From: ssalter@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (-=[SLS]=-)
Subject: Bite! - 01
Organization: OFSA
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 17:58:05 GMT

This is a repost of a story I started around Halloween. It is turning
into a series so I am going to start it all over again so as to not
lose continuity. :)

=====================================================================


	The last ray of sunlight dazzles my eyes as they open. Ahhhhh,
I stretch prodigously and leap to my feet in one fluid motion. The
vibrant red palette of the sunset fills my sleeping room as I walk to
the kitchen. I pause for a moment then open the freezer and remove two
plastic bags. Striding over to the microwave oven, I open the door and
place the packets inside it. With a light flip of the wrist I close
the door and depress the pre-programmed button that will subject the
plastic packages to an array of varied heating temperatures and times.
I have experimented with this until I reached the perfect settings.
Smiling at the marvelous machine I walk to the bathroom and turn the
shower on hot! The hollow pounding of the water on the fiberglass
stall thrums in my ears as steam rises in a violent surge.
  
	When I step into the pounding water I sigh as it's heat seems
to transfer directly inside me and relish the convenience of this
device. Imagine, variable adjusted water temperatures with a turn of a
knob! This would have appeared magical during most of my life but I
accept it as commonplace now. As I finish my cleansing and step from
the shower I glimpse myself in the full length mirror. The heavily
muscled, yet slim body never needs maintenance. I don't ever exercise.
The long  brown hair falls down just below my shoulders and never
grows any longer. At the moment, my skin is so pale it is almost
translucent but that will change once I have breakfast. At the thought
of that, my mobile features twist into a delicate grimace. Ahh, if I
had time to feed properly tonight...but no, there is too much to
accomplish, I don't wish to waste time on that. I move closer to the
mirror and study the hard lines of my face and the lambent, deep brown
eyes that almost glow in the dim light. I raise one eyebrow
inquisitively and then smile full heartedly. Ahhh, when I smile the
somewhat feral look disappears into a charming, boyish appearance.
Yes, you lady killer you!, I chide myself good naturally as I dress
for the evening.                    

	Black jeans, a black silk shirt and black boots are
appropriate for tonight, I decide and pick up my black jean jacket to
complete the picture. I remove the two plastic packages from the oven
and open them deftly. As I pour the thick, rich liquid into the large
mug I inhale it's bouquet. Ahhh, not bad at all, not as if it were
fresh from the source but not bad for flash-heated food. Sitting down
at the table I sip  the warm stuff as I think of the evening ahead of
me. A quick drive to the airport at Indianapolis to catch a late
flight to Boston. Then, a trip to Sudbury, to the Red Horse Tavern is
the start of the agenda. Then, after poking around the old inn to
familiarize myself with it, I shall verify my reservation for the
coming weekend and slip off to Boston, to the waterfront. There I can
hit a few of the old dives and perhaps help someone down on his luck
or, if I am lucky myself, remove a menace to human society.
               
	I have never thought of myself as a vigilante. I am merely a
pest control agent. Since I must feed every night in some form, I may
as well help keep the streets safe for the decent folk of the world. I
gaze longingly at the new 486/50 computer that rests quietly in it's
alcove but refrain the urge to turn it on. A thoroughly marvelous
device, one I am intensely obsessed with. I have just a few more hours
of work building sprites before I can start to tie all the parts of my
new game together. This is real magic, the transfer of my creative
urges into a physical thing that can be seen and heard. Hmmm, I need
to finish composing the new mod also, for the intro to this game. Ah
well, I have plenty of time and when I focus all my considerable
concentration on something I can work wonders.                

	The light in the sky is dimming as I exit my home. I throw the
suitcase into the back of the low slung sportscar and settle myself in
the leather drivers seat. The multihued colors of fall are reflected
in the changing foliage of the forest around me. I wheel out of my
drive and head north towards the city. My flesh is warm and vibrant
now and the paleness has faded under the new flush that my breakfast
has given me. This is nothing like the flush my skin has after a real
meal, but it will suffice to keep people from wondering about my
seeming pallor that is evident after a day's sleep. Ahhh, this curse
has become a well worn shoe after the centuries. I no longer rage
inside at the necessity of feeding from  humans to keep myself sane
and alive. This age of freezers, microwave ovens and blood banks has
added a certain convenience to my perpetual life. Yes, it is fast food
with all the inherent plasticity to it, but it works. I no longer have
to search out someone who deserves, in my own not so humble opinion,
death every single night but I can go weeks living off the frozen
essences in my own home.                 

	As I tool up the highway, allowing my automatic reflexes to
steer me unerringly towards my immediate goal, I let myself think of
the past. How I hated the necessity of hunting each and every stinking
night! I would often despair of finding suitable prey and on occasion
would chance the emotional agony I would suffer by preying on the
innocent. I never liked to do that. It ripped my heart to damage those
that didn't deserve it. On the other hand, I thrilled to feed from the
murderers, rapists, slavers or other violent criminals. But, I had to
feed or I would suffer agony undreamt of by humankind. Now, I could
just pop a package in the microwave and have instant sustenance!
      

