A Twist of the Fates

I've been walking this earth for nearly three-thousand years now; it has been at times a lonely, lonely existence. Before you roll your eyes and shake your head, no this isn't another vampire legend. My friends this is the true beginning of existence for our kind. The vampire lore that is whispered in all corners of the world and seems to be held today as a thing of wonder is filled with partial truths and waivers. Let me begin from the very start I won't bore you with all the lurid details just some quick finer points until I delve into the most recent incarnation I have resided in for the past thirty-five years.

In the beginning we weren't mindless Neanderthal creatures, yes there were some, so don't think history is all untrue, but I watched from my birth on the slow steady rise of the human race as it is now today. I'd also like to take a moment to tell you that there were ten of us in the beginning, yes only ten. Born under the blood moon what seems eons ago. We were each born that night seemingly human. As the earth was much less populated then and with our births spread throughout the distance of the earth it took me nearly all of my time to find each of the other 9.

As I said we were each born seemingly human, the abilities within us not bearing its fruit until we had reached the age of 16. Which back in that time was nearly an ancient man, life expectancy was not what it is today. The transformation was without ceremony but like a great unleashing of power rushed into all of us. It's documented in the book kept in our headquarters now. A place we gather once every fifty years to discuss matters and tell tales and share abilities.

Before I start to lose you let me explain delving just a bit more, we each have our own unique abilities on top of our common shared ones. The common abilities are shape shifting, immortality, strength and speed. Unique abilities very so greatly I cannot share all but some are worth mentioning. Transmortalism, this has its own variances, it is the ability to take on a new life as a different born person. Those of you scratching your head right now here's the explanation, there comes a time when after so many centuries if you appear to have not aged or changed at all after moving numerous times to find one mortal and at the time of conception, before a soul is in place, to slip into a new person. Holding your memories and abilities in check for the first span of this new life as to not give you away. It's tricky, only two of us have perfected the ability but others are eager to try it. This is proving invaluable now in our current times, due to face recognition software and technology. You can only live so long as one person until it would catch up to you.

Another fine ability is cloaking, the power to seemingly become invisible for a short duration of time, it's a draining ability but like any muscle with practice you can cloak longer and longer if needed. Now to explain what I meant when I said share abilities, when one of the ten discovers a new ability we may share it with only one of the other ten. Meaning any lesser being, or one that was made by us may not be taught, this insures survival among our elite ten. New abilities are always shared and expected once a century from each member. We do strive to find as many new ones as possible to continue our existence.

Moving on, the other ability recently discovered was what humans would call a portal ability, it allows us to travel from one place to the next with just a shift of thoughts. As long as one knows the spot picked out in their mind you may arrive there. Recently we found out that also looking at a map or picture of a place was just as good as being there. It is a special treat to wake up in one place and think, "you know Hawaii sounds good right now," and with a thought be out on the beach under the moonlight.

Now to address a few of your legends before we continue to the now time. Yes, we can walk in the daylight; it saps small amounts of energy but nothing dramatic. Yes we breathe just like you do, in and out all day long, although we do have the ability to hold our breaths for hours on end if needed for survival. No holy water, garlic, crosses, silver and any other crap superstition you have just isn't true. Nor is a stake through the heart, well in fact that one may be true but we've never put it to the test.

How do we exist? Our feeding rests on energy and blood. Mortals all have an abundance of both, sometimes to recharge one just need to lay a hand on a human and feel the energy transfer into them. Blood, ah now there is a delicacy, we try and reserve that for special occasions like making a new being or if one is truly injured the blood heals us the fastest.

Oh there are so many things to share that I fear this may take a lifetime to write down. Let us begin soon on the current incarnation I reside in, a true love story, one that eluded me over the 3000 years until now. I had of course been married in others, but had bore no offspring of my own nor taken a true mate. I will tell you we can with a bite change a human into something that resembles your vampires, or should we impregnate a mortal it would spawn a half breed, stronger than a changed human but weaker than one of the ten.

A brief overlay of shape shifting is just what most humans have read or think it is. We have the ability to shift into any form, becoming someone else takes a tremendous toll on our ability but is possible, mainly though we shift to an animal or anything that can fly. Our only block is anything inanimate, although I have heard one of the ten is working hard on adapting the ability to that just for the sake of doing so.

Chapter 2.

It was early in 1976 that I realized having existed for centuries upon centuries in the same body and with a new found ability that I needed a change. I searched long and hard for a test subject. One that would hopefully last me another 3000 years. I chose a woman in the United States where I was residing in a small town in Ohio. She was married to an alcoholic and unhappy but I figured that was the best place to start, for if this man impregnated her the child was doomed from the very beginning. On the night of conception as I sat on the roof of their home listening to the sounds of their sexual escapades I steeled myself for the transmortal jump. Not sure exactly how it was going to work but having faith in number 7's discovery. All the sudden there was a flash of light and my body was no more, I was inside the mother host and cognitive of everything. Now let me tell you, being basically just cells growing is a bit ridiculous for one of us, it takes patience and I could see why only one of us had been able to make the full leap thus far. Slowly over nine months I was able to stretch out and focus myself on what looked to be a new beginning.

