A Vampire in Manhattan

Randall Kraith was an executive at Golden Empire, one of the largest insurance companies in North America. He was a successful young man. He had what many people wanted. He lived in a townhouse in Manhattan. He had a salary of three hundred grand a year, after taxes. He led a comfortable life. He lived in perfect health. Randall had a life that most people would envy. He also had a lot of secrets.

Randall Kraith was not exactly a normal man. He was a vampire. He was born in France, in the year 1256 A.D. He had been turned into one of the undead during his twenty fifth year. His sire was a vampire named Marcelus. Marcelus had been around since the time of ancient Rome. He was the master of a large band of vampires. The Order of Troika. Randall had been a vampire for a long time. He was once a follower of Marcelus but he abandoned his master centuries ago. He wanted to be on his own. Randall had grown used to life as a vampire.

Humanity did not know the truth about vampires. They looked like regular people. They did not grow old like humans did. They were stronger and faster than humans. They could not turn into animals. They could not fly. They did reflect on mirrors. Sunlight did not bother them at all, although they preferred the night. Holy water and crucifixes could not harm them. Neither could garlic. Still, they did need blood in order to survive. Blood allowed vampires to be preternaturally strong and fast. It also allowed them to regenerate. Their phenomenal regenerative abilities made them very, very hard to kill. Vampires were scattered all over the globe. Most of them led ordinary lives. They were lawyers, doctors, nurses, police officers, soldiers, athletes and students. Some were criminals. Most vampires tried to stay under the radar. Of course, in every community there are those men and women who are crazed and think themselves beyond conventional rules. The vampire community was no exception.

Randall lived by himself. He shunned other vampires. There was a conflict going on. A war. There was a group of vampires known as the Purification Alliance. They wanted to overtly conquer the world. They wanted to take over the world of man. Randall knew this to be suicide. There were thousands of vampires in the world. There were billions of humans. In an open conflict, the vampires would lose. The Purification Alliance was led by a vampire known as Katrina Romanus, Randall's former friend. She had once saved his life and been his protector and friend when he first escaped from the hold of his master, the terrifying Marcelus. Katrina had changed over the centuries. She had become a delusional tyrant. Randall avoided her like the plague. Many vampires, especially the young ones, wanted to join Katrina Romanus in her foolish quest.

Randall had made a life for himself in America. He had spent centuries trying to avoid his master. Marcelus was dangerous. Katrina was just as dangerous or even more dangerous. Those two were to be avoided at all costs. Randall liked New York city. The city that never slept. He had come to think of it as home. The local vampires were a strange lot. Vampire hustlers. Vampire gangs. Vampire prostitutes. The shame of his kind. Randall led a respectable existence and did not want to associate with such misfits. There was a governing body ruling over the vampire community. The Supreme Council. The Supreme Council had a hundred members. They held all the financial and political power in the vampire community. They took care of the community. Dangerous vampires who would expose the community by their irresponsible actions were imprisoned or killed. Humans who had found out about the vampire community's existence were hunted down and killed by a vampire shock-troop known as the Preservers. Only the most precise and disciplined killers made it into the Preservers.

Randall kept himself on the low. He hadn't survived centuries by being obvious or stupid. Work took a lot out of him. He had personally known Henry Golden, the man who built Golden Empire from the ground up. Henry Golden had been a driven man. He was also an okay guy. Randall remained his friend for decades. Golden once saved Randall's life when Randall was being hunted down by the legendary vampire known as Lady Crimson. Lady Crimson was the paramour of Samuel Toros. Toros was a ruthless vampire. He had a thing for killing human children. Randall killed him. Lady Crimson came after Randall. These days, Lady Crimson was dead. Golden had decapitated her to save Randall's life. That was the day when Randall told Golden he was a vampire. The two men remained best friends for a long time. This was in the 1940s.

Randall always felt some attachment to Golden Empire. That's why he came to work for it in the late 1990s. The company was run by Eileen Golden, Henry Golden's daughter and her brother, Harvey. They were spoiled brats with a touch of cold ruthlessness that made Randall shudder. They were also his bosses. He did not like them very much. Randall had met few humans or vampires as cruel as the Golden siblings. They did a lot of bad things and got away with them because of their wealth and power. Randall did his best to avoid them. Life was complicated enough as it is. Unlike most vampires, Randall did not drink human blood. He preferred that of animals. He saw human beings as people worthy of respect, unlike the majority of the vampire population that saw them as food. The Supreme Council had its hands full with trying to conceal the nightly murders committed by predatory vampires with no respect for humanity.

