6. Starry Night

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VINCENT VAN GOGH had said: "At present I absolutely want to paint a starry sky

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VINCENT VAN GOGH had said: "At present I absolutely want to paint a starry sky. It often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. If only you pay attention to it you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. And without my expatiating on this theme it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky."

His words held a truth in me that captured a great deal of my understanding. I had always loved the night. But unlike van Gogh, my love extended from just the aesthetic of the night.

I found it more intriguing that night could hide so many of our deepest secrets, our shame, our loneliness, or our urges that shouldn't be seen during the day. As the night was associated with so many taboos, I saw a certain beauty in it, because it was the time when people tried not to cover their imperfections and just live. Humans just being humans. It was the beauty of it. As night had the ability to pull out humanity from its hypocrisy. For a brief moment, everything's real.

But I wasn't human anymore. I was the odd one out. Though the irony of it all was that, I own the night now. As humans partly reveled in it, I had an eternity with it. All the taboos that associated with the night.... all the secrets, all the shame, all the urges were now mine to keep. I lived from it now.

The first three nights of my transfiguration, Lestat taught me how to hunt in the city inconspicuously. We would mostly target those who would not be missed - the drunks, the beggars, the brawlers. And no matter how I hated to prey on those who were below the society, I needed it to harness my skills so I could step up to the big leagues: hunting the aristocrats one by one.

Running fast as light came naturally with us. It was instinct. But to attack unseen required meticulous execution. Lestat told me that we needed to camouflage our shadows, so our fast movements would only feel as a passing wind. He demonstrated this attack on a man wobbling down the street while drunkenly singing a sailor song.

Lestat was quick. So quick, he was like a blowing wind moving toward him, that even I couldn't see him. But I was able to notice his apparition when he got to the man, grabbing him by the collar, and pulling him with him as Lestat shot up to the sky.

I looked up, but all I saw was the towering empty buildings. I couldn't find them anywhere. Then, there was suddenly a pitter-patter of rain showering in front of me. It was odd since it was only falling on a certain spot. I reached for it to inspect. It drenched my fingertips and discovered that the drops were blood. Then, in my surprise, a violent gush of it fell down in huge amount, followed by a severed head that bounced on the ground when it landed.

Lestat later came down graciously like he was weightless. He was neat despite the slaughter. "What happened to the body?" I asked.

"I posed it standing in one of the terraces. It would be funny if he's discovered like that."

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