The City of Montreal reminds me of home, for numerous reasons. Quebec is about as different from West Africa as can be, but with so many dark-skinned faces all around me, I feel at home. It's not easy being an African man in this world, and it's even harder to be an African blood sucker. I'm back in town after a long hiatus, and came home to the aftermath of a war between humans and Vampires. I've got to play nice with the Powers That Be, or else...
"Blood is only half of what a Vampire craves," I said, speaking to the tall, slender, blue-eyed, athletic and bespectacled, blonde-haired young woman sitting opposite me. Claire Fontaine looks at me, a look of pure curiosity on her lovely face. We are seated inside Dante's Hall, one of those ancient bars located in the Haitian-dominated north side of Montreal, Quebec. I feel at home here, surrounded by Haitians, Latinos, French Canadians, Arabs and others. This watering hole definitely suits me...
"Of course, you may not be human any longer but you are a sentient being, and thusly complex," Claire replied, as if she understood. I sighed, wishing I could make this mortal understand, then wondering why I bothered to meet with her in the first place. I've always been something of a wanderer, even in the underworld, this secret society formed by Vampires, werewolves, demons, monsters and other nonhumans. Just call me Mr. Elusive...
"Do you really believe so, Claire?" I asked casually, and Claire nodded. I could see that magna cum laude brain at work, and repressed a chuckle. Claire Fontaine studied psychology at McGill University, and came to my attention after being recruited into the top secret organization known as the Trackers. They eliminate those elements of the supernatural community which threaten mankind. Apparently, Claire took to killing monsters like a cat takes to hunting mice.
"Mr. Sarfo, I take my job very seriously, you are something of an anomaly among your species, you don't kill humans, and shun contact with all but a few select members of your own kind, you are peculiar and worthy of study," Claire replied, and I smiled, flashing my fangs. Claire blinked, a sure sign of nervousness in an otherwise unflappable demeanor, and I found it oddly reassuring.
"Alright, Miss Fontaine, shall we begin?" I asked, and Claire nodded, then set her purse on the table between us, the hidden camera rolling, recording everything. I paused for a moment, wondering how and where I should start with my story. It's kind of clichΓ©, the whole Vampire-gets-interviewed-by-a-mortal thing. Tom Cruise made it popular a few decades ago, and I think I saw echoes of it in Wesley Snipes work, but it's not my style...
"Fire away, Mr. Sarfo," Claire Fontaine said, and her tone and demeanor were suddenly all businesslike. Not a problem for yours truly. I took a look around the bar, and a trio of trucker types walked in. One of them glanced our way, and I looked at him, and after a brief hesitation, he looked away. I knew what he saw, a well-dressed, twenty-something Black man sitting down at a table with an attractive White woman. What Western society fears the most...
"Alright, Miss Fontaine, I shall start at the beginning, I was born in 1877 in the City of Kumasi, Ghana," I began, and Claire nodded, silently urging me to continue. I closed my eyes, remembering the bygone days of my youth. I led a regular life in Ghana, which was under European colonial rule at the time. My country had endured hell at the hands of the Europeans, but I was largely sheltered from such hardships due to my family's wealth and relative isolation from the centers of power.
My parents, Amman and Khadija Sarfo were members of the Ghanaian Muslim community, and they and many others organized themselves into the Aborigines Rights Protections Agency. They did so to protest the fact that in Ghana, almost all the power rested in the hands of the British-appointed Governor, through his appointment of special representatives. For this reason, they were labeled enemies of the British Empire, and were forced into hiding.
While fleeing British-ruled Ghana, my family and I got lost in the West African wilderness and one night, we were set upon by a mysterious creature. What we thought was a wild animal turned out to be an ancient Vampire, one of the proto-Vampires that vanished from the world eons ago. The creature killed my parents, and although grievously injured, I managed to get away. I didn't know it at the time, but the creature's bite changed me...
"What have I become?" I lamented, as I awakened, three days later, in the darkened forest cavern where I'd taken refuge. When I tried to venture outside, into the light of day, I could not, for the sun pained me, and I felt weakened. I waited for dark, and then went out. I came across a strange little animal, a type of primate that we call a Bioko Allen's bush-baby, and chased after it.
