Blood & Secrets: The Night Movers Vampire Series Book 2

by Helen Bright

  “When Alex first saw Josh, he had been captured and brought over to England to be sold as a slave. While on the journey over, he witnessed a young girl he was familiar with being raped by some of the sailors. He and another man tried to stop them, and they were whipped and repeatedly beaten for their efforts. The young woman was brought back below deck with the rest of the captured and left for dead. She had been raped in every way possible and had been beaten so badly that she had many broken bones, all over her body and face. She died in front of them that night; they were all chained so they couldn’t even try to give her comfort in her last hours.

  “Infection set in with Josh and the other captive who tried to help the woman. The other captive dropped dead while being lined up to be sold on Liverpool docks. Alex spotted that Josh was in a bad way and wanted to help him, so he bought him then took him to his lodging’s to try to save his life. When he knew there was no way possible to do that, he turned him.

  “When Alex brought Josh home, we both treated him like family. We taught him how to cope with being a made vampire, and how to speak English and get by in our world. He had a good life with us and knew that we loved him, but he was plagued with nightmares that wouldn’t go away. When he told us that the men who had abused the woman and beaten him haunted his dreams, we decided to take him to Liverpool and take revenge. We hoped it would stop his nightmares.”

  I got up and took a drink of whiskey before sitting back down and continuing.

  “We took all the men involved somewhere quiet, and I handed them knives and ordered them through mind control to cut off their cocks and balls.” I carried on looking at Dan to see if he felt any disgust with my actions but apart from a visible wince, he was able to school his facial features well.

  “After they had been screaming for a while, Alex slit their throats and killed them. Josh just knelt on the floor and screamed. He thought it would give him peace when he witnessed their suffering, but that did not come to him. I, on the other hand, was glad they were gone. They hurt my family, and I wanted them to pay.” I looked down at my fingers recalling the next story.

  “Many years after that we were in Lancashire doing business with a mill owner. Some of the new machines could create patterns in fabrics that had never been seen before. We only used to deal with the progressive mill owners who gave their workers a fair wage and good working conditions, but we somehow found ourselves in the company of one real scumbag. We knew he still had children working for him, and we wanted to broker a deal in which he provided better working conditions and some schooling for his employees.

  “We thought that was a reasonable request for the amount of business we were offering. He would not do business with a woman and was not happy to do business with Josh either but he relented to Josh at the last minute. They went to a meeting with him at his home and managed to secure the deal. The mill owner was pleased with the outcome and offered drinks all round and some entertainment.

  “Two children, a boy, and girl around eight years old were summoned into the room. The mill owner motioned towards Alex and Josh, and the children went towards them. The girl in front of Josh was frightened by his skin colour, I think, and hesitated, but the boy in front of Alex dropped to his knees and went towards the opening of Alex’s trousers. Alex jumped up out of the boy’s way, and the boy cowered down apologising to the mill owner for displeasing him.”

  “Fucking hell, Freya that’s awful. Please tell me they killed the paedophile?”

  “Josh leapt at him and pinned him down, but the children were screaming, frightened because Josh was so enraged he had revealed his vampire side. Alex told him to keep the mill owner secure without hurting him, then he took the children out into the hallway and gave them each a bag of coins, enough to keep them in food and lodgings for nearly a year. He used mind control on them to make them forget that they had ever even seen Alex and Josh and that instead they had been given the money by a gentleman in the street. He also made them forget the mill owner and the horrors he had put them through.

  Then Alex went back to Josh and told him to use mind control on the mill owner. He convinced the owner that he wanted him to sell us the Mill and all its contents for a ridiculously low price. Alex told the owner to arrange it with his solicitor that the sale should go through within two days. He carried on with mind control asking him to reveal if he knew of any other men who used children for sexual gratification. The mill owner gave up two further names and my brother took note of these.”

  I rubbed the tears out of my eyes and carried on speaking. Dan was sat beside me now, his palm resting on my thigh.

  “After the sale had gone through my brother used mind control on the owner again and arranged for him to set up a meeting with the other paedophiles in a place just outside of the town. Alex had researched the other two ‘gentlemen,’ and it seemed they were both indeed using their young employees for various sexual acts. They both had female heirs to their businesses, so Josh and Alex weren’t worried about the tradition carrying on as it were. Of course, we know different now, but at the time, we just thought that men were the only sexual predators. But females didn’t run businesses in those times as it was classed as unseemly, so it was likely their daughters would sell up anyway. Maybe their daughters were victims themselves?

  “Once all three were in the remote meeting place Alex began to quiz them about their wrong doings and tell them that we had brought them out of the way to finish them. Unbeknown to us, one of the men had brought a pistol which he took out and aimed at Alex. I snapped his neck before he could take a shot and Alex and Josh killed the other two. We set it up to look like a highway robbery gone wrong. I was sick to my stomach but not for killing them. It was for all the suffering those children had to go through.”

  “What did you do with the mill?” Dan asked.

