by Pepper Pace
“250 years…”
“Is not 1000.” He grabbed my hand and hurried me from the lower level up a long flight of stairs until we were in a large room. There were windows here and I could see sun coming through the stained glass. It was dusk, almost dark.
I turned to him. “The sun burned me?”
“Yes, but only because your skin was so new.” He led me to the door. “Please, my love, leave this place and don’t ever return.”
“You’re afraid of her.”
“I’m afraid that she will kill you, and then I will die because I will do everything I can to kill her and I’m not strong enough to do such a thing.”
He opened the door. “Know that I love you. I’m happy that you came, but it might mean our lives. Still…” His eyes watered and I knew that it was mostly the sun light…mostly. “I’m happy that I got to love you again. Live, love and laugh freely. But understand, when I see you again I won’t give you up to anyone. Anyone.”
Gently he nudged me out the door. Where the dusky light touched him his arm colored and darkened like a bad sunburn. He seemed not to notice. I stared at him trying to imprint his image into my brain.
How could I have thought I was ugly because of the burns? When I looked at Alexis with his tight muscles and the loose pants hanging low on his hips I didn’t even see the scars. He was beautiful…and he had made me beautiful again.
“Go back to the Villa for she has awakened and even now she seeks me out.” I nodded but knew that my eyes glowed red with rage because he hesitated.
The door closed and just as before when the rage gripped me I threw my head back and screamed a beastly inhuman scream. I turned and stalked into the forest where creatures like me should go.
CHAPTER 6
As soon as the door closed behind me the link to Alexis was cut short. I had blocked my link to Tony, but the third link—the one that led back to Paul came to life--and it wasn’t me that did it. Curiosity caused me to hesitate in my rage. Paul had never followed the link to me before; I didn’t think he even knew how considering it was a Vampire’s link.
Paul had been my first human donor. Together we learned what it was to be a Vampire. My impression of Paul before I came into his life was one of privilege. As an investment banker he had made his first million before the age of thirty. His surfer boy good looks gave him a cockiness that perfectly complimented my complete terror at my circumstances. In other words he took my mind off my many troubles.
It wasn’t long before I realized that our mutual attraction for each other was more than just the fact that he shared his blood with me. I was falling for him as hard as he had already fallen for me. I felt so guilty because the lust would always grip me when I fed. He was the first to tell me that it was only the blood—not me.
I had not heard from Paul in a year. He left telling me that he would return and other then that promise I had not heard one word from him. He had gone to find a better self; one more powerful then his human self. I thought about that as I tried to understand what I was sensing.
Through Paul’s link I was being watched, but not by Paul, I now realized, but by something else. But how could that be? Was it Athena? I tossed that thought away. Athena couldn’t trace me though anyone’s link but Alexis.
Thinking about Athena reminded me of how pissed I was. The anger flared again and I could feel my hands turn into tight fists. I squeezed so tight that I could feel little bones break. The pain of it did little to calm me.
Whatever it was through Paul’s link seemed interested in my anger and it seemed to sniff at me. I froze and tried to see what was looking at me. The only image I had was something big…powerful. That made me think of the Creature I had become. Whatever was watching me reminded me of that but with no anger. Could I be seeing within my own self?
I began to tremble in fear. I didn’t understand! Could it be Paul? Had he made it? Had he found a way to become Superhuman? But what I felt was in no way human. I tried to examine it but something caught its attention and it abruptly disappeared. Immediately I opened that link and for the first time, tried to follow it to Paul.
Yes, whatever had been watching me was coming from Paul. My rage forgotten I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. What had become of my Paul…?
“Kim!”
Abruptly I turned and looked around. It was Monica. Who knew how long she had been calling me since I had been in the fortress. I would have never known. I cursed.
“Monica, I’m on my way.” With that I put all thoughts of Alexis, Athena, my Creature, and Paul to the back of my mind. I simply couldn’t process everything that had happened to me in the last two days. I disappeared from that miserable forest and found my way back to the villa.
Monica, Tyler and Karen were pacing back and forth frantically. When I appeared they all jumped in various stages of surprise but then they practically tackled me with hugs and kisses.
Tyler was saying that it was all her fault. She thought I had died.
Karen was saying that it was her fault; she should have never brought me here.
Monica was saying that it was her fault because she should not have kept secrets from me. I hugged and kissed them all. Tyler pulled away from me and looked at me in shock. Her eyes were big and her mouth fell open.
“Oh Honey, your burns…They’re gone!” She sniffed. “And you’ve been fucking!”
“You really found Alexis?!” Karen asked equally surprised.
I tried not to blush. “I found him.” I said softly. They all squealed and yelled and jumped up and down happily. We touched my skin and Tyler examined my eyelids.
“You had time to fuck him? How did you have time to fuck him?”
I glanced at Monica and Monica stopped cold. “No…You didn’t.” This time she hugged me.
“What?” Karen asked. She and Tyler looked at each other curiously.
