Walker of the Night: Prologue A story of Vampiric society By Joshua G. Johnston I walk the night. The darkness, quiet, and solitude that the night can offer is unmatched for the likes of me. The gloomy moonlit nights of Bangor, Maine are what cloak me in thier protective mystery. Men have feared my kind for centuries yet have never understood just what we are born of, or what drives us to partake of the blood-vitae of mortal men and beasts alike. Many legends have arisen of the Vampire, but the reality of our existence is cloaked in shadows of mystification so thick, that the perversions of the modern media protray us as evil undead spirits, or comedic imbeciles. Both explanations for our existence are far cries from the truth which a walker of the night knows to be his or her reality, that tragic motive which drives us all to the acts we must perform to stay alive. The white blood cells of a mortal. For the past four years have I been such a creature, yet I have lived among and rarely, with, mortals and Vampire alike. Both in the daytime's glaring sun, and in the evening's cool embrace. We are not confined to merely the darkness of night, but we are inhibited by the sun. The sunlight somehow stops our bodies from metamorphosing into our advanced physiologies, possibly restricting the flow of some strange hormone released into my blood the very night of my embrace into the darkness. During the day, we are as mortal men in all ways.. But the darkness and lack of intense solar rays gives us the strange mutation we rely on, yet sometimes curse. We become highly emotional, driven easily by love, hate, fear, or remorse. We have increased awareness to our surroundings and the emotions of others. Making them easier targets to satisfy our biological craving for white cells. We are also given strength, but nothing like the superhuman of old tales, or the speed of the more current fiction. Our strength is awareness, and the ability to heal ourselves and even others who we take into a half-embrace. Here, I wish to explain my story, as it began four years ago across the river from my current locale, a small city of fifty-thousand in the state of Maine. Bangor, home of the legendary author Stephen King. I find my home oddly appropriate due to that final fact. For practical reasons, it is small, and easily overlooked by hunters of my kind. There is a good population for the small group of roughly fifteen Vampires to feed upon, and more than enough backwoods areas in which to hunt the hunters of animals. We consider that last a 'poetic justice' point. The hunter, hunted. My story of first contact with a Vampire follows below, and details my first 'hunt' for the cell of life. Walker of the Night: Chapter One - My rebirth. It was a dark night in Brewer, Maine. The moon was a waxing crescent and the sun had retreated below the horizon a good four hours previous. I was dressed in a set of my standard clothing at the time, a pair of faded jeans and a black and white plaid shirt, my tattered sneakers loose upon my feet, laces untied. My dark brown hair shone slightly in the moonshine, the sweat which covered my brow also having moistened, actually drenched my scalp. I was crouching behind a small, cut-rate department store by the Penobscot River, holding a pair of stolen pants in my left hand, and a penlite in the other. My adrenaline was surging through my veins as I recalled the reason my knees were resting on the solid ground between the two small trees I took as cover. Sneaking into the discount tent of the Miller's store had been easier than I had thought, and slipping under the tentflap was just as simple. The opaqued walls of the tent blocked any possible shadow from my form, so I carefully lit the penlite and stood erect, surveying the rows of boxes filled with discount merchandise, stacked on the pavement beneath the tent. A pair of pants which looked my size, which was and still is rather heavy, (I look nothing like the traditional pencil-thin Vampire) was right to my left so I quickly grabbed them and folded them around my right forearm. Keeping the penlite aimed groundwards, to minimize the risk of anything showing if the tent was less opaque than I had thought, I scanned the rest of the items for sale. I spotted something interesting across the tent, what appeared to be a small rack of jackets, and began making my way over the accumulated boxes and bins to that corner. Just as I had begun this maneuver, I heard the familiar grating sound of wheels upon loose pavement which signalled that a vehicle had pulled into the lot. I ducked beneath a bin as I watched and listened, my heart beating what felt like a thousand beats per minute against my ribcage. The next familiar sound was that of a car door opening, a small amount of staticy conversation mumbled, and hard-heeled footwear against pavement. Police. I saw a flash of light appear on the wall of the tent closest to the vehicle, about fifteen feet away and across