Path of the Vampire forum

Karema sat by the river watching the sun set. She took another swig of the vodka she held in her hand. It was over. Twenty five years of living and nothing to show for it. She lit the joint and inhaled deeply savoring the feel of the drug working its way to her brain. “One ******* trick was all I needed.” She said to no one in particular. She continued to smoke and drink as she examined her life.

Life had been good for the girl growing up until her father cheated on her mother. Her father left them for the typical younger woman. Her mother began drinking to ease the pain and began to sleep around. Man after man was paraded through their home. Most were only seen once but some would come back. She didn’t mind so much because at least her mother acted like a mother for the man’s benefit. She cooked and cleaned and paid attention to how school was going. It was just liking having a family again just a new dad quite often.

Then came Mark. Mark was the last man her mother brought home. Surprising her mother stayed with this man much longer than the rest and actually let him move in. Karema had always given him a wide berth. Something about him just wasn’t right. Rarely did she caught with him by herself she felt so strongly about him.

Karema’s mother had worked late that night so she fixed dinner for the two of them. They had a pleasant enough time. After dinner he helped her with her homework. He went in to watch television as she took a shower and got ready for bed. She heard the bathroom door open and figured her mother was home. Calling a greeting out, she stuck her head under the water. Her eyes closed as the conditioner rinsed from her hair. She heard the curtain open expecting to hear her mother’s voice but was surprised as a pair of hands touched her breasts. She screamed, looking to see who it was and saw Mark. She pushed him and told him to get out of the shower and stay away from her. She threatened to tell her mother and he would be kicked out. She did everything she could think of. He grabbed her kissed her, her arms pinned to her side as he forced his tongue into her mouth. She bit him and drew blood. His screamed echoed in the small bathroom. The last thing she remembered was waking up on the tub floor.

Climbing out of the tub she dried off and got dressed, checking to see if the worst had happened to her. She breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure what had stopped him but she was thankful. She looked into the mirror to comb her hair and dropped the brush. Her eye was blackening, a bruise on her jaw and her lip busted and swollen. “Damn he ******* beat me up!” she whispered. She couldn’t wait to watch her mother kick him out. She tied the knot of her robe, her body aching from the fall she walked to the living room.

The scene that greeted her was not what she had expected. Her mother and Mark snuggled together kissing, drinking wine. “Mom I need to talk to you.” The couple turned looking at her. No surprise at her appearance showed on her mother’s face at all.

“Yes, I need to talk to you as well. Sit down.”

Karema sat in the chair confused as her mother began to speak. “Look you need to leave. I will not tolerate you coming on to my boyfriend. I was stunned when I saw him fighting to get away from you. This is unacceptable. You will miss school tomorrow and pack your things. You can go live with your father. “

Karema sat there stunned. “Mom he attacked him. I mean didn’t you notice he was naked or the fact that my face is all bruised.” She began to sob. “Tomorrow is my birthday. You can’t do this to me mom!”

“Go to bed Kar. I still love you but its best you not be here.”

The wounded girl went to her room and called her father and told him what had happened. He listened to her and was angry and tried to comfort her. The night turned even worse when her father said she couldn’t live with him. His new wife wouldn’t allow it. He was sorry. He didn’t have an ideas for her but was sure her mother would change. Karema went to bed and began to plan. She had money saved and there was some of her jewelry she could pawn. She’d steal some her mother’s. She deserved it.

The next morning dawned bright. She lay there with her eyes closed deciding to ask for some time. When she sat up there were already boxes in her room. She went to the kitchen to make her last breakfast. She looked on the table and there was several presents on the table. Karema snorted as she walked to the table. Finding a card with a note she read aloud, “Honey I know this is hard but it will be for the best in the long run. I still love you and you are always welcome here to visit anytime. I hope you like the gifts. Don’t be a stranger. Love, Mom”. She ripped the card up screaming. “What the ****? Seriously? Kick me out and treat me like a beloved daughter, oh hell no.”

Going to her room she packed the important things. She tried to keep the boxes to a minimum since she didn’t know where she would be living. “Oh hell where am I going to live?” Kar went and opened her gifts to see if there was anything worth pawning. Standing there in shock she looked at the top and pair of jeans and Chuck Taylors and a car key. They said it wasn’t much but it was hers but she would pay for the insurance. Well now she had a home.

