Cold Heart

CHAPTER 2
Flashback

I came back home late at night and turned on the TV. Some old movie was playing and as I watched it – the clothes, the way they moved, it reminded me of the way things really were back then. I lie on the couch and let my mind wander…

November, 1790, London
I was wearing a long red dress as I walked down the dusty streets of London. It was truly a beautiful city. At that time, most countries were half-starved and most of them killed by plague and war and England was about the only peaceful place. Life was good there. You had everything you needed. Not filled with useless technology and high-sky buildings but a real ‘working city’. Early in the morning, everyone was off to work. The streets were always full of people, running errands or gone out just for fun.

I was working at a clothes’ shop located in London’s main street. It was nice and cozy and most importantly, very dark inside. There weren’t many clients, as the shop was pretty elite and most of the regular citizens couldn’t afford it. It was all high class and stuff. But I knew better. They looked different on the outside, but essentially they were the same. Lonely, lost, unable to adjust to the change. Because our world was changing – fast. And everyone was doing their best at coping but I knew it wasn’t easy. I had done it a few times, so I’d gotten used to it but most of them had only one lifetime to live and now the world they knew were changing, leaving them defenseless.
The whole rich vs. poor became even worse. At times like this people were supposed to be coming together but not here. Not now. They only cared about themselves and since morals meant nothing to the ‘higher’ class, they were more worried that this world they we’re dealing with, their money wouldn’t be enough to ensure their place in society.

I was rarely part of either. I tried to be as invisible as I could and not interfere as I wasn’t really one of them, but sometimes people talked even to me and I couldn’t help but being drawn into it.

Some of my customers were really powerful rich people, as I said, and one day Ms. Rosinski – a Russian magnet with more money than I had seen in my time, had asked me to join her as a friend in one of the regular parties the rich threw. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but it was a good chance for me to try something new and at that time, I’ll admit – I really needed it. I guess the depression worked its way into me to. So much for being different…

The party was pretty boring, but when they talked politics sometimes I would catch something interesting and jump into discussion with a bunch of 50 year old men, who had nothing else to do but talk about stuff like that. I can’t say I was that educated but I guess a hundred of years head start gave me an advantage.

Literature was also one of the most discussed topics. That was the time when people started to get familiar with the modern day writings and specifically the modern novel as literary genre. The most famous among them was Daniel Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe”. I couldn’t say much about it because I was more into William Shakespeare and Lope de Vega, but trying to keep myself ‘in the loop’ and having more free time than most, I gave it a chance and some part of it, I liked. It was all about what had been so accurate right now – loneliness, diversion, disconnection. I, of all people, knew what it meant.

