Rbedroom as Sage awakened in her queen-sized bed. Sitting up, she thought back to her encounter the night before with the vampire she had picked up at the club. During the encounter, she imagined Cristian’s face, wishing it were he she was intimate with, but knowing that it wasn’t possible. Cristian was dead and she would never see him again. She had all of eternity to miss him, mourn him. Her biggest regret was never getting the chance to tell him that she loved him. He died never knowing how deeply she loved him.
Cristian awoke in his bed at his loft in Greenwich Village. His head throbbing from a hangover, he slowly climbed out the bed and groggily stepped into the bathroom to splash water on his face and take aspirin. After taking a shower and brushing his teeth, he walked back into his bedroom and noticed that he had two missed calls flashing on his cell phone. He picked it up to check his voicemail. “Son, I wanted you to know that your mother and I will be at the exhibit next week. So set some tickets aside for us, alright? Love you.” He checked the second message. “Hey, West, hope you had a good time last night,” his manager said. “Very funny, Robert,” Cristian thought. “Just a reminder that the press will want an interview with you before your presentation of the masterpiece, but no worries, ok? I’ll talk to you later.” Hanging up the phone, Cristian thought of how a reflection of the mysterious beauty appeared in the steam of the mirror while he was showering last night. How was that possible? Was his mind playing tricks on him? He didn’t know what to think.
The doorbell rang as the deliverers brought crate upon crate of the mysterious, sealed, shipments marked “Fragile” to the door of the brick building. The door creaked open as the deliverymen looked at each other frightened when they didn’t see anyone. “Hello,” one of the deliverymen said. “Hi,” Anna said standing behind him, seemingly appearing from thin air, startling him with a jump. She grinned. “We… ha…have a...a… del...delivery for a...a…a... Nayah,” the man said, stuttering. “Yes, I know,” Anna replied. “You can bring them inside,” she said, smiling. As the men brought in the crates, they heard an echo of indistinct, strange sounds. The frightened men picked up the pace unloading the crates. Once their task was completed, they hurriedly got on the delivery truck and sped off. Anna laughed as Sage appeared from the darkness. “You smell that?” Anna asked. “Yes,” Sage replied. “I smell fear.”
After dragging the crates into the insulated walk-in storage area, Sage began to open them, cutting the seal with her claws. “Animal blood!” Anna exclaimed. “Yuck,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “You know I don’t like to drink human blood,” Sage said. “I know, but animal blood…,” Anna said, frowning. “You drink human blood, yet you’re squeamish about animal blood?” Sage said, incredulous. Anna shrugged her shoulders.
Rafael, a devout vegan, feasted on a meal of tofu and pasta made from whole wheat while his assistant munched on a ham sandwich. “I don’t see how you can eat that,” John said wiping
DARKNESS AND LIGHTmayonnaise from the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “I don’t see how you can eat that,” Rafael said, watching him eat the ham sandwich, with disgust. John looked around at the people eating at the dinner tables in the bed and breakfast. “So what do we do now?” he asked. “We wait,” Rafael answered. “She’ll make another move, and we’ll take it from there.” “So is she really a vampire queen, or is that just a nickname?” John asked. “She’s a real vampire queen born of royal blood,” Rafael said. “Her parents were a vampire king and queen.” “But if her parents were vampires, why wasn’t she born a vampire?” he said. “Shhh, lower your voice,” Rafael said, looking at the people staring at them strangely. “Her parents were human before they were turned, and they were only turned after her mother gave birth to her.” “Ok,” John said, confused. “Her parents became vampires after Sage was born,” Rafael said. “Oh!” John exclaimed. “The story is that when Sage was supposed to be turned, she fell in love with a carpenter, but it ended badly and then she was turned, and it’s been a game of cat and mouse to hunt her down and kill her ever since.” “So she’s the last royal vampire?” John asked. “She’s the last of the Nayah family; so in a sense, she is the last royal vampire,” Rafael said. “So why kill her?” John asked. “Kill the head and the rest of the body dies,” Rafael said plainly. “She’s the top dog, so to speak,” he said. “She has to die.” He smiled. “Sage has become like an enigma.” “A fable, if you will.” He became serious. “But it’s time to bring this story to a close, and what a fitting end for good to triumph over evil,” he said smirking. “This is the weapon I’m going to use to dispatch her,” he said opening his jacket, discreetly revealing the silver stake that was used to eliminate her parents. “This will be my crowning achievement,” he said.
Sage stared out the window of the grand living room as Pedro stood watching her, wishing it was he that consumed her thoughts. “Buenos días, mi reina,” he said. She smiled at him. “Good morning, Pedro,” she said. He walked over to her and stared into her eyes. Leaning in as if he wanted to kiss her, but instead brushing his hand against her cheek. “I saw you leave with that vampire last night,” he said, feeling jealous. “I had an itch that needed to be scratched,” she said. Pedro’s jaw tightened. He didn’t like when another man, be it human or nonhuman, touched Sage. He wanted to be the only vampire to touch her, to make love to her, but she kept him at a distance. Anna walked in, giving him a curious look as he excused himself. “This arrived,” she said placing the newspaper on the mahogany table. “On page five, there’s an article about a showing at the art gallery next Thursday,” she said. “We need to enliven this place with some art,” she said, looking at the empty spaces on the wall. Sage nodded her head nonchalantly. “It’s a showing from an artist named West.” Sage stared blankly.“Cristian West,” Anna said. The name “Cristian” spurring her full attention, Sage grabbed the newspaper from the table. There was no photograph of the artist with the same name as her beloved in the article. It only spoke of his line of paintings called West Collections and that he would be unveiling his latest masterpiece at the showing. “Looks like we’re going to be attending this gala next week then,” Sage said, feeling her stomach flutter. “I figured you’d be interested in going,” Anna grinned knowingly.
Meanwhile, surprising everyone with his early arrival at the gallery, Cristian stared at his masterpiece of this woman he couldn’t escape from in his mind. She was constantly in his thoughts. It was as if he knew her. He felt an intense urgency to paint her portrait, because he couldn’t forget her face. He didn’t want to forget her face. “Who are you?” he wondered aloud.
“Do you even exist?”