Path of the Vampire forum

What would happen if you were to gather together a group of expert scientists, quantum physicists with gargantuan intellects the size of planets, and stick them in a room with a bunch of deep-thinking philosophers, creative theorists with minds as expansive as the universe itself? It’s probably fair to say that the debates and discussions that ensued would blow the brains of most common folk, like a cerebral bullet fired from an enlightened gun. There’s a reasonable chance that one of the topics of complex and convoluted conversation would be the infinite monkey theorem.

In a nutshell, the theory states that if a chimpanzee presses the keys of a typewriter at random for an infinite number of times, the monkey will eventually quote a chosen body of literary text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. Granted, the chances of this happening are almost unbelievably miniscule, and could effectively take forever to happen, but in an existence full of an infinite number of parallel universes, with a never-ending supply of typing chimps, then anything could be written at any given time. In layman’s terms, if you throw enough mud at a wall, eventually some of it will stick, or in other words, if you do something enough times, you can obtain any conceivable result.

The problem with the unlimited troop of ape secretaries is that, in addition to producing copies of Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet, the animals could inadvertently type up long lost transcripts from books about satanic rituals, and mistakenly summon a demon, well, in theory at least! Accidents do happen.

Aaron Hunter was no scientist or philosopher; he was a simple musician with a penchant for killing in his spare time. However, he did like to monkey around with his red-haired lover, Eureka, although the animalistic pair’s antics would probably be more akin to rabbits than chimpanzees. Let’s just say that they thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company, regularly, in fact as often as possible. And therein lies the problem.

No matter how many precautions are taken to prevent the unwanted from occurring, if something is repeated often enough then there is always a chance that a complication will eventually arise. There is always one tenacious fish that can swim through the net. If Aaron’s band continued to play their set list over and over again, even if they frequently altered the last song for variety to give the gig a different ending and keep things exciting for the audience, a speaker could always explode to mess up the grand finale. Whether the final tune ended with a pounding drum fill, intricate finger work from the guitarist, a slapping master class from the bass player, or an oral opus reaching a screaming crescendo from the vocalist, a faulty wire in an amplifier’s power cable could spell disaster.

Should it really have come as such a surprise, such an unexpected shock, when Eureka discovered that she was pregnant? After all, the monkeys had been working overtime. She was going to have a baby; they were going to have a baby. Aaron’s initial thoughts, once he’d pulled his stubble-covered jaw back up off the floor, were how had this happened? Could vampires really have children? Weren’t they just… dead?

Aaron’s vampiric family, the Acheron clan, had dispersed across the city and to goodness where else. Maybe they’d all been turned into ashes by now, the affable drummer didn’t really know, although he was sure that he’d spotted a few familiar faces in the streets. Their physical presences may have effectively vanished into nothingness, but some of the wise words from their weird old leader, Ambrose, still echoed in Aaron’s mind. In particular, the younger vampire recalled a few stories, lessons about strange codes and laws. Aaron was sure that for a vampire to give birth the process would be, to say the least, fraught with danger. The infant would not be the usual cherub held so lovingly by doting parents, but something much darker, more sinister in nature.

As if the mechanics of actually bringing a child into the shadowy underworld weren’t perilous enough for his partner, Aaron was passionately concerned about how terrible a father he would make. His own dad had been little more than a monster, so would Aaron ultimately take on the same role? Would he become a nightmarish beast, born of a human monster, destined to nurture the demon currently brewing in Eureka’s womb? The complexity of the situation was destroying Aaron’s mind, as if someone had flipped open the lid to his skull and was grinding his brains round and round like a primitive neurosurgical mortar and pestle. He needed time and space to understand what was going on.

Eureka’s curse, the fact that the gorgeous redhead returned to the rooftop of Aaron’s apartment each and every night, was, in the bewitched musician’s eyes, his blessing. She would always come back to him like a beautiful boomerang. They were fated to be together, destined to share an eternal embrace. But when you are confused and bewildered by the amazing scenario developing before your eyes, the blissful shared bedroom can transform into a cage. Being trapped with a wild lioness, no matter how much Aaron loved and adored her, was like walking an emotional tightrope.

Aaron wasn’t overly confrontational unless he really needed to be, and tonight, the apprehensive punk rocker needed fresh air, to feel the cooling city breeze ruffle the loose strands of his thick dark hair. He wouldn’t be gone long, he never could be such was the overwhelming magnetism of his red-haired rooftop rebel.

Aaron had always been creative. The musician had artistic flair, a rich vein of imagination inside his body. In addition to playing the drums, Aaron was an occasional, wannabe photographer, and more frequently, a serial doodler, regularly scribbling bizarre sketches onto his drawing pad. He was never going to be the next Vincent Van Gogh or Salvador Dali, but the inventive designer was still able to convey his personal, inner feelings through the medium of art.

As Aaron sat alone near the transit station in Swansdale, he twiddled a stubby pencil between his thumb and index finger, producing a metronomic rhythm with the short wooden stick. The doodler’s hands were stained with blood, a messy by-product of his trip to the Wendigo Forest that was situated to the south of the neighbourhood. Normally, the skilled killer would use his trusty gun to take down the hideous beasts that lurked within the woods, but not tonight. Aaron needed to let off some pent up steam, to release the energy that was bubbling away inside him like a giant cauldron. The intimate feel of close quarters combat with swords, where Aaron could allow his physical prowess to run riot like Godzilla rampaging through Tokyo, was exactly what the confused vampire had desired.

