I opened my eyes to the utter darkness and stretched the kinks that came from the long day of sleep. I reached up and pressed against the lid of my coffin. As the lid rose, the dim twilight hit me, making me squint against the fearsome horror of the dying sun. The pain blotted out the dream of...her.
Sat up and rose from my bed. I stretched again to blink away the last remnants of sleep and of the endlessly occurring dream. "Another night," I reminded myself. "Another lonely night of many thousands of lonely nights. A smile crossed my lips. "And time to feed," I said out loud. Feeding was my only diversion. Setting out to hunt, to stalk and finally, to kill and feed on the bloody warmth of my victim. For a moment I held back trying to remember the dream, to remember her.
The coldness of the late October evening pierced to my bones and I wrapped my cape around me against the cool air. "All Hallow's Eve," I thought to myself. The witching night. A night for ghosts and goblins - and me. Then I wondered if this would make the hunt easier or more interesting. "Ha!" I laughed. "This makes for a 'Target Rich' environment." Again I smiled my knowing smile. A smile that cames from many, many Halloween hunts. How many? Three hundred? Three-fifty? I had lost count.
I opened my cape and leaped into the air. With one look around my hidden domain, I soared upward through the roof and out over the city. Lights were blinking on below me. Homes were lighting. Street lights were blinking then shining their steady bluish-green glow. The city was coming alive. I knew in my dead heart it is just for me and my nightly excursions to find my prey.
Near the south end of Broadway, I landed on the ledge of a darkened building. To the North I could see the downtown commercial district. Although I knew the University was there. The drugs the college children used was not to my liking. That was not a good place to hunt. Besides, there were always too many people there to interfere. But to the South there was Dunnaway Park and the West Hills with fancy mansions ripe for Halloween party goers. That was where I would hunt tonight.
Again I leaped into the sky. My black form flew swiftly upwards over the crest of Markem Hill. Then I stopped to look down. Off to the west there was a party at a mansion. Cars were stacked up in the driveway and along the street. I flew to hover over the mansion and stare down with deepening interest.
"Yes." I said out loud. "This is the place." I flew to a tall Douglas Fir and settled into the upper branches to wait my chance. I looked up at the raising, bright orange, harvest moon. I wanted to howl at that moon as a werewolf in preparation of the stalk and kill. But I stopped myself. "Quiet," I thought to myself. "Do not scare the prey." I settled back and leaned against the trunk of the tree and waited again.
In my mind I remembered all the years of loneliness. All the years I had hunted. Hunted for food or for her? I cannot remember her, but I could already feel the hunger that was burning deep inside me. Is this who I am? This is what I have become? A vampire could live only in loneliness. Who would be with a creature such as I? Yes, over the years there had been a few who I would have taken to mate, but they were so filled with horror at what I had become, they could serve me only as a meal to quench the burning in me. But still I dreamed of her every day, only half remembered. Remembered from when? I did not know.
I shook my head to clear these thoughts as a couple were leaving the mansion below me. I watched them carefully. Both of them climbed into a Mercedes parked on the street and pulled away. "No," I told myself. "They are not the ones for me tonight. My wait continued.
A woman walked away from the mansion toward her car. She seemed to be alone. I watched her intently. "Yes." My thoughts moved me as I stared at her. She was tall and trim. But her most striking feature was her costume. Black like mine. The fabric shimmered in the moonlight and swayed invitingly with her hips as she walked. She stopped at a Lexus and fumbled for her keys. She reached up and pulled off the mask that covered her face. I stared intently. Her features were quite striking. But my eyes seemed to zero in on the soft flesh of her neck. Again I shook my head to clear it.
Her car pulled away from the curb and headed up Broadway Drive toward Council Crest. I leaped into the air and followed her from above. The road was winding with many twists. The car moved slowly. Following her is easy as she climbed up the hills toward the crest of the hill came to a stop at the circle at Council Crest Park.
I watched the woman open the car door and climb out, then walk towards the promontory to look out over the city. I flew over and landed just behind her.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I said softly.
She smiled and said "Yes, it is. I love looking at Portland in the dark," without giving any indication that I had approached her.
I moved along side her and looked at her face. It was even more striking than I thought. Her aquiline jaw was gorgeous. Her nose was sharp and turned up at the end. He teeth were even as she smiled at me and says, "I've been waiting for you, you know."
