Vanish

A nosferatu would only become a vampire if they made the choice to devour a human. That would erase all their remaining humanity and give them dark powers.

There were several differences between nosferatu and vampires. Nosferatu were mortal, they aged and died just like humans did, just at a slower rate, but vampires would live forever as long as they kept drinking blood. Both were creatures of the night, but for different reasons. Fera avoided sunlight because of what he had already shown me. Any amount of light took away their opacity, and direct sunlight would make them virtually invisible. That's why Pierce wore so many clothes when he was outside, even a hood gave enough shadow to help him in a pinch. Vampires have the visibility and pigment to go in the sun because they stole it from a human, but they were always at their strongest when it was dark.

Both species could enter a sleep that functioned as suspended animation, stopping the clock, but it was only delaying the inevitable. If they were awake, eventually the fera would die and the vampires would have to feed. Another thing that humanity got right was their powers of trickery. Fera and vampires could make most humans see things that weren't there, believe things that were obviously false.

"Most," he emphasized. "Not all."

Rarely, a human is born that's immune to the illusions they could create, though it was more common that a human could just see through fera illusions, which were normally weaker. Fera, and probably vampires as well, could pick them out from a mile away. There were two people like that at my college. One was me. There was a reason why I could sense something evil that nobody else could, I was completely immune to the trickery. That horrible feeling I got at night sometimes was the wicked aura of a vampire.

I was blown away and sat back a little in my seat when I heard that.

"Why me?" I asked. "Why can I see through it?"

Pierce shrugged. "I have no idea. It's random as far as I know."

"Wait, you said there were two. Who's the other?"

In the dim light I could have sworn I saw him smile slightly.

"The other is your roommate, Luke."

Luke was susceptible to vampiric illusions but not to those of the nosferatu.

"There's a reason why I have a class with Luke. We're both keeping an eye on each other."

"Wait, Luke knows about you?"

"No, but he can tell there's something off about me. To everyone else, I'm an average, forgettable college student. Think about it, have you met anyone else who knows who I am?"

I thought back and realized I hadn't. I'd told Collin and even Mr. Murray about Pierce and they had no idea who I was talking about.

"Luke is a kind soul, and I knew he would be able to help you in some small way. That's why I...may or may not have pulled a few strings to make sure the two of you would live in the same dorm."

Huh. I suppose our pairing did seem somewhat random. I was now also able to guess how Pierce was able to get a dorm to himself.

"I'm sorry for affecting your life in these ways, but I have a mission. The vampire who made me is waking up again."

When fera slept, their physical bodies stayed in one place, but when vampires entered the stasis their forms disappeared and could move anywhere in the world. That was why they were so elusive. Pierce had been sleeping for years, waiting for the vampire to start stirring. It was his mission to find him and kill him.

"Who is he?"

The fera chuckled darkly.

"He called himself Dmitry. He lies so much I doubt it's his name, but it's the only one I have for him."

Pierce was turned into a nosferatu in 1950s Britain. He was originally a Jewish orphan named Pierce Herzig (Yes, a vampire named Pierce. It was a little on the nose, but he wasn't changing his name over it). He had a difficult and lonely life, until he met Dmitry at age 20.

"He was my hero. He gave me love and a home when nobody else would. I loved him so much. And I really believed he loved me."

Dmitry was a rich, powerful man with a lot of influence, and he took an interest in Pierce right away. He showered the young man with gifts and affection. They even had a romantic and sexual relationship in secret.

"I thought he was so beautiful and perfect. He had me completely fooled. Then it happened."

This was the first time I saw him get mad.

"One night, I saw what Dmitry really was. He was a monster. I can't remember what he looked like exactly, he wiped that memory, but it mentally scarred me. Then he bit me and made me a fera."

Pierce woke up on the street the next day, naked and nearly invisible to the people around him. He spent the next few years learning about what he had become. He even encountered another nosferatu who lived in a forest in Norway. She helped him a lot and became a sort of motherly figure in his life.

"Where is she now?" I asked.

"She's gone. She died a year after we met, it was just her time."

I winced. "I'm so sorry."

"I appreciate that, but sometimes I think she had the right idea. I was a nosferatu for three years when I made the decision to track down Dmitry and stop him once and for all."

