The Wretched


  The Wretched 

 I hear them knocking on the door, their voices acting in kindness. But I know their intentions their wants. Their need to calm their craving of this false way. They are putrid to our earth, rodents that feast upon the feeble and spread disease of our touch.

  I can feel them, their cold empty presence, just as I. But I did not bow to the corruption. The naive lies of their power. And now here we stand, me against them. Me against my own, how odd. How unsightly that we have drove ourselves into this.

 Into this chaos all for the sake of their incessant need to be all. To be the deciders of the world. They were once nothing, just as I. We were once the subtle voices in the night that preyed only upon those who wished for such. Who approached us with peace.

  But now, now we are vermin loitering the streets with our madness. Our corrupt fever of existence. I can smell them, I can smell them as I smell blood. Their tongues covered in lust of temptations their teeth stained with the innocents and their lips lathered in the aroma of copper.

 It won't be long till they decide my silence is not enough. And they shall tear open my door with ease. The only reason they have not, is for the sake of not knowing my intentions. But their patience will grow dull and they will bleed themselves into my home and flood like rats.

   And with much worry and care, I look over to the young girl that quivers in fright. Her belly rounded by life and her heart beating in unison. How precious, how unfortunate such things are now praised as corruption. That one must obey the whims of these rodents that knock upon my door.

  "Quick, you must hide here!" I lift a door hidden beneath the coffee table and rug. "Take to the stairs and follow the path to the right till you see a door on your left. Take that, it will lead you into the sewers but go no further than the second street cover. Exit through it, run to the house with golden trees and tell them Frenseco Ruper sent you. They will know what to do, Go! Go now!."

 The young girl, filled in fright makes haste down the stairs. Her hands gently upon her belly. Oh how beautiful her scent. How delectable she would be, but such vile consumption is only a truth hidden in a lie. A need for power over the future.

 I replace the coffee table and carpet and plant myself upon the couch with a bottle of bourbon and begin to drink. As to disguise my slow approach to their knocking. But before I have a chance to finish two excessive swigs I hear a sudden crash.

 My door has been torn from its hinges and flung to the ground. I rush to stand up but, am quickly forced to remain seated. I look up from behind and there he stands. Duke Caspar, a man so ghostly even his own complexion I would assume frightens him. Ha, or rather that's how I proceed to see him, as he is an unsightly man, not of looks, but of mannerisms and character.

 His posture is quite refined, his physique is one any could be jealous of and his height, I can't assume he complains about that. His fashion sense, what would you say....hmmm? Proper or, maybe Royal  you could say. His head sits so well atop his broad shoulders, quite the gentlemanly look. So refined, so reacquainted with his feminine side one could say..ha!

 His pale skin glows against the flames that dance with romanticism as they hug inside the mantel. His eyes as daunting as the next ghoul. But I fret not, for there is nothing in my home. And there is quite a spell to hide the door beneath my feet.

 The Duke, with his hands firmly grasped upon my shoulders he leans into my ear and attempts to coerce information from me. He asks with a demanding whisper as his grip intensifies, "Where is the young girl, Frenseco? I can smell she was her."

 Me, with my wit I respond, "A girl, you smell a girl?!" I pause for moment as if dim in thought. "Oh, you mean that smell of roses and blood. Yes, that is from the other day, I had brought home a few fresh pigs for dinner and settled them in some deceased girls blood I purchased from her family along with rose pedals to lighten the aroma of the filthy pigs." I stare toward the fire as I sip the bourbon from the bottle.

 The duke releases my shoulders and grumbles with contempt. He steps over the couch and sits beside me. He looks to me with his nefarious eyes as he gently grasps the bourbon from my hands and places it on the table.

 "I have no time for games Frenseco, if that girl is not here, then where is she? I know you know of here whereabouts, you and your "Resistance"..your group of imbeciles that won't even allow your own kind to live with the choice!"

 The Duke takes up the bottle of bourbon and takes a swig. I look to him with a snide smile and say, "Last I checked, what we eat now was never what we ate from the start. Yet you wish to slaughter, oops...I mean eat the innocent, the unborn... I mean the animals. Long before they even get the chance to feel the air of aging or, even their first words."

 The Duke stands up and laughs, "Hahaha, their first words? The air of aging? What foolish books did you read that from?! Frenseco, this is what you do not understand, these women, men and children are but objects in our way. They keep us from truly thriving, these human females, the dim witted males and children are but a hindrance to our lives. They are but cattle for us and you wish to cast your morals upon as if you do no wrong?" Duke Caspar turns toward the fire with his hands held behind his lower back.

 I situate myself and as I do the Duke waves his hand to gesture the gentlemen that have been standing outside my door. They rush in and begin to tear my home apart. "You'll find nothing here and here is why Duke Casper. I am no man of circumstance, I am a man of morals and where my morals stand now, is where they shall always stand. I neither wish for you to die nor do I wish you to live. But I will never go out of my way to see your desolation for the mere satisfaction to crumble your inferiority..I mean, your goodness."

 The Duke turns away from the flames with a snarling look upon his face. "You dare speak to me as if you are something of moral standards? You drink from the same cup as I do, you are a Vampire just as I!"

