Path of the Vampire forum

"You can never be rid of me Danny Boy, don't you know that?!"

I heard the voice echo through out my mind. Deep down I know it's not that. That My Dark Friend should be My Fragmented Friend. He is part of my damaged psyche or I am part of his. Honestly I'm loosing track who came first. I know it was me. At least...I think it was me, but we've been together so long it's starting to become blurry.

Staying in this city I've seen Vampires roam the city. All of it becomes apparent when they feed. The extended fangs. How blood is coveted during the feeding. I should run every time I see it, but I become jealous. To be a monster so out in the open. So free. I will never have that. Even if I became a vampire I would still be denied that kind of freedom.

"Dannnnnyyyyyy Booooy, Clock's ticking," My Dark Friend whined and my body convulsed with annoyance. The complicated part about having a second personality with only one body, sometimes that second part of you could take over the body. Too much time had passed since we indulged in our own little habits. He was getting antsy, edgy and so was I.

As I stand on the street corner just observing everything I can feel the weight of the world. I can feel my combined urges. The utter need to feel blood. No, not like the vampires do. Or at least most of them. Too many times with them it's too quick, too impersonal and too rushed. They don't....savor it.

Just thinking of staring at someone before I bring the knife down upon their throat caused another shiver to surge through my body. The Hunt, The Hunger, whatever you want to call my urge was calling loud and clear. It's about time I answered it.

"Yes. It is. It's been too long Danny. Too damned long," by now My Dark Friend had manifested. I rarely saw his face. Always the black suit with the pine stripes, a tie that matched the pinstripes and typically nothing else. The man was living shadow, devoid of most colors and he preferred it that way.

Typically I wore light to medium grey. Sometimes a rich blue so we dressed well, but our taste differed in fashion. My Dark Friend smiled out at the city, "Know what the best part about living in Harper Rock is?"

"What's that?" I asked aloud. By now I had gotten used to wearing a blue tooth in my ear. Most people assumed I was talking someone on the headset like a douchebag. Rarely did I use the thing to take a real call. If people knew I talked to myself I was one quick car ride to an asylum. We can't have that now, can we?

"It's the people," My Dark Friend grinned.

"You mean the lack thereof."

"Yeah. It's paradise. I mean where else would a monster like us go to blend in? A place that's just crawling with its own monsters," My Dark Friend's grin just grew. We found a sense of peace in this city of chaos. Where else could we have killed in peace? A place riddled with monsters and the damned obviously. People went missing all the time. What was a few more that got added to the pile? At least our victims were carefully chosen. Meticulously picked and tossed away from the mortal coil because of their own sins. It's very live by the sword die by the sword, but it works for the moment.

It's raining again. It always rains here or it feels that way. I don't mind it. The weather is a reflection of the tiny sliver of human emotion I actually feel. Yes, proof that I'm not one-hundred percent monster. There's just enough emotion there to tip back that number by a few percent, maybe a couple fractions of a percent. I don't know and I don't care. At the end of the day I'm a monster and I'm okay with that.

Lately, I've been lost in work because every monster has to eat. I'm the kind of monster that likes a grilled steak on some nights, a spinach salad with sweet dressing, and something with caramel as a treat. This requires a job where I track people. Mostly bitter divorced people, or enraged couples that are about to become bitter divorced people. Some clients I turn down. Others that would be shunned by most I embrace. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. Sometimes I prefer it. I get to hunt this way.

I feed a second way. Why I'm comforted in a city of vampires is because like them blood soothes me. Well, it soothes My Dark Friend. The part of me that has become unhinged and manifested itself into another part of my being, or maybe I'm a manifestation of his. I'm no longer sure, and I haven't been for ages. There's nothing like questioning your own existence like this. It's less, "Why am I here?" or more, "Was I originally here?" Existence is different when you know if you're "cured" you could go away.

"Ain't that the b*tch of it Danny Boy?" My Dark Friend said to me. He was behind me now in his traditional black suit as I sat in my office chair. The rain was hitting my window.

"Yeah, it is," I heard myself saying. A familiar sight from the desk stirred me. It was Lucy. Well, her framed photo. For some reason I stared at it. She used to tell me, "You're doing god's work."

No. I wasn't. God existed. I was no Angel. I was about even with most of the Catholic Clergy when you introduced them to a boy's only orphanage. I've buried a few clergy remains even. I'm not sure if God would have smiled, frowned or shook his head at the entire situation. One of his monsters klilling a Monster that desecrated his words. It brings up the questions about who is the bigger sinner or saint between us. Even, I can't call that one. Probably me, but that's because I only kill monsters. I don't destroy children.

Shaking my head I tossed aside the thoughts of Sinners and Saints, and stared at Lucy. Taking her photo in my hand I just stared. A tear streamed down my face. For a moment My Dark Friend did something that shocked me.

His hand went over Lucy's photo too. Then in a serious voice he said to me, "I miss her too."

Together we let go of the photo and watched it fall. To the world around us it was seconds. To us it was minutes, maybe hours. Every slight and subtle movement caught by our eyes. Even as the glass of the frame cracked as it hit the bottom of the metal trash can we dropped it in.

Lucy was my wife. Years ago she released herself from me legally, and every other ly in the dictionary because life was cruel. Now, it was time I finally released her from me. There was part of me with her. Maybe even the human part. It was time to see if taking that small part of myself back was human...or not.

Tomorrow was a new day indeed.