Simon De Noir listened meditatively as the night-sounds of the Bayou echoed through the mansion. While he was still in France he had the real estate agent hire a construction supervisor and a crew to cut away encroaching vines, to paint, to refurbish, to restore the outbuildings. “No,” he told the overly efficient agent. “You are not to have electricity put in. I want the place in its original condition. The river is to remain the only mode of access. I want furnishings, lawns, statuary, to reflect its pre civil war splendor. I will worry about the cost. You get it done in six months. If you accomplish that I will see that you are handsomely rewarded.”
Tonight was his first night in “Belle Arbres” and he was satisfied with the work. He stood on the immense verandah in total darkness. The three-quarter moon provided more light than he needed.... enough to cast long and pale shadows across the lawns and into the weeping river. Simon walked forlornly down to the private dock and a stranger watching him move would have been shocked to notice that he, Simon, cast no shadow at all. He stood out on the dock and looked across the river into the darkness of the adjoining swamp. Tears ran down his handsome face and he sighed, “ Oh my Vanya.”
The lives they had shared rolled through his mind, images of Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Scotland. Each country each home contained images, snippets of her and always her. He had taken this mansion because it was on running water. He wanted it near. He wanted to wade into it and feel frozen in time as Vanya must of felt. He wanted to die as she had died. That dreadful night, he had heard her call his name from five miles away and he wanted to call out Vanya as he ended his so-called immortality. He had tasted only enough blood since she went to keep himself alive...alive till he found the proper place. The right moment. “I am coming soon my Vanya.” He whispered into the darkness of the beckoning river.
Their last grand house in Provence had been one of their happiest. He had acquired four “symbiots” who exchanged blood for power, beauty, sex, and depravity. Four who submitted to monthly bleedings in order to feel his power, his dominance his hypnotic control. Also, they had their way with the mortals within the city, wealth was easy to acquire, unimagined beauty, vigor, strength. Sexual revelries with Simon and Vanya, which surpassed mundane, sex as flying surpassed walking. He had granted them shape-shifting powers: the cloak of the wolf, the cloak of the serpent. And, as “symbiots” of Simon a direct telepathic connection to he and Vanya.
Each wanted the ultimate metamorphosis, to be turned “Nosferatu” but Simon and Vanya had vowed to have only each other. Vanya had her symbiot males, four also. So their family consisted of ten. When Vanya and Simon slept the deep sleep, there were eight to manage, to care for the business of the day. What he and Vanya shared was never affected by the sex, control, power exchanges within the group. Still it was and remained - he and she as it had been for centuries: centuries of love, centuries of telepathy. How could Simon continue. How could he find Vanya again. He may find a symbiot to keep him healthy, to keep up his strength only till he found the right time. Vanya would call him into the running water. He must be thinking clearly when she did.
Simon had killed the human offal who had driven Vanya into the water with their incantations, charms, prayers, their salt barriers. As, she froze locked in the running water they had driven hawthorn and rose stakes into her beautiful body. They had enjoyed it. He saw the entire sacrilege through her eyes. He had shifted and flown to her but their salt barrier held him at bay. They had desecrated his love and he had made each one of them to suffer. Especially that meddling priest, Le Fable. Simon spat into the water thinking of him.
Simon needed to move from the whispering river. The time was not right. He would wait for her call. He returned to the grand house and seated himself at the piano, and tried to play up a vision of his Vanya. He was weak from lack of sustenance and decided that tomorrow night he would travel in the cloak of a wolf into the small village of Dumais Landing. He would not go with enthusiasm, an emotion he had not felt since that night. Still…he needed a symbiot….
Tonight was his first night in “Belle Arbres” and he was satisfied with the work. He stood on the immense verandah in total darkness. The three-quarter moon provided more light than he needed.... enough to cast long and pale shadows across the lawns and into the weeping river. Simon walked forlornly down to the private dock and a stranger watching him move would have been shocked to notice that he, Simon, cast no shadow at all. He stood out on the dock and looked across the river into the darkness of the adjoining swamp. Tears ran down his handsome face and he sighed, “ Oh my Vanya.”
The lives they had shared rolled through his mind, images of Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Scotland. Each country each home contained images, snippets of her and always her. He had taken this mansion because it was on running water. He wanted it near. He wanted to wade into it and feel frozen in time as Vanya must of felt. He wanted to die as she had died. That dreadful night, he had heard her call his name from five miles away and he wanted to call out Vanya as he ended his so-called immortality. He had tasted only enough blood since she went to keep himself alive...alive till he found the proper place. The right moment. “I am coming soon my Vanya.” He whispered into the darkness of the beckoning river.
Their last grand house in Provence had been one of their happiest. He had acquired four “symbiots” who exchanged blood for power, beauty, sex, and depravity. Four who submitted to monthly bleedings in order to feel his power, his dominance his hypnotic control. Also, they had their way with the mortals within the city, wealth was easy to acquire, unimagined beauty, vigor, strength. Sexual revelries with Simon and Vanya, which surpassed mundane, sex as flying surpassed walking. He had granted them shape-shifting powers: the cloak of the wolf, the cloak of the serpent. And, as “symbiots” of Simon a direct telepathic connection to he and Vanya.
Each wanted the ultimate metamorphosis, to be turned “Nosferatu” but Simon and Vanya had vowed to have only each other. Vanya had her symbiot males, four also. So their family consisted of ten. When Vanya and Simon slept the deep sleep, there were eight to manage, to care for the business of the day. What he and Vanya shared was never affected by the sex, control, power exchanges within the group. Still it was and remained - he and she as it had been for centuries: centuries of love, centuries of telepathy. How could Simon continue. How could he find Vanya again. He may find a symbiot to keep him healthy, to keep up his strength only till he found the right time. Vanya would call him into the running water. He must be thinking clearly when she did.
Simon had killed the human offal who had driven Vanya into the water with their incantations, charms, prayers, their salt barriers. As, she froze locked in the running water they had driven hawthorn and rose stakes into her beautiful body. They had enjoyed it. He saw the entire sacrilege through her eyes. He had shifted and flown to her but their salt barrier held him at bay. They had desecrated his love and he had made each one of them to suffer. Especially that meddling priest, Le Fable. Simon spat into the water thinking of him.
Simon needed to move from the whispering river. The time was not right. He would wait for her call. He returned to the grand house and seated himself at the piano, and tried to play up a vision of his Vanya. He was weak from lack of sustenance and decided that tomorrow night he would travel in the cloak of a wolf into the small village of Dumais Landing. He would not go with enthusiasm, an emotion he had not felt since that night. Still…he needed a symbiot….
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