I stand from the couch and pick up the bottle of bourbon and walk about the room. "See, that is where you are wrong, I may have been born a vampire and desire the same cravings as you. But I do not act upon them as much as any human may wish to act heinously upon another. See, we are just as re-strainable in our tongues as are the humans. But you wish to place yourself in a virtue higher than the humans. As if you have not slaughtered millions in the name of your ideal world. You can only play the virtuous for so long. Soon the humans will revolt as many of us Vampires have. Then what, who will you massacre then, where will you get your food? You can't murder them all for the sake of your cravings." I drink the bourbon as I slyly take a small cloth tied sack from the shelf beside me."

 The Duke lingers about the room as well, as his eyes examine the surroundings, "See, that is where you are wrong, there are enough naive children in this world who will follow me. I have promised them what you won't and that is the freedom to choose themselves, to be without restrain of order.

I have given them madness in the from of empty promises. And for the lack of fifty generations they have grown to love it. They are fools who wish not to be their own. They need command, so why not give them the ultimate command, let them act upon their wills as freely as the ape acts upon his?!"

 I place the cloth sack in my pocket as I take a drink of bourbon and begin to untie the cloth sack as it sits my pocket. "Well, I guess if you wish for sheep then that would be the best approach. But see, without people to rule you have nothing and you are only eating yourself from the inside out. The flavors of farming humans has become dull as I know from those who have retreated from your grasp. As well as those who have spoke of your growing paranoia.

You are a man of lies corrupted in the need of power. And see, I am a man merely wishing for the order of structure with laws of dignity and founding principles that have kept us alive.

And you only seek to destroy that. Soon your lies will flow like a pipe under too much pressure. Only so much can be held until one of your followers can take no more and leaks all over your floor."

 The Duke becomes angered and clenches his fists, "Frenseco, tell me where the girl is now and I will not hang you here in your own home.

I will give you the dignity to present your case before the people before I burn you at the stake." The Duke stands back at the fire and peers into it with a smirk as the vision of Frenseco's death plays in his head.

 I have undone the knot tied around the cloth sack. I approach the Duke while lowering the bourbon near my pocket and pouring the contents of the cloth sack into the bourbon. A slight seep of sweat escapes my brow and Duke Caspar turns around to look to me.

 His eyes gather at my head, "I see you are sweating Frenseco, is it something I said?" He smiles as he looks to the sweat above my brow.

 I lift the bourbon carefully from my waist and begin to present it to Duke Casper. "Here, I will tell you where the girl is, but only if you are willing to polish off this bourbon so I may celebrate my last breath on earth and we can open my vintage bottle, I have waited so long to taste. And I see there is no point in resisting anymore. You have no proof of anything yet you can waltz, wait, break into my home from mere will and there are no repercussion. So, I guess I am at a loss, checkmate as they say" I bow slightly before Duke Caspar while the bottle of whiskey is presented to him.

 The Duke, eager to be the victor he is blind to my trick. See, in that small cloth is garlic marinated in holy water. Quite rare, but I am quite the resourceful son of bitch. Duke Casper smirks so proudly as he takes the bottle. Standing next to the fire Duke Casper polishes off the bourbon.

 I nod to Duke Casper in a sign of understanding my surrender. I take the bottle from his hand and place my hand upon his shoulder and say, "Well Caspar, there is a slight problem with the girl."

 Duke Casper looks upon me with confused rage, "A problem, but you said you'd tell me, guar....."

 He tries to call for his men who are upstairs, probably rummaging through my many papers and collections of antiques. Some I am sure they already have pocketed for themselves. But Duke Caspar has just drank his death. He drops the bottle as I watch him look to me with surprise has his mouth begins to foam, his throats curdles with his melting flesh.

 I watch with pleasure yet sadness, for he could have left me alone but the fool is taken so deeply by greed he just could not resist the urge to slander me into death. He falls to his knees, grasping at me with a dire look of plea. But I watch him slowly suffer and as his body weakens I step back a pace and thrust my foot into his chest. He is flung into the flames and burns in silence.

 I look about me for a weapon and there against the wall is the fire rode. How convenient I think. I shrug my shoulders and make way up my stairs. I can hear the two man clambering about my office. Their shadows cast in and out of the door frame like one moving their hand in front and away from the sun.

 I think of what I shall do while I speak out, "I hope you gentle men are thirsty, I have brought you some drinks. Bourbon I hope is to your liking."

 The gentlemen freeze and they shuffle ever so carefully toward me. They both peer from the office. Their dark eyes and frail bodies linger out of the room. They look me up and down with curiosity like an animal. They see I bare no drinks and behind me is the fire rod.

 They then become worried as they do not hear, nor see Duke Casper. They try to rush pass me but I do not allow them such a chance. I plunge the rod into one of their hearts and my fist into the other. They both die instantly and fade away liking burning ash.

 I remove myself from their death, making way downstairs and find my way to the girl. A few minutes later I see the house I told her to seek out. And there in the window I see her smiling and laughing with Antonio, my son, and fortunately he did not contract the vampire gene from me. His mother was never a vampire.

 And the home they live in, is protected by an ancient spell not even I know how to break. Maybe one day, I can tell Antonio I am his father, but until then we are but business partners in our antique shop. And I am but a Vampire turned to the well being of humans.
--
A world of Vampires hell bent on keeping humans in the grip of lies and fear.

We are destined to be great but only through action,  A Man's Traveled Heart

Coming soon, The Bleeding of Words

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