Dmitry was cunning, manipulative, and endlessly patient. In his research, he found evidence that the vampire would sleep for decades, even centuries at a time. If he wanted to defeat him, he would also have to be willing to play the long game.

"Vampires and nosferatu can sense each other, and the bite of transformation creates a sort of psychic link. I knew that Dmitry was asleep. So I slept as well."

He went deep into the catacombs of Paris and slept for over fifty years. There was a small amount of lucidity fera had in their slumber, and even more for vampires. At some point, Pierce could sense the vampire begin to wake. That was two years ago.

I raised my eyebrows. "He takes that long to wake up?"

"Yes. In my travels, I learned about the story of Cthulhu, a slumbering, monstrously powerful being. It's somewhat like that. Dmitry has so much power that starting himself up again takes time. But he can still wreak havoc before he wakes fully, just not as much."

My eyes widened.

"If Dmitry is so powerful, how are you going to kill him?"

"There's one thing humanity got 100% right about vampires: they're killed with a stake through the heart."

Both species had supernatural healing abilities, though more serious injuries would take much more time and energy to mend. The only thing Pierce found he couldn't heal was the bite mark from when Dmitry devoured him. Vampires were even stronger in their healing ability than nosferatu, making them nearly indestructible, but a stake in the heart was instantly fatal.

Before Pierce entered his stasis, he spent over a year training, 24 hours a day. He became stronger, faster, and better with his illusions. He was even able to kill a weaker vampire in a small Ukrainian village. But even with his new skills, defeating Dmitry would be no small task, especially as he got closer and closer to waking completely. Pierce needed to stop him before that happened. That's where the students would come in.

"Dmitry has a weakness for young men, I was rather small and thin when he found me. I'm sure that's why he chose a place like this, it would be full of boys he would want. When he found a target, he would let his guard down. I almost got him the other night."

Immunity to illusion is exclusively a human trait, vampires and nosferatu can be fooled just like anyone else. The guy who woke up in the Boy's Club lobby was one of Dmitry's targets, and would have been devoured if Pierce hadn't stepped in. At this point the vampire knew that a fera he created was trying to stop him from feeding, and Pierce's illusions were powerful enough to get close. When he grabbed me earlier, he was putting all his strength in concealing both of us from the vampire.

"But if Dmitry knows someone powerful is after him, why doesn't he just go somewhere else?"

"Pride. I know him well enough to know he believes he'll outsmart me eventually. I've heard stories about him possessing humans, shapeshifting, all sorts of unspeakable things. What he did to you earlier, making you sleepwalk, that's something I didn't even know he could do. He'll just keep reaching into his bag of tricks until he succeeds, or until he wakes up. But I'm not giving up either."

By that point the light of dawn was starting to filter in through the window. He was getting more and more faint, his shirt was beginning to look like it was floating.

"Well...what can I do?"

I could vaguely see Pierce furrow his brow.

"You? You don't have to do anything. Killing Dmitry is my mission, my burden. I would never want to drag an innocent into this."

I was about to protest, tell him that I wanted to help him, but I saw his point. What would I be able to do?

"The best thing you can do is stay safe, okay? Keep doing what you're doing. I won't always be able to protect you, and what just happened was way too close for my liking. Now that you know what's going on, things should be a little easier. At least, I hope so."

He stood up.

"It's almost morning. We should get you back to your room."

After he put his jacket back on, he walked me back to my dorm. It made me curious about something.

"Uh, Pierce?"

"Yes?"

"Why put on the disguise? I know about you now and Luke is asleep. If anyone sees you, you could just use an illusion, right?"

His body language began to look almost...embarrassed?

"I really don't like tricking humans. It makes me feel...dirty, so I avoid it unless I don't have any other options."

I almost laughed. Pierce was far and away the most interesting person (sort of) I had ever met.

The nosferatu picked my lock, which took him about four seconds, and I walked in. I felt the need to speak up before he left.

"I'll see you around, Pierce."

I couldn't see his face, so I had no idea what he was feeling.

"I'll see you around, Milo."

In an instant, he was gone.