One night, once again accompanying Ms. Rosinski to one of the parties, tired of listening to gossip and pointless chit-chat, I skipped the party and made my way up the balcony, all the way up to the tower. The mansion was so big that I hoped I could find some peace there. But as I walked inside, I saw someone bending over the terrace. Jumping into conclusion, I ran to him and dragged him back quickly,
“Excuse me?! What is the meaning of this?!” The man screamed, struggling to turn around. Realizing what I saw wasn’t exactly what I thought, I let him go and pulled back, embarrassed.
“I’m sorry; I thought you were in danger…Why were you bending so close?” I looked at him, confused. He smiled cockily. I could see him fully now on the dim light of the moon. He had black hair, a little longer than most, piercing blue eyes and a strange cocky smile that made my heart jump.
“You Americans, always impulsive.” His English accents only made him sexier. “What’s a beautiful young lady like you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be out there, having fun?”
”Fun? Hardly.” I smiled a little. I was kind of surprised with myself. That smile of his made me quite comfortable. “What’s your name?”
“Henry Glapthorne. What’s yours?”
”Elizabeth Moore.” I answered. His name quickly popped into my mind. Royalty, of course. He uncle was one of the most respected people in London, in whole England even. His family was respected too and looking at Henry closer now, I recognized him.
“I’ve seen you.” I said and walked closer.
He smiled cockily again. “Have you now? I think I’d have remembered.”
”I meant that I’d seen you in newspapers. Your family is pretty…respected.”
His smiled faded a little. “I know. Some snobs they are.”
That surprised me. “Why would you say that?”
”Because it’s true.” He walked over to me and handed me his drink. I shook my head. My system probably couldn’t take much alcohol. Besides, I was still learning self control; I didn’t need other…distractions too. And I don’t mean just the drink he offered me.
“So what are you doing? Rebelling against your family?” Back then, that was unthinkable. Everyone’s destiny, especially the royals, had been set ever since they were born and there was no questioning it. Ever.
“Maybe.” He smiled and drank again. But there was some unseen sadness in there too. He meant what he said and from the way he looked it seemed like he was pretty tired of the whole ‘royalty’ thing.
“What about you? I haven’t seen you here before. I haven’t heard your name, either.”
“I’m not royalty. I’m just accompanying someone. Ms. Rosinski.”
He laughed hard. “That old slut.”
”Hey!”
He reached out to me, his arms stretching out reassuring.” I’m sorry. It’s just…well, she’s been linked to a lot of men, that’s all.”
”Well, I wouldn’t know anything about that but I like her, she’s a good person. Not like other ‘snobs’ out there.”
He smiled kindly and gasped. “Good point.” I smiled again and looked towards the exit.
“You want to go back?” I asked teasing,
He laughed. “No, not really.”
”Come on, it won’t be that bad. We can talk and laugh at the snobs. Maybe I’ll even let you dance with me.” I smiled encouraging.
“Well, I think you just asked me out on a date, Elizabeth.”
I laughed slightly. “Okay, if that’s how you want to think about it.”
But he had agreed anyway. We went back to the boring party, which hadn’t changed much after I’d left but it was a lot more entertaining with Henry. That was probably the longest conversation with a person I’d had in years. We laughed and talked and threw around gossips, seeing how fast they’d spread. It didn’t take very long. We made fun of them, he even imitated them.
“We’re going to get thrown out of the club if you keep doing that!” I said, through tears of laughing.
“Oh, they’ll be fine. Some new gossip will come up tomorrow and they’ll all forget about it. Just enjoy it while it lasts.” He grabbed my wrist, unwillingly but I noticed anyway. But for some reason, I didn’t pull back. I didn’t want to pull back.

We started hanging out almost every day. He had his private teachers, who they bought off every time I suddenly went by his house to sneak him out. It was always at night, or at least in the afternoon, but after a while his family started to notice and got suspicious. They even made one of their awfully creepy guards to watch his every step. That made it harder to sneak out, but even more exciting for us both.

Our meetings had started out just as friends who had much in common, but over time my feelings for grew deeper and friendship was no longer enough for either of us. I wasn’t sure what I did was right, but at the time, I had nothing else. No one else and Henry was always there for me, always loving me. It was hard to give something like that up. And at the time, I never thought I would have to. But then reality set in and we were sucked into it all together.

One night, we were having a picnic in a park near his home, lying in each others’ arms, just enjoying our time together.
“My father wants me to take over the family business when I’m old enough.” He said suddenly. I was lying on his chest so I slowly pushed myself up so I could look at him. His face was troubled.
“But he can’t make you do it, if you don’t want to, right?” I asked. He looked at me shortly, and then turned his gaze back at the stars.
“He can do whatever he wants. “My house, my rules, he says.” I can’t do a damn thing,”
I looked desperately in his eyes. I hated seeing him sad or mad like he was now.
”Hey, don’t worry about anything. As long as I’m here, no one can make you do things you don’t want to.”
He laughed a little. “Wow…I should keep you around then.” He smiled and put his hand on my face, until our lips met. Sweet and warm, his touch made my whole body tremble.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, my senses tensed up as I caught the scent of someone lurking in the dark. But it wasn’t just someone; it was someone like me – a vampire. I quickly got up on my feet, alerted and started looking around. My vision was better that a human’s but I still had difficulties. Henry got up too and caught my wrist.
“What’s wrong?” He asked and followed my gaze.
“I thought I…I heard something. Stay here, please. I’ll be right back.” I started walking but I felt his footsteps behind me and stopped.
“Stay here! Please!”
”What’s going on, Elizabeth? You’re scaring me.” You should be scared, I thought.
”Please…Do you trust me?”
”What do you…?”
”Do you trust me?” I asked again, looking him in the eye. He hesitated.
“Yes.” He finally said.
“Okay, then do as I say. I’ll be right back.” I said and he nodded, letting go of my hand. I ran forward, not too far from Henry. The vampire’s aura was barely seen through the bush he was hiding behind. I reached forward and grabbed him by the clothes. I sent him flying to the nearest tree. He quickly got up and attacked me. Henry was already there.
“Stay out of it!” I screamed and turned my attention back to my attacker. I punched him in his face but he barely moved. He must be newborn, I thought. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be this powerful. But I was older and had more skills to work with. So, reaching out towards the tree, with one move I tore out its lowest branch and sprang forward. He was ready though. He hit me in the chest and I fell down, dropping the stake. I was pinned down and he was on top of me in a second. His fangs were sharp, almost touching my skin. As I was straggling, I was Henry come closer, the stake in his hands.
“Throw it at me!” I screamed. Confused, he looked back and fort. I didn’t have much time though. I wished he would stop screwing around and hand me the stake. He finally looked down on me; face concerned and threw the stake. I quickly grabbed it, and before he noticed, it was in his heart. He gasped once, and then his corpse was lying on top of me. I shook him off and stood up.
“Son of a bitch!” I cursed and looked at my torn clothes. Henry was shocked, I could tell. He barely moved, only looked at me with fear in his eyes. Uh-oh.

