The following story is a piece of fiction based upon no real incidents or upon the lives of any persons living or dead. This story was written in 1977 for a high school English paper and has never been published.
THE GHOUL
I recall with trembling fear the night my friend Louis lost his connection to life and humanity. In all my nightmares past and present his fate is the one I fear the most. The reason for such fear is that I faced the same terror that Louis faced however, I was lucky, I escaped.
It was late one summer’s eve, a dreadful eve, when my best friend left this world. He had finished off an entire gallon of beer between the two of us. With an awkward walk and a wayward smile we departed from the Silver Beard Tavern near the bay. We proceeded toward the complex where we each had a one room efficiency apartment. Louis and I grew up on the same street and both got married to really obnoxious ladies at about the same time. Now we are both divorced, making child payments but have enough to either buy food or drinks. Since we both had similar marital and financial situations we both chose buying drinks.
One night we were both really tired after working all day and then drinking until the bartender asked us to leave so he could close up. We decided to take a shortcut down a narrow dirt road which was crowded with blackberry briars on both sides. It was hard to walk straight down the road without veering off into the briars. I felt several scratches across my face and the briars seemed to reach out and grab onto my clothing as though they were trying to hold me back so I could not go forward down the road.
Louis was a happy sort of fellow who tried his best to laugh at even the poorest of jokes. Somehow he saw my continued struggle with the blackberry briars as something so funny that he bent over and almost feel to his knees with laughter as his own feet staggered uncontrollably beneath him. Louis had a big oval face and always smiled when he was not outright laughing. “You know Paul, I think you’re drunk” Louis remarked as he teetered from side to side.
“You know what Louis, I think you’re right,” I responded with a big belly laugh. I laughed really hard but then I felt a little sick and felt the taste of vomit rising up in my throat. I forced myself to calm down so I wouldn’t get sick and loose the equivalent of my life’s savings there in the middle of the road.
After walking a couple of miles we realized that we were not on the right dirt road and we were going quite a ways out of town. The road was impassable by car because of the huge ruts in the road. We pretty much new no one would be coming along so we could not hitch a ride. It was really late and we seemed to be lost. We turned around and walked back toward what we thought was town but after walking for nearly an hour the road seemed to be disappearing and there was no lights from a town to be seen in any direction. The only sign of civilization we could see was an old stone cottage that was just down the road another hundred yards.
We had almost reached the cottage when Louis collapsed on the side of the road laughing like a mad man. His clumsiness sent me into an intoxicated hysteria of laughter as I staggered over to Louis to try to help him up to his feet. As Louis rose up we heard a horrible scream that seemed to come from everywhere in the surrounding forest. Once Louis got to his feet he suddenly decided to run toward the cottage as if reaching the old pile of stones would somehow save him from being lost deep in the Michigan woods with some hideous creature closing in upon us. I followed Louis on the run toward the stone cottage but we did not run far because we each tripped over our own feet and went down hard face first on the ground.
After falling to the ground Louis and I elevated ourselves to our feet. We looked toward the stone cottage but a large dark shadow had appeared before us. It stood on two long legs like a phantom taking human form. His arms were raised as if to grab us up like a bear embracing its dying prey. Its arms and hands were very human except like the rest of the body they were gigantic even when compared to the largest of men. The creature moved very near us and I could see it was covered with hair. But, although the creature was so close we could feel its warm breath on our faces we were just like a couple of rabbits. Louis and I were just too frightened to run. An instinct had kicked into our semi-lucid minds that it might be better to stand still and hope not to die than to run and antagonize the creature to commit a quick kill while stopping us from getting away. I finally realized why rabbits freeze instead of run. The rabbit just wants those few extra seconds of life that would be lost in a quick pursuit and slaughter by a predator.
I looked up at the creature as it stood right before us and noticed that the monster was more than four feet taller than either Louis or me. Louis was still mesmerized by the great monster when the monster grabbed Louis by the head and quickly snapped my friend’s neck and let the body fall limp to the ground. The creature scowled at me as he grabbed Louis’s body and dragged it into the briars and out of my view. I then heard the carnivorous sounds the creature made as it devoured the flesh off from poor Louis’s bones. I turned around and I ran as fast as I could down the old dirt road.
The sun was coming up when I reached town and reported what had happened to the police. The police did not believe my story and placed me in the jail for being drunk and disorderly. They also questioned me about the deep scratches that I had across my face and a heavily circled black eye. I replied that my face was scratched up by briars and that my black eye came about when I feel face down in the road.
There was never any trace found of my good friend Louis. I have come to the conclusion that the creature consumed Louis’s body completely; flesh and bones and even the clothing he was wearing. After devouring Louis the creature must have taken off to some remote area to hide.
I eventually found the old stone cottage and it looked like a fix-it-upper in the daylight. I moved in and since the cottage was located deep within a National Park I did not have to find someone to approve of my taking over the cottage. I just assumed it to be mine. I also liked my reclusive home since I no longer had any authorities coming around to ask me more questions about recent disappearances and cannibalism. The cottage was well out of the way of any people but, occasionally a lost tourist would wander along at night. Although other incidents of people completely disappearing have occurred in the area I don’t really worry about being a victim of the great ghoul. I hope that one day I can meet up with the monster that devoured Louis and take revenge by devouring the monster.
In fact I have found that I have a need for human flesh and have taken to eating it exclusively. Often times I find the graveyard an excellent place to find nourishment but not unlike the mysterious creature, I like fresh meat once in a while, don’t you?
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Monday, October 9, 2023
10-31 FULL MOON
10-31 FULL MOON: ROXANNE
By Mike Colin
I was resting up from a long weekend when I heard the doorbell ring. I opened the door and found an old man and a much younger woman standing on my front porch. The old man wasted no time introducing himself. “My name is Professor Van Helsing and this is my grand niece Mina.” The old man and his grand niece brushed past me into my house before I could say anything. “You are Mike Colin I presume,” said Professor Van Helsing in some sort of Scandinavian accent.
“Yeah, I am,” I said. I would have thrown them both out just because they were so pushy but, Mina had a great looking smile. Mina was slim, blond, blue eyed and in her early twenties. I was hoping she was some sort of mail order girlfriend I ordered on the Internet when I had too much beer last weekend. ”Can I help you and Mina with something? I asked. Mina looked at me and winked. She was beautiful. I was hopping I could think of a way we could ditch the old guy and go for a walk or something.
“Well, Mr. Colin,” Professor Van Helsing began, “if you could find the time to quit paying attention to my granddaughter I will tell you something that should interest you.”
“Sure,” I said, “but, I thought Mina was your grandniece not your granddaughter.”
“She is my grand niece I’m old and just misspoke myself. It has been a long journey from Cancun Mexico to Traverse City Michigan. “
I motioned them to follow me. “You’d better come in and have a seat in the living room. Can I get you a drink?”
“I’ll have rum and coke and Mina will have a glass of just scotch with no ice please.” The professor seemed to speak for Mina. I wanted to hear from Mina but, I thought that maybe she couldn't’t speak any English. Maybe she just spoke Viking or whatever those Scandinavians speak. Whatever language Mina could speak I know that if her voice was half as nice as she looked then, I would be in love.