*****

I knew I wasn't going to be able to sleep, so I just got dressed and used my laptop. At around 7 AM Luke came into the kitchenette and was very surprised to see me.

"Wow, am I dreaming? Is the world ending?"

I laughed.

"Yeah, I know. But I wanted to talk to you about something."

He sat down at the table with me.

"What's up?"

"I talked with Pierce. He and I have an understanding now."

Luke cocked an eyebrow.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"We both had the wrong idea about him, he's a really nice guy. You don't have to worry about him bothering me."

"What kind of conversation did you two have?"

"One with a lot of private details I don't want to go into. All you need to know is that he's a friend of mine now."

He shrugged.

"Okay, then." He pulled out his phone and looked at the time.

"The cafeteria just opened. Wanna get breakfast?"

I smiled. "Sounds great."

*****

There were some significant changes to my life over the next few days. My biggest concern was the way Dmitry had drawn me out of my bed and far away from the dorm in my sleep. Whatever immunity I had to his tricks was apparently only active while I was awake, so this meant I was defenseless for about a third of the day. I ordered a sleepwalking alarm online, but for the two nights I was waiting for it to be delivered I slept in Collin's bed with him, telling him I had been sleepwalking lately and wanted company for a few nights.

I also made a conscious effort to spend some time with Pierce in his dorm during the day. He had been more or less alone for a long time, and I wanted to be there for him when I could. He was sort of surprised at first, I think he assumed that I would want nothing to do with him, but over time I could tell that the company was very welcome.

It was on the evening of the second day that I told him I had to go to night class and he seemed to perk up a little bit.

"You'll have someone with you on the walk back, right?"

"Luke and Collin won't be available, so I'll just ask whoever's there. It's fine."

The lights were on, so could mostly just see the sweater and jeans he was wearing. The clothes fidgeted slightly.

"I mean, if you want, I could do it."

"Really? I thought you were busy every night."

"I do patrol campus, but it's normally uneventful. And if something happens I'll be on top of it. Is that okay with you?"

Was that okay? Nobody else, probably in the entire world, would be better at protecting me from Dmitry than Pierce.

"Of course it is. My class ends at 9:30."

That night I saw him waiting for me outside, right on schedule. I waved to him and he approached.

"I can sense Dmitry slightly. How much of him can you feel?"

The night around me felt warm and safe...mostly. I could feel just the slightest tinge of unease.

"He's really faint."

We began the walk back, him holding my hand. I could tell he had to slow down quite a bit so I could keep up.

"You have any idea what he's up to?" I asked.

"Not really. He's only pulled the stunt with you that other boy so far."

"What happened with the first student?"

"Seduction. Probably Dmitry's favorite trick. I was making my rounds when I felt his presence weaken. That's normally what happens when he casts an illusion. When I ran around campus until I found a junior guy talking with the most beautiful woman I had ever seen I could guess what was happening."

I furrowed my brow.

"I didn't think he would do that. Doesn't he live as a gay man?"

"To my knowledge, yes, but there's no boundary he won't cross to get what he wants. I got there just in time, he was ripping off the poor guy's clothes. We had a tussle for a bit until I guess he decided it was too much effort. He tends to conserve his energy as a priority, especially when he hasn't fed in a while. I wiped the boy's memory and left him at the dorm."

I said the next part without thinking and immediately wished I hadn't.

"How did if feel seeing Dmitry again?"

Pierce stopped walking and I backpedaled as hard as I could.

"Forget I said that, that's such an inappropriate thing--"

"No, I'm just trying to remember how I felt."

He was quiet for a few moments before he spoke again.

"I'm not really sure what I was feeling, if I'm being honest. Tracking him down had been my obsession for so long, actually seeing him in front of me, even in a form I didn't recognize, it didn't seem real. I think I got upset when he gave no indication that he recognized me. He must have created so many fera over the years he doesn't bother keeping track."

There was definitely some bitterness creeping into his voice.

We started walking again. He was the one who spoke next.

"I didn't really have much time for my personal feelings when he went after you. All I could think about was getting there in time."

I remember how he told me that he was small and thin when he met Dmitry. That was hard to imagine, now he was at least 6'2" and built like a boxer or an MMA fighter. But apparently there was a time he looked more like I did. I wondered if he saw who he was in me. Maybe that was why he was so desperate that night.

