Vampirella #5 - "Seduction of the Innocent, Book 5: Joshua Tree"

[laughing_tree]

I consider most any human relationship I’m in as terminal or at least ephemeral. This foolishness about “I will always love you;” relationships end. They either end at death – which is the best we can hope for – or, most often, they end over some stupid argument. But they end. It is only our varying measure of hubris that convinces us these connections will endure forever or, even if they do, that we won’t abuse them.

Love is an amazing gift but most of us take love for granted (hey– call your mom!) because love rarely presents itself in the way, shape, form or even the person we imagine it will. Fewer and fewer of us are willing to take the plunge. Oh, sure, we all make friends but that’s a relative concept because most of my new friends cannot penetrate as deeply as the friends I grew up with. And I’ve been deeply hurt and astonishingly betrayed by friends I’ve known my entire life.

So, now, imagine you’re an extraterrestrial whose normal biological function is characterized as “evil” or “satanic” by the paranoid, bigoted, primitive civilization you suddenly find yourself thrust into. Sure, Vampi could, I guess, lock herself in a closet for the rest of her life, but everybody needs somebody. But loving someone makes you vulnerable to them, and human relationships are far too often like the children’s game “Operation,” where you’re trying to remove the Funny Bone without setting off the buzzer. What’s a poor, single, blood-drinking alien girl to do?

-- Christopher J. Priest