The Temptation

Confusion is the story

Part 3 - Jay Ridge

I feel behind me and back myself to the wall, the watery waste washing between my legs, the dark crumbling red bricks behind me are slimy, thick with mould - not that it matters considering I'm covered in excrement. I search the steamy endless darkness for a way out but it's futile as I'm so damn weak - even if I wanted to escape, I couldn't make it 5 seconds without being killed.

This mysterious entity, who can end my existence in a heartbeat, crouches down to my eye level as I close my eyes tightly, awaiting the touch of death - her touch. I feel the aura of her frigid fingers reaching for me and then ...

'Wake up' are the words I hear as I am prodded with a stick from my apparent slumber. I am unsure of what happened or even where the hell I am. I feel disoriented as I slowly open my eyes to survey my surroundings. I'm led on the floor in a.....cage.

The walls are painted black with four tall windows, the curtains are long and to the floor but drawn and in the corner sits my apparent nemesis on a small old rickety wooden chair. The ceiling has cobwebs, it's marked and dirty and there is a strong smell of old death in the air. The floor has been stained with the passing of others like me - when a Vampire dies it leaves a particular odour that lingers in the air like a warning to others of my kind.

I survey my prison, about 8ft squared - rusty iron bars that look solid despite their apparent age - this isn't a cage I can easily break out of and I'm too weak to even try.

It seems I have been washed and cleansed as the putrid smell that stuck to me has dissipated. I also seem to have been re-clothed in poor men's clothing, no better than rags adorn my body now.  What has become of me, I was once so lavish and well kept. I notice my skin seems to have healed somewhat but I've not fed - I am at a loss as to what is happening.

My anger and bloodlust want to tear her throat out but I spot no weakness in my cage. So as I sit here, for now, I must see how this plays out. She starts to speak, I guess all I can do is listen to her ramblings.

'I frequented New Orleans not so long ago, about 2 moon cycles roughly and heard this raging Buffoon speaking about giving people a choice he never had, I was going to kill him on the spot, his arrogance and pretend fancy ways didn't sit well with me. I felt he was entitled and above his purpose as a creature of the night - but it all worked out, it seems he chose the wrong person to sire and the last I saw of him was in the Bayou eating wretched frogs and toads after his throat was slit but some little child whore and his old companion. A shadow of his once virulent self - it did amuse me. What was his name again? Lest...Loui...I can't remember and no matter anyway. The point of this is I'm not going to give you a choice Larond.'

I watch her take a moment, almost smug in her deliverance.

'Your mind keeps asking me who I am, what's my purpose, why me? I can hear your thoughts as clear as I can see you now but before I answer any questions you have, I have a few of my own and you will answer me because I will it to be.'
I am taken back by her story as I knew the Vampire she talks about and also his old companion. He was mesmerising to me in every way but he paid no interest to me no matter how hard I tried, his taste it seems was very specific. I always wondered what happened to him but it seems she has given me my answers.

'What would you like to know? It seems you already have all the answers' - My words sound pathetic even in my ears.

She laughs and looks me directly in my cold yellow eyes, her blood-red pupils pierce deep within my mind. 'Shall we start with an introduction? My name is Rayne and I am, shall we say a hunter of your species'

Oh great, I've heard tales of these so-called Vampire hunters from back in the old days when our supposed creator Ambrogio was harassed by hunters who sought to end the bloodline before it even began. Now it seems I am face to face with one but she isn't human?

'I was once human' she replies to my thoughts 'but now I am far more Larond'
She stands and walks to my prison, keeping just out of reach of my arms.

'You however are not what I expected, tell me Larond who created you?'

I know the answer but hesitate to answer, I guess it's too late as the name and vision will be in the recesses of my mind that she has probably already read.

'No Larond, WHO created you?, not the Vampire who taught you.

I think hard and I am confused by this statement? Armand sired me back when I was in my mid-twenties and taught me the dark ways - I was human before this so the statement bares confusion. I remember the warmth of the sun and the meadows of green when I was... I was...
I remember the touch of my mother...
Armand must have wiped some of my memories as it all feels a little hazy - It was one of his many talents, the other being seduction.

Rayne is getting impatient as she starts to pace around my cage. She is humming a tune that sounds familiar and it's starting to hurt my head. This whiny noise is making my ears ring, please stop - it continues, she must know she is causing me distress. She is laughing between catching breathes joyfully, she enjoys this torment. Just as it starts to get to a point where I can't bear it anymore she suddenly stops and grabs me through the rails, for some reason I can't fight back and am frozen in her grasp. My eyes are wides as I track her hands, I am paralysed and at her will.

'Fine, if you won't tell me I'll look myself'

She places a hand on my head as my vision fades to black.