Soulstice: Luna's Dream. Lance Jr. Dow

      

      Soulstice: Luna's Dream

      by

      Lance Dow

      Copyright 2012 Lance Dow,

      All rights reserved.

      Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com

       http://www.eBookIt.com

      ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0788-3

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

      “Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity”

      KAHIL GIBRAN

      PROLOGUE: MY SECRET JOURNAL

      Welcome to my world. I am Luna. Luna Tremaine. And I am a vampire.

      All of what I will write here has been handed down the generations verbally. They say writing any of it down would leave us vulnerable to exposure. It is too great a risk. Writing it down is breaking “the code.” But “the code” isn’t written down either for the same reason. There’s something a little fishy about that if you ask me, a little cowardly, when someone doesn’t want to commit something to paper.

      I’ve always been a rebel, a secret and quiet rebel. Because I’m actually not brave at all, except within the confines of my room. I’d like to think I’m a noble creature. But it isn’t easy when your existence is predicated on the premise that you don’t exist, coupled with the requirement to live a lot of your life as a total deception. A lie if you will. It makes for some deep and seemingly never-ending and tormented soul-searching. I’m trying to cope. This is an exercise in coping.

      I expect when I’m done getting it off my chest (coping) that I’ll burn this. And I’ll watch the flames consume it and turn it into ashes. Then I’ll crush those ashes to dust and I’ll toss the burnt powder and with it my secrets into the sea just to be sure. Such is the metaphor for my life. I am destined never to be who I really know I am, forever-trapped in this rapidly changing world as a teen vampire.

      I’m ready to fly. I stand on the precipice pen in hand, pad at the ready, ready to leap. It’s so exhilarating here in the solitude of my room with no one to stop me from leaping. I admit I’m scared. I’m committing to paper what is in our world, a grave sin.

      Taking a deep breath... LEAPING

      I really am just like you. That is, if you’re a 15-year old girl trying to figure out this complicated world and your place in it. And let me tell you… fifteen is a complicated age.

      It’s not much different today, the lives and worlds between vampires and humans I mean. We just happen to feed upon you. Well… your blood. We’re not sorry. God made us who we are and you can’t argue with God can you?

      I admit that I love the rush I get from fresh blood in my mouth. I can imagine from what I’ve observed in your commercials and real-life human behavior that’s like your reaction to a creamy milk-chocolate truffle or a bite of velvety key lime pie. That’s blood to me. Sometimes blood has a little “zip.” It tingles on the tongue. That’s an extra special treat when that happens.

      Somewhere in Earth’s constantly evolving and re-invention of itself, we evolved from humans many thousands of years ago. No one is sure quite when. The verbal record is murky. But it was a long, long time ago.

      Many think it was a bite from a mutated vampire bat to a man and a woman who were mates. There was something in the saliva of the bat that then mutated their DNA.

      Our Adam and Eve, so to speak. They produced an offspring with a dominant vampire gene and so it went until we got to the pure-blooded vampires, one of which I am.

      What does that mean to be a pure-blooded vampire? Absolutely nothing nowadays-- the underpinnings of our society are the same as yours--- money, or wealth if you choose, is the arbiter of class and power.

      Vampires lived amongst humans at the beginning. In secret of course, just like now, but our skills were limited and our enhanced bodies had not yet evolved. If a vampire was found out (which was often), it was driven away from human society or, as was the most frequent outcome, killed.

      If something much larger than a mosquito is feeding on you… you’ll tend to shoo them away or whack them dead, right?

      Through the thousands of years we evolved into what we are today; very skilled stalkers. We have superior abilities and senses to humans and in many ways; animals. The truth of the matter is --- we are the most dominate species on the planet in as far as what we are capable of. A contest between me and any human on the planet is no contest at all. A contest between me and a lion or a great white shark… is not a contest at all. I just turned fifteen in September. I’m only fifteen-years old and I have to keep all of this bottled up inside me, for the rest of my life?!

      In almost every other aspect of life, vampires are very much just like you now. We are every race, every color, and we have our various forms of religion. I believe in a greater being with a grand design… God, if you will. To not believe in Him is to believe that something came from nothing, which is impossible, unless God made it so.

      Yes, I unequivocally believe in God. I wear the symbols of His presence-- crosses and such. They give me peace. I’m not choosing one religion over the other. These are the symbols I’ve been exposed to. There’s a Christian church nearby that I visit late at night (it also gives me a sense of peace) and the paintings and statues showing Jesus affect me down into my soul. I’ve read some of the books I find there in the church and I believe what most draws me to Jesus are his expressions of love and goodness. Everything is about loving one another and being an entity for goodness. He also struggled with the same things I do. Well… some of them.

      What is my purpose here on Earth? How do you stay good when there is so much temptation not to be? How do you make the right choices when confronted with the most difficult choices imaginable? That is the journey I find is before me. And I am scared.

      I guess in the end it is strange--- a vampire that believes in God. A vampire that wears crosses, who then goes out and feeds on humans.

      Are you beginning to understand now what I mean when I define myself as a living, breathing contradiction? Can you understand why I’m confused about so many things? Why I seek out God to help me understand? Why I need to get some of this off my chest?

      I’ve gotten a little “me” dramatic here so let me get back to vampires as the focus of this.

      Many thousands of years ago when we separated from the humans we began living and building our own society in the deep woods and forests. The only time we came in contact with humans was to feed on their blood. We made a point to avoid humans; even those that made their lives in the forests.

      When a vampire was found out or captured, they were often killed or an attempt was made to kill them. I say an attempt was made because we simply don’t die as easy as humans. Yes, we certainly can be killed and no, we don’t rise out of the dirt or anything like that. It did seem that way because when we were left mortally wounded by human standards the one ability we evolved was to heal up quickly and live to feed another day. If that vampire was seen again, well naturally you’d think he or she had risen from the dead. No we just heal very fast.

      Our abilities evolved in the deep woods just like the animals; speed, hearing, sight, strength, and an enhanced sense of smell. These abilities are exponentially greater than human beings and exceed that of most animals as well. Actually they are off the charts.

      Our speed and strength aren’t supernatural; they are due to our metabolism, larger adrenaline glands, and the resultant adrenaline production. Meaning, the sugar (glucose) in your human blood is quickly turned into freely usable energy by our skeletal muscles. Translation: Super strength, super speed, and our super-metabolism