After I served the drinks the professor drank his rum and coke down in one gulp like an old lush. Mina on the other hand, drank her scotch down in one drink with the elegance of a princess. It shows real class to consume $50.00 worth of imported scotch in just a couple of seconds. I realized right then that Mina was probably out of my league and a relationship with her might be out of the question. I still wanted to try. I thought everything was going well but, then the professor had to ruin it by talking.” No doubt you’ve read about the many mutilations of both animals and humans along the Boardman River that runs through this city.”
“Actually,” I responded while looking at Mina and smiling,” I’ve been busy going to parties and I don’t listen to the news or ever read newspapers. That’s what old guys do, right Mina?” I was desperately trying to get her to say something. She just smiled and looked down. I guess she was being what some might call coy. My brothers would say she was being a tease.
Van Helsing then said,” The mutilations are being perpetrated by a type of creature that you know all too well. I am of course referring to a vampire.”
I wondered how much the old man knew about my girlfriend Stephanie. Maybe he knew about Lenny, my old buddy from high school. Irregardless of what this VanHelsing guy knew, I knew that both Lenny and Stephanie were in Cancun and neither of them have been around here to mutilate anyone. I decided that I would deny knowing anything about vampires in case this old guy wanted to pin the mutilations on one of my friends. “What are you talking about?” I asked,” Vampires are just not real. They just don’t exist anywhere but, in the movies and in story books.”
Van Helsing sat his glass down on an end table and leaned forward in his chair. “I happen to know that the girl that gave you this house is a vampire named Stephanie. I also know that you have a friend named Lenny who has recently been turned into a vampire. I further know that your two friends had nothing to do with the recent murders and mutilations. I wish them no harm because I know that most vampires are usually quite passive. Most of the blood they consume is freely given to them by adoring groupies who hope one day a vampire would give them the gift of vampirism and the immortality and powers that such a gift entails.”
After hearing that VanHelsing was not after my friends, I decided to play along with Van Helsing just to see what he was up too. “So, if my friends are vampires and they have had nothing to do with the murders along the Boardman River then, why are you here to see me? I certainly don’t know any vampires that are living around here right now. I don’t see how I could possibly be of any help to you.”
“Like I said,” Van Helsing began,” most vampires are not really bad however, there is one vampire that is extremely evil. She is the queen and original vampire and she lives nearby. In modern times she goes by the name of Roxanne. She is an extreme monster without a conscience. She does not want to live and let live like most vampire monsters. Instead, she wants to exterminate all f humanity. “
“So how do you know so much about her?” I asked.
“I’ve been following Roxanne for a very long time. Van Helsing sat in silence for a few moments and then said “Ill tell you all about her but, you have to realize that she is evil. Roxanne was born a princess. She was the daughter of Hannibal, the great general that almost destroyed the Roman Empire. It seems that through satanic rituals centuries ago Roxanne came into existence. She was the original vampire and serves as their queen.
10-31 FULL MOON: HOW VAMPIRES ARE MADE
By Mike Colin
As I mentioned, Roxanne was the daughter of Hannibal. He was perhaps the greatest general of the ancient age. At one time he laid siege at the gates of Rome with his elephants. The only problem was that he did not have enough troops or supplies to stay in Italy so; he had to retreat back to Carthage in North Africa. There he later died defending his city from the Romans. He left behind a wife and a daughter. His wife was an African princess named Rachel. His daughter was named Roxanne. Once Hannibal died and the empire of Carthage was destroyed, Rachel fled with little Roxanne to Northern France, far away from the Roman Empire as it existed at that time. Roxanne was only about two years old and she became very ill during the trip. In fact she was dying of plague and there was nothing Rachel could do to save Roxanne except to try to keep her little daughter comfortable and watch her die.
Because Roxanne was all her mother had left in the world and Roxanne was all that there was left of the great General Hannibal, Rachel sought out a race of forest people who were said to be supernatural beings. Some people today call these beings druids. They are said to have a strange connection between the world of the real and the world of the unreal. These Druids were said to live both in the realm of the living and the dead. The Druids knew how all things were connected and Princess Rachel begged them to use their knowledge to save the life of little Roxanne
At first the Druids refused to help. They said that the destiny of Roxanne was clear and that she must die in order to preserve the eternal order of all things. Finally, Rachel told the Druids that Roxanne was the daughter of the great general Hannibal. The Romans were the mortal enemy of the Druids and Hannibal was a hero amongst these strange forest people. The Druids suddenly took a strong interest in Roxanne. They each begged to hold her and all of them fused over the infant.
The druids then brought the baby into the forest. They laid the baby down on the forest floor and performed some sort of ritual ceremony. Then, suddenly several dead leaves started to swirl up from the ground like a water spout. Then, the leaves turned into large black bats with long white fangs. The swirling bats poured down upon the child’s body and covered it in a black shroud. The bats were drinking every bit of poisoned blood from the Child’s tiny body. As each bat drank its fill of diseased blood it died and fell off the small child. The dead bats formed a black circle around Roxanne.
The forest became completely silent. A few moments after the last bat was dead, Roxanne became healthy again and the plague was gone. The child was fine except that her body was covered with dozens of bites from the bats. The druids explained to her mother that the bats had sucked the evil toxins from the child. They also told her that there would most likely be some sort of side effect from the cure. The druids said that the child was called into deaths cavern and was stolen away at the last moment. They explained that one day when Roxanne was grown she would pay a price for her unnatural salvation.”
I still don’t understand,” I said. “What do you want from me?”
Both Van Helsing and his grand niece Mina starred at me and Van Helsing said, “We want you to use your abilities and position to help us put an end to all the deaths caused by the queen of all vampires. We know where she lives but, we cannot get close to her. Vampires have unlimited psychic powers. They constantly read every mind around them for miles. Roxanne can literally smell the level of hatred that I and my Mina have for her. You on the other hand are already trusted by the vampires. You were the houseboy of one of Roxanne’s favorite girls. You have a vampire aura around you so that you can walk right through the psychic fields of the vampires and strike a death blow at the heart of the beast. : You can kill Roxanne, the queen of the vampires and free humanity from their reign of terror.”
I didn’t understand most of what Van Helsing was talking about but, Mina was just so damn cute. I couldn’t refuse her. I don’t know if it was just Mina’s beauty or if the Van helsings had some sort of psychic powers but, I agreed to do whatever they asked of me.
10-31 FULL MOON: MY ATTACK ON ROXANNE
By Mike Colin
It took me about an hour to get to Roxanne’s house. She lived several miles out in Leelanau County on the top of a huge hill. You could see nearly ten miles in every direction. On the East side of the hill you could see Grand Traverse Bay and on the West side you could see Lake Michigan. I remembered as I drove up near the mansion that there as a big ski resort not too far away.
I started to wonder why this vampire would travel so very far to find victims The place where the mutilated bodies were found was over 50 miles away. She was much closer to several small towns and Traverse City was only about 25 miles from her house. Did she want to keep that much of a distance between herself and her victims? It seems like
if Roxanne were a really powerful vampire she wouldn’t worry about mere mortal policemen catching up with her. I know vampires can just literally fly off to any place in the world whenever they wanted too. A powerful vampire did not have to worry about having an alibi or even allow themselves to be interviewed by any authorities. They can just disappear by flying off or changing their appearance at will.