The boxes all loaded in the car, at least it was a jeep. She grabbed the afghan her grandmother made and took all the food she could that didn’t need cooking or could be microwaved at a convenience store. Karema took one last look and walk out of the door. Knowing it would be the last time. She drove to school showing up late and took the punishment for skipping class. She determined she would get her education. She was determined to get her diploma and stay out of foster care.

Karema quickly found her stride living in her car, where to shower, how to eat. Staying in the college library because it closed later than the public library. She found a job that would pay for gas. Her cell was prepaid for the next year. She convinced her dad to buy her plates and insurance. He said it was the least he could do. He would put money into her account from time to time. It was hard but she was making it.

As time went by she got good at being a street rat. Only the closest people knew that she lived in her car sometimes. She was always clean, her clothes neat and she always had a smile on her face. There were times she could get enough money to keep an apartment for a while but during those times it was either feast or famine. She was ashamed that she had to stoop to it prostitution at times but if a man was willing to pay her a $100 to do things, she’d take advantage. Sometimes life didn’t give you choices you just had to take what was handed to you. She was cautious, got herself checked every week and was selective. It had surprised her how many men just wanted to talk to her and be held. Their wives ignored them and they just wanted someone to listen, to cry with. She dreamed of the day she could get a better job, get a college degree or find a husband and not have to struggle so hard.

The one luxury that Kar allowed herself was The Pentacle Teahouse. She had gone in during their grand opening and it reminded her of something her grandmother would have loved. Somehow there she felt almost civilized and she adored the teas they sold. She would allow herself a cup of hot tea once a week. If it was a good week she would get two. Sometimes when she was desperate and had nothing and needed something to warm her she would ask to do some task to pay the debt. Sometimes she mopped the floor. Other times she would wash dishes. She always noticed a beautiful young woman who looked important noticing her but she would never say a word. Just nod and move on. Other times someone would hand her some food because they said she did more work than the cost of the tea. Thinking back, this shop had saved her from giving up numerous times.

But now was different. The car and broken down and there was no money for repairs. She had missed work when she got sick and was too sick to work and lost her job. The tricks didn’t want her being sick and the one last man who said it didn’t matter never showed up. She had been evicted from her apartment. It was winter and a broken car was no place to live. She couldn’t start over again. It was time to just give up.

Karema finished the joint and pulled out a pad of paper and began to write.

“To whoever owns The Pentacle Teahouse I will forever be grateful for you kindnesses towards me. You were the bright spot in my life and gave me courage to keep living.”

The paper was folded neatly as she began to write again.

“Whoever finds this…..Life’s a ***** and she ate me.”

She pulled out the pills she had stolen from the woman’s cart. Karema had overheard the woman talking to the pharmacist and knew enough to know they would kill her. Just to be sure she bought a bottle of Tylenol. There was no way she was going to wake up from this nightmare. She emptied the bottle on her lap and picked up handful of pills, chasing them down with the vodka that was also stolen. It continued until her lap was empty. “Well that’s that.” She sighed. Now just wait until it happened. For a brief moment she thought she had made a mistake and then looked around her and realized she truly had nothing. She laid down on the bench pulling the blanket up around her. It didn’t take long before a drowsiness began to pull at her. The weather was cold and snowing and the booze and drugs in her system were doing what she wanted.

The distraught woman laid there, tears began to flow wondering why she couldn’t have had a dream life, or at the very least parents who cared. She kept her eyes open for as long as she could, watching the lights as they came on as the sky darkened. She mourned her lost family, she mourned the family she would never have. She mourned her life. “God forgive me for what I’ve done. If you want me alive you’re going to have to provide a miracle.”

It wasn’t much long before she began to lose consciousness. Her eyes fluttered, fighting to stay awake, she saw turned to see someone walking to sit down but she couldn’t move had she wanted too. Her last thoughts were wanting to say to whoever it was walking to her bench.

(a few nights earlier)

Hey!

The gypsy signed to one of her staff as she popped in to check on things. It was just past sundown.

"Hey lady," the girl smiled. "Pretty good day today saleswise."

