Forever the Dark Grave

Forever the Dark Grave

by

Jacob M. Drake

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PUBLISHED BY:

Jacob M. Drake on Smashwords

Forever the Dark Grave

Copyright 2010 by Jacob M. Drake

Cover design Copyright 2010 by Gina Appleton

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

First Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

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Author's Note

As with all the books I write I had a lot of fun writing Forever the Dark Grave as well. A lot of thought, hard work and agonizing went into the plot and characterization.

I hope everyone who reads this story and all of what is to come enjoys this concept as much as I had writing it. Please feel free to contact me at any time by e-mailing this author at: eternal.naturist2@gmail.com. Although I am busy with writing more stories every day as the plots and characters appear within my over-active imagination, I do attempt to read and respond to all e-mail I receive in a timely manner.

I would like to thank Mark Coker for providing his work on how to get finished stories published to Smashwords. Without his insightful assistance I never would have been able to place the many stories I have written the past few years onto the internet where they could be read by all those who have taken to reading eBooks. Thanks, Mark.

I also want to thank Gina Appleton for the beautiful cover she designed for this eBook. Gina is an excellent graphic artist who has been most gracious in designing all the covers of my eBooks.

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Forever the Dark Grave (Eulogy)

Copyright 2010 Jacob M. Drake

Forever the dark grave calls to me

It pulls me down and says, "Now see

Once I have hold of you, you're never free

I open my eyes and look 'bout me

A bed of darkness is all I see

I try to move, but can't, I'm down six feet

Forever the dark grave has hold of me

It fills my soul like the frothing sea

I try to scream, to cry so senselessly

If I could sever these bonds 'bout me

I'd dig through the earth till I dug free

But the dark grave holds me tight and laughs in glee

Forever the dark grave speaks my eulogy

Like a lover enchanted, she's all I see

Her arms embrace so tight and cling to me

I lie here weeping silently

No one to hear nor set me free

Is this to be my lot for eternity?

Soon now my flesh will cease to be

Turn to dust and all about me

The worms will wriggle through so endlessly

Maggots, bones and rotting stink

My future self, no it cannot be

Forever the dark grave laughs and clings to me

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Chapter 1

This city looks colder to me tonight than it ever has before. I know it isn't the city itself that is different, just me. I look out upon the vastness that is Los Angeles and can't help but feel the sorrow that permeates my soul.

Soul, right. I almost laugh, but the feeling inside me at this moment isn't humor. I have no sense of joviality at this moment. There is nothing funny in this whole world right now. Or maybe there is. Maybe the entire world is one big joke and it's laughing - at me. It has every right to laugh at me. I'm the biggest joke around.

Slowly I rise from where I've been perched atop an old building in downtown LA, having been leaning against the parapet overlooking this city for the past few hours since rising from my slumber.

Now there's something to laugh at. The common misconception about vampires is that when the Sun rises in the morning vampires lay their heads back and go to sleep until dusk, when the Sun once more sets in the west.

Vampires don't sleep. We die. Each and every fucking morning.

If you were to be there at the time the Sun comes up and observe a vampire as he loses consciousness it might appear he is but sleeping. Yet if you were to walk up to him and - let's say lift one of his arms - you would find that limb to be completely unresponsive. It would fall listlessly back to wherever it is the vampire is lying when you release the limb.

There would be no breath emitting from that body's nostrils if you held a mirror up to it, as some have, in order to check for breathing. Dead things can't breathe.

Were you to slap the face of that corpse you would find no response - no groaning in slumber as some might in their responses to such stimuli - no fluttering of the eyelids - no turning over on one's side or stomach in order to move away from whatever is causing the offense, disturbing that one's sleep.

Try stabbing a sleeping vampire with a knife. Go ahead. He can't hurt you. He's dead. As dead as any slab of meat currently residing in the city morgue, waiting for the attending physician, the medical examiner, to take a look at this new carcass in order to determine the cause of death.

No, vampires don't sleep each morning when the Sun rises. We die. That's why we are called by the term the undead. When the Sun dips below the horizon and the dead things rise up to play, they are every bit as dead then as during the day. The only difference is that the curse that embodies such creatures enables them to become locomotive during the night time. Why, I have no idea. I wasn't around those many centuries back when the first of the vampires was created.

I say created, and yet that creature was not a new creation as everything else upon the Earth was at one time in the distant history of this planet. When the first vampire came into being it wasn't a creation, but a corruption of the true creation that only the Almighty Himself had made.

I suppose I should have said "when the first of the vampires was turned", for that would be the more accurate concept. Turned from life to death. Turned from living in the sunshine to lurking in the darkness.

And make no bones about it, the turning of the first vampire was indeed a curse. Although once more, I was not present and have no idea how the process came about that a man - a human being - was changed from living to eternal death, there can be no doubt - at least not within my mind - that this process came about only by an act of cursing whoever the unlucky bastard was who became the first vampire. It certainly wasn't a blessing that he awoke the next night and discovered he required the blood of a once fellow human in order to continue on in his undead existence.

