Birth of a Vixen (Shadow Faith Book 1)

by Colleen Tews

  Thais released her crimson lips from my bruised and lacerated skin. “Come on, you can’t die on me yet.”

  She raised her wrist to her mouth. In my euphoric haze I vaguely noticed Thais tearing into her wrist letting herself bleed for me. With a graceful fluidity that came with experience she thrust her wrist over my mouth without losing a drop of blood.

  The bittersweet liquid felt warm and inviting as it coursed through my eager body. I drank it down with the impatience of an infant eager for mother’s milk. The awe-inspiring kiss she laid on my throat was immature foreplay by comparison to the exhilarating rush that came from her blood.

  The curse of her blood spread faster than any virus on earth. It mutated this frail human existence into an immortal vampire playmate. Thais tried to pry her wrist from my tenuous grasp, but I refused to let go. I had become addicted with my first hit. With help from my father Thais escaped me.

  “Mistress?”

  “I’ll be fine, Matthew. Give me what I need and I will be well again.”

  He exposed his neck and leaned into her. Then Matthew braced her back by holding her in place as she fed from him.

  My vision blurred and my eyes fluttered back into my head before my body seized. A feeble attempt from my immune system as it struggled to fight a losing battle. The convulsions shook me down the pillows to the bitter cement floor. My heart raced in time with the violent jerks of my body. There was nothing I could have done any differently.

  As fast as the seizures started they stopped.

  Through heavy hooded eyes I watched as Thais fed off my father. He snuggled her against him with his eyes closed. He licked his lips while his hands sensually caressed her back. I rolled onto my back, suddenly nauseous.

  I stared at the light. That one shining bulb swung back and forth, distant as a dream. My heart matched the slow beating rhythm of the glowing pendulum in the sky before it came to a halt. With the last beat of my heart I made my birthday wish. I wished to never wake up.

  “I’m sorry. I think I do need that drink after all.” Lucian pulled away from me. “You are locked up tighter than Fort Knox. It’s getting harder to see what happened.”

  “I wish I could do something to help you get through easier.” I was still not used to hearing my own voice again. I cleared my throat and rubbed my tongue over my new teeth. Then I reached across the cold tile to the door. I cracked it open and like the physical door before me another opened inside me.

  I was torn apart from the inside. My arms and legs flailed. I hit the cupboard, the door, the wall, and Lucian, too. The seizure came on as Thais whispered, "Give in to me."

  “I can hear her in my head. I don’t know how much longer I can hold her back.”

  Lucian slammed me down on the floor. He rode on top of me and held me down so I couldn’t hurt him or myself anymore than I already had. "Concentrate on me. Ignore her call. Angela?" He slapped my cheek. "Angela!" His telepathic voice overshadowed Thais.

  I stared up at him. The bathroom was gone from sight. His eyes encompassed my world. "Think of me and shield her. You have the power."

  I recalled how it felt the first time he touched me, which wasn't hard considering that wasn't too long ago. First word that came to mind was: safe. I was safe with him. But why? What made the world right with him beside me?

  A floodgate opened between us. It felt like I was floating away from my body knew I was still being held firm on the floor. I saw myself through his eyes, scared and powerful and beautiful under him. Past the surface thoughts, buried under hundreds of years of fight was his greatest struggle. One I sensed he never truly got over.

  "Selene!" I ran down the thin alleys between rag-shag buildings. My tunic snagged on the corner of the blacksmith's shop. The shit and piss that squished under my leather shoe filled the hard worn trenches. I cared not. All that mattered was getting to Selene before the paciarii escorted her to the next stop of her pilgrimage.

  Echoes of angry frightened screams cried out for the witch's head, for justice. Ignorant fools would not known a witch if she bit their noses off. As dusk settled into true night I rushed into the crowd outside Tarragona Cathedral. Villagers clustered in the courtyard. Knights kept them from entering the church. Pushing and shoving, I made my way to the front. "Selene!"

