My Vampires

Chapter 8

The residents of the mansion were not the only ones who counted the passage of time by the shadow-cleft moon...

???
".....Hmm hm, hm hm hmm..."

Through the High Gothic windows of the church, moonlight spilled in; soft boots with plated heels traversing the light. The creature, snow white skin cloaked in black, seemed an illusion cast by the tracery more than a living thing. This being of such contrasts looked out at the crescent moon, reflected in his softly lucent smile.

???
"...Though it is doomed to the ugliness of utter obliteration, it remains such a beautiful world."

The man, should we call him that, crossed under the nave, where two shadows on either side stood waiting.

???
"Have you seen it? The crescent moon is so beautiful tonight. Let us look at it together." "Flynn. Carlos."

Flynn
".....Hmph. All the time at your disposal and you waste it in idleness, Lord Vlad?" "We should make the church an almshouse, if it's host to the senile."

Carlos
"Docteur, le Voivode wasn't idle, you know that. He was doing his job as a florist." 'I'd love a job like that! So many pretty living flowers that all smell so nice and everyone loves you for what you do" "I want to be loved like that! I want everyone to love me more and more..."

Flynn
"You do the word 'love' no favors, muttering it constantly like a curse." "Then again, you do the very concept no favors, you mercurial nagetier."

Carlos
"We humans need love. We crave it. It's one of our most moral desires."

Flynn
"Did I hear you say 'we' - and 'human?'"

Vlad
"Hah...hahaha.."

Flynn
"Euer Hochgeboren?"

Carlos
".....Did something I say make you laugh?"

Vlad
"I simply remember how easy it is to forget my troubles around you two." "..Then I remember how even the good times are destined to come to an end and I become sad."

Flynn
"You feel sadness?"

Vlad
"I do. I feel sadness for the moon in the sky, the flowers in the soil, and the humans who walk between them in ignorance." "I want to protect them all so they don't have to ever feel that way."

Carlos
"You love humans more than anything, don't you, Voivode?"

Vlad
"Of course I love them."

He who felt nothing but love looked out the window and up at the sky. It was not the moon his depthless crimson eyes saw but something beyond sight. More than our eyes can capture.

Vlad
"I'm in love with this world. That's why" "...As the unwilting flower called a vampire, I must bear this garden into eternity."

The vampire's words were stolen by the darkness, his beloved subjects unaware of their lord's tender promise...

~~~~~
Finally, I'm alone. I sank onto the bed in what was to be my room. Alone with Mousette and my thoughts, it was easy to imagine that this was a dream, and I was back in my hotel.

Kira
"If only it was a dream."

I'm willing to believe I traveled back in time. But I cannot believe I had dinner with a bunch of time-traveling artists and scientists and musicians and-! I tried to recount everyone I'd met. Vincent Vaclavik , and his younger brother Theo. One paints masterpieces, the other sells them. One is nice, the other...I'm not so sure of. They seem close though. The two authors. Sir Arthur Coleman, and Okitomo  Dezaki.  The class flirt and the class clown? They both seemed to want my attention. (Was Sir Isaac  Nakamura really that shy? He wouldn't look me in the eye. I  can't even picture Jayme  Douglas. I wonder what she...I mean, he's really like?