Vampire Manifesto (21 page)

His eyes, they seemed to glow and in that instant I knew that it wasn’t a trick of the lighting, or some type of fancy type of movie contacts. They were his eyes and they produced some odd type of incandesce.

“
Then what are you?”

“
Do you really want to know?” He pushed the crackers and the caviar away from him on the table, then pushed the table itself out the way, the thin marble tray swiveling somewhere out of sight.

“
I followed you down the rabbit’s hole, didn’t I?”

He crossed his arms. “Why yes, you did.”

I could feel the plane tilting upwards, rising into the infinite, the ground beneath us disappearing in the window. He was beside me, just like that. Eye blink style.

“
Do I frighten you?” He asked in all sincerity.

“
Yes. No.” He was so close to me now. The hairs on my neck stood on end. “I should be, but I’m not.”

“
Hmm…” He titled his head somewhat, at an angle impossible for a human to hold. “What do you think I am?”

A part of me wanted to move, to slide further down on the couch or move to another seat altogether, yet another part only wanted him to move closer. “I don’t know? The way you move, it’s like the Flash or something.”

“
Or something.” This time when he smiled I could see how sharp his teeth appeared.

Unnaturally sharp.

“
Let me explain something to you.” His fingers caressed the side of my face momentarily. His touch, the way it felt against my flesh was like concrete cinder block inside a satin bag. “I am not the hero of this story.”

I drew back. “What’s that supposed to mean Connor?”

The stewardess came back with my food, placed it on an ivy counter top, then disappeared back where she came.

“
It means that Palm Coast, this is MY city. Mine and mine alone. I run this. What happened to you, the way that went down, nobody does that in my town without my prior knowledge and permission. It’s disrespectful.”

“
Why are you telling me this?” I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, but I didn’t like it.

“
I just want you to understand, so you don’t have any misconceptions about who and what I am.” He took a bite out of one of my home fries.

“
What are you Connor?”

“
I’m a Vampire, Madison.”

“
You? You’re a Vampire?” I couldn’t believe what he was telling me.

“
Yes.”

I couldn’t help but let out an unexpected giggle. “No, come on, really, what are you?”

“
You’re so not taking this seriously are you?” He sighed.

“
Do you sparkle in sunlight?” I asked.

“
Now you’re just mocking me.”

I grabbed my bacon double and took a humongous bite. “You just don’t come off as the Vampire type is all. I mean, Mutant type, yeah, I could kinda buy that, I’ve seen Heroes, especially with the super-fast running thing you got going on, plus I watch the news, they claim Mutants might be real now, some genetic thing and all, but a Vampire?” I grabbed a handful of fries and stuffed them in my mouth as well, speaking through mouthfuls of food. “Are you sure you’re a Vampire? I mean, are you certain?”

“
You must need another visual aid.” He said “MADEMOISELLE!”

The cute little blonde Stewardess drew back the curtain and stepped inside the cabin. He was on her before she could speak, clamping down on the arterial vein in her neck with his sharpened teeth. Blood sprayed everywhere, his hand around her mouth to muffle her screams. He drew his head back, eyes closed, as he let out a moan of pleasure, his face and neck covered in blood, dark crimson dripping down the sides of his mouth and jaw.

She was still alive, but barely, whimpering softly. Connor wrapped his hands around her chin and head then twisted violently, snapping her neck with such ferocity, such force, that she just slumped to the ground dead. His head came to attention, opening his eyes to look at me. They were jet black orbs surrounding a bright glowing amber iris. His skin had gone a sickly pale white and I could see the blood moving in the veins of his face.

I wanted to scream, but my voice was caught up in my throat. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere for me to go and just like that, he was in front of me again, his face ever so close, covered in the blood of a dead woman, a ghastly apparition, just like the monsters from my dream.

“
I am not…the hero…of the story.” He repeated again. Very slowly this time, so that every word sunk in. I could see his teeth, see how Vampiric they were as he spoke, yet they were not like the movies where it was just the fangs that were sharp, it was the opposite. It was like a mouthful of perfectly manicured talons, akin to a lion’s maw. His face was blood soaked from the nose down.

It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever witnessed in my life.

He was across the cabin now, instantaneously, sitting in his original chair, the one he was resting in when I first entered the plane, napkin in hand, wiping off his fingers. His face was immaculate, completely free of blood, as if nothing had ever happened.

He finished grooming himself, then looked at the back of his hands examining his fingernails. He dropped the blood drenched cloth on the dead woman’s head at his feet, then tossed me a clean napkin. I think it was cashmere.

“
You’ve got blood on your face.”

A red headed Stewardess appeared from behind the curtain along with two, buff looking men. They grabbed the dead woman by the legs and drug her back behind the curtain.

“
Anything else Monsieur?” Asked the cute little redheaded Stewardess.

“
That will be all.” Connor announced, waving her off. “A little privacy for me and my colleague here.”

