Curse of Darkness by Steven Gilby - Chapter One

I was only in high school when I found out that my best friend, my only friend, was a vampire. Maybe it would be easier if I just started at the beginning and told you the whole story.
Let's begin with our names stuff. I've always believed in "ladies first" so I will introduce my friend first. Her name is Rebecca Strate, she told me a nickname for her was Razz, and she is seventeen, at least that's what she told me. She is five feet seven inches tall with black hair and light brown eyes and pale pink lips and she on no account wore make-up. No scars, average length fingernails and she cherished night and everything without light, darkness, not evil darkness, but dark darkness. She lived with foster parents because her real parents were deceased. She wasn't cast off like most.
As for me, my name is Steven Gilby and I have dark brown hair and pine green eyes I'm six foot even and I live with my parents as an only child. I don't have any scars either and I collect knives and I own an authentic sword used back in the days of the Samurai. My knife collection extends to redneck knives and fancy letter openers, switch blades, pocket knives, and butterfly knives. Razz and I were the best of friends and we both liked wearing the color black. We weren't Goth or anything like that, we just found black to our appeal. We both knew other kids at out school, but we never were friends with any of them. We either thought everyone else was a spoiled rich kid, jock, prep, or all of the above.
It was a Saturday when I found out. That doesn't really seem like the way I should put it. I was told, by her. It was really hard to believe at first but she managed to prove it. We had been walking through town like we always did on the weekends, just walking down streets. It was a lovely night. It had just rained and the clouds had disappeared so everything was so clear and the moon shone brighter than ever. The air smelled of freshly poured rain and I thought it was the best night in months. We had been walking down the longest street where we lived, Aransas Pass, Texas, called Highland Avenue and we were talking about movies and had come across the subject of famous horror icons like Frankenstein and his Creature, Dracula and the Wolf-man. I was telling her that I liked Dracula the best because I loved movies about vampires. She stopped walking at that statement and looked at me. I caught up with her and asked what was wrong.
"What if I told you that Dracula and vampires didn't just exist in the movies?"
I made a pondering look for a moment and answered, "I'd say they were in comic books and anime too."
I laughed but she stayed still.
"I'm not bullshitting. I am a vampire."
I gave a smug laugh and blew off the comment, "Yeah, right. And I'm the queen of…Spain."
"Well QUEEN, I'm surprised you didn't say England."
"England is overused. And there is no earthly way you can be a vampire. If you are then how come you can be in the sunlight, and I know you better than anyone and I know that you love garlic. And…and I've even been to church with you. We both drink the wine which is mixed with holy water and I've seen you hold a cross. And you're not pale. And another thing-"
She stopped me, "Ok, first of all, nothing is true about vampires except that they need blood to survive. Sunlight, garlic, holy water, crosses, wooden stakes, none of it is true."
I looked at her and thought of something to say for a few seconds.
"Prove to me that you are a vampire. If you can prove it then I'll believe you. If not then I will head home and forget any of this ever happened. And you better be able to prove it because nights like this only come once in a blue moon."
"How can I prove it to you? What can I do so we won't waste this night?"
I thought for only a few seconds before I thought of something, two things actually. The first was just a joke.
"Vampires are, at least from what I've seen in movies and read in books, erotic. Be erotic."
"Strippers are erotic. Something else."
"Yeah, I know. It was just a joke. Don't take it to heart. If you have one that is."
"I beg your pardon?!" she looked at me with wide, angry eyes.
"Sorry. That was a tad on the mean side. I apologize. The other thing I had for you to do is pretty simple if you can answer me this one question."
"What is it," Razz looked at me with a questionable glare.
"Can vampires heal fast? Like Wolverine from X-Men?"
"Yes, why," she looked at me for a second, both of us quiet. "Oh, I see. You got a knife?"
I always carried a knife with me. The one I had with me that night was my butterfly knife. Yeah, yeah, it's illegal, but I don't care.
She did that fancy flippy trick with it and pressed the blade against her palm.
"Do you want to watch me do this," she asked.
"No. I want to see you do it to your wrist."
"I can't. Not here."
I gave her a puzzled look as well as a look that said "I knew you were shitting me!"
"Why not?"
"Even though a vampire can survive after a greater blood loss than would take to kill a human I still have a chance of bleeding to death."
