Sunrise
Sunset really was his favorite time of day. It always had been. Or, at least, for the past five hundred years or so. He had once loved the sunrise. When he was young, he would get up extra early almost everyday, just to see it. But those days were over. Now he had to go back to the darkness by mornings first light. No more sunrises for him. In fact, for the first hundred years or so, he had not seen light at all. It had been very depressing.
But, back then, his whole existence had been depressing. Stay out all night and spank naughty children, only to come back to his lonely cave to spend the day. Really, he had always thought the punishment of children should be left to their parents. If it was, he would be a different man.
However, he was thinking about sunsets, not his job. After the first hundred years or so, he had discovered that, while he could not be out in the first bright rays of the morning, or the blinding light of the day, he could endure the very last of the dying lights. And every night since then, right before he had to go off to work, he would sit out here, and watch the sunset. It was his one constant joy.
Sure, there was the few victories he had over the Kids Next Door. But those were few and far between. That didn't bring him much joy anyway. He didn't want to fight them. It was, once again, a part of his job. But then, he hated his job anyway. He hadn't chosen to be a spank-happy vampire. His past...that was a shaky subject.
And yet, it always seemed to come up when he sat by the sunset. He had been seven. Seven years old. What had he done again? Oh, yes. Overdue library book. He had always had so many library books...it was just so hard to keep track. Even at that age, he had had a zest for knowledge. He had always wished that he could have all the time in the world to just read. Well, he had gotten his wish. But now that he couldn't go out in the light, there was no way for him to read the books. Fate is cruel.
He might have gone on to be a teacher of some kind, had things not gone the way they had. He might have. He would never truly know. Even though it had been hundreds of years, he could still remember that day like it was yesterday. He had gotten home from school, and settled down to read, only to see as he opened the book that it was overdue. He immediately thought to go return it, or at least renew it, but it was so good, he decided it could wait just one more day.
But in the end, apparently, it couldn't. That night, just before bed, the vampire had come. He still didn't know its name. That vampire was still in Transylvania, while his parents had sent him on the first ship to America. He hadn't seen them since. In fact, they were probably long dead by now, as he should be. But then, vampires aged slower than humans.
He was over five hundred years old, but he looked to be about thirty-something. He wasn't immortal, but close enough to it. He had spent the first four hundred years just acting on instinct. He knew he had become what he was because he had been bad. So, he had spanked bad children, just as the vampire before him had. He, however, never removed his glove. He didn't believe in condemning children to the life he was forced to live.
However, that belief had changed, about a hundred years ago. Around that time a league of parents and various other adults and teens had formed a group, the V.I.L.L.I.A.N.S, to make kids miserable. They somehow got wind of his existence, and contacted him. He, at the time, had hoped it might give him some other purpose, that maybe they would know something about being a vampire that he did not, and that they could help him, or maybe even cure him.
However, they used him for their own sick purposes now, and instead of becoming something better, he became something worse. He had actually, on more than one occasion, been told that he was to remove his glove when he spanked certain children. He hated it. It made him sick every time he was forced to do it. He knew he could refuse, but, really, it was probably to late for that. They may very well have killed him instantly.
But he still felt horrible when he turned a child into a vampire. It felt so...unnecessary and cruel. Whenever he was forced to do it, all he could think about was that if the vampire that had spanked him that night had just...somehow found it in his heart to not change him, no matter the reason he had in the first place, he would be a different man. He would have had a different life, a wife, a better job than he did now, and maybe even a child.
Maybe that's why he didn't fight so much if a child came to him to find the cure...the way to turn them back into children. Oh, sure, he would make it look like he had put up a fight, but in the end, he made sure they got what they came for. But some never came. Some didn't know who he was or where to find him, or even that he had the cure, and if they didn't know that, then there was no way for them to be cured. He had condemned so many, all on the boss's orders.
He remembered one little girl...the boss had told him that she was in the Kids Next Door, and an example needed to be made of her...she hadn't done anything really wrong, usually he would ignore an offense like hers...but an order is an order. She had reminded him so much of himself when he saw her...her nose in a book...she had looked so scared when she saw him...but almost like she knew what was coming.
He had watched as she closed her books, and stood up straight, her head held high, her chin up, meeting his gaze with cold defiance. The only thing that broke through the brave façade was a single tear that trickled down her cheek, but she angrily wiped it away. Hers had been the worst ever...she was totally innocent...it had hurt him so much to do it...he had almost felt like he was raping her or something equally as bad...that's how much it hurt him to do it.
