Where It All Begins
If you are fond of vampire tales or other macabre manifestations of the night, you might have noticed a trend for redundancy in such narratives. “Damned for Eternity” is a short novella that attempts to put a new twist on the blood suckers of yore.
Teaser excerpt from later in the story:
The vampire smiled at me with the teeth bared. Its eyes piercing me with a cold, metallic glint as it softly whispered in clear-cut tones of finality close enough to me so that I could feel no breath brushing my cheek with each word, “We do not cast shadows as we are shadows, shades, darkness, night. We are evil from hell and hell-bound. We come from the Inferno to collect the souls of man to damn each one forever and ever. If you do not believe in us or our Maker, then you are not saved and will live with us in eternal night for all time.”
A pale, bluish hand, razor thin with nails delicately pointed, reached up to brush against my face in the lightest caress. I could feel the coolness like a frigid blast throughout my being, so cold it was intensely burning. The hand rested there a moment longer, and I could sense the pleasure the creature was receiving from my exquisite revulsion and pain. It leaned in still further, “Tonight is not the night I will take you. You will know when your time comes for my face will be the last and first one you will ever see.” The vampire's touch left me and it melted away, leaving so quickly that it was almost like the finale in a magician’s disappearing act.
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1 - The First Sign
Draped by sheer sadness,
Eternal dead night beckon:
Light my way, Demon
Velvety, soft tears
Restraining circulation;
Pleasure that brings Pain
This is my story of how I became damned, cursed. Of how I sold my soul and very existence to Satan. I am detailing this chronicle of my fall while the last few vestiges of humanity remain so that others might take heed. If you do not believe in Vampires (as I once did not), you soon will.
I grew up Catholic, going to church each Sunday with my parents in their small town parish. During the sermons, I frequently paid little attention to the words, being instead lost in my own world and words, in my own mind. The same followed for my Sunday school lessons. By the time I was an adult, those stories of sin and redemption were ill-forgotten, hazy memories with no impact or meaning on my day-to-day life. If God, Jesus or even Satan were real entities, I didn’t profess to know. I was an agnostic with the “I’m not sure of anything” mentality.
Something happened when I began reaching my late twenties. I started to wonder what I was doing, why I wasn’t enjoying myself more. I had, up to that time, subconsciously allowed a prudish type of behavior to lead me to not go out for parties, go drinking, or seek friends outside my family. At this time, I met a friend who was gay. He started showing me the wilder part of the city—the bars, the drugs, and the voyeuristic avenues of the adult bookstores. I didn’t fully enter into that world, still remaining an outsider at the core, but I drifted even further into debauchery, further away from the world of my childhood. My isolation from everyone intensified during this period and this is where the tale ensues.
One night, I left my friend at the bar to walk home. I lived a couple of miles away and wanted to clear my head after the alcohol I’d consumed. The alley near the back of the bar had a couple grunting in the dark. I could hear their animalistic noises echoing as I hurried past, averting my eyes. The lamplights were dimmed with the snow falling and the air was crisp. It was almost two o’clock for the last call when the bars would let out their patrons as teeming, drunken masses into the calm night, so I hurried quickly to leave downtown.
The air seemed to grow colder as I reached a deserted area where a few businesses had closed shop. A heavier covering of snow blanketed the ground here, making it difficult to walk very fast. The quiet was deafening in its intensity, and I almost wished for the sounds of cars or other people around to break the stillness. Suddenly, I heard a sound like a scream nearby and stopped, listening. I heard the scream again and it seemed to be even closer. I could make out a shadowy figure in black in the misting snow right ahead of me near the side of the small grocery store. Clearing my voice, I asked with a slight wavering note, “Is there anything the matter?” The words seem to cut the air, turning everything from stillness into motion. Suddenly, the figure looked up straight into my eyes. I could see with total clarity the scene before me. A woman on the ground had blood all over her; her pale face plainly depicted her gruesome death. The blood was so thick upon the figure crouching over her as well, staining in dark maroon reds to crimson blacks the already pitch clothes and enriching them into subtle contours of depravity. Seeing my look of horror, the creature’s lips red with blood curled to smile, showing a row of teeth, sharpened, covered in blood. Before I lost consciousness, I heard a laugh so riddled with derision and enmity that I knew I would never forget its sound to the last of my days.
When I woke up, I was by myself on the cold ground. I began shivering convulsively. Lifting myself up onto my right arm, I looked around and there was no-one at all there. I brushed my watch crystal to see the time. It was still slightly before two o’clock as if time itself had stood still. Staring at the clock to make sure it was working, I watched it tick past to 1:58, then redirected my attention to the alleyway next to the grocery store. Getting up, I walked cautiously toward it but nothing was there now, no blood, no footprints, only a few boxes on one wall near a mirror with a rippling crack at the top. I decided at that point to call a taxi, waiting on edge until it arrived. When I reached home, I turned on all the lights and television, then sat up most the night to write a description of what I had seen so that I would remember every detail. When I did fall asleep, it was late into morning as the sun streamed across me in a comforting wave of warmth.
This bizarre sighting was the first sign. I should have taken the warning. I knew in my heart that what I’d seen had been real, that I hadn’t been dreaming it or suddenly taken to insanity.
