Short Story: Dying Breed

Vampire turned into a short story. I’m sure I could also do a poem but this was what came out. I feel like it’s the start of bigger story rather than a story unto itself.

Dying Breed

I was a beggar dying in the streets. Disease was taking my body as it was taking so many others. I saw a woman walking down the street. Her clothes gave her away as wealthy and her near perfect face told me she was an angel and I was near the end. I asked her if she was here to take me away. There was a hunger in her eyes when she said “It would be my pleasure.” As I struggled to my feet she leaned toward my face and that’s when I saw her fangs. Before I could react, she was drinking from my neck.

I had never felt so relaxed and happy. Euphoria washed over me. Everything was starting to blur around the edges when I felt the beautiful woman offer me something to drink. I gulped it down hungrily.

The more I drank, the stronger I felt. I could feel the strength returning to my limbs, the warmth returning to my body. I felt alive and well for the first time in ages. With a wicked smile the woman asked me “Do you want to live forever?”

I was promised the world. For centuries, we had it. When you live for such a long time, it’s easy to accumulate wealth. Humans become very predictable creatures. We never stayed in one place for too long. After 10 or 20 years it would become apparent we weren’t aging.

We claimed several countries as our homes living a life of sin and luxury. It was refreshing to enjoy carnal lust with no consequences. Disease was such a peril for so many years. We wanted for nothing and held no envy. Gluttony became overrated since food no longer sustained me and held little taste.

Quenching my thirst became easy when we target the destitute, the dying, the criminals, people no one would miss. The only people of importance we targeted were ones who knew our secret and had no intention of keeping it. We were always able to orchestrate the death so that nothing even hinted at our secret.

Life was far from perfect. Whatever magic that gave us our strength and power provided its own set of limitations. We could never walk on consecrated ground. Given the centuries requirement of regular church attendance, this was occasionally an obstacle we had to work around. Religious symbols burned like fire. Certain herbs could be used to make us ill. For the first time in my life or death, I had allergies.

The worst part was never being able to go out in the sun. I could hide in shadows but direct sunlight would overwhelm my system. For a long time I thought it was heaven’s punishment for our nature. Abominations who aren’t permitted to grace the light of day.

Science has turned a light on my condition which was once magic. UV light causes a fatal reaction in our cells. Our bodies lost the ability to break down the herbs we once thought were poison. Religion is still a problem but no one cares if I attend church. My mate and I were doing quite well for so many years but our numbers are dwindling.

Our absences during daylight hours can be easily explained but still pose problems. Why can’t we join our mortal friends for happy hour in April but always come out in the fall? They have the pictures on social media to prove it. With the internet becoming a permanent part of our world, we’re at great risk of exposure. Even if I completely change my identity and leave the country, all I need is the wrong picture in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of ours was put on a terrorist watch list. He can’t risk open travel for years.

So many stories of our kind show us as powerful. Lords of the underworld, bending the ears of leaders, manipulating the future of mortals everywhere. While we have money and power and often have the ears of leaders, we stay as uninvolved as possible. The bigger our place in history, the shorter our lives would be.

In my latest incarnation I am a scientist. I study blood diseases which has given me an opportunity to analyze our condition. I’ve come very close to isolating what in our genetic code caused us to change, to live without life. This knowledge has generated several questions.

I haven’t told anyone how close I am. Rather than answers, this only generates more questions. Can we be made mortal? Should we allow ourselves to die? Should we sire enough humans that we have a voice in the greater world? How far are we willing to go to save our kind? We are a dying breed but should we allow ourselves to die?