Chapter Twenty-three.
September 8 th .
T onight, I took my third victim, and once again, this was a prostitute. The fear from Polly’s death has faded. Surely this time will warn those dirty whores someone is hunting them. The terror might force them to stop selling their bodies. But I doubt it; they are a greedy, drunken bunch, with no consideration for their trapped and tortured souls.
Although many claim they commit the sin to feed their family, they are lying. They needn’t trade themselves for food. Those women are sex-crazed.
This one I got tonight was roughly five feet tall and about forty-five years of age. She owned the name Annie Chapman. Annie, too, was a drinker, and that’s another reason to sell their bodies. Alcohol, why can’t they live without the devil’s drink? I taught Annie being drunk is a terrible thing.
Gin gets you killed. Silly woman did not even realise I was following her.
The whore begged before she passed, claiming she had a daughter and two dead children. In trying to build a rapport, she told me her name. Annie said I must not kill her, for the child needed her as the father passed a few years beforehand. She claimed she had only turned to prostitution because he had died, and she needed the money.
Rubbish, there are other jobs Annie might have done. All I could see was this innocent soul begging to be released, and so I did it.
Why are people compelled to lie? If they spoke truthfully, then I might offer mercy and allow them to live, but all they do is fib.
‘I’m a whore and don’t wish to die.’
How simple is that? I might listen, but I doubt it. Call me God’s Hand, for it is God’s mission I am on, and I must complete it.
Annie lost her womb just like Kierran.
Annie Chapman’s return is destined, and she shall be as she should. A lady who is clean and pure. There is no reason to sell her body, and I do not approve. But I ensured that Annie will not bear any more children. Why should Annie when I cannot?
Am I not young, in good health, and fairly beautiful? I should be able to birth children. I must punish those who have those precious babies and yet sell themselves. They obviously do not care for them, or they would not be working the streets. I am God’s right Hand.
Yes, I think I’m correct.
Jacques and Mihal have not guessed as to who the Ripper is, so I must be God’s angel. Both crossed my path and didn’t recognise me. Indeed, they both looked through me.
Forsooth, I cannot be stopped and cannot be caught, and so maybe I am a deity. Only God can kill like this, with mercy and retribution for the disgraceful way in which these women live their wretched lives. As a God, I rid this world of evil and make the world a better place to live.
Well, I became cross with Annie Chapman and the lies she spoke. Perhaps I wrecked my vengeance a little too enthusiastically. But I did enjoy myself and have already picked my next victim.
Snip, snip, I cut and cut away at Annie and got rather dirty. Doesn’t matter. I’ll burn my clothes. Nobody will trace them. As I dress as a male, no one suspects The Ripper is a woman doing the killing.
A stylish lady would be memorable in these slums. Plus, they wouldn’t service a woman. They would sleep with a male but not a female. It is rather enjoyable portraying myself as a fellow, this makes me even more invincible.
Fear not, for God is a powerful woman. Remember, I am the just, the merciful, and I am coming for you.
September 27 th .
Such a tease I am… I sent a letter to the peelers to tantalise them. By addressing this as Dear Boss, I expect the police to be kept busy for a short time. Writing uncouthly, to throw the scent away from me, was rather easy.
I coined the moniker of Jack the Ripper. Jack is a popular name these days, and they’ll never trace the letter to a rich household near to Hyde’s Park. The Peelers have no idea a wealthy woman is playing games with them.
I must laugh at Scotland Yard’s pathetic investigation.
They won’t ever catch me.
September 30 th .
How dare Jacques interrupt me when killing Elizabeth Stride? Jacques had been close by, and I had to leave the job unfinished. I had intended to tear Long Liz’s womb out and play with it for a little while, but the bastard disturbed me. I had been watching Stride for a long time and planned to enjoy myself.
Damn you, Jacques. But it didn’t matter, though, because I came across another and played with her instead. London will panic, and the prostitutes will change their minds after two killings tonight.
They never learn, do they?