  Firelight lit the rose window above the entrance. The last ray of sunlight cast a haunting orange glow across the stone saints that I would never forget. When the doors opened the Domini canes, with their black cappa flowing behind them over white habits, escorted my beloved from the belly of the nave.

  Wisps of her chestnut hair streamed out of her long braid and away from her face. Dirt smudged her beautiful face. Her once full lips that always had a smile for weary travelers like myself were chapped and quivered. She bowed her head in shame. Though her hands were bound she clenched the cross of infamy.

  "Selene. Selene! I'm here!" I took one step toward her. That was all I got before the flat edge of a guard's sword barricaded my march. "Out of my way."

  "Lucian!" She was so close now. Her dark blue eyes swam in unshed tears. She shook her head which freed her sadness. "Don't. I love you."

  "No, I will not give up."

  She bowed her head again. A tall, lanky priest took hold of her elbow. He ushered her through the caravan.

  I pushed people aside as I sidestepped down the length of the human barrier. "I love you. I won't give up. I love you!"

  "Back off, lover boy." An armored fist met my face. I fell backwards. The crowd let me fall flat on my ass. Laughter mingled with intolerant outcries. "Go. Find a live girl that hasn't sold her soul to the devil."

  I fought to my feet. Any progress I made was stamped out by someone's foot or random elbow to the chin. The crowd waned. Yet I continually got knocked down over and over again. It was like they purposefully took their frustrations out on me. Not that I blamed them. I was the witch lover.

  Strong hands gripped my upper arms and pulled me up. "Be a man and stand." He said in a deep baritone voice. He spun me to face him, but all I saw was his wide jaw. All else was covered in the Order of Preacher's attire. "Pull yourself together, son. What's your name?"

  "Why should you care?" Nonetheless I ran a quick hand through my hair.

  "I care about all God's children, especially when love is on the line. I'm a bit of a romantic. You truly love this witch?"

  "She is no a witch." I refused to hit a priest. That would have only added fuel to their holy fire. Instead I turned to leave. Within a heartbeat he stood before me.

  "That would be a yes. Then I suggest you come with me"

  "Why? What can you do?"

  He tilted his head back enough for me to see a touch more of him. He smiled a toothy grin complete with fangs. Terror rose from the deep crevasses of my soul. My heart hastened when I looked upon that demon in priest's robes. It must have shown upon my face because he chuckled. "I can give you what you need to save her."

  "Stop." Lucian said to me. In a rush his memory withdrew. I was left with a pounding headache.

  "Sorry. I didn't mean to do that. It kind of happened."

  His jaw locked. His whole body was as frozen over me as those statues were on the cathedral. "Just stop and let me think."

  I laid under him and watched him once again bury rampant painful thoughts. The only part of him that changed was eye color, hazel to emerald green to deep wooden brown. I knew people whose eyes changed depending upon the colors they wore. His changed with each passing emotion. Which explained why a vampire's eyes changed when they summoned their power. It was fueled by emotion. For as dead as we were we lived for it all.

  After a few moments he said, "Let's try this again. And please try to remember we are doing this for you, not me."

  "Yes. Sorry."

  "Now concentrate on what happened next."

  Our gazes locked and the trip down memory lane continued.

  In the distance I heard someone calling my name. It was Caelyn. The vision
faded to black and I was transported back in time to the rest of the memory Lucian had been working so hard to bring out.

  I was on a cold, dirt floor. There was no light. I searched with my hands to find a way out. Stones surrounded me. I fought the hysterics brought on by claustrophobia. "Somebody help me, please. Anybody."

  I pounded and kicked against my stone prison. I screamed in terror. The stone refused to budge. I was trapped with no way out. I didn't even know where here was exactly. I only knew I needed to get out. A small sting from my knuckles told me I had broken skin. Time to change tactics. I clawed at the stone and continued screaming for help.

  A muffled sound of feet running from outside the stone barrier grew louder as they came closer. There were two men shouting, Caelyn and Matthew maybe. Then the distinct bang of gunfire ricocheted in my head. I grabbed my ears and cried out.

