The Last Vampire Part 3

Part 1
Part 2

So I sit at my computer, thinking. The screen has icons to click and I select the word processor icon which has the template that I prefer for my writing. I clicked it and referred to my notes as it opened.
Once I had written my piece, I emailed it to Clive and waited for his response.

Are we humans always to blame if a species becomes extinct?

I think that most of the time we are but am I being too harsh, too judgemental?

Maybe on this occasion the human race is not to blame, neither directly nor indirectly.

This evening I was privileged to meet with a legendary figure. Tonight I met a Vampire - The Last Vampire!
Before you skip this article and dismiss it as pure fiction, hear me out at least for a few more paragraphs - you’ve come this far.
Names are not important except that I call him ‘The Count’. He insisted I use his less formal name in our interview but for this piece I shall give him the reverence his status deserves.

The Count is an enigmatic creature. He is gracious, courteous and charming. I spoke with him for the whole of one evening and the time flew. Before I knew it, the staff at the bar felt it necessary to drop heavy hints about us leaving.
I write then, as my duty to mankind; as reassurance that the danger we were in from vampires is soon to be terminated. The Count is weary. He has had enough and expresses a desire to shuffle off his immortal coil, to go and join the rest of his kind - wherever they have passed on to.

Before he goes though, The Count wanted to set a few things straight. Things we thought we knew about the legend of vampires are false. Most of the facts we have grown up believing are nonsenses, built up only in order to placate mankind. We feel safe in daylight hours and assume that in the dark hours we can protect ourselves with crosses, holy water and garlic.
Humans think that if we keep to the safety of our homes and never invite it in, we are safe, for come the dawn a vampire must return to its grave or be reduced to dust.

I regret to inform you that these are all fallacies, dreamed up in order to make humans feel in control of our destiny and protected from the predators. None of it is true. We are so very weak.

Not only are we humans far from the top of the food chain, we are, as we feared, utterly defenceless. Vampires are far more deadly than we have ever been led to believe. They are far less vulnerable to anything we puny humans can throw at them.
We are fortunate therefore, that The Count is the last and that his vampiric un-life is soon to be brought to an end - by the one being that is powerful enough to do it - by The Count himself.

Should we mourn the passing of such a powerful, mythical and enigmatic creature?

Common sense says that we should rejoice. We should keep our heads down until the end of course, but we should be relieved.

The Adrenalin Junkie in me says otherwise. Life will seem safer, I grant you, but it is the adrenalin kick when we hear a tapping at the window, an unexpected feel of chill breath on the back of our necks when we’re alone that makes us know that we are really alive.

I feel sad for The Count. He doesn’t get that adrenalin kick. He is not afraid of anything, especially now his mind is made up that he wishes to die. He relishes the thought of his end; he truly is the last of his kind, the very top of the food chain and nothing now exists that can cause him harm or danger. The only thing that ever could was another vampire - of which there are now no others and will soon be none left at all.

I say farewell Count, for even though you could easily have ended my existence tonight, you didn’t. You gave me your story and all I can give in return is this article and the hope that it immortalises you in some way.
Go to your eternal rest in the knowledge that humans now know you really did exist and I am the lucky one to have met you and to have survived to tell your tale.

Satisfied, I sent it as an email, saved it on my desktop and shut down my computer.

Then I waited for his reply.

Did I believe his story?
No. He is not a vampire. He is at best an attention-seeker and at worst a lunatic.
If he is happy with the article, I’ll make another appointment to see him and expand his story. I think he’ll be pleased with it. At least he’ll be pleased with the first part. My follow-up article? Not so much, I’m sure.

Surprised that I had received no reply to my email by the following evening, I thought I’d perhaps satisfied his lust for attention; but then I remembered he only corresponded with me in the early hours, so I waited.
Sure enough, his reply arrived in my inbox on the stroke of midnight - how very dramatic!

My Dear Jacqueline,

You have made an old Vampire very happy in his last days. I love your article and hope that you feel it worth putting forward to be published. I assume you will approach the major tabloids first? If necessary, I would be willing to appear alongside you should any publicity be requested. Of course, there can be no photographs, we don’t need the fuss of having to explain why a part of the expected image doesn’t develop properly, do we? Perhaps an artist’s impression would work?

I also feel that a follow-up article on my life would be appropriate at this juncture. We must make haste though; I do not wish to linger longer than necessary.

My story must be told and I choose you to do it.

I believe that you could do it justice and you, my dear Jacqueline, deserve this opportunity to grasp fame and recognition for your work.

Forever Yours,

The Count

(Clive)

PS If I could make one suggestion, just one – and this is certainly no criticism of your excellent journalistic abilities. Could you please capitalise the word ‘Vampire’ in your article? I feel it gives a certain ‘authority’ to the title if it starts with a capital ‘V’ rather than lower case ‘v’.
I hope my suggestion hasn’t offended you.