Bayou Moon

Bayou Moon

By

Geraldine Allie

Chapter One

             
For the first time in Maggie’s existence, her immortal life held no more want of living. To her, death would only be a welcome embrace. It was all that she yearned for now. But like so many times before, she feared it was only a wish that would never be granted.

             
As she tried to step out into the brightness of day, the rays of the sun scorched and blistered her flesh. As if being boiled alive in a vat of acid, the pain seared her with an unforgiving relentlessness that traveled through her whole body. Beyond the pain, she could almost feel a sense of peace, almost like that of a sweet child’s slumber she would never have to wake from again. All she would need to do is get through the pain.

             
The pain was pure agony. Her skin smoldered as the sun ate at her like a beast devouring its prey.

             
Even now as the pain consumed her, all she had to do was take that final step out of the shadows and into the light. It’s what she wanted, just one more step.

             
The arm she held out in the light broke into a flame that roared to life.

             
Maggie screamed and brought the arm back into the safety of the darkness, the only friend that she had, and one that she despised.

             
“Coward,” she thought to herself. “Why was she still fighting to live?”

             
But something was there deep inside of her that fought to go on, even though she was worn, tired of this existence, tired of taking the very essence of someone’s life in order to sustain her own.

             
She told herself it would be so easy to close her eyes and walk out into the angry sun, to allow it to take her and end the torment. But something in her would not allow it. Maybe it was a survival instinct that would push her to go on and not allow her to turn herself into the raging inferno she wished for. Again, like before, she had failed in that quest for peace.

             
Her only place now would be in the dark and damp recesses of the house, locked away in a coffin that would keep her until the safety of night. Only to wake like some blood thirsty beast stalking its prey under the light of the moon, it was the existence of a vampire.

             
As if out of the deep recesses of her mind, a thought came to Maggie.

             
She had lived for so many centuries without a mate that she had no desire to continue. She decided that night that she would no longer continue alone.

             
There still remained in her a want and need of any woman, the desire to find a soul mate, the soul that would complete her and make her whole.

             
She stood there, listening to the sound of people. She couldn’t help but stare at the world as she stood motionless in the shadows. Her eyes were like glittering jewels as they glistened with her tears. For the first time in centuries, her heart reached out in search of its missing piece. She no longer wanted to die, but instead was filled with the need to love and be loved. How long had she waited? It no longer mattered; tonight her life would begin again, with him.

Chapter Two

              The very thought of having to dig one more grave made Kreel’s body shiver with an unearthly cold. It could have been the icy rain pelting his body, or even the sop and wet clothes that he wore. But more than likely, it was his surroundings.

             
There was always something about a graveyard at night.

             
But what other choice did he have? Kreel needed the money, bills had to be paid. Besides, this was the only job he could find that offered full time hours. He would just have to stick it out no matter how much he disliked the job.

             
When the guy helping with the midnight shift finally showed up, Kreel thought his heart would pop out through his chest.

             
“Dammit Charlie, you about made my heart stop cold. Don’t you know how to announce yourself before sneaking up on someone like that?”

             
Charlie grabbed his middle and bent over laughing so hard the man literally had tears in his eyes. “You should have seen your face when I came out from behind that tree, it was priceless!”

             
“You wouldn’t think it was priceless if I would have whacked your damn head in with a shovel!”

             
“Oh come on now Kreel, no need to get all bent out of shape. There’s nothing here but a bunch of dead people. I don’t think they’ll be going anywhere. Not unless they decide to reach up and grab you!”

             
“Dammit Charlie, stop that crap! I can’t stand this place.”

             
Charlie shook his head. “Been working here fifteen years and never once saw anything out of the ordinary. You’ll get used to it; just need to calm your nerves is all.” Charlie took a bottle of whiskey from his coat pocket, and took a long swig. “Ah, damn good stuff. It’s just the thing to warm the bones on a cold night.” Charlie held the bottle out to Kreel. “Here, try a swig of this; it will calm your nerves.”

             
Kreel stared at the bottle of whiskey in Charlie’s hand. “I don’t know if we should be drinking on the job.”

             
“Ah come on, no one’s got to know.”

             
“Damn, here, give me the bottle.”

             
“That’s the ticket.” said Charlie

             
Kreel downed a good portion of the bottle. The whiskey was rough going down, but smooth and warm on the body. “Ewe Wee!”

             
Charlie laughed and took the bottle. “Told you it was damn good stuff, didn’t I?”

              Maggie stood waiting behind a tree. She watched the two men pondering which one she would make a meal of first. She was death, who moved just as silent in the shadows and darkness of the night. The deathly kiss she would bestow upon them would be just as cold.

             
The misty rain washed over the stone of the earth, her face and clothes coated in the dampness. Her eyes fixed on her prey as they stood there unbeknownst to what was about to happen. It wouldn’t be long now.

