She had not returned by the time the sun began to brighten the sky. Wanting to go and look for her, Tommaso was forced to retreat into his blacked out chambers, and be consumed by his day slumber. When he woke with a gasp that night, it was to find Manette still not home, and a newfound worry began to fill him. What if something had happened to her? He should have followed her into the night, rather than let her go.
Not taking the time to feed, Tommaso grabbed Manette’s shawl and headed for the front door. He would track her down if it were the last thing he did. Perhaps she had gone to Miriam’s and was simply avoiding him…
He never made it to the door. A voice called to him from the darkness of the sitting room, and brought him to an abrupt halt. A shiver of dread coursed through him as, slowly he turned to stare at the male seated casually in the tall armchair.
“Alkaios…”
“Darling, did you think you would be allowed to leave me without so much as a word?”
“I thought perhaps you were too busy to care,” he responded slowly, trying to keep his eyes on Alkaios while he also kept an ear open for the chance of anyone else in the house with them.
The other man hissed in displeasure. “You know very well that is not true, nor was it ever.” He stood, straightening the jacket over his frame.
In the blink of an eye, Alkaios was suddenly before him, a hand to his throat and thrusting him back against the wall, pinning him there. With a grunt he hit the door frame with his elbow and the wood splintered beneath the action.
Green eyes nearly glowed with anger as Alkaios leaned in close enough that his breath fanned out over Tommaso’s lips. “I dedicated hundreds of years to you, showing you this world, and all that is open to us in it, and how do you repay me and my love?”
His words were a growl, and his hand tightened around Tommaso’s throat. Had he need of air, he would have been gasping for it. Instead, he only winced at the tightness, and feared the possibility Alkaios may tear his head clean from his shoulders.
“I wanted something new,” he rasped brokenly.
“New,” Alkaios spat the word out. “I gave you new every night. You wanted that girl, and you threw away our lives for it.” He pulled Tommaso away from the wall only to thrust him back against it, causing his form to indent it.
Tommaso would have fought, but there was no point. Alkaios was ancient compared to him, and his strength far surpassed his own. All he could do was hope that once he was tired of raving over his upset, he would release him.
“Yes, I did.” There was no sense in denying it. “And I would do it all over again, just for a chance at the happiness she and I had.”
A real sense of connection that had never been there during all his years of following along wherever Alkaios dragged him.
With a growl of discontent, the other vampyr lashed out at him, releasing his throat, but only so that his teeth could sink into it instead. Tommaso cried out at the searing pain of his mentor viciously gulping down his blood, drawing from him what was never meant to be taken. Struggling against him now, feeling the much-needed life leaving his undead form, he did what he could to fight him off.
In the end it was futile, as he had known it would be, and Tommaso sunk into the darkness.
He regained consciousness to the scent of musty, dank water, and stale air. Groaning, he slowly sat up, feeling weak in a way he had not felt in many centuries, and a thirst for blood that was so intense he could not retract his fangs. Looking around him, Tommaso realized that he was in a dungeon of sorts. Alkaios hadn’t gotten him into the actual palace had he?
While the bars tauntingly offered a means of escape, the sluggish feel of his body gave him all the answer he could want. There would be no escaping this cell until Alkaios saw fit to release him.
“So you’ve woken.”
Tommaso looked through the darkness of the dungeon to find Alkaios in the shadows, his form swathed in black. He hissed unhappily at the sight of him, shifting on the slab of stone that was his bed, and leaning back against the damp wall.
“Where do you have me?” he demanded.
“The where is not important, but the why,” Alkaios responded, slowly moving towards the cell.
Tommaso waited, and when he didn’t continue he rolled his eyes. “Then, why?”
Alkaios reached out to grip the bar before him, squeezing it lightly as he leaned in towards Tommaso’s cell. His handsome features calm even in his madness, chin length hair loose and falling around his cheeks.
“Retribution. You took from me what I valued most, and now I do the same to you.”
“My freedom?”
Alkaios only smiled, a smile that did not reach his eyes, and sent a chill of concern racing through him. This question was not answered. His former companion merely continued to watch him until, at last, he pulled away from the bars.
“Enjoy your time down here, you’ve plenty of it. I would suggest using it wisely and truly contemplating what you should have done differently.” The older vampire then turned and began to walk away. “Try not to get too hungry,” he murmured with a dark chuckle, then disappeared up a set of stone stairs.
Tommaso watched him go, then settled back to wait out his punishment, whatever Alkaios had settled on as a long enough time for him to make his point. Tommaso believed that he would make do without feeding easily enough for quite a while, however, he had never been drained of most of his blood before and then left with no chance to recuperate.The hunger came upon him in a matter of days, so vast and all-encompassing that he felt the edges of his mind warping.
In a need to feel his teeth biting down into flesh, he bit into his own wrist, lapping at what remained of the blood in his veins, though it lacked the life-giving essence of human blood. It wasn’t enough, or even a touch of what he truly needed, and it was becoming more than what he could bear. Not even his day-slumber was enough to help, and his thirst heightened to such an extent that even the true sleep was denied him.