  My senses went into overdrive. I felt the rough, jagged grit of the stone around me. Smelled an increasing amount of fresh blood, and heard a heartbeat slow on the opposite side of the wall. I jumped as a sudden vibration through the floor rattled my extended senses.

  "I'm coming Angela." Caelyn shouted at me through the stone encasing.

  "Caelyn? Caelyn hurry. Get me out of here Please, oh please!" I prayed he found me soon.

  Light broke through the darkness and blinded me. I shielded my eyes with my hand. He grabbed more rocks and threw them aside until the hole was big enough for him to reach into to grab me. The sight of him in the tattered clothes he wore last night thrilled me. He rescued me after all. I reached for him and hoped I wasn’t dreaming. I was a bit relieved to see that dim light bulb from the ceiling.

  "I've got you." He was on his knees when he slid me free. Caelyn hauled me out of the basement wall.

  Matthew lay dead at his feet. My father’s eyes were wide with the shock of death.

  Caelyn repeated something, but I couldn’t comprehend what he said. The shock of discovering I was in a wall compounded by seeing my father dead made everything impossible to absorb all at once.

  "What?"

  "I am so sorry. We don't have much time before Thais gets here. I tried to get here before…" He shook his head in disbelief. "I am so sorry. If I had gotten here sooner."

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Do you remember what happened last night?"

  I waved Caelyn off when he tempted to pull down the bottoms of my eyes. He moved onto my mouth where he stretched back my upper lip. I muffled through his hands. "Yeah, dad killed mom and then kidnapped me."

  "After that?" His eyes swam in a shallow pool of pink tinted water.

  "I," The night before was hazy at best. A slow headache began to grow at my temple. A wave of nausea churned my stomach. It grew into a burning ache. "I don't feel so good."

  "It's the need to feed little one." Thais said.

  She stood proud on a wooden staircase littered with the bodies of those that had gotten in Caelyn’s way. Light from the opened basement door lit the path for her. She had made it halfway down the steps. Seeing her in the green gown again opened a floodgate of memories.

  "You did this to me. You sired me." I was too stunned to lunge at her. It would have been pointless anyway. I clung to Caelyn instead. I trusted that he could get us out of this mess.

  "I did and this is only the beginning." A grin inched its way across her innocent looking face. That grin smeared that innocence and revealed her sadistic nature.

  "You psychotic bitch." Caelyn snapped at her. In a blink of an eye he let go of me and rushed Thais. He snatched her by the throat then tossed her over the wooden handrail into the basement.

  She hit the dangling wire that secured the lone light. It swung high and shattered against the ceiling. Thais crashed to the floor on her stomach. Tiny shards of glass rained down on her. The only light now was from the door upstairs.

  She snapped to her feet. Then, as she brushed off the dirt, she cracked her neck. "You wanna play now, Caelyn. Okay.” She giggled. “Let's play.”

  Caelyn and Thais threw themselves at one another. They bore their fangs and their fingers extended into ravenous claws. They fought faster than I could follow.

  Bloody and bruised they separated to opposite side of the room. Thais’ dress was torn. Her blood seeped down from fresh wounds. Her right eye was already turning black and blue, but healing. And Caelyn had fresh gashes in his throat.

  “You can’t win. She’s mine already. It’s a shame you missed out on all the fun, but this is just as exhilarating.” Thais crouched with her hands braced on the far wall behind her. With lightening speed she launched herself off the wall at his abdomen. She raked and bit at his chest as she drove him into the wall.

  He cried out. In a pain fueled rage he brought his forearm crashing down on her back. Thais slammed into the floor. He stalked around her, giving her time to gather herself enough to sit on her hands and knees. “Playtime is over Thais. Your reign as Primus is over. We had an agreement, you were to give up on Angela, on your vision of what she would become under your control. In exchange I would let you continue to control Columbus. You swore to it. Your word is broken. You have no one to blame but yourself. I swear you will not live to see another night.”