             
The roar of hunger rushed like water through her veins. Surrounding her, the night came alive with the songs of owls, birds that rose with the moon and began their nightly task of searching for their own prey.

             
Maggie listened to the nightly song as if she had never heard it before. Always it had been a reminder of endless nights she was doomed to walk. Now somehow it was different, almost as if they were singing to her. She closed her eyes and relished the serenade as she awaited death’s summon.

             
Then an unwelcome sound interrupted the song, one of carelessness, a mistake that would warn the others that she was there. It was the sound of a twig breaking under her weight, caused from the careless step she had taken….

              The sound of breaking twigs came from the far side of the cemetery.

             
“What the hell was that?”

             
“Damn Kreel, you need to get ahold of yourself. It was probably just a cat or something.”

             
“A cat, are you serious? Must be one hell of a big cat to break twigs like that!”

             
The sound of movement came from the same area, but this time there wasn’t the sound of breaking twigs.

              Maggie opened her eyes, angered at the thoughtlessness. The men, they knew she was there. Straightening herself to full height, she began to walk out into the open, knowing the time had come. But when she saw him, she stopped in her tracks, her body having a will of its own.

              As both men watched the area the sound had come from, a woman stepped from the shadows.

             
Even at the distance she now stood, she could see that he was the one. There was no doubt in her mind; she had found her destined mate. She stood on the opposite side of the darkened graveyard, on the very edge of its boundaries, staring at the man that stood across from her, and she knew that she intended to make him hers.

             
She intended to turn him, just like her.

             
Every hair on Kreel’s body stood on end. “Crap Charlie, that’s no damn cat!”

Chapter Three

             
What was a woman doing in the graveyard at this time of hour? Kreel watched as she came closer. Something wasn’t right about her, it didn’t sit well. It was her eyes, her eyes were not right. They were darker than midnight and held even more darkness than night.

             
“Hey lady, you lost or something?”

             
“Charlie, hush. There’s something not right about her.”

             
“Kreel, you worry too much.”

             
The woman made her way over to them with an unearthly grace. Stopping within just a few feet of them, she set her sights on Charlie. “I saw you guy’s having a drink over here and was wondering if I could join you?”

             
Charlie got a smile on his face that went from ear to ear and handed her the bottle of whiskey. “Here you go sweet thing, be my guest.”

             
She didn’t take the bottle. Charlie offered it to her again. “Well here, I don’t bite, it’s just whiskey.”

             
She smiled then, revealing the sharp fangs. Both men jumped away from the woman.

             
Charlie’s eyes got wide as saucers. “Lady, you got some messed up teeth!”

             
“Do I? I haven’t really noticed. Besides, I don’t know much about the whiskey, but I can assure you that I do bite.”

             
Just as she said that, she lunged for Charlie knocking him to the ground. Holding him down, she looked up at Kreel who was about ready to crap his pants. “Don’t go anywhere honey, this will only take a minute. With that said, she sunk her fangs deep into Charlie’s throat.

             
As kreel stared in horror, he could hear the muffled groans of his coworker between the sounds of wet slurping.

             
“Forget this shit!” Kreel took off running across the graveyard in the direction of his truck. He didn’t stop in his full speed run even once to look behind him. There in front of him, the truck finally came into sight. “Almost there,” he thought

             
Just as he got to the truck and pulled the keys from his pocket, he heard the sound of something like a thud come from behind him. Slowly turning around he saw the woman sure enough standing there. All he could do was stare in shock.

             
She stepped closer, wiping the back of her hand across her lips. “Looks like I drained that one. Too bad for you I haven’t had my fill yet.”

             
With a flash of unnatural speed, she was on Kreel. The last thing he remembered was the sharp pain in his neck as the two fangs punctured his skin finding the jugular in his throat. Then as his body became weak with each precious drink she took from him, everything around him dimmed to a pitch black.

Chapter Four

              Kreel awoke in darkness. As he fully regained his senses once again, he became aware that he was lying in a horizontal position. He tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness around him, but the blackness surrounding him remained. Holding his hand up in front of him, he could not even make out its shape.

             
As the memories returned he was thrown into a panicked driven state. Using his hands to push himself into an upright position, he hit his head on something half way up. “What the hell?” that’s when he realized he was trapped in some kind of makeshift box.

             
He used both hands and pushed against the top. To Kreel’s relief, the lid gave way. The room that met his eyes was dark, but not as dark as the box he had just released himself from.

             
“Where the hell am I?” Kreel jumped out of the box as fast as his body would allow him to. He turned to eye the makeshift box that he then realized was actually a coffin. Brushing invisible items from his body frantically, Kreel hurriedly backed away from the death box.