Ab Aeterno

Keefe huddled in the corner of his bathroom, allowing the sink’s faucet to pour its hot liquid into the overflowing basin. The water cascaded onto the tiled floor below. There, the water mixed with blood, swirling around like the paint his mother would let him use when he was a child.

The man rocked back and forth; his bloody hands held onto his neck in a defensive, yet panicked, stance. “Why did she go?” he muttered to himself. “Why? Why did she… why?”

A week that had been so perfect had ended so abruptly, so painfully.

He remembered the soft touch of her skin, the way her hair smelled like cherry blossoms, the strawberry flavor of her lip gloss. Every dress she wore; every song they danced to.

He recalled the night they had stopped at a light and she leaned over to kiss him in his convertible; the moonlight beamed at them, revealing her sins to the polar bears of the Coca-Cola billboard that stood above them. At that intersection it had been them and no one else feeling what love was truly about. Not the daring public displays of affection or his fascination with all the subtle curves of her body; no, their love was about enjoying each other and forgetting the rest of the world existed.

“You’re amazing Nasya.”

She had smiled, the moonlight helping her teeth brighten in contrast to her scarlet -lips. “You’re probably the only one who thinks that Keefe.”

“Then people are idiots.”

Keefe held his hand out before him, staring at the blood caked on it. “Why is there so much? There shouldn’t be so much.” He grabbed the edge of the sink to help him stand, but the water caused him to slip back to the floor. The waterfall deepened to crimson due to the bloodied handprints his attempt left behind.

The sight reminded Keefe of the events of the night. The events that ended their perfect love with nothing but pain.

He had made a candlelit dinner, pasta puttanesca with wine. A trail of rose petals led from the table to the bedroom, showing Nasya where he planned to have dessert. With the right vinyl on the record player, everything was perfect.

“This is a great dish,” Nasya whispered, licking the fork devilishly after eating a few bites of her pasta.

He found it difficult to not be aroused and time seemed to slow as her tongue caressed her lip.

“Do you love me Keefe?”

His hand stopped short of his glass of wine. Was a week long enough to make such a decision?

She sighed. “I suppose the question was…”

“Of course. I love you.”

Her eyes closed and a smile spread across her face.

It took her only a second to reach across the table to place her lips against his. He climbed on top of the sturdy structure to claw at the back of her dress. His glass of wine knocked over.

The glass fell harmlessly to the carpet, bouncing a few times upon impact, but the Merlot splashed everywhere, staining the white carpet.

Nasya’s eyes widened as she watched the wine fall.

“Don’t worry about it; I’ll take care of it later.”

She turned her attention back to Keefe. Instead of continuing her onslaught against his wardrobe, she grabbed her head in both hands.

“Nasya? Nasya!”

She shook her head, a frown replacing the tempting smile of earlier. Her teeth that had once caressed his neck flashed in the candlelight; they were no longer the picture-perfect molars as before., Now, they were something much more dangerous, something much more interested in what the wine resembled.

Keefe did not notice.

All he could notice were the two sanguine eyes that stared straight into his soul.

“Holy…” He rolled off the table away from the creature that once had been his beloved. Deftly, he ran into his kitchen.

“What’s wrong Keefe? Do you not like me in my true form?” she asked as she followed him. Her voice was too low, too masculine for someone of Nasya’s femininity.

“What are you?” he yelled and grabbed a nearby butcher’s knife.

“I am a companion of the night; I am ab aeterno.” She lunged forward, hoping to sink her teeth into his neck.

Keefe thrust forward with the knife, and the blade pierced deep into her stomach.

The blade did not save his neck from being mauled by his attacker. He screamed in pain and yanked the knife from her stomach and attacked her again. This time he stabbed her in the heart.

Nasya collapsed to her knees. Her fall allowed Keefe to run past her into his bathroom. He slammed the door shut and locked it, hoping to keep whatever Nasya had turned into away from him. He turned the faucet on high and wetted a towel which he pressed against his neck.

He dropped the wet rag onto the flooded floor of his bathroom. Hoping to become as tiny as possible, Keefe huddled into the corner. His body tingled as though he had been electrocuted. He rocked back and forth. “Why did she go?” he mumbled, pressing his hands against his wounded neck. “Why? Why did she… why? Why did she go crazy?”

Nasya grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out of her heart. She winced in pain. The metal clanged against the tile of the kitchen as it fell; the blood seeped into the caulk-filled crevices.

Keefe attempted to stand, attempted to find some defense against this creature he once loved. But his hand only slipped against the wet sink and he fell to floor. Too much blood had been lost, and the path of least resistance called for him to close his eyes and fall back into the water. Doing so formed a halo of blood to form around his head.

The vampire walked toward the bathroom door, noting the stained water that trickled from the crack under the door. She grinned.

Slowly, Keefe’s eyes began to flutter open. He noted the opened bathroom door. The hands cradling his head shifted; a single finger ran along his bottom lip. His tongue flicked against his teeth, and he noted the metallic taste. “Now you shall love me forever. Ab aeterno.” The statement filled him with dread. His eyes bulged open. And from their abyss, a red light shined.