And finally, after all that time, I told him the truth. About who, what I was and fear spread all over him. His smug expression for the first time never came up, as worry was there instead. I didn’t talk much after I had finished talking, he just continued staring at me, and like he was making sure it was still me. This doesn’t change anything, I told myself although I knew I was lying to myself. He would be in danger from now on. If anyone from my kind ever found out he knew the secret, they’d kill him without thinking twice about it.

I had an idea about what he was thinking right now. He was probably remembering all of our times together and remembering little that were practically screaming at him ‘Didn’t you know? Didn’t you notice?’ His face never gave anything away though. But after some time had passed, I was beginning to worry. Maybe I needed to go away, give him space. But my feet refused to move and I felt the urge to hug him instead. I wanted to tell him that it was still me and that it didn’t change things between us, but I knew it wouldn’t help right now.

I mean, how much had he known about vampires. Urban legends, myths, ancient stories with more fiction to them than truth. But as people say, there’s truth to every rumor. But someone who didn’t know better and didn’t know what to believe in, it must have been pretty shocking. A world of fiction or not, it was real. And for him to realize it, well, it was going to take time. And I was ready to wait. As long as it took.

He finally blinked and I gasped relieved. His eyes swayed away from me but he didn’t move. He didn’t try to pull away from me, although I was still pretty close.
“Do you need…?” I started to say when he interrupted me.
“Some time?” He asked surprised.
“Or a drink.” I said and smiled lightly. Better to act normal, I said to myself.
“That wouldn’t be so bad, either.” He said and stood up. He looked up to the stars and then at the corpse on the ground.
“I’m sorry…” I said and my voice seemed to have scared him because he quickly looked away from the corpse and back at me.
”What?” He asked confused.
“I couldn’t…I couldn’t tell you.”
”Why?”
I stared, shaking my head. “Because it’s not just my secret to tell.” He looked at me, thoughtful. He didn’t seem as scared though. I could tell.
“I can’t…I don’t even know how to react to this.”
”I know but just try to be open-minded…”
”Open-minded?!” He laughed hard. It quickly broke the silence. It seemed more like hysterical laughing though. “Okay. Let’s be open-minded. Tell me something. What are you going to do with me?”
Shock spread all over me. “What do you mean, what I’m going to do with you?”
”Are you…Were you with me for fun or…food?”
Oh, God. Nausea. “Of course not! It’s nothing like that, I swear! I was with you, because I care about you, not because…of what you’re thinking!”
He didn’t answer, just cocked his head, studying me. “Look, if you’ll listen to me, I can explain everything. But you need to know that this wasn’t an act. What we have is real.”
He stared at me, eyes wide, like he didn’t know who was standing before him. I felt like he was about to bolt, so I took a step back and let him have space.

