Blood Melody

by Val St. Crowe

  “Well, I won’t be free, will I?” I said. “I’ll just be in a bigger cage.”

  He laughed softly. “Yes, you’re very perceptive.” He shrugged. “Stay in there or don’t. I couldn’t care.” He gestured idly at the open door the bedroom. “I left some food for you in the dining room through there, but maybe you aren’t hungry.”

  Truthfully, my stomach was growling. I really hadn’t been given enough food ever since I’d been in the city. The vampires seemed to be pretty forgetful about the fact that their human blood slaves needed to eat, and they would forget to give us the opportunity. When they did remember, the blood slaves had to prepare the food themselves, of course. It was all kind of terrible, and I couldn’t believe that I’d thought it was so rapturous only a few days ago. This place was a horrible place, where reality was twisted to the benefit of these monstrous vampires.

  Viggo went over to his aquarium again. He tapped the glass and murmured something in another language to the fish.

  Oh, screw it. I was hungry.

  I got up and made my way across the cell. I had to go sideways to get out of the bars, but I made it. Then I went out of the bedroom door. Through the door, I was greeted by a hallway with several open doors, all leading to elaborately decorated guest bedrooms. Beyond that, there was a study, and then finally, I emerged into a great room which served as living room, dining room, and kitchen all in one. It was all done in black and white. The only splashes of color were abstract paintings on the wall that depicted people with oversized eyes or trees with green scrawls as leaves.

  On the black table, a pizza box was open. Next to it, a stack of paper plates.

  I went over and sat down on one of the white, high-back chairs and served myself some food. The pizza was cold. I didn’t care. I inhaled the first piece, and then I went for two more. I was very, very hungry. All the shifting I’d done recently seemed to have taken it out of me.

  Movement. Out of the corner of my eye.

  I stood up, startled.

  Viggo was standing next to me, smiling down at me with glittering green eyes. I hadn’t even seen him move. “If I feed you, it’s only fair that you feed me.”

  “No,” I said, backing away, poised to shift. I would bite him to keep him from biting me. “I won’t bond with you. I refuse.”

  He was next to me, as if he’d teleported, and he was holding my wrist. “I’m old enough that I can control such things. I don’t like sycophants, or perhaps you didn’t catch that part of the conversation I was having with your sister.”

  I yanked at my wrist. “Let go of me.”

  He held onto me, his grip too tight to get loose from. “I won’t take much. Just a taste. I want to know what your blood is like.”

  “Stop!” I roared, starting to shift.

  But his teeth were already in my wrist, and the sensation of it was so, so, so pleasant that I stopped shifting. Everything that I’d felt with Petal, it was nothing compared to this. This was the most exquisite feeling I’d ever had. My whole body was wrapped in sublime goodness. My eyes rolled back in my head, and I gasped.

  “Sorry,” said Viggo, lifting his head from my wrist, my blood glittering in his mouth. “I can turn that off too if you’d like?”

  Suddenly, the pleasure shut off and there was nothing except a bright spot of pain where he had his teeth in me again. I moaned.

  He dropped my wrist.

  I backed away. I backed up all the way into the wall, cradling my hand, even though the wound there was already scabbing up. Vampires had something in their saliva that did that. It still hurt a little.

  Viggo wiped his bottom lip with his thumb. He was grinning at me.

  I didn’t love him. I didn’t feel anything for him but revulsion and fear. He was right. He’d kept the bond from forming. I gulped. “How old are you?” I said in a tiny voice.

  “I don’t even know any more,” said Viggo ruefully. “Old. Very old. Old enough to find precious little interesting. Your sister? I find her fascinating. You? Also fascinating. You have no idea how difficult it is to spark my interest in anything these days. Why, before Desta, I would sometimes contemplate starting a huge fire and walking into the flames, just ending it all. How long can one person live really, before it’s just so maddeningly boring that suicide becomes enticing just for its novelty? Death is the one thing I’ve never experienced.”

  I didn’t respond. What do you say to that?

