The Vampire's Curse

Prologue
My eyes opened and my breathing quickened. The space surrounding me was hot and my forehead was wet. Something was in my room, I could sense it. The air was too still, yet it was restless, as I was. Something had awoken me. Something had plans tonight.
It had started two days ago. This being the third night in a row that I had been woken up at exactly 12:12, my suspicions were dawning. I was alone at night and had been ever since Tuesday, which quite coincidently had fallen on the same day that I had first experienced the weird midnight waking. My parents were out of town and my older sister, who lived with her boyfriend as now she had a job of her own and had graduated from college. I also have a younger sister, but she has been at her friend's house since Tuesday as well, since my parents were to be out of town for the rest of the week, which leaves me, who at the age of 15 am now old enough to be trusted at home alone for a week.
The darkness of my room's corners made me uneasy and even though I felt silly for being scared, I had to admit to myself, that something was unusual and it was freaking me out. Because I was getting spooky images in my mind, I decided to just read my book for a while. I hopped out of bed and dashed to the light switch. I was being so paranoid. I flicked the switch. I still stood in darkness. My mind started racing as I flicked the switch over and over again, hoping for a different reaction.
"Oh my god." I whispered to myself. It was bad enough that I was home alone, but to be awoken at 12:12 for three nights in a row and then to be surrounded in darkness with nothing to light the room up with. I, Eli Crowe, previously voted the bravest classmate in the yearbook, was truly scared.
Deciding that I would feel better with a flashlight, I made my mind up that I'd go downstairs and grab one from the kitchen.
I quietly turned my doorknob and stepped out into the hallway. My feet, feeling it was best to run, sprinted down the hall to the balcony. My insides wanted to scream. By the light of the pale sliver of a moon that shone through the skylight window, I could see that every wall in the house was painted red. Normally, had the walls originally been painted red, I would have casually, well, casually for a freaked out teenager, walked down the stairs and grabbed the flashlight, but when the walls, only 3 hours earlier had been white, it's very hard to go along casually.
The paint had no smell. Odd, I thought. In all of my years of art class, I had never come across a paint that didn't smell. I walked across the balcony to the stairs and, without touching the wall, springed down the stairs, skipping half of them. I paused at the foot of the stairs. My foot wanted to fall off. I had stepped on something hard, causing my insides to scream again. I saw the flashlight sitting innocently on the kitchen table. Dashing to the table, I snatched the flashlight almost selfishly and turned it on. I signed heavily as the welcoming light shone across the room.
I pointed the flashlight to the bottom of the stairs and squinted. A large heap of red clothes sat there. No, that couldn't be right, my foot had hit it hard, it couldn't be clothes. I almost retched when I found out what it was. Laying stretched out across the floor was my little sister, Eva, covered in blood.
"Eva!" I yelled hoping that she'd respond. No, she couldn't, she was dead. I shook all over when I saw her face; completely white, with a look of terror unbearably written on her expression. All of a sudden, my house felt like a dungeon. Around every corner I was expecting to find a serial killer. As I fled up the stairs, it suddenly hit me; the walls weren't painted with paint, they were painted with my sister's blood.
Once I reached my room and hid behind the door, the first tears dropped in. Not only was I afraid for my life, I was mourning my sister's death. My knees collapsed under my weight and I fell to the floor causing a loud bang as the door slammed shut. I plugged my ears, trying to forget about everything when an unmistakable bang came from downstairs. Almost the same bang as the door had made and a few softer bangs echoed before another loud one erupted, this time, on my door. Because my door didn't have a lock, I had to sit up against it, not wanting to see what was on the other side of my door.
A small sniffle followed, and a few cries of sadness. I realized this may be my way to sanity. Thinking it was one of my friends, or maybe my older sister, I opened the door. But if I had known that by opening that door, I was about to make the worst mistake of my life, I wouldn't have opened it, even if I had to spend the rest of my life in that room.
Standing in the middle of the hallway was a young girl, with her back turned to me. When she heard me say "Hello," she turned and revealed her face. I shined the flashlight at her and screamed. It was Eva. Her face was all bloody and scratched and her eyes were dark. She had a look of sadness on her face, but she still didn't look too welcoming to me.
"Eli." She whispered.
"No. Get away from me. No! This is all just a dream!" I was screaming as she came closer. "No!"
