… An Excerpt from Eyes of the Seer,
Ch. 3
A pensive silence settled between us, with me already set to
the thrill of stalking and Timothy following suit. We paused by a small
grouping of humans and watched as a single female departed from the rest of her
friends, walking for a narrower side street.
Timothy leaned close and whispered in my ear, “I think
that’s your cue.”
That same need which had afflicted me when I beheld my first
victim overwhelmed me again. A slow nod preceded my first cautious steps forward,
a small gust of wind blowing through the short locks of brown atop my head. The
winter wind failed to produce a shiver, and while the short, slender woman I
trailed pulled her coat closed against her body, I allowed mine to sail open,
wearing my apathy like an accessory of the hunt. She failed to hear me
approach, which only pleased me further. My would-be victim wouldn’t know I was
there until she felt my breath tickle at her neck.
We passed by the entrance to an alley.
“Now!” a harsh whisper commanded, from somewhere close
behind.
I leaped forward, grabbing the human girl and pushing her
into the alley until her back hit the unforgiving force of concrete. She yelped
out the beginnings of a scream, but I cupped her mouth with my hand, my fangs
descending and piercing her skin while she wriggled and clawed at me. I could
smell her fear and tasted it in quantity while mouthful after mouthful of her
blood cascaded down my throat.
Within minutes, her lifeless corpse fell to the ground at my
feet.
“Brilliant!” Timothy said with a clap, walking forward and
crouching down to regard my victim. Lost in the afterglow of such ecstasy, I
beheld him in a dreamlike state, the decline back to my senses a slow, but
steady one. He glanced up at me and smirked, macabre delight dancing in his
eyes. “Why don’t we dispose of this and be on our way?”
A final shudder of pleasure rattled my psyche as I nodded
and bent to help. Soon little more than remains inside a dumpster, the woman
had been completely forgotten by the time we made it out toward the street.
Mental clarity returned just in time for Timothy to open his mouth to speak.
“The Mistress tells me you’ve still been having trouble
remembering things,” he said, reaching into his coat pocket to light another
cigarette.
I nodded, glancing away. “I probably wouldn’t even know my
name was Peter if you all hadn’t told me.”
“You had a wallet on you. It was hard not to know.” Timothy
held the cigarette to his lips, drawing deep enough to cause the orange embers
at the end to flair. He paused to exhale first before speaking again. “Memories
are superfluous anyway. You know the important things. How to button a shirt.
How to speak English. That you write with your right hand.”
The cavalier way he stated that startled me. “You pay close
attention to details.”
“I always have. You could say I’ve been the Mistress’s eyes
ever since my turning.” He offered me a wink, settling comfortably into the
silence that followed until we made it to the coven. The downstairs was still
bustling when we entered and I felt the urge to slink away from the activity.
Michael was mercifully absent, but I felt it best not to tempt fate. “I should
settle in a little. You guys gave me so much stuff. I have yet to sort through
it all.”
“Just helping you get comfortable.” He nodded and allowed me
to ascend the stairs. Midway up, he spoke my name, prompting me to pause and
glance back at him. “Don’t
be too troubled about it,” he said. “The memory loss, that is. It’ll come back.
You just need time.”
“That’s what I was hoping.” I flashed an amiable grin,
reflecting on the events of that evening. My smile broadened. “I’m having too
much fun to be worried about it anyway.”
“That’s the spirit.”
My gaze evaluated the trappings of my new life again.
Rebirth surrounded me, making me an empty canvas waiting to be covered with
bloody brushstrokes. Still, when my gaze returned to Timothy, I could not help
but to notice the wolfish grin return to his face. I perked an eyebrow. “Are you always like this with new
vampires? You’ve been so helpful.”
“You’re
special,” he said, “And the Mistress favors you.” He nodded once before turning
his back on me. “Have a good night, Peter.”
“You, too.”
Watching him until he disappeared into the common area, I remained standing
there for moments afterward, weighing those words while not sure what his
comment meant. The riddle continued to haunt me while I undressed in my room
and even when I settled into sleep for the day. It took shutting my eyes in
surrender to fatigue for the question to stop rattling around in my mind.
Deep inside
the lull of sleep, however, the cadence of a persistent whisper encroached upon
me from some distant corner of my subconscious. I heard a voice speak, bearing
the tone of an unwelcome visitor from the grave, summoning me toward lucidity
after only a few hours’ rest.
Lydia.
Something
other than the memory of her dropping dead at my feet rushed through my newborn
vampire haze, bringing me face to face with a creature that looked strangely
familiar. I saw the person she beckoned staring at me from across an expanse, a
tall man who once bore sympathetic blue eyes and a kind demeanor. Shooting
to a seated position, I blinked against the darkness while attempting to settle
my shaky nerves.
And still her
words echoed.
‘I love you, Dr. Dawes.’
Dr. Peter
Dawes. That had been me.
Interested
in reading more? Eyes of the Seer is
available for purchase from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the iTunes store.
***
Peter Dawes is the
author of The Vampire Flynn Series, published by the micro-press Crimson Melodies. His serial story, “A Maker and His Child” appears on the BloodTideZine website and short “Lost Highway” has been
featured in the Nocturnal Embers anthology, also by Crimson Melodies. While primarily
a novelist, he has also written stories for the anthology Red
Phone Box, featuring the work of fellow
authors Warren Ellis, Dan Wickline, and more. Always working on something new,
Peter leaves it up to the reader to decide if it’s by sunlight or candlelight.
The third book of The Vampire Flynn Series – Fate of the Seer
– will be released late this August, through Crimson Melodies Publishing.
Peter is also currently working on a medieval fantasy novel, The Unquiet Dead, which will be released
sometime in early 2014.