And that’s when he turned around and ran away. I didn’t try to follow him because I knew it would only make things worse. His reaction shouldn’t surprise me, I told myself. How could he believe in something like that? It wasn’t possible as far as he was concerned. The myths and legends about vampires were not very popular but of course people knew the stories about them. But they didn’t believe they were anything more that a bed time story made to scare the kids and stop them from doing crazy stuff. Yeah, right, nothing to be afraid of.

I turned around and made my way to the dead vampire on the ground. I took out a pocket knife and leaned over him.
“Thanks very much.” I said sarcastically and with one hit, I cut off his head and his body turned to dust. I walked away.
When I got back home, where I lived alone away from all the craziness, I thought about going to his home but soon found the idea ridiculous. His whole family was there…Oh, God. What if he had told them? This is not good. So although I had decided against the idea, I took my coat and went outside. It was still night, but sunrise was close, I could feel it. I walked as fast as I could but he lived far away and the more passed the more I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get there in time.

It was almost 4 a.m. when I reached his house. It was still dark inside, with only one room in the house where the lights were still on. Maybe I wasn’t too late after all. I picked up a stone and threw it at the window. No one showed. I took another one and threw it again. I was going to wait here as long as I had to. I could’ve just jumped right up to his room but I chose not to, knowing it would freak him out even more.

But while I waited for a response, a feeling came to me. It was the same as last night’s, when I had killed that vampire. Another one of them was close. I quickly looked around but only the breeze was making the tree leafs shake. I looked at Henry’s window, praying he would finally open it and invite me inside.

Finally, he opened the window and stared down. I looked up at him.
“You have to let me in. We don’t have much time. Please.”
He didn’t answer me, he just continued staring.
“Look, I know you’re afraid of me right now, but I’m nothing compared to some others of my kind! And they’re here, Henry! Right now! And if you don’t let me in, they’ll hurt you! But I can protect you, and you know I will! Let me in!”
He waited a few moments and then nodded. I barely saw it.
“I’m going to need more than that. You have to say the words.” I said, waiting.
“Come in.” He said and I gasped relieved. Whatever it was out there, it was closing. We probably didn’t have much time.
“Move aside.” I yelled and prepared to jump. He moved out of my sight and using all of my strength, I launched myself upward, until I landed in his room a few seconds later. He stared at me, astonished.
“Close the window.” I said and he quickly went to it, shutting it completely. Then he turned back to me.
“Who are they? What do they want from me?” He asked, standing a few feet away from me.
“I don’t know who they are. There are many more like me out there.”
”But what do they want from me?”
I thought about it. It really didn’t make much sense. Why would they stalk him? I mean, beside for food. Or maybe…
“Maybe they know you know…my secret…our secret.” I said, surprising myself.
“What are they going to do to me?” He asked but I barely heard him. It didn’t make any sense to me. If someone was stalking him now, it would mean that vampire I killed isn’t alone. He had others with him. They were a group and there was nothing more dangerous than that. How was I going to protect him from all of them? I wasn’t strong enough for that. I wasn’t old enough and didn’t have any knowledge of how to fight properly. I was counting on my super strength to get me out situations like that but that wouldn’t help with them. Who knew how many of them there were?
“Elizabeth?” Henry called and I had a feeling it wasn’t for the first time he had. I turned around and looked at him.
“Yeah, I…We have to go. We have to get you out of here. Pack your stuff.”
”What?! Are you out of your mind? I can’t just leave.” I started picking up some of his things.
“If you don’t, you’re dead.” I said straight to his face. Maybe I was too harsh, but if it would keep him alive then so be it. I was going to play the bad guy. Wasn’t so hard.
“You can either come with me and stay alive or you can stay here and die. Choose.” I stared at him panicked face and thought that maybe I was pushing it too far.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I know I freak you out right now, but I’m serious. This is the only way to get you off their track. Once you’re out of town they won’t be able to sense where you are and they’ll let it go. I’ll make sure they don’t follow you.”
”How?” He asked, catching my arm, unexpected. “How are you going to do that?”
”Don’t worry about that now. Trust me. I know it must be strange when I say it but…”
“I trust you.” He said and let my hand go. And he looked like he did. He was still freaked out and probably unsure of what to think or feel but he knew I was trying to help him and maybe that was enough for him to trust me, at least for now. He picked up the bag I stuffed with his clothes and threw it over one shoulder. He looked at me.
“What now?” He asked. I looked around. How was I going to get him out of here? They were waiting outside but I knew the sun was coming up soon so that might give us some advantage. Or at least, to him. Me, I was going to burn like a torch. Not fun.
“Okay, the sun’s coming up soon. We’ll wait until it does and then we leave. They can’t follow us once the sun’s up.”
”What about you? Doesn’t it affect you too?”
”Yes, it does but I’ll take the tunnels to the train station. We’ll meet there.”
”You’ll…come with me?” He asked. I didn’t know what to say.
“Do you want me to go with you?” I asked back. He seemed confused.
“I…I don’t know what I’m feeling right now. I can’t…I can’t even think straight. One minute my life’s amazing, I have the girl of my dreams and then next I find out she’s a vampire and her vamp pals want to kill me.”
”They’re not really my pals…”
”The point is…It’s just too much. And if I have to be honest…I’d rather be away from you right now.”
I nodded quickly, although I admit it – it hurt me. “I understand.” I said.
”But…You’re probably the only one who can keep me safe. So…I’d like you to come.”
I understood him, how could I not. He was confused, but he didn’t want to die. There was a part of that still wondered whether or not I truly loved him or I just needed to be with someone because I was lonely. But I knew I cared about him enough not to let him get hurt, especially if it was my fault.
“Okay then. Meet me at the station and stay outside as much as you can. No dark places and never alone. Understood?” He nodded.