"Eli." She whispered again, "Save me. Save me, Eli. I don't wanna die." I began backing up. It was hard for me to take all of this in because I had thought that she was dead. "Eli." A single tear ran down her cheek.
"Are...are you alive?" I asked, trembling.
"Eli!" she sobbed and dropped to the floor. I rushed there and hugged her, knowing that she was alive.
"You love her." A male voice spoke calmly. "Do you not?" I looked around but no one was around. "I asked you a question you fool!" he said, raising his voice. Again I looked around and fell back as I noticed someone sitting at the top of the stairs.
"Yes."
"Ah. I have chosen right." Completely hidden in a dark shawl of black, the shadow rose from the stairs and stood tall, hovering over the two huddled people on the floor. "I have once felt love before. I had no choice but to flee. I am not permitted to love."
"Get out of my house!" I yelled, trying to drown any hints of nervousness.
"Or what? You'll call the cops? You pick up the phone and your sister will die." The cloaked person shook down his hood, revealing a slightly handsome man, maybe a few years older than Eli. His eyes were like dark pits of black, memorizing your thoughts, and his chest length, uneven hair hung down, shining in the aurora of the moon.
"Eli!" she screamed.
"What do you want?" I yelled over the cries of Eva.
He chuckled to himself, "Do you know anything about me? Do you even know my name? Surely, if you were the boy I thought you were, then you'd greet me like a friend, at least, while you know the meaning of friendship."
"Fine then, who are you?"
"Are you so sure that you want the answer? I suppose that if I did tell you, you would want to kill me. So I put together the pieces. I can simply not be harmed by you." He said casually.
"I can hurt you whenever I want!"
"No. You do not understand."
"I don't need to understand! Now get out of my house!"
"What if I said 'no'?"
"Then I will make you." I looked around nervously hoping to find something I could use as a weapon and then I remembered the flashlight. A large smile spread across my face, and I beamed it on him, hoping to get a better view of him, but when the ground behind him bore no shadow, I instantly knew what he was.
Grabbing my sister, we raced away from him to the laundry chute. I shoved Eva down it and because I was too big for it, I ran back to the stairs, hoping to make it down alive.
"Become one of me," he said, blocking my way.
"No."
"Why?"
"Why would I want to become a vampire?"
Chapter 1
The vampire smiled, a nasty smile, bearing white teeth, almost as white as his skin. "Smart. I knew I'd chosen right when I first laid eyes on you...two days ago."
"So there was someone in my room. I could sense it." I whispered loudly.
"Yes. Again, smart. You'd make a flawless vampire," he said, "by the way, my name is Dante Ash. I prefer to be called Dante, rather than any formal names."
"I would never become a vampire."
"Why? Written on every page of your diary you state that you would like a different life, to be taken away from all of this around you, and brought into something new. This is your chance." One of Dante's eyebrows raised higher than the other. He had a look of suspicion on his face.
"And what if I say no?" I asked, his eyebrow lowered back down and he smiled again.
"Tomorrow never comes for you...and your sister. But if you say yes, your sister will live, and you will become one of me, actually, a part of me."
"Why me? What about my best friend, Damien? He loves vampires!" I croaked.
"You are what I want. This...Damien you say? He would not work. His love for vampires would get in the way of his reality. If he were to become a vampire, he would not believe it as you would. For him, it would all be like a dream and he would not see his fate as you would. He would not take chances." Dante advanced one step closer to me, but I did not move.
"And what exactly do you have in mind for me to do for you? Save the world? Become some super hero? A child of Satan, that's what you are, nothing but evil." My right eye twitched and a tear ran down my face.
"We are not evil. It is just how we live. Our food sources happen to come from humans, from mortals, that's how we survive. Just like hawks eat frogs. The frogs would think that hawks are evil, but they never think twice about the bugs that they eat. To the bugs, frogs are evil."
"Yes but, this is different. It's like eating your own people. In my case, I'd be eating what I once believed in, what I once had friends in, even family."
"No. We do not kill those that we feed from. It is against the prophesies." Dante uttered.
"Prophesies? You mean you follow rules and guidelines? An organized system?" I couldn't believe it, monstrous creatures following a prophesy?
"Yes. Without them, we would not know how to act. Vampires can not be born and raised. All of us are changed, turned from human to vampire. All of us know what it's like. All of us had once been chosen like you are right now."
"Why do you choose people?" my heart was racing. I was the chosen one.
