Hello Darkness

Chapter Forty-Three

Victor walks me back to Gabby's house, assuring me there would be extra eyes on the premises. He doesn't believe the Silvanos would strike, but he wants to take extra care. I shut the door behind me. At the soft click of the door, Gabby turns her head from the couch. She leans against the arm, a book propped on her bent knees.

I furrow my brow. "You read?"

Her lips pinch into a tight line. Apparently, that wasn't the right question to ask. "We have the potential to live for centuries, we have to find something to occupy our time."

I paused and took a seat in the armchair, admiring how relaxed she seems. She has no idea how poorly the night had gone. With everything that happened I can't even consider the next time I'll be reading a book. "Do you ever read stuff about vampires?"

"I live the life, I don't need to read sparkly romances."

I shake my head. "I've read a lot, but nothing seems to fit."

She slaps her book closed and sits up. "That's because most vampire lore is crap. Maybe one day, we'll write the real story, but for now it's better off leaving it myth."

Was it better as a myth? I never truly lived in blissful ignorance, but I wondered what it would be like. Not always seeking answers and knowing deep down there was something more. "How exactly are we created?"

She closed her book and set it down on the oak table just behind her. "But that's so boring. I'd rather hear about how your night with Victor went."

"After... Maybe."

She rolls her eyes. "It was like the thirteen hundreds. People were desperate to save their family members from the black death. The Esposito family was no exception. Bane couldn't—"

"Bane? Like the old master?"

Gabby looks down and swallows. "Yeah, he's part of the original family. He was the eldest and they'd already lost their parents and one sibling. Three prophets came to town. These weren't the typical potion peddlers. They offered a magic that could cure any sickness. But the townspeople were wary, and rightly so. They dressed in black cloaks, careful to hide their face and would only speak to people in the dead of night.

"Lazarus wasn't going to make it through the night, so Bane took their services."

The name swirls around forming an acidy taste on my tongue. Victor said that Bane and Lazarus were close, but I never expected brothers. If it was true, he killed his own brother. The one that saved him. "If Lazarus and Bane are bothers why do they have different last names?" For the time, families were large and they didn't split because they relied on each other to make ends meet, they wouldn't have different last names.

"They don't. The names they go by now are clan names. When turned we take the name of the clan we ally ourselves with. Usually it's the name we're reborn under."

It confirms my suspicion. "What did Bane have to give in return?"

"They're the core of our existence. The very thing that makes us what we are. They're demons, Charley. They wanted a host. A way to be forever bound to this earth and have a physical form. You see, demons are incomplete souls and by corrupting then feasting on pure souls they can eventually become complete enough to take a physical form. But this takes lifetimes and you can imagine—demons aren't the most patient creatures. So, they found another way to link their corrupted soul permanently with a pure one. Vampires."

I stare at the tan carpet, trying to organize my thoughts. "So, they all became vampires?"

"The next hundred years are known as The Frenzy. They were careless, unable to control the demons they fed and changed thousands of vampires. This is where the legends and myths begin. By day, the demon lost control burrowing deep inside to shield itself from the purity of the light. It allowed the vampire to think clearly and on his own accord. But at night they became ravenous monsters, with no control."