Good to Be Undead

They say that life experiences can change you. What happens to your life when you are no longer numbered among the living yet aren't dead either? My name is Raphael Hughes. If you were to gaze upon me, you'd see a tall, good-looking black man in his early twenties. Once upon a time, that's who I was. Then, everything changed one night. It was the summer after I graduated high school. I was starting college in the fall so I decided to chill in the big city for a time. My father, Boston police officer Francis Hughes had given me some money and even let me borrow the Hummer. Isn't that something?

I'm originally from Brockton, Massachusetts. My brother Joseph attends the University of Massachusetts, Boston Campus. He plays college basketball and excels at it. Me? I'm not very athletic, although I watch football, basketball, wrestling and soccer like the most dedicated fan. The school I had gotten accepted to was Heracles Technical Institute. I honestly didn't know much about it. I was just glad to be going to college. The Admissions Representative told me they were impressed with my grades and were offering me an academic scholarship. Free room and board for four years. Nice! I couldn't wait to get started with college. I had the entire summer to have fun. In high school I was really the geeky bookworm type. Now, I wanted to make up for lost time. Boston city night life here I come!

I checked out the night life. It was okay, I guess. Much better than Brockton, a town which lacked a movie theater. Need I say more? Anyway, I was hanging out at this club in downtown Boston when this really pretty young woman walked up to me and introduced herself. Theresa was her name and she was one of the prettiest women I'd ever seen. Tall, curvy, with dark brown skin and long hair bleached bone-white. A vision of beauty. She had face, chest, body and booty. Need I say more? Theresa was what we young black men called a dime piece. A perfect ten.

So, here I was dancing with Theresa. The young woman seemed really into me. I smiled as we did the bump and grind. Around us, dozens of young couples were dancing to the beat of some really hot Rap song. I like 50 Cent, Young Jock and of course Janet Jackson. I couldn't believe my luck when Theresa asked me to go somewhere with her. This could only mean one thing. I was going to get some! Taking my hand, she led me backstage. We made our way through the crowd, until we finally reached backstage and had some privacy. Theresa smiled at me and we started kissing. The chick was really aggressive, grabbing me and feeling me up as we played tonsil hockey. I liked it! Everything was going fine, until she bit me. Yeah, she bit me. I remembered struggling against her, then losing consciousness. That's all I remember. Three days later, I was a vampire. Isn't that something?

Theresa was a vampire and she turned me into one of the undead. My life would never be the same. I was a young black man about to start college when suddenly I was transformed into one of the nightwalkers. No one asked me if I wanted to join this little freak show. I was forced into it and not given the chance to say no. I didn't like the change my life took. So I decided to live as no vampire before me had. I decided to live as a human being would and stay in touch with humanity. I didn't abandon my family or friends. I had fought too long and too hard to get where I was. I wasn't going to allow something as trivial as being technically dead to interfere with my life. Yeah, I know exactly how that sounds. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

However, it all took a little adjustment. Understand that I was very new to this. And I was operating without a manual. I didn't know any other vampires or how to locate them. To be honest, I didn't want to meet any other vampires. If Theresa was any exemplar of what they were really like, then I think avoiding the whole lot of them might be good for my health. I discovered quite a few things about the life of a vampire. Vampires could walk in the daylight without bursting into flames. Sure, sunlight sapped the energy of vampires, turning them into something far weaker than what they were but it didn't outright destroy them. That was very reassuring. All I had to do was use a ton of suntan lotion daily and I would be alright. Also, vampires did reflect in mirrors. They could cross running water. The sight of Crucifixes couldn't hurt them any more than they did the average person. Being a vampire increased my strength and speed. Not quite superhuman, whatever that means. I couldn't lift a truck or run as fast as a car or even a gazelle. I was stronger and faster than any human being who ever lived. That I can guarantee you. I healed faster too. The only thing I found discomforting about the whole thing is the blood drinking bit. I still haven't gotten used to that.