"As I told you, vampires aren't born. The whole vampire race would, over a long term period, die off if we didn't appoint new people to join us. Each vampire must make one person a vampire in their lifetime."
"Am I your first choice?" I wondered aloud. Dante appeared to be less violent then I thought he would be.
"No. I've tried others. Three others in fact. You are my fourth. All others chose death."
"Then I will choose death as well." I said firmly, wishing that he was just kidding. "How do you kill them anyways?"
"Oh. Not a very pleasant way. A vampire's venom is fatal to those mortal beings. It kills their insides slowly, eating away at every organ. Another thing though, you choose death, and I get to drain your body of blood and bring it with me to Infinity to feed others." He shifted in position, obviously growing impatient with all of my questions.
"Eli!" I could hear Eva yell. I ignored her calls.
"What is Infinity?"
"The vampire haven. Where we all gather every full moon to seek sanctuary from the werewolves. A werewolf's bite can kill us almost immediately. That is the one major weakness that a vampire does have. But no human could ever get to Infinity. It is completely hidden from mortal eyes, and if a mortal was to walk right up to it, they would only go through it, all along thinking it was some old statue that they went by." He told me.
"Enough. I don't want to learn about this. It's not true. You're just trying to get me to want to be a vampire...your vampire." I shook my head and backed away. "You have no control over me. What is keeping me from running? What if I got away? Would you then come after me?" I then decided to run. With a huge burst of energy, I jumped over the banister, closing my eyes, waiting for the crash, but it never came.
My eyes opened automatically out of curiosity but I did not see the noticeably red painted walls of the house when my eyes opened, I saw a long, dark road with many trees scattered along the sides.
"Follow me." I heard that familiar voice again. It was Dante. He was standing behind me but took the lead walking down the road.
"What is going on? Am I dead?"
"No. Just follow me. In silence." I followed him as demanded and my once weary eyes were now wide and alert. Along the road I could faintly see a glow of emerald. I squinted my eyes to try to see it better but all that I saw was an emerald blur of light.
I wanted to question Dante about the light but decided not to as the fact that I didn't even know if I could trust him. Once we got closer, I realized that the emerald glow was really the millions of lighted windows to numerous towers and walls. There was a yellow glow of light that shot outward from the top of the highest tower and reached all the way to the sky. The place was amazing, not to mention beautiful.
"Whe-." I began but Dante cut in.
"Welcome...to Infinity."
Chapter 2
I gazed from tower to tower wondering who could be inside each window, but then something struck my mind, "Wait, I am mortal, why can I see this?"
"Because I have temporarily put a part of me into you meaning that you are still mortal, but have more abilities, for instance, you can see this tower that no other mortal can see and if you were to go up to it and reach your arm out, you would also be able to touch it." To me, it made very little sense, and I wondered just how much of the whole vampire business I wouldn't understand.
"Why are you doing this to me?" I cried.
"I need you, Eli. I've been watching you, and from what I've seen, I know it, Eli, I know you're it."
"What am I?" I questioned. So far from the information that he's given me, I was somehow chosen to become a vampire because I was something special?
"You are the Shadow." My facial expression caused him to continue, "You are the one, the Shadow that will some day save us all from peril that will, if you do not join us, create our downfall that will destroy all of us. Look, Eli. I haven't been completely truthful to you. I didn't choose you. I was sent here by those who did."
"What is it about me that they want?" I said while admiring the towers.
"Your aura. It shines."
My feet carried me up to the front gate. Almost automatically, the wall doors swung open and a short bald man walked out.
"Ah, so you have succeeded, Mr. Ash?" the little man said to Dante.
"No, not yet. But it is only a matter of time." Dante answered. I looked from Dante to the little man. The little man stepped up to Dante and whispered into his ear. Strained my ears to try to hear them but their almost silent conversation was obviously not meant to be heard.
After a few minutes, Dante laughed, and I saw his fangs.
"I have business to do. Good luck." The little man turned away and walked down the road.
"Come, Eli. There is someone you must meet."
As we stepped inside the wall, my mouth dropped. A long road led down to a large castle, all lit up in emerald as well. Along the road were many houses and shops.
A few vampires stopped what they were doing and glanced at me. I slowed my pace down and took shelter behind Dante. Dante walked fast, almost as though he were floating; his footsteps were so light. I kept expecting him to stop at the houses, but he just kept on going, and only when he reached the doorstep to the emerald-lit castle did he stop.