"Well then just stab yourself somewhere."
"Ok, but let's get off the street first. I don't think we need to make some guys night by making him witness someone stabbing herself."
I agreed and we went to a decently lit area where there wasn't much of a chance anyone would see. In the quiet distance I could hear faint footsteps. Razz put her arm in the path of a beam of light just big enough to light up her arm and slices her wrist deep. Blood oozed out and dripped to the ground. She looked around, turning her head a few times before she faced in the direction of the footsteps. Blood continued to drip from her arm into the dirt. It smelled awful. I hate the smell. There was a man walking near by smoking a cigarette. Razz started to stagger as she walked toward the man. She politely asked him for a cigarette and he obliged her with her pick from the pack. She reached up with her bloody arm and the man shrieked but not loud or long enough to be heard by anyone. Razz pounced on him and bit into his neck and sucked his body dry of blood.
I walked up in fright and asked if she was alright.
"I'm fine. We need to put him somewhere," she pointed to the middle of the street, "Open that manhole. We'll put him there."
"Oh shit. No way, Razz. NO WAY! I will not be an accessory to murder." I stood back, away from the corpse that lay at me feet, and the freak that was my best friend.
She looked at me and tried to make the situation comedic. "It's not murder. It's dinner."
I couldn't help but at least crack a smile. Nevertheless I didn't want to do it, and I didn't. Razz opened the manhole and threw the man's body down in the sewer.
"Now do you believe me?"
I sank to the ground, nearly crying, still smelling blood, looking at Razz's arm covered in it and I nodded my head.
For the rest of the night we were silent to each other. Not a word was said between us until we got home and we said goodnight to each other. I couldn't even bring myself to give her a hug like I used to.
Sunday flew by with neither of us seeing each other (family stuff on Sunday's like church and house cleaning.) On Monday morning when we had school I met with Razz at the back of the school. I walked up to her smoking a cigarette and said good morning. She was zoned, didn't even hear me. I waved my hand in front of her face but still nothing. I brushed my fingers along the wet grass and flicked dew in her face; that worked. She shook her head clear and said hi. It was almost like I had forgotten all about Saturday. I just tried not to think about it.
"You shouldn't smoke those," there was a short pause; "They'll kill you."
I replied sharply, "Well then you better bite me."
"Be careful, I might suck you dry on the spot!"
That scared me a bit because she showed a little fang in that response.
Just then two other students walked up, they were somewhat known as bullies. Their names were James Watson and Robert Isaac.
"Hey Razzy," James said with an evil grin.
"Call me Razzy again and I swear I'll kill you where you stand," Razz's eyes were dark, cold and unfeeling. She meant it.
"Always trying to be Miss Badass, huh? You never could just be yourself. Trying to show off a little bit of your ancestor, are you," Robert questioned.
"I'm nothing like my 'ancestor' and you know it. I feel degraded just being related to him!"
Razz was getting very pissed off. Probably for them mentioning her ancestor, whoever that was…or is. Badass, huh? Dracula, maybe? But that guy is only in fairy tales and what-not. Right? Well it wasn't like I could put in my two cents. Even though there were three people it was pretty much an A and B conversation so I had to C my way out of it. It's not like I could have done anything about it anyway.
The bell rang for the days classes to start and James and Robert went inside while Razz stood there, still angry.
"Who were they talking about," I asked, grabbing her shoulder and turning her toward me.
"No one that you need to be concerned with, trust me. But I will tell you one thing. James is a werewolf and Robert is a vampire. Stay away from them when you are alone, got it?"
I nodded my head and we went inside to our separate classes. My teachers lectures became Charlie Brown talk to my ears.
It's kind of odd how we became friends, Razz and me. We never had a single class together in our entire three and a half years of high school. We were just outcasts in the lunchroom, so one day I sat by her and we started talking and we got to know each other. I met her foster parents and I was very understanding about what happened to her real parents. She never told me what happened to them and I respected that. Painful memories are hard to talk about. She had also met my parents and for some reason they seemed to think that we were going out. I tell them that it isn't like that but they don't listen. I swear it seems like my dad is going to walk up to me and give me a four-pack of condoms or something.
The whole day at school I could barely work on my papers and things. I was thinking about Razz being a vampire and James and Robert…I just couldn't think strait. When school was over I left the campus and started walking home as fast as I could. James and Robert were close behind me.
