The Queen's Shadow

Welcome Home.

~~~Gabriel May 1, 1950, I had woken up in a cold sweat again, I was there again I was at war all over again even though it had been five years. I am 29 and I was back in Baltimore Maryland. I looked over to see my wife as she was sleeping comfortably, and then I went to go to the bathroom to take a piss. It was May 1st, 1950. I had finished my service with the army in 1947, and I was honorably discharged. I had looked around the modest house I had grown up in and enjoyed transitioning into my dad's bedroom. I met my wife a few months after I came home, a little bit after October of 1946. She was beautiful and had dark chocolate skin, Wendy was the light of my life in this ugly world.

I had looked into the mirror and looked at my scars from where the knife stabbed me, it had become a keloid. The skin was thick and hard in that area sometimes it would burn in the cold. Hands began to wrap around my waist, I wasn't startled in fact; I was sad. I had disturbed her rest once again with my nightmares and she had to wake up in a few hours.

'You okay?' Her soft tired voice sounded sweet and worrying. Between the fact that she was taking care of a child and her work, she was constantly stressed. I would do my best to take care of Adrian but christ was he a busy little body? She had been 2 months pregnant with my son or daughter, they were due in October I couldn't wait to meet them. To be honest, I was very frightened of the thought of being a father, I did not want to repeat the mistakes my father did. Adrian wasn't my son; he was actually the product of an unwilling affair that happened at her job. I still treated him like he was mine, he was a good boy and he didn't deserve to be treated like he wasn't. I gaze down at my wedding ring and how the light reflected off of it. It was a simple sterling silver ring, I looked at Hers and saw how small it looked. She deserved better but that was all I could give her.

"Yes, I'll be fine." I didn't think I would be fine but I didn't want her to worry. her hands tightened around my body and I could feel her self body pushing up against my back. I finally turned after washing my hands and said: "are you?" Her smile was so beautiful even with some of the imperfections, she kept her hair cut short and I loved it. Her face was around and she had a slightly sharp chin. She was slightly older than me by about two years but I was okay with this, her figure was voluptuous but she had more weight on her because she had a baby on the way when I met her. Her beautiful brown eyes were pure and kind, with a hint of pain.

'Yes, Gabe.'

I looked at her, how could I tell her of the dreams not of war these were dreams of places I had never been. Dreams of a woman I had never seen, her red hair and golden eyes the most apparent followed by that pale as-snow skin.

I had woken up for the morning to arrive I was still groggy from the lack but a bath would fix then I could get ready to leave, the smell of Wendy's cooking almost always made me hungry, the smell of sausage, eggs, cornbread made my stomach rumble. I had eaten fast as my shift at the steel mill would start soon. It was 4:30 am and I was almost always early for my 6:00 am shift. She took Adrian with her until it was time for him to go to school, where the local church would help the kids get back and forth to school. It was great that the church tried to help the kids get an education.

~~~Lilith

December 30th, 1944.

I smiled as this fat bag of blood came into my hotel room, her sweet scent permeated the area, when humans sweat they're actually letting out an aroma to vampires. Some humans can smell just like a meal; this is what also gave feeding on people its charm because when you went hunting the best time for it would be in the summer. Yes, could you argue that you could feed in the winter, and typically the fact that it gets dark around that time quickly makes it great not to be seen? I prefer when it's summer the human blood pumps so much more vibrantly activity, and when they sweat you could smell some of the last things they ate which could season their blood. My favorite type of people to drain in the summer and winter though were fat people.