Free Outsider by W. Freedreamer Tinkanesh

futile. He had the strength of a
vampire who had seen empires fall under the sheer weight of their
greed. He was so ancient that he had never bothered telling her any
of his names because none could encompass his whole being.
    He reveled in her growing hate for him, her
increasing anger and resentment. She was but a mere fledgling and
he was almighty. She despised herself for not resisting his
magnetic attraction.
    The night he seduced her husband and
delighted in draining him from his blood, Jasmine remembered she
did mind having been forcibly taken away from her life, she did
mind her children not having their mother anymore, she did mind the
Stranger keeping her under his thumb and on constant tiptoes. She
swore to the full moon that the monster would suffer and pay the
heaviest price she could bill him.
     
    * * * * * * *
     
    The Stranger was, to say the least, a rich
vampire. He owned a few properties dotting the country and he
enjoyed touring them when London and Edinburgh brought him
look-a-like victims night after night. His manor in Cornwall stood
just at the edge of a tiny village and looked like a picture right
out of the middle ages with peasants to match. Superstitions a
bonus that Jasmine was willing to use and manipulate.
    Her face had the pale and deathly shine of a
vampire freshly raised. They looked at her and they saw a beautiful
young woman with long, dark hair, pure and virginal in her white,
long dress. They looked into her dark, innocent eyes and they saw a
woman endangered by evil. Evil being the noble man from the gloomy
manor at the edge of the village. They picked up torches lit with
purifying fire and walked to the Stranger’s property. Dusk was nigh
but they couldn’t guess the threat. Jasmine, the hems of her dress
laden with natal soil, gave them way.
    The flames licked at the orange horizon.
Smoke darkening the last rays of the setting sun.
    When the stranger’s eyes snapped open, the
smell of burning walls and drapes was still only a flutter barely
tickling his sensitive nostrils. The cracking noises of the fire a
deafening roar in his acute ears. But it was already too late.
    The blazing creature who ran out of the
burning manor, screaming and writhing with rage and pain, struck
the crowd of villagers assembled for the impromptu show with sudden
panic. The Stranger stood motionless for only the briefest second,
enough to locate Jasmine at the far end of the crowd, enough for
Jasmine to sense the reeling agony, the unbelieving feeling of
betrayal. She kicked off her pumps and ran into the village, faster
than any villagers’ eyes would ever be able to follow, like a flash
of light. The Stranger hot and flaming on her trail. Kindling
villagers in his path.
    By the time she emerged at the other end, the
village was ablaze and the sun had ruefully cast a last ray at the
unprotected vampire. The Stranger was slowly decomposing. Jasmine
ran into the nearby forest.
    When she encountered the wolves, adrenaline
left her and she let herself slide down to the ground. The tallest
and greyest animal cautiously approached her. His yellow eyes
avoiding hers, he crouched as low as he could, offering his throat
to her mercy. The other animals were shuffling on their spot,
uncertainly watching, silently yelping.
    After a moment worth a thousand shuddering
eternities, the vampire’s hand swiftly grabbed the animal’s
vulnerable throat, forcing a gargling sound out of his jaws,
forcing fear into his cunning eyes, forcing his gaze into her
mesmerizing stare. Cruelty gave sharpness to her facial
features.
    When she released the alpha male, he cowered
a few feet away, turned to the nearest wolf and growled at him.
Some more snarling and cowering later, they took her to a dark cave
in the secret recesses of the forest, and before dawn, they brought
her a victim, a human child, to satiate her ravenous hunger.
     
    * * * * * * *
     
    The following year, her now grown-up son died
in a riding accident. She visited