Normally, most forest creatures are quick enough to get away from people, and even for seasoned hunters, primates are hard to catch. Somehow, though, I managed to catch the creature, and killed it by bashing it over the head with a large stone. I made a fire and tried to cook the meat, and it tasted foul to me. I felt drawn to the scent of the blood even as I butchered the beast, and it felt natural to slake my thirst by drinking it. I had no idea what I had become, but I was forever changed...
"How did you feel when you first tasted blood?" Claire asked, and I stared at her, silently cursing the insolent, attractive mortal for interrupting my train of thought. I took a sip of my Pepsi, and Claire looked at me with great curiosity. I hoped that she wasn't going to inquire about my drinking something other than blood. Vampires cannot process solid foods, but we like our liquids, from blood to water, from coke and Pepsis to hard liquor.
"Blood isn't tasty, or sweet, or bitter, it's simply what I must take as nourishment if I don't want to die for good," I replied, and Claire paused. I could see the wheels turning in that brain of hers. After wandering the planet earth for over a century, I've become quite the expert in reading people. It's not a special power, it simply comes from experience and observation.
"Please continue," Claire said, speaking after a long moment and I nodded, and did just that. I told her about my adventures, which took me from colonial Ghana to Southern Africa, in what would later become Swaziland, where I lived like a king among some of the most isolated tribes. When the twentieth century came, I found myself yearning to visit the world beyond Africa, and thus boarded a ship bound for the distant isles of the Caribbean.
I heard wonderful things about the Republic of Haiti, the first Black nation to gain independence after defeating the European colonial powers. Everywhere I looked, I saw nothing but European colonial rule, from Africa to South America, from North America to Europe itself. I had no desire to be an undead second-class citizen in a world that would be doubly set up against me. The idea of living among the proud, strong and independent people of Haiti appealed to me. I knew that I would fare well among such a people.
"I moved to the northern region of Haiti, near the City of Cap-Haitien, and it became my home, while I lived there, I only drank animal blood, and made myself a friend and ally of the locals," I stated, and Claire Fontaine looked at me as though I were an exotic specimen at the zoo. To the Trackers, I've always been an anomaly, and they've never understood me. It's not out of altruism that I don't feed on humans, it's simply because I prefer animal blood...
"You inspired a lot of the myths about the Loup Garou in Haiti and on the other nearby islands," Claire stated flatly and I smiled. In my self-imposed ruling on not drinking human blood, I would sometime venture into the Caribbean wilderness and feed on goats, rabbits, and other animals. I respected the people of Haiti too much to treat them like cattle. Other Vampires did not share my views, and we would sometimes go into conflict...
"I had to feed on the local wildlife, and when I couldn't, I bought blood from local butcheries, and later, clinics and the like, my steadfast refusal to kill humans inconvenienced me many times, but I never broke my word," I replied, and Claire, who'd been keeping tabs on me like a good Tracker, seemed fascinated. I must seem like such a strange creature to her, I thought to myself.
"As far as we know, this is true, it's the only reason why I'm here, Mr. Sarfo, my fellow Trackers and I kill blood suckers and other nonhumans, you're a curiosity to us, a supposedly civilized vampire," Claire said, and I looked at her blouse, and stylish pantsuit, and grinned. I could smell the silver on the bullets in the chamber of her revolver, and on the knife which she kept tucked in her stylish Black leather boots. The lady did come prepared...
"Claire, my friends, and acquaintances call me Jaffer," I said casually, and I sniffed, as if I were a breather. I inhaled Claire's scent, and smiled, and she looked at me with alarm. A woman who spends her time studying vampires, in order to contain or destroy them, must learn a lot about them or she's toast. I was inhaling Claire's scent, for it was a most pleasant one. The natural womanly smell that modern women hide away under perfumes, deodorants, and the like. Fools, such fools...
"Mr. Sarfo, I know of your reputation, you like to seduce men and women, and while I have nothing against bisexuals, I don't find you particularly attractive, just a curiosity, my superiors saw you save a person's life the other day, hence why we spare you, until you give us cause to do otherwise," Claire said, and I sensed great anger in her. I leaned closer, fearlessly, my face now inches from hers...