Stories from the Desk of Avery Hall [PG-13]

[Felix Culpa]

[spoiler=Chapter 1 - Once Upon a Midnight Dreary...]

I sat, engulfed in a book of poetry by the great playright Shakespeare, when suddenly, a tapping came from the window of the chamber in which I sat, so I moved slightly, shifting myself to a standing position, looking at whoever may have caused the disturbance. No one stood outside, but a lone tree in the distance. It was very strange for any visitors to come up this way either way, but to show someone their share of hospitality was always important.

 

I walked for a brief stint of time, moving the chair against the back wall, so as to cast more light from the fireplace on the book. As I sat down and began to read again, the familiar tapping sound came again, this time from the front door of my house, which seemed infinitely empty now that my only companion, a business partner, was long since passed. I got up to answer the door as soon as the knocker echoed the halls.

 

When I opened the door, a slightly shadowed figure stood, rain-drenched in the cold.

 

"Come in, sir, you look ghastly pale," I said, looking at his features, "It looks like you've been wandering for hours in this freezing cold weather. Come inside and warm yourself by the fire."

 

He stepped inside, smiling. "Thank you, sir. Are you the one they call Avery Hall?"

 

"Why, yes, I am. It's strange to have a personal visitor up at this house this late at night, especially in that kind of weather. Where's your coach?" I asked, curiously. I know I hadn't heard a horse's hooves beating on my trails.

 

"I had walked here, for about a day, before reaching your cottage. I bring a personal grievance for you. I am seeking shelter, for I feel you know what is going to happen to me if I don't. This is about Les Frères de Sang, you see. I was told that you would offer me shelter," he said, revealing a marking that traveled down his arm, ending on his hand with a strange symbol from some sort of writing system.

 

"I thought I told the Brotherhood I was done playing their foolish games," I murmured under my breath, "Sir, you are welcome to stay, but any damage come unto me or my house, I will have your head in the most painful way possible."

 

Les Frères de Sang was an organization, or rather a sect, of vampires that migrated from France to England in the late 16th century, relying on the family Hall for protection, they also being a clan of vampires. I should've known that they would contact me again eventually, but in the form of a helpless vampire at my door was unexplainable.

 

"Sir, why do you run and from who or what?" I asked questioningly, looking him in the eyes.

 

"Les Frères de Sang. They are coming for me," he said, glancing around, "And they will kill anyone to find me."

 

"You are against the Brotherhood! They have entered my house before! That means they can come and go in here as they please, and you bring your plague here!" I yelled, jumping back onto the chair behind me, on all fours.

 

"Sir, please, I do not wish to fight you. My story is a long one, and I wish you to empathize if you can. It goes back hundreds of years, much like your own history. Long ago, in the halls of Athen's finest struction, the Parthenon, my grandfather would stand, all day, waiting for the hunger to pass. He did not know that I had been a vampire for some time now, and he had not drunk yet. So he waited until a fair maiden came along, looking for guidance. My grandfather glided to her side, trying to help her. He said to me, "She smelled absolutely enticing, but for some reason, I held back." And with good reason. Her blood hand a poison that was very deadly to vampires, that made the blood smell of lilac, but taste of death. She had not been forgotten, and thus she bore the first vampire, with the blood of evil manifesting inside of it.

This family has been cursed since my father and his siblings were birthed, long ago in Ancient Athens, and now, I am created of this blood, and I have been exiled from vampirekind as a result. I wish to tell you one more thing. Les Frères de Sang is trying to eliminate this "bad blood" to "purify" the race of vampires," he said.

 

"I am familiar with your story, and I'm presuming you are the roamer Isaak. Fine, I will help," I said, sighing.

 

"Thank you." Isaak said, rubbing his neck. "May I rest. Where is your coffin?"

 

"In the back."

 

I definitely was not normal, but I couldn't say as much for the rest of my days as well. I knew that my life had a limit on it, even though vampires were judged 'immortal' by humans, but everything has an expiration date. This man, Isaak, was soon to cause my biggest problems I would ever face, and now that our paths had crossed, our fates had intertwined and now I was a part of the hunt. Les Frères de Sang were after me now as well, for I made this vampire my guest.