Long Liz begged me not to kill her, and I told her just what I planned to do. How enjoyable it was watching her face pale and seeing the fear in Liz’s eyes. The soul inside of Long Liz rejoiced as though it knew I would save it. Liz will be reborn as a man, I’ve decided.
Next time, I’ll let the soul have a little fun.
I am God. That is within my capabilities.
Liz said she had no children, but she’d had a stillborn daughter. Another lie!
To punish her, I took the infant away. Liz did not deserve the babe, and so I saved her from a morally terrible mother. Long Liz, too, was a drinker. All those bitches are. That is what they sell their bodies for. Well, I couldn’t kill the womb because of Jacques. This means Long Liz might still beget children if she wished. But Liz will return as a man, and she’ll not experience the love a mother has for a child.
I am getting closer and closer to my intended goals.
There weren’t as many prostitutes on the streets. Finally, they might be learning what I am teaching. I hope so, because when they listen, they’ll find an enriching life awaiting them. Virtuous individuals merit a good afterlife. Life is meant to be full of pain, and yet when you die, you get a reward.
Look at me, am I not proof of all the rewards I promise? I became God; what higher reward can you ask for? There is nobody above me. Currently, Jacques’ actions enrage me, and I will seek retribution. Jacques interfered in God’s work. A punishment will be meted out later.
Catherine Eddowes was thoroughly dealt with. She, too, said she was only doing it to survive. But Catherine had three children. I hate these women for what they do. Maybe I got carried away exacting vengeance for the sake of the soul imprisoned. Furiously, I slashed and cut. The bitch had the smell of drink on her breath, and I can’t stand it anymore.
Perhaps I should also extend my lessons towards the alcoholics as well. When will people learn?
I am God!
I see everything. I read their thoughts. The nasty things that they think they can’t hide from me. Fools. Do they not perceive my true nature?
I glow in the dark, a holy light proving, indeed, I am what I claim to be.
Poor Kierran, I await the day for you to be reborn, and together, we’ll rid this world of all the badness and evil that exists.
The question remains if I should also kill my kind.
No, not now. For their goals align with mine. They keep the level of vampires down for me and so I think that I must reward them. At the moment, I am undecided about their fate. Perhaps I’ll let the Vam’pirs die and gain some rest. Vam’pirs crave peace. Nobody can deny how hard they’ve worked over the years. Vam’pirs helped sculpt this world, and yet their efforts are not appreciated.
Ah, Kierran, I long to hold you in my arms and to make love under stars. Perhaps I should speed up your rebirth and help your return.
Kierran, I am your mistress, you’ll worship me. That I shall allow, and you will become God’s consort and love me. Everyone will look at you with envy, even others of our kind.
Listen now, Kierran. There is a reason we remained separate for twelve millennia. That is for you to return as a mortal man and impregnate me. Only you possess this capability.
God can only become pregnant by the man that she loves.
The child will inherit our abilities. Kierran, too, will be worshipped and adored, and we three shall rule the world and mould it into what we want. Without you, my womb is empty, and my plans for this world cannot be fulfilled.
Together, we’ll ensure this is a safe place in which to raise children. Kaltos was damned. Kaltons lived a life of sin, and my punishment all these years was to be deprived of you. The moment for our union is here.
You must give me a child, and then everything will be right. You’ll not be giving anyone else a child, or I shall punish you again. But I do not doubt that you shall recognise me this time. For we are destined, and I deem that so.
I love you.
November 4 th .
Damn, Jacques! The fool has interfered once too often. I spotted another whore, dressed as a wealthy woman.
Following her, I hit the man she was about to service on the head. As I went to punish her, Jacques got involved. Jaq must be managed. No longer can Jacques interfere with God. This is a lesson he must learn.
I never judged Jacques over that little fiasco with that rich whore, Lady Caroline. I understand his intentions were pure. I know that the Vam’pirs are meant to be the superior race and populate this planet. We possess a higher intelligence than others, stronger and wiser, having lived all these years. Vam’pirs are also, on a whole, more beautiful than the human weaklings that exist.