“Ladies.” I said when Monica broke her hold on me. “I have a secret to tell you. But I can’t tell you here. It’s a secret that’s going to take a blood oath.” I’d never done a blood oath with them. I’d never had a secret big enough to tell them. A blood oath is where I literally bound someone not to speak of a certain thing. Even if another Vampire commanded them to they wouldn’t be able speak about whatever I’d told them. Paul had been under two blood oaths; one when I made him my donor, and once he agreed he was bound never to tell anyone about me being a Vampire. And the second is when I told him that I was a day walker. Would I ever be able to tell him my secrets again? Was he really that animal I’d sensed back in the forest? I mentally shook my head. ENOUGH! Blood oaths were made not because you didn’t trust your human, but because you didn’t trust others not to get information out of them.
Karen hurried out of the room. “I’ll make the arrangements to leave ASAP.”
“Thank you.” I said mostly to myself. I wanted out of this country, before I fucked up somehow. Tyler briefly squeezed my arm.
“You did what we all doubted you could do. You found your one true love. And you survived.”
I sighed with a grin. “That last is debatable. Someone might be coming after me.”
Tyler frowned and braced herself. “Someone or something?”
“Something.”
“How powerful?”
“More powerful then Alexis.”
Tyler hurried out of the room after Karen.
Monica’s eyes gleamed. She came to me and took my hands. “Was it everything you wanted it to be?”
“God, yes. Someone is keeping him from me. And he’s been exiled by the Elders, but it’s someone else that keeps us apart.” I smiled despite the pain. “But he loves me. He loves me every bit as much as I love him.”
“Then nothing else matters.” She released my hands. “I’m going to get us packed.”
When I was alone I thought about Julie. She still hadn’t risen yet and it was full dark. They had put her coffin in my bedroom. I hated to use the term coffin because it w
as constructed by Vampires for Vampires. No one was ever to be buried in such a thing. It was completely impenetrable by light…of any kind. A belt of some type slipped into place to seal it. It could be operated from either the outside or the inside. But inside was a lock so that a human couldn’t accidentally open it. Anyone with super human strength could beat their way out of it if necessary…still it was by all outward appearances a coffin.
I sat in a chair beside her and waited for her to awake. Within minutes I felt her stirring and I opened the lid for her. She sat up like a marionette; as if strings were attached to her.
“Kim.” She said before she even saw me.
“I’m here.” Her head pivoted in my direction. “Kim.” I saw her face relax. Even in death she had been afraid for me. I gave her hand out of the coffin.
“You rose before me.” I just smiled. I couldn’t speak of it yet and I didn’t want to lie.
“I found him.”
She grinned mischievously. “And by what my nose smells you had a good time finding him.”
This time I did blush. “Okay that’s it! I’m getting my funky ass in the tub.” Julie grabbed my hands.
“No, not before you tell me everything.” I had to remind myself that she wasn’t really twelve she was much much older than me.
“Well, one thing I can tell you is that I…might be in a wee bit of trouble. We need to get out of town like NOW.”
“What did you do?”
“I’ll tell you on the plane.”
I know I should have showered quickly but I needed time to absorb all of my thoughts and a hot bath is just the place to do it.”
I relived every second of my time with Alexis. When I thought of our love making it scared me how powerful it had been. Could the power of my love for him bring that woman’s attention? I dared not say her name. I dunked my head under water and then got out of the tub.
Monica had left me an electric blue suit to wear. It shimmered when I moved. The skirt was a long A-line that flowed against my ankles when I slipped on the slight heels. A black scarf concealed my neck and I pulled my hair back into a French twist. I loved being dressed all European fashionable, but when I got back home I’d be back in my Apple Bottoms and Baby Phat again.
The driver had us loaded up in the trailer and Monica had found us a flight on TransEpic Airlines. It was owned by Vampires and while it didn’t cater only to Vampires there was a lower hold that accommodated coffins separate from other luggage. Also there would never be any problems with lost coffins and unwanted layovers that could put a Vampire’s life at risk.
“I’ll feel better when we’re out of here.” Tyler said. We were locking up the Villa when I felt a familiar tingling on the back of my neck.
“Shit.” Tyler said. She felt it too.
I thought Athena, but it was a masculine voice that spoke.
“Leaving so soon?” Heavily accented. Marcelle.
We spun around to see not only Marcelle and his second in command Paolo, but five other Vampires as well.
I studied Marcelle fearlessly. “As I said, my time here is limited.”
Marcelle smiled graciously. He was polite if nothing else. “You look lovely this evening. Does my eyes deceive me or is your skin healed of its burns?”
I smiled slightly. “Thank you for noticing. You are correct my burns have been healed.”
“And if you don’t mind me asking, how did you achieve such a feat?”
“Well now a lady can’t reveal all of her beauty secrets.”
His smile was even broader. “Of course, forgive me.” He looked around. “I seem to always catch you at a bad time, when you’re on your way to some place else. However I feel that if I let this opportunity pass, I may not get another chance to introduce you to our Council. We have a meeting tonight and I commented to my fellow council members about your visit to our fair town. They requested the honor of your company.” His pleasant smile suddenly disappeared. “On this I must insist. Don’t worry. You may bring your lovely ladies with you.”