from my crouching space. The light appeared as a large round circle through the yellow tarpaulin of the tent, and slowly panned along. Enough of the light reflected on the wall to my back, that I knew they must be seeing shadows, and looking to see if anything looked suspicious. Wishing that I could somehow become less than a shadow, I froze solid with fear for the first time that evening. The police officer took a few steps closer to the tent, and I heard the mutterings about a late shift. I was thinking of so many things at the moment, I could not hope to recall them all here. Would I be caught? If so, would I fight to stay out of jail.. And did I have a chance at winning? I thought not, I never had been all that strong, only fast in incredibly short bursts. My asthma had prohibited me, and still does, from becoming tremendously physically constructed, despite my condition. As I crouched, I was surprised to hear a crackle outside, and the fumblings of the officer for thier handset. I heard a distinct male voice declaring that he'd be right on the way, and a quick pacing back to the car, where the engine was still idling. Soon, flashing lights illuminated the entire tent, and the engine revved as the car sped from the lot, leaving me with intense relief in mind. I decided this was not the best evening to continue my explorations of the tent's supply of goodies, and inched my way, still crouching painfully, to the flap I had used for my entry, by the store itself, and more importantly, by the small clump of trees behind. Rolling out under the flap, I ran, half-crouched still, towards the trees, and lept behind them to plot out my escape. As I recalled this evening's near capture, I mindlessly stuffed the pants into a backpack I'd left amongst the trees, not wanting to have had to run with it, and hence being less suspicious if caught in the vicinity, but before entering the tent. I crawled along the treeline, heading up along the flow of the river which was about a hundred feet behind me. I knew there was an old barn there, which had once contained an antique shop my father had taken me to when he and I had been on better terms, before he had thrown me out of the house. This barn, I had decided, was a decent hiding place or place to catch my breath, so long as I had a light source. The penlite was not especially large, but it would provide nicely. The moonlight streaming through the dusty windows would augment it finely. I made my way to the barn, which was only a dozen feet from the Joshua Chamberlain bridge, or 'The Green Bridge', as it was known less formally, and slipped in the back door, which faced the then new Harborside restaraunt, which at this hour had naught but it's own internal security devices active. Inside the door I had entered was a small room, seemingly quarter-finished with paneling and a ceiling in place, but only a densely packed gravel floor. A sink, however had been placed along one wall, but the water and power here had been disabled for many months, since the owner's death to a heart attack. This was one of the more comfortable rooms for me to rest in, since there were both and entrance and an exit, and if anything were to happen, I felt I had a good chance of escaping through one way or another, but I did not wish to relax there this evening. I stepped towards the front of the converted barn, and up a small flight of stairs to the half-level landing. Towards the front of the barn, I could see the long first floor room which occupied the entire front of the building, it's warped floor and ceiling looking very unstable, and previous experience had shown me that unstable was the proper term. A half flight of steps in front of me led to the more stable rear portion of the building, and a full flight just barely past the door to the front room, led up to the open second level. I knew that the second level showroom, as it had once been, was a dangerous place. The floor was warped and rotted, and every step was a risk of plumetting through to the floor below, and possibly even through that to who knew what. I took the half-stair before me and stepped up into the room which was lined with old bookshelves, built into the unfinished walls, and the broken door leaning to the wall just beyond the entry. It was here, in this windowless room that I noticed I was not alone. There was a young woman, perhaps a year my senior curled up in a corner, her jeans covered in blood and her shirt covered in the same substance. Her body was curled in a fetal position and her head was placed between her bloody knees, blond hair sticking to the wet, reddened denim. The light was coming from a small lantern, a Coleman, placed on a table which stood on three legs and a conveniently sized chair. The bulbs were giving a solid glow, and the room was well-illuminated by the fuel it was consuming. I looked around the room to see if there was another person, possibly the woman's attacker, nearby but saw no-one. A