Work Text:
[TAPE CLICKS, AUDIO STARTS]
[DOOR CLOSING, STEPS GETTING CLOSER]
ARCHIVIST
Ugh, ok. This settles it. I'm sorry for making you wait alone for a bit here, I just had to check if anyone else was available. [A HUFF OF A LAUGH, SARCASTIC] No one is, obviously. Thank you for filling those in.
[RUSTLING OF PAPER, WOODEN CHAIR SLIDING OVER WOODEN FLOOR]
DANIEL
So… you weren't the one supposed to talk to me?
ARCHIVIST
No, it can be me. It's just… interviewing wasn't on my to-do list today at all. Martin usually does it when I'm busier, but as it's just me and you right now, this will have to do. [CHAIR WHINING A BIT WITH A SHIFT IN WEIGHT] All our interviews are recorded for archiving purposes, is that alright?
DANIEL
Mhh-hm.
ARCHIVIST
Right-
DANIEL
Wait, are you gonna use… that? I thought it was just a decoration. I haven't seen anyone properly using that in decades, why…?
ARCHIVIST
Other means of recording simply won't work.
DANIEL
You mean… only a 70s tape recorder works in this whole institute?
ARCHIVIST
Yes.
DANIEL
[CHUCKLE] You can just say you’re "vintage" or something. Cringe is dead, isn’t it?
ARCHIVIST
No- no, that's- [SIGH] I mean what I said, cell phone recordings won't work.
DANIEL
Huh. Why though? Does it simply record silence, or…?
ARCHIVIST
[ANOTHER TIRED SIGH] I… understand the curiosity, but I honestly have no time to explain, so… let's just leave it at that. [RUSTLING OF PAPER] Statement of Daniel Molloy, journalist, regarding a strange encounter with… vampires. Statement recorded direct from subject, XXth of XXXX, 2022. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, The Archivist. You can start whenever you're ready.
DANIEL
It's been many years since I was the one being interviewed, so bare with my rustiness now that I'm on this side of the microphone. [LONG SIGH] I'll start from… from when I met them. It was autumn of 1973, in a bar. Alluring people, those two. The ones… the ones where you can smell a good story coming from them. I was a ravished dog, high and drunk, and I've always been praised at how good I was at unburying bones.
And I wasn't looking for paranormal shit, I wasn't that type of journalist. I just needed to hear some good stories that could give me some cash when I published them, or find any lead on fishy stuff to uncover… so I ran around looking for people willing to share those, and- [SOFT CHUCKLE] shit, I had my fun with it, but I was… desperate. I'd do anything for a profitable story. I mean anything. [SLIGHT MOMENT OF SILENCE] I've always been an asshole, a junkie prick with many points of view who couldn't for the life of him shut the fuck up about it. This, right here?
[FABRIC RUSTLING SOFTLY] This is the closest to a proof I can show you of my interaction with the creatures. One of them bit me right here. And I think one of them messed with my brain. Hell, he could be in your brain right now- you'd never know until it's too late.
ARCHIVIST
Well, I… [AS IF TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE SITUATION] reassure you, there's no one else in here besides me and you.
DANIEL
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
ARCHIVIST
[SIGH] Good. Ok, I’m afraid we're getting slightly off track here. What happened after you met the creatures at the bar? What did they look like, and when and how did you find out about their vampiric nature?
DANIEL
[HUFF OF A LAUGH] Straight to the point, huh. I could be cocky and say that you should just “let the tale seduce you” while I tell it, but I'll spare you the bullshit. Let's get back to when I met them, then. Two handsome men; I came to know their names with gigantic gaps in time, I think. So I'll tell you in a chronological order. First of them is Louis de Pointe Du Lac, the first vampire I ever interviewed. He was the one who approached me at the bar back then, with smiles and a bluntness I could only associate with that of a mad man. I'm a vampire, he said. I have what you're looking for. And I fell for it.
…No. No, I fell for him. You would too. His eyes and words were… too easy to follow. His smile too beautiful to ignore, a kind that you don't even notice when, but then you're smiling back and your heart quickens just a tad. And then you're following that smile to his apartment closeby.
ARCHIVIST
So, you're saying this… Louis was a vampire and used some kind of hypnosis on you to, what, feed on you?
DANIEL
Hypnosis? Hah, no. No, that's… not his thing, mostly. Louis likes to play it the human way. He likes to seduce you, convince you with words and mannerisms, if you don't piss him off too much. His words flow like water from a flat and shiny surface, and he always seems to know just a bit more about you than what he's supposed to. Vampires read minds, you know. Those fuckers, they know how to get in the human brain.
