After the dinner

Hi all, how has your week or so been?
So what juicy titbit have I got for you? Well here is one mystery solved.
You can photograph a vampire, and they do cast reflections.
I can almost hear the cries of disbelief and horror.

Trust me I know, so how can this be?
I do not have the scientific explanation as when you deal with the higher powers like miracles and demons you have to except that some things a fact.
Why do vampires not have mirrors or lots of cracked ones? Simple, they cannot stand to see what they have become reflected. The powers that be made sure that what they saw were their true selves.
So they use their hypnotic ability to convince you that what you see is nothing or a handsome face.
This is partially why they come out at night where it is easier to hide their faces.

I’ll tell you more sometime later, back to our story…

The dinner was a thick broth, vegetables and bread. (hey that was what they ate in those days, there was no fast food or Chinese takeout)
Aside from Anna, Reginald and Ivor; they were joined by Austus in a wheeled chair, Father Barre and Brother Nicholas.

“Father this is, Ivor Follendoon” Reginald pointed to Ivor.

“Ah, have you had time to talk to him about his new situation?” replied Barre.

“Not yet, I thought after dinner, nothing like talking to a man on a full belly.”

“I..” stammered Ivor, “I do not understand…”

Austus spoke for the first time, his voice was soft but it seemed to carry across the table effortlessly, “Why vampires are having dinner with priest and a monk?”
Ivor just blinked in reply, “Well to cut things short, we are not bad vampires, we have not the curse, we like you have been made vampires without consent. Thus the good Lord has seen it that we are allowed certain liberties.”

“You are a…” Ivor began but Austus cut him off.

“First off, my name is Austus, secondly I am a vampire.” With that Austus signalled that he was hungry and wanted to say grace before the food got cold.

Dinner was disconcerting for Ivor as the group talked and generally acted like nothing was wrong.
Once it was over Reginald took Ivor outside, it was the first time he had been outside in three days. The night seemed more alive, the sounds, the smells, it was almost like experiencing it for the first time.

“Like nothing you have ever known.” Said Reginald not looking at Ivor but more like reading his mind.

“Yes it is.”

“There is a lot I have to tell you, much you will not believe. But first I have to ask you, do you want to live?”

This question surprised Ivor, “Of course I do!” he replied without thinking.

“Even with the knowledge that you are a vampire now?” Reginald asked again.

“Oh, yes I forgot. I don’t know, everything that is right and wrong has been turned around. I can hardly believe what I have seen, vampires in a church, having dinner, talking about each other’s day!”

“First things first, this is NOT a normal situation, you have to understand that. What we are is something that few know about. For simplicity let me tell you that we are sometimes known as Dark Bloods. We have vowed to fight the evil that made us and bring it to an end if possible.
We are for lack of a better description the good guys. With the grace of God we have become his champions in the fight against the evil that was perpetrated by the forces of darkness.”

“How can you say that? How can you expect me to believe that God would condone this perversion!”

“That is something we will discuss later, just know that our souls have not been condemned to the fires of hell. Now back to my question, do you want to live?”

“Live? What do you mean? Sleep in a coffin by day, come out at night and drink blood? If that is life then, NO!”

Hearing this Reginald laughed, “I see you have been schooled in those myths.”
Lighting his pipe and taking a few puffs letting the smoke escape slowly.
“We do not sleep in coffins, that is a carry over from the idea that the dead rise from their grave.” Pointing to the back of the church, “We have rooms back there on the same level as the dining hall. I’ll show you your room later.”

“Then tell me now, what do you mean by live?”

“Simply, take on the life as a vampire or end it now. Your soul will not be judged on your being a vampire, just how you have lived your life and been true to your Lord. If you choose to join us you will be taught many things. You will become like us, a Dark Blood.”

Dinner

Interesting thing I was bored, so I popped out to the local store to buy some ginger.
Why Ginger? Because my mother likes it and to this day I still cannot understand why? Ok for those of you reading this, those who like Chinese cooking then maybe you can tell me.
Factoid: Vampires can eat ginger, sure it makes the blood thin but it is a personal taste.

