THE LEGEND
by
Vicki E Slaughter
As the moon rose, his eyes opened. It was time for his feeding. He was so tired of this empty existence. He sometimes wished that one day he would go to sleep and never awaken, but his ever-hungry body would never let that happen. His life as a normal man was only a dim memory after all the centuries, but still, even in its dimness, it haunted him. To be a man again! To at least have a true death.
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"Stop!" he cries silently to his mind. "No more. I can take no more of thoughts of what was and can never be again."
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He shook his head as if to chase his human desires away, even though he knew that upon each awakening, they would return. Now, however; his hunger overcomes his more rational thoughts. Food. He must have food. Slowly he rises from his bed of dirt to answer the call of his instincts. Once again, the man-thing must roam the night.
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It was a perfect night for hunters, a full moon shone overhead. But he was one hunter who hated the brightness so like the sun. He hid within one of the few shadows the moon could not illuminate. As he waited for his prey to find him, he was overcome by memories of his Diane. Memories of her beauty in face and soul, and the love she had felt for him so long ago. Memories that made what he had become all the more horrible. He stifled a groan.
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But again, his human memories are pushed aside to release his inhuman instincts. Survival. Above all, one must survive.
He sniffed the air and bared his white teeth. A victim was nearing...
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Then he sees her face. "No!" he cries in an anguished hiss. "Not her! She is Diane!"
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"No,” his inhuman side mocks him. "Diane died long ago. This is another. One who resembles her, nothing more. Now go to her. We must eat."
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His human side moans, “No, I cannot." But his body is not controlled by his human side, and he moves forward to reach out of his protective shadow. Reaching out to attack the girl so like his beautiful Diane.
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His teeth gleamed in the moonlight as he approached the motionless girl. So strangely silent was she, even though he had no doubts that she saw him. She neither ran, nor screamed. "By now she should be screaming,” thinks his inhuman side. "Why is she not screaming?"
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Tentatively, he moved closer. To his surprise, the girl smiled and held out her hand in welcome. "Taron!" she cried happily. He stops to study her warily. She moves closer, saying, “Taron. It is you! I would know you anywhere. I've been searching for you for such a long time."
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He rears back and away from the too familiar face. "Diane? How can it be you? You did not become as me, how could you be here now? You are centuries dead!" Taron shook his head in an anger born of frustration and dread. Please no, do not let his Diane be doomed to his horrible non-life. His animal side cried out for food, but the man mourned the loss of his beloved who had seemingly returned to him. He had needed her for so long.
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"Fool!" cried his animal side, cunningly. "There is no way it can be the she for whom you have craved all these centuries. Feed! I need food. We need food. Eat!"
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"No, Taron! Feed not on me. I am Diane. Reborn into this world into this time just to release you from the agony this life brings you. Let me set you free, my love."
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"Yes, Diane. I crave blood, but I crave a peaceful, true death even more." His face convulsed as he struggled to control his animalistic side. But the beast was beginning to win. "Diane, you must act quickly. I cannot control my blood thirst for much longer. Hurry, I would be free of this life."
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"Of course, Taron." Pulling a bag up from behind her, she quickly drew forth a mallet and a wooden stake. However, once she had the weapons out and had them poised over his heart, she hesitated. This was Taron, her love of so long ago. How could she kill him?
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"Diane! You must continue,” plead Taron. "I cannot bear this existence for all of eternity. I cannot go on killing innocent people. I cannot be as I am any longer. Please, release me from my pain."
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Diane nodded. That was her reason for being here in this time period, at this place. She must do this for him. She must set him free. She gritted her teeth and struck of a sudden.
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Taron's animalistic side took control just as her mallet struck the first telling blow. He staggered back, but Diane pursued him to strike with the stake again and push it deeply into his chest. As it sank deeper into Taron's heart, he screamed and screamed...
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Diane backed away in horror. Her Taron, her sweet love, could not screech like that. Like some beast in agony. He couldn't, but it could. Desperately, the vampire tried to pull the stake from his heart. Tried...and failed. As he fell to the ground, he stretched out his hand toward his beautiful Diane.
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"Diane. Di...annne,” he whispered lovingly. This his eyes closed and his body stilled as his voice faded into silence.
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"Ah, Taron,” she murmured. Then she mentally gritted her teeth for the next task. She swung the mallet again and again, driving the stake deeper into Taron's heart until it jarred against the pavement. As she struck the final blow, Taron shuttered and, for a brief moment, opened his eyes of a gleaming feral red. Then the beast died.
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Shuddering, Diane backed away from the grisly sight. Then she forced herself to overcome her revulsion long enough to pull the body out of sight, but where the sun's rays could still strike it come the dawn. Tomorrow, the sun would burn his body to ashes and Taron would really be dead for the first time in centuries.
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"Taron will hunt no more,” whispered Diane, her white teeth gleaming in the moonlight. "But what of me? Who will free me? Fool that I was, Taron, I followed your nightmare path. Your foolish desire for eternity captured us both into a living hell. Now I must travel from place to place, more alone than before, because you can never again be at the next place. What of me? The biggest fool of all." She sadly shook her head.
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Suddenly her head reared up. A scent in the air. Food approached. Soon her animal side took over and Diane was no more. It needed blood! The blood of mankind. The vampiress was on the hunt now.