Forum Romanum
by Lara
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED])
May 1999
Do not archive, translate or otherwise use this fic without permission. You
are welcome to link to this page.
This is an amateur effort and not intended to infringe on the rights of Anne
Rice. No monetary profit is being made.
Forum Romanum
Rome. The Eternal City. A vast jungle of streets and houses, and lost in the
middle of all that the ruins of a people that had been the greatest of its
time. Now the open space called Forum Romanum, that shadow of the beauty it
had shown before, was tourist attraction, graveyard and hunting ground at the
same time. The stones that had formed temples built to the glory of the gods
were now nothing more than the scattered parts of something that would never
return.
She sat on steps that led nowhere, in front of the ruin that had once been
Minerva's sanctuary, and watched the last visitors leave. They were typical
tourists, with cameras and giant maps, who had only come here because it was
considered a duty to see as many devastated, ruined places as possible. They
would spend the rest of the evening in one of the more entertaining places.
She
had been there too, but felt strange, misplaced. Clubs and bars were
something that she did neither understand nor like. Too loud, too crammed. The
music
hurt her ears, the smoke of the cigarettes burned in her eyes. She wondered
what made these places so attractive to mortals, but then mortals could be so
strange. In groups they wandered to the Piazza Navona to drink Grappa and
sat on the Spanish steps in crowds, chatting, drawn to the locations like the
moths to the flame. Sometimes, when she couldn't find a victim anywhere else,
she joined them; a blonde always attracted admirers there who were willing to
follow her in a dark alley. They expected something else from her than
death, though.
Being mortal was something she had never missed in two hundred years, other
than her son. But even he had realized that it wasn't the glorious existence
it seemed to be, and had turned his back on it. And then he had done another
foolish thing when he had made another fledgling, who had always resented the
Gift and who had finally been forced to take it. During the first years she
had feared that he would go the way of so many who couldn't come to terms
with their new life. Immortality was hard to deal with if taken out of free
will, and nearly impossible to cope with if it was given without consent. But
this one had come to like it, and had even found a duty in collecting
knowledge
as he had done all his life for his order. Mortal habits were hard to shake
off.
The thirst raged in her, it was not as violent as it had been during her
time as a fledgling, but strong enough. Soon the first creatures of the night,
as she called them, the drug dealers, whores and little criminals, would come
and claim the Forum as their territory for the dark hours, dancing on the
stage that presented itself in the very heart of the city as they had done
countless years before. And she would pick her victim among them, who weren't
missed and weren't mourned, always the lonely, silent predator.
She had been sleeping in the cool ground that night, as she did most of the
time. Hotels were for other people, for those who lived and functioned in the
artificial world they had created. But she was a child of another century, a
time when such simple things as ballpens and zippers had been unthinkable.
The surface changed rapidly, but the earth beneath was still the same. To
sleep there gave her comfort and made her feel at home, and she did it as
often
as possible. Maybe that was the reason why she had never gone underground like
so many of the others.
Scanning, she found that the first participants of the never-ending dance
had already arrived and were hurrying through the deserted ruins. She stood up
in one fluid movement, graceful like a cat, and followed them silently,
waiting for them to stop at their hiding place.
They were moving fast, as if haunted by a ghost. She could even feel their
fear to be discovered. They were thinking that the police were following them,
and hoped that they could escape them in the dead city of the Forum. Well,
maybe they could shake the police loose, but they couldn't escape her. She
scanned again and found that they were two of the numerous little drug
dealers.
Nothing the community would miss. Coming closer, she hid in the shadows as
they did. She could already see them, smelled the sweat and the blood. Their
heartbeats were loud to her, a delicate sound of sweet life, life that would
stop soon. They were hiding in the remains of the Basilica now, pressing their
hot bodies against the cold stone wall.
She stepped closer until she was within their reach. If the one on the left
had stretched his arm, he would have been able to touch her face. One of them
moved, causing some pebbles to roll over the remains of the marble floor.
The noise was clearly audible, and both froze, listening if their pursuers had
heard it. They would run away again now, but she didn't want to wait any
longer. She moved towards them, too fast for their eyes to see. And collided
with
something that hadn't been there a moment ago.
Stumbling, she fell on her knees and rolled on her back. Frantically
scanning her surroundings for a trace of danger, she cane to her feet in an
instant,
backing up against the wall. She was ready to defend herself against
whatever could be threatening her.
A slim, tall figure emerged from the shadows, and in the dim moonlight she
could see who had interrupted her hunting. There was no way mistaking the long
brown hair that was flowing freely down the other's back, the narrow waist
and the pale, nearly white face with the high cheekbones. Dressed casually in
jeans and a shirt knotted below her bosom, showing her navel, she looked
stunning, a woman who truly belonged into this time.
"It appears that we have the same taste regarding our hunting grounds"
Pandora said, smiling. "Forgive me for disturbing you, I didn't know that
anybody
else is here besides me."
"Neither did I", she answered, brushing the dirt from her thighs and arms.
Raking her fingers through her tangled hair she hadn't brushed in weeks, she
quickly pulled some lose strands back into her braid. "It seems that we both
are too good at veiling our presence." In the corner of her eye she caught a
movement. One of the mortals was attempting to sneak away. She smiled at
Pandora. "There are two of them, enough for both of us. Do you want to feed
with
me?" Pandora laughed quietly and nodded.
"How could I possibly decline such an invitation?" Gabrielle nodded and went
after the fleeing one. In an instant she had caught him in a tight embrace,
her mouth at his throat, finding the artery immediately with the practice of
centuries. He tried to fight her, but gave up when the blood loss made him
swoon. As soon as she felt his heart beat stop, she drew back and dropped the
body to the ground, quickly digging a hole to cover up the kill. In the middle
of all these ruins nobody would wonder too much about another corpse.
Everybody knew that the Forum was often used as a graveyard by criminals,
nobody
questioned the origins or the age of the human remnants that were found
sometimes during excavations. Pandora, who had already hid her victim in the
soft,
damp earth, came and helped her to cover the corpse with earth and the broken
capitell of a marble pillar.
"So, what are you doing here?" Gabrielle asked when they had finished,
rubbing her dirty hands over her thighs. Pandora shrugged.
"I just wanted to return to the city of my birth. It has been a long time
since I have been here, and so I thought it would be nice to return here
again.
I love the city, it's so vivid and unique.' Pandora looked at her, a smile
on her lips. "How do you feel about spending the night with me? We could hunt
for some gorgeous young Romans on the Spanish Steps." Gabrielle hesitated.
"These crowds are not really - " Pandora interrupted her with a quick
gesture of her hand.
"I am sure that you will like it." Gabrielle sighed, and a smile crossed her
face. Stuffing her fists into the pockets of her coat, she settled on the
rests of a wall.
"You have persuaded me, ma chere, I will join you." She blew some blond
hairs out of her face. "It's not as if I had a choice." Pandora took her hands
and pulled her along.
"Wonderful. Come, or the night will be over before it has even started."
Laughing, Gabrielle jumped gracefully from her stone seat and followed her.
Together, they disappeared in the dark.
