The Stirrings of a Cold Heart Ch. 15

After hearing the ethereal singing, Alex did not go back to his room, but instead wandered the streets hoping to hear it again and discover the source. To his disappointment the voice never materialized and after walking through half of London he started back towards the inn. Passing down one narrow alleyway he noticed a figure slumped between a couple of barrels, his clothes were torn and filthy and his hair overgrown and disheveled. The man was obviously not a vampire so Alex paid little attention to what he assumed was nothing more than a passed out drunk.

He was almost to the other side of the alley, when the slumped over figure suddenly looked up with bloodshot eyes and seeing the hunter, instantly began to shout profanity in his direction. Alex turned and realized that the man in question was the same one he had met in the tavern a few weeks ago. Clearly the man's situation had not improved. If the vulgar language was not enough the man began throwing rocks, garbage and anything else he could get his hands on at the hunter. The only exception was the bottle of alcohol that he held tight in his other hand.

"You bastard!! This is all your fault!! You lied to me! You told me that vampires could be killed but it didn't work! I've lost my fortune, my work, my home, my friends and even my own mother!" Emile pulled himself up and tried to attack Alex, but he was so drunk that his steps were wobbly and when he tried to land a punch he only managed to miss and fall against his opponent.

"Don't blame me for your own stupidity, you sot. I have nothing to do with your present state." Alex responded then took a step back allowing the man to fall to the ground. "I tried to warn you that vampires could only be stopped in very specific ways, but you wouldn't listen. You knew better." The hunter knelt down to the drunk laying in the mud, a bit curious to know what sort of misbegotten scheme he tried and failed at. "Tell me, how did you try to kill the creature?"

"I shot him," he answered, managing to pull himself up to his knees, His hand still holding tight to his liquor bottle. "I pointed my gun right at him and it was as if the shot passed right through him." Emile stared into space, remembering that night. He had been so careful. He was supposed to be St. George destroying the dragon, but he missed. How could he have missed? "The demon thinks he has won, well he hasn't. I'll find him and I will make him pay for what he has done to me." He started to raise his bottle to his lip, only to find it was empty. Frustrated, he tossed it against the wall, smashing it. "I'll kill that whore too. She thinks she can make a fool of me, well she's wrong. Stupid little bitch."

"Your shot did pass through him. If you had fired a silver bullet then you would have temporarily injured him. If you had been lucky enough and such a bullet had managed to pierce his heart then he would have died." Alex laughed at the notion that this idiot had ever believed himself smart enough to stop a vampire. There had been plenty of hunters throughout time that were better educated, sounder of mind and far more physically fit that had still ended up slaughtered by the nosferatu. "You'd have been better off encircling him in fire, shooting him with a silver bullet and then driving a stake through his heart. Something tells me though, that those three things are far beyond your ability."

Angered by this statement the drunk spit in Alex's face, but the hunter was not bothered. He reached in his pocket and took out a hand full of coins and held it out to the man. If there was one thing a man such as this couldn't resist, it was the chance to buy more alcohol. With enough booze, he could drown himself in an imaginary world where he was king. Emile attempted to take the money but Alex pulled his hand back. This was not charity. If he wanted the coins then he was going to need a detailed description of the vampire and his 'whore'. This was a deal that the drunk readily agreed to.

For the next several months Alex Mabon spent his time pouring over books on the undead. Such tomes were held in small, hidden and sacred libraries within the most prominent churches all over Europe. These places were so well guarded that more often than not, the ArchBishops themselves had no key with which to access the ancient volumes. That a group they perceived as insignificant as the Templars should have access often upset the church leaders. Alex, of course, paid no attention to them or their complaints.

In order to access these books the hunter had traveled to Canterbury and the oldest church in the United Kingdom. The Church of St. Martin had been built using parts of Roman structures and even predated St. Augustine's mission to convert pagans. Within the church was an old wooden cupboard that held the sacred documents. Carefully Alex took the old writing from their place and carried them back to his room at the inn to study. Seated on his bed he gently began to turn the pages reading the illuminated writing.