We waited until the sun rose and then split up. I took the tunnels which meant I could probably get there before him. Of course, I hadn’t anticipated some complications I would come across on my way.

The tunnel was dirty, probably still unused regularly. I walked as fast as I could but it was hard through the dirt and the filthy water, floating through it. I was about to take the next tunnel when I sensed someone was following me. My vampire instincts quickly kicked in and I turned around, scooping for danger.
“I know you’re there. You might as well come out.” I made another step and suddenly, something jumped me from behind. I tried to shake him off as I heard the hissing and felt his fangs hard on my skin. But before he could pierce it, I reached out and caught him by the clothes, shaking him off of me. I saw him face now. He must’ve been barely a teenager when he was turned.
“Don’t do that again.” I said and threw him against the wall, twelve feel away. “Nice work with the teeth, but your element of surprise didn’t come on time.”
”Or maybe it’s because he was fighting with you.”
I turned toward the voice. The accent showed me he wasn’t British; he was an American, like me. He came out of the dark, with three other men following right behind him. I could see his face now. He had dusty blond hair, tanned skin and bright red eyes. The other two men stepped in front of him, like they were protecting him.
“Who are you?” I asked, watching back and fort.
“Daniel. And you must be Elizabeth.” He smiled kindly.
”Yeah…How do you know my name?”
”You’re a legend.”
I laughed. “Really? With what?”
“With not obeying any rules.” He said and came closer to me. I stepped back.
“I don’t like rules.” I said and braced myself. My words usually got me into fights, didn’t imagine now would be different. But he didn’t make any sudden moves, at least for now. Or maybe he was counting on his guards to protect him.
“Yeah, well, whether you like them or not, all of them are made to insure our race’s survival.”
“You talk like our race is threatened of extinction. We’re on top of the food chain, aren’t we? There isn’t anything more powerful than us out there.”
”Yes, that’s true, but we live among humans and maybe separately they’re not a threat but coming together…they can do some real damage.”
I was getting tired of this cryptic talk. “Henry’s not going to tell anyone. You guys scared him enough, okay? He’ll never talk.”
He shook his head calmly. “There’s no way to know that. People tend to be…unpredictable. We can’t take that chance.”
Okay, didn’t want to go there but its fine by me. “I won’t let you hurt him. And if you still try; you’re going to have to go through me. But let me tell you something. Does the year 1568 mean anything to you?” With only on word, or a year in that case, his eyes get wider and he looked at me shocked.