And on that night, Louis gave me an irrefutable offer: cocaine, tobacco, weed, alcohol, and probably some stuff I can't even recall in exchange for his story. I thought he was insane before I knew he actually wasn’t human. But even if I left with a weak story, I was getting free shit. In the best case scenario, I could have a good thing to sell to newspapers: a crazy dude who swore he was a vampire. What if he had murdered anyone because he was part of a weird cult, or, I don't know, killed his family? Things like these can be a goldmine, and I was looking forward to that.
ARCHIVIST
And the drugs.
DANIEL
Huh? [CONFUSED SOFT HUFF OF A LAUGH] Hah. Yeah, alright, that too. But the thing is… I remember very little from those hours. There was a lot of… shit talk. He talked shit about an ex, and whined about his depressed immortal life, and after the shock when I realized he was a vampire, I started to actually have fun with it.
I started to go with his flow, learning about his vampire maker, who was also his lover and his murderer… yeah, it’a a real Freudian bingo. I have no memories of any of the story after the part where he said they had moved together. Sure, we spent hours and hours in there, so it makes sense but- What puzzles the fuck out of me is that I have these… blank slots of memory between being there with him, being bitten, and waking up on an alley. [SIGH, CHAIR CREAKING SLIGHTLY]
ARCHIVIST
[SKEPTICAL] Well, drugs tend to cause some memory loss?
[RECORDING IS SILENT FOR A WHILE]
DANIEL
Hm. You think I don't know that? Logically, anyone would just think I'm demented. I would. But I know what I saw and I- I have to trust my guts.
ARCHIVIST
[RELUCTANT, AS IF DOUBTING SOMETHING]
…Alright. Sure, I… [A LITTLE MORE GROUNDED NOW] understand. Things have happened to me that no one would actually believe as well. But… my question is more on the lines of… [PENSIVE SIGH] Why would you hold onto those blanks so much, if you agree that it rationally sounds… like a storm in a teacup?
DANIEL
[GROWING RESTLESS] Okay. I see it. [CHAIR CREAKING SOFTLY] He bit me. I blacked out. I woke up in a drug den. I keep getting these words repeating in my mind, over and over again whenever I try to remember what happened. It is my voice saying those words when I think of the events, yes, but-
ARCHIVIST
…yes?
DANIEL
When have you ever remembered something with the same words in the same cadence in your brain? Not a single glimpse or flash of the memory, just these… almost rehearsed words like a broken record?
ARCHIVIST
So, what you're saying is…
DANIEL
My take is this was put in my mind, in the same way you can erase a part of an audio from a cassette and record something over it. I think this is the result of some kind of hypnosis. I've been suspecting this for some weeks now, and as we speak, I can still feel a weird sort of pull in the back of my mind. [SOUNDS LIKE HE'S GRITTING HIS TEETH, FOCUSING TO DESCRIBE IT. WORDS START TO GRADUALLY COME OUT FASTER] Induces… anxiety. Releases an instinctive fear. I think about how I'm gonna go back there after we're done here and I'll have to go back to acting and caging my thoughts so they don't pry, so they don't know what I think. But they DO pry, and I don't really think I can block them out–
ARCHIVIST
Uh, Mr Molloy- your hand-
DANIEL
[VOICE SHAKING THROUGH GRITTED TEETH] Forget it.
ARCHIVIST
Mr Molloy–
DANIEL
I'm fine. Let's continue.
[THE TAPE RECORDS NO OTHER SOUNDS FOR SOME SECONDS]
ARCHIVIST
Alright… [UNCERTAINLY] Do you need a–
DANIEL
No. [BITTERLY] I'm not gonna die in your room like the withering sick old man I am, chill, pal.
ARCHIVIST
[SIGH] Oh, for God's- Just to clarify: I ask because I must, not because I pity you.
[SILENCE. THEN A SOFT CREAKING SOUND]
DANIEL
I'm… I’m sorry. I don't mean to explode like this. I- [RESOLUTE SIGH] I don't usually react this way.
ARCHIVIST
[SOFTER, BUT NOT CONDESCENDING] If I got a dollar for every time the person giving the statement had a mental breakdown while doing so… [SIGH] Anyway. It’s not a big deal. Though what I need to know, truthfully, is if you need anything to help calm yourself down.
DANIEL
[HUFFED LAUGH, ALMOST UNNOTICEABLE] Are you offering me drugs, interviewer? [SELF DEPRECATING CHUKLE] Nah, don't look at me like that, it’s a joke. No, I don't need anything.
ARCHIVIST
Then, let's get back to the story. You were saying the vampire Louis bit you, and that after that your memories are weirdly empty and yet filled with those words you said. Like a mantra, sort of?
DANIEL
Yes.
ARCHIVIST
But you told me that vampire wasn't into hypnosis, did he change his mind?
DANIEL
I don't think so. I think the other one did it. Armand. Apparently, he's 500 years old, and yet is in a relationship with a vampire hundreds of years younger than him, even serving the man. And-
ARCHIVIST
…yes?
