Curse of Darkness by Steven Gilby - Chapter Four

"Rass! Rass! Come here quick!"
She stood up and wiped the dirt from her pants and asked what he wanted.
"We're trying to meditate."
"I know zat, I haff eyes too you know! But zis ees important. Ze head of ze clan here would like to talk to you and zat stupid boy."
I stood up and brushed myself off as Razz did.
"What do you mean? I thought Razz said this town was too small."
Razz was almost as puzzled as I was.
"I thought it was, but I guess someone went and made a clan. Well I wonder why they want to meet with us. I'm wondering how they even knew about you. You just woke up not to long ago; I didn't think anyone would know there was a new vampire this soon. Well let's get a move on. Don't want to be late."
Eddie handed us some directions. Right across the street from the church. There was only one church in town and we were on the complete opposite side of town. But we managed to "borrow" Eddie's car and drove to the old crap shack. I swear this place was so damn old it made Eddie's house look like a freaking condominium. But it was an extremely well build structure. Two stories tall, very wide, and it went as far back as it was wide.
We stepped out of the car at nearly the same time and walked up to the door together and knocked. To answer the door was a bald man with a scar down the right side of his face. I would have to guess he was either a human or a werewolf because I didn't think vampires scarred like that. He wasn't very tall but he was quite muscular in the white tank top he wore and ripped up blue jeans. The only odd thing about him was his shoes. He wore what looked like some of the most expensive shoes I had ever seen. He was also a very clean man with nearly no smell to him. Inside the place we could hear the sounds of laughter and on the back wall behind the door we could see colored lights.
"Are you the two hunters?"
"Hunters? I'm no hun-"
Razz elbowed me.
"Of course," she said, "We're the two hunters."
"You are expected."
That was all the man said. The rest of the time he just walked us to the stairs that led to the second floor. All around us there was laughter and fun. Elaborate paintings of what looked like men who could all have been the leader of this small clan hung all over the wall. Dark red curtains hung from windows and the carpet was a soft dark blue, nearly black. The stair rails were wooden, maybe hand carved. Colored lights that hung from everywhere were flashing all around and the place smelled of perfumes and colognes, sweet smelling and musky concoctions. Men and women dancing to no music at all, it seemed to be in their head. In a back corner I could see a woman snorting cocaine and in another corner I saw a couple making out. Little children ran about laughing and playing as well. Nothing was hidden. Nothing dark about this place. No secrets, no nothing.
As I finished my look see around the room I noticed a man stood at the top of the stairs. Long black hair, strait hair, sat at the top of his head and down past his shoulders. He wore black pants that looked almost too tight to let blood flow. His shirt was black as well, with buttons; the top two unbuttoned exposing his smooth chest. A woman might say he has a face carved by angels. You would guess Razz had never seen someone like him before. She melted as she stared into his perfect blue eyes. I didn't have enough sense to nudge her out of her trance. On his hands he wore rings with huge gems and diamonds surrounded by the silver that wrapped around them and his fingers. A gold chain hung loosely on his wrist looking almost like it would fall off. He smiled as he came down the stairs, not sadistically, but out of kindness. He stretched out his arms at his side and welcomed us into his house.
Razz managed to snap out of the trance she was put in by staring at him.
"Who are you and why did you call us here?"
"My name is Magnus. I am the leader of this house. And I called you here to talk about the werewolf that was seen a little over a month ago."
I yelled out, "If it weren't for that damn dog I would still be human."
I saw some of the people who were previously laughing and having a good time shift in their seats and stare at me and I started to feel uncomfortable.
"I, uh, meant nothing by it. I'm just a little mad at the fact that I'm no longer human. But I'm learning to live with it. So, uh, I'm sorry, I apologize. Don't let an idiot like me spoil the party."
Razz nudged me and whispered, "I think you better shut up now."
"Come," Magnus waved his hand from front to back inviting us upstairs, "Let us go into my chambers. It will be safer to talk there, I think."
We walked up the wide staircase and then to the left into his chamber. Or chambers. Whatever, we went to his room. Yay, a slumber party. Ok, enough jokes. We were in his room, very large and elegant with all the same things the place had on the first floor. The paintings, the curtains, the carpet, everything. It was like the whole house was in one room. He had a bed that was like something out of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Dark red sheets, silk. A white silk cover, see through, covered the whole bed in a blanket of clear white. There was a couple of chairs and a couch, black leather, very comfortable looking. Magnus invited us to sit down so we both sat on the couch, very comfortable indeed. He sat in one of the chairs after moving it a little closer and in front of us. After crossing his legs and intertwining his fingers he asked us about the werewolf. Razz spoke first.
"Look, he's not one of mine or a rogue and it isn't one of the town's people as far as we know. We're dealing with an immigrant."
"Excuse me?"
It was as if he had never heard the word before.