How does one go about getting blood? It's more complicated than you think. Grabbing a punk off the street and drain him or her of all blood doesn't appeal to me. First of all, I'm scared of germs and all blood-related diseases. Always have been. Being a vampire didn't change that. Second of all, I really don't like putting my mouth anywhere near someone's neck. Even as a human, I wasn't into hickeys. Again, fear of germs. Yeah, I was a neat freak. Anyway, I found the perfect solution. I got a job working for a Blood Bank. In that line of work, it was relatively easy for me to acquire blood. I wasn't killing anyone, so it seemed okay to me. Better than to hang out late and night, putting fatal hickeys on ugly people. Yuck!

Anyway, the summer went by. I tried to maintain a normal life. I was so good at the masquerade that my parents didn't suspect a thing. I found out that certain facts of life never changed. I still ate and drank, though I really didn't need to. The blood I drank provided me with all I needed. Being a blood drinker didn't change the fact that like all human beings, I had to eat, drink, sleep, shave, piss and shit. Yeah, the facts of life. My father Francis and brother Joseph suspected that something was wrong with me but they didn't know what. I didn't tell them, of course. Joseph was in basketball camp for a good portion of the summer, preparing himself for the upcoming college basketball season. When the summer ended, I found myself facing something even more terrifying than vampire life : The first of college.

The Heracles Technical Institute was a small private school located in Boston. The school was founded in 1991 by James Heracles, a former corporate raider who retired with close to a billion dollars in his pocket. He decided to invest it in the higher education of young men and women from New England. The school had nine thousand students, spread over two campuses, Boston and Cape Cod. I opted for Cape Cod because I liked the ocean and also because I wanted out of Boston for a while. The Boston campus was basically a commuter campus anyway. The Cape Cod campus was home to the dormitories, and the Heracles Tech Department of Athletics. I was amazed by the campus. It was so diverse. At a time when many American colleges and universities were mostly female, Heracles Tech was evenly divided between male and female students. The school Student Body was fifty percent male and fifty percent female. It was also thirty percent Caucasian, twenty percent Black, ten percent Asian, thirty percent Hispanic and ten percent Native American. Talk about diversity! I liked it already!

The Heracles Tech Department of Athletics was so impressive that it had recently been accepted into the NCAA Division One. Not bad for a relatively small private college which was basically less than two decades old. The Heracles school regularly competed against schools like Harvard, MIT and Amherst College as well as other Division One schools across New England. Heracles Tech offered Men's Intercollegiate Archery, Rifle, Basketball, Bowling, Lacrosse, Equestrian, Baseball, Crew, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Ice Hockey, Rugby, Soccer, Tennis, Nordic Skiing, Track, Swimming, Volleyball and Wrestling. For the Female Student Athletes they offered Archery, Basketball, Softball, Crew, Cross Country, Nordic Skiing, Rugby, Bowling, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, Track, Ice Hockey, Swimming, Volleyball, Field Hockey, Lacrosse, Rifle, Equestrian and Wrestling. I couldn't believe it when I saw their Athletics website. Forty varsity sports, twenty for Men and twenty for Women! Impressive!

I moved into the Men's Dormitories as soon as I got on campus. The men's dorms were located at the center of the campus, between the Athletic Department and the newly refurbished Football Field. It was a massive building. The Women's Dormitories was located almost a mile away, closer to the Liberal Arts Department. My dad helped me move in. We brought in my special mattress, clothes, books, dozens of lotion bottles and of course my comic book collection, among which my porn magazines were hidden. I also brought in my DVD player and some of my favorite movies such as The Godfather, Highlander, Superman I-IV, Hercules, The Matrix Trilogy and The Three Musketeers. I never had an interest in anything gothic like Dracula or Bride of Frankenstein. I didn't like such movies when I was alive and I still loathed them now that I am undead. However, I decided to make the best of my new existence and embraced college life. I tried to put out of my mind all the changes that occurred in recent months. I wanted so badly to be human again. Sadly, it was not to be.

My roommates were something else. Jason Theroux, a six-foot- tall and good-looking, muscular Football player. He was a recent graduate of Castor Academy, a private all-boys school in the Midwest. This blond-haired, green-eyed Irish stud would turn out to be the best friend I've ever had. He was a nice, easygoing guy. A practical joker, to be sure, but I didn't mind. My other roommate was Justin Lee, a recent transfer from another school. Lee was a stocky Asian guy. I learned that he came to Heracles Tech because his school had recently dropped many programs, including wrestling. Both Jason and I sympathized. The five-foot-nine Lee joined the Heracles Tech men's wrestling squad and represented them at the 150-pound weight class. He would go on to win the state wrestling championship, if you can believe that.

