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"Across no longer has such power," the vampire stated, in a deep resonant voice that told of centuries of acquired wisdom. "Let me show you something." He made a gesture and the bedside lamp illuminated the room. "Look," he commanded, and pointed across the room to the dressing table. Albert reached for his glasses and stared across to the mirror that reflected the scene. He gasped as he saw himself staring back, his image partially obscured by the transparent body of the vampire. "But I can see your reflection," Albert said, half to himself. "I too am dying," the vampire said. "Everything must have a balance. In this world, the loss of genuine belief in God, any God, has caused my own powers to wane. They are intimately connected in a way that your scientists as yet have no model for. So, I can no longer prey on the young and healthy, they are too strong for me. It is your misfortune to be one of my last victims." "So that is my fate," Albert said. "Yes," the vampire replied. "I sensed that you were about to die and decided to intervene. You will die painlessly, by my hand, instead of a painful death caused by an aneurism in your brain that is about to burst." The vampire shrugged slightly, as if apologising. "I find that as I lose my vampiric nature, I am becoming more humane." "Well, thanks, I suppose," Albert said. "Might I have
the pleasure of being introduced to my killer?" "Adrian," the vampire replied. "Was it you, in my memories I mean? In almost all of my memories there is a man in black, even when there shouldn't be one. He seemed to be in the place of key people in my life." Adrian smiled. "It's all a matter of time," he replied enigmatically. "Well if you're not going to explain it any better than that, do I get a last request?" Albert asked. "I'll see what I can do," Adrian said, and to his surprise he realised that he meant it. "Hypnotise me," Albert requested, "hypnotise me and make me think that I'm taking a walk in the country, on a sunny day, with my wife, both of us aged about 26. Oh, and no offence, but keep out of the scene." "Agreed," Adrian promised, as he bent down to begin his feeding. As he died, Albert was smiling, feeling the warmth of both the sun on his face and his wife's hand in his. The clock began to move once more, the red lights shining out the numbers 03:14. When he straightened up, Adrian was crying. |
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