From this beginning I am glad I took the place of some poor mortal soul. They may have never endured the torture this alcoholic abusive man doled out on a regular basis. I watched the host mother being beaten and slapped around from damn near the time she was released with me from the hospital. I tried telepathy to let her know that I would watch over her and keep her safe if she could just hold on until I could walk without terrifying everyone.

About the time I was three in this new body the father came home drunk one night and I went out to say goodnight, bad father or not the bond was there from this mortal body, some emotions we can't hold back when we are these tiny little beings encasing a immortal being. As I was saying on this night he was a bit meaner than usual, seeing me standing there with my arms out seemed to infuriate him. I said, "Goodnight daddy, I missed you tonight," only to be greeted by that bottle slamming into my head and shattering against the wall where it glanced off. The immortal being in me thrived, it wanted blood, and to take this man but I controlled it. Watching as the mother came out to see what was happening. She quickly scooped me up and bandaged my bleeding head and then took me to her parents' home and filed for a divorce the next day. Bless this one for that, it had taken all of my strength to convince her as she slept that this was the only way out before one of us was killed. Flashing images through her subconscious I was able to paint a very unkind picture that when she awoke lingered with her.

I won't take you through the lifetime in its entirety but only highlights up until I met

her.

My mother in this new form remarried a few years later to a wonderful man; he adopted me and treated me as his own. Only years later would the ugly start to seep out of him as it seemed to all humans at one point or another. I managed to keep my abilities hidden and only used them when alone and in isolated places to make sure I was never found out. I found in this incarnation I could wield speed on a soccer field and whenever it was fitting. The years rolled by an as I came to the senior year of high school, one girl I was dating at the time, (I had to appear human and have normal interaction) convinced me to work at a camp for special needs children one week out of the summer.

I will admit this intrigued me, I actually figured that I would be able to use some of my abilities at night and have some fun while everyone was sleeping as we camped out the entire week with the children. As I went to the first of several required meetings I was hit with something that still confounds me now nearly twenty years later. In walked a girl, wearing a flannel shirt with red and cream checkers on it, and glasses, hair pulled back in a ponytail. She glanced up and when our eyes met, well there was something I hadn't encountered in my thousands of years of existence. A warmth, a glow, an almost yes for the cliché here, a love of a lifetime.

Now before you get too excited reading this it took a while for me to interact with her. I was shaken down to my foundation just at the glimpse of this girl and what could be between us. Despite all belief vampires, yes the v word, can only have on true love, one mate that they share everything with. We can always have flings, and make other vampires male or female, but I was the last of the ten who had never once been in love. I thought it ridiculous; one person for a lifetime, well an immortal lifetime is just that...forever.

Jenna was her name I found out and the first year at camp I sat back and watched her. Observed her rather as I played the games these mortals seemed to do. I made sure I was the alpha male at camp as a counselor. Endeared myself to the children I had watched over and the leaders of the camp as well. I wanted all eyes on me, especially hers. When it was time to go to the lake for swimming I routinely horsed around and dunked other counselors and played with the children and while the children were out of the water with other counselors I pounced picking this beauty up and tossing her into the water. The briefest of touches with her skin set my hands on fire, my loins throbbing and my heart beating so rapidly. Had this been a century ago she would have been whisked away in the dark and we'd have been somewhere on a island by now alone.

I remember as camp ended that summer the longing in my heart, I wanted this girl, I needed her, and by all that I had I was determined to end up with her. I was able to purge these thoughts for a while going back to school in the fall, on to college and what I failed to mention was that Jenna was four years younger than I was. I was going to have to bide my time in order to win her heart with her parents approval. Funny how many centuries makes a difference, in the 1700's had the girl gone missing it would have been chalked up to anything as simple as maybe a bear got her. That makes me chuckle now just thinking about it. How many of the ten had used just that, bear shape shifting in order to procure a mate, or a thrall.

I eagerly waited on the next years camp, focusing on soccer and college being the best I could be, early that fall I had gone with a friend to a rival high school football game. Low and behold it was Jenna's school, and there was a dance afterwards. We managed to sneak in still resembling high school students and I saw her across the room. She did come over and make small talk when a slow song came on, I had to ask for just one dance, and to my chagrin she accepted. I may as well have given over my soul that night, for I was hooked. I managed to still date in college but keep much unattached at all times.

Once summer rolled around and camp begin we hit it off again, small talk a few times and she even was linked to a boy that week, I would find out later that it was in her efforts to get a rise out of me and see if I would pursue her. I didn't, I was still unsure how to approach her without scaring her off. I had a bit of a reputation as a "player" in this day and age and I wanted to rid that first.

As I entered the second year of college I found myself bored, as one would tend to be if all the answers to all the questions were already in your head. I managed to take a few jobs and figure out what I wanted to do with this lifetime, I had always been responsible and in charge throughout my years on this earth that I felt I needed a break. A lifetime to just enjoy, roll with the punches and not influence anything to happen. I decided in the end to join the Air Force and see what military life was all about. I was scheduled to leave in about a month's time when I spotted Jenna at a Walmart one day after work. I knew I looked shabby having not shaved for a few days and being sooty from factory work. It was now or never had I told myself as I walked back in to the store.

