The Eternal Vampire

My Name Is Steven

Instead of trying to sleep, I lay I just let myself lay on the sofa, neither asleep nor awake. Eventually, I felt myself slowly losing awareness of where I was. I didn't know exactly when I did lose consciousness, but I wakened with a jolt when I heard the front door open and shut, and voices speaking softly in French.

I looked at the elegant grandfather clock--the hands said 3:30. Three guys about my age came into the living room and stopped and looked at me.

"Is this a present for us from Tristan?" The one who spoke was slightly smaller than the others, blond, and very Teutonic looking. Too much so--he gave me the creeps. If he had once been a Hitler Jungen I would not have been surprised. His English was heavily accented, and I guessed it was not his native language.

"Hush, Rainer, we probably woke him. We evidently have a new brother." He came around the sofa, and sat on the edge of the coffee table, facing me. "I am Claude. I met Tristan during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. He saved me, as he has evidently saved you. I have lived with him ever since."

"The rude one is Rainer Schmidt. We found him in Berlin at the end of World War II. He was alone, scared, starving, and sleeping in alleys and doorways, too frightened to hunt. Things were chaotic in Germany in those days. The Russians had come in ahead of the Allies, and people were very afraid. We didn't know how long he'd been made, or by whom. Tristan took him with us back to Paris. For reasons known only to him, he chooses not to share his past with us." He cast a look of dislike at the diminutive blond vampire.

They made my acquaintance in Rome." In contrast to Claude's plain looks, brown hair, long Gallic nose, and brown eyes, this one could have stepped out of a Renaissance painting. I never noticed whether a guy was good looking, but he had one of those classic profiles, along with curly black hair, dark eyes, and golden skin. He was broad-shouldered and slim-hipped and seemed almost too perfect to be real.

But his eyes and his smile were friendly. "I'm Fabian, I met Tristan and Claude in Rome," he explained. "I knew what they were the minute I saw them. It was at the end of World War II and my vampire family had been scattered or destroyed. I was feeling very lonely when I met them and I felt I could trust them. I was not happy to leave Rome. I am a Roman at heart and Rome will always be my home. Still, when they decided to leave, I stayed with them."

I sat up, no longer feeling dizzy or sick. "How long have you, I mean how did you, I mean how has it happened that you're all here? This is so unreal to me. Last evening, I was going to a basketball game with my girlfriend, and now I find myself in a house with a pack of vampires, one of whom has a mortal...oh never mind." Shit, I thought to myself. The more I tried to make sense of it, the less sense it made.

Claude and Fabian laughed, but more with than at me it seemed. Claude pulled out a bottle of red wine out of the cabinet and poured himself a glass. He took a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one, then settled in a chair.

"You might be a Frenchman, but you seem to forget that you're a vampire." Rainer's tone was scornful.

"I keep telling you, idiot, wine strengthens the blood, you should try some. Even Tristan takes an occasional glass or two. We just have to be careful not to drink too much, or be prepared to get very drunk." He smiled and winked at me.

The little German pointed at me. "You. You have a name?" It wasn't a question, the tone and emphasis were more like a command. He stood, waiting impatiently for me to answer.

"My name is Steven." I felt on the defensive with him. Maybe it was his arrogant attitude; maybe he looked too Aryan with his blond hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. I dislike few people on first impression, but I found myself wishing fervently that he was not a part of Tristan's household. There was something about him that did not feel quite right. Not to mention the fact that he made me feel more than a little afraid.