First Emperor Of Haiti Ch 02

In my day, Vampires sucked blood, not cock! I looked disgustedly at the Twilight book inside the Barnes and Nobles bookstore, and sighed. The clerk, a skinny white chick dressed in the gothic fashion, shot me a dirty look. For the thousandth time I found myself cursing this strange, confusing age in which I have been awakened. Everybody is staring at me as I walk through the streets of Boston, Massachusetts. As a six-foot-five, broad-shouldered and muscular man with dark brown skin and a shaved head, I attract a lot of attention. Mostly I get mistaken for a member of a professional sports team.

If I close my eyes, I can remember my homeland. The year was 1799 and the island of Saint Domingue was rife with war. African slaves forcibly brought to the Caribbean by the French were revolting against their European masters in an all-out fight for dominion of the island. It's a fight the Africans were destined to win. They would go on to create the first independent Black republic in the New World. The first independent Black Nation in the age of Colonialism and Eurocentric global imperialism. I remember those bright days because I was there. I was a young Black man in my twenties, forcibly brought to the Caribbean by Dutch slave traders who sold me to the French. I was forcibly taken from the Kingdom of Dahomey, my country. Where I was once a Prince.

I arrived to find the future Republic of Haiti in a state of turmoil as the French warred against the African rebels. How foolish those Frenchmen were. The island of Saint Domingue was full of rebellious slaves, armed to the teeth, fighting against the French soldiers with everything they had. And these mad Frenchmen kept bringing new slaves to the island to replace the runaways who had joined the rebel armies. In fact, they were bringing reinforcements to their enemies without realizing it. My first night in Saint Domingue I killed my first Frenchman along with his wife and offspring. They would not be the last Europeans to feel my wrath. By the time I managed to join the Rebel Army, I had killed over a hundred Europeans by myself. For I was skilled with any weapon I could get my hands on. From the bayonet to the rifle and the machete.

The Princes of Europe were often pampered men who grew up sheltered and protected. In the Kingdom of Dahomey in the heart of Africa, a Prince's sole duty was war. I had already embarrassed my ancestors and my King by allowing myself to be taken in battle by the Dutch invaders who would eventually sell me to the bloody French. I would not suffer such shame again. I pledged my allegiance to Jean Jacques Dessalines, the stalwart Black man who was leading the African rebel forces on the island of Saint Domingue. The man who would lead us to total victory over the French forces. The Founder of the Republic of Haiti. Father of the Haitian Motherland. Creator of the first Independent Black Republic in the New World. The Avenger of the New World itself. History has so many names for him. To me, he was my leader, my King and my friend.

Few know that the man history remembers as Haiti's First Emperor was more than human. Yes, the man was much more than merely human. And I don't mean he was a tough guy or an icon. I mean he was a monster. For Jean Jacques Dessalines was a Vampire. Well, he was much more than a mere Vampire. Although he drank blood like any Vampire, he was as beyond us as we were beyond ordinary human beings. Jean Jacques Dessalines was stronger and faster than the average Vampire, and he could do things that the rest of us could only dream of. Like shape-shifting. He could make himself look like anyone. He transformed many of the strongest Black men and Black women in the revolutionary army into Vampires. He called us the Blood Army. And he bade us to follow only one rule. We could only drink the blood of the French, never the blood of our African brothers and sisters. Breaking that rule was punishable by death.

I for one was happy to follow the Blood King's single rule. Try as I might, I couldn't feed on my African brothers and sisters even when the thirst threatened me with madness. Only the blood of blasted Europeans could sustain me. And so I drained any of them I could find. Men, women and their offspring as well. How I hated their kind. When Dessalines granted me permission, I found Black men and Black women worthy of the Gift. What is the Gift? The blessing of being a Vampire. Dessalines only allowed us to transform a few of our African brothers and sisters into the Undead. For if there were too many of us, chaos would ensue. No environment could support too many predators. The prey had to always outnumber the predators. Otherwise soon only the predators would remain, and they would quarrel among themselves once food was scarce.

Throughout the glorious revolution period, I served Jean Jacques Dessalines faithfully. Unfortunately, the Emperor's reign didn't last. A coalition of humans and Vampires betrayed him and overcame him. Shortly after he freed the African inhabitants of the newly formed Republic of Haiti from the tyranny of French rule. My Emperor was betrayed by both natural and supernatural forces. He was slain, and his remains were stolen. I knew that Dessalines was no mere Vampire and that the means by which our kind could be destroyed wouldn't work on him. However, he would be severely weakened for a long time. I sought his remains, seeking to trade my life for his. I wanted to bathe the Emperor with my undying blood, so that he might live again. Unfortunately, a secretly society of Haitian men hid him from me. Try as I might, I could not pierce their veil of secrecy. I knew my Emperor would eventually come back to life. And this wasn't merely faith. Through mind to mind communication, what remained of Dessalines let me know what he expected of me.

And so it was that I allowed myself to be buried in Quartier Morin, a small town outside the City of Cap-Haitien in Northern Haiti. A place which was dear to my Lord Dessalines. I was buried there, and remained there for two hundred years. Until a pair of greedy American soldiers brought my coffin to the United States, along with tons of newly rediscovered gold and jewels belonging to the Haitian people. Hidden treasures from the colonial days. I awakened in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2008. Four years ago. Since then, I've adapted to this new time and this new world. In the eyes of the world I am Kelvin Joseph, a wealthy Haitian-American businessmen. I seized the treasure after getting rid of the greedy American soldiers. And I made good use of it. I busied myself helping the international Haitian community financially in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. I never gave up on finding the Emperor, though. I knew someday he would return.

Recently, I heard reports of a new Vampiric presence in the Port-Au-Prince region of Haiti. Someone is stalking American soldiers and United Nations workers. Whoever is hunting them leaves them drained of blood. I knew there were quite a few Vampires left in the Republic of Haiti but only one would ever direct its powers against the new colonists of the island...the foreign forces supposedly there to help the Haitian people. I smiled to myself. The Emperor of Haiti has returned. I am leaving for Port-Au-Prince in three days. My Emperor needs me. For I am Capois La Mort, his most faithful servant.