And the night after that.

And the night after that one as well and every night from then on until someone - whoever it was - figured out how to kill one of these creatures forever and eternally.

I wonder how that first vampire felt when he bit into the throat of his first victim and began drinking that person's blood? Was he horrified, as I was when I discovered the abomination I had become? Even worse, was the person that first vampire drained of blood so he could continue on in his un-living state someone he knew? Was this hapless and unfortunate victim someone the vampire had chosen to confide in about the change that had overtaken him?

I shudder to even consider that the first victim of the first vampire might have been his own wife - or perhaps one of his own children. How horrified he must have been - this vampire - to discover that the life-rendering fluid which pumped through the body of this one so dear to him called out in every way to his newly enhanced senses, enticing him, beckoning him onward to part his lips, open his mouth wide, to place the tips of his newly lengthened and sharpened canines so that they pierced the flesh of that dear one's throat, puncturing the carotid artery so that the pounding, pulsing liquid filled his mouth and he gulped it greedily down his throat, unable to stop himself until he had killed this one he had previously held so dear.

For a moment I once again imagined myself in his position and how horrified I would have been had my first victim been my own wife or one of my children. Perhaps I might not have been standing here today with all this knowledge inside me concerning what I had become.

That was why I left my wife, my children, my home behind and traveled to a State and city in which I had never been, so I would not ever have to worry about finding my next victim was someone I once knew.

What a blessing that would be - to not have this knowledge filling my brain, causing me such dreadful sorrow and anguish. To not know the fate that awaits this pathetic world into which I and every other human being was ever born into. That is until I was turned that wretched night not so long ago by a vampire who sensed my emotions as I walked along the edge of the water on Puget Sound up in Seattle, Washington. That vampire determined that in my depressed mental state I was contemplating suicide and made the decision that if my life was about to end, the least I could do would be to supply him with his next nightly meal.

Dumb-assed son-of-a-bitch.

I have to agree - why waste such perfectly good blood? If I was no longer going to be using it, the least I could do would be to allow this vampire to gorge himself on it so he wouldn't have to kill someone else who wanted to keep on living, right?

Only problem was, as soon as he attacked me and sank his fangs into my flesh my survival instincts took control and I fought back, proving I wasn't as close to being suicidal as that vampire imagined. Once I bit his arm and began drinking down his own blood - although I have to wonder why I did that - I mean, biting him was one thing - drinking his blood was something else altogether and I have no idea why I did that. - he became frightened and drained me enough to cause me to black out.

Maybe he thought I was dead or maybe he simply thought I would die once he tossed my body into the water. After all, Puget Sound in the winter, late at night, is pretty damn cold. By rights I should have frozen or drowned. Instead the amount of his blood I ingested caused the transformation within me that turned me from life to death as well.

I eventually reached the closest pier and pulled myself from the water, looking every bit as the proverbial drowned rat, where an unfortunate old man had just begun walking out in order to partake of his early morning fishing. He spotted me and his altruism kicked in. As this Good Samaritan bent over trying to help this person who seemed so weak and feeble and in need of such assistance, I did to him what the vampire had done to me only hours before. I sank my newly acquired fangs within his flesh and began drinking down his blood as well.

Only my efforts were more successful than were those of the undead thing that tried to make a meal off me. My victim lay dead in my arms when I completed my first feeding after being turned.

I still wonder if anyone misses that old man? Did he have a wife at home - someone he had grown old with who expected to continue growing old until one of them eventually died of one of the many afflictions associated with old age? I'm sure she didn't expect to get a call from the Seattle Police Department informing her that her husband of all those many years had been found dead, his blood having been completely drained from his body by unknown means.

The only consolation I derive from that horrible episode - and I admit it isn't much consolation - is that the old man I killed that morning at least had lived a full life to his old age. How much worse would it have been in my estimation had my first victim been a youth - someone who had only begun to live his life?

I walked to the opposite edge of the building I was on top of and peered out over the edge to the street far below. If I thought it would do any good I would lean forward and drop to the ground from this height. My body would strike the concrete of the sidewalk with such great force that my flesh and bones would splatter all over for a great distance, covering much of the road and perhaps even to the other side of the road onto the opposite sidewalk.

Only eventually my body would heal, pull itself back together, form new appendages and I would stand up and walk away. Unless of course the entire process took so long for my healing that the Sun rose before I could gain enough strength for walking away.

Then my body would be incinerated by the brightness of that celestial orb that this planet and every other planet in this solar system orbits about. I would become ash within moments of the first rays of sunlight striking my vampiric form and then I would thankfully cease to exist.

For a moment I closed my eyes and leaned forward over the sidewalk below. Since I stood upon the parapet with nothing to prevent me from doing so, I could conceivably enact what I had thought of. It would be so easy.

Except if my survival instincts remained true-to-form I would transform into a bird before I ever encountered the ground below and fly away, once more cheating death of the fullness of its claim on my life.

