Virtue Inverted

by Piers Anthony

  Benny was almost in tears. He was totally lost. He dropped his sword. “I can't hurt you. If you're going to bite me and escape, do it now.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise, an uncannily human expression. “You are sparing me?”

  “Yes!”

  She stepped toward him, graceful in her motion. “Then I must thank you.”

  Benny stood frozen as she came to stand directly before him, a vision of perfection. Her breasts lifted as she put her hands to his head and held it in place as her face approached. Her eyes were a pale red. He closed his own eyes tightly, bracing for the bite.

  Then her mouth was up against his. She was kissing him! He felt as if he were flying.

  She broke the kiss without retreating from his body. “Thank you,” she said softly.

  “You—you didn't bite me.”

  “You did not rape me or kill me.”

  His mind was whirling. “You spared me because I spared you?”

  She smiled. “Also, you're cute.”

  “I—I--”

  “Hold me, please. I am going to cry.”

  “Vampires can cry?”

  “Oh, yes, when we have reason.” Indeed, her eyes were brimming.

  What could he do? He embraced her elegant form, and she cried against his shoulder, her tears soaking into the cloth.

  After a time she drew back. “Thank you,” she repeated. “It is not every day I am so severely threatened and reprieved. I am not emotionally equipped for it.”

  This was absolutely crazy. “I think I love you.”

  “Then I am yours.”

  She had not said she loved him back, and why should she? She was saying she would let him possess her, maybe in gratitude. “Uh, maybe you should get dressed. If you're through washing.” He could hear the fighting downstairs, reminding him that the situation was urgent. The urges of a teenage boy in puberty had to wait.

  “Yes. I had just finished gardening, and was dirty. I love working with earth, but I do need to clean up afterward. You surprised me.” She stepped away from him and picked up bra and panties from the table behind her. She put them on, then added a simple red dress that matched her eye color. She donned matching socks and slipped her small feet into slippers. None of this detracted from her elegance. Finally she looked in the mirror and bound her hair back into a long ponytail.

  “You can see yourself in the mirror?” he asked belatedly.

  “Yes. I am completely human.”

  “But you're a vampire!”

  “A human vampire,” she agreed. “There are other types.”

  Despite the fear of his companions bursting in at any second, Benny’s thoughts and gaze remained fixed on her. “I—I guess I don't know much about vampires.”

  “You are staring,” she informed him gently.

  “You're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen.”

  “Then I will forgive you the stare.”

  “I don't even know your name.”

  “I am Virtue.”

  “I am Benny.”

  “I am pleased to meet you, Benny,” she said, catching his hand and formally shaking it.

  “But—but vampires aren't virtuous.” That had not come out at all the way intended. “I mean—I don't know what I mean.”

  “It is an aspiration. I aspire to be always virtuous. I don't always succeed.”

  “I'm sorry,” he said, embarrassed. “I—I really don't know much about vampires.”

  “There was no need for you to know. We tend to be secretive.”

  “So—so how did you come to be named that?”

  “I wish I could share all of my personal history with you, but there is little time for that now.”

  “Little time?” he asked somewhat blankly; the memories of Beranger and Cycleze had disappeared from his mind.

  “I am sure you did not come here alone. Your friends will soon kill me, since you did not. But I will die satisfied that I had a boyfriend before my life ended.”

  “You're right! They'll kill you. Flee! Can you fly?”

  “It takes time to transform to bat-form. At least half an hour. I do not believe I have that time.” She gazed at him wistfully. “Besides, I do not want to leave you, now that I have found you, a genuinely compassionate young man.” She glanced toward the bed. “Perhaps there is time to give you something to remember. I do not need to die a virgin.”

  The notion appealed phenomenally. Yet he argued. “But that would ruin your virtue!”

  “Not when it is given in the spirit of mutual love. Virtue need not be so narrowly defined.” She took his hand and led him toward the bed.

