AN ENTRY IN THE JOURNAL OF JONATHON ben MACABI a.k.a. TOMAS de MACABEA.. inside the VAMPIRE'S mind...

Sometimes I wake during the day and write in my journal. I back into one of the corners of our cellar crypt, snap on a little nine volt, L.E.D. flashlight and scribble away. Sarah still slumbers, curled among the rose petals. 

My words go into a simple black and white, cardboard covered 'composition' book. Edith gets them from the dollar store. My best words are transcribed onto the vellum pages of the leather bound volumes I get from an artisan in Valencia. He, or rather his family, has supplied me for centuries.

Can you imagine what that is like?.... 'Centuries.'....... Everything comes in waves. Few things truly change. We confront those who would destroy us. We triumph, or perish. Thanks be to God that I and the others are still here.

I have heard of life-eaters who volunteer their services to colleges and universities.... A 'living' collection of documents and records. Such individuals dictate countless hours of stories and recollections..... History made tangible. 

They want me to do that at PENN. You know of my familiars who oversee the vast museum there? They ask me. They tempt me. La Familia ben Macabi Collection...... That's what they would call it. Few scholars would ever see or hear the actual recordings. They'd have access to the written transcripts. And even those would be altered. No first person accounts by an unnatural survivor. Magic is not for the masses.

Well, I'm considering it. People should know what it was like. They must remember the brutality, as well as the beauty. Do you realize many who were beheaded actually had the offending noggin lopped off with clubs? Execution axes were purposely kept dull to heighten the horror. Took seven or eight strikes  to finish most of them. Arms would fly out. Legs would twitch and kick. Shit all over the place. What does 'nature' think? If I make them crap, they'll live?

Speaking of 'crap,' I do miss horses. I miss the smell, the leather, the strength, the heat. We had a fine stable in Granada, from the same bloodlines as those of the Caliph, himself. Like Pegasus, they were. Do you know what it's like to race down a dry wadi on a deep, orange, Spanish afternoon? Please, no wonder they call motor cycles 'hogs.' 

I contemplate purchasing a horse farm in New Jersey. Do not believe the facile jokes told by shrill, limited comedians. Except for the region immediately adjacent to the city of New York, New Jersey is a beautiful place. Edith knows. That's why she runs back there so often. At one time the English made the same jokes about Shorditch. People are so like cattle...... Now I was long out of Spain before the rise of classical bull fighting. True, lithe, young dare-devils practiced a kind of bull-jumping, but the animal never died. And since most arena del toro  open only in the day, attendance by my breed is difficult, to say the least. As an ever-so-slightly lapsed believer, I am bound to tell you it's wrong. Mankind has dominion over the beasts in order to protect them... But tell that to the chicken who gives you 'nuggets' as well as eggs.

I like the chill of this hard, stone wall against my back. It relaxes me. Soon I will snuggle back into the rose petals and embrace my beloved. For although I take 'pleasure' in foreign orchards, the peaches of my beloved are sweetest by far...

(he takes the tiny, battery powered torch from between his teeth, snaps it off and stretches out..... we hear his beloved purr as he wraps her in his arms...)

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Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: The Book of Sarah

A manic Tomas rambles on in English (but with the cadences of Medieval Spanish, or Old Vahmperigo) as the Philadelphia Night-Folk confront dangers one dark autumn evening two years ago.... You know, you can take 'The Tomas Walk' through Center City, Philadelphia. Every place we mention here is real. And we did not start 'The Tomas Walk.' Those familiar with the tale did that on their own......Please read. and when you reach the bottom, keep going and click on a newer, or older post and wander...Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: The Book of Sarah: It is me this time. It is Tomas, I am deeply depressed. Even those new pairs of spectacularly fitting jeans I purchased on Walnut Street fai...

Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: The Book of Sarah

Please click on this passage providing insight to how things were done among the ancient vampirisi~~~~Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: The Book of Sarah: Things like this were common practice among the vampirisi in the old days ~~~ This is not fiction. I am not supposed to say it, but I have ...