I was becoming more and more confused about the whole scenario surrounding Roxanne and her choice of a place to find victims. I just could not see her being so afraid that she needed to be way out in the boondocks. Because, one thing I know about vampires is that they aren’t afraid of people. Vampires just do what they want to do when they want to do it. Because, in the end once people think a vampire is involved everyone just clams up and says nothing. Vampires are like the mob, everyone is afraid of them because if they come for you no one can save you from them. I learned that when they came and got my best friend Lenny. There was nothing I could do to save him. I was lucky they spared me from becoming a powerful immortal godlike creature.
I parked my Jag behind some trees and got out. In the distance down the road I saw the professor and Mina park their mini van. I opened the trunk on my car and pulled out a utility belt and buckled it on. I pulled out a sharp wooden stake and a hammer and placed the items in my utility belt. I also pulled out a hand saw to cut off Roxanne’s head after I drove the stake through her heart. Finally, I picked up a silver cross and put it around my neck. It was high noon so Roxanne should be dead to this world right now. Driving a stake through her heart and then cutting off her head should happen without a hitch but, I decided that having a silver cross around my neck could not hurt my operation. I was beginning to feel like a surgeon. Maybe if I would have stayed in school and graduated I might be doing real brain surgery right now.
After I had my tool belt on I turned and waved back at the professor and Mina. At that moment I wondered if I was doing all this to impress Mina rather than trying to stop the carnage down by the Boardman River. I guess it didn’t really matter. The sun was high and there was not a cloud in sight. Getting rid of this bad girl should be a cinch. I still wondered why the hair on my head seemed to be standing up and my heart was pounding.
I took one more look toward the mansion to make sure the coast was clear. Van Helsing told me that the mansion was very old. It had been built by some French monks before America even existed. The monks were buried down in the basement. I guess that’s where you put dead things; down in the basement that is. There was no one guarding the front so I quickly walked up to the door and found that it was unlocked. I opened the door and slowly crept in making sure to close the door behind me as quietly as possible.
Once inside I started looking around for a door which would lead down into the basement. Vampires could not stand daylight so I knew Roxanne had to be down in a dark basement in her box where she slept in the daytime. I finally found the door that led down into the basement.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs I suddenly became aware that the basement was most likely as vast as any other level of the house. I flipped on the lights at the bottom of the stairs. I figured that Roxanne would be literally too “dead to the world” to notice that the lights in the basement were on. Besides, if she had any traps laid out in the basement I wanted a chance to see them. It seemed there had to be some traps somewhere since so far there was nothing stopping anyone from getting as far as I did. Heck, her front door was even unlocked. I wondered how a vampire had survived for two thousand years that was so very stupid. I figured she either had some nasty trap laid out for me or she figured her box was so well hidden no one would ever find it.
After flipping on the lights I could see that the basement was not that complex. I was at one end of the building looking all the way down toward the other end. The basement was lined down each side with several old stone caskets which I figured contained old dead monks. But, directly at the other end of the basement was a large ornate box. It was not a coffin because it was too squared off but, it had a lot of fancy carved flowers on top. On the side of the box it had a picture of some ancient city carved in the middle with some trees carved on each side of the city. I guessed the city must be Carthage where Roxanne came from originally.
I felt kind of funny all of a sudden. It was like I was wondering what to do. I walked up to the box and the hesitated. I was trying to imagine what had to be done. I was thinking that I needed to push off the top and look down into the box. There I would see the corpse of the queen vampire. Then, I would steady the wood stake I had over the chest of the vampire and then with the hammer I would drive the stake into her heart. I had seen enough vampire movies to know that Roxanne would no doubt wake up screaming as the steak went through her heart. I pictured that as the stake came out the other side in her back the screaming would stop and the dead vampire would be silent forever. Then, I would chop off her head and take it to my friend Mina and her miserable old uncle professor Van Helsing. Mina would grab me and kiss me hard on the lips as her hero.
After Mina proclaimed me her hero we would live together at my mansion hoping that my ex-girlfriend Stephanie, would never show up to exact revenge for my killing her friend but, more likely wanting revenge on me for not remaining faithful to her. I then decided I had better stop daydreaming or it would be dark out and I would not have to worry no more about my future once Roxanne was done with me. I then shoved the box top off and raised up my wood stake and hammer, ready to strike at the corpse inside when I suddenly realized, the wood box was empty.
Suddenly, I was really scared. I knew this was a trap and I was trapped. My life was over and I had so much that I might have done. Now I just had to wait for the end. I felt bashful. Here I was ready to drive a stake through the heart of someone I did not even know and then cut off her head and I felt awful that I was about to die. My body felt like I weighed 200 lbs. Then, from behind I heard a very gentle female voice say “Hello North Boy”.
I droped my tools but, grabed my silver cross and stretched it out into Roxanne's face. The vampire snatched the cross from my hand and starred at it for a moment. "Nice piece of silver jewelry," she said. "Too bad I'm hundreds of years older than your religion so your religious symbols can't scare me and your cross isint even silver. It's made from some cheap metal composites. Even if it were pure silver it can't harm a vampire. Just like your wooden steak silver can't harm a vampire. We don't like the smell of garlic but then again, who really does?"
10-31 FULL MOON: THE BIRTH OF THE WEREWOLF
Roxanne was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Her olive skin covered her lean, fit figure. Her face was perfect. Each side of her face was the exact mirror image of the other. Her eyes, nose and mouth were perfectly symmetrical. Roxanne had no marks or blemishes of any kind. Her eyes were brown which matched her long brown hair that had dark red highlights. She was just really nice to look at. It was like she was a piece or rare and beautiful artwork created by one of those Old Italian artists who prided themselves on being a perfectionist.
“ I'm sure you've heard of me North Boy. I am Roxanne, the original vampire. Some call me the vampire queen however, we vampires are too free spirited to have any formal social or political structure. To other vampires I am merely their older friend. The daughter of the greatest general that every live. My father was the Carthagean general named Hannibal. The same Hannibal who invaded Northern Italy and laid siege to the city of Rome. “
“The one with the elephants?” I asked.
“Yes. The elephants gave the Romans quite a scare. I sense that VanHelsing already told you about how the people called the druids saved me and cursed me at the sane time. After I was cured of the plague I had a wonderful childhood. Things were great until I became a woman. That’s when the curse of vampirism took control of my destiny. “
“So you turned into a vampire when you grew up. Were you about thirty when you changed? I asked.
“Thirty?” exclaimed Roxanne, “Do I really look that old. I was only twenty one when I turned. It was a sudden change. One day I woke up and went outside and the sun started to sear my face like a piece of meat. I turned back into the house and found the darkest place that I could and my mother covered my body with animal hides to keep out the sun. All that day the pain from the burn on my face was unending. I felt my face and it was covered with blisters. I could imagine how awful I must have looked.
Finally, night came and the sun went down. The burning not only stopped but, when I felt my face for blisters my skin had never felt so smooth. After I dug my way out from under al the animal hides I asked my mother how I looked. She responded that I had never looked so beautiful.
I was glad my face was not scared but, I knew in my heart that some kind of change had happened to me. I knew that what I and my mother had feared for years was coming to pass. The druids were right. The druids were always right. For having my life spared as a child I knew that I would pay a terrible price and I did pay a terrible price. For when I looked at my mother I did not feel love, or anger or anything human. Instead I saw her as a small animal. I saw her as a rabbit or chicken. I didn’t see her as the loving parent that saved my life as a child. I did not see her as the beautiful loving lady that kissed my bumps and bruises or sang me to sleep. Instead, I saw the blood pumping through her veins and heard the steady beating of her heart. I could smell her blood. I could taste her blood.
