Ch 1 of unnamed vampire story

By: I.M. Ortal (as ridiculous and hideously corny as that may be it's essential to the story, so just go with it)



This is a story. It's not terribly long, nor is it terribly interesting, or even important. (well, not for you anyway) It is a story of love, and of survival, of lies and illusion, of passion, and of darkness, but perhaps most noticeably it is a story about a hidden race with a forbidden hunger which keeps them in the shadows, vampires. Yes, those blood-sucking creatures of the night who have become so (im)famous in the world of story telling.

The vampires i feel called to focus on today are known as Vincent and Belinda, and in order to really familiarize you with these characters I have decided to begin my story with a description of how the two beings met.

It was a cloudy and drizzly day and the being we know as Belinda now, but was still going by her birth name then, Delilah, was sitting on a swing in the local park, having walked there early in the afternoon to have some alone time. She sat on the swing, slowly, quietly moving forward, then back, forward, then back again, when she paused.

As a cloud moved out of the path of the sun and bathed the area in gleaming light she could hear a disruption of the passive quiet all around her. a low, muffled, pain-filled moaning sound coming from somewhere nearby.

Delilah stepped off her swing, her reject, re-sale store chuck taylor sneakers crunching across the gravel as she shuffled steadily toward the noise's source. She paused, the noise, again, it was coming from a nearby jungle gym, underneath which was almost totally dark, which is why, even when she stood very close and looked very hard she could just barely make out the figure of a man just a few years older than herself sitting in the shade of the piece of playground equipment covering his face with his arms.

Delilah stepped into the shade also, "Excuse me, sir, are you alright?" She asked, all though as she stepped closer she could see that he was shaking, "Hey," She said, her voice warped by alarm, "What's wrong?"

"The sun." He managed to say, his voice more of a hiss than whisper.

Delilah glanced at a gap in the wood allowing sunlight to pour into the otherwise dark area. So, removing her jacket she quickly wedged it in between the two boards above and beneath the gap so as to seal it off.

Slowly but surely the man took his arms away from his face and looked up at her, she gasped, taking a subconscious step backward, for, staring back at her, were two, wide, radiant, mustard yellow eyes.

"Don't be afraid." He said, his voice feeble and weak sounding, "Even if i wanted to i couldn't hurt you now." he added.

Delilah knelt down, moving a little closer, "Are you alright?" She asked, although when she did she knew it was a stupid question to ask, because he certainly was not alright, so she added, "Is there something i can do to help you?"

He managed a small smile, a"You may have saved my life already." He said, glancing pointedly toward her jacket, "But no, i'm afraid there's nothing more you can do for me."

There was a moment of silence as Delilah's whirring mind attempted to process the information presented to her, "So you'll be okay?" She asked, although a yes would have been hard to believe it was what she was hoping for.

But he shook his head, bound to honesty by his morals, "Well, i suppose there is one thing you could do." He said, "But it would be too risky." He added quickly.

Chills traveled down Delilah's spine as she watched his mouth open and close as he spoke, sharp triangular fangs glinting behind pale, bloodless lips. She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about. "What?" She asked.

He closed his eyes, "Well, you could give me a drink." He said, his voice quiet, "But i wouldn't ask you for that." he added.

"Why not?" She asked, moving a little closer.

He opened his eyes again, peering at her through his wide yellow eyes, "Because most people value their mortality."