Pulling an old train ticket receipt from the pocket of his tight jeans, the pencil tapping on his knee like a miniature hammer, Aaron drew a single black dot on the back of the crumpled piece of paper. Pausing for a few seconds, the makeshift artist scribbled the word “Solitude” underneath his lonely dot.

Aaron was not an anti-social guy: quite the opposite, in fact. The affable punk had always enjoyed hanging out with his friends, whether it be to shoot a few hoops on a basketball court, sink a couple of beers at a local bar, or jam away with his band members. But sometimes, Aaron just needed to escape, to spend time alone so that he could gather his thoughts. It was possibly a deep-rooted psychological issue linked to his abusive childhood, and his need to find a safe place to hide. Nonetheless, a creative mind could often be messy, with emotions and feelings whizzing around here and there like frenzied bees in a hive. The daydreamer simply required a bit of mental bookkeeping every now and again. Tonight was definitely one of those occasions.

Emitting an audible sigh through his dry lips, the troubled vampire slowly got to his feet. As much as Aaron felt the benefit of time spent alone, his disappearing act could be viewed as being selfish. Eureka meant everything to Aaron; she was his eternal soulmate, the yin to his yang. He didn’t just want her, he needed her, and right now Aaron knew that she needed him too. The fiery redhead may have been one of the most independent and self-sufficient women that the drummer had ever had the privilege of knowing, but she was about to undergo a monumental voyage. Aaron had to be there for her, not stuck outside in the middle of nowhere, pandering to his own whims.

The adventurous duo were about to embark on a crazy expedition into the unknown, a journey that was undoubtedly going to be littered with hurdles, and filled with hidden dangers. The lovers had to face the future together, with all its uncertainties, in order to survive.

Wiping a streak of crusty, drying blood from his knuckles, Aaron watched the lights of the rumbling train grow ever larger as it approached the transit stop. Hopping onto a virtually empty carriage through the sliding doors, the vampire grabbed an overhead rail, glancing at the two teenagers seated near the back of the car, nodding politely to acknowledge their existence.

Aaron chose to remain on his feet as the train departed Swansdale, rather than sit down: he’d sat around enough already this evening. It was time to head home, to stand shoulder to shoulder with his mate.

The train journey across town was uneventful, bordering on dull. The gentle rumbling of the carriages as they trundled along the lines was almost hypnotic, certainly enough to rock a small infant to sleep. Maybe Aaron could take his newborn child on a trip throughout Harper Rock if they cried a lot? How ridiculous! The vampire didn’t know too much about what to expect when Eureka actually gave birth to the fruit of their passion that was currently developing deep inside her womb, but he did realize that “it” would be no ordinary bouncing baby.

There would be no walks in the park dressed as a Disney character, no playing baseball or shooting hoops on the local basketball court, no building sandcastles under the blazing sun at the beach after a swim in the cooling ocean. Aaron had no clue whatsoever as to what was about to unfold, but he had an uneasy feeling that it wasn’t going to end well.

The teenage couple who were occupying the rear seats of the car disembarked the carriage a stop earlier than Aaron, leaving the powerful killer once again alone to ponder the future, in eerie silence, within the hollow metallic tin as it sped from district to district. Streetlamps flickered like amber strobe lights at a nightclub, casting crazy patterns across the reflective windows of the subway train as it momentarily broke out of its underground tunnel and into the dark night sky. It was Aaron’s stop.

The musician pretended to swing from the overhead rails like a playful monkey, before jumping through the open door onto the deserted platform. At certain times of the day, every transit station across the city would be bustling with life. It could be commuters heading to another day of pseudo-slavery at work, shoppers out for a bargain in the local mall, or partygoers embarking on a big night out filled with booze and dancing. There was usually somebody around. But not right now, not tonight. It was somehow as if the gods of solitude and contemplation had cleared a mystical pathway for Aaron to follow.

Head down, staring at the pavement as he skipped along the empty streets, Aaron hummed a random tune, probably something that he had subconsciously overheard on the radio earlier that day. The familiar sight of his apartment block quickly came into view. As ever, Aaron automatically gazed up at the rooftop of the building, wondering if his mate was up there, moonbathing on an old blanket, or dancing beneath the stars. The freckly female often inferred that she wasn’t much of dancer, but Aaron secretly suspected that the redhead had a little shuffle when nobody was watching.

Most people would push the button in the lobby of the apartment block, and wait patiently for the lift to arrive, but Aaron preferred to take the stairs. He used to time himself, and see how fast he could reach the top floor. The more powerful he became within his vampire skin, the quicker he ascended the flights of steps, as he if he were casually gliding across a meadow filled with daisies. It was so easy nowadays.

Pushing open the sturdy door that lead onto the corridor, Aaron entered the home straight, drifting passed his neighbours’ front doors, and arriving outside his apartment. Instantly, he could overhear the muffled sound of talking through the closed door. Were they expecting guests? Hopefully, Eureka hadn’t invited a complete stranger over, one who would inevitably become a rather exquisite take-out meal. There was always so much mess to clear up afterwards… although such escapades were amazingly good fun.

Turning the handle, Aaron entered his comforting abode, recognizing the face of Edenor. The bearded vampire was sitting in a chair chatting with Eureka. It kind of made sense that the feisty female’s vampiric childe had decided to pay his sire a visit. He was, after all, going to have a brother or a sister, of sorts, any time soon.

“Evening, bro,” said Aaron. “How’s it all going?”

Aaron crossed the room, parking himself next to Eureka, placing a strong hand gently upon her shoulder, and a delicate kiss upon the glistening red strands of her hair.