All Canadian Vampire

My name is Jason Templar. Yeah, I know. I get the Knight Templar joke all the time. Whatever. Tonight, I'm doing a solitary vigil. I'm back in my old neighborhood for the first time in four years. I haven't set foot in that corner of the City of Ottawa, Ontario, ever since I became a Vampire. There is a fool going around destroying Houses of Worship. He's done in a Muslim Mosque and a Baptist Church. I think his next victim shall be the Jewish Synagogue in this area. And I'm going to get him.

There are very few things that truly piss me off in this world, and bigotry is one of them. You could say that bigotry and I have an intimate history. I was born on the first day of February 1982 in the City of Boston, Massachusetts. My father Eugene Philemon is Haitian-American, and my mother Jasmine Templar is Canadian, of Irish and English descent. I grew up in the Boston metropolitan area, but have lived in the Ontario region of Canada ever since I was eighteen. I hold a bachelor's degree in Sociology from Carleton University and a Law degree from the University of Ottawa. Not bad for a poor guy from Boston's South End, huh?

At this point, I hold dual citizenship but I've come to really enjoy life in Canada. I'm more Canadian than American, but I still have to fill out two tax forms every year. One for the Queen, and one for Uncle Sam. Isn't life chipper? Anyhow, I have always believed in being true to my roots. And that hasn't changed since I became a Vampire. How did I become one of the Undead? The most awesome way possible! A mix-up in a blood bank. You see, there is this Vampire named Lawrence Keys, A.K.A. Loki, and he's actually this really ancient character that's like three thousand years old. He isn't named after the Trickster deity of Norse Mythology. He was once worshiped as a God in ancient Scandinavia. Being around for several millenniums hasn't changed his propensity for playing tricks on people. He put his own blood inside the local blood bank and casually waited for the inevitable to take place. And it so happens that one fine summer day in 2008, a young lawyer got into a terrible accident and needed a blood transfusion to save his life. That young lawyer received a blood donation which changed his life...and more. I was that young lawyer, in case you people are wondering where I'm going with this.

And that's how I became one of the Undead. You should have seen the look on the nurses face when they came to check up on me hours after I received the blood transfusion. The six-foot-two, athletically built, light-skinned Black man I had been got turned into a ghastly, yellow-eyed, pale-skinned monstrosity with sharp fangs and clawed hands. That's the True Face of the Vampire. When we're starved for blood, we morph into that type of creature. The rest of the time, we look no different from ordinary men and women. By the way, a lot of the stuff you read about us isn't true. We can walk in daylight without bursting into flames...as long as we're properly fed. It takes five liters of blood a day to keep an ordinary Vampire functioning at peak capacity. When we're properly fed, we're also nearly invincible.

Tonight, I gorged myself on pig's blood before coming to this vigil. I feel quite strong. Powerful enough to do all kinds of things. Like destroying a pack of Zombies I encountered in the Montreal Road area cemetery two hours ago. Someone has been reanimating the dead. I don't like Zombies. They creep me out, man. Zombies will eat anything, human or otherwise. And unlike those dumb, stumbling bozos you see in poorly made science fiction movies, real Zombies are a frightening bunch. For starters, they're smart. Just as smart as you and me, though they lack proper coordination and can barely speak because their vocal cords rot away quickly, along with the rest of them. Zombies need the flesh of the living to survive. Human or animal flesh will do, but sometimes they feed on us Zombies. I hate these nasty critters for that. I really do. The thought of ending up some Zombie's meal fills me with anger.

Why did I show up here tonight? It's not just because someone has angered various communities in the Ottawa Metropolitan Area by destroying their places of worship. You might wonder what the connection is between the Destruction of Hindu temples, Muslim mosques, Christian churches and the appearance of Zombies in a country that's been Zombie-free since its foundation. Well, I wonder too. Alone, these happenings would just be terrible events. Together, they point at something altogether different. They indicate that a powerful, twisted mind might be at work. And I can't think of a mind more powerful and twisted than that of Lawrence Keys, the inimitable Loki. He's got his lackeys running around doing all kinds of things. He's never been able to play by the rules. Well, I'll be the end of him.

