“Let me be with you forever.”
Oskar’s voice was resolute; Eli could clearly see the love in his eyes. She knew he was serious; he would gladly sacrifice anything for her. Eli took a look around the room, a cheap hotel room with wooden walls, crudely painted, red of all colours, red like blood, exactly what she didn’t want to be reminded of. Eli could feel the beast within grow stronger simply by looking at them. She had to feed soon, or Oskar’s life would be in danger. As soon it turned dark she would have to feed, something she didn’t look forward to. Apart from the terrifying walls the room did not contain much; it was after all barely big enough to fit two adults in it. However it had to do for two children.
Apart from a painting off a castle, a castle that seemed all too familiar to Eli, the room did only contain a sink, a toilet, and a single bed. But she understood that she barely could demand more than renting a single person room in the cheapest hotel in town. If it could be called a town, it did resemble a village more. Its name was Garpenberg, and it was located in the south off the landscape of Dalarna, right in the middle off nowhere. Not too far from the place Eli was born.
Eli had arrived here with Oskar during yesterday night, checking in at the only hotel in town. Or rather, she had rented a single person room. Oskar was reported missing and his face was constantly showed in the news. Even in a small village like this, they could not risk someone recognizing Oskar. It had been two months since the incident in Blackeberg, but Oskar’s parents, setting aside their differences in the search, was relentless. Eli did ask the receptionist for a room without any windows, which had resulted in them getting a room high up in the attic. Oskar had to climb his way up the building, entering a window in the hall on a lower floor that conveniently was open, this because she had opened it for his sake. After a long and hard climb, Oskar had reached her room without being seen, off course he had been constantly complaining about how hard it was to get there. Eli countered, saying that she could have done it easily, if only it was her that was wanted by the police. This had led to the current argument. Eli was laying on the bed with Oskar by her side, him trying to convince her about turning him, and for what? So he could climb buildings more easily? No, she knew this was not his whole reason. He was worried about what would happen then he got older.
Eli took Oskar’s hand, squeezed it gently and looked into his eyes.
“Oskar, I don’t want you to change, I don’t want you to become a monster.”
Oskar just snorted at her.
“Is that how you see yourself? Like a monster?”
Eli sighed, a moment of silence emerged, Eli once again gazed upon the painting of the castle.
'It cannot be, not that castle, talking about bad omens.'
Oskar suddenly touched her cheek, soft like a summer breeze.
“Eli, you are the most wonderful person I have ever met, you are most defiantly not a monster. I don’t care about your past; I only care about the present, and our future. I love you Eli.”
Before he could say another word, Eli reached towards Oskar and gave him a kiss. Sharing with him one of her last treasured childhood memory, or rather a pre vampire memory, as all her memories could be defined as childhood memories. It contained her fishing in the river with her older brother.
She let go of him and Oskar blushed.
“I take that as a yes as to the question of turning me.”
“No, that was not what I meant.”
Eli’s voice was serious. Oskar looked at her with what resembled puppy dog eyes.
“Oskar, can we please talk about this another time? It is something about this place that makes me feel uneasy.”
She gave him a warm smile.
“Despite, its almost sunrise, I feel tired.”
Oskar sighed and a mischievous look entered his face.
“Okay, good morning Eli.”
Eli laughed at his obvious joke and swept her arms around Oskar.
“Good morning Oskar.”
Eli closed her eyes and slowly drifted off, to a place where she was not haunted by the memories of that horrible castle. She longed for next night then she would no longer need to be in the same room as that infernal painting.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The sun shined upon the green earth below, a gentle gust of air carried Eli on her wings. For some reason she wasn’t harmed by the sunlight. Eli took a look around. She saw a huge mountain, reaching towards the sky, higher than she could ever hope to fly. Its slopes were covered with huge golden palaces, dwarfing any earthly counterpart. Beneath this majestic mountain, an enormous city of gold was located, not as much luxurious as the palaces, but still clearly a match for the most castles seen during the time Eli was born. Beyond this golden city was a huge garden, reaching as far as her eyes could see. Eli smiled at her surroundings, this was the most beautiful place she had ever seen in her long life. Eli decided to take a closer look. She swooped down towards the outer reaches of the golden city.