quiet sob from the girl drew my attention back towards her, and despite every warning instinct in my mind shouting 'Leave her alone, there's danger here', I quietly spoke. "Are.. are you ok? Can I help you?" I said, my voice trembling slightly as I honestly had never much experience with women, or socializing in general. She looked up slowly, eyes dimly lit by the lantern, and murmured quietly her reply,"P.. please, come here.. I.. need you." I had no idea what she meant, but eventually within that split second of thought all panicked men are granted when a bloodstained, fair looking woman says the words 'I need you', I decided to step closer, and kneel in front of her, ignoring the pained screams from my already overworked knees. As I stepped closer, she looked at me more fully, and murmured,"Are you.. well?" "I think I am.. I'm worried about you, though.. Did someone attack you?" I asked in reply, wondering what could possibly move a man, or woman, to attacking a beauty such as the one I was viewing before me. Her unmarked, bloodied face was only inches from mine as she shook her head, saying quietly,"No.. Just.. bad blood." I didn't quite understand what she was saying, but at this point I began pondering. Perhaps she was hurt so badly in a fight that she didn't know what was going on, and just answering from reflex. "Blood's all over you.. Can I help you, take you to St. Josephs, or EMMC?" I asked, trying to convey my honest concern. I may have been unexperienced with social comunication, but this situation was cauing my mind to run on full automatic. "Yes.. just.. hold me." she whispered, and I leaned over instinctively, although shaking, and slipped my arms around her, only half mindful of the likelihood of my clothing becoming as gorily stained as her own would be. As I slipped my arms about her, she nuzzled her head against my neck, her nose just over my shoulder. She seemed to shiver in my embrace as I held her, and murmured something unintelligible. I turned my head towards her and murmured quietly. "It's ok, I'll try and take care of you.." Her reply was a slight nod, and a closer nuzzling, as I began to feel her hands upon my backside, gripping me in alternating occurrences of light and firm touches. As I took a deep, ineffectively calming breath, I suddenly felt a sharp jab of pain at my neck, a groan emerging from my mouth as suddenly I was filled with warmth, even as the area of my neck grew colder. The arousal I felt being with, and holding this mysteriously bloody woman in an old abandoned building in the middle of downtown Brewer suddenly burst into the forethoughts of my mind. All I desired was to hold her, to stroke her and to care for her, any way she deemed required. I wanted nothing more than to please her and beg her for my own pleasure, that I somehow knew she would provide to me. I felt all the urges of my age, sexual desire soon overwhelming the protective. But just as I reached the point where my whole body was about to burst with pleasurable ssensations, I felt nothing but a soft licking, gently repeated at my cool neck, and a slight tingle where there had once been a sharp pain and the feeling of an external force. However my body was immobile as well, and I slumped into her arms, falling forward until she reached out with apparently frail arms and ended my topple. She took my head in her hands, cupping my cheeks and whispered quietly, holding me close. "Thank you, whoever you are.. Thank you." Then she gently kissed me on the lips, something which was new to me, even at that age of sixteen. Her caressing of my cheeks moved to my neck, and she placed my head against her chest, looking down into my eyes, and murmuring quietly her explanation as I listened in paralyzed contentedness. "I.. needed your health." she began,"Your immunities and cleansing blood." Speaking the words as if having never spoken them before,"I'm.. a vampire." A slight squeak emerged from my mouth, as I tried to voice my disbelief, but somehow she understood it, and shook her head slowly,"No, you're not dreaming. And no, I'm not going to kill you." Somehow I must have looked incredibly relived, as she smiled, and leaned her head down to kiss me again,"You're tired, you'll need to rest for a few minutes before my essence clears your sytem. Just relax, it'll go much easier." her soft voice implored. Unable, and as it really was, unwilling, to disobey this lovely, I just sat there, head held to her small but firm chest, feeling her brasiere against my neck, through the fabric of her t-shirt. As I relaxed for a few minutes, she continued stroking my face and neck, smiling as I began to recover my control. Feeling oddly comfortable, yet still half shocked, I just let myself relax, and said, a bit shakily still,"What.. happened?" "I drank some bad blood." she murmured,"And I'm so glad you stumbled in here. I would have died if I hadn't gotten some white cells." My mind just sat frozen at this statement, and I quickly