The others must change the most beautiful of those alive today and use the remainder as cattle. Vam’pirs should no longer exist in shadows. Vam’pirs must come forth and take our place as the master race. However, I’m unsure if I wish Jacques to come into the light with us.
Truthfully, I am very angry and feel Jacques should be neutralised. The bumbling fool cannot interfere with my cause. The others will understand, especially Ami, Li’zel, and Nathan.
Their thinking aligns with mine.
But my poor Jacques, how I love him. But he can’t be allowed to go around rescuing these whores. Those women are the Devil’s creations and were sent to test me. I am the all-mighty, all-superior God, and I’ll brush aside these tests as if they were nothing.
Could Jacques be the devil? Jaq has proclaimed often that he is naughty enough to be the devil.
Of course, he is!
I need to either vanquish Jacques or save his soul. I am obligated to help Jacques into the light and must start with that whore he saved. That bitch has blinded him to her real self, and I must show Jacques the truth. I’ll hide for a few days and shut myself off so he cannot find me.
Meanwhile, he’ll get acquainted with the bitch and realise what she truly is. Women like her should be burnt at the stake. Cheap little whore.
There is also the fact she has pots of money earned by her ungodly ways. How she dressed was rich and fashionable. It was possible to mistake her for a noble woman, but I noticed the stain on her soul. It looked out at me. The soul is an innocent child trying to free itself from the cruel master that holds it prisoner.
Yes, when Jacques has got to know her, I’ll kill her and set the soul loose. That will punish Jacques and hopefully lead him into the light. I would like to save Jacques, as he has been my steady companion all through the years.
Jacques has been there when I needed him, and now he needs me. Indeed, I cannot desert him. The devil has got a grip on him, and Jaq wishes me to save him from damnation. This challenge I take willingly.
If I cannot save Jaq, then I’ll grant him a painless death and give him mercy. Jacques’s ashes will scatter to the winds, so he’ll float free and happy. Jaq will need to be strong as we achieve freedom together. His beautiful face will look at me with such thanks and love that I’m certain we will succeed.
I discovered a sweet little Irish girl, and I will show her the light and error of her ways. Sadly, she is not a good person, for she has already told lies. Her name is Mary, and she claims she hails from Ireland, but she is Welsh. Mary says that she has no children, and yet I sense she had one.
Another lying bitch. Why won’t they learn? Why can’t they tell the truth? Mary lives a fairly enjoyable life in Miller’s Court. This girl surpasses all others in her capacity to anger me. Mary is a pretty-looking thing and could have done so much more with her life.
Mary proclaims she intends to try and get some money to go back home.
Liar! She only wants money to buy her drink.
The disease these women are to society is unacceptable. I have proclaimed Mary’s death sentence and will release the soul at her house. This will send a message that nobody is safe, not even in your own homes. So easily, I could have assisted Mary in finding a new life path had she been honest. But Mary lied and now must pay the price.
It’s as if they believe lies will save them from the judgement of God. I walk this world to see what my children are doing with their existence, and all I find is evilness and wickedness. They make their choices, and I choose mine.
I am curious how Mary Kelly lives. Mary is a clean woman and speaks quite well. I wonder what her home is like. Mary does not board in a doss house as they are called and pays rent for a little room. She differs from the others, and when I see where she lives, there might be something that’ll redeem her.
I doubt it.
Jacques, watch out for I am coming for you.
◆◆◆
On the 9 th of November, Julia slaughtered Mary Kelly like a pig. That is the night that I discovered her merrily cutting away and muttering to herself. The tragedy was that none of these women had done anything to deserve the rough justice that Julia dished out to them.
Julia had gone completely insane. The proof lies in her thinking that I am really the devil. Her scattered her thoughts are even further proof.
Julia’s delusions of being God were also a sign. Hard to believe at the time that Julia had ever entertained the idea of killing me.
No Vam’pir will harm or hurt another. Yet Julia clearly entertained the idea, and I must admit she might have succeeded. The mad possesses strength unmatched by any, and I would not expect Julia to attack me. Julia did not realise that she was crazy—or that she desperately needed help.
