Vampire Cultivation System in a Hidden World of Monsters

People were looking at us weird, though not because of Johnny's hot dog. People were looking at us weird because we had packed thirty guys wearing identical black suits and earpieces into a fancy theater.

Only me, Victoria, and Chad were dressed appropriately. But that was because we had gone to the most expensive tailor in town that day and paid to be appropriately dressed. Cost me a small fortune. That said, I was basically made of small fortunes at this point.

The show started and we all settled back. And what a show it was! The moment that Alice made her way on stage, I knew it was her. She commanded attention with her presence.

She was tall and thin, graceful and elegant, beautiful and haunting. Her performance was so expressive and sincere. A few minutes into the performance I noticed something strange.

Colored vapor was seeping out of the crowd and into her body as she acted. All colors were present at one point or another, but blue and yellow seemed to be the most prevalent.

I could guess what this vapor was. Emotion. Emotion infused with life essence. She was literally feeding off the crowd's emotions. I could guess that the blue was sadness, but what was the yellow?

The yellow seemed to come out in moments of triumph. Maybe it was joy or happiness? While I was tuned into this flood of raw emotion, a switch flipped inside of me. Some of the life essence infused emotion started siphoning into me rather than Alice.

More and more of it started funneling into me until half of the emotion in the room was flowing into me rather than her. I tried really hard to stop but I couldn't figure out how. I didn't want to deprive this woman, this vampire, of her feeding.

When it got to where all of the emotions in the room were flowing into me, Alice looked right at me and glared daggers into my head. It only lasted for a moment, but it shook me out of my trance I was in. She evoked fear and guilt in me.

I wasn't even sure how she did it, but it did the trick. The emotion stopped flowing into me. It went back to flowing into her and the look on her face disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

I'm describing the performance as well as I can, but I realize I forgot to mention something. Alice was not performing alone. She was simply the lead role. Actors and actresses performed around her, but their talent was dwarfed by her experience.

She seemed like she had been acting for nearly her entire life. In a sense, she had. Since, she had been a vampire for roughly 190 years, she had been acting for more than two times as long as anyone ever had in recorded history, and at least six times as long as the majority of actors and actresses.

She was the best of the best. The only reason I could see for her being in a small traveling show like she was, was because of the immortality. She could never become a famous actress in the public scene because she would live and stay young too long.

After a certain amount of time, she would never be able to act again, even in small groups because her face would become too recognizable. She would never be able to start her career over in a new identity like she might be able to in other careers, because she would still have the same face.

When the show came to an end, I felt like I came out of a second trance. The first trance was the flood of life essence infused emotion. This one just felt like a trance induced by the performance itself. I had been pulled so far in, and yet I didn't feel it until now.

When all the actors and actresses came back out to do a bow for the audience, Alice looked right at me, put her hand forward, and made a beckoning motion at me. She wanted to see me. It was a good thing I also wanted to see her. Although probably not about the same thing.

When everyone started getting up to leave, I said to Victoria, "I'm gonna go talk to her to see if she wants to see you. Wait here."

"Ok," she said, sounding nervous.

I made my way backstage. I showed security my backstage pass and they let me through. As soon as I passed through the door to go backstage, a hand came out of the darkness and gripped me by the throat.

The hand was strong. Whoever it was pushed me against a wall and lifted me off my feet by the throat. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness and I saw their face.

It was Alice. Her hair looked different but it was her face. She had short blue hair in a pixie cut. She must have worn a wig to perform.

She stared daggers into my eyes again, and said, "How dare you steal from me like that! I earned that. Not you!"

"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't mean to Alice I swear!"

"How do you know my name? I don't have any pictures online. I've made sure of it," she said, she pressed harder at my throat attempting to cut off my air and circulation, but my body was too heavily enhanced by Vi. Pressing against my throat was like pressing against a rock.

"I'm a friend of a friend of yours. She misses you terribly, but she's too afraid to come see you. She thinks you hate her," I said.

"What friend? I don't have many friends and none of them fit that description," she said, her eyes narrowing.

"Think back," I said. "Way back."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Sarah Bernhardt from the 1889 production of 'Cleopatra'? No... Margaret Hughes from the Globe revival of 'Othello' in 1892? Charlotte Cushman during our run of 'Romeo and Juliet' in..." She trailed off in thought.

"Think way way back," I said.

She opened her mouth to say something and I said, "Farther back than that. Think back to the beginning. Back to when this life you and I share began." Read exclusive chapters at empire

Recognition flashed across her face. "It couldn't be. Could it be? Victoria?"

"Yes," I said.

She dropped me off the wall and stared off into space. "But she abandoned me. Why would she want to see me? I waited decades for her to come back, but she never came." Tears fell down her face. Real tears. Not acting tears.

I put my hand on her shoulder like I would an old friend. "She didn't abandon you. She lost you. She chased after you and the theater troupe for decades until she heard you disbanded. Only then did she stop looking. She didn't know how."

"Oh. Oh Victoria," she cried. She hugged me and put her face on my shoulder. I let her cry.

"If she's too afraid to come see me, why did you come?" She said, looking up at me.

"I love her, and I know she needs to see you. You were her first love, after all," I said.

"Her first love? She never loved me. Did she tell you that?" She said.

"Not directly. Victoria didn't know what love was when I first met her," I said. "She's a different kind of vampire than you, and because of that, intimacy is a very transactional affair to her. So when she sensed she had a desire for intimacy with you, she didn't know her feelings were different from just sexual attraction."

"But when I asked her some obvious questions, it was very clear to me that she loved you deeply and is still suffering from your parting. She needs closure. Something I think you would benefit from as well."

"Oh. Ok. I think I can give her that. But what kind of vampire is she if she's not like me and you?" She said.

"Oh, um, I'm not the same kind of vampire as you either. My abilities just overlap. I'm an omni-vampire. It means I'm every type of vampire, not just an empath like you," I said. "And Victoria, well, she's a sex vampire. She feeds from sex."

"Oh. Oh! So much makes sense now," she said.

"Yeah. She's a tragic one. Doomed to crave love, but never able to recognize it even when it was right under her nose," I said. "I'm sorry you two had to go through this, but I hope tonight can at least give you both some peace. Can I bring her backstage now?"

"No, don't bring her backstage," she said.

"Why not?" I said.

"Sorry, no, I mean, we should go out for dinner or something instead of just hanging out in these musty backrooms," she said.

"Oh! I see. Yes let's do that," I said. "Where will we meet you?"

"Bella Luna Cucina," Alice said.

"Oh, Marco's place! My adoptive father knows the owner. From what I remember, they actually owe him a few favors, and since tonight is our last night in town, they'll probably hook us up. They do an amazing Tour of Italy. You'll love it," I said.