PROLOGUE
Augustus looked out over the sea. The latest human he’d turned to a vampire was chained at his feet awaiting her sentencing. When had his life become so empty? He’d been a vampire for over two hundred years, and yet he couldn’t find one person to spend his life with.
Over the years he’d escaped many things, capture, death, the sun. None of the elements had struck him, and yet he couldn’t find a single person to spend his future with. His life was a long line of feeding and empty fucking. No one wanted to have a conversation with him. They were always more interested in being turned so they could start on their own rampage.
“Please, Augustus, I’m sorry,” Helen said. She lay begging at his feet. Her punishment was already destined. She’d been a beautiful female but had grown tiresome as she killed every human she walked past in her thirst for blood.
“You’re sorry now. For how long are you sorry? A day? A week? Or until another human has cut themselves? I wonder, which one.” Augustus turned back to look at where he’d spent the last twenty years. It was easy to start out in a new town. He could pretend to age for a while, and only when he couldn’t keep his appearance close to his supposed age did people gossip.
“I swear, I didn’t mean it.”
“I’ve kept you for a month, Helen, and in that time you’ve caused me more problems than you’re worth. Tell me, why should I help you?” he asked.
“Because I’m newly turned. You warned me this could happen. I know I’m not perfect, and I’m sorry. I always try to be perfect for you,” she said.
He laughed. She lay beneath him, and yet her mind always turned to the blood.
“I don’t know why I bother.” In the next moment he snapped her neck and tore her head from her body. Staring at her lifeless form, Augustus set her aflame. Another of his human turnings was gone from him. Not all of his human turnings went wrong because of their uncontrollable urge to kill, their blood lust as he called it. Some of the people he turned hated being a vampire, and so they killed themselves. And he felt responsible for all of their deaths. None of their kind could physically kill themselves, so they needed to get another of their kind to kill them.
The humans he’d turned who hated being vampires would beg him to kill them, and when he refused, they went on a rampage, leaving him no choice but to kill them after all.
She’ll be the last.
After seeing Helen’s latest destruction Augustus realised he couldn’t bring another human over to his life. They gave in to the blood lust too easily or were too damned depressed. He’d been cursed to be a vampire. Being turned into a monster hadn’t been a choice for him. His turning had simply been with him in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was nothing he could do to turn the clock back. He was doomed to be a vampire until someone killed him.
He’d met many vampires on his travels. Some of them looked as miserable as he felt, and others looked happy to be alone. He couldn’t recall a single vampire in love.
Love, a sentiment he’d hoped would die with his age. Still, he found himself yearning for love and friendship.
Augustus watched the body burn.
“I must be the only living vampire who wants a friend and a lover.” Shaking his head, he waited until the fire died down and there was nothing left before moving away.
Love for his kind was not heard of. He kept his secret and used the humans he could to get what he wanted. Augustus hated his life. Humans were so fragile, and he always had to be careful in case they lost their way.
Turning away from the sight of the darkened ocean, Augustus headed away to find a new home.
****
One hundred years later
The scent of death clawed along the streets. Augustus watched the humans as they passed. Their misery was clear on their faces, but the misery also filled their minds. All of them hated their life or some form of it. He stood in the worst area of the city where death, sex, and decay were well known.
Augustus came here in order to make himself feel better. He wasn’t hurting for money, and he’d never die of disease. Sex was easy as he wasn’t an ugly man. He knew how to use his cock to satisfy the women he fucked.
No, he came to this part of the city in order to make him feel better with what he did possess in the world.
He couldn’t walk in the sun, but he didn’t have to worry about dying a horrid death. Living for a couple of hundred years guaranteed that. His birthday was tomorrow, and he’d be three hundred years old. Augustus chuckled wondering what the media would think of his age.
Moving down a darkened street, Augustus paused.
“I don’t want to die.” Thoughts struck him hard. A man was dying, and yet he was still fighting it.