Chapter 2: The Wilderness. New Jersey Forests, 1840-1855.
It was a cold night on the streets of Victorian London. Thick fog swamped the city, so thick that the yellow street lamps could do nothing to penetrate the gloom. At this hour the streets were largely deserted, only the disreputable and the dangerous would brave such a night. It was the perfect for Evie Clemence to stroll the city and get to know it intimately. Evie had the face of a beautiful young girl; blonde hair, blue eyes and an unusual innocence. She wore a black bodice with a red lace lined dress and a matching hooded overcoat. It was not enough for such a cold night, but Evie no longer felt the cold. The year was 1883, Evie was over 60 years of age but did not look a day over 18.
Unlike normal tourists Evie was not interested in monuments to dead rulers or the homes of the living ones, she was interested in the people of the city. She wanted to know what they did with themselves at night, how they slept and what they were afraid of. As she walked slowly through the city streets she could hear the heartbeats of all the people in the houses, of the infants and young children, of the old and weak and the dull middle aged. She could smell each of their lives like a story; what they had eaten that day, where they worked, when they had last made love. Sometimes she could hear the beating hearts of two young lovers in hot embrace, and then her own heart quickened and she took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of young lust. She remembered these houses, but they were not the only ones. She remembered the houses of the jilted lovers, the angry young men and women who's will could be so easily manipulated, she also enjoyed the overtly religious, those who believed that their devoutness was absolute, but could be shattered after a few minutes of temptation with Evie.
However what she craved the most was the smell of the innocence of sexual awakening, of young men and women who had been kept by their guardians for too long and longed to break free, longed to see the world and experience its wonders. Evie wanted to show them wonders they could never even imagine, the very idea sent a shiver of excitement through her body.
As she wondered the streets making mental notes of all of the inhabitants her mind drifted back to her own awakening. She had been an innocent young girl in her previous life, a miserable frightened little thing that was destined for a sad, pathetic life in a small town across an ocean. Then one night an encounter with two strangers had changed everything and set her on the path that she found herself today. They had teased and taunted her, bending her fragile mind to the point of despair before breaking her spirit and finally taking full advantage of her weakness. They did something to her that she could never forget, but had certainly forgiven, and then they left her to fend for herself, with a new and frightening addiction. She smiled at the recollection, and began to head for home. She would not have to feed tonight having learnt to control her yearnings the hard way. These days Evie would only sample the best any city had to offer.
It had not been like this always of course. After Evie was first turned her need to feed was almost too much to bear. She had emerged naked from her father's church cellar on that first night in her new life and everything had seemed different. The body of the dead woman, her first meal, was still at the top of the stairs. The church had remained empty all day; her father had probably been too hung-over to get out of bed. As she headed for the Church entrance to go outside something, either instinct or a memory from her previous life, told her she should put on some clothes. So she stripped the body of her pale victim without a shred of pity or remorse and donned the loosely fitting garments. She had only one destination that night, back to her home, back to her father.
Evie arrived at the little Rectory house within a few minutes and entered silently. She walked to her parents room and opened the door, a thrill of excitement as to what she was about to do flooded through her. She had no intention of feeding from the disgusting creatures that lay before her, snoring and grunting in their sleep like a pair of pigs. Instead Evie woke both of them and allowed them to view her. They did not say a word, they could tell something was different in her; their timid little Evie was standing before them with confidence, smiling mockingly, her eyes glowing. They were mesmerised by her, to such an extent that her father still did not move as she took the knife by his bedside and neatly cut his throat. Her mother had then started screaming, so Evie sliced open the woman's fat belly and the screamed turned into a gurgle. The sight and smell of the blood caused her breath to quicken and her eyes to widen, and what was to become a familiar sensation of thirst began to emerge inside her. She savoured the sight for a few more seconds before turning to leave.
Suddenly she stopped. There was a small boy standing in the doorway. He was covered in bruises and one of his eyes was swollen shut, but even with the blood lust pulsing through her Evie recognised her brother and, as he was very much alive, she realised she had been deceived by the vampires. Even still the desire to suck the blood out of the child was almost too much for her, but, in the only act of pity that she ever consciously made in the next 40 years, she simply took him by the hand and led him back to bed.
As she left the house her need to feed was all she could think of. She quickly moved to the house next door with inhuman speed and entered, silently moving from room to room, feeding off a family of five until everyone was dead and drained. Each individual had tasted different to her, each one made her feel incredible and sent orgasms flashing through her young body. After the frenzy she disappeared into the woods surrounding the town and found the darkest, deepest cave she could and sat with her body buzzing, stroking her hypersensitive body and shrieking in delight.