"I'm glad you're not scared of him anymore."

He began laughing.

"Was that really what I made you think? I'm more scared of him than I am of anything in the world."

"Oh. Well...you could have fooled me."

We got to the door.

"I gotta go. Goodnight, Milo."

"Goodnight, Pierce."

He nodded before running off.

It was bizarre, the more I talked with Pierce the more fascinated I became. I thought he was some unstoppable force of nature, but interacting with him showed me he had fears and insecurities just like anyone else. In a lot of ways, he just acted like a guy in his mid-twenties despite being around for over eighty years.

I smiled to myself before going to Collin's dorm.

*****

One night a few days later I had a horrifying dream, though dream wasn't the right word for it. I knew from the start I was seeing something that was actually happening.

I saw Pierce, except he wasn't wearing the hoodie like he normally did, just a t-shirt and jeans. He was walking up to one of the main public areas of campus, a big fountain, the streetlights making him fade in the night. Under those lights I could see what he was so interested in right away.

Knowing how tall Pierce was the man waiting for him at the fountain had to be 6'8" or more. He was ripped, his chest wide and his form imposing, at least from what I, and I assumed Pierce, could see through his clothes.

The man was dressed in an elegant, luxurious suit of the darkest black I had ever seen, with long coattails and accents of deep red. He had shiny black shoes and gloves that were a bright, spotless white.

Then there was his face.

He had golden blond hair that was shoulder length, a chiseled jaw, and dark eyes that glittered in the night. His skin was flawless, lightly tanned and glowing with health. This person wasn't just terrifying, he was gorgeous.

Pierce spoke the name that confirmed my suspicions.

"Dmitry."

A smile spread across the vampire's face. He spoke in a deep, rich voice.

"Hello. Pierce, was it? I knew I remembered you from somewhere. You were that orphan boy. It's been quite the long time. I hope I correctly recalled how I presented myself to you back in the day."

I could see the nosferatu clench and unclench his fists.

"You definitely weren't as tall."

The vampire chuckled.

"Indeed, but you've grown a lot since then, so I figured I should as well."

As the two of them talked, Pierce was slowly approaching, and I couldn't tell if he was aware of it.

"Tell me, my boy, what's your angle here? Why do you insist on playing these pointless little games?"

I could practically feel Pierce get furious.

"These aren't games, these are lives."

"I'm feeding. Humans are beneath me, little more than cattle. I'm simply playing my part in the food chain."

"Cattle? Was that all I was, too?"

Dmitry looked amused.

"Do tell me, why is how I regard you on your mind at all? I was under the impression you wanted only to kill me."

That seemed to genuinely stop Pierce in his tracks. Dmitry took the opportunity to close the gap between them fully. He put his hand under the fera's chin.

"My, my, part of you still feels for me, doesn't it?"

I heard Pierce exhale sharply.

"I loathe you with every fiber of my being," he spat.

"Do you?" Dmitry stroked his cheek and it caused him to shudder a little.

The vampire gave a low chuckle. "What are you doing? Why do you deny who you are, what I made you?"

"You..." Pierce swallowed before continuing. "You're not the one who decides who I am. I make that choice."

The vampire smirked, obviously relishing in having the upper hand.

"I think we both know you don't really mean that. Even now, after so long, you're still putty in my hands. You didn't even bring your weapons because you wanted to talk to me again. That scared little boy at my feet is who you'll always be. I'm just helping you see that clearly."

Pierce slapped Dmitry's hand away.

"I'm done with your mind games. Tell me what you want or I'm leaving."

The monster smiled, still unfazed.

"Very well. I suppose I just wanted to talk to you again. It's so interesting to see an old pet crawl back to its master."

"Goodbye, Dmitry."

He turned to leave, but then the vampire said something that made him stop.

"That scrumptious little human boy, the one you've taken such an interest in...he's named Milo, correct?"

The shock of hearing him say my name almost woke me up.

"I'm done talking to you."

Pierce walked away, but Dmitry continued.

"You truly believe you can protect him, don't you? But he knows just how weak you really are. I've been showing him everything."