Eli landed in the middle of one of the main streets carved from platinum and decorated with precious gems. She looked at the houses at the side of the road, they seemed even bigger from the ground as opposed to in the air. She felt like an ant in a town for giants. Eli slowly walked down the road, towards where she knew the garden was, admiring the decorations on the building along the way. Statues covered the entrances to the castle like buildings, mostly in pure platinum or marble, depicting everything from humans kneeling in prayer to angelic beings in the shape of children, reminding Eli about herself. Or rather, reminded her about the way Oskar saw her.
She loved this place; the only thing it lacked was life. Something that bothered her, since she set her foot in this realm, she had not seen a single sign of life. Eli hoped that as soon as she got to the garden, this would change.
The garden was as beautiful as the rest of this place, the platinum path, surrounded by trees by its sides, leading towards infinity. The trees were exotic, like nothing you could find on earth, somehow more perfect and less flawed. Not a leaf moved in the soft breeze. Nothing ever changed in this place. Eli walked along the seemingly unending path, enjoying the rays of sunlight dancing on her bare skin. It was such a long time ago since she last walked in sunlight, it made her so happy.
“If only Oskar was here with me.” Eli thought to herself.
Well, she could always share this memory with him later.
After what seemed like an eternity, the path ended. Despite the endless walk, Eli couldn’t feel any weariness, nor any hunger. Ahead of her was a crossroad, with several paths leading back to either this place, or the golden city. She saw two trees, one in each end of the crossroad. One, an apple tree, with apples that appeared to be burning with a red flame. The other, what seemed to be another apple tree, with apples that shimmered with divine light. She immediately recognized them. “It can’t be.”
But Eli knew she was correct, it had to be the trees of life and knowledge, the legendary trees from Christian mythology. From that moment she knew the truth, she was in the Garden of Eden.
Eli gazed upon the tree with the shimmering fruits in awe, she assumed it had to be the tree of life. Out of nowhere she heard a laugh, an emotionless laugh, containing neither joy, nor sadism. All the sudden, a child was sitting at the foot of the tree. At first he looked a lot like Oskar with his beautiful blonde hair, but upon a closer look Eli could see that he had sharper facial features, as well as longer hair. He was clad in a robe of pure white. His eyes seemed to burn with blue fire and several pairs of feathered wings sprouted out of his back, he seemed to use two of his three pairs, as pillows. His last pair of wings, he used to juggle one of the shimmering apples, back and forth between his right wing and his left wing. He was surrounded by two servants, also them in the shape of children, one girl that was almost Eli’s split image, with exception of her blonde hair and slightly older appearance. The other servant, a boy, reminded her of Oskar’s old bully, Jonny, also he blonde. Both of the servants had a single pair of angelic wings and their eyes were hollow, like zombies, under the control of the six winged angel.
Eli recognized this creature for what it was, a divine being.
The six winged angel spoke to her, his voice was completely rid of emotion, devoid of all life.
“Welcome, to paradise, Elias. I have been waiting for you.”
Eli was astonished,
“How do you know my name?”
The creature laughed, just as coldly as last time.
“I know everything, child of darkness. I am a god. I am justice. I am an artist, a master of perfection. I am Gavri’el, last member of the ruling council, and the sole ruler of this realm.”
Eli could feel the tremendous presence of this creature, It made her tremble in fear before him, she bowed before this being, this god. Gavri’el glanced at her, disappointed.
“Looks like you retained more masculine aspects than you want to admit to yourself, Elias. Remember, perfection can only be achieved by a creature that are neither male nor female, but a power of the world itself, like me.”
“But you appear to be male.” Eli’s voice was curious.
Gavri’el made a sign towards his attendants; the boy that looked like Jonny gave him something that appeared to be piece of parchment. For the first time since they met she could see a trace of a smile on his lips.
“Don’t fool yourself, appearances can deceive. In fact, I am not a boy anymore than you are a girl. Believe me, we have more in common than you can ever imagine.”
Eli stared at him in disbelief. An awkward mood could be felt in the air, Gavri’el however did not seem to notice.
“Do you know the origin of your species? Not? Let me tell you, because it is closely tied to my own origin. Come here my child, don’t be afraid.”
Eli moved slowly towards the tree, towards the god. She didn’t know if she could trust this creature, but it was too late to turn back, too late for escape. She sat down beside the god, looked him bravely in the eyes. She only saw the burning blue fire, as well as a flash of something she recognized mostly from the eyes of her dark sire, ambition. Eli fought to retain control over her fear. She asked Gavri’el.
