Falling From Eternity (A Paranormal Love Story) (4 page)

The lights from his office flickered
through the glass. He had the perfect view of the entire layout of
the facility. Not to mention the hundreds of security cameras he
had everywhere. I had no doubts that he’d known I was here the
second I pulled into the parking space out front. He was ready for
me, but was I ready for him?

I squeezed the bridge of my noise,
taking in a deep breath before grasping the door knob. The last
time I was here Ming had punched me in the face. I sailed across
the room, crashing into the wall; breaking straight through the
drywall. I had to snap my nose back into place before my body began
to heal. Otherwise it would remain crooked, unless I broke it again
which I didn’t want to do. I’ll admit the punch was provoked, and
I’d all but asked for him to hit me the way I lashed out at him;
egging him on with every verbal backlash, but I still hated him for
it. He would bring it back up today just to get a rise out of me,
to see what I would do. It was obvious how much he enjoyed hitting
me, especially since I didn’t fight back. I could have. I could
have killed him if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to be that animal
anymore, and he knew it.

I flung the door open before my nerves
could get the best of me. His office was just as gaudy as ever.
Black marble floor stretched from wall to wall. Black leather seats
sat atop a shaggy white carpet. The walls were painted a dark red
and covered with risqué paintings of naked beauties he’d conquered,
all with cheap gold frames that failed to imitate the true beauty
of real artwork. Centered in front of the massive window that
looked out above the warehouse was Ming’s desk. It was as ugly as
it was big. Behind it sat Ming, even though he was turned away from
me I could see the spirals of smoke twirling upward from his
cigar.

“
I didn’t think you’d show
your face again,” Ming said, not turning around to look me in the
eye. I walked farther into the room, spying my box sitting on his
desk. I was tempted to run up, grab it, and run back out, but I
knew I’d never make it out of the building. I’d have to stay here
and “entertain” him until he said I could leave. I might have
believed I was stronger than him, but he had more power than I. The
security at this supply bank was ridiculous.

“
Then why bother packing
up a box for me?” I asked, gesturing toward the parcel on his desk
even though he wasn’t looking at me.

“
Tell me, William. When is
this little charade of yours going to end?” Ming swiveled his high
back chair around to face me. His eyes sparkled as bright as the
cherry of his cigar.

“
For the last time, it’s
not a charade, Ming!” I stomped forward, grasping the back of an
arm chair placed before his desk to keep from attacking
him.

“
So you say,” he flicked
some ash into the tray on his desk, before sucking his cigar back
between his thin lips. “What is it then?” his brows reached for the
sky, as his eyes gauged my every movement. I couldn’t give in; I
couldn’t fall into his trap. I knew he was baiting me. He wanted me
to attack him, but why? Could it really be just for his own
amusement, or did he have other plans?

“
Is it because you enjoy
playing with your food?” he rose from his seat, circling around the
corner of the desk to get closer to me. He was like a predator,
watching its prey, waiting for the perfect moment to
pounce.

I gripped the chair hard, the wood
cracking under the pressure. “They aren’t just food,” I growled
between clenched teeth.

“
Oh! That’s right!” Ming
smiled devilishly through ivory fangs. “Yet, here you are,” he
slapped a hand atop the box on his desk. “Ironic, don’t you think?
That you refuse to eat live with me anymore, yet you’ll buy it from
me like cheap boxed wine?”

“
That’s different!” I
protested. “That blood is from donors! Those people had a choice!”
I pointed my finger at the package as if the people were in it,
raising their hands saying,
“Yeah, we
wanted to give you our blood!”

“
Hmm…” Ming looked simply
amused by my comeback, regarding me with great interest. I held his
gaze without blinking, even though my insides were screaming at
him. I’d had enough; after this I’d give up human blood completely.
I could order from the animal supplies, or I could hunt out near
Denton. It was far enough into the wilderness that there should be
tons of wildlife to feed on.

