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Proudly Presents:
Blood Ties
#5: In The Beginning
Family Ties Prelude
cover: a man standing in front of the ruins of a burned-down house, a woman's head in the clouds above him, smiling evilly. The words "Family Ties: Prelude" are featured over the logo.
WARNING: This title contains language and situations that may not be suitable for readers under the age of 17, or for anyone who is in the least bit squeamish.
For ten years I have hunted this beast, this unholy creature of death. I have followed it's trail of corpses here, the place it all started. I hunt alone; my prey has killed what few allies I had. Tonight, I pray to a God who has no doubt damned me. I pray for forgiveness, for my part in the beast's creation. I pray for my prey. One way or another, it ends here.
My name is Michael Jocasta. My prey is Keili Nephthys. We are both Vampyre.
The year was 1987. Keili and I were still human back then. I was an engineering major at Mount Pleasant University at the time. That's where I met her. To say that I was instantly attracted to her was an understatement. She had dark red hair, bright green eyes, and a brilliant, contagious smile. We dated a few months before moving in together off-campus. Keili was my friend, lover, classmate, roommate, conscience, and devil's advocate all rolled into one perfect package.
Until that fateful night, almost exactly ten years ago...
For some reason I cannot remember, I'd accepted an invitation to a frat party hosted by MPU's resident "Animal House", Sigma Pi; not so affectionately refered to as "Sick Pigs".
I admit, I was half-blitzed on cheap beer when I saw her. No, not Keili... she'd stayed at the apartment that night. This was someone else. Someone I'd never seen before. She was tall, almost six feet, with a waist-length mane of thick black hair. The hair contrasted greatly with her pale complexion. She wore a simple white T-shirt tucked into a tight pair of black jeans.
As I watched from the bar, several guys attempted to dance with her, but she ignored them all. Then, she looked over at me, and our eyes locked.
It was as if I had no control over my body. I drifted through the crowd to her, taking her into my arms there on the dance floor. We danced, gazing into each other's eyes for a long while.
"Hi," I finally managed to stammer. "I'm Mike." Even in my drunken state, I felt it rude not to introduce myself.
"Starr," she replied in a soft yet sultry voice. If I hadn't been going with Keili at the time, I think I would have asked her to marry me.
We danced for two hours that night, until I told her that I just had to sit down. I was exhausted, yet she seemed to be full of energy.
"Can I get you a beer?" I asked her, hoping to strike up a conversation that would lead us upstairs.
"No," she replied. "I don't drink... alcohol." The pause went by me completely at the time.
Glancing at the clock over the bar, I noticed that it was approaching 1 am.
"They're late," I muttered.
"Who?" she asked. "The night's still young."
"Campus police," I explained. "They usually bust this place around midnight during these parties. This frat ain't known as 'Sick Pigs' for nothing." I indicated a bunch of crack-heads at the other end of the bar.
Grabbing my hand, she pulled me towards the staircase. "Let's check out one of the rooms." We half-raced, half-staggered (well, I was the only one staggering at that point) into one of the upstairs bedrooms.
I won't delude anyone. Yes, I had sex with Starr that night. To say that that was the worst mistake of my now immortal life is a severe understatement.
I vaguely remember what happened afterwards. I fell back on the bed, completely spent. Through half-closed eyes I saw here leaning over me, using her nails to open a cut in her breast.
"Drink" she whispered in my ear. I thought I was dreaming until I tasted her blood on my lips and tongue. She pulled away, and I watched her self-inflicted would close up, as if it had never existed. Not even a scar remained on her pale breast.
It wasn't until she bared her gleaming white fangs that I felt fear. She lunged for my neck, I felt a sharp pinch, screamed out in pain, and then blacked out.
I awoke the next morning with a splitting hangover. The sunlight flitting through the half-closed venetian blinds hurt my eyes as I reached for my clothes. Starr was long gone, for which I was thankful.
My head was pounding, my neck ached, and I felt an intense hunger unlike anything I'd felt before. My mouth was dry, and I found it difficult to close it without biting my lip. As I reached for the sunglasses that sat on the bookshelf, I happened to glance in the mirror that was there, and froze.
My normally tanned complexion had faded, making me look like death warmed over. My hair was a mess, adding to the look. There was a large red mark on my neck. As I leaned in closer to examine it, I saw that there were two puncture marks in my neck, just below the jugular. Most disturbing, however, were the enlarged canines I saw. Those weren't teeth; they were fangs.