DANIEL
I… [CLEANS THROAT] I don't know exactly… what he's got to do with it all. But- but now that I think of it, he was probably there in the… room- place where I interviewed Louis.
ARCHIVIST
I see… Are you just realizing that now, bright boy?
DANIEL
[SLOW AND ANGRY] What… the fuck did you just call me?
ARCHIVIST
? Wh-? I called you nothing.
DANIEL
[WITH A SLIGHTLY HEAVIER BREATHING] Fuck. He's here. He's listening.
ARCHIVIST
Hey, hey- no, there's no one else here. It's just us-
DANIEL
How would you know???
ARCHIVIST
I just do! I’d feel it. I know this place.
DANIEL
You're lying, you didn't even check cameras, you didn't even look outside that door!
ARCHIVIST
I don't have to!
DANIEL
Bullshit! Fucking bullshit. You had to go check if any other coworker was available to talk to me just before we started, you left and came back after some minutes.
ARCHIVIST
[IRRITATED] We- yeah, I did. I don't like using what I have every time, you know?
DANIEL
[SKEPTICAL, AND UNSUBTLE CHUCKLE] I don't believe you.
ARCHIVIST
God, ok, I'll go check, then, if it makes you feel safer-!
DANIEL
[BLATANTLY] I'll be dead by the time you get back here, just so you know.
ARCHIVIST
Wh- I- We- Now what do you want me to do, then?
DANIEL
Tell me what this place is.
ARCHIVIST
And how would that help yo– [SELF INTERRUPTS. SIGH.] This is an Institute where we document and study strange phenomenons brought to us.
DANIEL
Yeah, the Talamasca told me that already. Who pays the bills? I mean, I came here and I'm giving my statement for free, so your profit clearly doesn't come from statements per se.
ARCHIVIST
Well, I- Maybe private investment. Why is that important anyways??
DANIEL
[COLD, JUST REALIZING THAT] You don't know.
ARCHIVIST
[ALSO GROWING RESTLESS] Listen, I- don't see how this is going to go anywhere if you just keep interviewing me about the Institute. Are you here to give your statement or not?
[SILENCE]
DANIEL
Honestly? [QUIETER VOICE, SEEMINGLY ANXIOUS SOMEONE MIGHT OVERHEAR] I hate to admit it, I absolutely hate it to my fucking guts, but I need help. I like to play with fire, but I don't want to burn to a crisp, and I know I'm too close to something way more powerful than anything I ever knew. [SELF-INTERRUPTS] No, not that. I- Maybe I knew Armand, but I'm not sure–
ARCHIVIST
Mr Molloy, what exactly is it you're so afraid of?
DANIEL
You see– It's not the fear of dying, exactly. It's the fear of not knowing the truth. Fear of being lied to or to actually- what if I'm just demented? Hah. My daughters would lock me in a mental hospital or a nursing home if they heard a minute of what I'm telling you.
[SILENCE]
DANIEL
[UNCOMFORTABLY ADMITTING IT] …And deep down, I fear they're correct.
[TAPE RUNS SILENT FOR A BIT]
DANIEL
…Ok, what is this? [CONTAINED ANGER] I lie a lot when I'm stressed, I know I do, but I'm finding it hard to lie to you. What are you doing to me?
ARCHIVIST
Mr Molloy, I'm just doing my job, long story short.
[DANIEL HUFFS A SOFT DISDAINFUL LAUGH]
ARCHIVIST
I am NOT a vampire, I can assure you.
DANIEL
I obviously don't believe you. But alright, I know how to find it out. [LOUD BANG ON WOOD AND SOFT GRUNT]
ARCHIVIST
Mr Molloy– What are you–?! [CHAIRS SLIDDING OVER WOODEN FLOOR, ONE OF THE CHAIRS FALLS DOWN.] What are you dOING?! STOP– you’re gonna hurt yourself like that!
DANIEL
[BREATHLESS] If you're one of them– hell, if you're HIM, you won't resist this.
ARCHIVIST
Stop-!
DANIEL
C'mon! Just a sip, hm?!
ARCHIVIST
[STRUGGLING, GRUNTING] Enough– I am nOT a vampire!! [RUSTLING AND GRUNTING FROM BOTH, AND THEN, FINALLY, A FINAL GRUNT FROM THE ARCHIVIST]
[3 MUFFLED STEPS, AS IF ONE OF THEM WAS FALLING BACKWARDS AND REBALANCED HIMSELF]
[SILENCE, EXCEPT FOR BOTH PANTING]
ARCHIVIST
Fuck– now your arm is bleeding, my shirt is ruined, and–
DANIEL
[BREATHLESLLY] I don't know how you do it, but what I've told you is the truth. The truth of what I understand and of what I know… from what I've found out.
ARCHIVIST
And what… truth is that?