Yeah, those were my guys. My friends. I could count on them for whatever. Contrarily to common belief, college football players were no more popular or sexually adventurous than other students on campus. Jason came from a conservative background and although he was funny, cool guy, he wasn't the party type. Lee on the other hand could party like he was Satan's favorite son. Yeah, life with those two was fun. Jason met a young woman named Brianna Riches and they began to date. You've seen Brianna's type before. The tall, blonde, blue-eyed coed who looked more like a centerfold than an apt pupil. Would you believe that Jason fell in love with her? Yeah, he did. The guy drove Lee and I crazy with talk of Brianna. His every word was about how wonderful she was and all that jazz. I smiled. Ah, the wonders of young love. I've never been in love. I am however familiar with lust, and it's what got me turned into a vampire in the first place. For now, this black college man slash vampire fledgling was happy to remain celibate, thank you very much. Femmes, both human and vampire, are a mysterious, seemingly unapproachable and often deadly lot. I was going to focus on my education.

College life turned out to be quite different from what I thought. I was expecting the drunken parties and frat houses seen in movies like Van Wilder and Animal House. Heracles Tech was a rather peaceful campus, except when our sports teams were playing against some unfortunate New Englander who thought he or she stood a chance against the likes of us. Our football team beat the living daylights out of the local Ivy Leaguers. Need I say more? Heracles Tech football players were scrappy young men. Not the kind of pampered losers seen at Harvard or MIT. They played because they loved the competitive nature of the game and the sheer fun of crushing an opponent. I love the Heracles Tech sportsmen! They're awesome!

Life at Heracles Tech was okay. I was just a regular guy on campus. I kept mostly to myself but I made a few friends. I went to classes in the daytime and hung out at night. Cape Cod was a fun place to be. A lot better than Brockton. At least they had a movie theater! I developed a strong case of school spirit. I became an avid supporter of the Heracles Tech sports teams. I cheered for the football team when they battled their regional rivals. I supported the men's and women's basketball teams when they faced their usual opponents. I followed the men's wrestling team when they went to the regional championships. Rain or shine, win or lose, I was side by side with the sportsmen and sportswomen of Heracles Tech.

College was turning me into somewhat of an extrovert. In the past, I hadn't been that involved in school activities, especially high school athletics. Maybe it's because I wasn't friends with any of the athletes. Now, I am buds with many of them. Thomas Jenkins, from the Men's Basketball team. Luke Haverhill, from the Men's Rugby team. Jack Smith from the Men's Golf team. Edward Sullivan, of the Men's Equestrians. Leonard Saxon, of the Men's Rifle team. Alexander Madison, of the Men's Archery team. Anna Maria Hartford of the Women's Volleyball team and also Lydia Smart of the Women's Rifle team. I love college sports. It really kills me when a school cuts sports because of gender politics or budget issues. Seriously. Institutions of higher education are going to have to find a better way.

The night life around Cape Cod was calm and peaceful. I was starting to really like the place. It's so different from the clamor of the big city. I hung out with Jason Theroux along with Lee and their assorted girlfriends. Night or day, I was never alone. Of course, I was lonely sometimes. I watched the men and women on campus. Everyone paired up really fast. I saw guys walking around with their girlfriends. I also saw gay and lesbian couples. Hurray for Massachusetts, the first state in the union to legalize Gay Marriage. Personally, I was all for it. Yeah, back on topic. The loneliness I felt never went away, until I noticed...them.

There I was, walking around once upon a Cape Cod night. Three people were walking around in a dark street. Two men and one woman. They wore tight-fitting dark clothing and appeared to be in a hurry. I noticed that they were following someone. Curious, I followed suit. There, I watched them corner a large man in a blind alley and wade into him. They circled him like predators. Thinking them some type of gang, I decided to intervene. Normally, I wouldn't intervene in such affairs. I was a six-foot-one, 250-pound black college man. I was not Superman. When I was human, I steered clear of confrontations of any kind. I wasn't trying to do something stupid like getting in a fight and get locked up. I was a policeman's son and an aspiring police officer. Leave the riffraff to the commoners. Still, I couldn't stand idly by while an innocent man suffered. The three dark-clad individuals were giving the poor man a sound beating. Had I been human, I would have walked away. But I wasn't human. I was a vampire. So I hollered at them to let him go.