That's what I like to hear. she replied to the mortal girl with her hands and a smile as she took a seat at the counter. Anything I need to know?

"Nothing I can think of, honestly. Placed the supply orders today, and some new suppliers left you some information to look over. Left it on your desk. We could use some new day help. Anyway we can hire another set of hands?"

Zodiac considered the question. Business had been doing better that she first assumed when she opened this venture. I suppose we could. Hey, what about that one girl that comes in here. The one always willing to work for a cup and a croissant?

"Haven't seen her in a while." The woman shrugged as she waited for the register to print out its report. "Weird actually. She usually pops in once or twice a week. She'd be good for it I think. If I see her I will give her an app."

Zodiac shrugged. She understood and was used to drifters. The girl had become a bit of a fixture here, but everyone moved on in time. It was a fact of life. Some took more time to move on than others. The few times she had been around when she was in the place, she had never gotten a bad vibe from her so she always approved her requests to 'work for tea'. It was Zodiac who told the others to give her extras in the form of food or cash. The girl wasn't scared of work, she gave her that much. She had quite a few clues about this woman, despite never hearing her name once. Part of her normal trade was being able to read people in general. What they did and didn't do, the body language, and a ton of other subtle clues most did not realize they gave off every moment of their lives. The girl gave off the classic signals of one trying to hang on and failing on occasion. The patterns of paying at times and working others told her the woman's money situation was in a constant state of flux. Her attire, always clean and neat, yet at times conservative and others provocative. School books in hand one day, then others nothing but a tiny purse and pack of smokes. Make up, hair, all told a story. Someone who tried to hold a job and finish their education who had to resort to less respectable methods to stay alive. She never complained, always a smile, yet her body language showed her dilemmas at times.

What was her name?

"Kerry? Kari?" the girl shrugged.

********

(This night)

A couple nights later found the mystic out on one of her expeditions . A leisurely drive through the city with purpose as she gathered items that would come in handy in time. A few warehouses 'liberated' of goods, a wallet or two discovered, and always encouraging blood thieves to rediscover the joys of carbonated soda.

Necessary evils, all of it she was sad to say. It was part of the 'night life' now and like others she knew it was a game of adapt or die, or in her case die again. Even when she was alive and basically did the same things as she did now, she was never so brutal or cold in her nocturnal dealings. Back then, her marks survived and were able to call the police when she was finished, unlike the mentioned blood thieves, gangsters and a host of other things that would clog the arteries of this town to a stand still if it wasn't for the efforts of her kind. She smirked at the irony of it. Vampires were the source of all evil, yet they were the ones sweeping up the elements that caused issues for the living.

"You can't please, everyone..." she sang softly in her thoughts as her trek took her along the riverfront. She debated getting her fishing rod out of the back of the mini bus and seeing if she could snag another head. "I wonder why that hasn't made the papers yet." she smirked. Plenty of people fished around here, so the odds had to say some retired guy hadn't pulled up the head of some blood goon in the middle of the afternoon.

Sharp eyes spied something near the river. Zodiac pulled to the side and got out. She walked along the path and found a couple things. A cellphone and a bit of cheap bling. Nothing major, but worth something to someone out there. As she was ready to return to her van, she spied someone laying on one of the benches. Considering the matter, she found this odd. The homeless had more sense than just to lay out in the open. They knew something was off in the darkness now and took pains to keep themselves safe. She reached out with her thoughts as she approached. It was possible it was a dead body, but she heard the faltering thoughts rattling sporadically within.

Curious, she took a seat at the end of the bench and looked around. The empty pill bottles, the liquor and the fading aroma of weed said it all. "Poor thing," she thought to herself. Suicide was something she rarely encountered in her life. Zodiac had been down those paths before with others, and had considered it herself when she was alive. But she never could cross that line, so it puzzled her how others could simply leave life like turning off a switch. She could not get a clear view of the person who lay there as they balanced on the edge of life and death. She cocked her head and considered for a second before letting her thoughts reach out to the homeless person. They would soon be dead, so no harm in revealing herself in such a manner.

"Oh my, you poor dear. How did you find yourself here like this?" her mental voice soft and clear. "Your time is running out, so speak up now."