DANIEL
I- I feel drawn to him. [A BIT OF SOMETHING SIMILAR TO STATIC CAN BE HEARD IN THE BACKGROUND] Not through hypnosis, I don't think that's it. But I feel like that's someone I- And I sound crazy staying this, but- I feel like he's someone I've known before…? [AS IF HE’S UNSURE OF WHAT HE’S SAYING] Someone I… shit, maybe someone that was close to me?
ARCHIVIST
[UNSETTLED, AS IF FROZEN IN PLACE] I…
[STATIC GROWS LOUDER BY THE SECOND]
DANIEL
I don't know- [RUSTLING, HE’S STARTING TO HYPERVENTILATE] Shit, I, I need a break, I- Are you… ok?
ARCHIVIST
[STRUGGLING TO SPEAK] Get– get away from…–
[DOOR SLOWLY CREAKING OPEN, FOLLOWED BY A CONSTANT LEVEL OF STATIC IN THE BACKGROUND]
????
Well, Michael was right after all.
DANIEL
[GASPING, RUSTLING OF CLOTHES] You.
????
You left so early today, Daniel. [THE VOICE IS SOFT, AND CREEPY IN A DREAMY WAY. DANIEL KNOWS WHO IT IS; SO DO YOU] Rashid lost sight of you back in the restaurant.
DANIEL
You fucking asshole, so you DID mess with my brain, huh?! [BREATHLESS LAUGH] You did! You just proved it, otherwise, you’d have no reason to be here right now–
????
You’re afraid of us. [THE SOFTEST CHUCKLE] My boy, you should be afraid of them. There are far greater evils to this world beyond men and vampires.
ARCHIVIST
[ALMOST CHOCKED WORDS] Mr… Molloy-
DANIEL
What are you… what are you doing? Leave him alone-!
[STATIC GROWS EVEN LOUDER]
???N?
Close it.
DANIEL
HEY! Let GO of him– PUT HIM DOWN-
[MORE NOISES JOIN THE STATIC, SCRATCHING THE EAR TO THE POINT OF BEING DEAFENING]
???N? ?M
I said CLOSE IT.
[SOUNDS LIKE MANY PEOPLE SHUSHING ADD TO THE BACKGROUND]
DANIEL
STOP—!
?NK?WN N?M?
Only I feed off this one.
ARCHIVIST
[SUFFOCATING, GASPING FOR AIR] I–
[UNINTANGIBLE WORDS FROM DANIEL ARE MIXED WITH THE MANY OTHER SOUNDS—]
[A DOOR CLOSES.]
[A MUFFLED SCREAM FROM DANIEL FADES AWAY, AND SO DOES THE STATIC AND OTHER NOISES]
[JOHN THUMPS ON THE WOODEN FLOOR AND GASPS FOR AIR]
ARCHIVIST
Wh…what the…–
[A VOICE SOFTLY FADES INTO THE AUDIO, AS IF IT WAS EMERGING FROM UNDER WATER]
MARTIN
–ohn…! John!
[JOHN SEEMS TO BE A BIT CONFUSED, BUT FINDS HIS VOICE]
ARCHIVIST
Y-yes? Just… Just a sec.
[DOOR UNLOCKING]
ARCHIVIST
Yeah, what… what is it?
MARTIN
You… what are you doing? Why was the door locked like- [HIS TONE CHANGES TO IMMEDIATE WORRY] John, you’re bleeding?!
[FABRIC RUSTLING]
ARCHIVIST
I…? No, I- I’m alright. Martin, you can stop searching for wounds, I- I’m not bleeding–
MARTIN
Well, but this IS blood! Look at it! And close to your chest, how- Whose is it?!
ARCHIVIST
I… I was- Uh. I... [DARKLY REALIZING IT] I...don't know. Wait, the tape recorder is on, let’s- let's check it out—
[TAPE CLICKS OFF]
[SILENCE FOR SOME SECONDS]
[TAPE COMES BACK TO LIFE]
????
This is the official recording #73, archived by [TAPE GOES SILENT] –lamasca Organization, year of 2022 A.C. This document was secured from a burning institute after many attempts of acquiring it, and is now this organization’s property and a strong proof of vampiristic works beyond what we were aware.
[TAPE RUNS SILENTLY FOR SOME SECONDS]
????
[UNSURE] The vampire Armand mentioned a greater power. It even implied that there are other creatures, that even an ancient vampire fears, at work in our modern days.
I do not understand half of this yet, and I know this isn’t our… MAIN goal as of now, but- but I have to dig into it.
So I’m going back there, I’m going to try and find any traces, names, stories– I’ll make sense of this. And let this tape be a proof of both why I went there and when.
If anyone should find it in the future, in a scenario where I…
[TONGUE CLICKING ANNOYEDLY, THEN A SIGH]
End recording.
[CLICK]