Chapter 3
Deep in the earth, the ancient vampire known as Alric stirred. Bored with his existence, he had gone to ground two hundred years ago. He might have slept another two hundred had he not heard someone mention his name—someone he knew from long ago. And with it a name he had never thought to hear again—Giovanni Lanzoni.
Curious, he propelled himself upward, through tons of earth, until he reached the surface. He shook away the bits of dirt that clung to his clothing
Lifting his face to the midnight sky, he drew a deep breath. Scents he had never experienced before flooded his nostrils. But one scent remained ever the same.
The enticing aroma of fresh, warm blood.
He smiled as he explored his surroundings. Rising after two hundred years in the earth was like being born again, he mused, as he sped through the night. A kaleidoscope of colors and sounds. Things he had never seen before—multi-hued lights brighter than a thousand wax candles. Streets covered in a black substance he didn’t recognize.
He paused when he saw a couple strolling down the street, his eyes narrowing as he studied their clothing. The dress the woman wore would have been considered scandalous in his time. The man wore short pants and a short-sleeved shirt with BLACK IS MY HAPPY COLOR printed on the front.
With a shake of his head, he continued on.
Strange-looking conveyances shot past him, spewing noxious fumes. Buildings made of some shiny material rose higher than the hills back home. Had he been a young vampire, he might have been frightened by so much that was unfamiliar. But he relished the chance to explore this new world. He was Nosferatu. He learned and adapted quickly and had nothing to fear from mere mortals.
A thrill of excitement skittered through him as he looked forward to discovering and mastering all of mankind’s latest inventions.
A thrill of a different kind filled him as he contemplated revisiting old friends.
And old enemies.
But first he needed to feed.
After two centuries of abstinence, he had a prodigious thirst!