A while ago, Loki killed a good friend of mine. As a human and as a Vampire, I have a low opinion of law enforcement personnel. I think cops are dicks, alright? However, three years ago I met a decent one. Alexander Thorns, a big and tall, blond-haired and green-eyed White guy with the build of a professional athlete. This forty-something guy seemed pretty wholesome. Graduate of the Criminology program at McGill University in the City of Montreal, Province of Quebec. Outstanding constable with the Ontario Provincial Police. Yeah, right. Something about him seemed too clean. And I knew why. He wasn't human. I knew that the moment I met him on the highway near the City of Toronto, Ontario. I was speeding. You see, I hadn't fed in days and I needed to get home before sunlight. Now, Vampires can and will burst into flames at the first touch of sunlight if and only if we haven't fed in days. Why hadn't I fed? This psychotic Vampire bitch named Karen McEnroe captured me and trapped me in her basement, all because I slept with her human ex-girlfriend, a sexy Jamaican chick named Monica. Karen intended to starve me to the point where she could easily slay me.

Ordinary Vampires possess the strength of twenty men and can move faster than a bullet fired from a shotgun...once we've gorged ourselves with blood. Also, our skin is hard, though it feels normal to the touch. Bullets cannot penetrate our skin once we've fed, and it's also resistant to fire, blades and toxins. Gorging ourselves on blood renders us almost invulnerable. Any injury we sustain, and I'm talking about chopped up arms, burns, and the like, will be healed instantly the moment we gorge ourselves with blood. As far as I know, only a beheading cannot be undone by the massive consumption of blood. I guess that's what Karen wanted to do to me, but I escaped from her clutches. I was speeding home, and Ontario Provincial Policeman Alexander Thorns caught me. The guy wasn't human, but he wasn't a Vampire either. This was my first encounter with a member of the species known as Homo Lupus, the Werewolf.

Alexander Thorns, Canadian policeman and Werewolf. The guy who saved my life that day. He saw me passing out from blood withdrawal, and fed me. He rushed into the bushes, killed a rabbit and fed it to me. That small amount of blood saved my life. Alexander then helped me get home. From that moment on, we were good friends. Alexander Thorns is the one who introduced me to Werewolf culture. You see, all kinds of creatures exist in what I call the Dark World. Vampires, Werewolves and Zombies are just three of the most common ones. There also Monsters of every type, most of whom have some type of ability to blend into the human world. Alexander was a cool guy, and I learned quite a bit about him. Vampires are Immortal, unless we are slain. Werewolves don't quite have the same deal. When a human being becomes a Werewolf, he or she stops aging. From that moment on, they are eternally young, and cursed with the ability to become a gigantic, wolf-like creature every time the full moon rises. The rest of the time, they're just ordinary-looking people who have a natural immunity to disease and the aging process.

Overall, I found the Werewolves kind of cool. Vampires and Werewolves don't hate one another but we stay away from each other for the most part and we're polite in our interactions. Thorns was a really nice guy for helping me out like he did. The guy had been alive for close to five thousand years, by the way. And he was skilled in every form of martial art there ever was. He's been a crusader for justice throughout his time. His sworn enemy is Loki, the Vampire who once masqueraded as a Trickster deity in ancient Scandinavia. Loki came after Thorns, his ancient enemy. I watched them fight, and I watch Loki slay Thorns by driving a silver blade through his heart. I have sworn to kill Loki, and I intend to keep that promise.

Finally, the culprit showed up. A short, slim Asian chick wearing a red hooded sweatshirt. She proceeded to drop loads of kerosene all over the Synagogue, and then tried to light a match. She never lit that match because a shadow swept down from the sky, snatched her up in its arms, and soared into the dark sky. I flew upward, and finally, when I hovered a thousand feet above the City of Ottawa, I let my victim fall to the earth. She died instantly. Does that seem harsh? The followers of Loki must be destroyed, along with their Master. I will find the Trickster. I will kill him. And I won't let anyone, man or woman, human or inhuman, get in my way. Hunting season has just begun. You were warned.