After fixing my hair so that I'd be at least half-way presentable, I wandered out into the hallway, thinking that I'd hit the kitchen for some breakfast. I never made it past the door.
Apparently, I wasn't the only person to get lucky the night before, as this one slinky blonde in a short kimono appeared from the door across the hall.
New instincts took over, as I attacked her. Wrapping one arm around her waist, I clamped my other hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming. Without thinking, I plunged my new fangs into her neck, drinking deeply. Starr's blood had been cold, but the blonde's was fresh, warm, salty, and, God forgive me, delicious. I felt my strength return as I drank, as the blonde stopped struggling.
I'd like to say that I let her go as she blacked out, but I can't. I don't know why I didn't stop right then. If I did, she'd still be alive. I remember feeling satisfied as I dropped her lifeless body to the floor. That's when my brain registered what I had done.
I was horrified, both at what I had done and what I had become. I was now a vampire, a creature of the night. And, with this single senseless act, I had just sealed my fate.
Somehow, I managed to get out of the frat house unnoticed. I don't know why, but I carried my victim with me. I didn't want her death connected to the frat house. Too many people I knew had seen us there that night. As it was, I dropped her in a dumpster about a half-mile away from the frat house in a direction opposite from where Keili and I lived. Fortunately, I had stuck to the shadows, and performed this feat unnoticed.
The sunlight hurt me, yet contrary to what I thought would happen I did not burst into flame or fade from existence whenever I had to venture out into the sun. I found myself growing hungrier as I approached the apartment. It was noon by the time I managed to get inside and closed the door.
"That you, Mike?" Keili called out from the bathroom.
Not her! I screamed at myself, wandering into the bedroom. "Yes."
She stepped out of the bathroom as I fell face-first into the bed we shared.
"Got lucky last night, I see," she commented. "She show you any new tricks for tonight?"
"This one you do not want to know," I told her, hiding my face in a pillow.
I felt her sitting on the bed next to me. "What's wrong, Mike?" Her light touch was accentuated by my now-enhanced senses as she ran her hands up and down my back.
"It's better if one of us moved out," I told her. "It'd be safer."
"'Safer'?" I could hear the puzzlement in her voice. "Mike, you're starting to scare me."
"Kei..." I hesitated. I wanted with all my inhuman heart to tell her the truth. I was also fighting my animal instincts to toss her on the bed and drain her of her blood. I felt my fangs growing against my bottom lip in anticipation.
"Hey, Mikey! This is me. We swore that we'd never have secrets between us."
"Okay." Slowly, hesitatingly, I turned to face her. God, she looked beautiful. Her face ran a gamut of emotions in a single second. Repulsion, fear, worry, and finally love. Still, I could see her hesitation in her eyes.
"Oh!" She caressed my face in her hands. "What happened?"
I explained what had happened to her. All the while, I was growing increasingly attracted to her neck. I could see her shudder when I told her of drinking Starr's blood. When I told her of the blonde, she turned and ran out into the main room of the apartment. Still, I failed to hear the front door open, so I knew she was still inside.
Standing up, I wandered into the main room. Keili sat at a window, gazing out at the sun.
"So, are you going to kill me as well, Mike?" she asked, turning to look me in the eye. I could still see the fear, yet I could see something else. Courage? Love? Something else?
"Keili, I might be a vampire, but that doesn't mean I don't have the same feelings I used to. I still love you. That'll never change."
She stood up and kissed me, tenderly. I simply held her close, my hunger fading.
"Let me join you," she whispered. "Make me a vampire."
"No," I whispered back. "I can't make you go through this hell. I love you too much to see you suffer like I am."
"It won't be hell if we're together in it."
I thought about this for a moment. You know what they say, that misery loves company. I also thought about later in life. I'd watch Keili grow old, while I stayed eternally young. That would have been torture for both of us.
"You know what you're asking?"
"Yes," she whispered in my ear. "I do." Ah, those two words. Often used to proclaim a marriage. Was it that she saw this as a marriage between us? "I do" was a commitment; a commitment I didn't think either of us were ready for. But weren't we already committed to each other?
I pulled away from her, and wandered into the kitchen. There, I grabbed a small paring knife from a drawer, and walked back into the living area. Pulling up my left sleeve, I ran the knife across my wrist, drawing blood.