“Have you made this place?”
Gavri’el smiled coldly at her.
“To a degree, I am responsible for the golden city, but most of this place, including mount Olympus was the doing of the ancients.”
“Why is there no life?” Eli’s inquisitive nature was beginning to make itself known.
Gavri’el sighed.
“Once it was, before the war in heaven, before the fall of the ancients. But I do not miss them; life, after all, makes things more chaotic then it have to be.”
Eli did not agree with him on this subject, but she tried her best to keep it hidden from the god of justice, she feared to challenge someone with such power. Eli knew that, despite the unpredictability, company was vital for a blissful existence, Oskar had shown her that.
“Tell me more about those ancients.” Eli asked.
Gavri’el reached out his hand and gave her the parchment he was previously holding in his right hand. She opened it; the parchment was, to her surprise written in English, a language that was somewhat familiar to her.
“It’s a part of an old essay, written by one of the greatest vampiric mythological researchers of all time.” Gavri’el explained.
Eli began to read.
This is a translation of what was inscribed in a stone plate, probably by some of the first vampires, in an attempt to explain their origin. These, my immortal ancestors were probably, like most writers of mythology, more concerned about creating drama than actually explaining the truth. But then it comes to these peculiar beings, you may never know. I, immortal scholar Bernard van Wolfe, am determined to get to the bottom of this, no matter how long it may take.
Translation and summery of the first part, Genesis.
In the beginning, there were only two beings, the Creator, and the Destroyer, fighting an eternal battle in the cold void. To counter its nemesis the Creator created two guardians to protect all newly created matter. One was pure and protected its cold lifeless rocks with all its might. The other was corrupt and easily swayed by the influence of the Destroyer. With the help of the corrupt one, the Destroyer destroyed its nemesis. But, the pure one sacrificed itself for its master, imprisoning the Destroyer within one of the Creators rocks.
The essence of the destroyed Creator scattered across the void, filling the Creators rocks with what would later be called life, as well as dividing reality into two realms, the second one being an echo of the ideas in the first. In this second realm, two beings took form, Life and Death, the first two ancients.
The ancient’s attention was immediately drawn towards the rock where the Destroyer was imprisoned, because there, the population of life, as well as the death rating, was highest. After examining this world carefully, they decided to create a copy, where the souls of the dead could rest after death. This place they called Eden.
As time passed and life evolved, two new ancients were born from the ideas of the living, Conflict, as well as its nemesis Compassion. The four ancients ruled both worlds of reality for the coming aeons. Until the mortals known as mankind came along, believed by many to be a scripted event, engineered by the Creator, who these people believe to not be destroyed, but simply become one with the new world, and all living beings. From the ideas of mankind, innumerable new beings were created. The strongest of these beings, the one known as Justice, as well as the two spirits of knowledge, joined with the ancients, creating the ruling council of Eden.
However soon after, disaster strikes. The ancient Life, renamed Lucifer by the humans, begun to scheme against the newly created order. Tricking the humans called Adam and Eve into eating from his newly created tree of life, causing them, and all their kin to give themselves fully to their animalistic desires, weakening the power of Justice and Knowledge. In an attempt to save themselves from certain doom, Justice, and the two spirits of knowledge created another tree, the tree of knowledge. With the help from the ancient Death, they tricked the two humans into eating from it. This cancelled out the effect of the tree of life, and caused Justice to give mankind the punishment so well known in human mythology.
This however was not the end of the story of the tree of life. By chance, the ancient Death and a mortal named Lilith ate from this tree, causing them to fall in love with each other. Soon Lilith was with child, this child became a half mortal, half spirit creature. Death and Lilith loved this child with all their newfound hearts. However, the other members of the ruling council was not happy with this turn of events, especially not Justice and the two spirits of knowledge, whose very powers weakened by the very presence of the Child of Death. Lucifer supported Death in this matter, as did the other two Ancients. The two counterparts did not come to an agreement, leading to the conflict known as the war in heaven. The ancients fought valiantly, but the forces commanded by Justice and Knowledge were to powerful. In the eave of victory the victors banished the Ancients to the mortal realm, bound in metal. The Child of Death was also banished, cursed by the new gods to forever prey upon mankind as a parasite, never seeing the light of the sun. What become of Deaths bride Lilith is known by neither vampire, nor human. However some say that she still watches over her children together with her lover Death, keeping them from harm, wherever it may be found.