I rushed upon her and long fangs seemed to grow out of my upper jaw and they pierced her neck as she screamed and struggled against my will. For the first time ever she tried to push me away. She soon succumbed to my will and I drank her blood but, I did not drink for long. For something human was still left inside of me. I fought off the animal spirit that I had become. I pulled back from my mother and laid her gently on the ground. Her chest was moving slowly up and down so I knew she was still alive.
I turned away from her for a few moments. Now that I had nourished my hunger there was room in my thoughts for shame. I wondered what kind of monster I had become. I was slightly relieved that I had not killed my mother so I turned back to her to see if there was anything I could do to help her. I turned around just in time to see her fall upon the dagger her husband, my father, General Hannibal, had given her. I will never know if she died because of what I had done to her or because of what I had become."
After Roxanne had told me about her sad background, I decided it was time to find out what she had in store for me. I was hoping to get her to sympathize with me after all; she had just been recalling a really bad time in her life. Maybe she was vulnerable now. My brother Tim says to always wait for a woman to be telling something sad about themselves before you take advantage of them. Of course although, Tim is my older brother he has never had a steady girlfriend for more than a week. Most women just roll their eyes up in their head whenever his name is mentioned. At any rate I thought I had better find out where I stood with Roxanne. So, I asked her, “Now that you’ve told me about your past I guess that means you won’t be killing me or changing me into one of your kind”.
Roxanne gently tilted her head and looked straight into my eyes and said, “Well, I guess that all depends on you North Boy. I kind of like you. You’re cute, silly but, are you sincere?”
“What do you mean sincere?” I asked with my voice quivering. I had a hunch she had some problem with me and she killed her loving mother for a snack. What would she do to me? I came here to drive a steak through her heart and cut off her head.
“The problem I have with you North Boy is that you keep some really nasty company.”
“You mean my girlfriend Stephanie?” I asked.
Roxanne stepped toward me and backed me up against the wall. She placed her hand up around my neck before she spoke. “Stephanie is an old companion of mine. We used to stay together in Montreal back in the 18th century. Stephanie is a real sweetheart. I just visited her a few weeks ago down in Cancun. The only reason I haven’t ripped your throat out is because she has a tender spot for you. I also met your other vampire friends including your old friend Lenny. North Boy, the problem I have with you is your alliance with Professor Van Helsing and his woman. “
“You mean his niece is his girlfriend? What a weirdo!” I exclaimed.
“She’s not his niece. Van Helsing took the form of an old man to fool a young fool like you. Van Helsing and his mistress are both werewolves. They are behind the mutilations down by the Boardman River. They set you up to die for them. They knew you could never succeed. They just wanted to make sure that I was home because they want me to give them something.”
“What do they want?” I asked. “Do they want to live forever like vampires or do they want the strength of a vampire?”
“Werewolves are immortal. Vampires have the strength of five men and werewolves have the same strength as a vampire except, a werewolf is ten times stronger than a vampire when the moon is full.”
‘”So what do they want?” I asked again.
“Your friends want to have all the powers of both werewolves and vampires. You see vampires have the weakness of not being able to withstand the rays of the sun. However, over time when a vampire gets really old then, they can withstand several hours of sunlight provided they are wearing a great deal of sunscreen and protective clothing. It still hurts a lot, trust me. We also have to drink the equivalent of the total blood of a human body each month. If we do not then we will weaken and die. We can drink animal blood to make us feel full but, only pure human blood will regenerate our bodies.
Werewolves have only equal strength with vampires in most confrontations. However, under a full moon werewolves have the strength advantage. The difference between werewolves and vampires are two fold. Vampires have great psychic powers. Vampires can easily manipulate the minds of most humans. Werewolves have no psychic powers. In fact, they have great difficulty controlling themselves particularly under a full moon. They have the minds of animals when then change into werewolves. They can change into a werewolf at will but again, only under the full moon are they stronger than a vampire and even then, the animal mind will takeover the logical so, instead of attacking a powerful vampire enemy the werewolf might attack some homeless lush instead.”
“I’m confused,” I said. “”How did Van Helsing and his woman become werewolves in the first place and how can you help them get control over their animal minds?”
Roxanne gave a sigh. I don’t think she was so used to answering questions. “I can change them into a vampire by just biting them on the neck and draining their blood until their heart stops. Once they become vampires they believe it will allow them to live as humans during the day and become werewolves at night with all the powers of both the werewolf and vampire species. I’m not sure it will work but, they do. I am positive that I do not want them to have both the strength of werewolves and the powers of a vampire. That would make them very dangerous to us plain old vampires.
In regards to how VanHelsing became a vampire well, that was my handy work. Around four hundred years ago I was living in the Bavarian countryside. One evening I walked out into the courtyard of my house when a strange young man suddenly attacked me. I instantly transformed myself into a wolf and glared my teeth at him. He then said to me that he wanted to become a vampire and have immortality. On a whim I decided to oblige the fool so I ripped out his throat and drank his blood. I knew he had been drinking heavily since I could taste the beer. Soon the young man was dead and in keeping with the nature of the creature I had become I leaned back my head and howled at a very bright full moon.
I had one of my houseboys take the dead body into the woods and burry it in a shallow grave. Within a few days there were several reports of mutilated villagers being found in the area. There were parties of men searching everywhere for a “wolfman”. I decided that it might be best if I moved down to my home in Capri Italy. I didn’t want any confrontations with the locals and besides, it was fall in Bavaria and it was getting a bit cold.
A few decades passed and the “wolfman” had been renamed “werewolf” and tales of his murders spread across Europe and beyond. In fact, it seemed that several more werewolves had been created by the first one. Several attacks would occur during the same evening except they would be hundreds of miles apart. “
“I still don’t understand,” I said. “Why didn’t Van Helsing become a vampire? Was it because you were a wolf when you bit him?”
“That is part of it,” Roxanne explained. “Years after Van Helsing was changed I figured out that his condition was caused because not only was I a wolf when I killed Vanhelsing but, the moon was full and it was also a sacred night to the Druids known as “All Hallows Eve,”, or Halloween. The power of the full moon and “All Hallows Eve,” caused the process of becoming a vampire to be perverted into a process which produced a werewolf. A werewolf in not like a vampire since, werewolves can live as humans during the daytime. Vampires have the ability to control the minds of the simple minded which, means most humans can easily be controled by our thoughts. There is of course one very great difference between vampires and werewolves.
Vampires are thinking creatures however; werewolves were so unthinking in their mutilations that their ruthless reputation started to rub off onto vampires. Van Helsing spread all kinds of nasty rumors about vampires and me in particular. He hated me for making him into a werewolf instead of a vampire. He was immortal but, when he became a powerful creature he had little control over the beastly rages of a wolf. I decided that I would make sure that I would never again create another werewolf so I and all vampires must reframe from draining humans of their blood on every Halloween that is lit by a full moon. I and all other vampires have 10-31 Full Moon litterally tatooed on our left shoulder and figuratively carved into our hearts to remind us always of the day upon which we must fast. 10-31 Full Moon is a night of abstaining from our eternal quest for blood."
10-31 FULL MOON: THE WEREWOLF TRAP
“So what happens next?” I asked.