My heart aches with the pain and confusion Julia was suffering. If only she had not seen Polly Nichols. I don’t doubt Julia saw Kierran’s soul.
Elizabeth’s soul returned and in a relatively short time.
The hardest thing to accept is the fact that Julia felt she couldn’t talk to me. The madness stopped her. All what we had been through together and it amounted to nothing. I can overlook Julia’s death threats, as they were the rantings of a madwoman.
What I cannot get over is that Julia believed I was beyond her reach. I had seen her while she was on her murdering spree. Nothing led me to believe that it was Julia killing so cruelly.
I must have been blind, or Julia was an excellent actress. Either way, I am as much at fault as Julia was.
I stopped her, yes. Recriminations are too late, and Julia rests in peace at last. Now I hope she has found her beloved Kierran and they are finally together and happy. With prayers, I hope she has forgotten what she did, for really, Julia was a good person.
Fate was unkind, and none of it was her fault. Julia was driven mad and did not intentionally murder five women. Obsessive love teaches a valuable lesson that sometimes letting go proves impossible.
Guilt at those innocent deaths resides in me.
London was my haunting ground, and I should have suspected something. But I cannot be everywhere at once. I can only do what is humanly possible. After that, I fail. I ache for the families of the victims, but I would protect a Vam’pir over one of you any time.
My loyalty remains with those I’ve shared multiple millennia with. The only time I would side with a mortal would be in a situation like what Julia found herself in. I killed Julia for her own sake, not yours. Julia was tormented by grief and guilt, and I agree with her when she said that she would have wiped out all prostitution.
Doing that, though, would have slowly destroyed Julia bit by bit. She would have continued to kill remorselessly. Humans are entitled to their own lives, and Vam’pirs shouldn’t judge them.
In the end, there was enough left of Julia that she fought the madness.
I wouldn’t have cared if Julia rampaged through London so long as she spared innocent lives. But she hadn’t; Polly Nichols never really harmed anyone.
That is when the Vam’pirs must intervene.
Vam’pirs avoid harming innocents. We would have helped Julia and punished her. However, if it came to choosing Julia’s life or one of yours, then I would have chosen hers.
As I said, Julia is a Vam’pir. Vam’pirs stick together, which is why when I killed Julia, there were shock waves across the community.
I had done the unthinkable, murdering a Vam’pir.
The others weren’t aware of Julia’s crimes or her torment. Even today, they continue to shun me. I’ve been lonely for a century and desperate for someone to talk to. The only people who didn’t judge me were my mortal friends, and they kept me balanced all these years. I owe my human companions thanks, and I have brought them much luck over the years.
When the Barringtons lost their fortune with bad investments, I gave them money unconditionally. When Barringtons’ great granddaughter needed an operation to save her life, I paid for that. I was obligated to them too much for me to ever repay.
The Barringtons alone know that I killed one of my kind, and they understand why. Each and every one of them has taken that secret to the grave only telling family. Throughout many long years, they have never breached that wall of silence and have been the closest thing to family.
Naturally, I do not live with them, but I visit the extended family every week. Barrington’s family has grown too large for everyone to know the secret. Now, it is only his direct line from the eldest of his sons that knows. The ones that hold the title.
It matters little. I look after Barrington’s family, often not informing them where the help has come from. I wouldn’t like to draw too much attention to myself.
Vam’pirs no longer come to London, even when I’m elsewhere. Nobody searches me out, nor do they communicate with me. I do not exist in their eyes. Eventually, I might turn another. However, Caroline’s lessons remain fresh in my mind.
I would have to be one hundred per cent sure that there was nothing wrong with the person that I would intend to change. I never extended the offer to Barrington’s descendants, nor did they seek it.
I don’t know whether it is because they can see what a curse Vam’pirism is or whether they do not wish for immortality. But my closeness to them led to another rule-breaking. If the others knew, I would probably be hunted. Naturally, I’ll now write about it!