The earliest record of night creatures started with Adams' beautiful first wife Lilith, and her desertion of him and the Garden of Eden. God barred her from ever returning and she never did. Instead she became lovers with the Archangel Samael bearing him daughters and becoming the queen of demons. She and her offspring preyed upon the populace feeding upon the flesh and blood of humans. Included with the text were drawings depicting Lilith or Lilitu as she was called in Mesopotamia.

One of her daughters, called Gallu, fell in love with a human man. Namtar was Handsome and strong and each night Gallu visited him and gave herself to him. When she learned that he was to marry the daughter of a wealthy family, the demoness' anger and jealousy burned white hot. Determined that he would be hers and no one else's she concocted a plan to ensure he would belong to her for all eternity. On the night before he was to be married she slipped into his room and drank some of his blood as he slept. When he suddenly awoke she told him he was ill then tricked him into drinking her blood by telling him it was a cure. At that moment the first true vampire was born. Together they began creating vampire offspring throughout the ancient world. Whether the couple still roamed the Earth or not, no one knew.

Different ancient writings spoke of Namtar. They always spoke of his formidable strength, handsome face, and of course his paramours. It was said that those who went into his arms found only death. So much mythology rose up around him that it was difficult at times to ascertain what was accurate and what wasn't. Sometimes seen as the personification of death and sometimes seen as the giver of disease. Templar historians tended to dismiss the notion that he brought about sickness, but conceded that this was probably how vampirism and plagues got linked.

Every culture had tales of blood sucking creatures. They appear in Homer's Odyssey and in ancient India. Europe was rampant with stories and various names for the undead. In Hungary they are called 'izcacus' and in Romania 'strigoi'. Just within the last century this shadow world was nearly exposed. Starting in East Prussia as well as in Hapsburg, a number of strange murders involving victims that were drained of blood began cropping up. Fear spread to other localities and eventually the rest of Europe. Hunters quietly moved through the land rooting out vampire nests and destroying the parasites. Unfortunately the people never saw this and instead cried out to their governments to stop the killings. Officials were forced to dig up the bodies of suspected vampires and perform whatever rites were demanded to keep the body in its grave.

No one understood how bodies decomposed and this caused the confusion. When the body was dug up and the people saw the finger nails seemed longer, the belly was bloated and evidence of blood they assumed the worst and a stake was driven through the corpse's heart or it was beheaded. Sometimes both were performed to ensure that the dead stayed that way. Some countries had more elaborate rites and called for priests to help.

At the height of the hysteria Empress Maria Theresa of Austria sent her personal physician to investigate. He assured the Empress that vampires did not exist prompting her to make laws making it illegal to open graves and desecrate bodies. In truth, the Templar hunters had dealt a heavy blow to the vampire population curtailing much of the killings. Those not killed went into hiding or found a safe haven in other countries outside of Europe.

One of the books in Alex's possession was a documented face to face interview between a hunter called Aldin Rune and a vampire he called Mr. N. The nosferatu was described as tall and muscled with dark black hair and eyes. His skin, although pale at the time of the interview, was once undoubtedly more olive or tan in color. He noted as well that he would not be surprised in the least if the origins of Mr. N were from somewhere in the Middle East. He further described his voice as deep and friendly, but the accent was indiscernible and best described as a melding of dialects from all over the world.

The two met over a series of nights at a tavern and there he was able to gather a great deal of information regarding the race of vampires beginning with whether or not they considered themselves human or demon.

"I would not describe myself as wholly one or the other. I look, behave, and interact as any human. I have emotions, thoughts, likes and dislikes, but I am still something far different from your race. Like you, I can listen to a piece of music and be moved by the notes and the emotion flowing from them. I can look at a piece of art and be stirred by the stories reflected in each colorful brush stroke, sketch or curve of stone. I can open a book and appreciate each word and revel in the human dramas there on the page, but that is where our similarities end.

