovely second chance. This time, as you can see, I did not fail." He pause as if attempting to draw forth a sense of the dramatic "I must mention something else before you retire. In order to really have you I first had to make you into what I my self am, a vampire. I hope that you find your new existence to be satisfactory." He smiles again this time it almost touches his eyes, almost. She finds herself smiling back even as she wishes only to wipe the sick smug look os satisfaction from his face.
Instantly she finds herself hating this man. Despising him. It accrues to her that he is someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. A man who always, or nearly always, finds success in such endeavors. He decided he wanted he so he got her. Well, he will find that No one gets Colera Jensen that easily, not for long, not with out paying for it.
"Oh, one more thing. Seance you are now one of us you must learn how to survive in our world. Right now you know nothing of how to use your powers or how to hunt. It is common practice to apprentice out to an older vampire who can teach you these things."
"Oh and who might you have in mind" she comments sarcastically "the ever famous count Dracula?" His smile fades into a sinister scowl. "Well you do seem to have a sense of humor. No I plan to teach you my self. You are after all my fledgling."
"What does that mean exactly?" She glares at him as the conversation begins to turn into a direction that she finds far less pleasant then previously. His smile returns, this time it seems to have a pleasant quality to it as if he finds immense joy and comfort in in his next thoughts and words. "Why simply my dear, I made you a vampire there for you are essentially mine. I am your master and you are my offspring, so to speak."
"Master?, as in I do as you say like it or not." She stands as she prepares to leave the room and the house "Do you really think I would go around following yours or any ones commands." She attempts to turn away only to find herself rooted to the spot, unable to move even an inch. A wave of weakness washes over her and she collapses back into the chair. An angry frown hides her sense of intense surprise.
His smile broadens as he observes her behavior before he continues. "You will have no choice. Just as you did this night you will find yourself compelled to do as I say. You will find it rather hard if not impossible to resist, even for a second."
She sits silently, her mind running threw the information that he just passed on to her. 'Well if I am a vampire, meaning that he really isn't as insane as he appears, then I have the rest of eternity to rid my self of this 'man'. For now it is probably best if I play along with his him and bide my time. It just might be in my best interest to learn what he wants to teach me. It could be useful and I don't seam to have any choice in this mater at right now.'
"I seam to have little say in this mater" she says out loud "so I will pay heed to what you have to teach me. If things are as you clam then I shall have to pay extra attention to what you teach, if not it shouldn't hurt anything. For now however I am rather tiered and would like to get some sleep. If you would show me to my room I would be thankful. Or is it a coffin?"
"Yes" he replies "of course please come with me." He seems rather pleased as he leads her to a room in the back.