Blink of an eye

Old friends and current enemies

Damien

Water was pouring down from the sky while we were driving in silence. Our trip to seek Stefano had been a complete waste of time. Only possible sign from him was a dead hiker who had faced a so-called accident in the national park. Good thing that Vladimir was a lawyer so we could gain access to see the body. Otherwise It might have caused more unwanted attention than we wanted.

It was obvious that the body had been attacked by one of our kin. He had lost a significant amount of blood compared to what had been found around him. No one could tell for sure if it was Stefano or not, but combined with the fact that someone had seen him it was possible. Coroner would probably claim that the poor hiker had faced a cougar, which would serve its purpose. Who would even think about vampires?

If the hiker was killed by Stefano, what would be his motive for it? Of course he needs to eat like the rest of us, but why would he leave the body out in the open where anyone could find it? He was cruel and fed on humans but he wasn't that stupid. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that we made a mistake by coming here. I just wasn't sure what kind of mistake it was. Did we do exactly what he wanted?

Car radio was playing some silent music and the car was humming around us. It would take a couple hours to reach home but I probably couldn't see Catherine until tomorrow, if she still wanted to see me. Hollow feeling filled my stomach when the thought came to my mind. I sure was glad that Vladimir and Dimitri were there with me. If only everything was still fine with Stefano, my eternity would have been going great.

Stefano had been my closest friend for many centuries, we even came to America together. He made me sad whenever I thought about our friendship. Our paths crossed in Italy. He was centuries younger than me but I instantly felt kinship with him when we met. At that point I had had time to adjust to the life of a vampire for over a thousand years.

Before shifting, Stefano had been a noble prince from Florence. He was meant to inherit his father's fortune one day. His life had been carefree and he spent most of his time chasing young women or hunting with his friends. As a noble prince he was meant to marry a lady chosen by his father, but it didn't stop him seducing as many women as possible before tying the knot.

Sadly his love for women predestined his life and doomed him to be a vampire. He fell in love very easily and his affection didn't last very long after getting what he wanted. Many young and even older ladies were left with their hearts broken.

Stefano had been only nineteen years old when he traveled to Naples with his father. He was meant to meet his possible future wife. They stayed there for a few months due to his father having some political issues to deal with as they wanted to secure their alliances in the case of war and maintain a route to the Mediterranean sea. Their host, his possible father-in-law, held many gatherings during their visit. Instead of falling in love with his bride-to-be, Stefano met Giulia, the beautiful and young widow. Little did he know when he was lured towards her.

Giulia's beauty was beyond this world. She had been married to one of the wealthiest men in Naples until she was widowed at the age of 28. As a rich, beautiful and young woman she was pursued by many. Her palace was well known for tremendous parties and the veil of mysteries surrounded her life.

Stefano had been in Naples for three weeks when he heard about this legendary woman and he insisted on seeing her by himself. It didn't take many nights until he was invited and he was instantly mesmerized by her. Stefano wanted to sleep with her and as a beautiful young man he also managed to do that. After getting in her life and bed, he finally learned the truth about Giulia. She wasn't just young, she was an immortal vampire who enjoyed having young men around her as servants for anything she wanted. You could think that kind of revelation would shock you, but Stefano was already too addicted to her. He felt that he was special since he knew her dark secret.

He fell in love hard and wanted to marry Giulia against his father's wishes. When Stefano proposed to Giulia, she just laughed at him. This made Stefano angry as Giulia's life was full of men and he wanted to be her only one. He couldn't understand why she couldn't accept his offer and he became obsessive about her. Sharing Giulia with others was too much for him, even when her company ended up being eaten. It was probably her purpose. When she offered to turn him into a vampire, he didn't doubt it even for a second as it meant spending his life with her. It meant she chose him over others.

His new life as a vampire had felt blissful in the beginning and he forgot about his insecurities. Their time together meant endless nights of s*x and enjoying blood freely whenever they felt the need. Stefano thought that he had found heaven on Earth as he had eternal life ahead with his loved one.

First things went great, he had everything he could imagine. Unfortunately it didn't take long until Giulia wanted a new toy. It broke his heart when she ended up transferring others as vampires. Watching that for a few years was enough for him and he left her.

Life after Giulia was empty as he couldn't stay or go back to his old life. Even if his father accepted him back he couldn't take the risk of revealing his new identity. Wandering around what we now know as Italy, he finally ended up in Rome. It was the place where we first met.

Rome was a bit smaller city during that time so meeting him was just a matter of time. As a new vampire he drew attention to himself so it wasn't very hard to track him down. He was careless with the bodies and I was still eating human blood, so it was risky for me too.

Our first meeting wasn't very delightfull. He had taken his prey into the deserted house and I could hear the desperate screams from afar. I followed his actions from the shadows and decided to approach him after he had finished eating. Before I could say or do anything he attacked me fiercely. His anger towards Giulia gave him strength but he wasn't strong enough. I had him pinned under my body and forced him to listen to what I had to say to him. I simply couldn't let him risk both of us. In the end I let him go. It took a few months until my words sunk in but until then I made sure to follow him and get rid of his leftovers.

Slowly his anger lessened and he started to calm down. He regretted his decision to choose this life, which I could understand. I never chose this and I was devastated when I learned what I had become. It would have never been my choice if I actually had one. During all that time I had learned to accept my fate and the least I could do for him was help him to accept it too.

Our time in Europe lasted a few hundred years. We had moved several times and finally we ended up in England. At some point America started to sound interesting. Vast and relatively empty areas, less people and less attention. It sounded like heaven for us. We made our way to Southampton and started our journey to our future home.

That is where my current companions came into the picture. What are the odds that there were actually four vampires in one ship sailing towards America, waiting for the new beginning? Dimitri and Vladimir were brothers and relatively young vampires from Russia. Their family was killed by the plague, Black Death, and the church took care of them after that. They weren't treated very well and they ended up running away.

Their life was filled with stealing food and money from everyone they could. Once they robbed the wrong guy and it took them to a prison cell. They didn't have very good odds on surviving out alive but they were lucky. One night someone started a fire in the area where they were located and the guard must have felt pity on them because he opened their shackles and let them go. Otherwise they would have burned alive.

Hurt, hungry and without money, the brothers hide in the forest near the village they had escaped. They had many burn marks and open wounds, which led a local vampire to them. The rest is history for them too. Years later they were in the same ship with me and Stefano.

Our lives, if you can call them that, separated us but we never stopped communicating with each other. I've always been a very private person and valued peaceful life alone but our companionship turned into friendship. No other vampire has ever felt so close to me than those four.

//

//

Author's note: Hi my friends! Huge thanks for your continued support ❤ This time I'm testing a bit shorter paragraphs as suggested, let me know what you think? Stefano's new name is causing me some grey hairs... nothing I've come up with doesn't feel quite right so he's still Stefano as long as something good comes to my mind.

//