Anyway when we left off the young man (whose name you will lean in a few lines from now) had discovered that the stranger (whose name you will also discover in a few lines from now) was a vampire.

“Who are you?” the young man asked the stranger, trying to get as much distance between himself and this real vampire.

Laughing, the stranger suddenly appeared next to the young man, in fact it was merely moving faster than the eye could follow.
“My name is Reginald” as he extended his hand to the young man, “and what is your name?”

“I, uh...my name?” the young man stammered.

Looking around, “Well you are the only other person in this room, and I have already told you mine.”
“Oh come on now, what can you be afraid of? Getting bitten?” This made Reginald laugh again. Taking the young man’s hand in his Reginald pumped it a few times, “Nice to meet you….” In a softer voice, “This is where you fill in the blank”

“Ivor Follendoon”

“Ah, well now Mr. Follendoon, I welcome you to our little home”

“Hh..home?”

“Yes home,” waving his hand around Reginald got up and walked over to the door, “come with me I’ll give you the official tour and make introductions on the way.”

Ivor could not believe it, here was a real life vampire talking to him and it was acting like he was the guest at a friend’s house.

“Come on Ivor, we may be immortal but we do not waste time”

Getting up Ivor quickly followed the fading candle light out the door and down the corridor.

“We are currently several floors below the church.” Said Reginald as he walked ahead of Ivor. “Much of it is unused but that is just fine for us.”

“I don’t understand, you said our home, and now you say us. You mean to tell me there are more of you here? Living in a church?”

“Yes Ivor, there are more of us, and mind you when I say us I include you. As to this being a church, it is a fully active and very holy place.”
Stopping at a door, Reginald knocked twice, waited then entered.
“This is the dining hall…” turning to face Ivor, Reginald again burst into laughter, “Oh haha oh my oh dear, if you could only see your face, I do forget that you still cling to the age old ideas and myths”

“Is this the newling father Barre spoke of?”
Turning quickly that he almost lost his balance Ivor saw another person by the side smoking, taking a closer look he saw it was a woman.

“Yes Anna, this is Ivor Follendoon” walking over to Anna he took out his own pipe and lit it. “Come Ivor, let not be rude”

Anna held out her hand, gingerly Ivor took it and pressed his lips to the gloved hand.
“Uh..nice to meet you” stammered Ivor.

“Smoke?” asked Anna offering Ivor a cigarette.

“No, I don’t.”

“You should try it, it’s not like they can kill you” Reginald said winking at Anna.

At that moment the door at the other end of the room open and dinner was brought in.

The first meeting

I have to state that the idea of living forever is totally over dramatised.
Not only is it a fantasy but it is also a very disagreeable situation to be in.

Vampires do have “long lives”, but not pleasurable ones. In fact many choose to “die” after being a vampire for 60 years. (This means 60 years AFTER becoming a vampire; not counting the 30 odd years you may have lived as a mortal)
The tales of 200-year-old vampires is mostly myth, yes I said mostly. Few have the mental strength to handle it.

Let us not be fooled by the movies where you get a disco filled with vampires dancing and drinking, all looking sexy and buff.
Many in fact look like you and me, less than flawless skin, flabby or way too skinny, bad hair days.

As I told you previously the priest was telling the young man the story.

“This is not possible,” the young man said when the priest finished. “This is a holy place, and we know that vampires cannot cross sacred ground”

Nodding his head the priest replied, “That is true, but you have yet to be turned or drunk the blood of your first victim.”

“But I am cursed, I can feel it,” as the young man spoke he felt himself, “I no longer can feel my heart beat, I can see you clearly in this dim candle light as if we were out in the noon day sun.”

“Again true, but if you remember we were all born with original sin but we can still receive the sacraments, touch holy water, sing praise to God.”

“So what am I?” asked the young man as he got on his in front of the priest, “Am I to go to hell or forever walk this earth never to see heaven?”

“My son,” the priest bent over to bring the young man to his feet.

