Parallel World

Chapter 9

A typical vampire legend goes like this: the recently departed turns into a vampire after death, breaks out of his/her grave and heads back home craving their relatives blood. In my lifetime I had only met one vampire, Lucas, who had actually attacked his family. After hearing his story I understood why he had done that...

"I was born in 1660..."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you," I said quickly. "That was the time when people didn't bathe, right?"

He chuckled.

"And you're dying to find out how we lived back then, aren't you?"

"Yes!" My eyes were full of curiosity.

"Well, if someone thinks that big modern cities are dirty they should have seen what great European cities used to look like. People were no better. Everyone had rather strange ideas about personal hygiene. Bathing was done as infrequently as possible. Some people boasted that they had bathed only a few times in their life. It was believed that clean pores would let the evil spirits in or something!" He let out a hearty laugh. "It was a great time to be a perfume seller, though. They made a fortune. The slogan of the era was "dirty flesh hosts a healthy spirit.""

I had read about the 300 years in European history that finally ended in the early 1800s, when people's habits were pretty gross, however, it was always much more interesting to learn about different historical eras by talking to vampires who had lived through them.

"Since we started to talk about health and safety or, rather, lack of it... " Lucas continued. "The Great London Fire of 1666... What a life changing event that was! I didn't see it myself because, firstly, my family didn't live in London, secondly, even if they had I doubt they had thought a burning city to be an appropriate sight for a six year old. I was told about the fire by a relative. It destroyed a big part of London because a lot of buildings were made of wood in those days and they were really close together allowing the fire to spread easily. Among other outcomes, it led to improvements in fire fighting, the first building act and helped to stop the spread of the plague as many rats burned in the fire. Oh, and the then-mayor of London went into history by saying that the fire was so small a woman could piss it out. I presume he said that when the fire had just started."

Now both of us were laughing. Then a short silence fell and Lucas got back to his original story.

"Anyway, I was born in one of the Home Counties and grew up there, the youngest of three sons. When I was fifteen my mother died after a short illness. Ten years later I lost my father, too. He left a large inheritance to me and my brothers. I got the smallest share, which I thought was fair. However, it later turned out that, following my father's death, I also inherited my mother's money and she had left all of her estate to me. My share of the inheritance was now the biggest. My elder brother's weren't happy about it. We argued a lot and they were constantly trying to talk me into splitting my mother's money three ways. Hadn't she loved us all equally, they asked. They thought it was really unfair that I had got it all. I was so worn out by all the arguments that I almost gave in but the more I thought about it the angrier I got - why should I give them what was mine?" Lucas paused. I knew what would follow - the saddest part of his story. "It was late one evening when they came to my house. I lived alone and all servants had finished for the day. My gut feeling told me that this was going to be bad, however, I had no idea what wicked plan my brothers had. Whilst I was arguing with one of them the other slid behind me and stabbed me in the back. More than once. As I fell to the floor I could hear their cruel laugh. That's the last thing I remember from my human life. Since then I despise those who conspire and attack the vulnerable. When I woke up from the dead I was full of anger and bitterness. I craved one and one thing only - revenge. I went back to my house presuming that at least one of my brothers would have moved in there. I was right. I walked through the main door and, by coincidence, my brother was there. Suddenly he didn't look so smug anymore. Terrified, he tried to run but I was much faster. I grabbed him and bit him in the neck. That's when I realised why people say that revenge tastes sweet. It really did. I dropped his dead body at the bottom of the stairs and left. I knew I would be back soon as my revenge wasn't finished. Although I killed the man who had killed me I knew it wasn't his idea to get rid of me in the oldest way known to mankind. I waited a few days. Every evening, after I had woken up, I went to my former house and hid in the orchard observing the building. I noticed that all servants were new. I tried not to think about what had happened to the previous ones. Since I was hiding my comeback to life I had no way of finding out what explanation for my sudden death my brothers had presented to the public. To this day I don't know it. When I left my hometown I cut all ties with the past. I only kept my first name and the money I kept in the house. And so, I watched my brother. I saw him in what used to be my study. He was talking to someone and looked visibly distraught. Then the stranger left. I knew what was going on in my brother's mind. I noticed that he unconsciously stood in the same spot where I had died. When he realised that it made him jump. There was a musket on the desk and a shotgun propped against it. I grinned. Such weapons could not stop me. I slipped into the house. Once I was outside the study I stopped for a moment. I had to act very fast now before my brother would manage to make a noise. I didn't want to harm anyone else. That's exactly what happened. I ran into the room, grabbed my brother and silenced him by putting my hand over his mouth. I saw surprise, then disbelief and, finally, fear in his eyes. I was in no mood for small talk. To ask why he had betrayed me? It didn't matter. I avenged myself, licked my lips, took my money and jumped out of the window. I said goodbye to my past and crossed the yard without ever looking back.