"On April 3rd, 1701, I was exploring a cave in England that reportedly, in its deepest recesses, contained the mummified remains of an unknown person, which was rumored to not have decomposed past its current state in fifty years. I was hopeful that I might find a companion. You see, unlike some big budget Hollywood horror movie, my condition isn't exactly common. In fact, in over five hundred years, I've only ever met three more people like me, and the first threatened to kill me if he ever met me again. I hoped I had found a second, and this one would be different.
Sure enough, the body was of another like me. They'd obviously been deprived of essence for a long time, to the point that they had fallen into a state of, uh, I guess you could say undead hibernation. Not wanting to drag a corpse through the cave, I did something I never tried before; I gave essence instead of taking it. And yes, that means I briefly locked lips with a cadaver. To my delight, it worked, and the body quickly started to regenerate. In just over an hour, were once sat a depressing corpse, was a beautiful woman with the appearance of one in her mid-twenties. I had never seen such an attractive European woman; tall and lean, with smooth, supple skin; smooth blond hair reaching down to her waist; the most perfect bosom I've ever seen (cough, ahem); and a pair of deep blue eyes I could stare into forever. After she had the strength to walk, I helped her out of the cave, and nursed her back to health, or at least what we call health.
The long years in that cave had taken a serious toll on her memory, and all she could remember was that her name was Elizabeth Ashford, and that she was in the cave because she refused to go on if it meant feeding off humans like some demon, but she didn't have the nerve to kill herself. She was incredibly depressed, and I found myself compelled to do everything I could for her. Luckily, I found a solution for her dilemma. I discovered early on that, the more spiritually aware a person was, the more potent their essence was. It seemed to work on supernatural beings as well, and I found that we could actually feed off of each other. She would take my essence, her own body's essence would convert it for her use and make it stronger, and then I could feed off of her.
The years spent with her were the happiest I've ever experienced. Her beauty went beyond the surface, right down to the bone. She could make me smile with a look, and in no time, we could tell what each other was going to say, what each other was thinking, and how to please one another, whether it was making the other person laugh or making them shudder with delight.
It all came crashing down in 1739, when we met Artur Sakharov. He was another like us, and had actually tracked us down, though we could never get him to tell us how. He said he wanted to join us, as he had been alone for longer then he could remember. Elizabeth tried to convince me to say no. She told me he was dangerous, and that we should get as far away from him as possible. I shared her concern, as he definitely had a sinister look about him, and I didn't like the way he leered at us, but I convinced her that we could trust him, since he wasn't a human, and wouldn't betray us like they would.
Two weeks later we were chained to a wall in some God-forsaken torture room, in nothing but the tattered remains of our cloths, disgusting old men lustfully steering us down and laughing. As Artur finished his negotiations, Elizabeth demanded "Why? How could you do this to us, you're one of us?!" Artur casually walked up, and with the nonchalance of a man working out, punched her in the stomach hard enough to crack a rib. "One of you, huh? Don't make me laugh," he said, grabbing her left breast and twisting it, "I accept what I am. A monster! You can play human all you want, but I doubt any of these men care. Why did I do this? For money, of course!"
"Get your hands off her, or I'll rip your fucking fingers off one by one!" I yelled, but he only laughed harder. Then, while he clenched my neck, I braised myself for his hit, but he grabbed my chin and kissed me, forcing his slimy tongue into my mouth, then pulling away before I could bite it off. "Just so you know," he whispered in my ear, rubbing his hands across my chest, "I was going to keep you for myself, but they offered me too much for the both of you." With that, he told the men there to "have fun", and left.
What followed was weeks of constant torture, physical, mental, and.....otherwise. They seem to have no moral issues with what they did to us, just rich sociopaths taking out their aggressions on us "monsters," or renting us out to make a quick buck. The only source of essence the gave us were from various rodents they shoved in our faces. Then one day, they offered an ultimatum. "The first one of you to sell out the other will be released from this torture, with the knowledge that it will continue for the other one." I somehow managed a laugh, and was about to tell them to go fuck themselves, when my world was suddenly shatter.
"Release me!" Elizabeth yelled excitedly, "I have no problem leaving this little oriental bitch here to die!"
Tears instantly poured from my eyes "But, but Lizzy..." "Shut up, you stupid little dyke! This is all your fault anyway!"
"But what about everything we..."
Elizabeth laughed hysterically. "Do you think I ever cared about you? Look at you, you flat chested little brat! You were nothing but food to me, food I was forced to choke down!
Our captors laughed, and the one said to the others, "well, isn't that heart breaking. Well, I'm a man of my word. Release her." Then one of the thugs lifted an axe, and a moment later it was embedded in the wall were Elizabeth's head was.
"W, W...." I couldn't stop crying long enough to say a single word.
"Why?" the leader of the group said. "Because my dad, your owner, is gone, and I don't have the patience to maintain you. I found a buyer, but only for one of you. Congratulations, you won!"
"What do we do with the body, chief? Can she come back if someone stuck her head back on?"
"What do you think we brought the kerosene for, idiot?" As they doused my fallen love, I screamed for them to stop. I begged for them to stop, but they only laughed harder as they lit her up.
.....I, I blacked out, just like that day on the farm. When I regained my senses, everyone was dead, their entrails covering every corner of the room, and I was sobbing in the corner with Elizabeth's head wrapped in my arms. I don't know how I got out of my binds, though the mount for my right arm was torn from the wall, and I was missing my left hand. I could reattach my hand, but Elizabeth's body was a pile of ashes. I kept telling myself that she didn't mean it, that they had broken her will, made her reach a level of desperation that would justify her actions. I told myself she had loved me, over, and over, and over again.
-----
"I've spent nearly 280 years avoiding people," I told Anna, fighting back tears, "though I'm sure you could tell from how much subtlety I lack. I spent a long time trying to track down Artur for some pointless desire for revenge, but he changed names so often I never found him. I thought it would be so easy to alienate myself from others, and only play friendly when necessary, but I couldn't do that any more. Especially not with you, Anna. Your kindness reminded me so much of my Elizabeth, I couldn't stand to lie to you anymore. You likely think me a monster now, and you would be right, but I'd rather you hate me for that then hide the truth."
As the tears rolled down my cheeks, Anna reached for me, but I stood up and stepped away from her, not deserving her sympathy. "I'm not sure how much longer I'll have here. I may be immortal, but I'm not invulnerable, I saw that first hand. The alien fragments emit some kind of psychokinetic energy that is, for lack of a better term, so alien to me that it seems to drain me. I should have had enough essence to last me months but I'm already running on dry. I'm sure the alien weapons will be just as dangerous for me. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I was just as vulnerable to them then a normal human, if not more so. With the announcement of those Low Priority Missions, I'm sure I'll hit the field soon. But I won't back down, even if I'm on my last leg, because as long as there are people like you to fight for, I'll gladly give my life."
I left her with that, knowing it was a lot to take in, and sure she did want to see me anymore. I just, .....I'm so tired.
*End Transmission*