TOMAS TELLS ABOUT WHEN THINGS WENT MEDIEVAL ON HIM REAL FAST

Annie has a new thing. She jumps around the house, 'singing' into the cardboard tube from a roll of paper towels. Says she wants to be in the Olympics. Don't know what event. Just wants to be in it. Oh, and the song she sings is the theme song from the Olympics ~~~~ dum DUM ta dum dum dum dum... Tum da da dum..da da DUM...ta da dum tum DUMMM. She says that 's the words. Edith says they ain't never gonna let no vampire child be in no Olympics. But Annie says they let worse monstrosities than her in it. She got pictures from an old National Geographic. Edith say they just big boned East German women what got experimented on. 'Sides, they extinct now. Don't make 'em no more...... Annie get angry. She grab Edith's fat arm and start biting it. But that Piney, witchy-woman know what to do. She make that skinny gals teeth fall out. Then she laugh and laugh and laugh. Know it gone take her two nights a grow 'em back. Annie cry. Start kickin'. Edith grab the new dog, that little Avi and say she gone throw him down the garbage disposal. But she won't never do that, 'cause she love him like she love coconut-custard pie.... Annie don't know, though, so she shut up. Take her copy a some tabloid 'bout lady in California who tell fortune by feelin'  strange folk's asses. Edith say that not possible. Annie tell her to go to hell. Annie say she gone be ass-feeler in a Olympics. Win a gold medal too.

Tomas and Sarah back home, so they shut up. They got bags full a puppy chow for little Yorkie and a couple 'cute' sweaters. Edith put it away. Annie go downstairs to watch Chealsea Handler or somethin'. She say she like them foul-mouthed, white girl shows, 'cause that what she is. That her other  new thing now. Ev'rybody on TV is white, or black, or Chinese. She ask Sarah if they taste different. Sarah say that not nice. She worry 'bout that girl...... Little ghost boy in a cellar not like Chelsea Handler. He keep makin' TV fritz out, so they compromise and watch doctah doin' tittie-fixin'  somewhere else...

Tomas take Sarah and go out back. That they quiet talkin' place. Set in them big lounge chairs, cover up wit' them Afghanistan blankets. Look up at the stars and communicate. She like when they communicate, which mostly mean she like when he tell whole lot a crap 'bout hisself..........

This what he tell tonight....

She'd cut me in my sleep, Lydia, I mean and try to lick up the blood. But you know how fast that stops. You know how rapidly it congeals. She'd get some. I don't know how much. I could have tried to read her mind, but truthfully, I didn't want to have that type of intimacy with her anymore. So I took to sleeping with the Circassian women. They were so much more obliging. Perhaps because I owned them. I don't think the vampire part entered into it........ Sarah just looks at him..... Well, I don't. - he says. 

Sarah quietly asks - So you didn't really love her. All those words.... her beauty.... the moonlight.... that first sight of her....were what, just words?..... He exhales - I just didn't want to be alone. It was still all so new to me, being a life-eater, I mean. And I thought she'd make it better.

Did you think that about the others? And, and those times with the 'mole girls,' down in the unused subway tunnels, what, was that the same thing? - she said. 

Tomas didn't answer. They watched the silent lights from a high flying plane, or perhaps a satellite progress across the sky, til it vanished behind an adjacent brick wall. Then he said - Panic filled the city. People scrambled into boats going up river toward Nubian lands, or even farther on to the Ethiopian Empire. True, the Empire was Orthodox Christian, yet not as xenophobic as most in those days..... Then he paused and considered....... 'Those days?' Are we really so much better now?....... He inhaled and went on - The Mamaluk Garrison (already a growing force in the east) set naphtha bombs all about the city, preparing to blow it up. Remember that movie we watched, 'Empire of The Sun,' when the British people were fleeing Shang Hai before the Japanese? Well that's what it was like. The Trinitarians took no prisoners. Every soul was butchered, even the little children. You know, it's odd they think of that as a religious war. Religion had nothing to do with it. The reverent people stayed at home, or were used as 'cannon fodder' if they came at all. The wealth of the east was the thing. And Europe was just too cold.

I waited til dark and raced toward Ben Ezra (the synagogue) eager to see what the elders would do. Most were going overland to the coast. You could find a ship there, sail down the Red Sea and go up to Persia. You know Persia was ... the most liberal country in those days.... They really were. So that's what I did......

Did you take Lydia? - asked Sarah....... No, - said Tomas. But I left her half the wealth and all the slaves.

