Phantom of the Night

Phantom of the Night

Chapter One: The Beginning

*Before this story begins, I would like to say that all these events were influenced by the dreams I've had. & Mauro's name is pronounced like (Mar-roh). Just in case people were confused ;p Thanks for reading (: .xx 

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{Modern Day}

"Mauro?" I turned around to see a fragile old lady staring at me.  She was probably in her late 90s to say the least. She was really petite, and rather skinny.  "Mauro...is that really you?" Her eyes were squinted, as if she were trying to get a better look at me. I knew who she was. I couldn't tell her though.  "I don't know who you are, I'm sorry." I spoke softly. She couldn't know. I'm assuming she forgot.  Behind me, my "mom" walked up. She was confused and somewhat angered that I was talking to someone instead of whatever we were doing.  "Mauro, who is this?" She asked, sounding edgy.  "I don't know who-" I tried to finish, but the old lady cut me off.  "Don't you play that bullshit with me, Mauro. I know who you are. You know who you are. You're a liar. I know what you are." Her expression changed now; it was full of anger and loathing. In her left hand, I noticed, was a kitchen knife. She was clutching it so tightly her knuckles were a ghastly white.  "It's me." She whispered. "It's me, Rose. Don't you remember me?" Her expression was still angry, but a little bit of compassion was slowly slipping in.  Of course I knew who she was. We were best friends growing up. She was the only one who had accepted me for who I am. "No. I don't." I lied. Rose laughed, and raised her arms in the air, quite over dramatically.  "So you think you have every one fooled, don't you? You think nobody knows your little secret, eh?" Rose was stepping closer to me now, her breath becoming evident to me. She smelled like mint. I raised my eyebrows in contempt.  "Listen. I think you have me confused for someone-" "The hell I don't!" Rose screamed, pointing the knife at me. I stepped back, but Rose stepped forward. I wasn't afraid. However, when I gazed into Rose's eyes, I saw fear. Her eyes narrowed as her voice became nothing but a hiss. "I know what you are. It took me a while to figure it out, but I know who and what you are."  My mother was standing a few feet behind me with some family friends, watching this unfold. I bet they thought this was funny. It wasn't.  "Then who am I?" I whispered, my tone serious.  Rose grasped the knife in her hand, took a moment, and stabbed me right in the chest. I felt no pain. There was no blood from where the knife entered my chest; nothing. I fell down on impact, to make it seem like I was hurt. Behind me, I heard some muffled gasps and screams but took nothing of it. Then I stood up, the knife still pointing from my chest. Slowly, I grabbed the knifes handle, and I pulled it out.  There was no blood still, I didn't even have a mark on me. It went through me like air. My old heart pounded in my chest; the sweat on my brow could illuminate the fear that was inside me. I could not let Rose see of me as weak; because I was not weak. I was strong. At this moment though, I was not strong at all. Physically, yes, I was strong. I could lift anything I wanted to. Mentally, no, Rose had beat me to it. I thought she would have died by now, burying my secret with her,  but she stood in front of me, proudly holding it over her head and mine.  Rose had a small smile on her face, I could tell, as I looked down at the knife. Looking me straight in the eyes, she finally spoke.  "You're immortal."  *** You're immortal played back into my head again and again, much like a broken record. There were only two people whom, besides Rose, have figured out who I really was. In result to that, I had to kill them all. The first person was a man named Samuel. He was from the same place as I: Italy. It was near a lake where he found me; in a grassy plain, I was unconscious from the loss of blood. I had thought I died, but as those events unfolded, I was wrong. {Flashback}  My name is Mauro Castrelle Arduino. I was born in 996 AD, in Rome, Italy in the breathtaking town of Anguillara Sabazia.  It is nestled at the edge of a once active volcanic Lake Bracciano. My father, mother and I lived in one of the small houses on the the common cobblestone walk ways. Our house was actually bigger than most, having three rooms instead of two. I was seventeen when I was killed. I continued to grow until I was at the age of eighteen and for some reason, I stopped growing. I would forever be the age of eighteen.  When I killed Samuel, the man who knew my secret,  I did not know what came over me. I had a sudden rush of envy and lust. Though, I was born thinking that I was normal, like the other children around where I lived. If I were to get a cut or a scratch, I would have my father look at it, for he was a physician, and it would normally take a couple days to heal. I grew like the other children, but I was awfully lanky. I was jealous of the smaller girls near Rome, for I wished a hundred times to be as small as them.  Anyhow, I was taking a long walk away from everyone, drowning my sorrows in thought. I had a "crush" on this one boy in my town of Anguillara Sabazia.   I thought he was the most gorgeous boy in the world: he had soft looking lips and delicate brown eyes. His name was Antonio. I wanted to confess my undying love for him by a poem, but I found out that he did not wish to be with me. This saddened me deeply; I really loved Antonio, but he did not love me. I was walking in one of the many alleys we had, contemplating what I would do now that Antonio did not want me. As I was walking through these alleys, I felt as if I was not alone. Behind me, I could swear someone was following me, but I took nothing of it. I assumed it was a cat or a bird.  That was when the dagger entered my chest. I felt an excruciating pain; like the very heart that beat within my chest was crushed to a million pieces. I did not like this feeling. It was very painful. I started to cry, knowing that I would very soon see the face of Death to take me to the gates of heaven or hell. I heard laughter, as I fell to the ground, the blood pooling out of my chest. My eyes met his eyes, they were a sickly green color. A smug grin formed on his rugged face, just as the darkness pooled over me and left me in a state of calamity.  I could compare this feeling to the waves of the ocean; like how the waves gently roll over your body if you are deep enough in the water. This is what this felt like...this is what Death felt like. It was so peaceful. My dream ended when something was taken from me; I cannot tell what was, but it ruined my dream.  