He had been physically sick that night after he got back to his cave. He hadn't gone out for two nights after that, despite the pull of all the bad children. He had had to do double time to make up for it the third night. But he had never seen that girl again...he could only assume she was still a vampire out there somewhere. Even now, years...even decades later, he still felt sick to his stomach whenever he thought of her...he asked himself, even now, how he could have done that to a poor, relatively innocent girl.
But what he hated most of all about it was that he had deprived her of her future. She would never have a husband, or have a real job, or be a mother. And he had caused it. It was thoughts like those that made him want to go crawl into a hole and die. It was thoughts like those that made him want to go to the boss, and say to hell with him, and just go back to the way things used to be. But he was in way to deep for that now.
And now, the sunset was gone, and he was sitting in relative darkness. Nothing was ever truly dark to him, but dark enough. He knew he would have to start his rounds soon. He hated to leave, but if he didn't work would pile up. He did have a job, no matter how sickening, to do. But he did it anyway, every single night. He hated his life so much. If only...
Suddenly, he heard a person approaching where he was sitting. He wasn't really hiding. There was a rock in front of his cave, and it had a great view of the sunset, when you sat just right. He internally sighed. Whoever it was would come closer until they could tell who he was, and then they would run, screaming, into the night. Unless it was someone from the headquarters with a special job for him tonight. He shuddered at the thought.
Whoever it was sat down beside him. He had to assume that it was someone from the headquarters. He wanted to scream at the person to leave him alone. He turned to learn about his mission, only to find himself not faced with the scowling face of another villain, but instead, the little girl's innocent face, smiling up at him. For a moment, he thought he was dreaming. She didn't look like she had aged more than a year or so.
But then, he realized, if she was a vampire, she wouldn't look as if she had aged a day. He just stared at her for a long time, not daring to believe she was real. He had long ago decided that he had condemned an innocent girl to a fate worse than death, but now, here she was. She had finally found him. And he was utterly amazed by that fact.
Finally, he managed to stutter, "Vell...I...I suppose you...finally found me." He watched as her smile grew larger.
"Yes, I did," she said. "I came back to get you."
"Of course...go ahead," he asked.
"I know where you can go," she said, after a moment, ignoring his previous statement. "But you have to trust me." He blinked.
She wanted him to trust her? There was no way. And what was she talking about anyway?
"Vhy should I?" he said, finally.
"They know how to change you back. You can be human again," she said. There was silence for a long time as he absorbed this.
Finally, he asked, "Who?"
"The Kids Next Door. They cured me, and they said that if I could find you, they would cure you too. Now, c'mon. I didn't come all this way to just sit here. I had to plead with the leader of my sector forever before she would finally let me bring you back for the cure," she said. She stood up, and waited for a moment, impatiently tapping her foot.
"But...vhy?" he asked, standing up.
"I don't know. I guess I just thought...no one deserves to have a life like this," she said. He nodded slowly.
"Alright," he said. She smiled at him, and then she turned and started off through the woods. He followed, not knowing what else to do. He was smiling though. He wondered if he might just have a future after all.
Angela was very quiet today. Every day since he had come back to the world of the living, she had talked almost every second that she was with him. But she did not talk much today, just like that first night. He decided that she must understand how important this was to him. Today would be the first day that he would be able to watch the sunrise.
Finally, they reached the spot, and they both sat down on the rock. He had hoped to never have to revisit this place, but she had insisted. It was still dark outside. Suddenly, he saw the first rays of sun just barely peek over the horizon. He watched, certain this was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He heard Angela's silent gasp from beside him, followed by her saying, "It's so beautiful," but he barely registered either. He felt a tear silently roll down his cheek, and he knew that he was truly alive now. He was back.
"But Mommy! What happened next?" asked the little girl as she sat on her mother's lap.
"No one really knows. Some say that Angela went on about her Kids Next Door business, and the Count stayed with the league of villains. Others say the two stayed friends, and even though the Count was too old to be an official member of the Kids Next Door, he helped them out in other ways. And some people take that a step further and say that Angela married the Count, and they lived happily ever after. You can decide for yourself, but no one can be really sure."
"I like the last one," said the little girl smiling. "Everyone deserves to live happily ever after." She tried to stifle a large yawn, but it came out anyway.
"All right, little one, it's time for bed," her mother said. "Yes, mom," the little girl said, and then she stumbled off her mother's lap, and headed towards her bedroom. Her mother stood up, smiling and stretched.
"You know," her husband said from the doorway. "I think I like the last one too." She turned to see her husband, and her smile widened. "And, by the way, there are two people who know the ending to that story."
"I know," Angela said. "But I don't think she's ready to know that yet." The Count smiled. Perhaps one day he when he took his daughter out to see the sunrise, he would tell her the true ending to the story...