Ardith - A Vampire Story (editing)

Epilogue

Epilogue

London East Train Station was very crowded that morning. The thunders reverberated loudly in the dark skies to then echo on the brick walls of the recently built station, announcing the proximity of an approaching strong tempest. "Like if it never rains in London", Ardith commented in a flat tone.

Her beloved husband, Edmund, observed her and smiled. "Let us thank that stormy heaven above for all this rain. Because of this kind of weather is that we've lived and traveled circumvented for so long. Blessed it be London for these gray skies and its cold and humid weather."

All the ladies, elegantly dressed in their high fashion gowns, walked by the hand of their spouses and boarded the first class wagon. Edmund and Ardith waited at the end of the row. Their palid facades and beautifully exotic features always dragged the attention of the mortals... Sometimes unnecessarily and unwanted.

"I'm going to miss London. We've lived here for almost two hundred wonderful years." A somber Ardith spoke as she stared to the horizon, admiring the flickering traces drawn by the lightnings in the sky as they descended furiously to then disappear behind the mountains.

"I know, my love, but it is time for us to depart. Living in London has become dangerous for us. It is better to leave before another witch hunt initiates... If they only knew what we are." Edmund stroke his wife stunning face and smiled. He was mesmerized by the red and blue bright in her eyes.

Their love hadn't diminished by the years, or it is better to say, centuries. Both had faced and overcome so many adversities, even before turning into vampires. The battle in Germany, Leila, the inquisitors, the exhile from Harzburg, the witch hunt in Berlin, in Italy and then in Salem, was only a taste of their lives together.

Ardith and Edmund were two extremely beautiful beings, elegant, sleek, powerful, rich and with the slight feature that they didn't age. After the invention of the press and the photograph, living in London had become just impossible for them. It was better to leave before the ecclesiastic authorities revolved and turned one more time against them. And God was not the problem after all; in the beginning of the world, vampires were born as divine creatures, corrupted after Adan infected the perfect race with its putrid seed of humanity inside Lilith's womb... but that's another story to tell.

"It is better for them to remain ignorant. However, I'll miss this place. The city, the weather... the high couture and parties. It was a big mistake to let us take that photograph in the Prince's wedding. It is a fact that we wouldn't be able to hide our true identities any longer. It would be hilarious to narrate when his great- great-grand father, King Edward I was invited to dinner in the Cuthberth mansion five centuries ago. Could you imagine their faces?" Ardith laughed in a low voice to be averted. Sometimes her laughter was too loud. She was still struggling on how to manage the air flow in her lungs. Edmund had told her how much he liked that sonorous crackle.

"You are terrible my lovely. I believe it would be realy funny, indeed... Hey, the rest of the passangers are sleeping. I think it is time for us to play the napping theater for a while. There still a few more hours to get to Canterbury." Edmund held his wife's hand and winked in complicity.

"I guess you are right. Once we are in Belgium, the rest of the journey can be taken with a relative normality... I miss Germany." Ardith whispered as she closed her eyes pretending to be sleeping for the next two hours. It was night after all and by that time they would be in Canterbury. From there, they will take a steamboat to Belgium and once in the continental platform, they will board the train that would take them to Germany. Once in Berlin they could hunt to regain strengths for the journey back to Harz.

Ardith yearned taking possession once more of the lands of his father. Half of a millennium was gone darkened by the ghost of past times when the somber days after their honeymoon, when lust and carnal desire revolved in the duchess the vestiges of wickedness left in her blood by Leila. For Edmund it was so difficult to accept his lovely wife's reality, but he loved her so much that he could only surrender and accept to be transformed. To drink Ardith's blood was the final step to culminate the process, even though it was a blasphemy, heretics... it was a fool and a sinful idea, considerating that he had fought against hundreds of vampires in that battle in the south of the region, when Germany was still part of the Sacred Roman Empire.

The necessity of leaving and quitting everything was the worst part. He was to become the king of a powerful realm, but he loved Ardith so much. For her he was capable of everything, even to sell his soul to the devil... And so he did. Edmund chose the eternal damnation only for the chance of spending his life with her. Hence, they had to flee from Germany. Lord Aelderic suffered a lot, but he accepted. It was that or loosing his own daughter, knowing her dead, murdered by the inquisitors.

Yet, all those awful memories were left behind. And, even though they've become two soulless beings that needed to kill to survive, their love was so strong, enough to guarantee their happiness for the centuries to come. The beautiful and forever young duchess was vey excited and to keep her eyes closed for the rest of the journey seemed to be impossible. She only wanted to be home. The Cuthberth mansion awaited for them. The place where Ardith grew up and where she met the love of her life was going to be her home again.

Ardith kissed Edmund passionately. In the distance, the flickering lampposts of England vanished with the distance and the darkness. The soft sea breeze played with Ardith's hair pretending to disarray her neat hairdo. In the other side of the English Channel the low lands of Belgium appeared and with this the joy of knowing they'll be home soon. Ardith and Edmund hugged tenderly on the boat's bow and smiled to the future ahead. It would be the beginning of a new chapter in their eternal story of love.

***Hey guys! What do you think of this Epiloge? Do you think it will be a good idea to make a second part? In Spanish I am writing the prequel of this one, making of this a saga. In this previous part, I narrate how Leila became a vampire and how did she get to Harzburg. Believe me, she's an evil soul. If you want me to translate Leila just let me know.

I realy hope you had enjoyed this story.

Please leave your comments in the section below. Thank you for all your support!

I would like to dedicate this story to five of my dearest friends, who'd been reading this story and left wonderful and encouraging comments. Karl O' Connor, Nyhterides, Stripey, Lena Clark, Edartist, LynnS13 and Denmark Harris. Thank you guys.