"It's what my little group calls werewolves and vampires that don't belong in this town."
His eyes got wide, not with surprise or anger, but understanding, and he let out a short "Ah" and asked her to continue.
"Well there isn't much to tell about it other than he killed my friend here and I was forced to bite him."
"Well," he interrupted, "Why did you not just let him die and be rid of him?"
"Because he already knew I was a vampire and I did not want to see him die that kind of death. Now if we can get back to the topic at hand, please!"
Score one for Razz! She was getting pretty pissed at him though. I didn't much like his questions either.
"Well what do you suppose we do about this 'immigrant' that has infested out community?"
He uncrossed his legs and spread them putting his folded fingers in between them and leaned forward, his long hair fell by his cheeks.
Razz opened her mouth and took in a short breath and almost spoke but was interrupted by the sound of BANG and then screams.
"Rogues!"
Magnus sprang from his chair and pressed a button on a wall near by. It slid to one side and exposed a small collection of swords and he grabbed one like it didn't matter and told us, too, to pick whichever we liked. I randomly grabbed one; it turned out to be a rapier. And Razz took a few seconds before choosing a ninja katana.
"We must protect my people. This is my castle, I am king, and they are people in which this king loves. Help me vanquish this enemy that has broken into my dwelling."
The three of us walked over to the door and it swung open before we got in arms reach and five men dressed in tatters came at us with swords and crossbows.
"BLEED 'EM DRY!" one of them yelled out. I assumed this was one of those "take no prisoners" situations.
There were two with crossbows. Magnus hurled his sword into the chest of one of them as an arrow landed in the upper part of his chest. As he went to retrieve his weapon the three with swords slashed and thrusted their swords at him. He seemed to float around them like they were mere child's play. He pulled his sword out of the dead man as I stared at him in awe. Razz ran up as stealthily as the people who wielded the weapon she chose and silently took out the other crossbower. They can't be normal vampires I thought as I looked on with wide eyes. Just then I felt a sharp pain in my right arm. I looked around me to find a rogue had come to me and slashed at me. As I bled out I stared at him like he made the biggest mistake of his life. We squared off with our weapons. His, a crudely made broadsword and mine a supposedly well made rapier like you would see in The Three Musketeers. He came at me and I quickly dispatched him like he was nothing. This was the first man I had ever killed. The smell of his blood filled my nose and I fell to my knees and threw up. When I was finished puking I noticed that Razz and Magnus had already killed the other two. The smell of blood was thick in the room and they saw my situation and quickly left the room to help everyone else. After they left I stood up with a weak stomach and went to the top of the stairs. There was blood covering the carpet in puddles as vampires and werewolves both lay dead with what rogues were killed so far. The survivors of the attack were helping in killing what rogues were left.
Another rogue came at me, this time giving me somewhat of a fight. He stabbed me through the stomach and I fell to one knee in pain.
"Looks like I win you fucking leech." He smiles as he lifted his sword. He was going to cut off my head.
I could feel my teeth coming out as I looked up at him and dropped my sword. While I was still on one knee I leapt up and bit down onto his neck as hard as I could. At that very moment blood poured into my mouth and I drank as if I was a dehydrated man crossing the desert. When I drank enough I ripped off some skin from his neck and spit it onto the floor. He stood in front of me grabbing his neck as blood poured from the bite and he spit blood from his mouth.
"My turn."
I took my hand and, as hard as I could, I thrusted my hand, fingers strait out, into his stomach and I made a fist while holding his intestine in my hand. I ripped out what little came with my hand and chewed on it and swallowed. It tasted like a slice of heaven, god-like power. I have the power to give life, and take it all at the same time. The wound he made in my stomach closed and I picked up my borrowed sword and went down the stairs killing anyone who stood in my way, in which there were only two people. When I joined Razz and Magnus in the middle of the first floor they noticed the blood that stained my face and body.
"This one looks like he has a mass of potential in him," Magnus said as he sliced one of them across the chest.
"ROGUES, BACK!"
A booming voice from outside. We heard booming footsteps as a giant of a man walked towards us wielding a giant ax. One blade, one spear head, and one giant rogue to flail it around at us. Yippee!
He stood at least six foot seven inches tall. A big bald black man resembling Michael Clark Duncan (he was in the movie Daredevil as the Kingpin and in The Green Mile as John Coffey). He has metal gauntlets around his wrists and a dirty white shirt. His pants were regular blue jeans, slightly baggy to be able to move more freely than tight jeans, with five or six fashionable tears in them. He had almond colored eyes and a big nose with little ears. His deep voice shook our very souls.
"You abominations who have plagued this Earth will now die!"
"This Earth," I started in question, "Is there another one that we don't know about or something?"
He slowly swung the giant weapon onto his shoulder and chuckled a little, "I see the boy has a sense of humor. I hope it serves you well in the future as you burn in hell."