No. Death eternal was not the answer for me. Not now. Not at this time. I still had a destiny to fulfill, it seemed. I was the only one in this city, in this world who knew that an underground - and I don't use the word simply because the unit I'm speaking of is a covert organization that keeps itself hidden from all others, but actually hides below the ground of LA in a series of catacombs or caves much like those that existed in ancient Rome - group of vampires planned on killing off all the political leaders of first this and then every other nation of the world in order to seize control and eventually enslave all of mankind.

Human beings would be used for two things - food and manual labor. Ok, make that three things, since vampires retain their sex drive after being turned and can copulate with humans. It really is the most exquisite form of sexual intercourse anyone could possibly experience. Vampire sex is great. Probably the only relatively good thing about being a vampire.

I leaned back from the edge of the roof and sighed a long, deep sound that seemed to yank itself from within my lungs and almost be a groan. My own eternal rest would have to wait. I had a world to save.

And I have no idea how to even begin doing it.

Chapter 2

The newspapers and TV news were understandably filled with the terrorist attack that tried to assassinate President Hemmingway. They were supportive of the fact that the attempt failed and Hemmingway was doing fine, although he had been forced to cancel his appearance at the conference that was the reason he had flown to California to attend. Back at the White House now, he was beginning a conference with the FBI, the Secret Service, the CIA and Homeland Security in order to discover which of the many terrorist groups was responsible.

Unfortunately, some of the other squads had been successful in their attacks last night, what with not having someone like me who was covertly and diametrically opposed to Cyrus' plans there to stop them.

The Mayor of Los Angeles had been killed, as well as her husband and children, who were the only ones in the house with her at the time of the attack. The Governor of California was in critical condition, although the reports from the hospital where he currently was ensconced, surrounded by FBI agents as well as many of LA's Finest, the LAPD, said he was looking better as the day progressed and should be out of critical status by tomorrow.

I won't recount all the hit squads that succeeded. There were too many of them. I will say that Cyrus spread himself too thin. He should have concentrated his squads on the biggest target for this first night, that being the President. Had he sent more forces to hit Hemmingway even I wouldn't have been able to stop him. Not that he knew I had been involved that way. For all Cyrus knew I had been a loyal follower right up to the end and was among those who failed to return, which was all of those he had sent against the President. Thankfully I had managed to kill all those sent with me or someone would have carried word back that I had been the traitor to Cyrus' cause.

Suffice it to say that this nation was in an uproar over last night's terrorist events. Homeland Security had already instituted far heavier security at all the airports, train stations, even bus stations, although most United States citizens would protest that the security in force was too much already. Last night's attempt on the President would give Homeland Security the fuel it required in order to beef up their restrictions on everyone. Soon America would be more controlled on the inside than any communist countries had ever been during the long cold war that supposedly ended in 1991.

The security on American soil was of little concern to me. What I needed was to go-to-ground, as I had always heard it termed by those in the covert spy business whenever they needed to dig in to a hiding spot so they wouldn't be detected by the enemy. At least that's the way it was always said in the spy novels I'd grown up reading.

I had the feeling Cyrus wouldn't attempt another coup any time soon. Since last night's attempt hadn't gone any better than it had and the President and California governor yet lived, my hopes were that Saint Cyrus, as those within his control thought of him, would take some time to regroup and rethink his plans before attacking once more on his bid to overthrow the governments of the world and subjugate all of mankind under the vampires, with Cyrus being the top bloodsucker of them all.

Most likely at this very moment, however, Cyrus was too busy ranting and raving at those who had been in charge of last night's raids - those who had returned, at least. He was short at least a few squad leaders, of which I had been one and Wyborn had been another. Wyborn was dead at my hands and I was busy contemplating how to kill Cyrus so he would never succeed. It would take some time for Cyrus to cease his ranting and begin to think rationally once more. That is, as rational as a power-crazed vampire like him ever thought, which wasn't all that much.

For now I needed to locate a place to dig in; a place I could spend my days in peace and safety, without sunlight breaking in. I didn't want to have to spend another day in the recesses of that burnt out building I'd managed to locate just before the Sun rose this morning. That had been much too close for my comfort, although I admit I was tempted at that moment to stop and watch the Sun rise, to end my existence right then. But that would have meant leaving Cyrus to run rampant with his plans. That wasn't something I could do easily. There was still too much humanity left in me for that.

I know vampires through the ages have lived for long periods in worse conditions than what I had today during the daylight hours. But I wasn't someone who was used to cowering in such filth and detritus. Unfortunately, not having any money currently at my disposal and not knowing anyone who could put me up for a time, that was pretty much all I was going to find.

If I could get ahold of a computer I would be able to access the online banking accounts I had set up before being captured by Cyrus and his troops. There was plenty of money in those accounts, but I needed internet access. The night was yet young and here in LA there were plenty of businesses open with free wifi available for those customers who wanted to get online while in any such establishment. Maybe I'd be able to locate someone