From: ssalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (-=[SLS]=-)
Subject: Bite! - 06
Organization: OFSA
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 14:10:57 GMT


	The relentless rolling grey swells surged upon the beach with
a sibiliant hiss and receded once again only to surge up again and
again. The pearly wake frothed on the breaking edges of the waves and
glistened whitely in the moonlight on the sandy beach. The faint
grinding sound of cast off shells sounded as they were rolled against
the abrasive sand and tiny crabs scuttled lightly out of the reach of
the dark waters. A continual breeze, redolent with the primitive odors
of the sea, swept landwards to rustle the leaves of the  trees that
graced the sweep of the broken cliffs bordering the beach.            

	As I sat on the brink of a rocky outcrop, the eternal rythyms
of the sea insinuated  themselves within my being and a deep peace
arose inside me. The birthplace of life on this world holds a
fascination for nearly all creatures. There must be a common, visceral
memory that draws us to the sea. I have lived many times near the
water during my long life, from the sparkling Aegean seas of my youth
to this remote coastal locale looking out upon the vast Pacific
oceanic bulk. It never fails to instill within me a certain definitive
resolution of spirit. Life goes on, it calls to me in a liquid voice.
Life started within my watery womb millions and millions of years ago
and has spread over the whole world. This is the Beginning and the
greatest mysteries of life lie within my mantle, I hear it proclaim
with fluid assertion.               

	The sky is greying as the long night fades slowly into day. I
rise from the cold stone and stretch, the faint pops of my joints
sounding as I twist and arch my body. It is about time to enter my
seaside citadel and sleep during the burning day. It has been a long
night, the trip from Indiana on the private jet, the drive here with
the unscheduled confrontation with the doomed woman who called herself
Mary. I smile as the remembered taste of her hot blood fills my mouth
and then the smile grows crooked as I think of her inner torment that
caused her to proceed with an act of violence that terminated with the
loss of her life. Ahhh, old soul, you cannot regret the necessity that
prompted you to destroy her. She would have died an unseemly death in
a matter of time anyway considering the way she lived. I sigh and turn
from the sea to walk into my abode.                    

	Long years ago I built this retreat to provide me a place of
refuge from the human world. I had a large chamber hewed within the
living rock of this cliff and designed the home that looked out over
the sea. It is secure regardless of the most violent storm and within
it is furnished with antique furniture and tapestries. A huge
fireplace dominates the central room where also stands a massive piano
and bookshelves and various comfortable pieces of furniture. This room
looks onto a dining room complete with a dark stained maple table
worked cunningly by talented wood carvers and chairs wrought the same.
The kitchen is spacious and modern and opens out on a veranda where
stands an outside grill and dining area where I often sit while
sipping coffee or tea. Further inside the home are several bedrooms
with four poster beds complete with feather mattresses and quilts. The
furthest bedroom back was the master bedroom which was accessible only
through a inch thick steel door panelled in dark oak that was set
within a steel frame. This room of mine had a secret egress that led
to a maze of undergound corridors. I was quite secure in the daytime
when ensconsced behind the sealed door.                    

	This home was not exceptionally large but quite comfortable
and secluded from the rest of the territory by a hundred or so acres
of land. An old couple I had hired many years ago maintained the place
when I was not in residence and lived comfortably on the annual
retainer I tendered. Few mortals had visited me here for I sought this
place for it's seclusion and security. On occasion I would bring home
a guest, such as the mortal woman named Kim whom I would be seeing
tomorrow but usually I utilized this as a spiritual retreat and a base
of operations to operate from. I possessed a small helicopter that I
stored in the hanger adjacent to the house itself. The hanger was
carved out of rock itself and from the air was indistinquishable from
the surrounding countryside. From here I could venture to any city
within a several hundred mile radius and return within the boundaries
of the night.              

	I retired for the night, the fresh blood of the night's kill
still singing softly in my veins. I have said that I need to comsume
some blood once every day to survive. That isn't necessarily true. If
I feast as I did tonight I can go for as many as two days before the
bloodlust and hunger starts to drive me insane. To remain in optimal
shape, though, I need to consume at least a small amount each period
of wakefulness.       

	I have gone to the ground twice during my existence as a
vampire. To "go into the ground" is usually quite a literal phrase for
my kind. What happens is that we will seal ourselves off from the
outer world and go into a state that resembles suspended animation for
a period of years or even decades or more. It is a way to cope,
partly, with the changing human world and a way to increase ones
vampiric powers.        

	The last time I went into the ground was during a an immense
human war that centered mainly in the European subcontinent. In
America they call it World War 1 and there were indeed massive
concentrations of soldiers from nations all over the glove engaging in
an interminable war. I remember the disgust I felt for these mortal
creatures and remember the sudden decision to escape the present
insanity of the world. I strode into the battlefields on night and
slaughtered from both sides indiscriminately until I had gorged and
purged and regorged beyond belief. Then I had travelled with
unparalled speed across the bloody battlefields until I found myself
high in the moutains bordering France. There I threw myself at the
ground and dug voraciously downwards with such speed and power that I
would have appeared to disappear to any that may have witnessed me. Of
course, I had ascertained that none were near to see this and after
digging downwards until the pressure of the earth above me pressed
down on me like the hand of a mighty giant, I stretched out and lay
still.                      

	Long years I lay there quiescent, starving in body and
wandering in mind. I possess the most dim memories of those years,
fleeting snatches of dreams and perceptions. When I regained
consciousness of sorts I felt the incredible agony of hunger and
experienced an entire gamut of sensations that ranged thoughout all my
senses. My body was incredibly weak and yet I forced myself towards
the surface, sometimes inches at a time until one evening I broke out
into the outer world once again. Though I was beset by tulmultous
thoughts and feelings I first obeyed my driving hunger and feasted all
living things I could find. My strength increased with each small kill
until I found a pair of men camping out under the stars. Even in my
pathetically weakened state they stood no chance against the blood
madness that filled my being. There I feasted and the influx of hot
blood filled my body and mind, restoring my self. My  shrunken body
filled out anew and my eyes cleared and I was then able to analyze the
newness that I possessed.                       

	My physical powers were tenfold after being dormant for about
30 years and in addition to this I found I had extended psychic
abilities that I had only had the faintest ability with previously. I
could feel human emotions from a long distance and could actually pick
up surface thoughts from some. I was able to mentally "call" a mortal
to me and put them into a trancelike state. My command over the lower
beasts was more powerful and complete and I could summon hordes of
bats or rats or wolves....just about any creature that killed to live.
     

	I had awoken to a new world where technology was growing with
incredible leaps and bounds. This technology was something I could
devote my interest to and as the clumsy vacuum tubes evolved into
intricate microprocessors I filled my mind with the wonder of these
mortal inventions. Now I took such things as normal and the fact that
I possessed and flew a microprocessor controlled helicopter or
utilized a microwave machine to heat flash frozen packages of human
blood was something quite ordinary now.           

	Ahhh, mortals were fascinating subjects besides being my
natural prey. I could spend years observing their intricate customs
and behaviors. For I was kin to these mortals, I had once been one of
them. That was long ago but the kinship held within my fascination for
them. As my eyes closed in relentless sleep that resembled mortal
death I thought that I could honestly say I loved them...yes...        

<Steven>
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