Vampire dreams

It was a quiet night. A cool breeze blew through the narrow streets of the ancient city as she walked, blowing her skirt around her legs, and the full moon giving her fair skin an eerie glow. The stars above shone brightly as she wandered with no particular destination. She just had to get away from the four walls of her room that seemed to suffocate her.1

Hearing a sound behind her she stopped and listened. Were they footsteps she heard? Silence greeted her attentive ears so she walked on thinking it must have been her imagination, but soon she heard another sound. A different one this time, and hard to place… like the rustling of a sheet blowing in the wind.2

She stopped again and listened harder. Looking around in the dim light she saw no reason for her to have heard something like that as the streets were deserted, and all doors and windows locked tight.3

Smiling to herself she wandered on, remembering an old folk talk her grandmother once told her of “creatures in the night” who would feast on young women who walked the streets alone after midnight. It was only a story meant to scare her when she was little, so she thought no more of it.4

As she walked she’d look around, admiring the old fashioned street lamps, the weathered stone walls or an intricate piece of stonework above the door of a house. Soon enough she came to the steep walls surrounding the city, and from there she could see to the next town. Few windows were lit up at this hour, she noticed as she sat cross-legged on the sloping surface of a nearby wall.5

Crickets sang in the background giving the scene a romantic feel as she recalled a history lesson she once had, where the teacher told her the story behind this once magnificent city, and the wars against the intruding Turks… but her thoughts were interrupted again by the strange rustling sound and a soft thud.6

Turning round she saw a man, dressed in a long black coat, watching her… it seemed he was studying her, looking from the way her red hair flew round her head, to the way her top clung to her breasts. His gaze seemed to travel down, resting briefly on her hips and thighs, continuing down to her sandaled feet. 7

His seemingly unblinking eyes mesmerised her, locking hers to his when he finally looked to her face, sending shivers down her spine that had nothing to do with the weather.8

He stepped closer to her, and she noticed he was as tall as she, with long dark curly hair, broad shoulders, neat figure and powerful arms and legs, visible through the explicitly cut clothes. His face was not visible as the light was behind him, but she could clearly see the shine in his eyes and the deathly white skin as he approached. The closer he got, the clearer his features became. She could see his full red lips, the shape of his nose, all the time getting clearer until she could see the vivid blue of his eyes.9

She watched as he slid his hand inside his coat and drew out a small silver case. Opening the case he revealed some cigarettes and offered one to Liliana. Quickly searching his pockets he found a small silver lighter and held it out to her.10

The flame from the lighter flickered as she lit her cigarette, lighting her face in its glow. He laughed, a deep, throaty laugh, as she inhaled the fragrant smoke of the strange tasting cigarette.11

“Let me introduce myself, my dear. My name is Sy. I know who you are, just as I know what you are” he said, his voice husky and manly, sending her heart racing.12

“Many people know who I am, sir, but I regret to inform you that I am not what you are implying” she retorted angrily.13

“Oh Liliana, You seem to have misunderstood me. I was not trying to imply that you are a common whore, far from it” Sy replied.14

“Then what is it that you are trying to say?” Liliana replied defensively, inhaling deeply on her cigarette in frustration.15

“My dear child, you are so innocent, so naïve. Is it possible you remember nothing?” Sy questioned.16

Liliana responded with a blank look and a shake of her head, so Sy took her hand and lead her away to an awaiting carriage driven by two sleek black horses. He saw that she was safely seated in the carriage and mumbled a few words to the driver before he got in and they set off.17

As they were travelling, an eerie sensation of déjà vu came over her, a feeling that she had been in this carriage once before, travelled these very same roads, seen the places they were passing.18

They stopped briefly outside a huge wrought iron gate and then continued up a long winding gravel path, until the came to a large seemingly ancient house.19

Liliana gasped upon seeing its beauty, worn from age. Turning to Sy she grasped his arm. “Please, you must tell me where we are, for I am sure that I have been here before”20

“Why yes, you have” he replied as he stepped down from the carriage and helped her down. Turning towards the house he spread his arms wide “Welcome to my humble abode”21

Gasping Liliana shot forwards and opened the door wide. Stepping into a marbled hallway she saw glittering crystal chandeliers, rich paintings on the wall and a sweeping staircase, which lead from above.22

Turning to Sy who followed her in, with eyes aglow and a shortness of breath she had to ask. “This is your home? But why do I feel like I have been here? Why did you say I had been here?”23

“Some refreshments I think, then we shall talk,” he said leading her into a room to his left.24

Walking into the room, Liliana paused and took in the wondrous sights. Thick carpets lay on the floor, paintings hung on the walls of couples embracing in romantic pose, two large sofas in what looked like black suede? Statues stood to either side of a large French window with views on what looked like would be an equally magnificent garden, if only it were light enough to see.25

Sy offered her a glass of red wine and sat down on one of the sofas, signalling that she too should be seated.26

“This is a truly magnificent house Sy”27

“Thank you my dear. That is what you said last time. See you were here only a few days ago. My driver and I were on our way home late one night when we saw your body lying in a heap, in about the same place where I met you today. It would seem that you had been raped and beaten, so we took you here and made you well. At first it did not seem like you would pull through, that you might die, so I used all of my power to help you.”28

Reaching out he took her hand in his and kissed her softly before continuing. “You see, my dear, I am a vampire. I gave you some of my blood so that you would live, and you do live.”29

Pulling her hand from his grasp she walked swiftly to the French window and stood there, thinking, before she turned on him. “What kind of lies are these? What do you think I am, stupid? Vampires, huh, no such thing as vampires.”30

“Ahh, but there is… for you are talking to one such vampire. I may not look like the characters in books, but I assure you I am. We are not so different from normal humans, only that on occasions we must drink blood.”31

