by J. Thiele
“You have disappointed me,” Victor told Damon on the last night that he was ever to see him. “You feed from one human that you refuse to turn and make your own, you feed from rats when your beauty is too weak and unable to provide you with your sustenance. Your refusal to become a maker, as is your destiny has left me no alternative; I’m ashamed of your very existence!”
“As am I father. I would do anything to change it.” he responded.
“Then I beg you, turn her.”
“I cannot.”
“Then I release you. I will no longer claim you as one of my line.” Victor turned his back on Damon and in an instant, he was gone.
* * * * *
Many nights past and Beth had not been to the mill. Damon went to her home, and peered through the window. For a while he watched, as she read to her children. Then when they were nestled in their beds, he threw small pebbles against the glass. She looked out to see him standing in the garden. She looked over her shoulder to ensure the children were asleep then quietly came to the door.
“You must leave,” she whispered with concern, “Henry has heard of you. He thinks you are responsible for the murders throughout the city He has forbidden me to leave the house after dark and alerted authorities of your presence.”
“Heard of me? By whom?” he enquired noticing the faint bruising on her cheek, and feeling the colour of his eyes change with his fury. “He has struck you again. I will make him pay.”
“It is nothing Damon, please forget about it?” she begged then went on, “We were seen. I do not know by whom, but please, he will hunt you down if we are seen together again, and he will kill me. Please you must leave my love.”
Damon drew her into his arms and kissed her, “I will make this right. I know not how, but I will fix this.” he assured her before he vanished.
Two nights later a crowd was forming outside the mill, headed by Beth’s husband Henry. “I will pay the first man who can bring me the strangers head on a platter. His name is Damon Cartwright; he has taken my wife from me and dishonoured my family. Find him and I assure you, the gruesome killings in our fair city will cease.” He was certain Damon was responsible.
Damon was confused, ‘Beth is missing? They think I took her?’ He ventured without haste to her house, then set about to find her scent, but could find nothing. Her scent was still at her home, though any fragrance of her leaving the house and yard had blown away over the days that she was forbidden to leave. ‘What have you done to her?’ He silently asked her husband in his mind.
He returned to the mill to find the angry mob had dispersed. Henry was preparing to return to his children. Damon swooped down to block his path; his eyes were an angry green as they locked furiously with Henry’s. “What have you done with Elizabeth?” he asked of him.
Henry was frozen to the spot, unable to move and in a trance like state, he replied “Nothing, I have done nothing. She has abandoned me with her lover. His name is Damon Cartwright.”
“NOT TRUE! WHERE IS SHE?” he shouted.
“I know not of her whereabouts.” His tone did not waver.
Damon knew he was telling the truth. “You will never strike a woman or child again, you will show the children the love and compassion they deserve from a good father, and raise them with a gentle hand. Do you understand?”
“I do.” He said still without wavering.
“I will be watching.” Damon said as he broke eye contact and vanished before Henry could fully recover from his stare.
Over the next few years Damon searched every corner of the city as well as the forest that was fast depleting due to the loggers, for any sign of his beautiful Beth. Alive or dead he needed to know what had happened to her and where she’d vanished to. But the answers he sought were never found. Eventually he moved on, deeming she was lost to him forever, and he would lead a solitary existence forever more.
Chapter Two
Damon froze when he came face to face with Beth on the other side of the door. “Beth? Do my eyes deceive me? How is this possible?” His questions coming faster than she could answer.
“You have our master, I have come to free him.” She answered in a voice he almost didn’t recognise.
“VICTOR!” he barely got his name out when Beth flew at him in an attack he was not expecting.
He struggled not to retaliate. “Beth, you are no match for me, I do not wish to harm you. Please Stop!”
Beth’s fangs were exposed and her claw like nails, were extended in an attempt to subdue the older, stronger Damon.
Once his bearings were regained he was easily able to fend her off and hold her at arm’s length.
“STOP!” he shouted at her. But under the compulsion of Victor, she was unable to abide. He’d summoned her to his aid and it was her duty to follow his commands. Damon spotted a length of sterling silver chain on one of the desks, compliments of their new employer. He had no choice but to risk harming himself, he moved quickly to retrieve the deadly links and wrapped them around his beloved Beth.
Her squeals were deafening as he pulled his now sticky melted hands away from his captive. “I’m sorry Beth, please forgive me? I do not wish to harm you, but you must fight his compulsion. It does not need to be like this.” He said as he threw a blanket over her so he could take hold and place her on the sofa that still sat in the far corner of the office.
She squirmed at the deadly touch of her restraints, “Sit still Beth, it will hurt less if you sit still.” he told her.
She glared at him with hatred in her eyes. “Why have you betrayed our master?”
“Betrayed him? I could have let them kill him. I have saved him.” He insisted, knowing she wouldn’t understand.
“How did this happen Beth? I thought you were dead.”
She laughed in his face, “I am dead Damon, and I would have been buried a hundred years ago though, if it were left to you. You should have saved me.” She said with venom in her voice. “I could have been yours or at least put in the ground by Henrys hand, which would have been better than this. But your cowardly notions left me vulnerable to Victor’s manipulations, and now I belong to him. Why Damon? Why didn’t you turn me?”