"What has Razz been telling you?"
"If it's anything of importance you'll be the first one to know, alright?"
James ran in front of me, faster than a normal person would have. "You have a real knack for being a smartass."
I smiled and walked around him thinking of it as a compliment. Robert wrapped his arm around my neck, choking me, and James came in front of me and punched me in the stomach a couple times. When Robert let me go I fell to the ground on my hands and knees and then I moved one of my hands to my stomach. That hurt like a son of a bitch I thought. Razz came running up and shooed them away. I stood up partially grabbing my stomach and Razz rushed to my side to help me up the rest of the way.
"What were you doing? I told you to stay away from them!"
"I was trying. They followed me and I just tried to walk away and not let them bother me but you know how much of a smartass I am. I think I might have pissed them off just a little bit."
"I'll say. Let's just get you home. Tomorrow we will have things to talk about."
"Like your ancestor," I knew who it was, but I didn't want to just blurt it out.
"If you like, yes."
"Well if it bothers you then I'll drop it like a hot potato."
She walked me home and I explained to my parents that I was hit a little too hard in gym class with a dodge ball. Sounds stupid, I know, but they bought it.
Razz had long since left the house and I had already eaten dinner. Leftover pot roast, delicious, seriously. I was sitting up in my room messing with my knife collection, sharpening and testing how sharp they really were, but not on me, on paper. I had gone through all my knives and daggers and I started on my sword, the only one I had. A traditional Samurai sword. It cost me two-hundred fifty bucks, so I kept it clean and scratch free and I kept it shaper than any of my knives or daggers. I even spent the money to get a sensei to teach me how to use it. There was an inscription on the sword as well. It read "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility." I'm just kidding. It said "He who fights too long against dragons becomes a dragon himself; and if you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into you."
For hours at a time I thought about what that meant. Couldn't think of a damn thing. Oh well. My mom came in my room while I was sharpening my sword and asked if I was still going to practice tonight seeing as how that "dodge ball" seemed to hit me pretty hard.
"Yeah, I'm still going. I can't miss it once or I won't move up from green belt."
"Ok. Just don't push yourself to hard, you hear?"
"Gotcha!"
She tossed me the keys to the car that the three of us shared for our tasks and I sheathed my sword and put it under some floorboards I had managed to lift off the floor a few years back and went downstairs and got my things for practice. I didn't just practice any style of martial arts. I studied how to use a sword, second best in my class next to Razz. She was a first degree black belt already, but I could keep up with her in style and technique.
I drove up to the front of Razz's house and honked the horn. As she left through the front door I heard her mom say, "Why can't he come up to the door like a normal person?" I was lazy, that's why. She got in the old mustang that my parents bought and we went to practice. Our sensei was an old Japanese-American man, about sixty-seven years old but very limber and agile, like that old guy from The Karate Kid. He was a better fighter even than Razz and me put together. For an hour and a half we trained with him. We could either call him sensei or we could call him by his first name, Mike. Me and Razz knew him very well. Usually in our class we are taught to hone our skills with a sword, to make it an extension of not just out arm but of our soul. But today was different. Today was a grading period and I could try to get my next belt. My Red belt; just one more after this and I get black. The things I have to do are tests of my skill, skills like reflex and strength. I had requested to our sensei that I do this test in solitude with him other than in front of a large audience like usual. Somehow I feel as though I will do better when it is just me and my teacher rather than me, my teacher, and a hundred strangers looking at me. He agreed to my request and the other students left the room, all except for Razz. I didn't mind her being there since we were friends. She can critique my style and stuff I thought.
I put on my body armor and robes and put the wooden sword that we get for training in the correct place in my belt on my left side and waited for the test to begin. It would go like this: First, he would do a series of punches and kicks and I would have to block them. Second, we would spar with just our hands and feet. And third, we would spar with wooden swords and I would have to win to advance.
The first test would be the easy part, as all tests with more than one part are. We bowed to each other and got into out stances. His was something out of "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" and mine was a stance I learned from when I took Dragon Cloud Kenpo when I was much younger. Basically I had a fist next to my head and my other hand would be stretched straight out like I was about to catch a ball. I was taught that if a punch is thrown you can block it with one hand and quickly punch with the other.
