The smell of smoke and curiosity

~A sad past~

Dante guided me to my sofa where we sat in a moment of silence while he gathered his thoughts, I could tell by the sorrowful look on his face that it wasn't something he had ever spoken about. He's facing the wall not me, I assume it's so he can't see how I react to what he's about to tell, he lets out another sigh "let us start at the beginning then" he whispered. 

"I was born in 1791 on the 30th of April in London. I was the eldest out of my siblings, my brother named Alex was 16 and my little sister named Elizabeth was 14 at the time of our parent's death, they had tragically died 2 weeks apart from each other. You see back in the 1800's consumption had made its way to the streets of London and people were dropping like flies, and my family lived in one of the poorer streets so we didn't get noticed much as orphan children, people would just pass us by and cover their faces as if we were riddled in disease, peasants, just vermin they would call us" His fists clenched up at the terrible memory, and all I could do was keep my mind open and try not to show too much emotion. 

He reached into his pocket pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, sparking up one before continuing his story. "my siblings had unfortunately caught the dreadful disease in 1820 just 2 years after my parents and passed on, there was nothing I could do but grieve their deaths for I also suffered with it I assumed I would be joining them quite soon. I had very little care for my life at that time, so I took to roaming the dangerous streets, famished and looking for any bits of scraps I could find. I ended up in an alleyway one night, rummaging through the bins like an animal, begging wasn't an option as all I would get were foul looks and rocks pelted at me, it was a tough time in them days but I didn't think it could get any worse. While searching for what could very well be my last meal a group of men approached me with the stale stench of beer on their breaths they were looking for some form of entertainment and they picked me, they beat me senseless, and I was laid in a pool of my blood, left for dead in that alley and god knows I wanted to be" 

Dante's hands began to quake, I can't believe he went through all of that I can't express how disgusted it makes me feel that someone would do that to another human being, let alone a sick one. "Just before I kicked the bucket I was gazing at the stars in that cold dark alley, smiling to myself that I would finally be with my family again shortly whispering that I'm coming to them. Then the sky went black, I thought death had finally taken me, but it wasn't death it was something much worse, for a figure was leaning over me with glistening red eyes".  My hands brushed across my face, wiping away the small tears that had fallen for I fear that this next part won't need tears, and it leaves me wanting to bite at my nails in anxiousness. 

"He knelt to me and took my head in his hand, he asked me if I wanted to live, I didn't but this pain was unbearable I could barely get a word out. The only thing about this guy I knew was that he had red eyes and slicked back blonde hair, he looked smart and was wearing a suit, he sighed at my attempt to speak like I was annoying him just by breathing, and then he smirked like I gave him an idea and said "I've always wanted a brother" and before I knew it his wrist was bleeding into my mouth and no matter how much I squirmed trying to stop him from doing so, he held me down and continued, from that night on I was a vampire" He spoke in an irritated tone as he sparked another cigarette which caused me to wonder, "so why did he turn you?" I asked.

He looked up to the ceiling and blew out the smoke as he held out the packet for me to take one as well which I did, I figured that was him telling me you're going to need it for this next part, so I placed the cigarette on my lips and he lit it for me,  only taking a short glance at my expression so far. "I still don't know, part of me thinks he was lonely and a part of me is thinking that he was bored and wanted a bit of entertainment, only he wanted worse than them men wanted. For years he trained me how to be a vampire, how to hunt, and how to not get caught when doing so, and for years I went against his wishes of what a vampire should be. Instead, I was hunting rats and any other small animals, I didn't want to hurt humans no matter how they treated me, which angered him"

Dante's expression switched up from sadness to his eyes being filled with anger and resentment. "I should have never disobeyed him," he said as his teeth ground together, I just wanted to throw myself on him and hug away all the pain if I could, but I knew that would not do it justice. "What did he do to you?" I queried, he simply peered over at me again while putting out his smoke and then looked back down.  "I guess you can say he taught me a lesson, have you ever heard of Jack the Ripper?" his words sent a chill down my spine, causing all of my hair to stand on end. "yes, what about him?" I answered with concern.

His eyebrows raised "That was him, that was Cassius. It was 1888 when he started, of course not all the press facts were correct, most of them were copycats or other crimes as the police filing systems weren't the greatest back then. It was his hobby and women were his favourite, he said it's because they screamed like they were singing and he would hum along with their cries for help. He'd grown tired of me not joining in and not accepting what I was so he decided he was done with me, and so one night after being at our house that we shared I heard a knock at the door and when I opened it I was tackled to the ground by the police force and all I saw while being held down was Cassius behind them smirking. He had told them it was me, that I was the so-called ripper and they threw me into an insane asylum without no questions asked" He looked as if he could flip the table at just the thought of this, and I would let him. 

"I was in there for 2 weeks when I had started to hallucinate from lack of blood and all the torturing they made me endure, I was weak and that is when he decided to visit me. He crouched down at my barred window not even big enough to fit a child through and glared through to where I was just curled up on the cold hard floor wondering how my life came to this and he laughed, his last words to me were "you better get out of here before they find out what you are, you know what you need to do, don't take the life I gave you for granted Dante".  I wanted to refuse but at this point, I had no choice my throat felt like sandpaper and I could hear my stomach screaming at me for blood.  So I did what he told me to for once and I slaughtered everyone in that asylum that night and took my leave from London, I never saw Cassius again."

I've never seen a vampire cry, I didn't know they could, but tears streamed down his face. He wiped them away as quickly as they fell trying not to alarm me but I was already on the move, my arms swung around him and no more words were spoken from him, he had bottled up years of pain and when it finally came out it didn't give him any relief, just bad memories. "It's alright Dante, you're alright now" I whispered as I held him in my arms as tight as I could. He went through so much trauma, had endured so much pain, and even caused some pain to others, but all I cared about was if he was alright at this very moment.