"Whoa, strait to the point with the burning in hell when we die thing, huh? You guys want to just kill this guy and get it over with?"
To be honest the thought of death still sickened me, but I had calmed down enough to still make jokes and stay serious.
He yelled out as he swung his weapon. It landed pretty close to us, but to make sure he wasn't aiming for any of us we all jumped out of the way.
"Pathetic. You all die here!"
He swung his weapon toward Razz and in an instant I could see something bad happening to her; her head rolling fro her body. I couldn't let that happen. I ran as hard and fast as I could and got in front of the giant ax and my sword broke and the force of the blow pushed me back so hard I fell on my ass near a dead vampire woman who had gotten her head cut off. I did my best to stomach my surroundings as I stood up to join Magnus and Razz in fighting this beast of a man, this giant rogue. I saw the ax thrust forward and it stabbed Razz in the lower right portion of her midsection. Then he started running as to pin her against a wall but Magnus came at him and almost impaled him through his ribs but the giant man dropped his ax and went hand to sword with Magnus. I went to get Razz to see if she was alright.
Magnus swung and he blocked with his gauntlet and grabbed the hand that was tightly wrapped around the handle of the weapon and crushed his fingers. The bones popped and the sword dropped from his hand and he fell to his knees.
"Time to end this one!"
He balled up his hands into one giant fist and smiled big as he thought he was about to kill Magnus. Razz got up with her sword and dove at him, impaling him in his left side. I proceeded to do the same to the right, only with no dive, and with what had become of the blade of the rapier I was using. Blood started dripping from our swords and his mouth as blood rushed into his stomach and up to his mouth.
Magnus then picked up his sword with his better hand and held the tip to his heart on the giant mans sweating skin.
He talked in parts due to his exhaustion, "I think…it's time to…end this one."
His blade pierced the flesh and bone cracked as the blade ripped through him into his heart. The giant man let out his last breath and fell to the ground with a loud thud and a splash as he landed on blood-soaked carpet. Magnus cut off the man's head and picked it up.
"Trophy?" Razz asked.
"I keep what I kill. It has been a custom for my family for many generations."
As soon as we had our backs turned a rogue came from outside and threw a knife in the way of Magnus. Before I could even tell what the hell was going on Magnus had turned around and caught the knife and threw it back, but only landing it in the leg of the sneaky assassin as she fell to one knee.
"Mark my words vampire; if I ever meet you again it will be you who dies by my blade!"
"And mark mine, my lady; if I ever see you again near this house I will bleed you dry like a stuck pig."
Magnus turned around and we went upstairs, Razz, me and Magnus.
"Please, leave us for now. I will call upon you when the time comes."
Razz looked him in his big blue eyes and asked what they were going to do in the meantime.
"We will clean up this house and save who we can. Please, go. We do not require your assistance."
We nodded and walked out. When we got to the car I asked Razz if she could drive and she agreed. On our way home I didn't want to talk about anything but I knew that talking about it would make it better.
"I can't believe I killed someone, more than one. I don't even know what came over me. It was just so invigorating and…"
"What's done is done, there's nothing we can do about it. I've killed many people, men and women. No one ever said being a vampire was cool, people just assume that it is because we have fangs and suck blood and live forever. Just try not to think about it for now. We'll meditate tomorrow, it helps, trust me."
I closed my eyes and kept my mouth shut. I unexpectedly fell asleep. At first there was just darkness, then a bright light. I saw myself standing in a room covered in blood, my hands and blade stained with crimson red. In front of me lay everyone I hold dear, even those who I just met. Razz lay on the floor closest to me, her eyes wide open, staring at me with a look of horror as I had struck her down. No matter where I looked to get away from it all I saw were those eyes. I looked at Mom, at Dad. All I could see were those same eyes staring at me, peering into my very soul ripping it to pieces, tormenting me. I could see Eddie, still alive, standing over by Razz wondering why I had done this. I said nothing as I dove towards him and slashed at him, killing him. His head rolled to my feet. I could not explain, even to myself, why I was doing these things. In front of me I could see Robert laughing and pointing, saying how he thought all this was funny. How he thought all my killing was a joy to him, tickled him. I even tried to kill him, but every time I would even swing my sword at him it would bounce back and cut me. I felt no pain, I just kept trying to kill him and I kept getting cut deeper and deeper until I fell to one knee, the palm of one of my hands stopped my face from slamming into the floor. I looked up at him and tried to ask why but I could not say anything. I could only kill, and I had done so. Robert picked up my sword and laughed some more right before he slashed at me. A bright light shone and I woke up in one of the beds in Eddie's house and I swung my body upwards. I felt my face and looked at my hands to make sure I was only dreaming. My face was covered in sweat and I had that Mr. T sized sweat necklace that forms when you run for miles in the sun.