Liliana said nothing. Stunned and horrified she stood frozen, trying to think, but having nothing to say, until suddenly a thought came to mind. “You said you know what I am… what did you mean by that?”32

“My dear child, do you know nothing? By drinking a vampire’s blood, you too become a vampire. We are immortal, and by sharing my blood with you I made you immortal also. I saved your life”33

“Well maybe I didn’t want saving!” she retorted childishly.34

“You were nearly dead. You probably don’t even know what happened to you. You had no way of knowing what you did and did not want. Stop being so childish and listen to me,” he said signalling for her to come back to the sofa.35

Looking at Sy she realised he was right. She was being childish, selfish and ungrateful. He was only trying to help her… maybe she should just accept what she has become. Still with her eyes on him she walked over to the sofa and signalled for him to continue.36

“I think I had better tell you about us vampires before you get sick or something. We have to drink fresh blood at least once a week to survive. Otherwise we can eat whatever we like, just like normal people. Oh, and garlic does not harm us. There are some vampires who only drink once a week, like myself, but there are others who abuse this and drink sometimes twice daily”37

Liliana was sat listening attentively to all he was saying, but a nagging question kept creeping into her mind, “What happens if we do not drink once a week?”38

“First you get agitated about everything. Then you get blinding headaches that never go away. You get restless and cannot sleep… after that I don’t know.”39

Liliana nodded her head in understanding, but Sy knew there was something on her mind. “Are you feeling any of these?” he inquired gently.40

“Yes, I get headaches and I can’t sleep.”41

“Ok, so we have to move fast. Come with me”42

He took her hand and led her through the house, down narrow, winding corridors, filled with dust and spider webs, until they came to a large room cluttered with all kinds of strange objects.43

“The easiest way for us to drink is to bite, or rather nip, a human neck and lick and suck at the blood as it pours from the wound. If you are careful and don’t drink too much then the human will still live. At the moment you are too parched and inexperienced. I will train you later, but for now, you need a drink” Sy informed her.44

“Ok, but what are all these strange objects?” she asked, once again looking round the room.45

Her eyes rested on what looked like a big metal doll that wore fine clothes, had lifelike expressions and long blonde hair. The doll also wore what looked like expensive jewels around her neck, and Liliana went for a closer look.46

As she reached out her hand to touch the jewels to see if they were infact real, Sy startled her by shouted at her not to touch them.47

“Why not? They wont hurt me will they?” she asked sarcastically.48

Sy laughed and reached to a buzzer and pushed it. Within minutes a butler came in with a young girl in tow, left her in the room and left. Turning to the girl Sy asked her to arrange the doll’s jewels because they looked somewhat dirty. Without a word the servant girl obliged, and upon touching the necklace, the dolls arms seemed to sweep up entrapping her and what looked like spikes shot into the poor girls body making her scream in pain and bleed furiously into what looked like a large bowl.49

Liliana was sickened by the sight and sounds and felt faint so she sat down. “What the hell is that thing and what is it doing to that poor girl?”50

“This, my dear, is an ingenious creation called the Iron maiden. It was built in the early 1500’s and is a great torture device. The Iron Maiden is a hollow tomb and when a trigger point in the Maiden’s necklace is touched, then her arms come up as you saw, trapping the person. However what you did not see were the doors opening revealing hundreds of spikes on the inside.51

In a few moments you will see the Maiden pull her arms in and the girl will be pulled in. The doors will close on her and they will quickly bleed to death,” Sy explained.52

“My god, that’s horrible!” said Liliana, shocked53

“I know, but it does not happen very often. I don’t like torturing people this way, but in this case it must be done so you can drink, otherwise I don’t know what will happen. Oh look, the doors are closing!”54

With this the screams increased, mixing with a sound of grinding metal and a loud clunk, dulling the screams until they were no more.55

Sy walked over to the bowl and swapped it for another. Handing the bowl to Liliana he told her to drink. “You wont like the taste at first, but you will get used to it. In time you will learn how to taste the different flavours and textures in the blood, but for now we must concentrate on you drinking to get well again”56

Liliana slowly raised the bowl to her lips and slowly began to drink. Her face contorted into all sorts of expressions, but mainly of distaste, and tears welled at the corner of her eyes as she forced herself to drink.57

By the time she was half way down the bowl, she started to look more relaxed, and drank easier, nodding she was ok when Sy asked.58

“When you are finished, come with me and I will show you somewhere you can lie down and rest” he told her.59

Liliana put the empty bowl on the table and walked over to Sy licking her lips seductively. Placing her hands on his chest she could feel his firm muscles and beating heart. Raising her face, she kissed his cheek and nibbled gently on his ear, hoping to get a response from him.60

His arms came up to her slim waist and he kissed her full on the lips, exploring her mouth, revelling in the taste of fresh blood still lingering on her tongue. Suddenly he pushed her away with a groan. “Not now sweetie, you have to rest. We have till the end of time for these games, but now, we rest.”61

He led her round many more winding corridors and up many stairs until they found themselves on a long landing with many door leading off on all sides.62

Opening a door he showed her into a luscious room with thick fluffy rugs in white, dark red walls and a huge dresser with full length mirror. Thick velvet curtains hung at the windows and the huge bed was covered in black satin sheets.63

“Rest here my dear, I will wake you later so you can drink some more”64

Liliana felt like she had been drinking alcohol, her head was woozy and she could hardly keep her eyes open, so she quickly obliged and lay down.65

Waking up some hours later she found herself lying down on the wall of the old city near her home and the sun was rising.66

Wondering what in earth happened to her and if she was dreaming, she wandered down the narrow streets back to her room.67

Questions pondered her head. Was there really a person called Sy? Was she really a vampire? Did all that really happen?68

She guessed she’d never know, and wandered off slowly, silently into the dawn.69