  The door burst open. Beranger stood there, holding his sword, which was dripping red blood. “You didn't kill it!” he exclaimed. “I had hoped better for you.”

  “This is Virtue Vampire,” Benny said. “I love her.”

  “She spelled you already!”

  “She kissed me.”

  “That's what I said. She spelled you into captive love, to save her hide.”

  “No, she did not,” Benny said.

  “Sure she did!”

  “She couldn't. I already loved her.”

  The baffled man paused briefly, mentally regrouping. “Well, we'll take care of that right now.” Beranger advanced on Virtue, who faced him without flinching.

  Benny jumped to stand between them. “You'll have to kill me first.”

  “You don't even have your sword! How can you fight?”

  It was true. Benny's sword lay on the floor where he had dropped it. “I can't. I couldn't match you anyway. I'm just saying that you can't kill her until you kill me. I won't live without her.”

  Beranger stared at him. “You're serious!”

  “Yes.”

  “You're crazy!”

  “He's right,” Virtue said. “I am doomed anyway, but you can live, Benny. I would rather have you live. Step aside.”

  “No.”

  “You're a fool,” Beranger gritted. “But I'm not ready to kill you yet. Cycleze favors you, and I don't want to alienate him. So I will let you go, you and your vampire whore, this time.”

  A red cloud seemed to form over Benny's head. “Give me time to get my sword. Then say that again.”

  Beranger looked at him. Benny looked back, his rage fairly bursting out.

  It was Beranger who backed down. “Get your sword and go,” he said gruffly. “But if I ever see you again, I swear I will kill you.”

  “Please,” Virtue said. “Do not fight.”

  That was a plea Benny could not deny. He fetched his sword and took her by the arm. They left the room, and the house.

  At the edge of the estate they paused to gaze back at the mansion. Smoke was rising from it, and in moments flames licked out from the windows. They were burning it down!

  “I'm sorry,” Benny said. “About your coven. About your mansion. About this whole awful business.”

  “So am I,” Virtue said. “But it seems it was destined. I will mourn my chosen family in my own time.”

  Now the townsmen were running toward the fire. “They'll see us!” Benny said, alarmed.

  “I can help. I will make us easy to ignore.”

  “You can do that?”

  “I have been learning magic. Nothing spectacular, but dull magic can be useful on occasion.” She gripped his arm, and he felt a faint, odd pulse.

  Then they walked on through the town to where the horse was stabled, hitched up the wagon, and departed, no one noticing them. They were on their way home.

  Now Benny felt overwhelmed by the abrupt change in his life. He had lost his place in the trio and gained a lovely girlfriend…who was a vampire. What else could beat that?

  Chapter 10

  Despite the climactic end of Virtue’s coven, the ride back to Gant was relatively peaceful. Since fetching the horse and wagon that his companions had abandoned, Benny had tried to keep Virtue’s mind off recent events by telling her about his past. There wasn’t muc
h to tell, however, and after not too long Virtue felt compelled to share her story.

  “I was a human child in an abusive family. I was beaten regularly for little cause, and it seemed that nothing I could do would benefit my status. I longed to escape, but I had nowhere to go. Then a vampire came to me one afternoon when I was playing in the dirt. She had come to feed on me, but desisted when she saw how young I was. She looked nice. 'Take me with you,' I begged her. 'I can't,' she said sadly. 'You're not a vampire.' 'Can't you bite me and make me one?' I asked. 'I could, but we take only those who really want to join us.' 'I really really want to,' I said. So she gave me the conversion bite. It didn't even hurt. The effect was not immediate, but I could feel it working inside me, slowly converting me to her kind. Then she took me by the hand and led me away. 'You must choose a name,' she told me. 'Virtue,' I said, because it was a word and a concept I liked, even as a child. So I joined her coven as Virtue, and had been happy there for the past ten years as I learned the ways of the vampires. But now that they’re gone…” Virtue stopped at the memory of her family.