I got out of bed and found that I was in my underwear. I searched around the room for my pants but I couldn't find them, so I went to the bathroom that was only a few steps away once I reached the hall. I reached my hand out to grab the doorknob and I stopped myself. I remembered what happened last time I came in here without knocking, so I knocked. Nothing. I shrugged and opened the door and walked in and looked at the bathtub to make sure that no one was in here. The tub was empty as was the rest of the bathroom with the exception of me. I went over to the sink and filled it full of water and rinsed off my face and dried it with the towel that hung on the little metal ring that was screwed to the wall next to the mirror. When I finished washing my face I went downstairs to find Razz coming through the front door.
"Finally awake, I see," she said with a smile
I saw she was carrying a couple plastic bags full of something so I asked what it was.
"Well, this one has some clothes for you. The only thing you've been wearing is that button-up shirt and those black dress pants from when you were buried."
She tossed the bag my way and I caught it as it landed against my chest. I set it aside for the time being.
"And this one is breakfast, at least for you. Lunch for the rest of us."
"The rest of us? It's just the three of us."
Magnus walked in through the door almost right after I said it along with an unfamiliar face who was holding another bag, probably with more lunch, yum.
"Magnus, how's it going," I looked at Razz, "Who's the other guy?"
She walked over to him and introduced him as Vincent. He was an average looking guy with hazel eyes and dark brown hair with a bad case of five o'clock shadow. Maybe he wanted to grow a beard. Or maybe he just doesn't care.
"Do any vampires have last names?"
"Only one," Vincent answered.
"Ok, anybody but him?"
Vincent thought hard for only a few moments and said, "Nope. Almost all vampires drop their last name because when you live forever only first names are important."
Then it hit me. He was the voice from earlier, well, earlier as in when I passed out on that table after getting those stitches out of my face.
"I see you realize who I am," He smiles softly.
"Yeah," I started, "You're the guy that was there when I passed out after Eddie pulled out my stitches," I shivered, "Makes me shake just thinking about getting those things taken out again."
Eddie came in from the study that was in the back and told everyone to sit down and eat.
"What's on the menu," I asked.
"Pig entrails." Magnus said calmly without even cracking a smile.
"In that case, I think I'll order some pizza."
Razz started laughing and Magnus started smiling, showing just a hint of fang…creepy.
"Relax, Steven. We're having some good old fashioned Bar-B-Que. Courtesy of Mick's Meats. We cooked it over at Vincent's place."
By this time they all had a plate of food, ribs, brisket, sausage, and BBQ sauce. I was still kind of iffy about eating now, but I was getting rather hungry so I grabbed a plate and piled on the brisket and sausage, ribs and BBQ sauce. There were sides they had picked up at a small store called Angel's Palace. Mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans (yuck), and some cheesecake or cherry pie for afterward. I got some mac and cheese to go with the rest of my food. I'm not a big fan of all that other stuff.
"There's no blood in any of this is there? I just don't want to have that bloody taste to my food."
"No worries," Magnus said, "There is not even a drop of blood in this meal. If any of us wanted blood we would have had to bring it ourselves."
I smiled and started eating, starting with the ribs and mac and cheese.
The whole time we ate we had made idle chit-chat about things in the past, at least they did. I was only eighteen. They were all over one hundred years old. Hard to talk about much when there are a bunch of people who are not just a little older than you but way older than you. It's like a two year old trying to have conversation with an eighty year old man, there just isn't much the two year old can say to make a good conversation.
After we ate we all sat or stood in the living room and drank some wine and had a chat about what we were going to do about the werewolf that was in town that killed me.
"Do you remember anything about the wolf, Steven?"
I couldn't tell who asked that question so when I heard it I looked up from my drink and looked around and said, "What?"
I saw Vincent repeating the question, but I don't think he was the original conjuror of the question. But I looked up at him and told him that I didn't remember much. Truth was that now that I was actually thinking about it I didn't know much of anything about what had happened. They were all vague flashes of memory and inaudible words mixed in with fast moving pictures in my mind. A blur of red, grey, white. Then I saw myself. Lying on the cold ground, dew soaked grass.
Magnus set his cup down on a table and said, "In a time like this there is a poem that my master told me that comes to mind. It goes:
'Darkness consumes those who are willing.
It kills those that give in.
Leaving one without anything.
At times, there is no hope.
And life is all but meaningless.
The corners of your eyes grow darker and darker.
But before the last of your sight leaves.
There is always a light.
A love, A hope, A reason.
Before the last of your sight leaves.
There is always a renewed thought.
Years may pass before it comes.
Time is forever in the dark.
But light is eternity when you allow it to save you.
When you lift your head high.
And say, "I shall not die."'
This poem seems it would help you if you were to remember it as I have. Memorize each and every word and never forget the overall meaning. It shall save your life one day."