“I thought it was for the best, I didn’t want you to…”
“I would have been YOURS! Instead I’m compelled to resist you, owned by a monster no better than Henry.”
“I didn’t know. I am sorry.” Blood began to weep from Damon’s eyes.
“You didn’t even look for me!”
“I searched for many years. You left no trace.”
“You didn’t come to Victor for help. You would have found me.”
“He expelled me, I was forbidden. There was no way I could have even imagined he would punish me…us in such a way.”
“You knew he was a monster.”
“I did not know he was capable of this sort of torture.” His head lowered with sadness, he’d once again found his beautiful Beth, but as history repeats itself, she once again belongs to another man.
* * * * *
The sun was beginning to rise, he could see the panic in her eyes as she too could see the light casting shadow’s outside the windows.
“Fear not Beth, you will not meet the sun today.” He told her as he prepared for the arrival his newly formed colleagues.
She sat in amazement as the light touched her arm and did not cause her to burn. “Is this a trick?” she asked in awe.
“It is no trick, my love, it is simply technology. There is no need for us to live in darkness as Victor will have you believe. We do not need to hovel in the back of dark caves any longer.” He assured her.
As the light reached her face, she closed her eyes and indulged in the warmth of its rays. Her face softened and a smile began to form. Damon reached over to touch her cheek. Her eyes widened fast and she hissed at his touch. “Keep your hands off me; I am not yours to touch!”
Damon paused without so much as a flinch, “Once you would have welcomed
my hand on your skin.”
“Once you would have been worthy” She spat at him.
“You killed a member of my blood line; my great grandson, you turned him and then murdered him, your own prodigy. Yet you couldn’t bring yourself to make me your own. For that, I despise you.”
The words sliced into what was left of his soul. “He was rogue Beth, a monster. He could not be saved. I tried. It was quick; I held him and sent him to the other side with love. Would you prefer I let the humans kill him? Do you know of the barbaric ways they put their own breed to death for not conforming to what is considered acceptable behaviour. If they had gotten their hands on one of us, the torture they would have inflict on something they don’t understand would have been nothing short of satanic.”
The door opened and the team entered. The smell of smouldering flesh filled the air.
‘What the fuck is going on in here?” Casey asked as she approached Damon sitting on an office chair facing the lounge.
He turned to face her, exposing the woman sitting on the couch with a silver band wrapped around her, causing her skin to blister.
“Everyone, meet Elizabeth Moresby.” Damon introduced.
“Beth?” asked Kara.
“The one and only.”
Casey took a few steps closer to get a better look, “So this is grandma? I thought she was dead.”
Beth took a deep breath in through her nose, shook her head and acknowledged the Casey’s scent belonged to her living bloodline.
“I was as surprised as you when she appeared last night.” Damon went on to explain. “It would appear that she has been in the company of Victor all these years. I believe it was my punishment for disobeying him. She has come to free him.”
“Yeah, well good luck with that granny, he stays put.” Casey’s eyes still fixed on her, trying to find a resemblance between them.
Case, don’t get to close babe, you know? The eyes, she could put the hex on you.” Kara said as she took her by the elbow keen to put some distance between Casey and her lovers ancestor.
* * * * *
Pearce arrived carrying more supplies; they included flame throwers, sterling silver chain, and cross bows with silver tipped arrows. He noticed the others gathered around the lounge. “What the fuck are you lot up to? Would it kill ya’s to help an old man carry your survival kits in from the truck?”
The team dispersed and he caught sight of Beth, embraced by the silver. “What in god’s name is that?”
“That,” Casey offered, “is my long lost nanna.”
“What the fuck is she doing here?” he wanted to know.
“She came looking for Victor.”
“Well, take her to him.” He told them.
Damon stood with a defiant growl, “Absolutely not! That’s exactly what he would expect. She is under his compulsion, and will stop at nothing to free him, even at the cost of her own life. I will not lose her a second time.”
“I’d rather die than have you as my groom.” She spat at Damon.
Ray snatched up a spear and held it at her throat, “Well we can certainly arrange that for you.”
An instant later Ray was thrown across the room by the force of Damon’s fury.
Pearce held a loaded crossbow at his back. “Easy son, I’m sure the boy meant nothing personal by his offer to assist the…..young lady with her desires.”
“Again I am forced to apologies for my actions. But we must find a way to break his compulsion. I will not hand her over to him. Nor will I let her perish for his cause.”
“Well that’s something you and that cocksucker downstairs have to work out. But I’m warnin’ ya, if you ever touch one of my team again, all bets are off. I’ll see to it myself that your ashes are put into an hour glass and sent to fucking Jupiter on the next space shuttle leaving earth.”
“I understand Detective.”
Beth snarled at what had just transpired. “Victor was right, you’re pathetic. You have the power to kill them all, yet you stand there and let them threaten you like a child.”