Quickly catching up with her and her mother I cleared my throat and she turned around and beamed on of the sexiest smiles I had ever seen. Granted the girl was 17 well almost and I was nearing twenty one but I was lost in her eyes and smile. I politely told her I was getting ready to join the Air Force soon and that my one regret was never having asked her out. I wondered if she would be able to go on a date sometime in the next few weekends. Leaving her my number and putting the ball in her court she said she'd talk to her parents and then call me later to let me know.

Oh that phone call. I lit up; my parents saw it and family that we were with that night as I made a mad dash for the phone when it rang. "Stephen," she began, "I would love to go out on a date with you, how about tomorrow night?"

Of course my response was a yes and so it began. I showed up with a rose and met her parents and younger brother and her dog, chewy. Our first date was innocent, I didn't try any telepathy or anything, I wanted everything to be pure and on the level with this girl. We saw a movie and then went to shoot pool at a local pool hall. She was a little minx bending over the pool table smiling back knowing that she was flirting to the highest level she could. As I took her home that night and we neared her house she told me to pull over at a gas station.

"So I have to ask," she started, "are you going to let this date end without a kiss? Because once we are in front of my house my parents will be at the widow watching."

I smiled and leaned over, "If a kiss is what you want," and then I kissed her. Unlike any kiss in centuries, I had to control the beast inside me that wanted to take her now. To make her mine for an eternity.

I had to break away and take her home but the only thought that still comes to mind is wow. I knew there would be a second, third and more dates as long as she wanted. The time rushed by I'll skip some of the finer details leading up because yes, she was at the age of consent by state standards but perhaps not by internet standards today. I will tell you that we didn't have intercourse while she was still underage. So put your pervy minds at ease.

Each date was getting increasingly hotter and harder to keep the demon inside me at bay. All of my years on this earth without a true mate, and I was eager for this one to become a reality. I had been proven wrong, love did exist even for one of us.

I told Jenna about a week before I was scheduled to leave; but that I would like to continue seeing her until I was ready to leave. She just gave me a soft smile, and leaned forward for one more kiss which she slightly parted her lips and slid her tongue against mine.

"I'd really enjoy that Stephen," she replied.

Our second date was even more exquisite, the soft lingering kisses, and believe it or not this shy girl definitely lead my hands in places they wanted to be but were unwilling to make the journey on their own. Each date the intensity was turned up a notch, the passion I felt for this girl was ridiculous, a 3000 year old vampire in love with a teenage girl in just a few short weeks.

On the last night prior to my entry into the Air Force I booked a hotel room and had a candlelit dinner prepared for Jenna. We ate and watched a movie and the kissing and passion did get intense on the bed, and she did at one point consent to the most intimate of physical acts but I could not give in to the desire. She was too young and I didn't want her to regret her first time being too fast in a relationship. I know this is not the normal thing you hear from a vampire, we are supposed to be all about lust for women and blood. Well I can tell you when you have found the "one" you just take your time and hold the feelings back, especially when it is a mortal that you may forever be changing their fabric of life woven. Eternity is forever, and in the day and age I was currently in marriages could be annulled within a few days.

I left Jenna that night, both of us a bit teary, and I told her how much I loved her and that nothing would change while I was gone. She was the only one that I wanted and I knew that, I just feared being young that she may find another guy while I was gone.

Let me tell you that was the furthest thing from happening, she wrote me a letter nearly every week while I was in basic training. She promised me that she loved and was waiting on me and provided some interesting incentive to coming home as soon as possible. Now I will tell you, being an ancient vampire having been into battle for my own life, land or friends and having to take orders from someone a fraction of my true age got on my nerves a few times. I wasn't always able to bit my tongue and in turn I managed to be recycled back twice during basic training spending a grand total of 10 weeks there instead of six. But I did manage to call Jenna several times during holidays and when the flight I was in currently would be awarded a phone privilege. She was always the one I called first before I called my family if there was enough time allotted; I just had to hear her voice as much as I could.

As soon as I was out of basic training I was sent to the Para-Rescue facility to begin training. With a six week lull before enough airmen would be here to start the new class we were all given two weeks to travel home on leave if we wished. Hell yeah I wished Jenna had finally turned 18 and she was getting more and more descriptive about what she'd like to have happen. So I quietly booked a flight home and rented a car, great thing, with military id they don't require you to be 25, or at least back then they didn't. As soon as I landed at 8 a.m. I drove like a bat out of hell to Jenna's high school to see her. Colleen, Jenna's mother, was a secretary at the school and so far she was pretty fond of me. She looked up as I entered the building in my dress blues and smiled, I entered the office to a warm greeting.

"Does she know you were coming home?"

"Nope, so I'm hoping maybe if you could find it in your heart to let me take her out of here just for today. I'm home for two weeks but this is the only day I want to steal her away if it's alright with you."