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have played that card but he didn’t leave me much choice. Some say the vampire race has existed ever since man walked the Earth. But only a few of us know the truth. Only a few of us know that…this…is a lie. The very first vampire was ‘born’ in 1445,, as far as I knew. A man, a little over 30 years old, was sent to exile after he had killed 38 women, 13 men and 14 children. On the farthest part of the world, Antarctica, where no one could reach him, he lived for 12 years, feeding off small animals and fish. But one day, when the temperature dropped below 34 degrees, he got stuck in an underground cave with no exit and an entrance covered with snow. There was no way for him to escape. Legends say he laid on the ground, going into deep sleep, while every animal that found him, fed off of him. He wasn’t dead, but he couldn’t feel anything but the cold. Some of the animals were poisonous so when it mixed with his own blood, a drastic change accrued in his body. His senses sharpened and he finally woke up. He found out his heart wasn’t beating anymore but there was something else keeping him alive. He was so glad to be alive. But what he didn’t realize right then was that with the new power he experienced there was the hunger too. Hunger for blood. So once he got out of the cave, and then out of Antarctica, he hunted down the ones who convicted him and killed them all, taking their blood. With every drop he took, the animal in him grew stronger while the man faded away. He soon figured out a way to make others join him and that’s how it was begun. Very few of those first original vampires were left alive. Most of them were killed during a power struggle. Those who survived went into hiding. They hid their identity, making sure every living person who had witnessed the vampire battles was dead. But since it’s not exactly known when the oldest vampires lived everyone took the 16th century as our beginning. Which practically made me one of the original vampires to walk the Earth, an Elder among our kind. I had found that out recently and hadn’t given much thought to it, but it seemed like it could definitely open doors when needed. Because the Elders were protected by the law, our law. We were rarely hunted or prosecuted, or being held responsible. I had never met another Elder but we were believed to be more powerful than other vampires. I really doubted that, though. In my years I had fought many vampires, younger than me and some of them almost kicked my ass.
So now Daniel watched me with shocked expression. His face finally turned back to normal after a few moments. “So you’re an Elder. I didn’t know.”
”Yeah, I can tell you didn’t. So now are you going to leave us alone?”
His eyes narrowed. “We’re not going to hurt you.” He said. Why did it sound like these words have double meaning?
“Fine. Then leave now.” I said, staring back at the vampire boy still on the ground. Daniel gestured to the others to help the boy and they carried him out. He half turned to leave.
“It’s an honor to meet you.” He said and nodded. I nodded too. He turned away and left the tunnel, leaving me alone. I gasped, relieved.

I walked slower than before to the train station, sure that he was going to be there, unbothered. Plans started forming in my head. Maybe this escape plan wasn’t so bad even if they didn’t hunt him anymore. Would he still want me after all of this? It was time to find out. I came out of the tunnel and right into the train station. I searched through the gates, and the departure exits but I couldn’t find him. Panic started to rise in me. Maybe he deicide to leave alone, I thought. I started walking towards the exit when I heard a scream. I quickly turned around and saw a woman screaming and a dead man in front of her. I was afraid to walk over there. I didn’t want to think it might be…it was him. I walked a little closer but a crowd started to form around the body so I had to leave, to avoid attention. But before I left, I noticed one thing on his body that gave me all the information I needed – two bite marks on his neck.

My heart was tying to deal with the grief but it wasn’t easy. I left London, moving to New York but even that didn’t help. His face was everywhere I looked and I always seemed sad and…guilty. If I had been there 10 minutes earlier maybe he would still be alive. No, I couldn’t allow myself that. Yes, I grieved because the man I loved was gone, taken away from me by force, but I wasn’t going to blame myself. I was going to blame the ones who killed him. So I started tracking them down. Once they were out of London, so was I. They were hard to find, though. They moved around a lot, leaving a path of destruction behind them – from dead people to missing bodies who were probably turned, or as we say sired, by them.

1967, New York City
I was in my usual bar, drinking whiskey and tuning in for the latest gossip when something on the TV got my attention.
“Three bodies drained of blood were found today; during a search warn of the NYPD. Their names are still unknown but a photograph of the possible murderer was taken earlier today, while trying to escape the crowd.”
Then they showed the picture and I almost dropped my drink.

Henry.

He was alive. But how could that be? I saw his body. And then I remembered something. That was back in 1790, Liz. He’s not alive. Or at least not in the real sense of the word. He was turned. The crazy gang had turned him into a vampire instead of killing him. And now he was here, walking the streets of my city, killing people and drawing attention to himself and to me. Something had to be done and of course as always…

…I had to be the one to do it.