by Raven Steele
“Yeah, gray dog.” Aiden drug a straw mattress away from the wall.
“Remember how he used to chase all the cats and mice? And when he’d finally catch them, he’d shake them to death?”
Aiden grinned, finally listening. “That was marvelous!”
“Do you remember what happened to him after father trampled him with his horse?”
Aiden didn’t have an answer.
“He didn’t do anything. He just lay under that big tree in front of our house for days. A cat could be right in front of his nose, and he wouldn’t budge. Something went screwy with his head.”
“What’s your point, Lucien?”
“Have you been trampled by any horses lately?”
Aiden snorted. “You think I’ve gone mad?”
“The thought did cross my mind,” Lucien mused, glancing over at the wretched humans.
“This is how you repay me for the grandest feast I could ever give you? Call me crazy?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I appreciate what you’ve done here, but don’t you think your fascination with death has gone too far? Look at them! Just kill them and be done with it.”
Aiden stepped in front of Lucien. “You’re just like Father, impatient and brainless.”
Lucien’s eyes bulged, and his hand shot to Aiden’s neck. “Don’t ever compare me to Father.”
Aiden’s hands clawed at Lucien’s.
“You’re right, it would be an insult to compare Father to you,” he choked.
Lucien dropped his hand from Aiden’s neck and walked over to one of the almost dead humans.
“What are you doing?” Aiden asked, panic flashing in his eyes.
Lucien grabbed the head of an old man, who didn’t resist, and twisted hard. A loud crack echoed in the small room. He turned to a fragile looking woman. She looked up at him with hopeful eyes.
“Don’t do it, brother,” Aiden warned.
Lucien snapped her neck. The woman’s head lobbed forward.
Aiden screamed a high-pitched wail and fell to his knees.
Before his cry ended, Lucien snapped the necks of three others. Aiden rushed him, but Lucien shoved him back. Two more necks cracked. Lucien didn’t bother with the remaining two. They had already died.
“What have you done?” Aiden wailed. He grabbed two of the nearest bodies and cradled them to his chest.
Without another word, Lucien left his brother alone to grieve the loss of his precious pets.
Chapter 31
Lucien wandered the plague-infested streets for weeks, killing and drinking the blood of whoever crossed his path. He hadn’t once thought about Aiden, but the confrontation had filled him with an uncontrollable rage. He fed sometimes three times a day, eager to take his anger out on the weak. Those he killed welcomed him with open arms. It was as if they recognized him as the bearer of death, and he served them willingly.
Lucien knew the consequences of drinking too much blood, but he didn’t stop. He wanted to feel the rumored euphoric feeling that was similar to being drunk. He’d thought it was a myth until this very moment.
He released his grip on the neck of a particularly young girl and gasped for air. He stumbled back and, unable to keep his balance, fell to the ground. The girl he was holding collapsed on top of his legs, and blood poured from the open wound in her neck. It spread across the dirt floor, forming a crimson lake.
Lucien’s vision blurred, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the blood, which began to take shape. Instead of having smooth edges, the puddle became jagged and bubbled. The bubbles popped, but when they popped, they kept their open, broken shape.
The blood continued to boil until it had risen itself off the ground. Two long appendages burst from the thickening mass, forming sharp claws at the end. It crawled toward Lucien who shrieked in horror.
He kicked the girl away him and scrambled back toward the open door. The red claws followed, taking each step slowly, as if it recognized his inebriated condition. When Lucien had scooted past the doorjamb, and just as a claw was about to seize him, he slammed the door tight.
It took several minutes before he could finally stand. The world around him spun, and he could barely keep his eyes open. He staggered through the streets, knocking over anything that stood in his way. A thick mist lay before him in every direction; it was cold and full of moisture. He wasn’t sure if it was a trick of the mind or reality.
Footsteps echoed behind him. He turned his head in all directions but saw no one. He moved faster, using his hands, one over another, against the buildings for support.
Something growled deep and low. The snarl grew louder, but Lucien was blind to the monster. The roaring and gnashing of teeth became so tumultuous that he covered his ears. He slumped in a corner and stared out in horror at the imaginary beasts that played with his mind. Every once in a while, his body jerked.
His life, up until that point, flashed before his eyes, but instead of people, demons played the roles of those he once knew and loved. He ran away from them all down a narrow hall of dark stone, water dripping from cold rock. Behind him, black demons pursued.
He stopped only when he came face to face with the devil: tall and dark, evil literally dripping from his eyes and mouth in black, oozing rivers. The demons behind Lucien screamed wildly. They were almost upon him.
Seeing no other way out, he rushed the devil. On impact, glass sprayed everywhere as he crashed into a mirror. The demons weren’t pursuing him. They were rushing to greet him as their master.
For days, Lucien lay in the dirty street as one of the dead, rats picking at his skin. He tried to swat them away, but his mind had become muddled and out of focus. He stared at the clouds above and could tell by their dark edges that a storm approached. This comforted him, and his mind settled into peaceful bliss. His body rocked as if he were on a boat, riding the tranquil sea.