When he heard the door at the top of the stairs finally open, he felt an immense sense of relief. Finally, he would be released. Finally, he would have a chance to feed and quench this agonizing need inside of him. Alkaios was not alone—the wonderful scent of fresh, human blood made its way down to him, and his fangs throbbed in response as his body nearly spasmed.
Tommaso was on his feet and racing to the cage as quickly as his weakened body would allow him. Face pressed into the bars, he fought the urge to beg for whoever it was that Alkaios had brought to him.
When they came into view though, Tommaso shrunk back, pressing his body against the wall to try and contain himself. The young woman with an open gash on her wrist was Manette, and her eyes showed no sense of relief at the sight of him, rather anger and resentment more deeply settled within them than ever before.
His own chest began to rise and fall quickly, much like a wild animal being cornered. The scent of her blood on the air was enough to drive the beast within him crazy, and he knew that it would take every ounce of what little strength remained not to try and pull her through the bars.
“What? Are you not pleased to see your little plaything, my pet?” Alkaios asked, a smirk of satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. “I’ve only been looking after her for you, and such an insolent pet she is.” He made a tsking noise, as if Manette could be held accountable for anything she had done while under his detainment.
“Manette, has he hurt you?” Tommaso looked at her as he spoke, his eyes travelling over her form in concern.
“I’m fine,” was her clipped response. “Or as well as one may be after they’ve been tricked by a monster, and then held captive by his owner.”
The words struck him harshly to the chest, for the truth of them was there, and easy to see. Tommaso had lost himself to his banal instincts and allowed the life Alkaios lived to take him over, never once questioning what it was they were doing.
“I am so very sorry, Manette,” he whispered.
She gave no
answer, but Alkaios chuckled, shaking his head. “Oh, to have been witness to this lovers quarrel, it is truly a delight. Now… why don’t we reunite you properly and see if we can’t settle things between you, once and for all?”
Upon hearing his words, Tommaso roared in protest, pressing himself back against the wall even more. Wishing, in fact, to disappear into it. He knew what would happen should she be set inside the cell with him.
“Alkaios, please! I beg of you!”
The turning of a metal key inside the latch was his only response, and as the cell door squeaked open, he pressed his hands to his face, hoping to block out the world. He kept them there, even after the cell door clanged shut once more, and Manette was firmly locked within. Tommaso fought to keep his mind blank and his senses off, but the predator in him knew full well there was a delectable feast now within arms reach, and it had been so very long.
Lifting his head, he peered over at her, fangs denting his bottom lip and a low growl slipping from somewhere deep in his throat. She was paler than she had been, her own chest rising and falling with each fearful gasp—she knew, knew that he was no longer within his right mind.
Tommaso was taken back to those first days of his change, when the hunger was upon him and he had taken the lives of those he loved and respected. He had fought to control that beast, to keep it contained, but there was no caging a wild creature who was starving.
“Are you going to kill me?” she whispered, unshed tears in her eyes.
He wanted to reassure her that he would never harm her, that since the moment he had first laid eyes upon her he had loved her for her beauty, her grace, and for the underlying strength in everything she did. But with each rapid beat of her terrified heart, the scent of her fresh-flowing blood spread further through the room. It was in his nostrils and upon his tongue—body trembling, Tommaso shook his head. Perhaps he was trying to convince himself that he could take only a small amount.
It was happening before either of them realized, Tommaso having crossed the room at a wholly unnatural speed, and his arms clasped about her. This embrace was much different from all the ones that had come before, and as his teeth sunk into the column of her neck, he couldn’t help but think of their time on the ship. He had vowed never to take from her, never to feed upon her veins, for she was a creature too valuable and dear to his heart.
Now, as the warm, coppery blood flowed freely over his tongue, and her cries of pain and fear echoed in his ears, Tommaso felt his own eyes fill with tears. They welled up, only to fall down his cheeks as he continued to gulp greedily from her, his body demanding everything and all, wanting to leave not a single drop.
When her body began to grow limp, and her cries had reduced to nothing but wasted whimpers, Tommaso managed to pull himself off of her, gasping in despair as he looked down at her drawn features. Cupping her cheek, he slipped fingers lightly beneath her head to draw it up.
“Manette….darling…” he rasped, begging for her eyes to open, to show that she was still alive. When they did so, he shuddered in relief. “I am so sorry…”
He wanted to assure her that it would be all right, that they were both going to be all right, but he could hear the shallowness of her breath and the pitiful way her heart beat. There wasn’t enough blood left to sustain her, and soon she would be gone.
“I can save you,” he rushed. Lifting his wrist to his mouth he tore at the veins there, bringing the open wound to her mouth. “Drink, please!”
Manette, with her last bout of strength turned her head away, spitting out any drops of blood that had reached her mouth.
“No.” Her eyes held a defiant light, even in her weakness. “I will not become one of you. Let me keep my soul and die, rather than lose it and live to be a monster like the both of you.”