He started out with a high kick to the left side of my face which I quickly ducked and came back up and found myself on the receiving end of the roundhouse he followed it with. It nailed me right above my ear and I stumbled around for a minute before he threw a punch to my stomach that I luckily spun out of the way of. I wasn't used to fighting like this. I could only block and dodge. No hitting for me. But lucky for me the kick he hit me with was the bottom of hit foot and not his heel or the top of his foot.
After a few minutes of punching and kicking the test was over and the only mistake I made was getting hit by that roundhouse. But now it was time for my kind of fighting. The kind where I get to hit back. Razz just stood out of our way like before with her arm crossed watching my every move. She's like a freaking hawk.
Sensei gave the word to start. I made the opening move without a moment of hesitation. I went strait for his stomach as I turned my body sideways and kicked outward. He caught my foot and swung me around nearly face planting me opposite of where I started. I got up and shook off what had just happened and went for him again. All I really had to do was land one good hit and I would pass. Punch, kick, chop, didn't matter as long as I hit him somewhere, anywhere.
The match went on and on as neither I nor Sensei could land a hit on one another. This is getting aggravating I thought.
He swung a right hook towards me and I ducked it and tried to trip him, but he jumped over my foot and my leg slid by under him as he fell back to the mat. I stayed on the floor and as he hit the mat I slid my leg backwards and he tripped. I stood up and swung fast but hit him lightly on his chest. I passed that one. Two for me, none for Sensei. But everyone knows the last round is always worth double, so if I lost this one, I didn't get the belt.
I got my wooden sword ready as did Sensei. We started and he came at me strong with a downward slash that I rolled out of the way of like nothing. When I got back to my feet I slashed backwards at him, and seeing as how I was behind him I thought I might get the element of surprise. But no, he back flipped over my sword and I sat there on one knee in awe as he landed in front and to the right of me. My awe couldn't last long or I would be dead. We exchanged slashes and blocks for a while before he made a stab at me. He caught my left leg, my thigh to be exact, at the top near my hip bone. He then started to spin his sword in circles and I was flabbergasted at how to block that without getting hurt more. I did the only thing I could think of at the moment. I thrusted my wooden sword in the middle of this swirling vortex of wood and wind. He easily blocked it, knocking my sword away form me, swung around in a full three-hundred sixty degree circle and landed the tip of his sword right in my lung, and would have almost pierced my heart if it were a real sword. I picked up my sword in defeat.
"That was a fatal blow," he said with a slight smile.
"Tell me something I don't know," I sighed and dropped, almost threw my sword on the red mat, "I have no idea how to block or counter something like that Sensei."
"Solutions present themselves only when you understand what the problem was."
I let out a "pfft" and said, "The problem is that I died and I will never figure out how to do anything about that kind of move," I picked up my sword and put it in my belt.
"Well when you think you have it, tell me and I shall promote you then," he looked over at Razz, "Razz, would you like to try for your next level?"
She looked at him, smiled, and waved her hands, "Oh, no thank you. I'm fine as I am now. Maybe next time."
Sensei nodded and Razz and I both left the dojo. As we left Sensei yelled to me, "Work on your temper as well. You'll never figure anything out if you can not control your emotions."
When we got to Razz's house I stopped her as she was getting out of the car.
"You didn't have to do that, you know?"
"Do what?"
I gave her the look that said "I know you know what I'm talking about."
"Really, I don't know what you're talking about.
I gave her that look again, "Why didn't you try for the next level of black belt? You're a first degree, why not go for second?"
I had already partially known the answer to that question. She felt bad for me so she didn't try for her next belt. Not that she needed to, she was ahead of everyone else by at least three belts.
"I have no good reason. But you know you do have a bad temper at times, and you need to concentrate harder on the things you want if you want to achieve them. Tell you what, we can go to the usual spot at the edge of town and I can teach you some new moves and we can work on your temper and concentration with some meditation, ok?"
I nodded my head and she smiled then got out of the car. I drove home and went to bed after telling my parents about what had happened at practice. They said I would do better next time and I walked up to my room and drifted into dreamland after turning on some music to help me relax, jazz to be exact, and I floated away on the soothing sounds of trumpets and other brass instruments into the land of my dreams. If I had a dream I don't remember it.