CHAPTER (VIII)

Boyle Heights Park, 2230hrs

The park was desolate, lit by a few lamp poles. Empty plastic cups being blown up and down the park by the night breeze.

Claudia always found the silent, calm environment ideal for her night jogs. Four days a week, she would jog from her apartment, down the street, through the park and back to her apartment. 

She was on the phone with her sister who was always whining that she should just get herself a treadmill which was so much safer than running in the night.

Claudia made a joke to her sister and the two broke into a laughter but Claudia suddenly went mute as her phone fell from her hand.

A man stood in front of her, very very pale with black veins around his eyes. They scared her, she found herself looking into them, she found them cold, without any emotions.

"Oh God!" She exclaimed.

Claudia's heart pounded so hard she thought it would break from her chest.

In a flash, Nate's teeth were deep inside Claudia's neck. Her scream tore through the night silence. Disrupting the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere. 

Seconds after sinking his teeth into her, he felt a hand grab him from the back, yanking him from poor Claudia. Next thing he knew, he was crashing into one of the parks wooden benches, breaking it. Farian looked at him for a second then turned to dear Claudia who stood frozen, her eyes wide with terror.

On listening more closely, he could hear Claudia's sister call out her sister's name from the phone on the ground. He slowly bent and picked the phone and ended the call.

He held her by the shoulders, he felt her shaking. She pleaded that he doesn't hurt her.

"Hey…" he called softly looking into her eyes and she found herself glued to his. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said calmly.

Nate stirred as he opened his eyes. He saw the two figures in front of him. He was angry, angry that this starnger crushed his party. And he was hungry.

With his newly acquired vampire speed, he sped to the duo but before he could get a hold of either of them, Farian had snapped his neck. Claudia seemed to be in trance and never reacted to what Farian had just done. Nate fell and Farian turned back to Claudia.

"Everything is fine, you came for a jog, went back home, nothing out of the ordinary." She gave a nod. "You will forget everything you saw here tonight."

"I will forget everything I saw here tonight." She replied as if under a spell. She turned and jogged back.

Farian watched till she disappeared into the night then turned to Nate's motionless body.

****

He slowly opened his eyes as he felt something touch his lips. A figure was next to him holding a bag of blood close to his mouth. He hurriedly grabbed the blood bag from the stranger and squeezed, closing his eyes as the blood quenched the thirst he had.

He then suddenly remembered the man's face.

Using his vampire speed he got up and Farian did the same. "You!" he called looking at him and threw his right hand to him, ready to punch him.

Farian caught the arm and twisted it. "You are weak, you need to drink," Farian advised. From the grip Farian had on his arm, he could tell he didn't stand a chance of winning if he was to fight him. He pulled his hand free and that's when he noticed where they were.

The place was massive, with the walls seeming to stretch on forever. The walls were adorned with famous paintings from artists like Van Gogh and Da Vinci. Each of them spotlighted with soft lighting. Old artifacts were mounted to the wall all over the place, protected by clear glass. The artifacts mostly consisted of medieval weapons and variety of porcelain.

Nate's young eyes blinked rapidly, trying to digest it all.

"Who are you?" he finally asked, resting his eyes on the stranger standing in front of him.

"The better question is, who are you?" Farian returned.

Nate started walking around, "I'm Nate Connor," he started as he stopped.

In front of him were old artifacts, a bowl and a knife, both very old.

"What happened to you Nate?" Farian asked, of cours he was fully aware what happened but he couldn't help but wonder how Nate Connor saw things.

The events of that rainy night came to Nate in flashes, the shooting, his moment with Amanda, he remembered… "Amanda!"

Where was she, was she alive, had the man behind him killed her? He was furious.

He slowly pushed the glass open and got the knife and in a split second, he was in front of Farian with the knife inches away from Farian's chest but he had held him back with his palm around Nate's neck.

"What did you do to her?" he struggled to say.

"Who? You mean the girl? Oh she's fine." Farian answered, still holding him back by the neck. He took the knife from Nate and loosened his grip around his throat. He walked to where the knife was and put it back, pushing the glass closed.

"What are you?"

He smiled to himself and took his time before giving Nate his answer.

"Over the years I have been accorded many different names so I'm not sure what to tell you. You are free to call me whatever you wish young Nate."

"Over the years?" Nate repeated.

"You wouldn't understand."

"What did you do to me?"

"I did nothing to you young Nate. It's all your doing."

"I was dead!" Nate pointed out.

"Correct. But it appears you died with my blood,"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh young Nate, so naïve. I am…" he broke off, as if having doubts on whether to tell Nate what he was or not. "I am a vampire. When humans die with vampire blood in their blood in their system, they come back to life as vampires. You feed on human blood to finish the transition to a vampire." He explained.

It took Nate a few minutes to internalize all that.

"That man you killed?"

"It's a long story young Nate-"

"Stop calling me that!" Nate bit out. Farian smiled, he ignored that smile and went on. "So what now?" he wanted to know.

"That's entirely up to Nate. You can either go live your life and never tell anyone what you are or I kill you here and now."

"I thought vampires can't be killed."

"Oh they can. That narrative of 'Vamps can't be killed' was brought about by the vampires just to instill fear to the humans." Farian explained.

"How can they be… how can we be killed?"

"Quite the inquisitive one." He pointed out. "I think it's best if you didn't know that piece of information."

Nate didn't push him. "Anything else I should know?"

"I'm sure you have figure out the basics, increased speed, your senses have been sharpened, thirst for blood and you can't go into the sun."

Farian's cool was intimidating, from the way he spoke to how he walked. He spoke calmly and with so much cool that was almost frightening.

Nate had tried to match to that but his came out more as rude than cool.

"So I'm never going to walk under the sun?" That was a great concern for Nate.

In a flash, Farian had disappeared and reappeared holding a ring.

"What's that?" Nate wanted to know.

"A daylight ring." He answered. "It allows you walk under the sun without it affecting you." He threw the ring at Nate who caught it and looked at Farian quizzically.

"Two minutes ago I tried killing you. Twice! and you're just gonna hand this to me? Why?"

"Why don't you put the ring on," he suggested. "See how it fits."

Nate did as he had been told. Perfect fit.

"Are there others like m… like us?"

"No! I killed them all." His voice was cold as he answered that.

Nate was so shaken he didn't dare ask more of the matter.

Farian walked to a sideboard that held a number of glasses, a tap was mounted to the wall which he pulled open and blood flowed out. He filled two glasses and handed one to Nate.

"Cheers!"

After two sips that meant the world to him, Nate finally asked his burning question. "You own all this?" He inquired darting his eyes all over the place. Farian's smile answered him. "How?"

"I've been alive for more than seven hundred years, I've been around when all this was made, acquiring them was not that hard."

"How do you feel owning all this?"

He laughed softly. "Typical teenager," Farian whispered under his breath before he spoke. "When you live as long as I have, you will understand that all this is nothing."

"You want another?" He asked pointing at the blood tap. Nate gave a nod.

****