PAST 1823 “What is the matter, love? You seem not in the mood for this,” the woman sighed, pulling away from having just kissed Gualtiero, disappointed yet again for his lack of passionate response. “It has been two years and you are still bothered I am not in the mood for this? Whatever this is that you do to me?” Gualtiero responded, in a mocking tone the woman has gotten used to by now, but still complain about sometimes. “It has been two years, but you still don’t know how to properly address me,” she said with a wink. “What bothers me is that I cannot read your mind. You are a mystery to me. I’ve turned you into a vampire and I still cannot figure you out.” Good, Gualtiero thought inwardly. You wouldn’t want to read what exactly is on my mind right now. “Would you ever tell me your name?” he asked instead. “I might someday. But right now, I think I am getting used to you not addressing me,” she said with a smirk. “This is tedious. You said you turned me into a vampire so we could live forever. Doing what exactly? Doing this?” Gualtiero remarked with a laugh. “This, my darling, is love. We are doing this because we are in love,” she explained sweetly. She moved on top of him and kissed him as hard as he could. Gualtiero’s heart was pounding fast. He knew he was raging deep inside but he knew he needed to bide his time. There would be a time to destroy this monster. He has to be patient. “I’ve read those books you procured for us,” he said when she was finished kissing him. “According to the Holy Scripture, what you do to me is not love. You have a carnal desire. Love seems so much more beautiful in the passage I have read than what you claim it to be. You know what I think?” he continued as he wiped his wet mouth. “You call me love because even if you are immortal, you have never had love in your perpetual existence. That is why you create this illusion.” She gazed at his innocent eyes. How beautiful, yet ignorant. “You don’t drink enough blood, Gualtiero. This is why you never understand a lot of things you should have understood by now,” she said, unable to hide her annoyance anymore. “I see a lot of things. For instance, you do not have patience. The Scripture says, love is patient,” Gualtiero told her. “Oh darling, believe me, I already showed enough patience with you,” she said, almost snarling. Gualtiero had almost forgotten how it felt like to fear someone. For the past two years, he had mercilessly fed on weak humans, draining them of blood every time he felt the bloodlust and unfortunately for them, it happened too often. The woman told him vampires like them grow in power the more innocent humans they feed on. This information got stored in his memory and he vowed to be strong to permanently get away from this enchanting, soulless woman. There was something in her story that didn’t add up. He couldn’t feel the love she said he had for her when he was human. All the other things she taught him about being a vampire proved to be true. All his senses are heightened. He can hear conversations from far away when he focuses on them, he moves with a lightning speed, and most of all he can smell fear from his prey, made obvious by their erratic heartbeat, and that is the best part of the hunt for him. But if being a vampire heightens every sense, why doesn’t he feel that love for this wretched woman at all? He felt terror upon seeing the look in her eyes. If she were the original vampire, like she claimed, does he even stand a chance in a one-on-one duel? She untangled herself from him, and did not kiss him this time. “I’ll be right back,” she muttered. --- By sundown, Gualtiero was already feeling the hunger. His body was longing for blood. He had never hunted alone. The woman always watches him with pleasure as bodies pile up whenever he feeds. This time, she hasn’t come back yet. And his thirst for blood was growing by the minute. Maybe it was time for him to do this alone. Maybe it’s time to feed on animals instead, he pondered. He doesn’t understand it, but he feels something close to remorse whenever he chooses to drink someone’s blood and eventually drain them of it. The rush of drinking human blood gets stronger the more he does it, but so is the feeling of disgust with himself. He was about to prowl alone, when he suddenly felt the presence of something coming at him. He stopped in his tracks. They got louder and louder as he prepared to defend himself for a possible attack. He heard children’s laughter and as they approached and couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing. There were about seven children with the woman. “Did you miss me in my absence, darling?” the woman asked. The children looked on as she approached Gualtiero and ruffled his hair. “You are going to let me drain these children’s blood?” Gualtiero asked. The woman wasn’t able to answer as they were interrupted by sounds of footsteps coming. Humans, carrying torches, Gualtiero realized. “There should be one in this area,” a voice said. “Animals have been dying here mysteriously.” “How could we be absolutely certain we are not harming our own kind?” a frightened voice of an old woman asked. “You said they look like us!” “I can feel we are close,” another voice said. Gualtiero glanced at the disheveled children. He could hear no heartbeat from any of them. He also couldn’t smell any fear from the little ones. What was he missing? Something was definitely amiss. “It’s him!” Gualtiero was startled upon hearing a man’s voice full of conviction pointing directly at him. The man threw the torch at his face without warning. He was able to dodge it with no problem. The humans were no match to his speed. Even when they collectively tried to throw torches at him, he successfully evaded every single one. Suddenly, he could feel the bloodlust rushing back from within. As he got ready for his attack imagining a bloodbath, something suddenly plunged deep into his back. He felt a bizarre sensation he didn’t remember ever feeling before – pain. How did someone manage to harm him? Didn’t the woman say he was invincible because he was a vampire? “We got him!” yelled a queer looking woman as Gualtiero dropped to the ground. There was a wooden stake plunged in his back. “Save the children!” someone yelled. “Make sure they all get to their homes safe.” An old couple obliged and ran towards the children. The children need to be protected at all cost, the old woman thought. More humans came towards Gualtiero’s helpless body lying on the ground. Somebody spitted at him. One by one, they threw their lit torch on his body, chanting something Gualtiero couldn’t hear clearly. Banish! Leave our land! Leave our children, our people, and properties! Die, vampire, die. God will protect us. God is our refuge! the crowd chanted in unison, softly at first, but it got louder and louder. Gualtiero wondered where the woman was. He hadn’t seen her since the humans came to attack him. Did they get to her first? He found the thought comforting. For two years, he had sought ways to get rid of the monster but he found himself not strong enough. Maybe it doesn’t matter now. Maybe the humans have finally learned how to fight back. Maybe she was gone for good, as she should be, Gualtiero thought weakly. His inward celebration was cut abruptly when a snarl was suddenly heard above all the commotion. The humans turned to look at what had caused the sound and to their horror found the most horrifying sight they have ever seen. The little children were sucking blood out of the couple tasked to take them back to their homes. There was too much blood, especially oozing out of the man’s decapitated head. A small boy was carrying the decapitated head of the woman as if it were a glass, and drinking from it. The humans couldn’t move, paralyzed with fear. “Run!” their leader shouted, but it was a hopeless warning, as the children were too quick to attack every single one of the village people, was too happy to tear them limb by limb, bathe and drink in their blood. No one was spared. “Well done, my darlings,” suddenly the enchanting woman was back, savoring the moment. “You’re lucky, Gualtiero, darling. If they staked you through the heart, you will cease to exist. Lucky for you, our kind heals rapidly,” she told him. “Wh- what have you done to the…” Gualtiero said, struggling to articulate his inquiry. “I turned them,” she said, smiling sweetly at him. “They are my little demons now and can help us pass the time. I think it’s time you hear my story. You’ve been wanting to know my origin, is that correct?” Gualtiero could only nod weakly. “Wh- who created you?” She kissed him passionately before answering. “God.”