Someone jerked him into an upright position, ruining his serene moment.
“Are you one of them?” the person shouted in his face.
Lucien tried to focus. In front of him, a vampire with shoulder length brown hair gripped his shoulders tightly. Even though Lucien was inebriated, he could sense the ancient power of the vampire. Lucien mumbled something incoherent.
“Are you one of the brothers who created this mess?” the vampire demanded.
Lucien tried to speak, but all that came out was, “For you.”
The vampire dropped him, disgusted. “You did this for us? For vampires? You’ve killed thousands of humans so we could devour hundreds? You idiot! Don’t you know you owe your life to humans? Without them we are nothing!”
Lucien struggled to get up but slumped back over.
The older vampire hissed, “You are evil. Pure, untainted evil. I’d kill you now if I thought hell would take you.” He shook his head. “I expected more from you. You’re a disgrace to your family. What you’ve done here will haunt you forever. You are nothing. Nothing!”
The vampire’s words became forever engrained on Lucien’s soul, if he had one.
Chapter 32
Present Day
“Lucien.”
Lucien’s eyes fluttered open. A foggy image of a woman stood over him.
“Lucien?”
He couldn’t respond. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and closed again. He couldn’t remember where he was and didn’t know why he couldn’t move. The woman’s voice sounded as if she were a million miles away. She spoke urgently to someone, but he couldn’t make sense of the words. Something had happened, something bad, but he couldn’t grasp it. A storm raged in his mind, and he searched desperately for something to ground him.
“Lucien,” a soft voice whispered again.
A gentle touch caressed his cheek. The motion slowed the violent, flashing images until he was able to make more sense of them. The pain they brought wracked his chest with horrific pain.
Blistered, bloody humans with empty eye sockets reached for him, pleading for death.
At their feet, ravenous rats scurried about, eating the rotten flesh that fell from their weak frames. More than the grotesque scenes, were tortured wails of pain and agony, echoing in his mind. Adding to the macabre music of death was the voice of the powerful vampire, repeating the words, “You are nothing.” Like a constant beating drum, the words pounded, slithering and twisting around him until it was all he knew.
Someone touched his hand. The grip was tight and wouldn’t let go.
“Lucien.” The word was on his lips. The breath from his name filled his lungs, pushing away the gruesome images.
“Please wake up.”
The graphic visions faded but memories remained. He remembered it all: the thousands upon thousands of dead humans killed at his and Aiden’s hands, their blood that chased him through the streets, and finally the vampire whose words defined Lucien forever.
His thoughts lingered on Aiden, his older brother whom he’d adored when they were children. He would have done anything for Aiden, but Aiden had been jealous of their father’s attention toward him and, as a result, treated Lucien unfairly. After Aiden had been turned into a vampire, he didn’t waste any time changing Lucien as well.
Before Lucien could have a say in the matter, Aiden had exposed Lucien’s monstrous secret to their father while hiding his own identity. Their father had been so angered and disgusted that he’d enlisted the help of the entire town to hunt down and kill Lucien.
Aiden had been thrilled. He had destroyed any feelings his father may have had for Lucien and at the same time had turned Lucien into the complete opposite of what Aiden considered to be a perfect child.
Lucien had tried not to become the monster Aiden had made him out to be. He had attempted to fight the blood lust and the desire for dark power, but he’d been alone in his endeavors.
After days of hunting for Lucien, their father had cornered him into an old ruined castle. Lucien did not run. He’d hoped to make his father understand that he wasn’t evil, but his hope had been in vain. A great fight ensued. Throughout the entire struggle, he’d been aware of Aiden who watched from above in a stone tower, barely able to contain his glee.
Lucien tried not to hurt his father. He dodged his many blows until, at last, his father had grown weak and tired. He tripped on a rock and fallen directly below him. Lucien stood over him with a pitchfork in striking position. When terror flashed in his father’s eyes, Lucien hesitated.
From up above, Aiden called, “Kill him!”
Lucien shook his head and moved to place the pitchfork on the ground, but at that very moment, his father took advantage of his distraction and jabbed a hidden stake in the direction of Lucien’s heart.
Lucien had been too quick. He moved out of the way, and this time he did not hesitate. He had done what his father had always taught him to do: saved himself above all others.
The moment his father died was the moment Lucien first felt pure evil. He was so overcome with guilt that he embraced it rather than deal with the painful consequences of what he’d done. With his brother’s assistance, he learned how to bury his human emotions, something Aiden had learned to do long before he ever became a vampire.
For decades, Lucien lived this guilt-free life with Aiden, but after the plague in London, he could no longer justify their actions. He’d decided that Aiden must die; his hunger for destruction was too great. As for Lucien, he would withdraw from society and only feed when it served a purpose other than maintaining his life. He would also ensure that no one would cause this type of devastation ever again.
Lucien had been completely calm when he’d lured Aiden deep into the forest on a night as still and black as the confines of a mine. He’d told Aiden he had a surprise for him, a “thank you” for his brilliant idea of giving vampires the greatest gift they could ever receive.
