Free To Curse the Darkness by P.G. Forte Page A

circumstances, would seem entirely reasonable. After all, at times when we are weak or injured, vampire blood often acts as a restorative.”
    â€œBut not in this case?”
    â€œNo. In the case of this it did nothing but serve to spread the disease faster, as was no doubt intended.”
    â€œAnd is it always fatal?”
    Conrad nodded. “Yes. Always. That was its purpose, after all. It was engineered as a way to destroy us. Ad maledicam tenebris : to curse the darkness. It would hardly have been effective had it been something we could overcome.”
    â€œAnd by ‘darkness’ I assume you mean vampires?”
    â€œIndeed. It was not just a commentary on the supposed state of our souls, you know. At that time, the night was much darker than it is today. There was no light to be had, other than that which was fueled by flame. As fire is a particular weakness of ours, we kept much more to the shadows than we do in this modern age. Hence, to many humans, we were Darkness personified. We represented all the dangers that lurked unseen.”
    â€œYou say it was engineered. By whom?”
    â€œIt’s difficult to say exactly. The world was very different then. It was more…secretive. Not like today, where there is always some group or some individual eager to claim the credit whenever an atrocity occurs. Our enemies at that time were content to keep their identities a secret from us. As well they might, since retribution was frequently unpleasant. There were those among us who believed that making an example of those we caught would dissuade others from joining them. It was not a theory I subscribed to, but I was not the only one searching.”
    â€œBut you did find some of them?”
    â€œSome, yes. As near as we could tell, it was a collaboration between alchemists and the Church. As you should know from your history, vampires were generally perceived to be demonic creatures, a threat to human life and the soul’s eternal salvation. We had many enemies as a result. In addition, we had not yet adopted a policy of maintaining secrecy, of attempting to blend in and hide our true natures. There were still many of us who preferred to stand out, to use fear and violence as weapons, to scare people into submission. But ‘he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword’, or so they say. And so it was for most of them. For however aggressive one may be, there will always be someone who is stronger or more fearsome or more desperate for power than you.”
    Julie suppressed a shudder when a vision of Conrad ripping the head off another vampire whispered through her mind. “I bet you were one of the more fearsome ones, huh?”
    â€œSome of the time I was,” Conrad replied quietly. “Mostly I was concerned with my family. I wanted my people to be safe. My own mistress’s downfall had proved to me that while violence begets fear, the reverse is just as often true. Fear begets violence. She was judged invincible in her day. Yet an angry mob armed only with torches proved that assumption false.”
    â€œShe was killed by a mob?”
    â€œThat’s how she was defeated, yes.”
    Julie frowned. She was sure there was more to the story than that. She was tempted to pursue it, but that could wait for another time. Right now they were getting too far from the subject at hand. “So…Christian is a carrier. Isn’t that what you said?”
    â€œIf what he told me is correct, he was infected while still a human. That’s how it was spread at first. There have always been humans who have been amenable to being fed upon. Most were probably ignorant of their part in spreading the plague. Like Christian, they were infected without their knowledge. But I’m sure a few knew exactly what they were doing; perhaps they were sympathetic to our enemies’ cause, or perhaps they were paid to infect us and cared only about the money they were given.