  He kicked her in the ribs. Thais rose up off the floor from the full weight of his boot colliding with her tiny frame. Where she hung in midair Caelyn punched her in the chest and sent her sailing into the opposite wall.

  The foundation cracked from the sheer force of the blow. The house creaked. Dust fell from the floorboard above me. Caelyn’s anger would bring the house crashing down on us all if he continued to attack Thais like that.

  “Caelyn.” I tried to stop him, but could only whisper. I ignored the pain and attempted again for all our sakes. This time I was successful. “Stop.”

  He stopped short as he hovered over her limp body. Every muscle in his lean body was held taut. His fury was almost tangible.

  I made it to my feet and wobbled towards them. A sudden sense of vertigo came with an icy burn that churned my stomach. I pushed down the pain and focused on the vampire that raised me my whole life. No, he wasn’t just the vampire, but the man that kept me safe. He gave me anything I ever desired. If you asked he would have told you my first words, described how I fidgeted before my date arrived for our first school dance, or how excited and nervous I was when I took my driver’s license test. He had been there for all those events. When I was eleven he saved me from my father. Though he wasn’t able to rescue me this time that did not change how much I owed him. Now as I reached out to him it was my turn to save him from himself. “Caelyn.”

  He jerked a quick, inflamed glance at me. I jumped back stunned. Thais chuckled -which was the wrong thing to do. Caelyn turned his attention back to her. He smashed the bottom of his boot into her face.

  “No, Caelyn.” I maneuvered between the two of them. It was probably not the smartest thing I had ever done, but I trusted Caelyn not to hurt me. I put my hands up to hold him off from another attack.

  “I told you she’s mine now.” Thais propped herself up to sit against the wall.

  “Trust me.” I mouthed to Caelyn. He blinked and his brow creased. He shook his head.

  I nodded.

  The tension in his shoulders eased a bit.

  I gave him my back and sat on my heels face to face with my injured sire. The burning in my stomach tightened. This time the pain was undeniable. I had held out as long as I could.

  Blood trickled from Thais’ broken nose and cut mouth and still she smiled at me. I stroked her cheek. Her blood smeared under my touch. I brought back my hand. I studied the crimson liquid on my fingers that entranced me. I licked my fingertips clean. Its sweet taste filled my body with an exhilarating rush stronger than any quick orgasm. The pain in my stomach lessened. My body yearned for more.

  I could only imagine what Thais saw as she watched me in that moment, but her weak smile faded with an awful revelation. I looked her dead in th
e eye. “Thais, whatever the reason was that made you want to sire me, well, it wasn’t worth it.”

  With a throbbing pain my canines tugged at my gums and extended into sharp pointed fangs. Once fully elongated I attacked her like a ravenous snake. I was exhilarated at the fact that I pierced the vein on the first try. Unfortunately for her I was but an eager pup hungry for its first kill. The weight of my body rode her to the floor. My hands and mouth clawed at the childlike vampire under me. I drank every last thirst quenching drop.

  The ache in my stomach receded. The migraine grew more intense.

  I sank back from her corpse into Caelyn’s comforting embrace. He cradled me. I cried. The last few drops of water I had in my system escaped with those tears.

  Caelyn stroked my hair. He whispered empty words of comfort when we both knew there was no comfort to be found here. His voice was muffled by the thunderous shockwave of voices in my head.

  I pushed off Caelyn as the voices ricocheted around my mind. I ran away from him. “What the hell?”

  “Angela?” He chased after me.

  It was madness. I cowered next to a headless man on the stairs. I grabbed my head and tried to tune out the screams in my mind. Cries of suffering, of passion, of war and of loss echoed inside of me. A single voice broke through the insanity.

  “You didn’t think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?”

  I bolted up the stairs and out the house. I ran away from Caelyn as he called after me. I ran away from who I used to be. I failed to run away from Thais, though I tried every night.

  “Angela.” Lucian lightly shook my shoulders. His eyes filled with unshed tears.