Ming dropped his cigar
into the ash tray, before pulling out a box cutter from the top
drawer of his desk. I watched as he cut open the top of the box,
and lifted the lid of the Styrofoam insulation inside. “What if I
told you,” he pulled a bag of blood out of the container, tossing
it back and forth between his hands, “that you’ve been
drinking
live
all
along? That this blood had never been from a
willing
human.”

My eyes flashed to the bag as he
tossed it back and forth, then to his eyes and back again. “You
wouldn’t?” I growled, fisting my hands and flinging the chair to
the side of the room. It crashed against the wall, sending one of
Ming’s cheap portraits falling to the ground.

“
Wouldn’t I? You wouldn’t
be able to tell the difference, would you?” He chuckled, tossing
the bag back into the box. “It really is funny if you think about
it.” Ming grabbed his cigar, sinking back into his chair as he
propped his feet atop his desk. “All this time you thought you’d
evolved; enjoying your little
rebellion
. Thinking you were better
than the rest of us
animals
.” Ming contorted his face in
disgust.

“
You asshole!” I flew
toward him, but only made it as far as the desk till meaty arms
pulled me back. I fought against the hold of Ming’s guards as I
thrashed and snarled at them. In an instant my desire to give up
live blood vanished; I wanted to suck every last drop of life out
of Ming till he was a shriveled up husk.

My fangs extended, feeling my desire
to feed. It had been so long since I’d felt them extract it was
almost painful. My body was betraying me, telling me to bite;
preparing me to make the attack. I could feel my mouth salivating
as my eyes narrowed in on Ming’s neck. He was tilting his head
back, laughing at me. I could see the veins pulsing; pumping
against his flesh. These guards were strong, and my muscles
strained against them, but I knew I could take them. They had to
have been less than half my age. Three against one would be a fair
fight, considering my strength. They had no idea who they were
dealing with.

The laughter died from Ming’s face
when he looked at me again. “Calm down, William. You’re making
yourself look like a fool.”

My rage ignited anew, overpowering my
desire to feast on him. I flung myself backward, cracking my head
into the skull of the guard on my right. He clutched his face
before falling with a heavy thud. From the sound of it he had a
perfectly broken nose, and considering how hard my head was, I’d
say he might have bitten off a chunk of his tongue. His tangy blood
was filling the air; enticing me to fight on. The guard on my left
was a good five inches taller than me, at least a foot wider, and
rippled entirely in pure muscle. He growled at me in challenge,
ready for me to make my move; his eyes flicking between me and his
comrade on the ground. I smirked at him for only an instant before
flashing to him in less than a breath. Before he’d even realized
I’d moved, I grabbed his head and sent it crashing into the wall.
He wasn’t dead, it took more than that to kill someone like us, but
he definitely wouldn’t be doing much more at the moment. You learn
a thing or two being around as long as I have. You learn exactly
where to attack to disable your foe.

I caught my breath, staring down at
the motionless vampire at my feet before turning my body toward
Ming. He still sat at his desk, a smug look planted firmly on his
face. He didn’t look the least bit frightened; in fact, he looked
as if he hadn’t noticed anything that just happened. His cigar was
planted firmly between his lips, the cherry glowing as he sucked
greedily.

“
You betrayed me!” I
slammed my hands atop his desk.

“
I didn’t betray you,”
Ming answered, sounding annoyed. “But hear me now,” he rose, his
fangs extending menacingly across his lips, “this will be the last
time you come here! I will not support a charlatan. You bring shame
on our kind, William. Is this the thanks I get for all I have done
for you?”