”You’re going to help me North Boy. You are going to draw the werewolves down here into my trap. They already assume you are dead and are on their way down her to get me to give them the powers these evil monster desires. Will you help me trap them or should I kill you right now?”
“I would prefer to help you, “I said. “I will do your bidding since you are a friend of my friend Stephanie.”
Roxanne smiled and said, “VanHelsing and his girl are entering the house above right now. I want you to go upstairs and lead them into a room on the second floor that has a bat carving on the front of the door. The room number is 199. Lead them into that room and await my instructions.”
I went up the stairs from the basement and encountered Mina and a very young looking man at the top. I knew the guy was VanHelsing but, I had to act surprised. “Who is this,” I asked,” Where is your uncle Van Helsing?” I already realized that te young man with Mina was Vanhelsing.
Mina responded by saying that “my uncle is very old and sick man. This is my brother Heink. He is trustworthy and a very able vampire slayer. I endorse Heink as a vampire slayer as much as I love you. And, I do love you Mike Colin. You are my personal vampire slayer and hero. Just take us to the vampire monster. We will handle her from here. I trust you were somehow unable to withstand her powers. You were unable to cut off her head.”
“Once I got near her I could do nothing,” I responded.
The young Van Helsing said that,” Roxanne is a very powerful vampire. She got into your head no doubt and that is why you want us to go downstairs when in actuality, the vampire queen is on an upper floor.
I decided it was time to get this puppy over. Either Van Helsing won or Roxanne would win. "Your right," I said. She is upstairs. Then suddenly Mina and her brother/uncle/boyfriend changed into werewolves. I knew I had to get moving fast or be tore apart. I remembered that once a person changes into a wolf they loose self control so, I figured I would be tore apart if I failed. I jumped up and down several times and got the attention of the werewolves and then, I ran upstairs with the furious monsters right behind. I ran into room 199 and hid behind the door. Once the werewolves were inside I slammed the door shut and waited for the werewolves to tear my body into pieces.
The werewolves snarled their teeth at me like I was their next lunch. Then unexpecdily, the werewolves just laid down and seemed to go to sleep. Each of the monsters breathed very heavily. Then, Roxanne put her arm around me and said that I had done well. She also said that she would take care of the monsters like they were her pets. It seems that the room I had led the werewolves into was completely lined with silver and although silver has no effect upon vampires, silver completely absorbs the power of a werewolf.
Roxanne said that she had a silver mine in Peru where the Werwolves would be free at least as much creatures could be. Roxanne ended up throwing a big party at her mansion with lots of influential celebrities from all over the planet showing up. I was just too tired to party so, I just went home and went to bed.
NOTE: This was originally from the blog "Vampires: A Humor News Nuts Investigation" and is the third in a trilogy of short stories dealing with vampires. The original story was written by Leigh Collin Brandt in 2009.
By Mike Colin
I was resting up from a long weekend when I heard the doorbell ring. I opened the door and found an old man and a much younger woman standing on my front porch. The old man wasted no time introducing himself. “My name is Professor Van Helsing and this is my grand niece Mina.” The old man and his grand niece brushed past me into my house before I could say anything. “You are Mike Colin I presume,” said Professor Van Helsing in some sort of Scandinavian accent.
“Yeah, I am,” I said. I would have thrown them both out just because they were so pushy but, Mina had a great looking smile. Mina was slim, blond, blue eyed and in her early twenties. I was hoping she was some sort of mail order girlfriend I ordered on the Internet when I had too much beer last weekend. ”Can I help you and Mina with something? I asked. Mina looked at me and winked. She was beautiful. I was hopping I could think of a way we could ditch the old guy and go for a walk or something.
“Well, Mr. Colin,” Professor Van Helsing began, “if you could find the time to quit paying attention to my granddaughter I will tell you something that should interest you.”
“Sure,” I said, “but, I thought Mina was your grandniece not your granddaughter.”
“She is my grand niece I’m old and just misspoke myself. It has been a long journey from Cancun Mexico to Traverse City Michigan. “
I motioned them to follow me. “You’d better come in and have a seat in the living room. Can I get you a drink?”
“I’ll have rum and coke and Mina will have a glass of just scotch with no ice please.” The professor seemed to speak for Mina. I wanted to hear from Mina but, I thought that maybe she couldn't’t speak any English. Maybe she just spoke Viking or whatever those Scandinavians speak. Whatever language Mina could speak I know that if her voice was half as nice as she looked then, I would be in love.
After I served the drinks the professor drank his rum and coke down in one gulp like an old lush. Mina on the other hand, drank her scotch down in one drink with the elegance of a princess. It shows real class to consume $50.00 worth of imported scotch in just a couple of seconds. I realized right then that Mina was probably out of my league and a relationship with her might be out of the question. I still wanted to try. I thought everything was going well but, then the professor had to ruin it by talking.” No doubt you’ve read about the many mutilations of both animals and humans along the Boardman River that runs through this city.”
“Actually,” I responded while looking at Mina and smiling,” I’ve been busy going to parties and I don’t listen to the news or ever read newspapers. That’s what old guys do, right Mina?” I was desperately trying to get her to say something. She just smiled and looked down. I guess she was being what some might call coy. My brothers would say she was being a tease.
Van Helsing then said,” The mutilations are being perpetrated by a type of creature that you know all too well. I am of course referring to a vampire.”
I wondered how much the old man knew about my girlfriend Stephanie. Maybe he knew about Lenny, my old buddy from high school. Irregardless of what this VanHelsing guy knew, I knew that both Lenny and Stephanie were in Cancun and neither of them have been around here to mutilate anyone. I decided that I would deny knowing anything about vampires in case this old guy wanted to pin the mutilations on one of my friends. “What are you talking about?” I asked,” Vampires are just not real. They just don’t exist anywhere but, in the movies and in story books.”
Van Helsing sat his glass down on an end table and leaned forward in his chair. “I happen to know that the girl that gave you this house is a vampire named Stephanie. I also know that you have a friend named Lenny who has recently been turned into a vampire. I further know that your two friends had nothing to do with the recent murders and mutilations. I wish them no harm because I know that most vampires are usually quite passive. Most of the blood they consume is freely given to them by adoring groupies who hope one day a vampire would give them the gift of vampirism and the immortality and powers that such a gift entails.”
After hearing that VanHelsing was not after my friends, I decided to play along with Van Helsing just to see what he was up too. “So, if my friends are vampires and they have had nothing to do with the murders along the Boardman River then, why are you here to see me? I certainly don’t know any vampires that are living around here right now. I don’t see how I could possibly be of any help to you.”
“Like I said,” Van Helsing began,” most vampires are not really bad however, there is one vampire that is extremely evil. She is the queen and original vampire and she lives nearby. In modern times she goes by the name of Roxanne. She is an extreme monster without a conscience. She does not want to live and let live like most vampire monsters. Instead, she wants to exterminate all f humanity. “
“So how do you know so much about her?” I asked.
“I’ve been following Roxanne for a very long time. Van Helsing sat in silence for a few moments and then said “Ill tell you all about her but, you have to realize that she is evil. Roxanne was born a princess. She was the daughter of Hannibal, the great general that almost destroyed the Roman Empire. It seems that through satanic rituals centuries ago Roxanne came into existence. She was the original vampire and serves as their queen.
