The Forbidden City

12:03am

In the smoky darkness, I felt their eyes moving over me. Wondering, worshipping, wanting.

Oh yes, I am everything you think I am. I am the dread that you feel when the lights go out at night and you know you aren't alone, I thought as I crossed the room and examined the nights possibilities.

Vampire . . .

How quaint. How many times before had I heard these same thoughts? Did they know how right they were? Soon enough, they would.

Their boldness never failed to amaze me, the approach almost always painfully obvious, their words unfettered by any sort of logical fear or inhibition.

A soft laugh. Flash of teeth. A moment of recognition.

Come with me.

As if they ever had a choice.

The boy took his girlfriend's hand and pulled her along, though she needed little encouragement. Was this not what they had been hoping for? Night after night, scrutinizing every patron who entered the little dimly lit club, searching for something they might recognize to be other than human.

They couldn't have been more than sixteen, either of them. Young enough to cling to such naive dreams of what immortality can be, and old enough to know better than to go off with some stranger into the night. But they eagerly left reason behind, following me to the car parked not far from the noise of Bourbon Street, sealing their fate.

Such a gentleman, this young boy, whom she referred to as Steven. He allowed her the front seat, while he took the back.

"Sherri's more of a talker than I am," he said, as I cast a glance in the rearview mirror at him, knowing he had plenty that he wanted to say, but lacked the courage to do so.

And talk she did. He even added a few words from time to time. They both seemed enchanted by my accent, but then that's all part of the package, isn't it?

Leaving most of the conversation to them, it was easy enough to get further and further away from town and head to a place where I knew we could be alone. In fact, they even seemed surprised when the car came to a stop on the small track of dirt that lead to our destination. Only now did they realize that we were on the edge of the bayou, and they'd completely missed the old wrought iron gate that we'd passed, due to the overgrowth of the plants and vines that attack everything in this damp wilderness. And if they'd seen it, what would they think? Would they know that this was a place that no one comes back from? The last stop.

A crackle and a flare of light. The end of her cigarette glowed with life as she inhaled deeply, trying to calm her nerves as she considered what might be about to happen, her fantasies replaying themselves in her head repeatedly.

Leaving the car, I knew they would follow, their curiosity almost as great as my thirst by now.

"What is this place?"

I knew their mortal eyes could only vaguely make out the white shapes ahead.

"Someplace where nothing - and no one - can possibly disturb us," I said softly, leading them deeper into the marshy darkness.

I leaned back against the edge of one of the marble surfaces that seemed to rise from nowhere, and I watched as she came up behind him, whispering in his ear, and then they both stepped closer. With trembling hands, he reached for me, and I saw her fingers slide up over his shoulders, her eyes meeting mine for only a second before I pulled him closer and pressed my lips to his throat, teeth tearing through the soft skin and freeing the delicious liquid that was trapped within.

He was already gone the moment I began to drink, his mind slipping into instant ecstasy, racing towards oblivion.

He moaned as she pressed against his back, her hands now finding me, as well. Brave girl.

I want you. Both. Her thoughts were crystal clear.

Taking her right hand in my left, I slipped her arm between my body and his, sliding her hand down across the front of his pants.

Even in death, he wants me, I whispered into her mind as I pulled back from the wound in his throat and licked at my lips.

Confusion flashed in her eyes, and then they widened as the realization set in. I released the hold I had on him, and his body fell back against hers, then dropped to the mud below. She screamed, only briefly looking down at the now deceased Steven before turning to run.

I watched as she stumbled her way through the garden of vaults, her feet sinking into the marshy ground, just as those vaults had begun to. It was almost comical, really. When she finally found her way past the maze of marble, she came to the trees, running into more than a few, in her vain attempt to escape.

Sherri . . .

Her panic was almost tangible, it was so all-consuming.

"No, no, no, no, no," she began to mumble incoherently as a single thought raced through her mind over and over. I don't want to die.

When I tired of her, of her tripping and begging, her ceaseless crying, I moved quickly, grabbing a handful of her hair as I dragged her back towards me. She let out a shriek of terror that died the second I tore into her throat. Then there was only the sound of my own heart pounding in my ears and the flow of the blood, that filled my senses, as she shuddered in my arms and drew her final breath.

It was then that I noticed.

My eyes opened as the last of her blood poured into me, and I saw the figure standing between the trees ahead.

I tossed her lifeless body aside and began to move with slow, deliberate steps towards this intruder, this watcher, this soon to be dead mortal girl, never taking my eyes off of her.

I felt the fear rise in her as I drew closer, yet she didn't move. This one not only knew what I was, but who I was. And she had no intention of leaving.

Coming to a stop only inches from her, I stared down into her eyes and her mind gave up her name.

"Andrisima," I whispered, seeing the shiver that passed over her when she heard it from my own lips, and I knew then what it was that kept her from running. Absolute devotion. A devotion that began months ago, formed over countless nights spent watching, studying, waiting. Waiting for me.