Tonight, Randall was not at work. He was trying to relax. He went to see Wendy O'Leary, a young woman he had been dating for some time now. Wendy was a student at NYU. When Randall met her, she was mixed up in something bad. Wendy had befriended Katana, a beautiful Japanese vampire who wanted to turn her into an evening meal. Randall had tried to prevent Katana from killing Wendy. A fight ensued and ended with Katana being buried in cement. Buried inside solid rock. Vampires did not need air to live. They only required blood. If they went long without it, they went into a deep slumber that could last centuries. When awakened from such slumbers, the vampire's mind was usually gone and only a mindless beast, no more sentient than a shark, remained. Randall did not envy Katana's fate but she left him no choice. At the end of the conflict, Wendy asked Randall out. She still had no idea what he was. He would keep it that way.

Randall knocked on Wendy's door. She came to open it. There she was. A very lovely girl. Standing five foot eleven in her bare feet, clad in lingerie. Her hair was short and black, her eyes a pale blue. Her skin was white as a lily. She looked lovely. She was smiling at him mischievously. Even after centuries, Randall could still be surprised by women. Sometimes, the surprises were not unpleasant. He looked at Wendy. She was beaming. He liked what he saw. She pulled him into the apartment.

Randall took Wendy's face into his hands and kissed her. They embraced. He took her into his arms and swept her off the floor. She laughed and put her arms around him. Randy put her on the bed. Wendy giggled excitedly. Gradually, she calmed down as Randall expertly caressed her. Randall took off her clothes as she lay still. Randall kissed her, then kissed every inch of her sexy, naked body. Randall reached between her legs. She was soaking wet. Randall stroked her with his fingers. She was so wet. Moaning, Wendy drew him close. He looked into her eyes. She wanted him so badly. He began to lick her wetness, tasting her. He stroked her as he did this. Wendy watched him. Her eyes suddenly began to fill out with tears. He entered her. His cock slid inside her pussy. She gasped. He thrust into her. They made passionate love. Hard. Fast. Then slowly and tenderly. He exploded inside her. She screamed. They held onto each other. Randall lay in Wendy's arms. Something unusual had happened. His skin was dewy with perspiration. Wendy looked at him. Smiling. Under the intensity of her gaze, Randall smiled nervously. Wendy gently stroked his cheek. She had fallen in love with Randall, just as she knew she would.

For the next few weeks, Randall and Wendy proved to be inseparable. Randall enjoyed every moment of it. He had almost forgotten what it was like to be with a good woman. Wendy was incredibly passionate. She liked to take risks. Once, they had sex in a dressing room inside Talbot's. Another time, they did it in the bathroom of a restaurant. She was amazing. He loved walking around with her, holding hands. She was lovely. She was funny. She was smart. She was amazing. He got to know her a lot better. She was a volunteer at a homeless shelter. She liked cartoons. She liked playing guitar but wasn't good at it. He liked her a lot, faults and all. They went to his place. He had a surprise in mind for her.

Randall emerged from the pool. He walked out of the water and up the stairs in a slow, confident stride. He looked amazing. The water falling off his spectacular body in rivulets really did him glory. He looked fantastic. His skin was light bronze and practically glowing in the moonlight. Wendy watched him as he came toward her. She smiled. He took her into his arms and they went into the warm water for another bout of lovemaking. Their screams of passion filled the townhouse. When they were done, they went into his living room. Drying each other. Laughing. Rushing back into the bedroom for another bout of this and that. It's in times like these that Randall Kraith wished he were mortal.

Sometimes, he wanted to forget about the centuries he had been alive. He wanted to forget about the men and women he had known, befriended, loved and fought. At times, he wanted to forget all that. Vampires led violent, passionate lives. Lives without end. Although all vampires could legitimately claim to be immortal, being impervious to aging and eternally healthy and all that, not all of them survived the night. Randall Kraith had seen many among his own kind had their lives, eternal they might be, come to an abrupt end. He would treasure the moments he shared with Wendy. Even ageless immortals like himself lived every single day knowing it might be their last. He would enjoy life and love with Wendy as long as it would last. Then, he would move on. Such was the burden of those who were doomed to live forever.

The end.