  “I’m so sorry. I wish there was something I could do. I can’t help but feel responsible somehow,” Benny said.

  “It’s not your fault. You were only doing what you thought was right, but when you saw my true nature you showed mercy upon me. Were the members of my coven still alive, I’m certain they would not deem you guilty either.”

  “Still…” Virtue smiled kindly at Benny, placing her hand on his knee before glancing around at their method of transportation.

  “Please, I do not wish to make mischief or change subjects,” Virtue said, “but whose horse and wagon are these?”

  “They belong to Laughing Jack Baldwin, the innkeeper. Now I am returning them.” That was a simplification, but it would do.

  “Will your friends be angry about losing this?”

  “They're not my friends! The truth is, I'm glad to be rid of them. Especially now that they have slaughtered your coven.”

  “Still, it may be arguable who should have the wagon.”

  Benny shrugged. “It may be, but they'll know I have the right of the case. They can come and get it again from Jack if they have a mind.”

  She let it be, and they rode on. But it lingered in his mind. Was he wrong to take the wagon instead of walking? Beranger had said it was to be returned after this mission. Still, maybe not right now. Yet what about the two men intent on killing for money? What would be the ultimate fate of the horse in their hands? She had put his thoughts on a matter of ethics, and he wasn't sure he had made the correct decision.

  Benny and Virtue got to know each other better as they traveled. She filled him in on the culture of the vampires, who it seemed did not necessarily prey on humans. Her own coven had not, preferring the animals, which they treated well. Also, they did not feed entirely on blood; it was merely a portion of their diet, as meat was for humans. It provided them with what they needed to perform magic. So the case against the vampires was seriously flawed.

  Something else bothered him. Beranger had taught him to question things, to look gift horses in the mouth. Sometimes it made a significant difference. Now he addressed Virtue. “I hate doing this, but I have to question you more closely.”

  “Yes, it was not coincidence that you spied me naked.”

  He looked at her, startled. “You knew I would ask!”

  “You are ignorant, not stupid, and you need to know the truth.”

  “You amaze me! I—I hope it is not a bad truth.”

  “It is a terrible truth, but no fault of yours or mine. We all do what we must do, though sometimes we do not like it.”

  Benny focused on the trail ahead as they rode north through the forest. “About doing what we must. We—we understood that we had to kill the vampires, but that there might be political connections. That they might be warned, so that we would get wiped out tomorrow as they sprang their trap. So we struck today, by surprise. I—I thought any vampire I encountered would come flying at me with bared fangs and I would have to kill it to defend myself. To stop an ugly monster. Instead there was you: so lovely, so innocent. I can't kill you, Virtue, no matter what the truth is. I know I'm just a foolish boy, but I do think I love you. I know you don't love me; how could you? So I think I am ready to hear your truth.”

  “We saw the three of you enter the compound,” she said. “Our head man did a quick skry and learned that we were doomed.”

  “A what?”

  “A skry. He gazed in a crystal and saw the near future.”

  “Oh. Magic.”

  “Yes, of course. We are magical creatures, as I said.”

  “Couldn't you have fought? You outnumbered us.”

  “No. We are pacifist.”

  So the men had cut down unresisting vampires, male and female. No glory there, and no honor. “Damn.”

  “There was only one way any of us could escape,” she continued. “That was me, the youngest and, well, most appealing. I could survive only if I won the heart of the youngest invader and stayed with him. That was you. I did that by arranging to show you my bare body so that your youthful impulse would be to use me sexually. Young men tend to get emotional about their sexual partners. I knew I had to submit or die, and I didn't want to die. So I encouraged you to take me, trusting that then you would want to keep me alive.”

  “Yes! Only--”

  “Only you didn't take me, so it was incomplete and my survival remained uncertain. I kept trying. Then your man with the awful face came, and I knew if you opposed him you would put your own life at risk. There was no point in that. So I knew the ploy had failed. You were such a nice boy I didn't want you to die, too. Then--”

  “Virtue, I don't want to use you sexually! I mean, I guess I do, but not that way. I want to marry you!”