She turned and disappeared behind the red curtain. Apparently dead co-workers must come complimentary with the inflight movie. I looked in the mirror, my hand trembling as I wiped a dark streak of blood from my face. It was so hard to concentrate, I was so terrified.

This was it Madison
, I thought to myself.
This is your moment
.

“
I…I want to go home.” I could barely get the words out. Barely enunciate them correctly even though they were the only thing on my mind.

Connor just shook his head and laughed. “It’s too late for that now baby, we’re going to San Francisco.”

“
Are you going to kill me?” I had to regain my composure. It didn’t matter that I just witnessed a brutal murder by some…
Mythological Creature in Urban Society
.

Damn you John Rogers.

“
Quite the contrary, Madison. You and the rest of your little Wu-Tang Clan, Aiden, Ethan, Abigail, the whole Scooby-doo network, all of you are under my protection.”

“
What does that mean? Your protection?” I couldn’t understand how calm he was. How he was going on and on about whatever, ignoring the fact that some women…I mean he just snapped her…oh God I’m going to die. He’s going to…

“
Oh, well this just isn’t going to do.” He seemed agitated by my emotion. “We can’t have a civilized conversation if you’re thinking I’m going to murder you at any moment.”

No, we can’t.

His eyes were back to normal, that is, back to normal for Connor. Beautiful grey, with tiny amber flecks which began to glow brighter than normal. “It’s okay. Repeat it.”

A dull hypnotic trance began to take over me, my mind becoming all wishy washy. “It’s okay.” I repeated.

“
I’m not going to harm you.”

“
You’re not going to harm me.” I could feel my trepidation about Connor slip away, still there, yet just out of my grasp.

“
Despite what anyone else says about me, you can always trust me. I will always protect you and yours.”

“
I am completely safe with you. You will protect me, my family and my friends.” I don’t know what I was even thinking before. Connor would always be there for me. He already saved my life once. If he wanted me dead, I would be. He doesn’t want to kill me, he wants to protect me.

Duh.

The amber in his eyes dimmed down a bit. “There, much better now, eh?”

I blinked my eyes, shaking the cobwebs from my head. I felt so much calmer then before. Yeah, I was still frightened, I mean, the dudes a Vampire, a real Vampire, but he was…
my
Vampire. If that made any sense.

“
What did you…what did you just do to me?”

“
Super-secret Vampire trick.” He seemed amused with himself.

“
Which is?”

“
Become a Vampire and find out.”

“
I don’t want to become a…” I stopped, my eyes drawn to the deep, saturated blood stain on the carpet. “You just made me an accessary to murder.”

“
I told you that before we left the house.” He laughed.

“
You can’t…” I struggled with the words, not ever imagining in my life that they would ever be coming from my lips. “You just can’t kill people around me Connor.”

“
I’m a Vampire, Madison. I can do whatever the hell I want.” He said. “Especially kill people. That’s what Vampires do.”

“
Not anymore.” I was regaining my courage somehow. Despite what I just saw, I wasn’t as frightened. My composure was returning.

“
Whatever, Madison.”

“
No, it’s not whatever.” I snapped. “Promise me…”

“
Promise you what?”

“
Promise me that you’re not going to kill anyone while we’re in California, Connor.”

He gave me the most incredulous stare. “I’m not gonna do that.”

“
Promise me or when we land, I’m catching the first flight home.”

He refused to speak.

“
Now, Connor.” I demanded. “It’s a deal breaker. I…I can’t be involved in that. I refuse to be involved in that.”

“
Fine. Whatever. I promise.” He said begrudgingly.

I couldn’t believe what my life had become. How much it had changed in a matter of days. It seemed like just yesterday, I was hanging out with my friends, drinking, cutting school, partying down at the beach and tonight…

Well tonight I’m on a plane to California, witness to a murder, companion to the murderer, who was also a Vampire, who also just happened to save my life. As the world turns, huh? I studied his features, yet he seemed so normal, so complacent. Nothing like those vile creatures I’ve been dreaming about, well, at least now he doesn’t. Just a few minutes ago however…

“
How did it happen?” I asked.

“
How did what happen?”

“
How did you…you know, become a Vampire.” I specified. “How did it happen?”

There was a long pause and I could tell he was mulling over in his mind what he should say. “I don’t know.” He admitted finally.

“
You don’t know?” I repeated. “How is that possible?”

Connor shrugged. “I just woke up like this one day. It’s not like the movies Madison; sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to things. No tragic, poetic meaning at the moment of Vampiric creation. Sometimes it just is what it is. I woke up and didn’t know what I was and a lot of people died because of it.”

He seemed somewhat taken aback, like the memory of the thing had just rose up from some dark abyss and was attempting to swallow him whole. In that moment he seemed almost human to me.

Almost…

“
Tell me.” I asked again. “I…I need to know.”