The Student

This is part 1 & 2 of the story of Analaise Shepard, a vampire looking for a candidate to train in the life style. And fight off a group of hunters called Slayers.

   The Student

 

       Standing alone in the park, pulling my leather duster tighter around my body. I hate waiting on people, it’s just rude to be late for an appointment. As the young man approaches me I think what a shame, he had such promise.

       Grabbing him by the back of the head, I pull back and expose the throbbing jugular vein. “I’m sorry my friend, but I cannot abide tardiness.” I say just before piercing his neck with my fangs.

       After centuries of practice I avoid spilling a single drop, locking my lips around the bite and letting the warm coppery liquid slide down my throat. The heat of the blood warming my body, the color slowly returning to my face and hands.

Pulling back and watching as the light slowly leaves his eyes, “I had such plans for you.” I say as his body goes limp in my hands. Holding the now lifeless body I launch into the air and head for home [m1] to dispose of the body[m2] [m3] [m4] .

I have a crematorium built in my cellar, I had it installed awhile back, and then I tested it out. I find it’s easier to dispose of ashes than a whole body.

My home is isolated from the rest of humanity. Tucked away in the mountains, I can do anything out there and no one would ever know. As a few of my guests, both invited and not, would tell you, no one can hear you scream.

Solar panels provide electricity, and a spring out back the water. Over the years I’ve brought contractors out to install modern fixtures, but when the job is done, so where they.

I’ve tried living close to humanity, but you have to move every so often or people start asking question, like why I never seem to get any older. With the changing technology of the modern day, I can be away and not at the same time.

Tonight was not about another victim, I was looking for a new student, the last one went out on his own over 50 years ago. I told him he wasn’t ready, that there are other things out there. Things that hunt the likes of us simply for being who we are.  

I found out from a friend that he was caught and tortured for months before he met his end at the hands of a Slayer[Pt5] . My house has never been raided in all these years since his final death, so he must have said nothing about me.

Sitting by the fire in my den[m6] , a glass of Brandy on the table beside me, I start to think about all the students I’ve had. Not one in all these centuries has been a woman, but not any of the males had survived long out on their own.

Maybe it was time to change, the Slayer’s were growing in number, while ours continued to shrink. I take all the files I had printed up on potential students and throw them into the fire, these were useless, and if I was going to choose a woman I need to refine my search parameters.

 

Firing up the computer I bring the search parameters up that I originally set up for male candidates, change it to female, and hit the search button.

The results that come back are not what I expected, I thought there would be hundreds of females who fit what I was looking for, I got five.

“Oh, for f***s sake, you have got to kidding me.” The words were just out of my mouth when the echo started reverberating back at me. That familiar sound that reminds what a life of solitude is like.

I ask myself everyday if I’m happier in this life or the one before I died. The one were the sun didn’t hurt my eyes, or I had this constant craving for blood that drives my waking thoughts. With the family who loved and cherished me, and let me get away with anything.

Yes. Well, most days. My family was always pushing me to marry some other family of note in the area, someone who could help raise the family image.

“You will not marry below your place, this family only marries up.”  Is all I heard from the day I turn 13, until my mortal death at 25. I always found a way to turn down the marriage request, telling my parents we could do better for some reason.

The day of my mortal death started out beautifully, I awoke before the sun fully crested the hills, and watched in wonder as the Valley exploded in the golden rays. Everything was coming to life with the dawn, I could hear birds chirping outside my window, as people started milling around in the town below.

I had saddled my horse for an afternoon of riding when my parents cornered me by the stable. “We have a new family for you to meet tonight so don’t stay out late. You needed to be cleaned up before you meet them.” Just shaking my head yes, I jump on my horse and head out of the stable and into the country side.

She was just sitting under a tree, nothing unusual for this time of the year, it got hot earlier here. People often took comfort under the shade of a tree on the warmer days, but she has this inviting look to her, eyes that I could not resist.

Before I realized what was going on I was off my horse and on the ground beside her. The only way to describe her would be to compare her to the gods, no other mortal could look that good. Closing my eyes as she runs her fingers through my hair, my head feels heavy in her hands as I lean into her embrace.

It’s then I feel the tug back on my hair, when I open my eyes she stops and stares through my being, it was something in my eyes that gave her pause, something that caused her to give me a choice. She told me she could take a small amount of my blood and wipe my memory or I could join her.

“What do you mean join you?” I asked, then she explained what she meant. She tells me that every so often she would take on an apprentice, someone who she felt could embrace the life style of a Zatherian Vampire.

“Will it hurt?” I asked generally curious about what to expect. “I can make it like a lover’s kiss” she said. After so many years, and many more suitors, I find the person I want to be with and she turns out to be a vampire.

I feel her lips on my wrist and goose bumps run up my arm and through my spine to my toes. I’ve never felt anything like this, like heaven is touching only you. The darkness washes over me like an old friend, calling out to me, I can no longer keep my head up and the last thing I see with my human eyes are hers.

Opening my eyes the next morning was a shock, I thought the sun rise I witnessed the day before was beautiful, I was completely wrong. That first day as a vampire, everything was brand new, colors sharper, sounds crisper, flavors exploded on my tongue like never before and I was still inside.

Outside I had to squint away from the brightness of the sun, once my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I saw the world for the first time.

The ground seemed to be alive, all the earthly creatures wiggled and squirmed beneath my feet. I found I could see a lot further now as well, that it was just a matter of focusing on what I want to see and I could see it.

