The Eternal Vampire

Brittania

Brittania

Fabi scratched his head, unsure of how to start. He lifted his hands, dropped them, and then sighed. "This is my story, such as it is. I am almost as old as Tristan, and my memories go back to when Britain was part of the Roman Empire." Claude and I sat back as he began to tell his tale.

"When you think of my life, you think in terms of millennia, not even centuries. When I lead my mortal life, Hadrian was building the wall in Britain because he could not keep the Scotti from raiding across their borders.

I was a Senator's son, and everything I was expected to be. I had a Greek body slave, a retired Gladiator that my father had purchased to train me, and my tutor came all the way from Alexandria. I'd even been married at a very young age to a girl from a good family that would provide a powerful alliance.

I was expected to train hard and study hard. My father was determined that I should follow in his footsteps, never mind the fact that as a governing body the Senate was basically powerless. You never knew how things would turn in Rome, some still hoped the Republic would return, and the old powers would be given, or taken, back.

I should have been happy. I had a bright future ahead of me. My only worry was a jealous younger brother who would gladly have killed me for the Senate seat I would inherit. What he didn't realize was that I would have given it to him if he asked.

I told my tutor, Apollodorus, what was on my mind. Normally this matter would have involved a trip to the Oracle at Delphi, but that was not possible. He advised me instead to go to the Pantheon and seek out a god who would give me guidance. I was not to seek out a particular god, I was to wait for the god to choose me.

"Listen," he told me, "Pay attention and you will receive your answer". I was skeptical, but I wanted out of my life. I felt stifled, and the life that lay before me seemed like a prison.

I went to the Pantheon with its open dome, and looked at the myriad of statues of gods that were worshipped all over the Roman Empire. Jupiter, Apollo, Juno, Athena, Mercury, Diana, all had altars in this great Roman temple. There were gods from the East such as Isis from Egypt. There were also statues of emperors past that had been deified, including a shrine to the Emperor Augustus, who was now the god Augustus. My father thought the worship of the emperors' indulgence, but we did our duty as Romans and worshipped these pseudo-gods.

It had been cloudy, misty even, when I set out, but the sky was clearing and the sun was starting to shine in through the hole in the roof of the great temple the Pantheon. I went to a priest and made an offering of a dove, then stood in the middle, under the bright circle of sky. I didn't expect anything to happen, I was a skeptic like my father, but Apollodorus was a religious man, so out of respect to my tutor I waited under the open dome.

I did as he instructed me and tried to create an image in my mind of what I wanted. I thought of what it would be like to be freed from my future as a senator, so I concentrated on that. I imagined never having to wear the white and purple robes of a senator and being away from my younger brother forever.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that at first I didn't notice that the air seemed to be changing. A humming sound started in my ears, then voices seemed to fill the air, voices whose words I could not understand. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed, but other worshippers were absorbed in performing their rituals. The sky started to darken, I became aware of a prickling sensation on my skin that you might feel before a lightning storm. I backed away from the sky hole, looking around while the humming grew louder. Suddenly one of the statues seemed to start glowing in the darkness of the temple. I walked over for a closer look, only to be pushed violently back.