NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: In the Beginning…
Early mornings at the oceanfront were much cooler, and the night wind carried the icy chill of winter as it blew off the crashing waves that splashed onto the beach. Many of the tourists that enjoyed the winter months were now tucked away under a pile of blankets trying to sleep as the salty and cold breeze battered the glass of the sliding doors leading to their hotel room. Others took the opportunity to walk the concrete boardwalk, dance in the various clubs, or even perhaps attempt a lustful quiet moment on the beach itself to escape reality for even a few minutes.
The raven sat on its wire perch watching and taking in all of the action going on below. Its eyes were what set the bird apart from the others of its kind. This creature’s eyes traded the all black and seemingly empty orbs in favor of very real dead intellect. Currently that intellect was trained on a couple sitting on a wooden bench that faced the ocean as the two laughed and kissed between obvious fondles of an impending sexual encounter. It preened itself a bit before the wind encouraged it to spread its wings and swoop down to the bench to perch itself right on the edge where the couple were having their encounter. Pretending to be nervous, the bird twitched side to side in an awkward manner looking around and finally settled once again on the two people, the illusion complete.
Sensing a change, the guy looked up to see the raven just perched quietly on the bench corner picking away at its feathers, seemingly not caring that the couple were this close to it. “Shoo, you silly bird.” The guy managed to groan and wave his hand while also enjoying his female companion’s breast. Bleary eyed, the intoxicated woman managed to pull herself away from the enjoyment she was having. “W-what was that? Forget about the bird. It will fly away, much like my buzz if you keep this up.” She then slid her hands along the guy’s face kissing and pushing herself into him once more. Her fevered pace meant to regain the momentum that was lost with the interruption of the bird.
The raven stopped its act and turned its head to face the man, its eyes bearing down on the guy with undead hate from a creature that lived solely on instinct. He stopped kissing his date and pushed the woman from him. “I don’t think this is going to happen this evening, darlin’.” Disgusted, the woman then stood up and huffed as she pulled her miniskirt back to place and flipped her hair back, “Well. I didn’t want the fucking drummer anyway. You were starting to make my skin crawl, freak.” Picking up her glittery purse she stumbled off down the boardwalk cursing into the night.
Waiving the woman off with an arrogant huff, he whispered to himself, “Lucky I let you go. One less missing person tomorrow for the news.” He then turned to the raven that still hadn’t moved from its glaring position that it had moments before. “So, you are an annoying thing.” He swiped out to hit the bird where it perched, striking it solidly. Pain and heat rippled through his hand indicating it was broken. “What the fuck? Nothing hurts me anymore. How did?...”
The question was instantaneously answered, as the bird shifted into what appeared to be a woman in her late twenties, with long raven black hair to match the feathers it replaced. The lady was shaped and sculpted as though to be the most desirable that the guy could fathom, including her stonelike pale skin. Her visage exposed lips stained of blood and eyes blue as ice itself. Her motions were nearly flawless as her appearance and most folks wouldn’t be able to see the slight askew movement, yet the guy did.
“I don’t know you, but I know what you are. You are in the wrong area, woman. The troupe leader will not like you hunting in our spot.”
She smiled callously and shot out her hand and grasped the man’s arm, pulling to get a good look at his forearm. He struggled in vain to free his arm, but he couldn’t free it from the ironlike grasp the woman had on him.
“Shhh, this won’t take long, my new friend. You and I are about to be much closer.” The lady spoke with a light French accent that seemed to come through in her “T’s, R’s and S’s” giving her an eccentric and older sounding voice. “Tell me your name, youngling. I can tell from your emerging fear that you might suspect who I am.” The dark woman didn’t wait a heartbeat before continuing. “Very well, I will tell you. I am a horror story told to younglings; I am the Raven.” She twisted the man’s arm to the point where it popped out of its shoulder socket.
Screaming so loud it scared the seagulls on the beach and the nearby hotel from their perches, the drummer announced, “Ken! My name is Ken.” He shook his head and started to cry tears of blood from his green eyes, “ You aren’t real, J-J-just a story told to keep us in line….Y-You just aren’t real.”
The Raven plucked a blood-filled tear from the man’s cheeks and smeared the iron scented contents on her tongue. “Mm, yes. Just like I thought. Perhaps a year old, yes? Pity, I think you might have had potential.” Glancing down, she noted the tattoo on her victim’s arm. “Ah, look. A bat winged skull eating a bone. You belong to the Flying Cannibal troupe, Ken.” The dark-haired woman shook her head in a decidedly upset manner. “Tisk, Tisk. Drake should know better than to come into MY hunting ground. You might not be able to sense the emptiness of our kind, but I assure you he can. Why do you think this place still has people walking alone at night, my dear?” The Raven questioned.
Swallowing his fear, Ken got a moment of clarity and decided to ball his fist and swing at the woman. His attack came with a speed faster than the best boxer, more powerful than any Olympian could muster and with enough force that when his hit smashed against the woman’s cheek, The crack it made shook the windows of the closest hotels nearby.