10-31 FULL MOON: HOW VAMPIRES ARE MADE
By Mike Colin
As I mentioned, Roxanne was the daughter of Hannibal. He was perhaps the greatest general of the ancient age. At one time he laid siege at the gates of Rome with his elephants. The only problem was that he did not have enough troops or supplies to stay in Italy so; he had to retreat back to Carthage in North Africa. There he later died defending his city from the Romans. He left behind a wife and a daughter. His wife was an African princess named Rachel. His daughter was named Roxanne. Once Hannibal died and the empire of Carthage was destroyed, Rachel fled with little Roxanne to Northern France, far away from the Roman Empire as it existed at that time. Roxanne was only about two years old and she became very ill during the trip. In fact she was dying of plague and there was nothing Rachel could do to save Roxanne except to try to keep her little daughter comfortable and watch her die.
Because Roxanne was all her mother had left in the world and Roxanne was all that there was left of the great General Hannibal, Rachel sought out a race of forest people who were said to be supernatural beings. Some people today call these beings druids. They are said to have a strange connection between the world of the real and the world of the unreal. These Druids were said to live both in the realm of the living and the dead. The Druids knew how all things were connected and Princess Rachel begged them to use their knowledge to save the life of little Roxanne
At first the Druids refused to help. They said that the destiny of Roxanne was clear and that she must die in order to preserve the eternal order of all things. Finally, Rachel told the Druids that Roxanne was the daughter of the great general Hannibal. The Romans were the mortal enemy of the Druids and Hannibal was a hero amongst these strange forest people. The Druids suddenly took a strong interest in Roxanne. They each begged to hold her and all of them fused over the infant.
The druids then brought the baby into the forest. They laid the baby down on the forest floor and performed some sort of ritual ceremony. Then, suddenly several dead leaves started to swirl up from the ground like a water spout. Then, the leaves turned into large black bats with long white fangs. The swirling bats poured down upon the child’s body and covered it in a black shroud. The bats were drinking every bit of poisoned blood from the Child’s tiny body. As each bat drank its fill of diseased blood it died and fell off the small child. The dead bats formed a black circle around Roxanne.
The forest became completely silent. A few moments after the last bat was dead, Roxanne became healthy again and the plague was gone. The child was fine except that her body was covered with dozens of bites from the bats. The druids explained to her mother that the bats had sucked the evil toxins from the child. They also told her that there would most likely be some sort of side effect from the cure. The druids said that the child was called into deaths cavern and was stolen away at the last moment. They explained that one day when Roxanne was grown she would pay a price for her unnatural salvation.”
I still don’t understand,” I said. “What do you want from me?”
Both Van Helsing and his grand niece Mina starred at me and Van Helsing said, “We want you to use your abilities and position to help us put an end to all the deaths caused by the queen of all vampires. We know where she lives but, we cannot get close to her. Vampires have unlimited psychic powers. They constantly read every mind around them for miles. Roxanne can literally smell the level of hatred that I and my Mina have for her. You on the other hand are already trusted by the vampires. You were the houseboy of one of Roxanne’s favorite girls. You have a vampire aura around you so that you can walk right through the psychic fields of the vampires and strike a death blow at the heart of the beast. : You can kill Roxanne, the queen of the vampires and free humanity from their reign of terror.”
I didn’t understand most of what Van Helsing was talking about but, Mina was just so damn cute. I couldn’t refuse her. I don’t know if it was just Mina’s beauty or if the Van helsings had some sort of psychic powers but, I agreed to do whatever they asked of me.
10-31 FULL MOON: MY ATTACK ON ROXANNE
By Mike Colin
It took me about an hour to get to Roxanne’s house. She lived several miles out in Leelanau County on the top of a huge hill. You could see nearly ten miles in every direction. On the East side of the hill you could see Grand Traverse Bay and on the West side you could see Lake Michigan. I remembered as I drove up near the mansion that there as a big ski resort not too far away.
I started to wonder why this vampire would travel so very far to find victims The place where the mutilated bodies were found was over 50 miles away. She was much closer to several small towns and Traverse City was only about 25 miles from her house. Did she want to keep that much of a distance between herself and her victims? It seems like
if Roxanne were a really powerful vampire she wouldn’t worry about mere mortal policemen catching up with her. I know vampires can just literally fly off to any place in the world whenever they wanted too. A powerful vampire did not have to worry about having an alibi or even allow themselves to be interviewed by any authorities. They can just disappear by flying off or changing their appearance at will.
I was becoming more and more confused about the whole scenario surrounding Roxanne and her choice of a place to find victims. I just could not see her being so afraid that she needed to be way out in the boondocks. Because, one thing I know about vampires is that they aren’t afraid of people. Vampires just do what they want to do when they want to do it. Because, in the end once people think a vampire is involved everyone just clams up and says nothing. Vampires are like the mob, everyone is afraid of them because if they come for you no one can save you from them. I learned that when they came and got my best friend Lenny. There was nothing I could do to save him. I was lucky they spared me from becoming a powerful immortal godlike creature.
I parked my Jag behind some trees and got out. In the distance down the road I saw the professor and Mina park their mini van. I opened the trunk on my car and pulled out a utility belt and buckled it on. I pulled out a sharp wooden stake and a hammer and placed the items in my utility belt. I also pulled out a hand saw to cut off Roxanne’s head after I drove the stake through her heart. Finally, I picked up a silver cross and put it around my neck. It was high noon so Roxanne should be dead to this world right now. Driving a stake through her heart and then cutting off her head should happen without a hitch but, I decided that having a silver cross around my neck could not hurt my operation. I was beginning to feel like a surgeon. Maybe if I would have stayed in school and graduated I might be doing real brain surgery right now.
After I had my tool belt on I turned and waved back at the professor and Mina. At that moment I wondered if I was doing all this to impress Mina rather than trying to stop the carnage down by the Boardman River. I guess it didn’t really matter. The sun was high and there was not a cloud in sight. Getting rid of this bad girl should be a cinch. I still wondered why the hair on my head seemed to be standing up and my heart was pounding.
I took one more look toward the mansion to make sure the coast was clear. Van Helsing told me that the mansion was very old. It had been built by some French monks before America even existed. The monks were buried down in the basement. I guess that’s where you put dead things; down in the basement that is. There was no one guarding the front so I quickly walked up to the door and found that it was unlocked. I opened the door and slowly crept in making sure to close the door behind me as quietly as possible.
Once inside I started looking around for a door which would lead down into the basement. Vampires could not stand daylight so I knew Roxanne had to be down in a dark basement in her box where she slept in the daytime. I finally found the door that led down into the basement.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs I suddenly became aware that the basement was most likely as vast as any other level of the house. I flipped on the lights at the bottom of the stairs. I figured that Roxanne would be literally too “dead to the world” to notice that the lights in the basement were on. Besides, if she had any traps laid out in the basement I wanted a chance to see them. It seemed there had to be some traps somewhere since so far there was nothing stopping anyone from getting as far as I did. Heck, her front door was even unlocked. I wondered how a vampire had survived for two thousand years that was so very stupid. I figured she either had some nasty trap laid out for me or she figured her box was so well hidden no one would ever find it.
After flipping on the lights I could see that the basement was not that complex. I was at one end of the building looking all the way down toward the other end. The basement was lined down each side with several old stone caskets which I figured contained old dead monks. But, directly at the other end of the basement was a large ornate box. It was not a coffin because it was too squared off but, it had a lot of fancy carved flowers on top. On the side of the box it had a picture of some ancient city carved in the middle with some trees carved on each side of the city. I guessed the city must be Carthage where Roxanne came from originally.
