Interrogating The Talamascan

Daylight turned rosy-colored and dusky across what was once one of the most beautifully expansive horizons imaginable. There may never again be such a sight, now that it's gone. How something so mammoth that stood the test of time for so many centuries could change so much, none of us knows. But soon, you won't have to worry.

Worrying is something you should have done before deciding to be so intrusive into the dealings of others. Not everything is for the public's consumption. Why did you have to become do dammed inquisitive? Because now you have to face the consequences of not listening to your instincts when they screamed at you to pull back. If only you had listened.

It seems counter-intuitive not to listen to yourself. For most of the known world, it is our instincts that keep us alive. But no, not you. You continued to push on, checking records, birth certificates, and eventually visiting places you didn't take the time to enjoy. How does it feel to know that you wasted your time exploring such things? You never found a shred of concrete proof that things weren't what they seemed. And yet, here you are, still following me.

I would ask why. But it's your dammed nosy friends that got you into this. Did they tell you the story of how I first met them? Did they even tell you what you were getting yourself into by signing on with those who couldn't get this close? Because I'll give you that, you did get close. Closer than any of them before you. Was it the ancient texts that helped you to track me so well? Well, they are an interesting read.

A low mumbling sound escapes your voice box as you sit there and begin to focus in the darkness of this infernal hellscape that rests just behind these barely intact walls. I mean to tell you that you did take me by quite the surprise. It'd been a while since I smelled anything so delicious and succulent in my midst. But alas, I lost the taste for your kind long ago. Found that you and yours were far more attractive as pets than as food.

Did those bastards who sent you tell you that?

I asked the question as you began to realize you're caught. Fear and apprehension take over your face. You struggle as I wander around you, the crimson skies turning to my favorite color, the color of night.

"I have many questions, now that you are paying attention," I tell you.

Of course, you buck and thrash against your bindings. Do you not realize there was another option?

I stared down at you for some time. It takes little to protect me from exposure. A simple trick or two along the way, the use of a proper hat and a gentleman's cloak or long coat is quite enough. But no, you little one, you still managed to follow me. I've felt you behind me for months now.

As they sent you, did they warn you? I ask. Would there be someone to ride in on a great white steed to save the day? No, I imagine not. That's the downside to being someone like me. We tend to remember things which have long since been forsaken.

Why? Why are you here? Is there not a better way to spend your time? Looking for me is a challenge, but in this world, wouldn't there be other things you might study? Wouldn't someone as smart as you, as gifted as you seem to be, do so much more good if you applied yourself to the world's problems?

"I wanted to meet you," you tell me.

As I watch you, struggling against the ropes I put around you, your eyes darting back and forth inside that pretty face of yours, I wonder. Can it be? Can the world be so foolish as to think chasing down old wants is still the thing to be doing? There is no reason once upon a time still exists. The old stories are just that, old stories.

"Why!"

Oh, little one. As I screamed my demanding curiosity at you, you jumped nearly free of your bindings. Your long, straight, auburn hair bounced even in this godless heat. Your piercing blue eyes, suddenly saddened by the thought of what I might do to you. Are you questioning it, even now, as I decide to stop and lean against this steel support beam?

"It was you who trailed me in Marrakesh? Yes?"

Your lower lip quivers as you see something in the shadows. Perhaps, as you nodded your head, you caught a slight hint of the truths untold by your friends. I ask you again, but this time, in Caracass. Again, you nod your head.

"My, haven't you been a busy little girl?" I laughed.

The sound of your heart beating is almost too much for me to resist, but resist it I do. It may seem incredulous to the likes of you, but I've never enjoyed the part of this life that your friends did warn you of.

The feeding.

Much the way you and yours consume things that once crawled on the ground, I found that my kind, well.

"There are all these two-legged treats running around, destroying things, killing abstractly, without much cause other than to kill. So, we take a few here and there," I explained.

Your eyes widened. Your face changed slightly.

"Ooh, did I strike a nerve?"

I have been with you for hours. Wondering what to do about your intrepid investigation into my existence. There is a part of me that, if I'm being honest, thinks it'd be best to leave you dammed to the wasteland. But there is a part of me that finds you curiously interesting.

"What would your friends say if you left them and joined me?" I asked you.

It had to be your choice. I was, admittedly, quite lonely. But after a thousand years, even your friends back at the office would have understood that. To be one of us is not an easy life.

"You accepted, and you never looked back," I say to you with an almost shocked smile.

"Happy Anniversary, my love."

And here's to another century together, my little Talamascan princess.

And as the waitress walks by, we both feel that familiar urge. Perhaps it's the champagne, or perhaps it's that she smells so delicious.

"I think I know what I want for dessert," you tell me.

"Ah, the hunting instincts of a mere century-old vampire," I reply, as I watch you start to get up.

But what's a lad to do?

I nod my head at you, smile, and say, "Let's eat."