Tommaso now openly wept, feeling all the sins of his life come rushing back to him. Had his path always been leading him to this moment, to holding the new love of his life in his arms, and watching whatever sense of real fulfillment he may have possessed slowly fade away?
“Please…” he pleaded, trying to bring his wrist to her mouth once more, but the look in her eyes held him still and he let his hand fall. Instead, he drew her into the safe cradle of his arms.
Slowly, Tommaso sank to the floor, allowing her body to ease down over his lap as he rested her head against the crook of his arm. His fingertips brushed lightly over her cheek as he felt her weakening, the ebbing rhythm of her heart descending towards finality.
“I love you,” he whispered to her, wanting her to know at least that.
“No,” she replied, shaking her head, and with a last breath of denial upon her lips, she died.
To say that he lost a part of himself in that dungeon would not be an exaggeration. Something took place in those dark depths that forever changed him. For over six centuries, he had allowed himself to wallow in this sense of pain and loss, thinking only of what fate and that monster in the night had taken from him, not of what he had taken from the world. Tommaso had thought with the loss of his soul and human life that there could be no more left to lose, but Alkaios had made sure to prove him wrong.
When at last the cell door opened, and his once beloved mentor set him free, Tommaso clasped Manette’s body close to his chest and carried her past him, heading directly for the stairs.
“Have you no words for me, after all of this time?” Alkaios called after him.
A part of Tommaso wished to tear the other man asunder, to see him in the same amount of agony that he was currently feeling, but to even try would be his death. Another part felt a sort of peace in that thought, of finally seeing an end to it all. Yet, what had his life amounted to, to be fine with ending it now? Nothing of value, not as he had once vowed it would.
Instead of attacking him, Tommaso merely paused on the stone steps, not turning to look upon his face for fear he would not be able to contain his fury.
“There is nothing left to say,” he rasped, his voice cold and empty. “You have had your retribution, now let this be the end of it. All of it… You, me, and this madness we have been living.” He swallowed down further words of contempt that he wished to say, and instead settled on, “Should we ever cross paths again… I will find a way to kill you.”
Having said his peace, Tommaso left his mentor to the depths of the dungeon and the untold darkness of his own essence and desires. When he stepped at last into the fresh air of the night, all he could do was hold Manette even closer to his chest. He would give her a proper burial, somewhere lovely and becoming of her.
Perhaps somewhere on a cliff overlooking the water, so she might always taste the salt air upon her tongue.
Lifting his eyes to the heavens, he sought the vastness of its expanse, searching for answers in the stars. As a human Tommaso had lived a life devoted to God and mankind, a life of discipline and love, of selflessness. A humble human life offered up to the service and care of others had brought more happiness than any vampyr Tommaso had felt in all of this eternal debauchery.
What could life give you, if you gave nothing back?
Holding Manette’s lifeless form close to his unbeating heart, Tommaso wondered if it was time to find a new life to live, a new version of himself that could find happiness in being more than just death’s counterpart. A life of careless greed and senseless death had not helped to cover the feelings of guilt carried deep inside him, and while he could wash the blood off his hands, he could not wash the responsibility of life ended from his being.
Tommaso held Manette in his arms for the length of time it took him to walk to the coast, finding a lone cliff overlooking the ocean where he was able to dig a hole to tenderly place her in. Even in death her beauty was daunting, leaving him filled with a mixture of emotions only she had ever been able to elicit within him. She had longed for nothing more than a happy life lived well and, as the being he currently was, there had been no hope of ever giving it to her.
Slowly, he had covered her
body with soft, brown soil, erasing her presence from the world, though never from his memory. Manette would be the last life taken in vain by his hands. That was the new vow he made to himself, and the Creator who had turned his back upon him.
There would be no more death, not by his hands, or by any other that he could prevent. Perhaps there was a way to blend his life of old, and the abilities of his damned existence. To become someone new, someone better.
Perhaps life could offer up something greater, if he only sought to give back to it something better.
Sitting beside Manette’s graveside, his eyes lifted once more to the stars, and he took his time counting the glistening lights present in the vast body. Atonement was always found one step at a time, and he had an immortal lifetime ahead of him to seek it out.
1983 CE - New York State
* * *
He stood glancing out the window, the sun having just set and cast the world in a soft, comforting darkness, when a knock came at his study door.
“Come in,” he called out, slowly turning, hands clasped behind his back.
He was surprised to see two young girls enter, one a human, and one a purebred vampire. The worn looks upon their face informed him that this was not a casual surprise visit, but that these two strangers were in search of something.
“Hello…” he stated casually, a studying look upon his features.
“I’m sorry to just barge in uninvited, but the guy at the front door said it was okay… We heard that you help vampires who need it,” the human girl announced, reaching out to take the hand of the other girl beside her. “My name is Erin, and this is my friend Dinah.”
“I help vampires who deserve it,” he corrected, smiling gently at the young lives. There was a stricken look on Dinah’s face, and through her guilt he saw a reflection of himself many, many centuries ago.
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