  “We sold it on to one of the new progressive mill owners even cheaper than the ridiculous price we had paid for it. Children had to be much older to work there with the new owner, and those that did were given free schooling to help them learn to read and write. I would have liked to find all those children who were abused, and to wipe away those bad memories, but that was almost impossible to do without drawing attention to what we were doing.”

  Dan took my left hand and placed it between both of his. I found it as comforting as a hug, and it pleased me greatly that he wasn’t judging me.

  “Have you killed anyone since?”

  “I can let you in on a very well-kept secret now Dan. No one else knows this, except Keeley.”

  “Is that because it was recent?” he asked apprehensively.

  “No, though would it bother you if it was?”

  “I’m not sure, Freya. If it was because of something similar to what you previously described, then I don’t think so.”

  “It’s still taking a life, Dan, no matter the reason, the fact doesn’t change.”

  “Does it affect your life? The memory of taking a life I mean?”

  “Killing my father has never left me, but the rest have no impact on my life whatsoever.”

  “So tell me that last one then.”

  “It was eighteen-eighty-eight, and Alex and I had travelled to London to meet with Gregor who was there for business. Josh had stayed here because the logistics of getting him to London from here at that time without the risk of sunlight endangering his life was frightening. It involved many stops and only travelling at night which was okay when we journeyed to Liverpool, but getting to London seemed to take forever.

  “We had a great time with Gregor. His uncle owned a house in Mayfair, and he would throw extravagant parties and elaborate balls. At that time, everyone was talking about the murders in Whitechapel and there were theories even then about who Jack the Ripper was. But it was so far removed from the area that we were staying in that it seemed like it was happening in another city altogether.

  “One evening, Gregor was taking Alex to one of his gentleman’s clubs that he freq
uented when he was in London. In other words, they were going to an upmarket whorehouse where Gregor could indulge in his particular brand of kink. Gregor would never have let me tag along as he has always maintained that kind of thing should never be something that a lady would know about, which was as hilarious then as it is now.

  “If he only knew just what these ladies in high society talked about at the time, he would have been shocked. Alex knew, as he had slept with most of them, married or not, but Gregor liked to compartmentalise then. Whores or ladies, he could deal with that.

  “Anyway, when they went out I waited a few minutes then went the opposite way. At the time, it was easier when we travelled to use mind control on a prostitute and feed a little from them than to take staff along with you so you could feed. I could have used some of Gregor’s Mayfair staff to feed from, but instead, I went in search of a prostitute. I paid well for a small amount of their blood, and it meant they didn’t have to stay out the rest of the night so they could be safe at home with their families.

  “After a short coach journey, I found myself walking towards a seedier part of London. There was much more noise here, and the stench was horrendous. I walked into a pub and took a drink of ale before continuing on my journey. I found a relatively clean prostitute named Catherine and told her my intentions. She was alarmed, but I offered her more than she would have made on the streets in a month just to feed for a short while. In the end, Catherine agreed although she was worried and questioned whether I could be the infamous Jack the Ripper. I assured her I was not and used mind control to keep her calm while I fed.

  “After I had taken the small amount to keep me satisfied, she began to tell me all she had heard about the killer. Her friend knew the woman, Mary Kelly, who had been killed the week before, and the manner of her death was gruesome, to say the least. There was a theory that the killer could be a surgeon as some of the victim’s internal organs had been removed. I was fascinated and also feeling a little protective of the women in that poorer side of London. They were all someone’s daughter, sister or mother even and were just doing what they had to in order to survive.

  “After my dealings with the lovely Catherine that evening I set about trying to find the elusive killer. I didn’t come across him that night, or the rest of the wee, and Alex was starting to get suspicious of my whereabouts. I had been giving him the excuse of visiting a sick friend every evening, but I knew he didn’t believe me.

  “On the evening before we were due to leave, Gregor’s uncle threw a magnificent party to which seemingly everyone who was anyone was invited. I was able to sneak out of the house undetected and made my way over to visit Catherine again in Whitechapel. She couldn’t believe how pretty my ball gown was and began talking to me like she would an old friend.

  “Truth be told I felt more comfortable talking to her and her colleagues than most of the people at the ball. I took blood from both Catherine and her friend Sarah, paid them well and gave them my jewellery, then made my way into the pub. My dress that night turned many heads, and I got a bit fed up with all the attention I was getting, so I came out of the pub and started to make my way home.

  “I hadn’t gone far when I heard a scream. It came from where I had been visiting with Catherine, so I used my vampire speed despite the fact that there were people around and ended up in the midst of a horrific scene.

  “A man was pulling a knife down Sarah’s stomach slowly but with precision. Sarah was unconscious on the floor, and I feared I was too late. I quickly broke the man’s neck before he even knew I was there, then I sank to the floor and bit into my wrist. Placing it over Sarah’s mouth, I forced her to swallow my blood. Luckily the cuts on her stomach were only skin deep and had not punctured any organs. Sarah’s wound started to heal fast, and she began to come around slowly.

  “Catherine came running seconds after I started to give Sarah my blood and I again used mind control on her to keep her calm. I explained the body of the man and what I caught him doing. I told her what I was doing, that my blood was helping heal Sarah, and that I would never harm her.