  Viggo gestured to the table. “You can have more to eat if you’re hungry.” Viggo wandered over to the other side of the room. He looked down at the black leather couch there. “I might redecorate. I don’t particularly care, of course, but it’s something to do.” He looked up at me. “Well, stop cowering over there against the wall. I won’t bite you again.”

  “I’m not cowering,” I said. I was thinking that maybe I could make it across the room to the door if I shifted. Maybe I could make a run for it. Oh, why was I thinking about this? I had better just do it, if I wanted to have the element of surprise. I reached for my wolf, letting the change wash over me.

  But before I could even move, Viggo was next to me, holding me by the scruff of my neck. I dangled from his hand like a puppy.

  “Bad dog,” he said.

  I twisted, sinking my teeth into the flesh of his arm—well, the teeth that could reach, anyway.

  “You’ll find that I’m too old for a werewolf bite to have much of an effect on me either,” he said softly, gently prying my jaws out of his flesh. “But by all means, tire yourself out if you must.”

  It hadn’t even hurt him? I gave up and shifted in his hands.

  Now, he wasn’t holding me. I was in a heap on the floor, naked.

  He picked up a piece of my princess nightgown, which had ripped when I shifted and pressed one to the wound on his arm. He shut his eyes.

  I crouched there, watching.

  And then pulled the fabric away and the wound was scabbed over. So quickly? I thought werewolf bites took a long time to heal.

  “Now you’ve got nothing to wear.” Viggo zipped across the room and back in a twinkling, wrapping a throw blanket over my shoulders.

  I stood up, pulling the blanket tight to cover myself.

  He nodded. “I’ll find you something else to put on, I suppose.”

  “Well, don’t go to any trouble on my account.”

  “People break down from being denied simple things,” he said. “It happens frightfully quickly. It’s rather disappointing how quickly. Broken people are boring. I’ll find you some clothes.”

  * * *

  Now, I had an array of princess nightgowns in hues of purples and blues and pinks. Between that and eating pizza for every meal, I felt like a little girl who’d been given exactly what she thought she always wanted. All that was missing was a Barbie dream house.

  Days passed, at least I thought so. The curtains in the room where my cage was kept were thick and always drawn tightly against the sun. That was typical for any vampire, because they weren’t pleased with direct sunlight. Sunlight weakened them. They were still strong and deadly in the sun, but they were just a little slower.

  At any rate, I slept several times. Sometimes when I woke up, Viggo was there. Sometimes he wasn’t. Occasionally, my cage was left open, and I went out into the apartment and tried the front door. But it was locked from the outside somehow, and no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get through it. Not even my wolf strength was enough against it. Exhausted, I ended up returning to my cage. I wasn’t even sure why I bothered.

  One afternoon, at least it felt like afternoon, Viggo appeared with a blue dress. It had an empire waist and it fell to just past my knees. It was pretty but not too fancy. The sort of dress one wears to a wedding or nice dinner.

  “This is for you to wear to dinner tonight,” said Viggo, passing it through the bars to me.

  “A little dressy for pizza, don’t you think?” I said.

  “We won’t have pizza tonight,” he said. �
�But don’t you like pizza? I was under the impression most humans did. It wasn’t really around when I was human, so I wouldn’t know myself.”

  “I like it,” I said. “But I get bored too.”

  He laughed. “Oh, nicely done, Camber. That was quite amusing. And your point is well taken. I shall try to vary your diet a bit more.”

  “Why should I dress up for you?”

  “Because I asked you to,” said Viggo. “Are you going to refuse?”

  “Maybe I am,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. “Are you going to force me?”

  “I could,” said Viggo. “I could bite you and make you adore me. I could make you do whatever I wanted.”

  I trembled. I was terrified of that.

  “Perhaps the threat of such a thing is enough to force you to do as I ask?”

  “No.” I raised my chin. “If you have to force me—”

  “I won’t,” said Viggo. “I’ll try something else. I think I might like a little challenge. The blood bond is so dreadfully easy.” He tapped his chin. “Yes, I have a better idea. A much more enjoyable idea. Wait here.”

