A beach. Long ago and far away. Atlantic waters lap at virgin sands. On one side, endless blue. And on the other, endless green. And here, in between, a narrow ribbon of sun-kissed gold. From the blue, a shape comes. A dark bubble, a swelling amid the waves, grows larger and larger until the surface breaks. Slowly. Steadily. A thing walks out of the ocean. Black hair interrupted only by spots of foam. A woman. Her locks tangle down her face and neck, all the way to her feet. Her skin is bloated, wrinkled, and ready to fall off her bones. Her jaws hang open, and water spills out of her lips. It drains, too, from her ears, nose, and in great tearful rivers from her cheeks. Her form is ravaged. She stands naked and is barely what can be called human. She is a sickly pale greyish green. And set in the center of her head are two silver eyes, staring without blinking at the land ahead.
The woman shuffles onto the beach. There, she takes two steps before stopping. She spreads her toes, her feet submerged in hot sand. Her eyes slowly scroll down, and with some speed, they move left, and with even more vigor, they move right. Then, fast, they flash up to the sun. The fish makes a sound, a word rendered indecipherable by the crustaceans living in her lungs.
"Hey! Hey!" A fisherman cries. Emerging from the forest inland, a man draped in nets and hooks calls out to the thing. "How'd you get here? Are you okay?" The man drops his tools, rushing toward the woman. She rushes toward him, too. Dashing, she's at once a bird and a beast. And upon him. She barks, and he falls apart. Transformed from a bronze-skinned boy into a slick of red around the woman who came from the sea.
Her lips are red. As are her hands. And her chest. She stands coated in the fisherman. She steams. Her water-logged skin quickly shrinks, and her bloated features are rendered fine. Her silver eyes shine gold. Looking down now with yellow eyes, the woman examines her pristine form. She's a goddess.
Taking in the sun, the woman beams. She looks far into the distance to see a stockade. She steps forward, and with the same shuffle that brought her from the sea, she heads toward humanity.
YOU ARE READING
Lourdes: A Vampire In The Old West
VampireThe year is 1877. The reclusive vampire Lourdes has gone West to escape the temptation of the growing American nation; however, what he presumed was a pure land of only sky and sand turns out to be filled with vice and worse - more of his preternatu...