Karema heard the voice loud and clear in her head. She laid there several moments trying to figure out if it were the drugs or if someone was actually near her. She struggled as hard as she could to open her eyes. Her vision unable to focus but could make out a figure standing near her.

Sighing she closed her eyes again. She wasn’t sure who she was talking to or if she was even talking to someone. Maybe it was angel here to take her to hell for taking her own life. She wasn’t sure.

The girl’s words were slurred, almost to the point of being unable to be recognized. “I can’t do it anymore. I wish things were different but I can’t fight without help anymore. It’s just too ******* hard.” She grew silent dozing off as the pills continued to do their job.

Jerky awake for the briefest of moments she recognized the woman from the store she always got her tea at. “Help me. I don’t want to die.”

The girl leaned over and retched. When she was done a pile of pills and vodka lay in the snow steaming. Karema laid back on the bench closing her eyes going back to unconsciousness. Even with ridding her body of the poisons enough had entered her bloodstream and there was nothing now that could save her except for one thing.

She listened carefully. She was used to listening to less than sober people in her lines of work. The same story she had heard before so many times. 'Life sucks, I can't take it, why is things so hard?'. She wondered how long the woman would last if she had to endure the kind of life she had led before finding herself in this town.

The girl rolled and let her cookies splash on the ground. Zodiac reached over and patted her back in sympathy. As the girl rolled back onto the bench, the gypsy's fingers found her neck and felt for a pulse.

"Oh my. Your heart is loosing this fight now badly." her words were not mocking nor cold or cruel. She spoke calmly and gently to the girl's mind now. Zodiac flinched as the girl cried out to live. Gently, she placed her fingers to the girl's brow and focused her thoughts again into hers.

"I cannot save you from Death, dear one, but- I can help you cheat him once you arrive and if you are smart and listen to me, you can keep on cheating him for longer than you ever thought possible. Are you sure this is what you want?" she asked the dying woman. "When you fully understand, you may hate me. Hate yourself, but at least you will be able to hate. And love and have some semblance of a life again."

She rolled up her sleeve and pulled her straight razor from her blouse and dragged it across her wrist. She placed the cut against the girl's open mouth just as her fangs sank into the soft throat. "Drink it." her mental voice now firm and demanding as she began to gorge herself on the woman's blood. "Drink it and keep it down."

Her free hand moved to rub the girl's throat to encourage her to swallow, then returned to check for her pulse. There was no need to hold her down. There was no fight left in the girl thanks to the cocktail of drugs and liquor she had absorbed. Once she felt the woman had swallowed enough of her own blood, she let go of her throat and bit into one of her wrists. Was it the blood or what else was in her veins she wasn't sure, but she kept drinking until her fingers told her the heart had finally given up.

She sat up on top of the girl and panted a bit, clearing her own head. Now she felt bloated and wanted to sleep, but the problem still had a few steps to go before it was solved. She looked around and made sure there was no one close by before running back to the mini bus and pulling as close as she could to where the girl was laying. With a strength her size dictated she could not have, she gathered up the body in the blanket and carried her to the van and laid her in the back.

Dropping into gear, she headed for her place in the Bluffs.

***

Zodiac laid the body on the floor in front of the fireplace. She studied the girl's face for a few moments before taking stock of herself. She was a mess from gorging on the girl's blood, so she went to shower and change clothes. It was only a waiting game now. Not all survived the turning process and how long they would sleep varied from person to person. All she could do now was keep watch and be waiting if the woman did awaken. If she did not, well there was always something that needed flesh to survive waiting for a free meal.

"Watch her." She spoke to the mind of her cat. Ginny meowed softly as she settled down to do as had been asked as her owner entered the bathroom to wash up.

Karema heard the woman talking to her in her head. She wondered briefly how it was possible. She didn’t understand what the woman meant about cheating death. She had screwed up and she was going to die. It was too late for her. She felt tears slide from her eyes as she felt herself slowly slipping away.

Her mouth was forced open and she felt something against her lips, she felt something warm and metallic tasting pouring into her mouth. The voice came again telling her swallow and not throw it up. She tried to do as she was told, desperate to live. She felt the fingers on her throat encouraging her to swallow. She drank until there was nothing else being poured into her mouth. She wondered what she had given her. It tasted like blood but that wasn’t how a transfusion was done she reasoned. The drugs pulled her back into sleep once again.