  While he was gone, I picked up the dress and looked at it. Actually, I hadn’t been about to make it a battle of wills. I would probably have put the dress on. But it was nice to defy him, if only in some small way. I wished that I’d been able to see Desta. I would have liked to talk to her, especially alone. Why did he want me to wear this dress? What was this all about?

  Viggo came back about forty minutes later, and he wasn’t alone.

  He had Landon with him. Landon was in silver chains. Silver barely affected bloodhounds, not like it affected werewolves. For us, silver was like sunlight to vampires. It didn’t kill us, but it weakened us. For bloodhounds, silver and sunlight were no problem. They had all the strengths of both of our species and none of the weaknesses. But the silver did seem to affect him enough that he couldn’t get free of it. Bloodhounds were exceptionally strong. These chains seemed to be keeping Landon from going anywhere.

  “So,” said Viggo, “I’ve noted that both you and your sister seem rather concerned about this one.”

  I ignored Viggo and spoke straight to Landon. “How did he find you?”

  “I’ve been meeting with your sister,” said Landon. “I get the impression Viggo knew that all along. Just waiting for the opportunity to nab me.”

  “I don’t understand it, personally,” said Viggo, looking Landon over. “Especially now that he’s been changed.”

  “But you’re the one who did that to him,” I said. “You did it, because you were jealous.”

  “Jealous?” said Viggo, as if the thought had never occurred to him before. Then he stroked his chin, thinking it over. “Yes, I think you’re right. I was. I am. How marvelous. I don’t think I’ve been jealous in a hundred years. Maybe three hundred.” He laughed, quite pleased.

  “You should have gone back into the woods,” I said to Landon.

  “And left you here?” he said. “You should know by now that I’m always going to do whatever I can to keep you safe.”

  “Oh, this is rather touching,” said Viggo. He cocked his head to one side. “So, let me see. You, bloodhound, you’re quite taken with this one.” He pointed at me. “But her sister is rather tragically head over heels for you.”

  “I wouldn’t say that,” said Landon. “She’s just guilty—”

  “She’s idiotically attached to you,” said Viggo, and for the first time, I heard something like anger in his voice. “And you don’t even have the decency to return her affections. You have broken her heart.”

  Landon didn’t say anything.

  “I should kill you for that.”

  “No,” I whispered, and I went to the bars of my cage.

  Viggo looked up at me. “No?”

  “Please,” I said. “You want me to put on the dress? I’m happy to put on the dress.”

  “Yes,” said Viggo. “Put on the dress. Now.”

  “Now?” I said.

  “Yes,” said Viggo. “Take off your clothes. And you.” He seized Landon from behind, his hands on either side of his head. “You watch.”

  “But you know that he—”

  “Do it,” hissed Viggo, “or I will rip his head from his shoulders.”

  Landon shut his eyes.

  I must have shown my relief, because Viggo reacted. “None of that,” he said in Landon’s ear. His fingers were at Landon’s eyelids, prying them open.

  I squared my shoulders. “Well, there’s no way that he’ll possibly be aroused with you doing that to him. It won’t matter.” I yanked my stupid nightgown over my head.

  Landon twitched.

  And Viggo started to whisper in Landon’s ear. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I saw Landon struggle. I saw his body convulsing.

  I rushed across the cage and snatched up the dress. I pulled it over my head.

  Too late.

  Viggo let go of Landon. Who was an unleashed beast. He couldn’t get free of the silver chains that bound him, but he had lost all semblance of himself. He snarled, and his eyes flashed yellow.

  I let out a little cry of surprise.

  Viggo laughed.

  Landon rushed across the room, arms bound behind his back, letting out some kind of strangled howl. I was reminded of hearing that sound the first night that I was in the woods, when I had been about to shift into a wolf for the first time. I remembered how it had chilled me, and it was no less chilling now. It still sent ripples up my spine.