Suddenly it seemed as if time slowed, the sound of a beating heart filled the ears of the young man. The scent of flesh, its warmth filled his senses. An urge he could not explain filled his being, he grabbed the priest with strength that he never knew he had.
One bite is all he needed to quench this desire that held him in its grasp.
Revulsion of what he was about to do turned his stomach, and yet the desire for the blood that flowed through the priest’s body was exquisite.
Just as he was about to take a bite a stronger hand stopped him. A voice he had not heard before spoke.

“Stop! Take control of yourself, let not the urge control you.”

The young man let go of the priest and tried to turn to face this other person.
The hand of the stranger held his fast. He could not turn no matter how hard he tried.

“Listen to me, hear my voice, the urge is subsiding, you will feel weak”

The voice some how took control of the young man. Like a spell had been cast the urge died as suddenly as it began. A trembling filled his body. The young man found himself sitting on the floor. The priest was standing next to another figure.
This figure was simply standing and watching him. The priest adjusted his robes, then turned to the stranger.

“I was wondering when you would turn up.” The priest said the stranger.

“Pushing the limits of your faith again father, you are not as young as you think you are.”

“The day I no longer can face a newling is the day when…”

“That day was near father, you left him too long. I sensed a newling but you did not mention it so I thought I was mistaken.”

Puzzled the young man spoke, “Who are you? Where did you come from I saw no one in this room!”

“It is time you left us Barre, I’ll take over” the stranger said as he ushered the priest to the door. Turning to the young man, “Look at me, see me..”

“My god! You……you are a vampire!”

In the begining

Let me start by introducing myself.
I am Elgynunan, or Edge for short. Yes it is a funny name, but better than my cousin. Everyone called him Pongo so often that even family needed to take a quick glance at his birth certificate just to refresh their memories of his real name. Which, if you are still with me was Edghar Allyn Dorian Manfred the third.
But I digress.

There has been for a long time what I call the secret war between the vampires and their unfortunate victims. These poor souls have been turned into vampires by the sheer stupidity of other vampires.

Let me explain a bit, now everyone knows that when a vampire drains your blood you become a vampire as well. This is not 100% true, but it will do for the moment.
The true turning is when you the victim drink the blood of the vampire who made you.
So what is this war I am going on about?

Many years ago, ok ok, centuries ago there was a young man who found himself the victim of a group vampire attack. Several vampires seduced him, (No! Not in THAT way) they were able to get him alone where they drained him of his life sustaining fluid. Once satisfied they left him where they had feasted. A priest from a nearby church found him early in morning.
Seeing that he was quite pale (you would be too if you had no blood) the priest kept the young man in the spare room in the basement of the church.

Now you must remember that back the old days there were no doctors that you could call or hospitals near by. You simply lived or died depending on how knowledgeable the people around were.
Unfortunately the priest was busy and pretty much forgot about the man in the basement. This lead to the poor young man awakening in a dark silent place.
Not a good thing on the mind you know, don’t believe me? Try it out.

So finally the priest remembers the young man he found and left in the basement.
Bringing down some water and bread he found the young man seemingly recovered but huddled in a corner whimpering.
It was then that the priest realised that this young man was not as he seemed to be. His body was cold yet he showed no signs of weakness. The poor priest learned this when the young man suddenly sprang at him and lifted him off the ground and pinned him to the wall.
“Why have you done this to me!” demanded the young man.
“What have I done?” replied the priest.
“Why have you kidnapped me? How long have I been your prisoner?”
“Put me down and I’ll tell you what I know”

Letting go of the priest the young man sat back on the cot and listened with disbelief at what the priest told him.

Dark Blood an introduction

Dark Blood is the name for those who have crossed over from the living to that in-between place that is not death and definitely not life.

This is the world that is well known to vampires.

But let us not be fooled that being a vampire is as “glamorous” as many have made it out to be.

There is not joy in knowing that you have a life that is fraught with all kinds of rules and restrictions that many know and much more is unknown.

Dark Blood is also the name given to those who are not vampires by choice.

Those who have been turned by force, those who have not drunk the blood of the un-giving.

This is their story.