A History Mystery: Day Six / Part One

From the Memoirs of Jean Baptiste Morgane

Wednesday, 29 October

I have recovered the lost journal though it pains me to know the depths to which I sunk to retrieve it. My heart tries to convince me I have not betrayed Morgan by doing so, but my mind knows the truth and horror of what I have done. If only it was the sole infamy I perpetrated this dark night. My betrayal goes much deeper.

After hearing the turmoil in Morgan’s mind the night before, I knew I had to go to her and offer some explanation for my actions. Donning a trench coat and hat, I left my shadowy cave before the sun dipped below the Spanish moss strangled cypress trees. My flesh tingled with the heat of the burning orb, but my precautions prevented the harmful rays from directly touching me. My sluggishness impeded my journey but I had to see Morgan with all due haste.
Even though dusk had fallen by the time I reached the campus, students milled freely around the quad as I made my way toward Morgan’s last class of the day. Fearing the connection we shared might prove untrustworthy, I timed my visit so I could come near her before she left for the night. Approaching the classroom, I paused as a rush of students blocking my way. It seemed my plan had worked. As the crowd cleared I saw Morgan’s door standing open.

I hesitated at the door, seeing her conversing with someone near the podium. When they tilted their heads close together, a wave of anger filled me. The sight of another man so close to my woman drove me nearly insane. The slight pressure of my fangs tearing the flesh of my bottom lip shocked me back to my senses. In spite of what my heart thought, Morgan was not my woman. She belonged to no man. She was uniquely her own. That was the very quality that endeared her to me.

Fighting to hold onto my sanity, I moved into the lecture hall. My feet moved feebly toward them. I paused at the top of the stairs leading down to her. Morgan’s sparkling eyes caught sight of me and captured me briefly with their promise of love. My resolve faltered. The thought of losing her too great to bear, I would take this moment, no matter how delusional it might be, and take pleasure in her company. Let tomorrow come and damn me for a fool, but tonight I would be human.

First I had to deal with this interloper. Morgan greeted me with unrestrained longing. Her mad cap dash brought her into my arms, where I enfolded her with every bit of the passion consuming me. Breaking a kiss I had been sure would kick start my heart back to pumping, I caught a look from Morgan’s companion. The hate I saw in his eyes offered me little worry. I flashed him a knowing smile before releasing my hold on Morgan.

My conscience bridled at the concoction of lies that fell from my lips to explain my disappearance but it was for her own good. It helped matters little that she accepted them. The assistant she introduced as Mattias, on the other hand, did not. I am not one to bandy words with a fool, yet found myself doing just that. Only Morgan’s intervention stopped the situation from escalating any further.

Once free of the damnable man’s presence, I did my utmost to calm her fears. She offered the necklace back to me, but I refused. Explaining the present was not some trinket to purchase her affections, I told her the necklace was a gift of the heart and belonged where my heart already resided—with her. That seemed to assuage her fears concerning my intentions. I bade my goodbyes under the pretense of finishing up the business I’d told her had monopolized my time for the past day, promising to see her later that night if it reached a satisfactory conclusion. A gentle kiss ended our time together, though we both yearned for more.

In truth Mattias drew my attention. While Morgan and I said our farewells, the man slipped from the room. My journal sat tucked beneath his arm along with a collection of other manuscripts that held no interest for me. Hugging to the shadows, I followed him through the streets. He, oblivious to my presence, led me directly to his home. The entire time his mouth worked feverously spouting diatribes against my person. They were laughable, amusing me with their content. At least he had to good taste to love Morgan. Not that I’d allow him to live, or so I’d thought.

My luck held as we reached his merger abode. The small avenue sat cloaked in shadow, deserted for all intents and purposes. It took little effort to overtake him within the confines of the slender portico over his door. I admit no small enjoyment at the look upon his face, as I shoved him inside. Fear reeked from the man like strangled perfume. The scent of his death lurked beneath it. I tasted it. Wanted it.

I truthfully cannot state why I did not take his life there and then. Perhaps some small bit of humanity still resides within my cold body. If I looked deeper, I would honestly say Morgan stayed my hand. Through our connection, I felt her love for this man; not the burning passion she felt for me, but a kinship I was loath to take away from her. Nevertheless, I could not leave him free to tell of my monstrosity.

The act was distasteful to me, yet I did it all the same. I pulled him to me and drank deep, not enough to send him to whatever hells awaited him but just the amount to bind him to me. His brain fought to dissolve the control I exerted over him. I marveled at the strength he displayed. In the end, no mind could combat the mental dominance of a vampire. In the darkness, his eyes flew back to white and he was mine to do with what I will.

With the merest of suggestion, he placed the journal in my hand, along with some notes he’d worked up that day. I took them greedily, securing them in my overcoat. Mattias stared blankly into my face, awaiting my next command. I planted the idea of sleep into his mind, telling him that should Morgan inquire about his studies concerning the journal, the work was slow in coming. I was not sure she would believe his tale, but prayed their friendship would calm any fears she might have. I left him yawning as he made his way to bed.

Closing the door behind me, I knew I must see Morgan after returning the journal and Mattias’ papers to my home, where they still sit beside this journal. I find myself hesitant to open the tattered binding to replay my humanity. The pain is too great for me now. Instead I will secret them along with the other remnants of my past, I would as soon forget.

That done, the urgency to see Morgan overruled whatever reason I had left to me. Like a sparrow straight from the bowels of hell, I flew through the streets. Each second of the journey burned an eternity through my dark soul.

Reaching her doorway, I knew this night would only end with our bodies entwined. I ached for her beneath me, boring not her life into me but her love. Blood no longer sustains me. Only Morgan Beauchamp does. Tonight I took all I could and knew it would never be enough to sate the thirst I feel for her.