Family Honor

I stared with a mingling of longing tinted with regret at the four headstones so ravaged by time and the elements they were now barely legible. Tears would have sprung to my eyes if that bodily function had not died like the rest of me on that fateful night so long ago.

Mother -- Father -- Joey -- Margaret

How could we have known, when the lonely stranger came asking for lodging and a "meal" it would be our last night shared on this earth. Why he left me on the edge of death to metamorphosis into a horror which would bring such shame to you - my precious family, I cannot guess. The evil I have become as a result of his sinful actions has become the recurring nightmare of my existence.

The history I have bared witness to, sights I have seen, places I have visited -- blood I have spilled over these long desolate years and I am no closer to avenging you, my family, than when I first awakened and was forced to view the world with cold undead eyes.

Seeing your four graves serves only to mock me and my failure in finding your killer. A failure and constant burden chained around my neck like the albatross and the Ancient Mariner. For surely your souls cannot be at rest as I feel your disapproving gazes upon me with every kill I am forced to make knowing what I have become.

I would gladly end my existence if not for my vow of retribution. What would it matter if I took what now passes for my life? What would it really matter if I truly died by my own hand? I already know I am doomed to a fiery pit in the darkest recesses of Hell. If not for my actions then most assuredly for the spawn of evil I am.

Why do I return here year after year?

But I know the answer before the question is even asked. This small grave-site, marked with your four stones engraved with our family name, is the only home I have left. This is the only place where I can experience a sense of peace, and remember a humanity long since forgotten.

I long to be buried in the soft earth beside you, my family - together for all eternity. Instead I am forced to walk upon this earth forever in shadows. The blood in my veins chilled colder than any winter wind, which swept across our prairie home those long decades ago; as cold as the monster I seek to destroy.

Here and now I renew my vow to find the monster that destroyed our family. I would swear before God if I didn't already know my prayers would fall on deaf ears. I will have our revenge. I swear I will baptize myself in that lonely traveler's blood for what he has done to you -- and for what he has made me.

Mother -- Father -- Joey -- Margaret

I will avenge you.

I promise --