tried to piece together what was left of my battered mind. Did she really mean what she said, or had she just injceted me with something? Her hands had been on my backside the whole time, so I knew she didn't have a spare one to inject anything with. Her positioning was right, and her appearance, as I now noticed she was unmarred or harmed in any way, save for a heavy coating of sweat on her forehead, supported her claim. As she caught me looking intently at her, she murmured again. "I think he had AIDS, the one I chose.. It hurt me, bad about an hour after I drank. I.. threw up." I shuddered at this thought, and then realized how the blood had gotten onto her clothing in such large amounts. She must have been curled up in this corner vomiting up the vitae she'd recently consumed. "It must have attacked my immune system." she continued,"Vampires have weak ones, like AIDS patients. But, we can drink others blood and metabolize thier white cells." her soft voice explained, I nodded dumbly. "Why tell me this?" I murmured, unable to think of what else to say, yet dreading the words to come from the evil ones in many motion pictures, the fatalistic words 'Because when I kill you, you can't tell anyone'. Her reply was a smile, and another kiss on the lips as she murmured,"Because in exchange for your kindness, and the luck that you were easy prey.." I flinched at those words. "..I've decided to have you join my kind." Suddenly my mind's earlier warnings about the whole mess were intensified as if a PA system had been plugged into my mind, shouting,"NO! Don't let her take your mortality! She'll Kill you!" But in the back of my mind and the front of my pants an argument was forming "She's trustworthy" was all it said. My instincts were feuding, and before I had decided what to do or say, I saw her smile softly and lean down, her golden hair trickling onto my neck as her lips found my jugular, and bit into it deeply, pain overwhelming my system for just fractions of a second, before I was filled with even more intense pleasure than the last time, and an instantaneous orgasm rocked my nerves as I felt my manhood swelling then exploding within seconds of the first arousal. Her hand slipped to my belt and undid it as her lips worked my neck, a warmth seeming to flow into my throat. My left hand instinctively reached up for her neck, but she arched her back, and rubbed her neck slightly against my hand at the same time her hand slipped into my pants and beneath the waistband of my jockeys. She stroked my firm, wet manhood with delicate, cool fingers as her working of my throat, and the feeling of injecting something into my system continued. I blacked out just as she removed her lips from my throat, licked it and nibbled it healed, and exposed my come moistened shaft from it's containment, lowering her lips towards my groin. Awakening some short time later, I found her head resting on my thigh, one hand still stroking my softened penis as I opened my eyes. She opened hers almost simultaneously, and smiled, murmuring,"Morning, Childe. So, how's it feel to be a vampire?" She gave a soft lick to the tip of my manhood, and smiled impishly as she stretched her legs. "Wha.." was all I could say, being exhausted from both her ministrations and her feasting on my lifeblood. She just laughed lightly, and stroked my thigh. "Don't worry, I know what questions you'll be asking, at least some of them. For one, no, you won't die in the daytime. But you won't have the powers I'll teach you either, until sunset. And yes, you'll be seeing a whole lot more of me.. In fact, I think as soon as you relax from the escapades of tonight, tomorrow night I'll take you home and show you a -lot- more." She smiled a quirky little grin, and sat up, licking her lips and tucking my penis back in my pants. "I can't believe this.." was all I could think, and she smirked, which looked very pretty somehow. "Oh," she said,"You will. Belive me, you will." Walker of the Night: Chapter Two - My Education She slowly stood, and picked up a before unnoticed denim jacket and slipped it around her shoulders. I still lay there spent as she zipped the jacket up and said,"Be here, tomorrow night at eleven, alone.. And be careful not to tell anyone what you are now. But I think that goes without saying.. you tasted pretty smart." she winked, and waved with one small hand as she stepped over my body, walking down the stairs to the front room and peresumably out the front door by the echoes of her footsteps. I lay there on the dusty floor of the old barn, and chuckled. What a night, I thought as I sat up, first I almost get nailed stealing things from Miller's, and now I'm being jerked off by some woman who says we're both now vampires. After this odd thought, I took my left hand and ran it over my neck. Stroking the side of my neck where she had first bitten me, I felt nothing but a slight dampness. Feeling around to my jugular, I felt something wholly different. A