I felt kind of funny all of a sudden. It was like I was wondering what to do. I walked up to the box and the hesitated. I was trying to imagine what had to be done. I was thinking that I needed to push off the top and look down into the box. There I would see the corpse of the queen vampire. Then, I would steady the wood stake I had over the chest of the vampire and then with the hammer I would drive the stake into her heart. I had seen enough vampire movies to know that Roxanne would no doubt wake up screaming as the steak went through her heart. I pictured that as the stake came out the other side in her back the screaming would stop and the dead vampire would be silent forever. Then, I would chop off her head and take it to my friend Mina and her miserable old uncle professor Van Helsing. Mina would grab me and kiss me hard on the lips as her hero.
After Mina proclaimed me her hero we would live together at my mansion hoping that my ex-girlfriend Stephanie, would never show up to exact revenge for my killing her friend but, more likely wanting revenge on me for not remaining faithful to her. I then decided I had better stop daydreaming or it would be dark out and I would not have to worry no more about my future once Roxanne was done with me. I then shoved the box top off and raised up my wood stake and hammer, ready to strike at the corpse inside when I suddenly realized, the wood box was empty.
Suddenly, I was really scared. I knew this was a trap and I was trapped. My life was over and I had so much that I might have done. Now I just had to wait for the end. I felt bashful. Here I was ready to drive a stake through the heart of someone I did not even know and then cut off her head and I felt awful that I was about to die. My body felt like I weighed 200 lbs. Then, from behind I heard a very gentle female voice say “Hello North Boy”.
I droped my tools but, grabed my silver cross and stretched it out into Roxanne's face. The vampire snatched the cross from my hand and starred at it for a moment. "Nice piece of silver jewelry," she said. "Too bad I'm hundreds of years older than your religion so your religious symbols can't scare me and your cross isint even silver. It's made from some cheap metal composites. Even if it were pure silver it can't harm a vampire. Just like your wooden steak silver can't harm a vampire. We don't like the smell of garlic but then again, who really does?"
10-31 FULL MOON: THE BIRTH OF THE WEREWOLF
Roxanne was the most beautiful creature I have ever seen. Her olive skin covered her lean, fit figure. Her face was perfect. Each side of her face was the exact mirror image of the other. Her eyes, nose and mouth were perfectly symmetrical. Roxanne had no marks or blemishes of any kind. Her eyes were brown which matched her long brown hair that had dark red highlights. She was just really nice to look at. It was like she was a piece or rare and beautiful artwork created by one of those Old Italian artists who prided themselves on being a perfectionist.
“ I'm sure you've heard of me North Boy. I am Roxanne, the original vampire. Some call me the vampire queen however, we vampires are too free spirited to have any formal social or political structure. To other vampires I am merely their older friend. The daughter of the greatest general that every live. My father was the Carthagean general named Hannibal. The same Hannibal who invaded Northern Italy and laid siege to the city of Rome. “
“The one with the elephants?” I asked.
“Yes. The elephants gave the Romans quite a scare. I sense that VanHelsing already told you about how the people called the druids saved me and cursed me at the sane time. After I was cured of the plague I had a wonderful childhood. Things were great until I became a woman. That’s when the curse of vampirism took control of my destiny. “
“So you turned into a vampire when you grew up. Were you about thirty when you changed? I asked.
“Thirty?” exclaimed Roxanne, “Do I really look that old. I was only twenty one when I turned. It was a sudden change. One day I woke up and went outside and the sun started to sear my face like a piece of meat. I turned back into the house and found the darkest place that I could and my mother covered my body with animal hides to keep out the sun. All that day the pain from the burn on my face was unending. I felt my face and it was covered with blisters. I could imagine how awful I must have looked.
Finally, night came and the sun went down. The burning not only stopped but, when I felt my face for blisters my skin had never felt so smooth. After I dug my way out from under al the animal hides I asked my mother how I looked. She responded that I had never looked so beautiful.
I was glad my face was not scared but, I knew in my heart that some kind of change had happened to me. I knew that what I and my mother had feared for years was coming to pass. The druids were right. The druids were always right. For having my life spared as a child I knew that I would pay a terrible price and I did pay a terrible price. For when I looked at my mother I did not feel love, or anger or anything human. Instead I saw her as a small animal. I saw her as a rabbit or chicken. I didn’t see her as the loving parent that saved my life as a child. I did not see her as the beautiful loving lady that kissed my bumps and bruises or sang me to sleep. Instead, I saw the blood pumping through her veins and heard the steady beating of her heart. I could smell her blood. I could taste her blood.
I rushed upon her and long fangs seemed to grow out of my upper jaw and they pierced her neck as she screamed and struggled against my will. For the first time ever she tried to push me away. She soon succumbed to my will and I drank her blood but, I did not drink for long. For something human was still left inside of me. I fought off the animal spirit that I had become. I pulled back from my mother and laid her gently on the ground. Her chest was moving slowly up and down so I knew she was still alive.
I turned away from her for a few moments. Now that I had nourished my hunger there was room in my thoughts for shame. I wondered what kind of monster I had become. I was slightly relieved that I had not killed my mother so I turned back to her to see if there was anything I could do to help her. I turned around just in time to see her fall upon the dagger her husband, my father, General Hannibal, had given her. I will never know if she died because of what I had done to her or because of what I had become."
After Roxanne had told me about her sad background, I decided it was time to find out what she had in store for me. I was hoping to get her to sympathize with me after all; she had just been recalling a really bad time in her life. Maybe she was vulnerable now. My brother Tim says to always wait for a woman to be telling something sad about themselves before you take advantage of them. Of course although, Tim is my older brother he has never had a steady girlfriend for more than a week. Most women just roll their eyes up in their head whenever his name is mentioned. At any rate I thought I had better find out where I stood with Roxanne. So, I asked her, “Now that you’ve told me about your past I guess that means you won’t be killing me or changing me into one of your kind”.
Roxanne gently tilted her head and looked straight into my eyes and said, “Well, I guess that all depends on you North Boy. I kind of like you. You’re cute, silly but, are you sincere?”
“What do you mean sincere?” I asked with my voice quivering. I had a hunch she had some problem with me and she killed her loving mother for a snack. What would she do to me? I came here to drive a steak through her heart and cut off her head.
“The problem I have with you North Boy is that you keep some really nasty company.”
“You mean my girlfriend Stephanie?” I asked.
Roxanne stepped toward me and backed me up against the wall. She placed her hand up around my neck before she spoke. “Stephanie is an old companion of mine. We used to stay together in Montreal back in the 18th century. Stephanie is a real sweetheart. I just visited her a few weeks ago down in Cancun. The only reason I haven’t ripped your throat out is because she has a tender spot for you. I also met your other vampire friends including your old friend Lenny. North Boy, the problem I have with you is your alliance with Professor Van Helsing and his woman. “
“You mean his niece is his girlfriend? What a weirdo!” I exclaimed.
“She’s not his niece. Van Helsing took the form of an old man to fool a young fool like you. Van Helsing and his mistress are both werewolves. They are behind the mutilations down by the Boardman River. They set you up to die for them. They knew you could never succeed. They just wanted to make sure that I was home because they want me to give them something.”