  “When Sarah was fully healed, Catherine and I wrapped the man’s body in the excess fabric of my ball gown which I had torn away. Catherine didn’t recognise the man and I had never seen him before either. We deduced that he was indeed some sort of doctor or surgeon by the knife he had used to cut Sarah. It was kind of scalpel-like, and he also had various other implements on him which could have been medical, although I had no need for doctors so I couldn’t be certain, but Catherine seemed pretty sure.

  “We could have gone to the police but what would they have said? There was a dead male and a fully healed woman, who would believe that. They would be more inclined to believe that Catherine and Sarah had murdered an innocent man. We stole the nearby Grocers cart which had been locked away for the night, and I bent the man completely in half, severing his spinal cord so his body would fit in the cart.

  “Around an hour later I wheeled my way through the streets of London as quickly as I could until I ended up at the River Thames, but it still took me around twenty minutes to get there. I weighed the body down with rocks and threw it as far into the water as I could. Then I returned the cart and went to check on Catherine and Sarah. I promised them I would be back before I left London the next day.

  “Because my dress was damage, Catherine gave me her cape to keep me covered, and Sarah gave me back some of the money I had given her that evening so that I could get a carriage to take me back to Mayfair. When I finally returned, Alex and Gregor were livid. They could smell the blood and the scent of death on me and also Catherine’s scent from her cape. I would not be bullied into revealing my actions; that’s the only time in the hundreds of years that I have known Gregor that I ever came close to falling out with him.

  “In the end, my anger and frustration with their demands brought tears to the surface, and while they were more a show of my temper than of weakness, Gregor was horrified that he had made me cry. In the end, I used it to my advantage and gained his sympathy, although my brother knew me well enough not to be taken in. I told them I had been helping some of the poor destitute young women of London, and I said that I would reveal nothing more. It was the truth, after all, I just left a few important facts out.

  “I told Alex I would be stopping in Whitechapel on our way home to give clothing, money and jewellery to two of my friends so that they could make a better life for themselves. And that’s exactly what I did. I have no idea what became of those two women, but at least, I know they weren’t fatal victims of Jack the Ripper if that’s who he was.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Daniel

  I wasn’t sure what to say to Freya after all those revelations, or if any words were even needed. I did know that she needed comfort. Her hand felt cold in mine, and now and then I felt a shiver run through her.

  I turned her to face me and put my arms around her and began stroking my fingers up and down her back. Freya sighed heavily, but not from contentment. It seemed more like she was expecting a negative comment from me or, at least, some distance. Well, she wasn’t getting either of those. As far as I was concerned, Freya had removed murderers and rapists from this world, and that could never be a bad thing.

  I felt somewhat relieved however that Freya had not killed for some time. Although, I knew without a doubt that if a similar situation presented itself, she would have no hesitation in taking the life of someone evil to save the life of an innocent, or of someone she loved. But then again we were all capable of that no matter how much all the do-gooders protest differently.

  I decided, in the end, to say what I felt without words. To show her that I accepted all sides of her and her past, however, dark that may have been.

  I kissed her gently, trying to convey that I loved her and wanted to be with her, no matter what. I didn’t deepen the kiss; I just kept it soft and sweet until she broke the kiss and looked into my eyes.

  “You still wan
t to be with me?” she asked, and I nodded, then smiled.

  Freya smiled back at me, and it seemed to light up her whole face making it even more beautiful. I could see all the tension and worry of the last half hour lift away from her and my heart felt lighter too. I cupped her face and told her how much I loved her and this time, the kiss I gave her was filled with desire and need. I flicked my tongue against hers, tasting her sweetness and love for me and I couldn’t get enough.

  “Oh God, Dan, I need you inside me right now,” Freya said breathlessly, as I kissed her neck and tweaked her already hard nipples through her clothing.

  I pulled off her top and unclasped her bra in record time. I was already shirtless, and the feel of her full breasts against my chest made me shudder. I quickly undid her jeans and slid them down her legs along with her knickers. It took two tugs to get them off which was one too many for my liking. When I stood to remove my own, Freya came off the bed and knelt down in front of me. Taking my jeans and boxers in her hands, she removed them together, and I stepped out of them and kicked them to the side. My hard cock was bobbing about in front of her face, and when she licked her lips and took hold of me, I felt my balls tighten against my body.

  I wanted her mouth on me but with the way I felt it would have been my undoing. I think Freya must have sensed this because she said, “Do you trust me, Dan?”

  I looked down at the beautiful woman on her knees in front of me and replied, “With everything I am.”

  She smiled wickedly then licked my cock from root to tip before moving down and sucking gently on each of my balls. I felt my legs give way a little, but she slipped her hands round the back of my thighs and pressed up firmly against me, steadying me somewhat. Then Freya took my cock almost to the back of her throat, sucking firmly as she pulled away. She kept her lips firm and wet as she slipped back down my cock, taking me deeper into her throat each time. It was so fucking amazing that I didn’t want it to stop, but after only a minute I was ready to come.