They had such great hunger for each other, that they had lost them selves within the depths of uncontrolled passion. Not realizing the consequences that lay ahead, until at last it was too late. She was, to him, unparalleled in beauty. Unlike anyone he had ever known or imagined to exist. It seemed as if every moment he spent with her, she became more beautiful. Had you asked him, he could not define the entirety of what it was that made her such an incredible woman, but she was in fact extraordinary. Though she was sincerely and perhaps uniquely attractive, in an almost timeless way, there was something more to her. Something that made the world around them fade away. He wanted to know her inside and out, to be close to her, to be consumed by her, to consume her until she became as the air to him. This was no mere obsession, it had become his will, his purpose.

To her, his attention, his passion for her, was intoxicating. It was something she had not felt for awhile, and though she knew it was dangerous, she could not resist but to indulge it for just a little while. She had been enchanted by the depths of his eyes, by his soothing voice, she felt felt almost vulnerable. It was as if she were young again, as if she were a different person. Though he was a poet of the spoken word, to here he was the true poetry. A well built and good looking man, with eyes that capture whatever he turned his gaze upon, and a voice that stirred her cravings. Her hunger had been going wild for him, since the moment she caught him on stage that evening. She had stood up and approached it, to address him with her eyes. His attention had belonged to her from that moment on, though he had already captured her desire. The longing only swelled, until she finally got him back to her place. A gated home, just outside the city, on a spacious estate. It was a quiet retreat, which offered privacy by way of seclusion. Unfortunately, things had proceeded beyond her control, and what had happened could not be undone.

“Succubus, Incubus, those were the names given to us by men of learning. Though we have been known by many names. In more recent times we were called Vampires. But all of these names are nothing more than words. No one really knows what we are, only that we feed on life. To be more accurate however, it is the energy of living beings which we feed upon, the life-force or spirit if you will. We hunger for it, and it calls to us… as we are but slaves to its temptation. The more vital a life, the more alluring its energy. We do not need to eat as mortals must, and doing so does little for us. Those who attempt to control there hunger, through such efforts, only succeed in appearing gluttonous. The foods we once craved as mortals, now only serve to dull the depths of our hunger… an exercise in indulgence and nostalgia, nothing more. Of course, we can draw energy from beasts, but there is so little that few can sate the hunger with beasts. Even those beasts born of higher consciousness, rarely satisfy. You might think to wonder why we cannot feed from plants? As do we… so vibrant with life, and in someway they sustain us all. Some trees have even lived more than a century. But we can take nothing from them, other than the sweet flavor of their fruits. For most, it is the call of passion which we pursue… artists, lovers, warriors, adventurers, and their like. Such people not only sustain us, but many can quiet the hunger… at least for a time,” she told him this, as he fed from her. He had eaten so much, unable to quell his hunger. It had only been in her arms that he finally began to feel his desperation subside.

“More,” he moaned, as he realized she was the source of his sustenance, of the satisfaction which began to wash over him.

“But what we are is more than our hunger, for like you, we were all once as human as we are now inhuman. Only, when it was our time to move-on, we did not. We chose to live eternal, even if that meant feeding on the lives of others. What power allowed us to defy death is wholly unknown, only the cost of that defiance. Some say we are demons incarnate, others that we have been possessed. Perhaps there is some truth to these accusations, or perhaps there is not. The truth is, we simply do not know for certain, nor do we truly care. For what is most important, is that we live-on. That is why humans envy us, why they see us as they do, why they would capture and destroy us for their own sake. This is the reason why I must teach you to live as one of us, and why you must listen and learn,” she continued.

“But how?” He asked her this, as a child struggling to understand some obviously important fact about the world they lived in.

“You died, yet you did not,” she replied, in a considered manner. After a brief pause, to allow him to absorb the meaning of her words, she continued. “Your passion overwhelmed me, and I lost control of my appetite. As a result, you grew too weak, too suddenly… and your heart stopped, for a few moments. Really, it was no more than unfortunate timing, our appetites peaking in unison. You didn’t even notice you were in danger, for the rush of it all. But you could have died happy, had you chosen to do so. Instead, here you are. With a greater hunger for life than you have ever known.”

“Literally…” he said, as it began to sink in.

“Yes… literally,” she confirmed.