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“The loss of her sanity seemed to happen in stages,” Philippe said slowly, as though he were forcing himself to keep his emotions under control. “At first she was only going through the grieving process, just as any parent would.” Philippe wiped away another tear as he stifled back a sob. “No parent should ever outlive a child—whether it be illness or murder. As far as I was, and still am, concerned, no child should have to go through the pain of being murdered. Geoffory was only seven years old.”
Philippe took a deep breath and sighed. Talking about the death of his child was hard enough. What he needed to discuss next was going to be even more difficult.
“She then, too, started having dreams. Only it horrified me because she wasn’t dreaming about Damon. She was dreaming about Geoffory. I convinced her to tell me what happened in her dreams, but she wouldn’t—at first. When I finally did manage to coax it out of her, she told me that Geoffory was telling her not to trust Damon. He wasn’t all that he seemed.
“As strange as it may sounds to all of you, well, except for you, Mr. DeNieux, I believed that these were more than just ordinary dreams she was having. Geoffory was clearly trying warn Mariam from beyond the grave. Since he couldn’t warn her in life, he was trying to do so in death.” Philippe swallowed. “However, he couldn’t succeed in doing that. A few weeks after his death, Mariam had gone to the well just outside our yard to fetch some water when I heard a blood-curling screaming. When I attended to her, she was sobbing, and I saw why. She had pulled up a bucket which contained the corpse of our son—a wooden stake had been driven to his heart, and he had been decapitated.”
Everyone in the room reacted differently to his last sentence: Lucien’s face went pale, Kaitlin gasped, and Jane impulsively wiped away her tears. Even in all her years of police work, there was no crime that she found more devastating than the murder of an innocent child.
“I knew right then who had done so, I just didn’t know why. That’s when I confronted Damon. He denied it, of course, telling he liked Geoffory, and he enjoyed the company of children. Either way, he was too heated in his denials to be honest. He had even threatened me with physical harm if I should bring up such a subject with him again.”
Jane nodded. “That says it right there that he was guilty alright.”
Philippe studied her, grateful that someone in the room believed him. “However, I wasn’t so pleased with how Mariam was turning out. I was as devastated with that incident as she was. But she was becoming more and more under Damon’s influence. I had noticed she had started reading about witchcraft and vampirism. I had spoken with a minister about this, and he suggested that we both see him. She absolutely refused, and I knew I couldn’t force her into something didn’t agree with.”
Lucien stared at him in surprise and Philippe smiled. “Yes, Mr. DeNieux. I, too, am a believer.” He held up the crucifix he was holding around his neck. “I thought you would have noticed that by now.”
Lucien was silent for a moment before he waited for Philippe to continue.
“The more she became into her witchcraft and vampirism, the more mad she became. Soon, I noticed she became ill—she had suffered the same symptoms that Geoffory had dealt with.” Philippe shuddered. “Yet with her, there were two big differences: she wasn’t fighting her sickness, and it didn’t take me too long to notice the dreaded marks on her neck; the very same marks Geoffory had on his.” He slowly shook his head. “She didn’t fight her sickness because she wanted it—she WANTED to be transformed.
“Finally, I had enough. I had decided to watch over her in case something were to happen.
“One night, I stayed up in my chair, sitting up awake while she slept. The windows were locked and shutters were closed. I had sat up as I was reading while I waited with my rifle.” Philippe shrugged. “I know what you must be thinking—how stupid can one be to use such a weapon against such a creature. You must understand; at this point of time, vampires were unheard of as most people today would scoff at the idea at them. I wasn’t as prepared to fight against Damon as I should have been.
“Suddenly, the shutters went up and the windows slammed open. Mariam’s eyes opened as a thick, cloudy mist floated into the room before it formed into a figure of a man. The next thing I knew, Damon stepped forward with a mocking smile on his face, and that’s when I saw it: his fangs, and his eyes—his glowing red eyes. With his vampiric expression, he was the most evil-looking creature I had ever seen.
“I then picked up my rifle and shot him countless of times—I had literally emptied my weapon into his body. Once the rifle was empty, I could only watch in horror as he grinned at me in a mocking manner as he took out a bullet and tossed it at me.
“With a feeling of frustration and rage, I tossed my empty rifle at him, hitting him on the head. The blow didn’t even seem to phase him. He then pointed at me before I suddenly felt a sensation of myself being lifted and tossed backwards before I was knocked unconscious.”
Philippe closed his eyes, trying his best to keep his emotions under control, but they were getting the best of him. “When I came to, I saw Mariam standing over me,” Philippe sobbed. “She was no longer mortal, and she was just as evil as he was. She had given herself completely over to the evil darkness as she was transformed. She looked at me and said,
“‘You have been such a naughty boy. I can give you a long, and eternal punishment.’
“I tried to run from her at that point, but it was hopeless—Damon was holding me from behind. She fed from me, and she forced me to feed from her.” Philippe sighed and forced himself to calm down. “We all know the results of what happened afterwards.”
Lucien, Kaitlin, and Jane only stared at Philippe in shock. None of them knew what he had suffered, let alone the extent of his agony.
“I was their prisoner for a year, I was kept in a cell where I had fed from small animals and insects. I would have welcomed death, since I had never, ever, wanted eternal life—especially not one as a vampire. When I had learned to form into mist, I did so to escape out of the cell. That night, I vowed to take my revenge on the bastard who did this to me and destroyed my family.”
Philippe wiped away his tears and sighed. “The last time I saw him, I was abroad the Titanic. I had arranged it so that he would be sealed tightly in his coffin and thrown overboard.” He shook his head. “The sad thing of that event, unfortunately, was that although his coffin being sealed was a good idea, it was already too late for it to be thrown over.” He shuddered, remembering the awful grim night before he flew off the grand ship as it broke in half.
Philippe calmed himself as he looked up at his cohorts. “I had told you what happened. Make of it what you will.”
Lucien stared at him with an intense expression. “We’re going to help you find this punk and destroy him.”
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