The three of them turned around and stared at me. I stared right back. Their eyes roved over me, and they smiled, before refocusing their gaze upon the man. Apparently, they didn't deem me enough of a threat. Painful mistake. Their arrogance filled me with a kind of rage I had never felt before. I got no idea where it came from, but it felt good. I surged toward them, eager to start my first battle as one of the undead.

The three of them somehow sensed me coming, even though I knew how to move soundlessly. What surprised me is how fast they reacted. The female reacted like lightning. She was upon me in a heartbeat. We traded blows. Astonishingly, she seemed to be quite strong. I didn't hold back. I fought her. Anyone, man or woman, who would attack an innocent man for no reason is despicable in my book. The female assailant moved quickly, but I was stronger. I drove her back, and in spite of her ferocity, I grabbed her and hurled her away from me. She roared, a sound not unlike that of a jungle cat. For a moment, I was surprised. What in hell was she? Her two male companions had watched us battle. Impassive. The man I had come to rescue hung limply in the hand of one of them. I didn't know if he was alive or dead.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that my three foes might not be quite human. What were they, if not human? All three of them moved toward me, acting like a pack of predatory beasts rather than people. They wore sardonic smiles on their faces. I sniffed the air. They weren't human. That wasn't the strangest part. The weird part was when their eyes turned yellow, and their ordinary-looking hands turned into wicked talons. When I took a closer look at them, they seemed hairier than before. Even the female among them. They weren't quite animalistic in their hairiness but they were not far from it. They were not human, yet they weren't vampires like me. They were something else, something I loathed. I knew that for sure. Moving faster than anything human, they moved against me. Had I been human, I would have been terrified. But lucky for me, I wasn't human. I was a creature of the night. So were they. Time to see who was the toughest creature of them all.

The three of them howled ferociously and leapt at me. At this point, I went on autopilot. I had never encountered the like of these creatures before. Yet something deep inside of me knew what they were. At a cellular level, I knew that they were the enemy. I gave into instinct long suppressed. The results were nothing short of astonishing. As the three hairy humanoids came at me, I waited. When they were sufficiently close by, I extended my arms and, moving like lightning, struck them. My right fist smashed with superhuman strength on the head of the female creature which attacked me earlier. She shrieked in pain and recoiled. Her two companions pressed the attack. I leapt back, and they came straight for me. This time, I did something else entirely. I leapt and landed right in between them. They yelped in surprise. pressing my advantage, I struck them again, hard. My fingers were curled and outstretched, mimicking the head of a cobra. I struck the vulnerable throats of the superhuman creatures. Gasping, they drew back, clutching their throats. The female creature surged forward, eager to avenge her companions pain. I lashed out with outstretched hands, raking my nails across her neck. Yelping, she fell on her knees. I stood over her. She was bleeding, along with her wolfish companions. They were strong brute creatures, but not much in the way of intellect. I grabbed her and pulled her to me. I sank my teeth into her neck, drinking from her. She struggled in my grip. I took what I wanted, then dropped her. She was still alive. I knew it took a lot more than what I had just dished out to kill these wolfish brutes. Laughing, I ran away, with speed that surprised even me.

I ran through the night, feeling better and more confident than I had in years. I felt a certain power inside. A primal and undeniable might whose source was unknown to me. When I surrendered to it, it felt really good. I had faced two wolf-men and a wolf-woman. And I not only survived but I had also defeated them. Werewolves were no match for vampires. I was the vampire, the original master of the night. I had the power. I could do anything! I leapt onto a rooftop, and began running. I wasn't as agile as a panther or as nimble as a monkey. However, I was stronger, faster and more agile than any human being in history. For the first time since Theresa transformed me from black college man into vampire, I felt happy. The world was mine. And nothing on planet Earth could stand in my way. Ah, the naiveté of youth.