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  Old Blood

  The Beginning Book One

  Charles Thornton

  Copyright 2014 Charles Thornton

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  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 1

  The air was cold and damp and the moon had a haze of reddish orange. The night was young, it was only 11’ o clock, but I had more on my mind than a midnight stroll. My name is Ryan O’Connell, and while I should be telling you this story with a dramatic sigh, I tell you it with ease. I was hungry, but I wasn’t hungry for burgers and fries, I had no appetite for human food. I was thirsty for blood. I didn’t have an appetite for animal blood either; I had an appetite for human blood. I had an appetite that was uncontrollable; it was an insatiable urge that I could not fulfill. I watched him from a distance as he clumsily made his way to his car. I had been watching this guy for a while now. I had been watching him for days waiting for the right moment. I had been hiding in the bushes where I could not be seen. I had wanted to spring forward and attack, but I was looking for the right opportunity.

  I knew I couldn’t attack him if he went under a street light. I hated the bright lights and I was nothing more than a moving target if I want under a street lamp. I was much smarter than that. Never attack anyone in large crowds, never attack where there are cameras, and never attack by a street light. I was smarter than what anyone thought. I didn’t survive as long as I did as a dumb vampire. I have lived and seen things most vampires never live to see. I have fought in multiple wars, met many famous writers and artists, and traveled the world. You don’t just attack a mortal when they are under a streetlight. That’s mere suicide and sheer lunacy. Unless you want all hell to break loose and widespread panic to erupt, you wait and you swoop when the time is right. The last thing you want is to create fear and widespread panic.

  I waited for the right time to make the chase and there it was. I forget what his name was, but honestly it didn’t matter, he was just another futile victim. The dumbass parked his car in the dark. What type of idiot does that? That’s a good way to get robbed or killed, but tonight I guess it’s an amazing way for me to have an easy meal. I wasn’t sure how I wanted to make my entrance. After 600 years, deciding what entrance to make can get quite old. Making an entrance is all about stage presence. God, I sound like a gay vampire. I figured I would do the stealthiest entrance and I would swoop down from the building right next to his car. He wouldn’t see me coming as I swooped down like a bat.

  I did just that too. I swooped down and the guy tried to run, only to hit a telephone pole. I guess the come in handy after all. I’m not really sure why, but I find it entertaining as I see the fear in their eyes just before I bite. The shear trepidation gives me goose bumps and I find it exhilarating. The guy tried to let out a scream only for nothing to come out. I muffled his screams with my cape. I drank his copper tasting crimson blood and let it flow through my veins. I turned into a bat and I flew away into the night ever so gracefully. I honestly don’t think that I had ever had an easier kill in my entire life. It’s rather perplexing quite frankly because I thought he would actually put up a fight. He was a middle aged man and he looked agile. Maybe he had an ominous feeling something bad was going to happen or maybe he just succumbed to his destiny.

  As I flew away I heard a female voice call out my name. The scent of her perfume was vaguely familiar and her voice sounded familiar. Her perfume smelled of rose petals and vanilla. It was intoxicating to my nostrils and I couldn’t resist the urge to come back and investigate. The voice sounded like Rosella, I never forget a voice and I never forget a woman’s scent either. She was interested in me romantically and had been for many years now, but I didn’t see the same attraction to her. I had many intimate encounters with Rosella on cold winter nights, but she and I are both vampires, and I prefer the love of a beating heart. I have been in love many times before and it is always with the same woman somehow. It’s her doppelganger, or someone who looks just like her. This someone I fall in love with is always part of that same family tree somehow. Call it a curse or call it unrequited love. My first love’s name was Angela and our love started just before I became a vampire. She died of pneumonia before I could turn her into a vampire. The rules of a vampire are you shall never turn the dead, never feed off of the dead or sick, never turn a child, and never create new life with a mortal. You learn these rules as you go, but they are pretty basic. If you want to survive as a vampire you must also blend in with the living as much as possible.

  Rosella was a fellow vampire and she had just recently turned 300 years young. Not bad for her age quite frankly. Woman age progressively quicker than men unless they feed more often or unless they become a vampire succubus. That’s better known as someone who preys on every desire of a man and then drains him slowly until she can get nothing more. She was very good at attracting the men and she didn’t look any older than a 35 year old mortal being. Rosella had her fair share of guys that she snared in her tangled little lust web, like a hungry black widow, whose only mission is to feed. I have had 600 years to figure out the many things that I have, in my eyes you are still a child and so is she. You were only freshly bitten a few months ago and brought out of incubation Benjamin. You’re new to the vampire world and you have a lot to learn. I can’t even remember my isolation from the other vampires and from humans. It’s not easy at all. It’s a transition and a sacrifice one must make for the good of himself and his vampire tribe. When you get your first taste of blood you’re like an addict trying to secure their next fix. You’re worried about that next high and where it’s going to come from. I remember when I made my first attack and I also remember when I almost starved to death. Both were grim times in my opinion, but it only gets better as time goes on. Every time I make an attack I worry about if people are going to see me or not. It’s a different world out there now than it was when I first became a vampire. I vaguely remember fighting in the Hundred Years war and Wars of the Roses in the 1400’s. I fondly recollect exploring Florida with Desoto in the 1500’s. I remember serving in the English and French war in the 1600’s. The 1700’s were a blur, I know I was in a lot of wars and I drank a lot to pass the time and escape my loneliness. In the 1800’s cocaine was my demon of choice. It kept me up days at a time and when I didn’t have blood I felt the exhilarating rush of cocaine exude me. I could go on and on and tell you how I mingled with musicians, travelled with silent films stars, help authors write famous works, or even help composers create masterpieces. My life has been colorful, but it’s also been rather boring. I have never been able to find that one true love. I’m afraid that if I do, I won’t be able to turn her.

  It’s the 21st century and people have guns, knives, and all sorts of other things. The only thing we had to worry about before was a wooden stake to the heart. Piercing a vampire’s heart with wood or hardened steel will kill them. Also if we bleed to death we can die. I have also heard of vampires recently who have died of the flu. It’s not uncommon that something so simple that a human recovers from will kill us. Don’t think you’re completely immortal and don’t get too cocky. It’s all about survival of the fittest. I watched him stare at me intensely and I knew that this vampire was going to b
e great in his own right. I just had to help him get to greatness. I had to keep telling him my story though, the story of Angela and my intense love for her and all of the loves after. It seemed like he was the only one who was listening.