It happened in World War Two. The eldest great-grandson of Barrington had gone out to fight, and I accompanied him to make sure he returned. Jonathon was recalled to the beaches at Dunkirk.
That one battle will stay forever etched in my mind. The horrendous waste of human life. The sound of men dying as Germans raked the beach with machine guns and the stench of fear. Men fell where they sat, unprotected. Dunkirk might have become the biggest massacre in history. Instead, it turned into an English triumph.
Many see it as England’s biggest failure or largest retreat. But look at Dunkirk properly. England faced overwhelming pressure, and defeat seemed inevitable. Then they came. The heroes of England. The young, poor, and old came for the soldiers trapped on that beach.
History knows the facts and what the English people did to rescue ‘their boys’. That is something that the English should be very proud of. Little sailing boats, boats that only held a few people, pleasure boats and small fishing boats crossed the channel to rescue those trapped and being murdered. And sailing them while under fire from the Germans and being attacked themselves. Not everybody made it back from Dunkirk. Such bravery merits an enduring recognition.
Jonathan Barrington was an officer, and he had stayed behind with his men to help the retreat. Well, let me get it right, Jonathon had not stayed willingly. If he’d had his choice, he would have taken his men and gone with the bulk who managed to get away.
Jonathon was ordered to stay behind and guard the retreat. People like Jonathan Barrington were the bravest of the brave. They didn’t dessert but did their duty. They were fighting a losing battle, knew it, and yet they stayed and covered the retreat. They didn’t have a choice, really, but fought furiously.
Loyally, I stayed with Jonathan as a sniper’s bullet couldn’t kill me—wound certainly but not kill.
We were under fire from the Germans when a bullet caught Jonathan in the chest. It was just above the heart, and he was lucky it didn’t kill him straight away. The silly fool was dragging another wounded soldier (not one of his own command, I might add) when he was shot.
I rushed over immediately and dragged Jonathon behind a barricade. Jonathon was bleeding profusely, and I knew that he would die. Without thinking, I bit into my wrist and dripped some blood onto the wound.
Before Jonathon’s disbelieving eyes, the wounds began to heal. I’m unaware what possessed me to do it, but I had. Within minutes, Jonathon had healed and was shooting his gun again. Neither of us ever approached the subject on what I had done, but Jonathan knew and was thankful. And so I’d broken a taboo. Never heal a human. Of course, we’d known for years our blood healed people. But if that became common knowledge, then we’d be hunted for our healing.
Our blood can heal the mortally wounded without them becoming one of us. If a Vam’pir were caught, scientists and doctors would be in their element. Imagine the people we could help.
But Jonathan was the only mortal I ever healed. It is because I felt I owed his grandfather that I even risked it.
People die. If they didn’t, then this planet would be sorely overcrowded. Jonathan would not die in that war; this I had sworn to myself and his wife and children back home. I made sure that Jonathon returned from that war. He did, albeit with a little help from me.
The first rescue boats evoked indescribable emotion. The sight of those small boats, capable of carrying only twenty or thirty people, brought me to tears. Despite the many wars I witnessed, this feat stands out. I have even fought in some. Always on the right side. For I cannot stand dictators or ignorant, pompous gits who throw lives away like they were nothing.
But when that little fleet of boats reached us, I couldn’t believe it. Neither did the stranded soldiers. A frantic rush occurred to get men onto the boats. Although they couldn’t take everyone, it was enough that they had come and risked their own lives. Civilian sailors refused to passively watch the massacre of their countrymen. I shed tears as I recall this memory. It is the one time that humanity showed its capacity for evil but also its greatest promise.
Dunkirk exemplifies modern human virtue. For that one moment of time, the English pulled together.
And if you did it once, then you can do it again.
The fishing boats made the trip repeatedly, pulling off the beach what men they could. This brave act speaks volumes about those involved. The fact they did it has gone down in history.
Dunkirk should never be forgotten.
Dunkirk has lessons everyone can learn from.
So, learn.