Panem Et Circenses

Eleven.

Eleven.

“Yes,” I slowly said, wondering if at any moment he would burst out laughing and say he couldn’t thing someone could be so stupid. It was as though I was talking to a completely different person, he wasn’t his usual rude and sarcastic self. He was this normal person. Well not for long at least. “I've questioned you more than once about that actually.”

“I know. Let me finish this and I’ll explain everything to you,” he stated, holding the bottle up before bringing it to his lips. I could see the sun peaking out from under the far off hills. The room was slowly becoming brighter although the lace curtains over the windows filtered the light. I stared out the window in silence until I heard the bottle gently being placed on the low table. I returned focus to Bernard who seemed a little more like the person I knew.

“Just, whatever I tell you don’t judge me,” he said before taking a deep breath to start the story.

“It was 1866, that was the year, and I had just been assigned a case including someone that had been accused of murder to this other man's wife and family. I used to be a lawyer, way back when. But anyways, the court system moved the court date and location to New York City on the first of May. This may not seem like anything of importance but I will tell you that that had been one of the most important things of my life at the time. So I packed a trunk and set out for New York. Mind you I had made sure to leave a week prior to the court date as I was not going to mess that one up. I arrived ahead of schedule and decided to have a look around, I had never seen a city so...enthralling. At some point in time, I had bumped into Red. He was a nice guy at first, showing me around the city, giving me a place to stay until the court date. I had explained myself to him and he explained himself to me. Said he wasn’t like everybody else. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, who would?

“Well one night, a very late night, he had...proposed an idea to me. It was after we had seen a band of lonely gypsies wandering the streets, begging everyone and anyone for spare change. I remember going back to his flat and sitting down to a cup of coffee and a roll of tobacco. I remember the look in his eyes as he began explaining to me this grand idea of a freak show he had. I had been confused at first, asking him if that was really a good idea. He began to explain to me that these people wouldn’t be exploiting their freakishness, that they would also be gaining from this. Whatever money the freak show had gathered, the performers would be paid equally. Red is quite a tricky person, he's neither good nor bad. I declined the idea, which infuriated him. As I went to sleep that night, explaining that I would think on it, he sent some...some...thing after me. It had to be either a vampire or an immortal because it had turned me into one. A vampire that is.

“When I awoke the next morning, I found the flat empty and a note on the table. It said 'I sincerely hope you reconsider your decision'. All I did was crumple the note and toss it aside. I had more important things to worry about, like the case I had been working on. There was something different about me though, and I could feel it. I pushed this feeling aside though as I made my way out into the morning sunlight like I usually did back home. The thing was, I couldn’t go into the sunlight. It seemed to burn my hands and face. Just about then I remember Red emerging from an alleyway, a cruel smirk on his face. Much like my own that one night. I demanded he tell me what exactly he did, but he refused. 'I'll make you a deal' he said. I listened, oblivious to the fact that I had to be in court only a few hours from then. He gave me one year to make up my mind whether or not I wanted to do this. If I said I would agree to this, he would make me normal again. If I still refused, I would be like this forever. So I boarded the train back to Boston.

“By the time I had returned home, I was a full vampire. I didn’t know the least bit about anything, how could I? Later on I learned that there was no way out. At the time though, I was only going by what I felt. How was I supposed to know that you needed blood to stay sane? There really wasn’t anything that looked truly different with me, save for the obvious skin tone change. For a whole year, I did my business at night too afraid of what would happen if I ventured out into the sunlight. People had started becoming suspicious, but I blamed it on the poor sleeping habits I had acquired in New York. At the time I didn’t have a wife, but I did have a girl...her name was Elizabeth...”