	Yes, life in these modern ages is not difficult for a vampire
like myself. The long years have managed to weed out most of the wild
ones who had given my kind such a bad name. Those that had aroused the
human fears and violence.  It is just a process of evolution, the
weak, the stupid, will die eventually. There is not much that will
kill my kind, only fire or complete dismemberment or sustained
exposure to sunlight. The last is not even a sure thing. I survived a
day in the open once, about two hundred years ago. Of course, I was
nearly crisped to charcoal but my healing capabilities managed to
bring me back to par within a few years. This would not be true for
the fledglings though. They would die for sure if put out in the sun.
I have lived more years than I care to admit to. The years make us
strong if we survive and I am one of the few that have.  I chuckle
inside as I think of all the rumors and legends of vampires. I
remember fondly the obssessed vampire hunter who was exceedingly
clever enough to track me down and trap me on day as I rested in my
death like sleep. He was so intelligent and well read. He just made a
mistake. When I awoke near sunset I found him lying next to me on the
floor, his head crushed and his silly stake pinning me to the floor.
Sure, it hurt like hell for a few days but I healed from that quite
rapidly. He didn't know that we act unconsciously to protect ourselves
when asleep and that a stake through the heart was only a minor
annoyance. He would have  been better off setting the whole building
afire.                       

	I had escaped complete death many times. From the first time,
so long ago, when the monster seized me as I left the parthenon and
drained me to the brink of death to now, over two thousand years
later. She had been an old one herself, and had recently come up from
the ground. She had almost killed me and then been speared by a
passing troop of guardsmen. They had thrown us both into a deep pit
and I had unconsciously fed upon her blood from the wounds she had
suffered. Ahhh, the memory of the first explosion of the senses, the
vibrancy that had siezed me! I had escaped just before the guards had
returned with naptha and set her afire. Huddled under a twisted tree I
watched them stand about the flaming pit and heard her inhuman howls.
They had searched for me, of course, but even as a fledgling I could
escape their clumsy human endeavors. How I had escaped the insanity
that seems almost ineveitable for my kind was a miracle that I
attribute mainly to my training in the physical sciences and my
complete irreverence for the Gods. The long, long years had been
sufficient for me to learn all I could of human science and philosophy
and determine my place in this stream of life. Twice, I have gone to
the ground myself, as all of us do eventually, only to re-emerge
stronger each time.                       

	So,  by hook or crook or outright chance, I have lived. Lived
in the fullest sense of the word. Not the half life that humans have,
that I once had. But a life with senses that are ten times as acute as
I once had. I live each night to it's fullest, drinking in all there
is to experience. This form I have had for so very many years is a
great benefit. I never get sick, I have incomparable physical
abilities, I have incomparable senses of sight, smell, taste and
touch. I have senses that the humans still consider as magical or
psychic, as they call it these days. I enjyo the physical side of life
as much as the intellectual.                 

	 My body is and has always been fully functioning. I think of
the recent books by the author Rice. She must have met one of my kind,
but twisted details to suit her novels. My body functions completely!
Sex is incredible and my supernatural abilities only enhance it. With
the empathic abilities I possess I find it simple to convince nearly
any woman I want to bounce on the sheets for a few hours. They all
find it incredible, my self control, the electric surge that
accompanies my own orgasms. My own enjoyment of the act is
superlative, every sensation magnified well beyond anything I had
experienced when alive as a human.                       

	  Music is nearly as good as sex. I have spent many a long
night with my cd player listening to the pure tones of the multitudes
of composers. And computers...well, computers are incredible. Sight
and sound combine to produce emotional, mental and physical sensations
from a computer. How I love the complex intricacies of programming. My
mind thrills to the challenge of new procedures and refined
algorythms.       

	Food also is fantastic! I do not need to eat or drink, except
that ultimate drink, to sustain my sort of existence. But, I can lose
myself in the varied textures and tastes of all the different cuisines
of the world. Chiles and I love each other. I have long strings of
various chiles hanging in my kitchen, just ready for my desire.
  

	The only curses are the daily influx of blood I must
have to stay whole and hale....and that I have no woman of my own to
love. I have loved innumerable times of the centuries and my heart has
been broken on the wheel of time the same innumerable times. I have
never been able to find or keep a woman of my own kind. The mortals I
have loved cannot help but die. But, I have resigned myself to
this....or at least I try to convince myself of that.
        

	I park my car in the long term parking lot and after some
delay, board the plane. As it taxies down the runway I sigh...ahhh, to
have a true love. Oh well, if nothing else, I will at least keep my
friends. Those that I will meet in Sudbury at the Red Horse Tavern
this coming weekend as we have long planned on the net.

<Steven>