Desperate for Change

Under the Harvest Moon

Max looked out the window of his penthouse apartment. The sun was setting and the sky was ablaze with colors. The hues of purple and orange were Max's favorite. He loved the mix of warm and cool. It reminded him of a time so long ago when he would sit in the fields and tend sheep with his Pa.

Four centuries had past since Max had held a shepherds staff or shared a fireside meal with his father. Four centuries since he'd gazed into the eyes of the one he loved and seen that love reflected back.

The fields had long since disappeared bought and paved over to make room for growth and prosperity. His father and the sheep were just dust and memories thanks to ravages of time. Love was just a phantom that haunted his dreams and lingered in the shadows of his mind.

Max was the only thing that remained unchanged. Forever locked in that moment so long ago when fate and a stranger decided he would be made a vampire.

400 Yrs ago on the Harvest Moon

The wind was blowing across the field as 24 year old Max and his father came over the hill with their sheep.

"Pa, we need to get back to the house. It looks like a storm is moving in and we can't afford to be out here with the gummers* and the lambs." Max said as he guided the stragglers back toward the flock. (a gummer is an older sheep that has lost most of its teeth)

"There's something not right about this storm. It's the wrong time of year for weather like this, it's a bad omen! When we get back to the farm you lock up the sheep and get yourself to bed. No gallivanting tonight with your no good friends, you hear me Boy!" His Pa said
as they hurried back toward their pasture and barn.

Max nodded, knowing full well he had no intention of heeding the old man's warning. Tonight was the harvest moon celebration in the village and he wouldn't let a little rain stand in the way of dancing and drinking with his friends.

After the sheep were secured in the barn Max washed up for supper. Pa wasn't the best cook but he had managed to keep them both from starving since Ma passed 4 winters back.

Stone milled bread and stew was the usual and tonight was no different. After supper Pa would check on the lambs one last time before polishing off a short glass of whiskey and heading to bed.

Max waited for the telltale snoring that his Ma often swore could wake the dead. When the rumble of it reached his ears Max opened the shutters and slipped into the night.

Despite the light rain and the ominous clouds from just hours earlier the sky was miraculously clear and the bright full moon lit the trail into the village.

Max met his boyhood friends Micah and Lucas near the edge of the village where the musicians sat beneath a thick canopy of evergreens that offered cover from the mist that still fell.

"I thought for sure we'd get soaked tonight when I saw those clouds earlier." Said Micah as the trio reached the tavern.

"Same here. Pa was rambling on about bad omens and such. I had to wait till he was asleep before I could sneak out." Max explained as they toasted to another year of bachelorhood.

The three friends had all decided to put off marriage as long as possible given the slim pickings in their small rural community. Lucas was the prettier of the three and all the single ladies in the area had their hopes set on catching his eye.

Little did they know his tastes and his heart lay within his circle of friends.

Max and Lucas had discovered their attraction for each other 4 years earlier when a sudden snow storm had trapped them in a cave for 3 days. At first both young men had tried to blame the storm and the need to stay warm, but after a midnight swim that led to a passionate release they both had to admit that they would never find comfort in the arms of a maiden.