A sharp pain in her wrist caused her to open her eyes. Karema’s vision was blurry but she saw the woman with her mouth on her wrist. Oddly it no longer hurt and was almost pleasant. She watched her not knowing what she was doing but she felt herself growing weaker. This is it she thought. Her strength draining from her body. I’m almost dead. She felt her heartbeat slow and the blackness met her once again.

Karema felt herself lifted and moving. She went in and out of consciousness. She didn’t have the strength to even see what was going on. She felt as if she would vomit again but remembered the words to keep whatever she had been given down. She felt herself being lifted and gently placed down again. She felt the warmth and instinctively turned towards it. She realized something was very different and very wrong but she couldn’t figure it out. Her eyes closed and she slept. Unaware of the changes that were taking place.

The dreams were vivid. She dreamed about a gypsy. A gypsy who was not what everyone thought she was. She dreamed that she was becoming like the gypsy. Karema briefly woke up and looked around, seeing the cat curled beside her she realized she couldn’t feel her heartbeat. The darkness started coming again as she realized she was dead. She hadn’t imagined Hell would just be a fireplace. Once again the darkness claimed her. She took comfort in that it was over.

She sat in her easy chair and worked on her knitting calmly. There was nothing to do now but wait for the girl to finally awaken fully. Zodiac had seen enough clues to tell her the woman had survived the process and was now simply adapting. It was daylight outside now, but the design of her apartment kept the sunlight at bay so they were both safe.

She wondered what 'flavor' would happen this time. Is how the gypsy considered the paths and how some ended up on which. Flavors. Allurist or telepath? Mystic or shadow? Necromancer or killer? She often wondered what was the deciding factor that aimed a basically dead person into one specific type of afterlife. Her own transformation did not really surprise her once she had considered it all, but what stood out so strongly in others?

A question without an answer. Just like five hundred (and counting) other points concerning what they were now. Nothing to do but knit.

"Meow." Ginny chirped as she readjusted herself on Zodiac's lap.

"Soon now, my darling." she paused and petted the black beast reassuringly. "Should be anytime now. She will be hungry and full of questions."

Karema heard the meow of a cat and the voice again. She didn’t feel the effects of the alcohol and the drugs anymore so why was she hearing this voice in her head. She sat up quickly, “Oh my gosh she’s the devil here to torment me.”

Turning her head she stopped any further dialogue as she saw the woman sitting there. She recognized her from the tea shop. What had she gotten herself into this time? Something wasn’t right at all. She looked at the woman taking inventory of her body and realized that she felt alive though she must be dead. She had no need to breath and she had no heartbeat. So she must be dead but she felt so alive.

Karema sat Indian-style on the floor facing the woman. The two sat looking at one another for a long time. She had so many questions but was afraid to ask, afraid of the answers. She knew something was majorly different about herself and none of this made any sense to her at all.

“So we’ve never officially met, I’m Karema and I think your name is Zodiac and apparently I was right, there is something different about you. So care to explain why I’m dead but feel so alive? I mean is this hell? Are you the devil? What the hell happened to me?”

Licking her lips, a flash of the woman’s wrist laying across her mouth, tasting blood skittered through her mind. Karema eyed her and furrowed her brows waiting for her answers. No, that’s not right, no one would feed a dying person blood. A strange yearning came when she thought of that. “That’s just weird, I may be kinky but I’m not into the whole blood things.” She thought to herself.

The cat licked its leg while it sat on Zodiac’s lap. The girl begin to eye the cat with hunger in her eyes. She shook her head wondering what was wrong with her as the woman before her began to explain.

It was a game she had played before. She sat staring at her newborn childe while the childe stared back at her. A game of who blinks first played by two who no longer have to blink at all.

“So we’ve never officially met, I’m Karema and I think your name is Zodiac and apparently I was right, there is something different about you. So care to explain why I’m dead but feel so alive? I mean is this hell? Are you the devil? What the hell happened to me?”

