Finding Grace: The Guardian Chronicles Book One

Chapter 2. Why?*

Chapter 2. It's the Worst Day Since Yesterday by Flogging Molly

I am the thing of nightmares, the reason people fear the dark and hurry their step between the pools of light under streetlamps. For over a century I have been an observer of mankind, watching in silence the most intimate acts between humans, also witnessing some of the most gruesome things one human can do to another. I detest what I am and have been trying ever since that fateful day to prove I am not the horrifying creature I was transformed into. I seek out and destroy the vilest of my kind, or bring what justice I feel appropriate to the most evil human beings. I am the judge and jury, Death to the Undead, Grim Reaper to the murderer and rapist.

Since I did not have a choice in becoming what I am, I have chosen to use each day to redeem myself from this cursed existence. Once I was a good man, a doctor, a son, a brother. I had been engaged to be married. Instead, all that was precious to me was lost when I was attacked. The world tells me I am Damned, never to see the Light of God's face. Because I do not want to believe I am lost, I have decided to use my heightened abilities to work to protect the fragile humans I live among. I strive to do whatever I can to help the helpless, in case, just on the off chance, my soul has survived. I know I was saved once, and I have tried to live up to the expectations I held during my life. I do not relish the taste of blood from the human derelicts I hunt to sustain me. I have refused to take a drop from other Undead, mostly taking my nourishment from humans who prey on others. I refuse to prey on innocents. I know who is innocent and who is evil. I have the ability to see the true thoughts and intents of mankind, as souls shed colors of emotion. The colors of my world radiate from the auras surrounding everyone who passes by. I am attuned to the vile blacks and dirty reds of those who prey on innocents. If only I'd had this ability before I had become what I am, possibly I would not have been such easy prey. My gift is not perfect, but is dependent on the intention of those I see. I will not let this curse steal my last vestige of hope. My name is Emil Drozdan. I am a Vampire.

I was waiting in the park tonight for the inevitable scum to wander by. I do not interfere in human affairs unprovoked, but I am rarely disappointed when I await my prey. I hid in the darkness of the trees, my vision unimpeded by the night. I watched as a prostitute stumbled by with her latest quarry, feeling sorry for the wretches, but I knew I was not going to change anything for either of them. They exuded the fuchsia of intoxication and pent up desires. I turned away from their embraces, listening to the sound of the nearby river, almost completely obscured to the human ear by the racing of cars along the highway. Water soothed me like nothing else. It was ever-changing and constant all at the same time.

As I let the music of the water play through my mind, my attention was quickly drawn to the presence of another Being. There were not many in the area that I did not know, and this one was a stranger to me. Then, I caught the sharp scent of the human it was accosting. Creeping through the shadows, knowing I would not be easily hidden from one such as myself, I came upon the monster as it was preparing to feast on a young boy who was already unconscious. There is a God, I reminded myself, hoping to spare the boy any more horror than what he had already experienced. I approached from the rear, the monster so focused on its glut, it did not register my presence until I was upon him. The reason he did not register my presence was soon apparent; this was a Newborn, and a feral one at that. His master had not done anything to train the newly created vampire, which goes against our laws. I moved in closer and he threw the boy roughly away from him, causing my concern for the boy to grow as I took in the wounds already on his body. I did not allow myself a long glance however; I went to my work quickly. The Undead in front of me was coiled to spring. In my years as Guardian, I had learned to dispatch an enemy quickly and soundlessly. As the monster flung his body toward me, fiery red eyes dilated with animal hunger, I reached to him, grasped his neck in my hands and broke it in a simple snap. This was not the final end for a vampire, but I did not have time to dispose properly of the creature, as the boy was losing blood much too rapidly. I dismembered the Newborn and threw it in my trunk, so I could dispose of it later.