soft pulsing sensation which was fading even as I felt it, as if my veins there had been having some sort of contractions. I felt myself becoming dizzy, and glad for my seated posture. Despite the dizziness and thankfulness, I stupidly tried to stand, and slipped, falling and bashing my head against the table where the Coleman lantern still rested. The table didn't move or break, nor did the lantern fall and start an inferno. However, my head did catch the table just wrong and was slit open, a six inch gash suddenly appearing over my eyes. I screamed out in pain as I lay on the floor, and reached up to feel my wound. As my fingers touched the skin where it had parted, I felt it mending to my very touch, the tips of my fingers having some kind of healing effect as they traversed my injury. The blood spilled, I felt was being absorbed into my fingers, and the warmth accompanying the mending of gashed flesh was certainly seeming to make me lightheaded. After a few minutes, I removed my hand and looked at it in disbelief as the last trace of blood was absorbed through an apparent osmosis directly through my fingers. For the first time the impact of what had happened finally hit me, and I started to laugh quietly, very quietly just laughing for about five minutes as I realized just what fate had dropped on this young welfare case from Calais. I stood, no longer dizzy, and strode towards the stairs, just smiling at my fortune, and hoping that perhaps now I could reverse some of the horrible luck and circumstances that I used to suffer through. I slipped out onto the street, exiting through the back and sneaking under the green bridge and over to the side street behind the Getchell Brothers complex, and the Brewer Library. As I slipped my walkman from it's place in my backpack, tuning the Sanyo into the local rock station, WKIT 100.3, I began listening to Queen's 'Who wants to live forever?' which somehow set me laughing again, the irony of the evening beginning to nearly drive me.. batty. Walking across North Main street, heading towards Fling street and home, I walked past a small cluster of people I knew, but pretended not to notice them as I didn't know exactly what my condition appeared to be. "Hey, Josh! Ya bum, wazzup?" I heard Ken, one of my more muscular, but weasely and ignorant 'friends' call out, one arm draped over his girlfriend Christy. I turned my head, and shrugged,"Uh, not much. Just hadda get outta the house." I resignedly started walking over towards the crowd, which I could see included Christy's younger sister, fourteen year old Susan, her boyfriend James who was about thirteen, but liked to pretend he was twenty, and could get away with it with his mother. "Hey, Josh bud, gettin' any?" James called out, grinning as he slipped his arms possessively around Susan. I just grinned and said,"I ain't sayin' a word to you schmucks." as I quickly, fortunately unnoticed, checked the fastenings of my pants and made sure there was no residue, or worse yet, unfastened parts. "What're you all doing out this late?" Ken, the oldest of the group, spoke up,"Looking for you, man. Was wondering if you wanted to go check out the J.O.?" I urghed, knowing that the J.O. was what Ken used to refer to the 'Jade Octagon' gang headquarters, a small gang that was formed by an older man, some guy who gave me the creeps, and myself. "Sure, I guess." I said,"Just lemme run by my place for some gear then." I decided to go along with it, and try and avoid detection and harassment that way. "Seen Gary?" I said, referring to the creepy guy I'd founded the JO with. "Nope, he says he's gonna be in the Marines for training this weekend." I snorted, knowing that Gary's entire line about the marines was bullshit, he wasn't the type that seemed disciplined or responsible. Ken, Chrissy, and James bought it, but Susan didn't, and I could see she was visibly disturbed by the thought of a J.O. run. It was, after all, about one in the morning, and she was risking major punishment for staying out this late. Let alone following the creeps her mother hated (Referring to myself and the others.) into an abandoned port authority building on the Bangor side of the river. Personally I knew that the J.O. was crap, Gary'd said there were so many other J.O. groups out there with guns, and trucks and money, and drugs. I didn't care about the drugs, never did, but on the off chance he wasn't bullshitting about the guns I went along with it. No risk, since we never did anything but bum around the abandoned buildings down on the Bangor tracks. I always thought he was full of crap, but still the hope did linger in my young and foolish mind. Ken french-kissed Christy before turning to me and saying,"Go get your gear, meet at the headquarters." then leaning over and whispering to me,"And bring me one of those condoms you got at Penquis CAP.." I groaned, thinking this was not going to be such a hot night after all. From cops, to vampires, to my idiot