Prologue
1268 Words
Blood, thick and wet, dripped down a slender wrist before dropping almost hesitantly to the floor. The plunk of the liquid against the pool of its like was the only sound that could be heard in the dark room and it was like music to his ears.
He wished to suck, to lap, to drain the body of its red life source but- he held himself back. He would kill if he attempted to do that and though he was a monster in some sense of the word, he was not a killer.
Or he hadn't been for some years now. Many.
Centuries even. Too many centuries.
Elijah Payne was what this world would call a fairytale, a legend, a thing which did not- could not- exist. Something that people did not know existed in this world of scientific calculation. Oh, if they only knew of his existence and the existence of others like him- what a rude awakening that would be.
Still, he could not very well bring to light his being. He would be as good as dead- for people feared what they did not understand. And his race would be feared more than most.
He was a vampire. 400 years old in fact, having been born in the early 1600's. His parents- also vampire- lived a quiet life in Eastern Europe in a small town in Ukraine. They traveled far to sate their thirst, though they were so old that they rarely needed but a sip of blood to sustain them for weeks. It was comforting for Elijah to know that in a mere few hundred years, he would be able to survive without practically draining a body for his thirst to be slaked.
Most of what people thought they knew or learned from books about vampires was entirely false. The only significant things that differed from humans were their immortality and the way their kind procreated. This is of course aside from their thirst for blood and their increased strength and senses.
While Elijah could eat and drink normally like any human, he only truly craved blood for sustenance. His other craving- well it had probably long since passed him by and for that he was sorry.
Most would think that only in stories about werewolves such things would exist, but it was true of vampires as well. They all craved a mate- their mate.
A vampire's mate was always a human, always the one born for them and always their only way to breed. And Elijah had waited for her for almost his entire 400 years of his existence. He surmised she was probably long dead by now.
Most mates were found within the first fifty years of a vampire's existence and the mating process was... complicated at best.
While both mates felt the pull, it was always strongest in the vampire who was aware of the attraction from the start and more open to the bond. The human, though they felt it, could sometimes deny the bond or worse- reject the mate. And vampires never got a second chance at a mate. Denying the bond would deny them of their family. It was then many vampires became the unruly, bloodthirsty demons that books portrayed them to be.
This was not so of Elijah.
Elijah had been waiting for so long for his that he had given up on the whole institution of fidelity and would sometimes suck and fuck as many as ten women a night in his frustrations. He never killed anymore, and he tried to make his bite marks as inconspicuous as they could be, though they were usually healed by morning's light.
As a younger vampire he couldn't help but sometimes drain a person dry and while he felt bad, he knew it was the nature of the beast. He tried hard to gain control of his thirst and some time after his 150th year, he was able to feed regularly without killing every time.
It was also that year that he realized all of his pent up sexual frustration was a large part of his bloodlust. The two were so very central to a vampire that nothing but their mate's blood and body would ever truly satisfy their sexual and bloodlusty demands.
Once he was sure that his mate was never going to be found, he found that sex could curb his appetite for blood, though he preferred to mix the two as his feeding gave off pheromones that were pleasurable to his partner, whether they were male or female.
He preferred to feed off the female form but he would never say no to a free blood bag in a male's body. If it was there for the taking, who was he to say no? Blood was blood, plain and simple.
Elijah was pleased to find recently that he was able to get through an entire week on a pint or two of blood before become thirsty again. It had gotten to the point where he could go a whole week without craving it, dreaming of it and though his sexual appetite was still healthy, he found he no longer needed to feed when he was fucking. They were almost two entirely separate hungers now for him.
Though the thought of never having children with his mate was a sore spot for him, he found he could fuck his irritation out on any number of willing human females.
After all, he was a good-looking man by most standards. At six foot one, he was considered practically a giant when he was in his vampire infancy. His hair was tousled and slightly longer on top and his blue eyes were incandescent gems that sparkled whether clouded in lust or widened in fear. He had a square jaw that was softened by an ever-present goatee he liked to run his hands over when deep in thought.
He was that good looking that he had no need to pursue women , and the endless pool of beach blondes or sassy redheads that adorned many of the beaches near Los Angeles was seemingly endless. It was a pool he swam in regularly and therefore, his reputation preceded him.
He was well known in many circles, much to his sibling's chagrin. It was difficult to hide being immortal and never aging when you have your fingers in all sorts of financial pies.
But what else was one supposed to do in L.A., in the heart of the movie industry? Regrettably, Elijah had had to step back from the spotlight recently and let his lawyers and staff do most of the work. He had already heard some rumors of him getting plastic surgery in order to keep looking young and this angered him. Instead of slaughtering the writers of the rags reporting such dreck, he simply let himself fade into the background of his company which funded and produced many films. He was careful and always had the last say in what he funded and for that he was glad. He wouldn't want to be known for throwing good money away over a lousy product.
He decided to leave this place where he had fed for the first time in over a week. The woman would wake up and wonder how she ended up in some strange, dank mausoleum, but it's not like he hadn't left one of his victims there before. It was quiet and secluded and no one ever popped by after dark. Well, usually.
He decided to take another trip to the club next week. This one's blood was surprisingly pure for an exotic dancer and he was sure to find at least a way to get his dick wet if not a meal as well.
- Writer