We vampires are the children of Death, for whose bestial urges we must constantly master our own. Mark my words brothers, the light may have turned their backs on us, but we must survive at all costs. We must redeem ourselves and our Father. We must show the light that we are worthy of paradise.
Eli held her breath during the entire text. When she was done she finally felt like breathing again. This was far beyond her comprehension. Gavri’el was right, they had much in common, not least was their nature similar. Vampires were half spirits; the creature inside her was nothing else but a dark mirror image of the creature beside her, an angel, but hers a fallen one. That was at least what the myth led her to believe. She looked curiously at the God of Justice. His flaming eyes showed no compassion, no mercy. He looked at her, like a noble inspecting a very expansive horse. Eli felt the tension in the air. She could not help but to feel uncomfortable, maybe even afraid. This was the creature responsible for the judgement of the souls of the dead, she just knew it. ‘Soon he will pass his judgement on me, punish me for my sins.’
Eli closed her eyes, awaiting the final judgement. Thinking about Oskar and the wonderful time they spent together.
Suddenly she felt something that reminded her of a soft pillow, surrounding her shoulders and neck. Eli opened her eyes, she saw Gavri’el sweeping one of his wings around her, like he was trying to comfort her.
“Do not be afraid, I will not harm you. You are still alive, there is still time.”
The god made a gesture towards the tree above them.
“This very tree, the tree of knowledge, the tree that once redeemed mankind. Let it be your symbol of hope.”
Eli could not help but to laugh silently at herself, mixing up the tree of life and the tree of knowledge, what a mistake. That reminded her of something she wanted to ask the God of Justice since she read the parchment.
“Where is the two spirits of knowledge?”
Gavri’el didn’t even bother to glance at her; he focused his attention at the garden around him.
“The two spirits of knowledge become too obsessed with their work, they began to transcend the borders of the acceptable, and for that they got their rightful judgement, banishment.”
Eli made an effort not to cry over their fate, she tried to calm herself, to no avail. A few light tears flowed down her face. How could she hope for salvation if the God of Justice punished his own kin so harshly?
Gavri’el saw her crying and took a firm grip of her jaw; he turned her head, facing towards his burning blue eyes.
“Calm down, there is still hope. I can help you, if you’ll let me.”
Gavri’els voice almost sounded concerned. However Eli doubted it, why should one such as him be concerned about a creature like her.
“How?” Eli asked him.
Gavri’el laughed, coldly as always.
“You have to make sure that you never become a vampire. I could return you to a time that you didn’t have to suffer this terrible curse. I could return you to your family and grant you salvation. The only thing I require in return is a small favour.”
Eli understood the significance of his words. He promised the very thing she desired most in all of existence. It was only one problem, if she chooses to realize this dream, she would be forced to abandon Oskar. ‘What a choice, choosing between my soul and my soulmate.’
Gavri’el seemed to read her mind, for he replied.
“Do not worry, there is no future for you two anyway, whether you turn him or not. Oskar would be happier if he never met you, he would never have been in danger if you would not have told him to strike back. If you accept my offer, I promise to take care of Oskar for you.”
Eli had her qualms about this idea, but she knew that Oskar deserved better than the horrible life that was bound to await them if they continued on their current path. For Oskar’s sake, maybe she should accept the god’s offer.
“What is this favour?”
Gavri’el gave her a serious look.
“I need an invitation, to the mortal realm. Say that I can come in.”
Eli could not imagine more important words. This choice would change her future for all time, for better or for worse. However, it could not become much worse; the only point of light in her life was Oskar, a point of light that hopefully could be replaced by her family. She was willing to take the risk, she longed after a time when she was not compelled to kill to survive. The crucial words were uttered…
“You may come in.”
Eli could feel the world fade away around her. “Was it all a dream?” Would she wake up next to Oskar in the hotel? Or would she be returned to a time she was still Elias? She didn’t know what she most wanted to be true. She only hoped, no matter what happened, that Oskar would be happy.
She could hear a low voice inside her head.
“Wake up.”