Suddenly, I felt the breeze against my skin. This confused me, a lot actually, because I was dead, and the dead cannot feel. A bright light and a glowing warmth cascaded over my body then, an even more strange feeling.  It was in this moment of suspense when I opened my eyes. I saw a fairly blue sky that was dotted with puffy clouds, here and there. I also saw the sun, it was shining bright in the sky and sending down rays of warmth to those around. Behind me, I could barely hear this, but I made out a man screaming. He was having a fit, and I did not know what it was about. I intended to find out, perhaps he could tell me where I was. When I stood up from the grassy plain, people around started running frantically, screaming also.  Were they running away from me, and, where the hell was I?  I caught sight at the man, pointing at me with a dagger in his hand. He was yelling something to me, and still, not a sound met my ears. I walked closer to him, the fear becoming quite clear to me. I put my hands up in front of me, to show I was friendly. This appeared to be a minimum effort on my part. People around were running around as they were when I stood. I looked around, and I saw something that was quite alarming at the time. It was the Italian army, they were coming right in my direction. It was very rare to see them in action at this time. Had Otto III sent the army here? How would he have known about all of this? I turned and looked at the man.  I gasped as a sharp pain shot through my neck and up to my ears, I felt warm liquid pouring out of them. Using my hands to cover my ears, I found that the warm liquid was blood. Not any other blood, but blood of a darker color. It was a retched purple color that almost matched the tone in the night sky. All the sounds that I was banned from in these past few minutes came back to me: screaming, the army marching, the wind blowing behind my head... And that man that was holding the dagger ran up to the army, they stopped for him. He pointed right at me, frantically shaking his arms and describing what he has heard. I listened in this time, my hearing was back.  "Sh- there was a- this! This right here!" He held the dagger with his hands and showed it to the man in charge. Was it the commander? "This, I saw her laying- just there, on the ground, with this in her breast."  I swallowed hard, I remembered now. I was stabbed with that dagger in the chest. I died. I realized why everyone was in a panic. I was supposed to be dead, but I wasn't. The "commander" raised his brow. The man continued talking. "I went to- pull it out of her. Her skin was so cold; chills- it sent chills through me! I p-pulled it out, and- and then... she woke up." The man pointed to me, again with the dagger in his grasp. The commander did not like this. His angry expression turned to look at me.  "Bring her to me." He spit through his teeth, his accent was strong. Two soldiers came and escorted me to them.  There was a voice in my head speaking to me, telling me I could get away. 'Push them away, the strength is in you.' I ignored this voice, it was probably the insanity that was to greet me in the future. Strangely enough, I felt their pulses through the thick fabric that covered their arms. I could hear their every breath, their heart beat...I glanced over to the man on my left, he shoved me over, and told me to not look at him.  Once we arrived in front of the commander, anger over took me. I was in this mess because of that man. I had did nothing to deserve this. I was to die and to be at the feet of God when I reached the eternal kingdom. A thought rushed into my brain and somehow I knew his name was Samuel. Another thought that was rushed into my brain was that of murder, and anguish. I was in anguish because of Samuel, and for that, I would need to kill him. I am not sure why I thought this vile thing, but I did.  "This man, here says you are-" the commander spoke, but I stopped him.  "Samuel." I said. "This bastard that ruined me is named Samuel." Samuel, after hearing me say his name, cringed. I heard his heart pound deeply in his chest, and I watched as the color drained slowly from his face. He was searching for words, as was the commander.  "How- how do you know my name?"  Samuel asked, quivering.  "You're a grown man, and yet, here you are, quivering in front of a young girl such as I. Where are your masculine features? I find them not here." I spoke softly, with a hint of anger, ignoring his previous question.  Samuel stepped forward as if he were going to slap me, and he did. His hand went through my face, missing entirely. As his hand was in motion, for every inch of skin he "covered" was followed by a black mist. He could not hurt me. Samuel fell to the ground, and starting convulsing violently. I was maddened at the fact he had the gaul to hit me, a girl, as confident as he was. So I sent pain upon him from my mind. The commander and the soldiers backed off and away from me.  I felt a fire within my once beating heart. Power. It was power. I had the powers to kill Samuel. And I was going to kill him. This was the dark side of me now. I was trying to think of what I would have done if I had not been consumed by this...darkness. It would not let me think like that. Instead, I felt directed to Samuel's writhing pain. Before I bestowed the dagger upon his chest like the man that did to me, he spoke to me.  "What are you g-going to d-do to p-people who f-fin-d you out?" He stuttered. I could see the reflection of the dagger in his eyes. Not only the dagger, but myself. My hair that was once a dark brown was now black. My features were more prominent: my eyes were a red color now instead of brown. They were the color of blood. My face was thinned out a bit, my black eyebrows flowed neatly above my eyes. My lips were a pale pink, one could say. I was adorned in black, now I noticed. From tip to toe, everything was darkened now, much like my soul. Is this what it felt like to be dead? I redirected my thoughts to Samuel and what he asked. If people found me out to be this, what would they do? I found the answer as soon as I thought about the question. Before I plunged the dagger into Samuel's beating heart, I leaned down to tell him my answer. My breath was cold against his warm skin; you could see the veins slowly stopping to pulse blood if looked upon close enough.  I whispered in his ear, "I'm going to kill them all."