It was a rather bleak night. The city was laden with monotony. Rain poured in copious amounts onto the streets where cars were depressingly few.

On the outskirts of the city, in the study of Lila’s mansion, she sat in deep reverie writing diligently in her journal.

There was once a time where nothing could hinder my passion for love. A time in which the prospect of salvation and an eternity of bliss with one whom I loved had given me hope. But since the night I lost Mara… my life has been nothing but darkness and despair. Each night I drone on, my humanity wanes. The beast gnaws piecemeal at the very corner of my heart. I can hear its voice beckoning me.

Yes… many may look upon me wondering how one such as I could possibly live in a state of despondency. Well, I say to them, wealth and fame does not ease the pain I have long endured. I grow weary of the weak minds of mortals and the arrogance of other vampires. Aside from a miraculous physical specimen, a figure on the screen, or the words I beset meticulously upon scraps of paper what do they possibly know of me? They have not been privy to my journals nor are they struck with a wound that has no remedy.

I remember the nights where I was happy. The nights where my mistress, Therese, and my lover, Mara, were always there to comfort me. Those were the nights where my humanity was high and my passion clear…

June 16, 1994, Los Angeles

Candles. Dozens of candles of sundry shapes and sizes encircled the desecrated cathedral, spreading across the capacious interior, casting a murky complexion upon the intricate displays of lavish Romanesque architectures and the flamboyant religious designs engraved in the blemished and mottled onyx walls. Benches of apparent antiquity sat upon the ground in a crippled state of despair. A large statue of a crucifix loomed heavily above the altar it stood behind. Through a shattered stained-glass window just below the tattered ceiling and above the crucifix, the ethereal gleam of the gibbous moon poured through in amalgam with the placid, cool breeze that blew upon debris and scraps of garbage encompassing the altar, whirling them flowingly from above the grimy marble ground.

A door opened. Lila and Mara entered the room. Mara perused the interior, her long voluminous Victorian halter- top dress drifting gracefully across the ground she walked. She stopped just before the altar, looking back at Lila who stood glumly in the tenebrous shadows of the chapel with her head bowed. “Lila…” she said,” “Why are we here?”

Lila slowly proceeded toward her, “Mara… there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…”

Mara thought for a moment. She was anxious for what Lila had to tell her, “What is it you wish to tell me?”

“There—there’s been something I’ve been wanting to do… for so long… Ever since we’ve been together… not one day—one night—could my mind drift from the thought of you. I am intertwined in love… so much that I cannot imagine a life without you.” Lila observed the perturbed expression upon Mara’s face.

“Are you okay sweetie?” Lila asked.

Mara nodded her head, “Yes—it’s just tha—I—I’m a bit confused is all. Your words…this place… I don’t understand…what is the meaning of all this?”

“Forgive me Mara… it’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you earlier, but the fear of rejection overwhelmed me… and here you stand before me… and that same fear still strikes at my very heart”

Mara stood in a reverie, What’s wrong with Lila… I never knew her to be this way… Rarely is she ever afraid to tell me something, she thought. “Well, what do you want to tell me?”

Lila stood frozen as a statue. She now knew the fear her sire, Therese, faced before she embraced her. “Mara…I—I… I want to embrace you…make you one with me…for I cannot bear the thought of you withering away and I forced to live on in desolation and pain.”

Mara was tremulous when those words were brought to her. She wasn’t expecting this. Though they had been together for years, a part of her felt that she wasn’t ready to face the trials of becoming a vampire, “Lila… you understand that what you wish of me shall cause me to forsake my humanity?”

“The dark kiss has no price save the gift of eternal life, thus eternal love.”

“But what about my friends…and my family… and everything else I love… Shall I just abandon them? Shall I just leave this life behind… to start another? Would this be a life of eternal love? Even you had to give up many of the things you loved as a mortal when Therese turned you… you cannot deny that… you’ve told me before. I often wonder how you can live the way you do. Don’t you ever wake up hoping to feel the warmth of the sun once again… don’t you grow weary of the repression of humanity that forces you run and hide from who you really are? Lila, in the eyes of man you are afflicted with a disease that has no cure, but death.”

Lila was unsure of how to take the barrage of words inflicted upon her. It surely wasn’t the answer she was looking, but Mara was always the type who spoke her mind, rather than telling others what they wanted to hear. That was a trait that Lila found appealing at the same time exasperating. “So… I guess that means no…” Lila furrowed her eyebrows angrily.

“Lila…”

“If you will not take me…then I shall take my leave of you…”

As Lila made for the door, Mara took a blood-red pearl necklace that hung from her neck like a dark lantern, from between her large curvaceous breasts. “Lila… look at the necklace you gave me… I remember the day you gave this to me…the pearl-smile that never left your face…the sun gleaming upon your rosy cheek that once held the blush of health… and the words… the exquisite you spoke to me as you passed this on to me… you said… as long as I have this… our love shall never perish… but… if you are to be leaving me now… then I give this back to you… I’m sorry…”

Lila took the necklace, looking upon it somberly, “So I guess this is how it all ends? Do you not love me enough to stay with me?” she asked, a hint of anger showing in her voice.

“I’m sorry Lila… as much as I love you… I can’t…” Mara gazed around the room glumly as tears took shape in her eyes.

It was at that moment when anger and despair ripped Lila in twain. She gritted her teeth and clenched the fist that held the necklace. Tears of frustration developed in her eyes. She hated being denied of something she really wanted. All she could concentrate on was making Mara hers. She furiously threw the necklace to the ground, scurrying towards Mara, yanking her by her long flaxen hair.

“Lila!” Mara said in a pitiful attempt to restrain her. Lila didn’t care anymore. It was no longer Mara’s decision. She bared her fangs and sunk them into her jugular, engendering a groan of agony mingled with pleasure surging throughout her body, forcing her to fall to the ground writhing to submission as Lila continued to suck the life from her.

With the nail of her left forefinger, Lila slit her wrist, drawing blood, placing it over Mara’s mouth. But, something was wrong, the blood dribbled from her mouth, but not an ounce had been consumed. She slit her wrist again, eliciting more blood, placing it above her mouth once more. Again… the same result.

“Mara?” Lila was becoming very concerned. “Mara!?” No response… Lila frantically shook her, hoping for her to return to life, “MARA!” Nothing… “No Mara—you’re not dead! Wake up! Oh god! Wake up!” She had killed her. Because of the selfish desires of a lover’s passion, Mara was dead. Lila looked up at the crucifix, letting out a scream of distress that resonated painfully throughout the cathedral.

Now, she wasn’t sure if what she then saw was a hallucination or a message from God. But from the crucifix she could see tears of blood trickling from the morose eyes of Jesus. Mayhap this was God’s retribution for being among the damned.