"What you call a demon, I would refer to as the beast. It is not so strong at first, but we all become engulfed by it. Its eyes shine green when it hungers and red when angered. It bares its fangs to its victims and has no conscience about it. Its appetites are all consuming and will not be denied. It is the driving force that delights in the hunt and feels great satisfaction in the sight of lightless eyes and silenced lips. Knowing that their life force is now flowing through you is more intoxicating than any drug or alcohol. You go out each night playing God and deciding who will live and who will die. You can alter politics and futures by feeding upon royalty and generals." At this, the hunter noted that Mr. N's eyes sparkled as if daring him to guess which part of him was in control at the moment.

Shocked by what Mr. N had said the hunter asked if his kind ever felt any conscience about what they were doing. How could they consume the blood of innocents and not care?

"It is not a 'want' but a must. It is the only thing that can nourish us. If I were to eat and drink as you do then I would starve to death. My stomach does not digest the way yours can. When I drink the blood of another living creature, it radiates through my body renewing and filling me with life and energy. Blood heals our wounds and keeps us young and alive. The very core of our being cries out for it and gives us no peace until it is satisfied. Now whether or not the victim is innocent can be open to opinion. Most humans calling themselves 'honest decent Christians' would never consider a poor prostitute selling herself to afford bread, innocent. She is a whore to be shunned and looked down upon. A corrupt politician is hardly innocent, but his death is horribly shocking, even though he stole from the treasury and starved the poor. I would hardly call your clergy innocent, though sometimes there is one who truly believes and follows his vows. Others keep their mistresses and will happily take a poor man's last farthing in the name of God."

Aldin Rune hated to admit it, but what Mr. N said was correct in many ways. He continued questioning him asking if there was not a camaraderie between those of his own race. Did he not have friends or companions?

"Oh I have my acquaintances that I occasionally run into, but we are not inclined to have close friendships as you might think of it. We have covens or families of a sort. Each coven is dominated by an alpha or master. It is their blood that flows through each member. The master may rule as a dictator or as a democracy, but make no mistake who is in charge. Some covens can be quite large with hundreds of offspring. I have seen others that were no more than two members. Regardless of how big or small a coven is, they are still loyal to one another and to harm one will only bring the rest down on you."

With only a dominant figure as the master did this not lead to power struggles within the coven? In so many species when a child begins to come of age they often challenge the elder for supremacy, this happened even in the human world. From what he had seen in vampires this seemed a very natural instinct.

"It happens, particularly in larger covens and death is the only way to win. What the young vampires fail to remember is that the old ones have grown very powerful as well as knowledgeable. I will not say it has never happened that a youth doesn't succeed, but it is rare. When it does, it is by trickery rather than inheriting the predecessors empire, the coven always splinters and the members wander away to begin their own 'families'."

Alden Rune was surprised that the coven would dissipate. Usually the victor becomes master of everything, especially the harem. This the hunter believed without question. At the mention of harems, Mr. N seemed to become quite amused. His kind had their lovers to be sure, but the image of a master with many wives was wholly inaccurate. There were no husbands or wives in their society. That would imply an attachment, or emotional connection. The hunter could not imagine making love and feeling nothing for your partner.

"Emotions can be most unsettling for my kind. True you may occasionally meet a member of my race consumed with hate, but it is rare. The intensity of the emotion becomes a distraction and they will eventually make a mistake and be destroyed. Indifference is what we feel, Mr. Rune, complete indifference. I have sat here and spoken with you over the last few nights, yet if a ceiling beam were to break loose and crush your skull I would feel exactly as I do right now." This was an unsettling statement. He really didn't expect this vampire to give a damn about him, but to have it said so plainly was rather disturbing. Still, what could be so dangerous about loving someone? At this question, Mr. N became quiet and thoughtful. "I have heard stories . . ." he began, hesitantly. "When a vampire is born there is a psychic link between child and master. There is also a very temporary connection created when lovers exchange blood. Now mind you, what I am about to tell you I have no personal knowledge of . . . but I have heard stories. When two of my kind allow themselves to become emotionally attached . . ."