At first, Aiden had been hesitant, but when Lucien explained he’d captured several more “pets” for him as a way to apologize for their earlier disagreement, Aiden couldn’t refuse.
Lucien guided him through the forest, a torch blazing in his hand.
“So you can better see the fear on their faces,” Lucien had explained when Aiden questioned the necessity of the torch. There was no moon that night, only beautiful, silent darkness.
Lucien stopped at the entrance of a hole in the top of a small rise on the edge of a mountain. The opening was all rock and spanned four feet in diameter. At first glance, it appeared like a wide shallow crevice, but a closer inspection revealed a cave that dropped down at least twenty feet.
He told Aiden to look inside, and there he would find his pets. Aiden peered in, rubbing his hands in excitement.
That’s when Lucien dropped the torch to Aiden’s clothes and pushed him hard. Aiden, consumed in flames, had fallen to the cave below where ample amounts of dried brush caught on fire. Aiden’s screams matched the ones of those he had tortured.
Using all his strength to lift a thick slab of rock from nearby, Lucien dropped it over the opening, burying Aiden. But it wasn’t just Aiden he had buried. It was all the horrible events leading up to that moment. The horrific destruction they caused laid buried beneath a boulder — that is, until Lucien saw Aiden and heard the same speech he’d given Lucien over three hundred years ago.
Lucien was fully conscious now, but still did not open his eyes. For, the second he did, Eve and all they had between them would end. He could not be with her or even be near her knowing the carnage he’d help cause. He would go back to eating as little as possible to cause the greatest amount of torment. At least he knew now why he starved himself the way he did. It was a form of self-punishment, and the only way Lucien knew to atone for his sins.
Eve raised his hand to her lips.
The pain of losing Eve was severe. Lucien could not do it. His mind broke in two. The part of him who wanted to remain with Eve stumbled back and crumbled to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably. The stronger of the two halves effortlessly picked up the wretched beast on the ground and tossed him into the river made by his own tears.
He withdrew his hand from Eve’s lips and opened his eyes.
Eve gasped. “Oh, Lucien, I’ve been so worried!”
Genuine affection emanated from her sea green eyes. She reached for his hand, but he moved it away and sat up. He would fix this mess he helped create, and by doing so, remove all threats toward Eve’s life. Then she would be free to live her life without fear. And without him.
Eve looked at him questioningly. “Are you all right?”
He moved off the bed and to the other side of the room. It was a typical hotel room: floral queen bedspread, two nightstands, small desk with a brass lamp, and old wallpaper, which was peeling up every few feet. Lying on the desk was the crumpled up paper Lucien had stuffed in his pocket earlier that night.
“Are you okay?” Eve asked again.
“I’m fine.”
“What happened?”
He picked up the paper and studied it carefully.
“Lucien,” she said more forcefully. “What happened?”
He looked up at her. “I went to the meeting and brought this back for you. It looks like everything you need is right here.”
“That’s not what I mean. I was waiting for you at the church when I heard you call my name, but there were no actual sounds. It was the strangest thing. I knew exactly where to find you.”
The flyer in Lucien’s hand listed fifty cities. The bottom listed a date and time of when the “gift”, as Aiden had called it, was to be handed out to “his chosen ones”.
“Lucien!” Eve cried. “When I found you, you were almost completely submerged in water! What happened?”
The date on the letter was the twenty-second. That was in two days. He had two days to stop Aiden.
Eve walked over to him and gently took his hand. Tears glistened in her eyes, and he was reminded again of an Irish tide pool. He removed his hand and walked toward the bed — away from her.
“Lucien?” she begged
.
He dropped the paper to the bed. “Have you called Charlie about this?”
She lowered her head and said in a quiet voice, “Yes.”
“Are you and your gang going to do anything about it?”
“Lucien, please, talk to me!”
“I am talking. Stay focused, Eve. What are they going to do about it?”
Eve looked as if she’d been slapped. Of all the things Lucien had done to her, this seemed to hurt her the most. Barely above a whisper, she answered, “We have a team going in with weapons five minutes after the meeting begins.”
“Why are you waiting so long?”
She straightened her shoulders, seeming to gather some strength. “We want to make sure we give the vampires enough time to congregate.”
“Five minutes is too long. I wouldn’t wait longer than one and make sure the men are at least a block away to avoid detection from vampires.”
She nodded. “I’ll let the Deific know.”
“Good. I’ll be there thirty minutes before.”
“Why?” she asked, surprised.
“This is my mess. I want to make sure it’s taken care of correctly. I would do it all myself if I could, but there will be too many of them.”
He walked past her. She reached out for him, but he kept walking toward the door.
“How is this your mess?” she asked.
He turned around. “There are many things I regret in my life, but the greatest of all is that I hurt you. I was a fool to think this would work. I want you to leave here, as soon as possible. Just trust that I will take care of this.”
He couldn’t stand to look at her for it hurt too much.
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“You will because after tonight, I will disappear, and you will never see me again. Whatever this was between us, it’s over.”
Her chest seemed to collapse, and she made one last effort to reach for him, but he stepped away.
“I am sorry,” he said and disappeared into the night.
