As the last shards of light slip away from the world, and you are left searching vainly for the slightest bit of comfort, do you dream of gray eyes and blonde hair? Do you long to be in my arms? I'm here, you know. Watching. Waiting. Learning of your lives and envying you more than you can ever hope to imagine. I love you. I really do.
And I hope you love me.
Curious? I'm certain some of you are. Some of you poor souls scouring the endless electronic sea searching for some small measure of reality... something to cling to... hope... love... life for all time. I can give you these things. I can take you close to my heart and you will live for all time with me, your sweet flesh and the memory of your fine eyelashes and smooth cheek pressed against my own as I steal your life.
After all, ma cher, I am a vampire. A strikingly and deceptively beautiful creature, but a vampire nonetheless. Stab me, strike me, pummel me with your fists... none of these things will do me harm. Level your pistols and revolvers in my direction and let fly a torrent of leaden slugs... they will only make me angry. Holy relics will not stop me, nor will a wooden stake or garlic (though the scent of that particular vegetable is repugnant to anyone, mortal or no).
But if you love me... if you love me and adore me and for one small moment can look upon my face and flash me one of your most beautiful smiles, I will spare you, to live your mortal lives.
After all I do love you.
Can any of you sweet, young mortals think back far enough to remember the last time you bit into a juicy slice of fruit? Perhaps the last kiss you received, or the most recent gesture of love? Many of you will nod and wonder, where am I going with this. Bear with me, darling ones. I will get to the point.
I assume you can easily remember these few slices of mortal life, and perhaps even more in a long succession back two, three, perhaps even four days. But tell me, young ones, what do you remember of the last Monday you lived? The Monday three weeks ago? The first Monday you spent of the past year? Unless something terribly important happened you will only be capable of conjuring a blank slate in your mind, and you will be a little disappointed, or perhaps annoyed at the entire question. Ah, my little mortals, you must be careful what you ask for as you absently wish you could remember things that happened so long ago in detail. Wouldn't that be interesting, you think. Do not leap to conclusions, children. I have this "gift", and the idea of a perfect memory is sometimes far better as a concept instead of reality. Yes, I can remember things in concise detail; things that happened since the eve of my vampiric birth, but not all memories are good ones. I am haunted as well as the next vampire, for all our kind are cursed with the perfect memory. We remember even trivial things: faces, names, dates, arguments, and regrets. Yes, we have taken the concept to regret to a new level, draped it in gold, and pronounced it a vampiric art. We all regret on some level, and I am no different from the rest of my kind in that manner. And yet, I do not wish to end my long list of memories. I do not wish to die, and so I go on, continuing my existence of my own accord. I have the power to kill myself (though I do not know of an exact method), or let myself be killed, but I do not and shall not.
And now you understand, on a miniscule level, the nature of damnation.
Those of you fragile mortals who have no knowledge of my most recent adventures, do go back and read them if you wish, for I would so hate to reiterate my entire life story and details of my appearance, etc. The Vampire Lestat, published by my dear Anne Rice for those of you left a trifle confused. What I will do is tell all of you now that I shall be adding more to this little niche indefinitely. I recently returned from a journey of self-discovery into my homeland of France. I needed time to heal. I feel much better now, I can assure you, and so more shall be done here as I can find the time. I may be immortal, but there are more important things in my life than updating information electronically, though I can assure you that I do love all of you dearly! Well, perhaps not dearly. I mean, I don't even know most of you who pass through without so much as a friendly "Bonsoir" for my efforts.
Alas, I am communicating far more than is necessary! A little detail of my character close friends and acquaintances never fail to notice. But do drop in again sometime. I may tell more of my views, if given the proper motivation.
Return to the Gathering.