  Landon collided with the bars of the cage. He was straining against the silver, but his arms stayed bound behind his back. He snapped his teeth, trying to force his head between the bars.

  I backed away, tears coming to my eyes.

  Landon roared.

  I knew I was safe. I knew he couldn’t get through the bars. I wasn’t afraid. I was devastated. Seeing him like that…

  “And this is what he is,” came Viggo’s voice. “This is what your sister prefers to me.”

  Landon heard the vampire’s voice, and he left off trying to get at me. He dove headfirst at the vampire instead.

  Viggo sidestepped, calm as you please.

  Landon collided with the bed. He was tangled in the covers.

  Viggo came up behind him and seized him around the neck. There was a snap.

  Landon fell to the floor, motionless.

  I let out a whimper.

  “Don’t worry,” said Viggo. “He’s a bit harder to kill than that.”

  Right. Of course. I knew that. I sucked in a shaky breath.

  “Next time,” said Viggo, “when I ask you to get dressed, let’s not make a production out of it, hmm?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Viggo fussed over me. He had undergarments for me to wear, which I hadn’t had with the nightgowns. He wanted me in a bra underneath the dress, because otherwise I was going to look sloppy. Those were his words, not mine. He made me brush my hair and put on makeup. He muttered that I needed to cover up the dark circles under my eyes.

  “What do you care?” I said. Landon was still lying on the other side of the room, face down. He looked dead. It was unsettling. “It’s not as if you answer to anyone. Who would mind if it looked as if you hadn’t been treating me well?”

  “Desta, of course,” said Viggo. “And I have been treating you well. You’ve had everything you need. I couldn’t say why you look so peakish.”

  “We’re going to have dinner with Desta?” I said. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

  “Oh, that would have made you put on the dress?” said Viggo. “You’re a defiant one. Heaven knows what’s needed to make you behave.”

  “You wanted to torture Landon,” I said. “You hate him.”

  Viggo shrugged. “I don’t hate him. I never feel anything that strongly these days.”

  We left the room and Landon was still lying there, and I hoped, deep in my soul, that Landon would wake up and find some way out of there. Maybe V
iggo’s carelessness would work in our favor.

  Viggo’s apartment was at the top of the building, so the elevator came right up to his place. We got on and rode all the way to the bottom floor. Then we took a limousine across town to a restaurant, which was empty. I could see that no one was sitting inside when I looked through the windows. All the lights were on.

  I made some comment about how they didn’t look open, and Viggo informed me that he’d had the restaurant closed so that we could eat there. Restaurants apparently did that sort of thing for him all the time. He was the king, after all.

  We were greeted at the door by an eager vampire, who fawned over Viggo. She led us through the restaurant to a table in the middle of the room. It was set out with silverware and an elegant candelabra centerpiece.

  Three people were sitting at the table already. One was Desta. And the other two were my parents.

  I stopped short when I saw them.

  They both got out of their seats.

  “Camber?” said my mother. She held out her arms. I could see that she wanted to run to me, but she was afraid to do so. She didn’t know how the king would react.

  So, I ran to her instead and I hugged her hard. And then I hugged my dad.

  When I was done hugging, I saw that Viggo was standing next to Desta, giving her a look as if to say, “Well, what do you think of that?”

  Desta smiled at Viggo, but I could see that she was unnerved. She was worried.

  Suddenly, I was worried. Viggo wouldn’t do this out of the goodness of his heart. He didn’t have a heart or goodness. He might be planning to use our family against Desta, to force her hand. Or he might pose some other kind of harm to us. This might be a very bad situation indeed.

  My heart thumping, I sat down.

  My mother babbled. “Oh, Your Majesty, you can’t know what this means to us, both of our daughters here. We are overwhelmed with gratitude and we have no words to even express it. We are just so, so happy. We can’t thank you enough. And it is an honor to dine with you, sir, an honor we had no inkling that would ever be bestowed upon us. We are speechless from that as well.” Except she wasn’t speechless, because she kept going on in that vein for a while, until her voice finally died in her throat and she said nothing else.