~The Crypt~

You break away from all of the Halloween festivities to take a walk in the night air. You are a loner by nature, and this night has been fun but now it's time to be alone and enjoy a moment to yourself. Actually, you just feel the need for a breath of fresh air. You find a door in the lower back area of the palace, and you shove it open. You see that there is a flower bordered path before you so you begin to walk. The moon is bright and full and you have no trouble seeing where you are going. You can smell the night blooming jasmine and you feel refreshed. You have been walking quite a distance now, and the path is becoming more and more overgrown. You decide to continue on, so you just push through the overgrowth. You come to a small clearing with a vine covered building in the center of it. You're very curious, so you go to the little building and you push hard on the door which is already opened just a crack. It slowly swings open, and you realize that you are looking into a small crypt. You feel anxious, but excited at the same time. The room is musty smelling, and moss and dead leaves blanket the floor. You realize that you can see quite well through the gloom because of an erie purple glow that seems to light the whole room. There is a small table in the corner of the room with something on it. You make your way to the table and realize that you are looking at a book, a journal to be exact. The other object on the table is a small crystal Orb. You pick it up the book and begin to read. The pages are covered with a flowingly beautiful feminine script.

This is what you see:

My name is Angelique. I want to put my story on these pages because I feel the need to share it now.
I was born in Paris in 1898. I had a happy childhood and loving parents. I met the love of my life when I was 17 years old. His name was Nicholas, and he was gentle and darkly beautiful. I had never known a person like him before. He was kind and sweet and very wise. He promised to always love and protect me. We married and had a wonderful year together living in a small cellar apartment below a bakery. Then our happy life together came to an end.

In 1916, Nicholas was sent to the lines to fight.

I waited for my love to return to me. I listened to the shelling each night, and I waited in vain. I was informed that Nicholas fell in battle and that he would never be returning to me. I felt my heart had shattered into a thousand pieces. I did not want to go on without him. My parents were dead now too, so I was totally alone in the world. Somehow I survived each passing day. I lived, but the real spark of my life had gone out forever. I worked in the bakery each day, and I made several friends there. They were sweet girls, but I couldn't stand the constant pressuring of them for me to find a new love. I knew there was no other love for me in all the world. I did not want to look. I never stopped having a curious feeling that Nicholas was still nearby, watching over me. Sometimes I felt that I was being watch or followed, but this never distressed me. I sometimes saw shadows in profile or the back of a man walking away from me that reminded me of my love.

I ached for him every day of my life.

One night as I was walking to my little cellar home, I saw a figure standing at the doorway in the shadows. I felt absolutly no fear whatsoever. I KNEW it was my love, I felt it in every pore of my body. He walked into the moonlight and I saw his beautiful face, I saw his flashing eyes, I saw his long dark hair. It was my own true love. He took me into his arms and held me close and told me that he loved me. It WAS he who had been watching me and following me. I had a million questions for him, I was so happy but puzzled at the same time. Where had he been? Why had he not come for me before this? Why had I been told that he had been killed? He took me into our apartment and sat down with me. He told me that he would explain everything to me. He told me that everything would become clear to me and that I would know that he wasn't parted from me of his own choice.

This is what he told me:

When Nicholas was wounded, he was knocked into a ditch as the area was being shelled. He was wounded and unconscious and close to death. His company had retreated and left him for dead. He lay in that ditch for hours coming in and out of consciousness. The next thing he remembered was a pair of strong arms and a comforting voice telling him that he would be fine. He was lifted from the ditch and carried away into the night sky.

That is the night that Nicholas was made into a vampire.

I begged him to go no further with his story. I couldn't stand to hear another word. I didn't care where or who or why. All I cared about was that my love was back in my arms once more. He told me that he had fought his emotions for the last few years, forcing himself to stay away from me. He knew that we could not be together as we had been in the past, I didn't understand what he meant. He was here with me, why couldn't we stay together now? He tried his best to explain to me what his life was like now. He told me everything now, he held nothing back. We talked the whole night through, but an hour before daybreak, he told me that he would have to leave me. I still did not completely understand and I begged him to stay. He patiently explained to me again, and we reluctantly parted. We continued this way for several weeks, he would come to me for the last few hours before daybreak each night. I could not stand this and I begged him to help me to become as he was so that we could always be together forever. He refused time and time again, but finally in his love for me, he gave in to my wishes.

That night was my last mortal night on earth.

I quickly learned the ways of the vampire. Our lives were very dificult, but we were together. We moved often to avoid detection, many, many cities in many years. We didn't join with other groups of vampires, we stayed alone but together. Sometimes we got a bit careless and were almost caught, but we managed to escape in time and move on. After many years, we ended up back home in Paris. We walked the streets in the early hours of the morning, remembering our past life and the things that we had done together. Some things had changed drastically, but some things had still remained the same. At this time, there were many other vampires in Paris too. We didn't associate with them, but we didn't have any problems with them either. The upsetting thing was that these groups were getting careless and killing in all the wrong places. One night the son of a very prominant citizen was killed, and that sent off shockwaves throughout the city. There were many more police placed on the street making things very difficult for us. One night, a hour before sunrise, we were quickly making our way back to our lair. Suddenly we were trapped, somehow we had been found out. There was no escape for us. My love told me to run to our hiding place while he ran the other direction to lead them away from us. He told me that he would double back and return to me soon. I didn't want to part from him, but I did as he told me. I made it back safely and I waited, again in vain. I took my sleep then as I had to, thinking that we would find each other again when the darkness fell. I was sure that my Nicholas had found another safe hiding place.

I was wrong.

When I awoke the next night, I began my search for Nicholas. He was no where to be found, and no one of our kind has seen him. I looked for him the next two nights. I was on the edge of hysteria. On the fourth night, I went into a small cafe to sit and rest. There was a man and a woman sitting at the table next to me. I was not evesdropping at first, but the word "supernatural" caught my ear. I began to listen growing more and more distraught with each word. They were speaking of an incident that happened a few nights past. It seems that the police were on the trail of a young man wanted for questioning. The young man ran away with the officers in hot pursuit. They cornered him in a courtyard that had only one exit. That exit was blocked. They said that the young man began to go wild trying to escape them. Suddenly the morning sun began to rise. The young man began to scream as if in pain, howling like an animal. He fell to the ground and rolled back and forth as if he were on fire. Suddenly, right before the eyes of at least 20 witnesses, the young man just disappeared.

The last scream that came from him was the name Angelique.

So now you know my story, and what has become of my Nicholas. I thank you for taking this time to read my words. I can not go on without him a second time. I WON'T go on without him. As I finish this story, it will be my last night of existence here on earth. Tomorrow, when the sun begins to rise, I will be standing in it's rays. I will let the sun take me to join my beloved Nicholas. I will be no more.

~Angelique~ October 31, 2012

If you look deep into this Orb, you will be able to see Angelique.