“Kim?” It was Julie. She wanted to know what we were going to do.
“Stand down.” I repeated the command to each of my entourage.
Marcelle offered me his arm. I took it tentatively. He led me to a stretch limo where we all fit in comfortably. The driver was apparently human and Tyler was asked politely to sit up front with him. Marcelle sat next to me. His touch was warm. I could sense that he was old. How old, I didn’t know.
“May I say that is a lovely shade of blue?”
“Marcelle, lets stop the bullshit. What do you have planned for tonight?”
He put on a carefully choreographed pout. “You are too beautiful a woman to use such language. Do not fear. I would not be the one responsible for one hair to be out of place on your beautiful head. I am the Master of Barcelona and you and yours are under my protection. It is my Council’s wish to visit with you…and since you went to Epic Cu despite my warnings, they are well within their rights to request the honor of your presence.”
“How do you know that I went there last night?”
“I have eyes everywhere.” It didn’t look like I would be able to fight my way out of here, and because I had three humans with me Julie and I couldn’t just teleport ourselves away, so I was pretty much at Marcelle’s mercy. I decided to try to charm my way through this evening since it was a game that we had already began to play.
“So…you said yesterday that your Council was steeped in tradition. Tell us about a typical Council meeting.”
His smile returned. “Music is very important to our people. There is low mellow music playing which sets the mood.” Was he describing a date or a Council meeting? “Our Elder greets us individually with a welcoming kiss.” I thought about kissing Malarias and hid a grimace. Marcelle touched my wrist lightly. “The kiss is here. A blood kiss.”
“Oh.”
“We pledge our oath and speak the words of our Elders. We drink from our blood donor. The Secretary will ask about the current business. We give our accounts of the weeks business. We speak an oath of secrecy and then we disperse. It all takes about two hours. Of course we have visitors so it won’t be a normal meeting this evening. This is a special meeting.”
I watched him carefully. “You know I won’t let anything happen to my people-”
“I would have thought that you would have considered that yesterday evening.”
“Just giving you fair warning.”
“I made some calls about you, Kim. I hope you don’t mind. You are very new to our world and yet you are a Master and a Council member. I found out how you were burned and why. You took the punishment of your sire. Very admirable. I know that you are bound to an Elder; also very admirable.”
“You know a lot about me. Tell me a little about you.”
“I have been a master for close to seven hundred years. I outwitted my predecessor for his seat on the Council. I found later that to be a Master to such an important city is not…how do you say?...all that it’s cracked up to be.”
I nodded in agreement despite the fact that I was being held against my will. Being a Council member wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I can imagine policing all of Barcelona with its tourists and all. I suppose Marcelle had no choice but to be charming.
We pulled up to a house that put our Council house to shame. It was lit up like Christmas and looked like a party was going on.”
“This is your council house?” I asked as he helped me out of the limo.
“Is there a party?” Julie asked in her little girl’s voice.
Marcelle offered her his other arm. “Yes. We find as many opportunities as we can to meet and greet. You will find that we Spanish love our friendly gatherings.” I glanced over my shoulder at my other three ladies who were directly behind us. We entered the lovely home and knew that we were the center of attention although everyone continued to mingle amongst themselves.
“Let me introduce you to our Elder.”
I followed him through the crowd as he stopped periodically to speak to some of the other guests. I didn’t know what he was saying because he spoke Spanish but we eventually made it to a young woman who appeared no older then twenty five or thirty. She was dark despite being an old Vampire. Her dark hair was worn long past her waist and she had piercing black eyes like Alexis, where no whites showed. Her small pouty lips were very red. She was beautiful.
Marcelle bowed slightly to the Elder. “Esmerelda, may I introduce you to our guest. This is Kim Russell and her First Lieutenant Julie. The others are her personal staff.”
Esmeralda held out her hand. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with it; kiss it, bite it, or shake it.
Marcelle just smiled at me. I took the hand and just shook it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I understand that I was summoned here.”
“Yes.” Esmerelda said while watching me closely. “You were summoned by me. Marcelle said that you were badly burned around your eyes, yet your skin is flawless.” Esmerelda tilted her head slightly. “How did you manage this in one evening?”
I slammed my shields up remembering something Alexis had said. Athena would be able to see what had happened between us unless he created false memories. How the hell did you create false memories? How did I spend my evening if it wasn’t with Alexis…I spent my evenings with an elder alright. But the only one I could think of in a cinch was Malarias. I pictured Malarias and I fucking and the thought was so gross that it seared into my head and I couldn’t get it out if I had wanted to. We exchanged blood kisses…Eeek! And he took away my burns with his…love bite.
Esmerelda did enter my head. I knew when she did it because it felt like little worms crawling around in my brain. She gasped and stared at me. I was picturing Malarias’ thin little ass pumping in and out of me.
“How…could you?”
“Were you peeking in my head?” I said with a disapproving frown.
Julie was looking back and forth from me to Esmerelda.
Esmerelda turned and walked away…rather rudely.