What happened to her? - said Sarah...... Word reached me in Susa that she made it to Byzantium - he said.... And in that city she found someone to 'burden' her.

So she became a vampire after all - said Sarah.

Yes - he whispered. But then he said no more.

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Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: How Sarah Lost Her Family~~~

Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: How Sarah Lost Her Family~~~: Some insights into Sarah's early life, first appearing two years ago, but never even read...  Please click on this. Do that tiny bit of magic and make the tale appear...

FUSTAT BEFORE THE DESTRUCTION.. TOMAS WALKS THE EGYPTIAN CAPITAL

Please excuse any minor inaccuracies. Time moves much differently for me. Centuries are as decades and years fly by like hours. But this is the truth, as far as I can recall.

The Egyptian Capital of Fustat was a splendid place, filled with wondrous ateliers producing all manner of coveted luxuries. Caravans funneled exotic commodities from all parts of the world. And though Trinitarian Crusaders held court in Jerusalem, the Egyptian citadel was safe... for a time. 

We wandered the souks at evening time, purchasing fine silks and lustrous satins from the Hindustani merchants. I even met a Han Chinese for the first time in my life. Wonderful fellow. Lydia was completely besotted with his porcelain. We bought service for twelve. And even I used it for certain spicy, hot toddies at times. Alcohol agrees with vampire stomachs. Don't ask me why. It just does. 

I made friends with a sexton at Ben Ezra, the venerable old synagogue even Trinatarian scholars know. And he helped us find a house. The Franks would have called it a petit palace. You see, vampires accrue wealth quite rapidly, especially when we prey on the wicked. Six moons after arriving I had two casks of precious stones and three hundred talents of gold. Needless to say, the capital was freed from many a ruthless soul. We bought servants too, Circassians, or remnants of the Radiant Alans when we could get them. So fine the features. So stately. So alluring. Our receptions grew famous. We hobb-nobbed with everyone, Muslims, Jews from the Iraqi congregation, even the Karaites. 

Life was good. Lydia asked me to set the burden upon her, but I refused, believing it to be not a capricious thing, but something brought on by calamity, or impending death. That's how it came to me, after all. But we made love on the roof. It was cool there, especially during the summer months. Few slept indoors, save the gnats and sharp-toothed rodents. Soft, fresh sheets draped thickly cushioned couches. And one or two discreet Berber slaves fanned us with large, intricately made, folding contraptions brought all the way from the cities of The Han.Like what Spanish ladies carry to this day, but much, much grander in scale. 

I made the acquaintance of the great Maimonidies, an Andalucian refugee, like myself. In his case, the great theologian fled from fundamentalist North African elements at court. Since Fustat had few like that, he soon rose to high estate advising The House of Saladin and treating their sundry ills. For he was also a learned physician and well versed in scientific arts.

The years ran passed. Lydia, though still well preserved by priceless unguents from realms quite far away, still managed to age. And she grew to hate me for allowing that to happen. Now most illustrious men of the city knew of my burden. Alchemy was a respected art in these parts. People were open minded. Needless to say, the occasional tiny blood gifts bestowed upon ailing nobles and poxed young sons made all things right. But the lower classes and certain members of the clergy (all strains being alike in this) did not. And Lydia planned to denounce  me. Did she say it? Well, not to me. But she made plans. Oh, I could have killed her. Few would have questioned her absence. That's how domestic problems were handled in those times. Kitchen fires you know. Gotta look out for them crazy braziers. But I promised her father, so I did not.

Though I drugged her wine (itself a form of semi-contraband) and she spent her time cloistered in the harem, attended by loyal servants and her three most trusted eunuchs.

But greater problems arose. For the Trinitarian armies in Judea-Palestina were on the march... and one city in Egypt had already been put to the sword. It's streets ran red with blood.

Some fled north to the Turks in Anatolia. Others made for Bedouin camps to the west. But we stayed. Who could leave such opulence? 

Ah, many a would-be refugee was slain for love of a rug...

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Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: The Book of Sarah

Billy Kravitz' vampire wonderland: The Book of Sarah: I make myself known to her now. She does not fully understand just what I am. But she is open to new things. I suppose that comes from being...FROM A TIME WHEN SARAH WAS STILL MORTAL AND TOMAS HER DASHING SAVIOR.....