That was just fine with
me. I didn’t plan on coming back here, anyway. I snatched the box
and made my way to the door without a word. In some ways this visit
had gone better than I thought. I got my supply, I was walking out
alive,
and
I
would never be coming here again. Mainstreaming wasn’t for me, it
never really had been. All that mattered to Ming, and those like
him, was power and blood. The more blood you controlled, the more
power you had. The more power you had the more blood you could
take. Aside from the measly animal blood banks, which weren’t even
a blip on Ming’s radar yet, there weren’t any banks left in our
region. It really left us with no choice but to do business with
him. Though…some were choosing to take their feeding to the streets
and that would cause all kinds of trouble for our kind. If humans
started showing up dead in the streets people would start asking
questions.

Was wanting to go back to the way my
kind used to feed so bad? Was bringing myself back to tradition,
back to a time when it wasn’t just about our next meal, but about
living a life of quality the wrong choice? Back then we didn’t hunt
humans like cattle, or drain them like flesh bags. Centuries with
Ming had forced me to believe that the stories about the first of
our kind were nothing but lies. That our kind had never coexisted
with humans. In my early years I hung on his every word, believing
everything he told me; but over time, the more he told me the tales
of the ancients weren’t true, the more I wanted to believe they
were.

“
William,” Ming called my
name as I passed through the doorway. Defying my orders, my feet
stuck to the ground like they’d been caught in cement. “Tell me,
what are you going to do once you’ve found whatever it is you’re
looking for?”

I turned around, ready to tell him off
when I realized I didn’t have an answer. I was so desperate to find
peace, to find purpose in my life that I hadn’t spent any time on
what I would do if I found it. Our species had to exist for a
reason, didn’t it? If that were true, then certainly that must mean
there is more for us elsewhere, isn’t there?

“
I don’t know,” I answered
without even thinking. I hadn’t meant to be honest with him, but I
guess it didn’t really matter anyway. I looked at my old friend and
my new enemy one last time before marching out of the
building.

Maybe it didn’t matter what I would do
when I found the truth. I’d worry about that when it happened, if
it happened. All I knew was there was something missing in my life,
something that gave me an overwhelming urge to search for the lost
piece of myself. It was more than knowing if there was life after
death, or if creatures like me were more than monsters. But maybe I
was searching in the wrong places. Could an old woman, lying on her
death bed really teach me the secrets of life? Hazel had taught me
a lot, but I really wasn’t any closer to discovering the truth than
I had ever been before.

No, I couldn’t believe that my search
was meaningless. There had to be something more for me in this
life. Why would God create a creature like me? Surely he hadn’t
intended us to be mindless, savages. There was a reason; I just
needed to discover it.

~

3

Goodbyes

I awoke on my couch, groggy and queasy
like a hung over college student. It took me a moment to comprehend
why my books were strewn all over my living room as if a tornado
had struck. Or, maybe one had. I was the tornado. I’d been frantic
when I arrived back in Denton. My mind had wandered erratically on
the drive home, filling my thoughts with ridiculous notions and
preposterous ideas.

My eyes scanned every book, read every
tall tale or outlandish legend about my kind. I studied each myth
and examined my volumes on religion. It had been an aimless search,
but I continued until the late hours of the morning. I’ve read each
of these manuscripts a dozen times, and I knew the answer I hunted
for wasn’t there, yet still I read until I couldn’t keep my eyes
open.

I felt like a fool, and I wanted to
give up, but something inside me wouldn’t allow me to let
go.

I glanced at my watch; it was one in
the afternoon. Today would be another difficult day, and I toyed
with the idea of staying home. I could lounge around, scanning the
internet for my next location. A change of scenery was definitely
needed, and this time I would move far beyond Ming’s reach. Maybe I
would give Canada a try, or maybe I should give Europe another go?
I still had friends in the country; perhaps they would be more
supportive?

Within an hour I was stuck between
London, and Toronto. I had no clue how I would ever decide. London
was familiar, it held fond memories for me and I wouldn’t be alone.
But, maybe I needed to be alone. I’d never been to Canada before,
and if anyone were to ever go looking for me that would be the last
place they’d look. I figured I still had two weeks, so I put that
decision on the back burner.