I felt her behind me before I heard her, a quickening of the blood is how I would describe it, everything on fire for her. It was more than a sexual feeling, it was more sensual, everything in me pulled towards her. I knew with her, nothing would be unattainable, I could have anything.

Looking back at the list of names I thought if nothing else it would not take long to go through.  

 

                     Chapter II

 

 

 

Setting up the interviews with the candidates was just as easy this time around as it was 50 years ago. Seems students are always fascinated by the idea of seeing their story in the newspaper, at least the ones I was looking at did.

 

In the E-mails I explained that the interview would take between 30 minutes to an hour, I would ask them some childhood questions, what led them to this degree field, and what they had planned for the future? I set the interviews up, one for each day of the week.

 

Ava Harris was first on the list, only because she was the closest campus. Arriving at the library an hour early to make sure there were interview rooms available and to reserve one. Ava was 15 minutes early for her interview, she was off to a good start.

 

By the time the Interview was over I had the rest of the background information I could not access by my normal means. I could see taking Ava on as a student. After talking with her, I knew she could achieve all her goals, and I could make it that much easier to attain. I thanked her for her time, I said I would send her an E-mail with a copy of the article as an attachment and headed back to the hotel for the night.

 

Back at the hotel I was going over my notes on Ava and there was something I just couldn’t put my finger on about her. She was perfect in every way, she just seems to be missing that certain something, a feeling between student and teacher.

 

Next on the list was Lily Martin. Lily on paper was perfect, real life Lily was completely different. In person Lily was a twitchy ball of nerves, her eyes would jump from object to object, and never staying focused on any one item for longer than a few seconds. Her hands moved with every word she spoke, as if her jaw muscles required the arms as levers to open and close her mouth.

 

When I could no longer tolerate Lily and thought about removing her from the gene pool I decided it was time to wrap it up for the night. I told her I would E-mail her with an attachment containing the article, then thanked her for her time and almost ran for the door to keep from killing her.

 

 Back at the hotel room I grabbed the garbage can from the room, along with Lily’s file and headed for the roof. Once I was safely tucked back in a corner on the roof, I manifest a fireball in my hand and in a matter of minutes Lily Martin was just a pile of dust, at least her file was.

 

Meeting with Chloe Green was like a breath of fresh air after Lily. She was graceful, charming, a bright personality, I could see her as the perfect host of a dinner party. She always had a smile on her face and a positive outlook on whatever life would throw at her.

 

Once again I found myself on the roof with the garbage can in one hand and a file in the other. I went from one extreme to the other on the emotional tree, I was going to give my computer a good kicking when I got home.

 

Going into my interview with Lacey Brown I did not know what to expect, I had only one solid candidate so far out of three interviews.

 

The interview with Lacey was engaging and energetic, she would describe events from her pasts so clearly you’d think they had just happened to her. She could recall any memory, any sensory experience with perfect detail.

 

Lacey and I talked for about two hours, exploring more of her past, she told me about the additional clubs she wanted to join, but didn’t just so she did not stand out more than anyone else. How she would have to control her mouth in class or every so often she would wind up correcting the instructor. It was things like that that could endure Lacey to me.

 

After saying good night and heading back to my hotel I had a little time to reflect on my meeting with Lacey tonight. As with Ava, I was missing that connection with Lacey, that feeling deep in your gut that knows if you’re thinking left, your partner is already moving that way.

 

With only one name left on my list, if I did not find the connection with my last interview, I would take a chance on either Ava or Lacey as my next student.

 

My final interview was with Alexandria Collins. I arrived an hour ahead again, only this time the library did not have any private rooms available. It seems that the private rooms get booked for tutoring of the various sports teams that play at this college. This was not a problem for long, I never met a collegian who could not benefit from an extra hundred in their pocket.

 

  Watching Alexandria walk into the room was something to behold, a fluidity of motion, a natural predator waiting to be unleashed.  When she sits down she apologizes for being so early, saying “I always leave earlier than I need to just in case something causes me to be delayed, I’ll have time to find an alternate route.” It’s then I look down and see that she is half an hour early, I say to her “Alexandria..” ”Alexia” she said, “please call me Alexia.”

 

“Alexia, would you like to start early or just talk for a little while?” “We can just talk to start with, like a little feeling out process.” This girl was very astute for someone so young, just twenty-five, very well then. “I suppose I shall introduce myself, I am Analaise Shepard, a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Alexia Collins.”

 

We spend the next two hours talking about nothing and everything at the same time, when I finally start the interview I have a good idea about who this girl is.

 

She talked about being out going and funny when she was at home, but at school, she was the shy girl that no one paid any attention too. She hid behind glasses that weren’t prescribed, a mousey haircut, and baggy clothes that covered her blossoming body. It wasn’t until she moved away to go to college that she change the way people saw her to what you see today.

 

When I asked about what degree she was going after I was told she was a double major in Finance and Programing & Software Design. This was the third mistake I needed to fix on my search parameters when I got back home, maybe it would help increase the number of viable candidates, probably not.

 

After four hours of question I had enough information to make the article look legitimate. Standing up and shaking her hand is when the feeling hits, the hairs at the base of my neck and arms rises from the transfer of energy from her body to mine. I stare into her eyes for any sign of recognition of what just happened, there is a small glimmer in her eyes that lets me know with a little “courting” I may just have a new student.

 

 

Saying my good byes I ask her if it would be alright to stop by next week and go to lunch, “We seem to have bonded so well already.” Agreeing to meet for lunch next Wednesday, I head outside, go around to the back where it’s dark, and launch myself into the night’s sky and back home.