friends. Admittedly, they weren't much for friends, but they were what I had at the time. And above all else, I could control James and Ken. I knew thier weaknesses and I knew they knew I was smart. I may have been, and still am, somewhat tactless, but to them I was an intellectual god. Even if, in terms of raw muscle Ken could kick the crap out of me. I waved to them, and stepped off towards my house, decidind to just not meet them at the headquarters, and get some sleep before dwindling another day away into nothingness, looking forward to another night with my very own (I thought) Mistress of the Dark. Arriving on the front porch of 99 Fling, I tried walking inside quietly, so as not to bother my first, and second floor neighbors. My apartment was the third floor attic apartment, a large kitchen, small bedroom with slanted ceilings, and large bathroom. Opening the door to my apartment, which was across from the second floor apartment door, I heard a creak as my neighbor poked her head out and asked quietly,"Josh?" I turned around, and erms quietly,"Uh, yes? Sorry if I made too much noise there." She shook her head, and said,"No, but those friends of yours were out there banging on your door a while ago." Her bathrobe, barely visible, seemed somehow familiar, but I couldn't place it. I frowned, my friends were such inconsiderate jerks sometimes. Well, at least James and Ken. The girls I really never knew. "Sorry, I was out.. Ran into them though, gave them the brush-off." She smiled understandingly, then got a bit more serious a look on her face. "Look, I've got a problem in here with something, think you can help me out?" she asked, smiling in the way only a harried thirty year old single mother can smile. "What with?" I replied. "I've got some kind of big bug in the bathroom, and I'm all out of spray.. Think you can come kill it?" I shuddered. I was sixteen, six-foot two and well over two hundred and twenty, but I really, really hated bugs. "Sure, I guess." I responded, letting my now unlocked door close and stepping over as she opened the door to let me in. As I stepped into her living room, she gave me the 'Quiet' sign with a finger over her lips, then nodded towards the room where her four year old daughter slept. I nodded as she led me towards the bathroom. As she stepped in front of me, I realized just where I'd seen that bathrobe style, it was a hospital gown and her thirty-year old, but still rather firm buttocks were poking out from the back. She must have noticed, for she was totally nude beneath the rather slight garment, I could make out the back of her mons as she stepped. I reached to adjust my collar slightly as I glanced down, trying not to stare, and noticed that I had a rather long bloodstain along my left chest, probably from my unknown seductress' hand. My neighbor turned back to me, and smiled,"It's in here.." she said, as she opened the bathroom door, and motioned me inside, passing me a rolled up newspaper from a nearby small table. I nodded and stepped in, hearing her step in behind me and closing the door. I looked around the room as I stepped in and heard the door click. I saw nothing there, as she just sighed and said,"Damn, it must have gotten out.. Well, that's ok." she just said, still standing there as I nodded,"Well, gues I'll go now." I said, turning back to face her. She just froze there for a second, and says,"Josh.. Before you go, I was wondering.. Do you havea girlfriend?" Oh boy, I thought, this is getting weird but that's normal for tonight. I shook my head and murmured,"Uhm, no.. not exactly." She seemed to smile a bit more, and nodded, reaching up to stroke her reddish-gold hair and say,"Do you think you'd be interested in spending a night with an older woman then?" I swear, I almost pissed myself from shock at hearing Karen say those words. I looked at her in such a way, that she instantly blushed, probably regretting asking me, and after a moment or two, shook my head, and said,"No.. I don't think I'd mind.." She smiled, and reached to take one of my hands, I replied by taking the other of hers and bringing it to my lips, kissing it. I may have been a virgin at that point, but I had seen enough late-night pornos on Cinemax before I'd been kicked out that I had an idea what to do. She removed her hand from my lips, and shook her head, saying,"No.. I don't want that. I just want you to.." then she lowered her head and murmured,"Play doctor with me?" before looking up with a grin, and slipping her hand right onto my denim-enclosed cock. All I could do at this point was chuckle and say shakily,"I'm a bit old for just doctor." "Fine then.." she responded without pause,"Let's play something else then." and she turned her back to me, reaching to undo the fastenings of her gown, leaning forward and grasping the doorframe, exposing her tight ass and the bottom of her glistening crotch to my full view,"How about cops and robbers? I need to have my body cavities checked.."