A Vampire's Rotten Heart

Marvin's Marvelous Monster Museum

It was a long walk to Rearing, but I knew I was there when I saw the sprawling skyline. Rearing was like no other place in Gelgrim.

Tall, metal buildings stuck out of the ground like splinters, adorning straight, organized streets, and in the middle of it all was the beautiful, harsh glow of the world's first moonlight tower, promising citizens that night would never fall again.

Rearing was years ahead of everyone else, and they knew it.

I stepped into the soft, blue light emanating from the city. Shadows moved differently under the light of the tower. Sometimes they disappeared without a trace, only to pop back up far down the line.

There was your standard fare. Butcher shops, tailors, doctors, and the like. But the people in Rearing didn't want just the standard fare. They needed the best butcher shops. The best tailors. The best doctors. All charging exorbitant fees.

As much as they tried to hide it, Rearing was for the rich.

I tried not to look around too much. I didn't want to look like someone who didn't belong. I didn't want to be taken advantage of.

    Then, I saw it.

    A large but unassuming building, made of brick and harshly lit by the tower. A long line trailed behind it, made from people of all walks of life.

    Marvin was giving tours personally.

    I lowered my head and took my place in line, trying to look as unassuming as possible.

    Marvin himself slid out the door, dark arms outstretched.

    "WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMEN..."

    You'd think he'd lose some enthusiasm after doing this for years.

    "...to an EXPERIENCE of EPIC PROPORTIONS. Nowhere else will you see specimens so fine, so well preserved, you could swear they were alive!"

    I couldn't help but wonder if this was a bit, or if he was genuinely like this.

We all filed into the first room. There were plenty of "ooh"s and "ah"s to go around.

One half of the room was filled with vampire hunting supplies, and the other half was jarred specimens.

Marvin began to ramble on and on about the equipment, but I was more interested in the jars.

I walked over to them and examined their contents. Livers, stomachs, hands... There was a jar filled to the brim with nothing but Malcore Worms.

Some were floating in clear liquid, though some had yellowed over time. The very oldest specimens were shrouded in black, with the only indication of what laid inside was the label.

"Kimek Foetus"

    I was glad that one was discolored.

    I couldn't help but wonder how one would get their hands on a vampire fetus. Killing the mother and slicing her open, most likely. Or it was fake. Maybe everything here was fake.

Marvin took us into the next room. This one was filled with dehydrated body parts, but what really caught my attention was a wall of about a hundred skulls. Some were human, most were vampiric. Five of them were in a line, detailing a supposed transformation process.

"You like that one, boy?" Marvin had snuck up on me. He adjusted his bedazzled monocle, ran his hand through his tight, impeccably groomed coils and went off chattering.

"Biggest collection we've got. Got every kind of skull you could think of. Dhampirs, half-turned vampires, quarter-turned vampires... Kimeks, Hirudeans, even some fossilized from Harbicle times! That's right folks! HARBICLE times!"

Everyone immediately rushed over to my location and backed me into the glass.

"As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, vampires have changed quite a bit over the centuries. Imagine a world where flying monsters could snatch your children from the skies! Or a time when you could run into a field and come home with a few half-inch suckers behind your knees!"

I tried to squeeze out, but the excitement was too great.

Finally, Marvin led us into the final room. Everyone crowded so fast into it, I didn't get to see its contents. But the looks on the people's faces definitely said something.

    "And now, the crown jewel of my collection!"

    One woman had trouble standing up and had to be held by her husband before going black.

    In the space she left, I got a view of what was displayed:

    The plastinated corpse of an eight-foot vampire encased in glass, held in place by wires and wooden beams.

    His head had been severed and displayed in a way that made it look like it was hovering above the body.

    His whole torso had been sliced down the middle. His chest was flayed open, revealing a bright, red, crystalline heart suspended between the two halves of his body.

    His grey skin and plastered-on smile were all too familiar to me.

    His eyes looked almost alive.

    I was frozen. Mouth agape. He looked nearly identical to myself.

    "Now this, ladies and gentlemen, is a one-of-a-kind specimen. The ONLY one of his kind to EVER be seen!" Marvin raised his hands in the air as if he was preforming a monologue.

    A little plaque sat next to the display, reading a mere "Cadaver X".

    "Beautiful, isn't it? Or macabre, if you prefer not to see organs."

    I mustered the courage to ask a question.

    "What kind of vampire is it!?"

    Marvin slithered over to me with a slimy grin.

    "That's just the thing. No one knows! For all we know, he could be the king of vampires himself!"

    He cackled, thinking of the potential value of the piece.

"Though I would say it's a shame we never found more. Look at those wings... Would make a fine blanket on a winter night."

He stepped next to the glass case.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, I must warn you: don't look into its eyes for too long. They say it can take your soul!"

He took his hat off and held it to the tour group.

"...Donations are appreciated."

Everyone frantically gathered around Marvin, but my eyes were firmly locked onto the cadaver.

What a cruel fate to be displayed in such a way... Locked behind glass and torn open to be gawked at by strangers.

And he looked so alive! My heart aches for him.

"Hey. Kid. Tour's over."

I looked up at Marvin, but I stayed silent.

"I wasn't serious about the soul-stealing thing."

I sighed and gazed back through the glass. This whole thing was sick.

"Cut the showman shtick. How did you really get your hands on this?"

"Ha, ha! I told you! I don't know what he is! Some hunter found him, and I offered three times the price the next guy was paying."

"Do you know anyone who would know?"

"As I said, it's a one-of-a-kind specimen. No one's seen anything like it before or since."

"But surely someone has!"

Marvin smirked. "No one that's lived to tell the tale."

A pair of footsteps approached us. A sense of dread filled my entire body when I saw their owner.

It was Dave.