He turned around to face me, opened his mouth slightly, but then closed it again, and turned around. With strong arms, he opened the doors. The halls were deserted. No one was around, and once the doors closed behind us, the sound from the street outside was drowned to a silence. Torches hung on the walls near every window. The torches were emerald. Dante led me up a set of narrow twisty stairs and we came out into a room with no roof. On the other side of the room a black desk stood alone. Except there was a chair, a black chair behind it, and a cloaked figure, a black cloaked figure sat in the chair, his back facing us. Lightning struck near the highest tower behind him and dark gray clouds continued to storm ferociously.
"Dante. Please step forward. And bring the visitor." He spoke. I was amazed, he knew exactly who was here, without even looking.
"I have brought Eli." Dante replied, and the vampire turned in his chair.
"Ah. So you have. What do you think of Infinity? Are you finding our race quite interesting?"
"Um. Yes." I said nervously, and nodded. The man was old and had a long beard. His hair was also long and white. I was surprised. The voice had sounded so young.
"Welcome. My name is Demetrius Vasquez. I am the leader of our race. I have lived through many years in this world, and it has pained me to see many close vampires perish. All the more painful to know how they died." Demetrius paused, expecting me to ask why, feeling obedient, I asked.
"How did they die?"
"Ah, young boy. They did not exactly die. But will soon after our Shadow leads us to victory." Demetrius paused again. "There is another race, an enemy race with whom we've been at war with long before even I have existed. They are called the Erinthea and have one by one taken our vampires and turned them against us. Many have fled and declined the offer. Not one has lived, except for those who became traitors to the vampires."
"And exactly why don't you two races get along?" I asked. His eyes grew wide and he looked down.
"Long ago, before we were at war, a vampire by the name of Alglasheis fell in love with a beautiful young woman. Her name was Pandora and she was an Erinthea, the stunning daughter of the king. Pandora, being a foolish girl, fell right back in love with him. Alglasheis and Pandora became madly in love and spent many hours together. Soon, Alglasheis stopped doing necessary vampire deeds and chores. He was, in fact, a very important vampire, who held many responsibilities and he let love interfere with that. Of course, him also being foolish chose love over work."
"There is a very important lesson in this." Dante cut in. He smirked and turned his attention back to Demetrius.
"Pandora soon, just as Alglashies had done, neglected to do her many responsibilities, and chose Alglasheis over work. Alglasheis stopped showing up in Infinity and only paid monthly visits. This angered the king very much so, but he did not want to come between his relationship between the woman, for he wanted more than anything for the vampires and the Erinthea to become close. However, the king of the Erinthea felt otherwise. He wanted to have nothing to do with the vampires and this caused a great deal of panic between the Erinthea and not too long after did the king forbid his daughter from seeing Alglasheis. Alglasheis was so furious that he swore that one day he would marry Pandora, and set an everlasting curse on the Erinthea. From then on, the vampires have been at war with them, over a rather stupid cause, really."
"Did Alglasheis ever marry her?" I wondered out loud.
"No. Pandora was killed only a year after the curse was set. Killed by her very own father. He thought that she was the one who brought the curse and killed her to set his kingdom free. What a mistake that was." Dante finished. Everyone and everything was silent, except for my mind which was exploding with questions. Finally, I had to ask one.
"And why do you need to have the Shadow to lead you?"
"Because. Many knew about the curse that Alglasheis placed on the Erinthea, but no one knew about the one that he placed on the vampires. In the scripts found fifty years ago, Alglasheis had written that on exactly June the twenty-sixth of this year, the war will find its end, and the only way for the vampires to achieve victory is for us to find a human, who will be changed and has the qualities to become the Shadow. He will then know what to do. Alglasheis set no standards for us to choose, but he said that we would know when we found the right person. We would know."
How confusing. I thought.
No, not really. The thought entered my brain, except it had a voice. It sounded like Dante. I looked at him and he smiled. I turned away. Don't fear me.
"Dante, please take him to the guest living quarters. Provide him with food and a room. Second to the right, blue corridor." Demetrius winked at Dante and turned back around in his chair. Dante bowed and touched the floor with his hands. He signaled for me to do the same thing.
"What was that all about?" I asked Dante after we exited the high room.
"What?"
"He winked at you. Are you guys setting me up?"
"No. Of course not." He shrugged.
"Then what was all of that about?"
"Nothing. Now stop asking questions. The answers will soon come to you."