Her response was swift and severe, she pulled Ken’s arm the remainder of the way from his body causing what appeared to be bluish blood to spray all over the bench and her face. Parting her lips slightly she let her fangs slide into place with a slick click, then bit into the bloody stump. The bite went through the flesh without even the smallest hesitation, where she sucked the blood from the appendage only for it to turn to dust moments later. She pounced on the younger vampire before the dust could settle, aiming her needle-like fangs towards the stone flesh of his neck. Normally Vivienne would offset the pain and suffering from one of her meals by simply blowing lightly across the wound, then kissing it closed. Ken's presence was no ordinary occurrence, it was an invasion of her territory, so the elder vampire made sure that in his final moments he endured only the cold embrace of death.
Waiting until his screams had passed into the wind and his body turned to ash, the Raven wiped her lips free of the blood and looked down. She slipped all the trappings that Ken had on his body in her coat pocket. Various rings, two sets of earrings, four sets of bangles, a nose diamond, a tongue stud, a navel ring and of course a ring meant for his sex organ.
“Vivienne.” She spoke softly to herself, “..the troupe is entertaining this evening so you can wait one more evening to discuss this with Drake. Let him wonder where his youngling is. You have had your fill for tonight and there aren’t any more like Ken around.” She pulled up the hood on her coat, half turned to look at the hotel behind her and spotted the cameras all over the building. “Vivienne, at least the cameras can’t see your face. However, the evidence is still there. This place needs to be investigated.” The sensation of being fed danced in her mind as she looked back to the ocean, “You are getting a touch careless.”
Vivienne leaned back on the bench, taking a deep breath that did nothing for her physically, her lungs were as dead as she was. It was a habit. The feeling of air filling her chest was as instinctual as it was for her in raven form to preen her feathers. It’s action let her mind settle and gave a sense of relaxation, even if in practice it wasn’t true. “Vivienne, you are speaking aloud as if someone is actually sitting beside you.” She began saying her name over and over so that she could remember who she was supposed to be in the world around her. Names didn’t matter much to the vampiress as a name was only as useful as the illusion to humans that she needed to fool long enough to feed nightly. Taking the time to look at her hands, Vivienne looked over her long nails covered in red nail polish, then noted how clear her skin was. Soft and open to some, pointed and stone to others, they were designed to mimic a perfect looking woman for humans. She knew that the entire thing was an illusion because she wasn’t human anymore. She lived as one, walked among them as one, even spoke to a few here and there. Her voice was just as much part of ‘the veil’ as her hands and skin. The light French accent she had was polished and toned just right to instill attraction should she want it to be so. With a simple coo, she could make any suggestion and they would all flitter about trying to do her bidding, not knowing that any one of them could be her next meal.
Meals. Blood. It was how she constantly fought off a darkness that threatened to consume her. She could see it clearly, a black hole without any hope just in the distance in her mind. The quiet and silent madness. Blood kept the gnawing sensation at bay, but only for an evening or two at best before she needed to feed again. Vivienne was still pondering when the young girl walked back up to the bench, stumbling and looking around for something. “Es-excus-excuse me, um.. I can’t schem-seem to find my keys-s. I-I didn’t want to a-scare you when I came up, I-won-won’t be a few seconds.” She fell on her knees, scraping them on the boardwalk and causing blood to flow from the now ripped pair of hose she was wearing. “S-shit.” She half exclaimed.
Vivienne stood up, forgetting her illusion, and was beside the young woman pulling her to her feet in one fluid motion. “Be careful, this place can be unsafe for someone in the state you are in.” The vampire handed the woman her keys. “There you are, they were just under the bench here. Let me call you a taxi.”
A glimpse of the vampires gleaming blue eyes was all it took for the young woman to become entrapped. The alluring voice that she heard after, caused the impulsive girl to push herself onto the vampire’s lips. Feeding her desire and wanting the rush of the moment, she delved into a tongue twisted moment before pulling away. “S-sorry about that, it’s just you..your voice it’s like I have known you my whole life.” It took the young woman a bit of time to realize that her drunken speech sounded all wrong for the moment. Self-conscious, shy and blushing, the woman hit her head with her keys a few times then spoke. “Taxi, right. I t-think that’s a great idea.” Vivienne and the woman walked to the street from the boardwalk where using the very hands she was just looking at, waved down a taxi. “Hello there. The two of us can use your services, please.”
The woman reached into her purse and flipped out her ID and looked up to Vivienne with bleary and bloodshot eyes before giving a hiccup and a very unladylike cough in the cab, that made the cabby nervous enough to speak up. “If she vomits, I will charge more.” Both climbed into the back of the cab and moments later Vivienne had a sleeping drunk in her lap. “The corner of Seashell and Midnight Crescent lane please. Get us there within the next thirty minutes and there is an extra hundred for you in it.” Turning to look over the seat, the cabby focused on Vivienne’s beauty and didn’t notice her reflection missing in the mirror. He shook his head with a grin, “Quite the incentive, Ma’am. Let’s get going.”