Casey spun around with a speed that even took Damon by surprise and slapped Beth’s face hard. “Now shut your mouth granny. Or I will see to it that it’s burned off every fucking time you open it.”
Damon went to make a move toward her, but Pearce cleared his throat reminding him of his previous words.
“She obviously can’t stay here, she’s gonna have you lot at each other’s throats, and I use that term lightly.” Pearce decided, “If you won’t let us keep her down with Victor, I suggest you use some of your energy to come up with something before that chain eats its way through her bones, and causes her fucking limbs to drop off. Besides, the fucking stench is no good for my sinuses.”
Chapter Three
“VICTOR!” Damon went down to face his maker. “What have you done?”
“I take it you have been reunited with Elizabeth.” Victor was smug.
“How could you? You’re a monster; you knew how I searched for her. I grieved for her. Why?”
“Damon, why are you angry at me? I only did what you were too fainthearted to do. If you had done what I asked of you, she would have been at your side all these years.”
“You had no right.”
“I had every right! You were not going to claim her, and she was very beautiful. I gave you every opportunity did I not? I’m sure you’re familiar with the term ‘loser’s weepers.’ Are you not?”
“You bastard!” Damon reached between the bars to grab Victor, forgetting they were coated with the silver that burned him at the touch. Before he could retract Victor had his arm in his grasped and pulled him closer to him. The bars etched there mark into Damon’s face.
“Release me you fool! I will rip your heart out where you stand.” Victor demanded as Damon’s face smouldered.
Suddenly the lights flashed on and Victor let go of his grip cowering from the ultra-violet Rays. Damon fled to deactivate the trigger switch, and his face healed quickly.
From high behind him came the familiar voice of Beth, “He will be freed you know, if not by me then by another of his subjects. Do you think you can resist us all on your own?”
“I am not alone my love.” He replied.
An evil sinister laugh escaped her. “Your humans are no match for our kind. I’ll see to it myself that you witness their demise before you yourself are sent to meet the sun.”
“I wouldn’t declare victory too soon my dear. They are not as fragile as you may think.”
“Why don’t you stop this Damon, you cannot win, set us free and come with us.” Beth said in a seductive voice. “Come home to our maker. We can be together again my love.”
Damon had missed her; his eyes began to well as her words fell on his ears. He longed to hold her once more, and the temptation was grand.
“The humans are destroying you my darling; they have you bowing to their demands, turning against your own kind. You can change this, my love, set us free and come home.”
Damon reached for the keys to the newly erected cage in the loft. Her eyes fixed on his movements; she could almost smell freedom, victory. Just as he was about to insert the key into the only part of the cage safe for him to touch, he looked up into the eyes of his beloved, expecting to see the same love that he had all those years ago, but instead her eyes were glowing amber with hatred and she was ready to attack. Damon stepped back quickly. “You deceive me.” He said shocked that he was so easily manipulated by the woman he no longer knew.
“You fool! You will perish with the rest of them. Do you think you and I are the only two in Victor’s colony? They will all come, and with them you will feel the wrath of your insolence toward our maker. He is KING!” she declared.
“King? Can you hear yourself Beth? He is no king. He is no more than a monster that uses his power over his creations to instil fear and brutality, and all to fill his own selfish needs. Yes, I could have turned you, but you would have missed the coming of age of your
children, the birth of your grandchildren, your natural death as it was meant to be.”
“I missed it anyway.” She said with a bitterness that pinched his heart.
Damon knew he could not keep all of Victor’s nest out; they were too great in number and many of them older and stronger than he. He needed to do something to preserve what he had built.
* * * * *
Daylight was approaching; Damon called the team and asked them to arrive early, as he had an announcement to make. He was outside when they arrived and the sun was beginning to light up the sky.
“Damon, what the fuck are you doing out here. Get inside quick.” Kara demanded.
Damon spoke quickly as he handed an envelope to Casey, “This is the deed to this establishment, and you are now all equal owners. I cannot enter without an invite, please read it later and invite me in so I can explain my actions.” He pleaded.
They entered the building to the deafening screams of Beth as her body was pressed hard against the cage and was smouldering against the sterling silver that twisted around every bar.
“What the fuck is happening?” Casey shouted over her screams.
“You own the establishment now, one of you must invite her in! Please don’t delay. You must hurry.” Damon pleaded.
“What do I do?”
Before Damon could respond Kara shouted, “You are welcome to stay Beth!”
With that Beth fell in a pile at the base of the cell. Damon sped to comfort her.
Her face and hands were already healing. “You idiot! What have you done?”
“What I had to do my Darling.” He told her.
In the distance they could still hear screaming coming up from under the floor. Pearce opened the door and shouted down into the mouth of the tunnel “Oh shut up! You can stay too.”
Then he slammed the door shut again. Victor fell to the ground, his eyes filled with rage, he knew Damon had figured out the only way to keep his den pack out was to release the building into the hands of the humans. “You’ll pay for this.” He growled under his breath as he rose to his feet. “MARK MY WORDS!” he finished his sentence shouting from the depth of his dungeon.
