Mara had been awakened by the soft whispering in her ear. She open her eyes to see Mausolem sitting beside her on the bed.
“Good evening, my sweet. Did you sleep well?”
“I slept through the night didn’t I? Or the day rather…”
“Mmm. That you did. Why don’t you get dressed and come down to the drawing room? I shall tell you my tale.”
Mara pushed off the heavy velvet comforters and started to reach for her clothes, which she left on the night stand. As Mausolem was leaving, he turned to Mara.
“There are fresh clothes in the closet.” He raised a bony finger and pointed to the armoire against the wall. Mara glanced to where he pointed and back to where he stood, only to find that he had vanished. She thought of how he could have left so quickly and shut such a heavy door without making a sound, as she went to the armoire.
Mara opened the doors to find it full of clothes. She marveled at how beautiful all the velvet and lace dresses were. After some time, she chose a long black dress with the extremely full lace sleeves.
Mausolem was waiting ofr her in the drawing room. He sat in the same high backed chair as he had the night before.
“You look exquisite, Mara. I’d knew you’d like that dress… Please, sit down.” he motioned to the elaborate high backed chair across from his. She smiled at him and sat down.
“So, you wish to hear the tale of how I was made?”
“Yes.”
“The year was 1701, the year of my eighteenth birthday. It had also been the start of the eighteenth century. My mother and father had arranged for me to marry, Antoinette de la Gautier, a young woman from an affluent family. Alas, I barely met her, let alone marry her. The night before I had taken a late night walk down through “main street” with all the shops closed for the night. Of course, it had not been called “main street” at the time. I have since forgotten the true name, or if there was a name at all. But that is not important. It was that night very night I had been changed forever.”
He stopped for a moment, seeing to it that Mara wanted him to continue.
“I was walking along, stopping every now and again to peer into the darkened shops. It seemed like from out of nowhere the man appeared in front of me. He was short, had white hair, and wore a cloak of black velvet. For some reason or other, I could not quite make out his face. He came to me and spoke in a low, raspy voice.
“How would you like a chance at living forever,
young fellow?”
At that, I felt his ice cold, scrawny fingers wrapping around my neck. He pulled me close to him and I yelped as I felt his sharped teeth sinking into my skin. I was barely concious when he had finished with me. My feet dragged across the street as he pulled me along with him. I do not know how long I laid, in a near-death like sleep. When I finally awoke, I saw the man sitting in a chair at the corner of the room. Once he noticed I was awake, he came to me, slitting his wrist with his nail as he walked. He pressed his bleeding wrist to my lips, telling me to drink. I had a hunger burning inside me for more blood, so i sucked his wrist harder for more. He shouted at me, pushed me to the ground to get me to stop. I slept where I fell, he didn’t have it in him to move me, for I drank to much of his blood.”
Mausolem stopped again, watching the awe light up Mara’s pale, gray eyes.
“After those nights, he became my teacher. He taught me everything I needed to know. He taught me the proper way to feed and how to cover the kills. I had fallen in love with him. He was all I knew in this new, eternal life I now led. I stayed with him until the very end. It upset me so, the very night he told me all he could teach all he could teach. It upset me even more when he said his eternal life wasn’t enough for him and he was done with this life. That had been the last time I saw him. In my sleep, I could hear his cries as he burned in the sunlight. By night, I went outside to his pile of ashes. The tears streamed down my face as I watched the wind scatter and carry away his ashes.”
Mara could see the reddened tears starting to form in his eyes. She stood, went to him and put a hand on his shoulder.