From: ssalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (-=[SLS]=-)
Subject: Bite! - 04
Organization: OFSA
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 1992 14:19:58 GMT


	Over the remaining few days I wrapped up loose ends around the
house and readied myself to travel to California. On Friday evening I
woke just as the last sliver of sun had slipped behind the wooded
slopes to the west. I dressed rapidly and heated a pint in the
microwave to tide me over until I got to California. Making a face, I
downed the thick, red liquid and felt the eternal craving subside a
bit. I drove to the airport and met my chartered flight aboard the
private jet I had arranged. This was the fastest way to get across the
country. Sometimes I traveled commercial so I could watch people but
other times I didn't want to bother and arranged for private flights,
like tonight.             

	We left the Indianapolis airport and headed westward, rising
through the layers of cloud until we speeded along high above the
earth. I relaxed in my plush seat and idly straightened a metal lever
beside the seat that had been bent. This physical strength I possessed
was many times that of mortal man. The reason for this was something I
had discovered a few years ago. My lifespan gave me ample opportunity
to become an expert in about any given field of science I wanted to
research. Medicine was one I was well versed in.       

	 About a decade ago, I had taken tissue, blood and bone
samples from myself and examined them thoroughly. I found that the
very substances of my body were radically denser in mass then mortal
bodies. My bones were the same relative size but the bone itself was
something different, something more along the lines of a flexible
steel. Strange things circulated in my body and the catalyst that made
it all work was human blood. My muscle tissue was a substance much
stronger and flexible than human muscle and although I only stood
approximately six feet tall and had a fairly muscular build, I weighed
about 100 pounds more than I would have had I been mortal.          

	This alone was not sufficient to explain the vast increases in
speed and strength. When I conducted a bio-electrical analysis I
discovered that every molecule of my body was surrounded by a
bio-electromagnetic field that was over a 100 times more intense than
that of mortals. That might explain why canines can sense my proximity
and undoubtably adds a "mystical" force that enhances my already
superior body.        

	I had then decided to discover if a fledgling vampire
possessed the same structure as I did. I hunted for a long time and
finally found a young one feasting in a dark alley in a filthy city.
She had fled from me, terrified by the power she felt radiating from
me but I had caught her easily and taken her to my lab where I
extracted samples of her various bodily substances and then destroyed
her in a blazing kiln. I rarely allowed fledglings to live when I
found them. They are usually the ones that give vampires a bad name.
They often eat sloppily and arouse terror among the humans around
them.  Her tissues were similar to mine but not nearly developed. This
in itself substantiated my belief that over time a vampire increases
in, at least, physical power.            

	All of these differences, the bone, muscle, ligament
structures combined to make me superhumanly strong and fast. My senses
were 10 times more acute than that of a normal human and I could live
possible forever as long as my mind remained sane. That was the
biggest killer of vampires, insanity. If a vampire survived the first
hundred years of non-life it then had to battle the ravages of time
itself. Most didn't make it. They were unable to cope with the
changing world or the non-changing selves. I found my salvation
through humanity itself. Watching and learning and ever studying was
what kept me ever young.          

	The only price we had to pay for all these benefits was the
need to consume blood, to be radically opposed to humankind, and the
fact that we never could gaze upon the orb of the sun. We were
creatures of night, of dark dreams and fantasy. I love the night and
am very much at home in the darkest place. But there are times where I
yearn for the golden sun streaming down over a rolling blue sea, the
beams of light sparkling off the waves and soft, warm breezes
caressing my body. This is forever forbidden me...I must remain
content with the night. Oh, I am an early awakener for a vampire. Some
cannot arise until it is full dark out and I am able to wake and move
freely once the sun itself has gone below the horizon. In zones of
long twilight I can experience day, of a sorts.                     

	My musings have kept me company and I feel a surge of
surprised excitement as the pilot announces our incipient arrival in
San Francisco. I smile ferally as I think of the prowl tonight within
the sprawling heap of humanity. I will feed well tonight before I head
south to my home in the cliffs overlooking the ocean.    

<Steven>