She blinked. Part of her wanted to begin to explain, but the devil comment hooked into her brain and refused to budge. Slowly she began to smile and let her fangs be seen. Her normally soft mental voice exchanged for one a tad louder and more demonic.

"If you could see through me, then I guess I am not using the right disguise then." her mindspeak bellowed. "Yep, it's me. Old Scratch himself. Welcome to Economy Hell! A new idea I am trying out. Less space used with more personalized service and attention to each new soul. Heating costs alone demanded I cut back on the flames and all."

Quicker than the eye could follow, Zodiac grabbed a throw pillow and sent it directly against the girl's head. "Are you nuts?" she said in her normal voice as she held up her knitting. "What the hell is this? The Devil Knits Prada or something?"

She busted into laughter then. The gypsy knew the girl was probably confused to death now, but this was a first for her. Her mouth open wide as she laughed but not a sound escaping her lips, yet her laughter was heard regardless within the girl's thoughts.

"Oh gods! I been called a lot of things in this place, but never The Devil himself. A whore, a *****, a mega *****, an idiot but never the Devil." she tried to regain her composure and saw the girl looking at Ginny with a familiar look in her eyes.

"You hungry right now, aren't you? Well trust me, whatever you are thinking concerning this cat you will do at your own peril and I will not feel sorry for you."

Karema’s eyes bulged out as the woman’s voice entered her head. She hadn’t been dreaming that at all. “Well **** a duck” you can speak in my thoughts. “Sorry, none of this makes sense and I figured if I don’t have a heartbeat and I don’t seem to be breathing on my own I must be dead and I know I didn’t have a chance at heaven so I reasoned this would be hell though I figured Satan would be much scarier than you are and I seriously doubt he had a cat.” She looked again at the knitting, “ok and well the little I ever heard of the devil I’m pretty sure he doesn’t knit. I really didn’t mean any offense.”

How could the woman know she was hungry? “I’m not going to try and eat your cat, people don’t just eat cats. I mean there’s been a time or two in my life I would have thought about it but I’d have to be hungrier than this.” Though if the truth were told she’d never been so hungry in her entire life but the thought of food was repulsive which made no sense. Karema thought of all her favorite foods and only intense disgust followed each thought.

Look up to the woman with confusion showing on her face she asked, “What is wrong with me? Yes I am starving, I feel as if I will die if I don’t eat but yet any food I can think disgusts me. I get the sense you have all the answers.”

She smiled as the girl began to run over her facts. Zodiac could see it in her aura now. Dark, angry tones boiling and rolling about her as her new state of existence began to overrule her body's normal needs. Lightly she appraised her and saw what 'flavor' the girl had awoken as.

"I guess I should blame myself for not being clear when I spoke to you on that bench," the tone of her thoughts almost sympathetic now. "You said you didn't want to die and I answered I could not save you from Death, but I could help you cheat him, and so I did." She laid her knitting aside and stood up to take a couple steps to the woman who sat on the floor before her. "I know your mind is ablaze with a million questions, your senses are in overdrive as well. Sight, smell, hearing all fine tuned and sharper than before. You feel good. Strong, powerful even, but all of that is background noise to the hunger within, am I right?"

She walked past the girl slowly. A hint of jasmine and lilac in the air following her as she stopped by the door to her dwelling. She looked at the girl again and smiled, once again showing her fangs. The mystic cocked her head sadly. She was hoping the girl would work it out from the clues already given so far. She had found with some of her previous children that, when they brought up the term vampire first, they were open to the idea and more apt to accept what she was telling them rather than fighting with them to accept the idea.

"And yes, so so hungry. Only one thing is going to fill that hunger now." She focused her mind and reached out to the world around them. A second later a knocking was on her door. Zodiac opened it and allowed the young man to enter. He was in a trance of sorts judging by his expression. Her smile and a touch guiding him to approach her newest childe. "And this is what I meant when I said you may hate me forever."

The man stopped within her reach and dropped to one knee as if he was proposing to the girl. His expression totally blank now. "You have them too now." Zodiac ran a finger over her own fangs as she watched. "Can you smell him now? Can you hear your dinner crying out to you as it moves about inside of him? You should know I am right by now. Feed, and I will answer your questions, I swear."