Central Park had always been Dominic’s favorite place to reflect. It was where he went when he needed to get away from the pack and when he needed to remember the man he once was. He appreciated his place in the family and he took his role as leader seriously but there were parts of Dominic none of them knew; he wanted to keep it that way. Memories of his mortality were still branded in his brain, giving him hope. Immortality had been a generous gift but no one had warned him of the true price. There had been no manual to which to refer and no frequently asked questions website to introduce him to life without a soul.
Dominic had wanted it all. It had always seemed a cruel joke from God, the greatest prankster of all, that human life expectancy wouldn’t allow him to even make a dent in his ambitions. The time and youth allotted to humans were a teaser – a cheap appetizer thrown on their table as a reminder of what they could never really have. Because of the fleeting qualities, time and youth could never quite fill the needs of the mortals, so they were always left hungry and wanting for more. Suppressing his appetite as a vampire had been far more satisfying than quenching his thirsts as a human had been.
Dominic had always seen the universe as being filled with an infinite amount of flavors and he wanted to taste them all. He wanted to be an icon in the entertainment industry. He had longed for an important career that meant something, one that made an important mark on the world. He had yearned for a normal, quiet life with a wife and children and a beautiful home of his own. He had wanted to save the world. Suffering from frustration at his five meager senses and his short life span, he had always searched for ways to extend his time. In the end, he knew that was the reason that he hadn’t resisted the bite that turned him.
Walking through the dark fog that seemed to envelop the entire park, Dominic remembered the hungry fangs and how they had penetrated his most prominent vein. Rather than defending himself and trying to protect his vulnerable throat, he had tipped his head back to expose it further. Every day for the last twenty years, he had wondered if the acceptance of his turning had been his most unforgivable act of all in the eyes of his first maker. Dropping himself onto the closest bench, he rested his back against the hard wood and narrowed his ice blue eyes as the fog surrounded him.
The simple gesture worked as an on switch that activated his night vision, one of the many gifts given him upon the change. It allowed him to see all of the things that, as a human, he was unable to see; he shook his head slowly, snickering at the irony of it all. The gifts that seemed so special to him in the beginning gradually lost their novelty over the years especially after the realization that his existence had been far better when he couldn’t see the world for what it was. Dominic had come to realize humans were fortunate indeed for their inability to see the universe in all of its ugliness and torment.
He was antsy but couldn’t quite figure out from where it was coming. Rising from the bench, he continued his walk through the park as memories from that night played out in his head over and over again. The bite, though painful and terrifying, had begun the metamorphosis that he could neither