For the next installment, please see "2 Swirling Into Darkness"
If you are fond of vampire tales or other macabre manifestations of the night, you might have noticed a trend for redundancy in such narratives. “Damned for Eternity” is a short novella that attempts to put a new twist on the blood suckers of yore.
Teaser excerpt from later in the story:
The vampire smiled at me with the teeth bared. Its eyes piercing me with a cold, metallic glint as it softly whispered in clear-cut tones of finality close enough to me so that I could feel no breath brushing my cheek with each word, “We do not cast shadows as we are shadows, shades, darkness, night. We are evil from hell and hell-bound. We come from the Inferno to collect the souls of man to damn each one forever and ever. If you do not believe in us or our Maker, then you are not saved and will live with us in eternal night for all time.”
A pale, bluish hand, razor thin with nails delicately pointed, reached up to brush against my face in the lightest caress. I could feel the coolness like a frigid blast throughout my being, so cold it was intensely burning. The hand rested there a moment longer, and I could sense the pleasure the creature was receiving from my exquisite revulsion and pain. It leaned in still further, “Tonight is not the night I will take you. You will know when your time comes for my face will be the last and first one you will ever see.” The vampire's touch left me and it melted away, leaving so quickly that it was almost like the finale in a magician’s disappearing act.
-----------------------------------------
1 - The First Sign
Eternal dead night beckon:
Light my way, Demon
Velvety, soft tears
Restraining circulation;
Pleasure that brings Pain
This is my story of how I became damned, cursed. Of how I sold my soul and very existence to Satan. I am detailing this chronicle of my fall while the last few vestiges of humanity remain so that others might take heed. If you do not believe in Vampires (as I once did not), you soon will.
I grew up Catholic, going to church each Sunday with my parents in their small town parish. During the sermons, I frequently paid little attention to the words, being instead lost in my own world and words, in my own mind. The same followed for my Sunday school lessons. By the time I was an adult, those stories of sin and redemption were ill-forgotten, hazy memories with no impact or meaning on my day-to-day life. If God, Jesus or even Satan were real entities, I didn’t profess to know. I was an agnostic with the “I’m not sure of anything” mentality.
Something happened when I began reaching my late twenties. I started to wonder what I was doing, why I wasn’t enjoying myself more. I had, up to that time, subconsciously allowed a prudish type of behavior to lead me to not go out for parties, go drinking, or seek friends outside my family. At this time, I met a friend who was gay. He started showing me the wilder part of the city—the bars, the drugs, and the voyeuristic avenues of the adult bookstores. I didn’t fully enter into that world, still remaining an outsider at the core, but I drifted even further into debauchery, further away from the world of my childhood. My isolation from everyone intensified during this period and this is where the tale ensues.
One night, I left my friend at the bar to walk home. I lived a couple of miles away and wanted to clear my head after the alcohol I’d consumed. The alley near the back of the bar had a couple grunting in the dark. I could hear their animalistic noises echoing as I hurried past, averting my eyes. The lamplights were dimmed with the snow falling and the air was crisp. It was almost two o’clock for the last call when the bars would let out their patrons as teeming, drunken masses into the calm night, so I hurried quickly to leave downtown.
The air seemed to grow colder as I reached a deserted area where a few businesses had closed shop. A heavier covering of snow blanketed the ground here, making it difficult to walk very fast. The quiet was deafening in its intensity, and I almost wished for the sounds of cars or other people around to break the stillness. Suddenly, I heard a sound like a scream nearby and stopped, listening. I heard the scream again and it seemed to be even closer. I could make out a shadowy figure in black in the misting snow right ahead of me near the side of the small grocery store. Clearing my voice, I asked with a slight wavering note, “Is there anything the matter?” The words seem to cut the air, turning everything from stillness into motion. Suddenly, the figure looked up straight into my eyes. I could see with total clarity the scene before me. A woman on the ground had blood all over her; her pale face plainly depicted her gruesome death. The blood was so thick upon the figure crouching over her as well, staining in dark maroon reds to crimson blacks the already pitch clothes and enriching them into subtle contours of depravity. Seeing my look of horror, the creature’s lips red with blood curled to smile, showing a row of teeth, sharpened, covered in blood. Before I lost consciousness, I heard a laugh so riddled with derision and enmity that I knew I would never forget its sound to the last of my days.
When I woke up, I was by myself on the cold ground. I began shivering convulsively. Lifting myself up onto my right arm, I looked around and there was no-one at all there. I brushed my watch crystal to see the time. It was still slightly before two o’clock as if time itself had stood still. Staring at the clock to make sure it was working, I watched it tick past to 1:58, then redirected my attention to the alleyway next to the grocery store. Getting up, I walked cautiously toward it but nothing was there now, no blood, no footprints, only a few boxes on one wall near a mirror with a rippling crack at the top. I decided at that point to call a taxi, waiting on edge until it arrived. When I reached home, I turned on all the lights and television, then sat up most the night to write a description of what I had seen so that I would remember every detail. When I did fall asleep, it was late into morning as the sun streamed across me in a comforting wave of warmth.
This bizarre sighting was the first sign. I should have taken the warning. I knew in my heart that what I’d seen had been real, that I hadn’t been dreaming it or suddenly taken to insanity.
For the next installment, please see "2 Swirling Into Darkness"
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