"In love." Alden rune corrected. The vampire narrowed his eyes at him, clearly unappreciative of the interruption.

"Emotionally attached," the ancient immortal continued, "whether intentionally or unintentionally, it strengthens that connection. They imprint on each other, which I have heard is intense on its own, but it doesn't end there. Their bodies become alive and ache for mortal consummation with all the intensity of vampire hunger. When they physically join and exchange blood then their thoughts and emotions are bound together. They know each other's thoughts and feelings at all times. I imagine one would have to learn how to control it or block it to keep from going insane."

"Can it ever be severed?" The hunter asked.

"I suppose a mental wall could be built up to try and separate yourself from it, but there is only one way to completely dissolve the connection." his eyes took on an eerie glow and a strange smile spread across his lips. "Death is the only way out."

Alex closed the book and thought of the mark he had seen on Aidan's forehead that day when she was still mortal. It had been gone the last time they met and he could only think of one reason: the bonding was complete. He thought about the name she had said, Mr. Ambrose. She had claimed that it was someone that she had known in her human life, but he did not believe it. He had never heard the name before, but he knew that new vampires were 'born' all the time. She had started to say something about Cerberus and this Mr. Ambrose which made it all the more curious.

He could recall that there was a myth regarding a vampire that wore a ring with Cerberus on it, but he could remember nothing else about it. If the story was true then this would indeed be a very old and very powerful vampire. He wasn't sure where he had read it or if he had simply confused some details from accounts of other recorded vampires. He was beginning to believe that was the case when he opened another handwritten journal from a hunter dated August of fifteen hundred and three.

The account spoke of the sudden and shocking death of Pope Alexander VI also known as Rodrigo Borgia. It seemed that within days of dining with Cardinal Adriano Castellesi the Pope and his son Cesare became violently ill. The son recovered but Alexander VI did not. There had been many questions at the time and even now regarding whether or not the Pontiff had been poisoned. In his journal the hunter emphatically stated that he had been murdered and who it was that had done it. In his account he claimed to have discovered a vampire while in Rome and that he had followed him to the Cardinal's home, which surprised him greatly. He described the nosferatu as a tall, powerful man, dressed in fine attire with dark hair and grey eyes.

For a moment Alex stopped reading and his eyes grew wide. This was the exact description that the drunk in the street had given him. This served to confirm in his mind that the one they were dealing with was very old and powerful. Returning to the hunter's account he wrote that he had become curious to know why a vampire would visit a holy man. Seeking an answer he walked around the sumptuous estate looking through each window until he found the two men and witnessed the entire scene.

The Cardinal spoke at length about his need to take extreme measures for the greater good of the people and to forward the interests of God. The grandiose way in which the Cardinal spoke made the hunter suspect that it was all either show or an attempt to assuage his own conscience. As for the vampire, he was utterly indifferent to it all and said he didn't care in the slightest what it was used for. He had no interest in this supposed 'God' and even less in the good of the people. Here the hunter commented that the figure had a voice that was a whisper yet the vampire used his preternatural power to project it so he could be heard easily. The Cardinal handed the vampire a large leather bag which he inspected and found to be filled with gold and jewels. Satisfied, he handed over a vial containing an unknown substance. When he reached out his hand the hunter noted that this particular nosferatu wore a gold ring made from a Greek coin that was etched with the image of the three-headed hellhound Cerberus.

"Cerberus," Alex said. Here was the detail he had been looking for.

The last thing the hunter recorded was hearing the Cardinal refer to the vampire as 'Le Coeur Noir' or 'The Dark Heart'. Alex Mabon knew that moniker. He had seen it mentioned before in the Templar records and almost always associated with wars, assassinations, and death of every kind. This was the first account to give a description and confirmation that it was indeed a single vampire and not a group simply using the name for nefarious deeds. The reason this hunter had not succeeded in killing his quarry was because guards working for the Cardinal noticed him lurking outside and arrested him.