"Once you drink," I told her, "there's no turning back." I offered her my wrist.
"I know," she replied. Taking my wrist in hers, she raised it to her mouth. I think we both shuddered when she took her first sip.
I let her drink for a minute before pulling my wrist away. I led her back into the bedroom, had her lay down on the bed, and leaned over her.
"Please," she whispered. "Finish it."
Closing my eyes, I kissed her neck tenderly before sinking my fangs into it. I drank deeply, making sure not to drain her completely, just enough to make her lose consciousness. Then I laid down beside her, and fell asleep.
I was awakened by movement; Keili was stirring. Sitting up, I asked her, "Hungry, love?"
"Famished." There was an intensity in her eyes that had never been there before. She kissed me, before standing up and looking at herself in the mirror.
"I look like hell," she commented.
"Well, I think you still look lovely," I told her. "Just in a vampish kind of way tonight."
Standing up, I embraced her from behind, kissing her lightly on the neck. I toyed with the twin puncture marks with my tongue.
"So, who's on the menu tonight?" This took me by surprise. As if on cue, there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it," I told her. Walking through the apartment, I opened up the main door a crack. Outside was the landlady. One half of my mind was yelling "FOOD!" The other half was saying, "Don't do it!"
"Yes, Mrs. Harris?"
"You kids feeling all right? I knocked earlier, but there was no response. In case you hadn't noticed, yer rent is due today."
I guess the "FOOD!" side of my brain won, because I offered her into the apartment while I went and got my checkbook from the bedroom. When I told Keili who it was, she smiled.
"Can I?" she asked, her eyes taking on a distictive red glow for a second. I can't remeber nodding, but I must have. I know I didn't say anything.
We came back into the living area, to see old Mrs. Harris looking at one of the five-dollar paintings we had decorating the place. Her back was to us... perfect prey.
My arm snaked around her waist. Kei's hand clamped over her mouth. Without thinking, we pulled her into the bedroom. I locked the door as Keili sank her fangs into the old lady's neck. Then I joined her on the bed, drinking from the woman's arm. When I felt her go limp, I pulled Keili away from her.
"Don't stop me, Mike! I need it!"
"We kill her, people will be asking questions!"
"Let them ask! I need her blood!"
I slapped her once, sharply, on the cheek. "Listen to yourself! You sound like a junkie. I know this is your first drink, and all that, but we have to maintain discretion!" I could see that take hold in her blood-crazed mind.
"You... you're right." She turned to face the Mrs. Harris' limp body on the bed. "But what do we do with her?"
"I'll clean her up and carry her down to her apartment," I explained. "Fill out the rent check, and I'll place it on her table. Let's just hope that people don't believe her if she claims she has two bloodsuckers living here."
When I got back to the apartment, Keili was gone. I noticed the window was open. It was then that I caught a faint scent. I hadn't noticed it before, but all of my senses had been enhanced. Keili had left me a trail, although it appears she didn't want to. I feared for her. Did I make a mistake vamping her?
Climbing out onto the fire escape, I followed the scent.vIt was near dawn by the time I caught up with her. She had gone to her parents' place. I was too late. Keili had killed them both. For a moment, I thought her siblings had also been victims. Then I saw Sara, Keili's seventeen-year-old sister, in the kitchen crouching over her fourteen year old brother, drinking deeply. Grabbing a knife off the counter, I steeled myself, preparing to plunge the knife into Sara's back.
"Uhn-uhn-uh!" I heard Keili behind me. "Mikey, Mikey, Mikey. Why did you come? It would have been so much easier if you hadn't followed me."
I knew right then and there that the Keili I knew and loved was dead. She was now a monster, a ruthless killer. Reasoning with her was out of the question. I knew right then and there that I had to kill her, or others would suffer like her parents and siblings had.
I lunged at her with the knife, but she easily sidestepped me. We fought, with her and Sara ganging up on me.
How the fire got started, I can't remember. I think one of us sliced a power cord someplace. I do know that it consumed the house. Three bodies were found, but Keili and Sara had escaped.
Now, ten years later, as I stand in front of the house that was built on top of the ashes of Keili's parents' place, I swear to myself that the killing ends here. We have come full circle. And may God have mercy on the souls of anyone who gets in my way.