“What do they want?” I asked. “Do they want to live forever like vampires or do they want the strength of a vampire?”
“Werewolves are immortal. Vampires have the strength of five men and werewolves have the same strength as a vampire except, a werewolf is ten times stronger than a vampire when the moon is full.”
‘”So what do they want?” I asked again.
“Your friends want to have all the powers of both werewolves and vampires. You see vampires have the weakness of not being able to withstand the rays of the sun. However, over time when a vampire gets really old then, they can withstand several hours of sunlight provided they are wearing a great deal of sunscreen and protective clothing. It still hurts a lot, trust me. We also have to drink the equivalent of the total blood of a human body each month. If we do not then we will weaken and die. We can drink animal blood to make us feel full but, only pure human blood will regenerate our bodies.
Werewolves have only equal strength with vampires in most confrontations. However, under a full moon werewolves have the strength advantage. The difference between werewolves and vampires are two fold. Vampires have great psychic powers. Vampires can easily manipulate the minds of most humans. Werewolves have no psychic powers. In fact, they have great difficulty controlling themselves particularly under a full moon. They have the minds of animals when then change into werewolves. They can change into a werewolf at will but again, only under the full moon are they stronger than a vampire and even then, the animal mind will takeover the logical so, instead of attacking a powerful vampire enemy the werewolf might attack some homeless lush instead.”
“I’m confused,” I said. “”How did Van Helsing and his woman become werewolves in the first place and how can you help them get control over their animal minds?”
Roxanne gave a sigh. I don’t think she was so used to answering questions. “I can change them into a vampire by just biting them on the neck and draining their blood until their heart stops. Once they become vampires they believe it will allow them to live as humans during the day and become werewolves at night with all the powers of both the werewolf and vampire species. I’m not sure it will work but, they do. I am positive that I do not want them to have both the strength of werewolves and the powers of a vampire. That would make them very dangerous to us plain old vampires.
In regards to how VanHelsing became a vampire well, that was my handy work. Around four hundred years ago I was living in the Bavarian countryside. One evening I walked out into the courtyard of my house when a strange young man suddenly attacked me. I instantly transformed myself into a wolf and glared my teeth at him. He then said to me that he wanted to become a vampire and have immortality. On a whim I decided to oblige the fool so I ripped out his throat and drank his blood. I knew he had been drinking heavily since I could taste the beer. Soon the young man was dead and in keeping with the nature of the creature I had become I leaned back my head and howled at a very bright full moon.
I had one of my houseboys take the dead body into the woods and burry it in a shallow grave. Within a few days there were several reports of mutilated villagers being found in the area. There were parties of men searching everywhere for a “wolfman”. I decided that it might be best if I moved down to my home in Capri Italy. I didn’t want any confrontations with the locals and besides, it was fall in Bavaria and it was getting a bit cold.
A few decades passed and the “wolfman” had been renamed “werewolf” and tales of his murders spread across Europe and beyond. In fact, it seemed that several more werewolves had been created by the first one. Several attacks would occur during the same evening except they would be hundreds of miles apart. “
“I still don’t understand,” I said. “Why didn’t Van Helsing become a vampire? Was it because you were a wolf when you bit him?”
“That is part of it,” Roxanne explained. “Years after Van Helsing was changed I figured out that his condition was caused because not only was I a wolf when I killed Vanhelsing but, the moon was full and it was also a sacred night to the Druids known as “All Hallows Eve,”, or Halloween. The power of the full moon and “All Hallows Eve,” caused the process of becoming a vampire to be perverted into a process which produced a werewolf. A werewolf in not like a vampire since, werewolves can live as humans during the daytime. Vampires have the ability to control the minds of the simple minded which, means most humans can easily be controled by our thoughts. There is of course one very great difference between vampires and werewolves.
Vampires are thinking creatures however; werewolves were so unthinking in their mutilations that their ruthless reputation started to rub off onto vampires. Van Helsing spread all kinds of nasty rumors about vampires and me in particular. He hated me for making him into a werewolf instead of a vampire. He was immortal but, when he became a powerful creature he had little control over the beastly rages of a wolf. I decided that I would make sure that I would never again create another werewolf so I and all vampires must reframe from draining humans of their blood on every Halloween that is lit by a full moon. I and all other vampires have 10-31 Full Moon litterally tatooed on our left shoulder and figuratively carved into our hearts to remind us always of the day upon which we must fast. 10-31 Full Moon is a night of abstaining from our eternal quest for blood."
10-31 FULL MOON: THE WEREWOLF TRAP
“So what happens next?” I asked.
”You’re going to help me North Boy. You are going to draw the werewolves down here into my trap. They already assume you are dead and are on their way down her to get me to give them the powers these evil monster desires. Will you help me trap them or should I kill you right now?”
“I would prefer to help you, “I said. “I will do your bidding since you are a friend of my friend Stephanie.”
Roxanne smiled and said, “VanHelsing and his girl are entering the house above right now. I want you to go upstairs and lead them into a room on the second floor that has a bat carving on the front of the door. The room number is 199. Lead them into that room and await my instructions.”
I went up the stairs from the basement and encountered Mina and a very young looking man at the top. I knew the guy was VanHelsing but, I had to act surprised. “Who is this,” I asked,” Where is your uncle Van Helsing?” I already realized that te young man with Mina was Vanhelsing.
Mina responded by saying that “my uncle is very old and sick man. This is my brother Heink. He is trustworthy and a very able vampire slayer. I endorse Heink as a vampire slayer as much as I love you. And, I do love you Mike Colin. You are my personal vampire slayer and hero. Just take us to the vampire monster. We will handle her from here. I trust you were somehow unable to withstand her powers. You were unable to cut off her head.”
“Once I got near her I could do nothing,” I responded.
The young Van Helsing said that,” Roxanne is a very powerful vampire. She got into your head no doubt and that is why you want us to go downstairs when in actuality, the vampire queen is on an upper floor.
I decided it was time to get this puppy over. Either Van Helsing won or Roxanne would win. "Your right," I said. She is upstairs. Then suddenly Mina and her brother/uncle/boyfriend changed into werewolves. I knew I had to get moving fast or be tore apart. I remembered that once a person changes into a wolf they loose self control so, I figured I would be tore apart if I failed. I jumped up and down several times and got the attention of the werewolves and then, I ran upstairs with the furious monsters right behind. I ran into room 199 and hid behind the door. Once the werewolves were inside I slammed the door shut and waited for the werewolves to tear my body into pieces.
The werewolves snarled their teeth at me like I was their next lunch. Then unexpecdily, the werewolves just laid down and seemed to go to sleep. Each of the monsters breathed very heavily. Then, Roxanne put her arm around me and said that I had done well. She also said that she would take care of the monsters like they were her pets. It seems that the room I had led the werewolves into was completely lined with silver and although silver has no effect upon vampires, silver completely absorbs the power of a werewolf.
Roxanne said that she had a silver mine in Peru where the Werwolves would be free at least as much creatures could be. Roxanne ended up throwing a big party at her mansion with lots of influential celebrities from all over the planet showing up. I was just too tired to party so, I just went home and went to bed.
NOTE: This was originally from the blog "Vampires: A Humor News Nuts Investigation" and is the third in a trilogy of short stories dealing with vampires. The original story was written by Leigh Collin Brandt in 2009.
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