  She shook her head. “You can't mean that. You hardly know me.”

  “And of course you don't want to marry me. I understand that. I'm just a foolish kid.”

  “How old are you, Benny?”

  He was surprised by the question. “I'll be seventeen next month. Why?”

  “I will be seventeen next week. We are close in age.”

  “But not in nature. You're absolutely beautiful, while I'm nothing.”

  “You are everything. Benny, I do want to marry you, but that is because the skry indicated that my survival is linked to you. I can give you sex freely, but it would not be fair to marry you without loving you. So--”

  She would marry him? “Can't we just shut up and kiss?”

  She laughed. “This is foolish.”

  “I know,” he said disconsolately.

  “Foolish,” she repeated. “But I'm young and foolish too.” Then she caught his head as she had before, turned it to face her, and kissed him so passionately he thought he might pass out.

  She gave him a minute to recover, while the horse plodded on. Then she spoke again. “Sex comes and goes, but marriage is forever. Suppose we make this compromise: wait until we are both 18, then if you still want to marry me, you can do so. But there are constraints. For the most sincere marriage, we must not share sex beforehand, only after we are wed. So that I remain pure for the occasion. That may be a hard route for you. So if you prefer to have me as a mistress instead, we can do that now.”

  He hated being so wickedly tempted. “What—what would you prefer?”

  “I prefer marriage; it is far more binding. But the choice is really yours, not mine. You are the man. The human.”

  “Marriage!” he said. “And maybe you'll love me by then.”

  “That is quite possible. You evince sterling qualities, especially of conscience.”

  “I just want to be with you.”

  “And I with you, albeit perhaps for different reasons. Then shall we consider ourselves affianced?”

  “Yes!”

  “Yes,” she echoed.

  They came to the fork where the giant's trail joined the main route. Benny guided the ho
rse to the lesser one. Virtue looked askance.

  “There's a place to stop safely for the night,” he explained.

  “I could change to bat form and hide in a tree.”

  “Oh, Virtue, I'd rather sleep with you in my arms.”

  “You may do that,” she agreed.

  “But what do you want?”

  “I want what you want. But if you hold me in darkness, you may do something that will compromise my purity for our marriage.”

  “I—I—will risk that. We can keep our clothes on.”

  “As you wish.”

  “But bat form—all vampires can do that?”

  “Yes. It is part of our magic. It enables us to travel without attracting attention.”

  “Then why didn't you all become bats and fly away from the mansion?”

  “We did not have time. Your element of surprise was effective.”

  “Oh, Virtue, I'm so sorry!”

  “So am I. But we don't always have convenient choices.”

  They came to the stronghold. “Do—do you eat any regular food? Like pancakes?”

  “Yes. It is merely that blood is a necessary part of our diet, as meat is part of yours. I will eat your pancakes.”

  He laughed. “You're just like a regular girl!”

  “I am a regular girl. With some magic.”

  He was more than ready to settle for that.

  They slept in the loft, clothed, embraced, kissing every so often. He felt as if he was in a subsection of heaven. They did not compromise her purity.

  Next day they reached the Fox Den Inn. Laughing Jack came out to meet them. “You brought back the horse and wagon! You found a girl! A lovely one.”

  “This is Virtue, my fiancée. She's a vampire.”

  Jack rocked back. “Joke?”

  “No joke, Mr. Baldwin,” Virtue said, briefly baring her fangs. “Benny saved my life, and I will marry him. I mean no harm to you or yours.”

  “There must be a considerable story there,” Jack said. “I will want to hear the whole of it, in due course. You'll share Benny's bed?”

  “No,” Benny and Virtue said almost together. Then Benny explained. “I want her to be pure for marriage when we're 18.”

  “I don't have another nook for a person to sleep. Just yours and Nadia's.”