"What?"
"It's cold!"
"Duh, it was in the fridge." She stated the fact like it was obvious. Laughing at her he stood.
"That’s to keep it fresh, but to drink it, you warm it" still chuckling he wandered off to the kitchen. Smiling she turned the page and carried on…..
Chapter 23
Philippe carried on acting strange, rather than have dinner with us he would head into the castle grounds, even though he was treated like trash. We would hear him bring girls back to the barn, the laughter as they arrived. Occasionally we heard the sounds of sex.
And then he started to dress in more expensive tunics, no longer did he want to wear the ones made by Emily, he even brought more animals for on the farm.
He didn’t help as much in the daily running of the farm, very often not rising until after lunch. After about three weeks of this nonsense I decided to confront him. After repeatedly banging on the door and getting no answer, I let myself in, only to find the place a pigsty, clothes strewn all over, empty ale tankards and in the corner a brunette wrapped around my brother. I didn’t recognise her but as she stirred she looked a little drunk, even though she was naked, she wasn’t concerned when found me there.
I went outside and waited, eventually Philippe came out.
"Good morning little brother" he was acting like I hadn’t just found a naked albeit somewhat hazy female in the barn. As the girl scurried out bidding us goodbye and promising to return that night I went inside and took a look around. There were things everywhere; most I could see were not Philippe's, plates, ornaments, food and clothes.
"Philippe, where are all of these things coming from?" Even then I had known Philippe couldn’t afford them.
He mocked me with a laugh, "if I told you Darrell, you wouldn’t believe me."
And that was that, he went off to the fields and we spoke no further about it. Emily and maman were worried, hell I was worried but what could we do. Philippe didn’t seem to be hurting anyone, I had only had my brother back for a short while, and I didn’t want him to go back off with the armies.
And then things got worse, after yet another morning of Philippe not arriving I went back to the barn, again no answering from my knocking. As I opened the door I was astounded to find it barred, I pushed but it didn’t budge. Walking around the outside, the windows were covered in a thick black cloth, with no gap to see in. Hollering for Philippe to open the door I was greeted by silence. With no time to continue the charade I went back to work.
Returning late afternoon I again hollered at Philippe, only this time he answered "Darrell please be quiet, you will bring the armies here if you continue shouting like that" his voice sounded odd, almost broken.
"Open the door damn you!"
“I can't do that Darrell, believe me right now I want to. I am sick and need to rest" hearing a giggling from inside ignited my temper.
"Of course you are, and you need a female to help you in your recovery."
"Like you wouldn’t believe, look go home, take care of that delectable wife of yours, I will come talk to you when I am more able."
After that he ignored all of my ranting's. Two nights later I did hear a noise coming from the barn, heading out there I was surprised to see the barn open but no Philippe. I waited for a while before going back inside muttering curses to myself.
Emily was awake, the candle light illuminating her gloriously swollen figure. With only a few weeks to go she looked radiant.
"Come back to bed Darrell, do not let Philippe work you up. He is a grown man let him make his own mistakes."
"Not on my land he won't." She was trying to ease my worries as she massaged my neck and as usual it worked. I tucked her into my arm as we lay down together but rather than go straight back to sleep we both marvelled in the creation of our child, watching and then feeling the baby kick. As we drifted back to sleep, I considered that maybe Emily was right.
When Philippe came to visit me 3 nights later I had resolved myself to not worrying about him. But looking at his pale complexion and red tinged eyes I truly was worried, I went to fetch maman but he stopped me.
"Hold on Darrell, I am not sick I am better, in fact better than I have ever been. I am truly well, in fact invincible." The smug look on his face worried me but I wasn’t sure why.
We walked and talked for a while before Philippe left, he apparently had a woman to meet, but that night he managed to convince me that although he looked sick he was in fact well.
In the morning the barn was boarded up, again no answer from Philippe. This time I returned after my day at work, instead of causing a ruckus I pitched a stool and sat and waited. Shortly after nightfall I heard noises from inside the barn. A while later, Philippe opened the door and a different female left.
"What the hell is going on here Philippe, I demand to know."
Laughing he promised to tell me, as we walked through the fields he spoke of old tales of mythical creatures. When he started talking about vampires, I truly thought my brother had gone mad.
"What is your point Philippe?"
"My point Darrell is I am no longer that naïve man waiting for life to get better, I am a creature of the night, I make my own destiny. No longer do I wait on others, they wait on me. I am truly immortal."
"Don’t be ridiculous. It's the sickness making you talk crazy, you are still unwell."
As he laughed at me, he ran forward except I didn’t see him move, it was a dark night but the moon was high. Then he was behind me, turning to face me, he opened his mouth, and I jumped in fright at his teeth, they were long and sharp.
"Philippe please, this is ludicrous, surely you don’t believe in those stories, you have more sense than that." Although I wasn’t so sure, the teeth were new and pretty convincing.
Before I knew it, we were back where we had grown up. There were still a few people in the streets; we greeted them like nothing had happened, like Philippe had not just said 'hey brother I am a vampire.'
Then he spotted a lone female, she was pretty and as soon as she saw Philippe, she made her way towards him like in a trance. Leading her by the hand he took her to the edge of the fields, grabbing his other arm I stopped him.
"Just what are you doing?"
"Proving to you that I speak no lies" with that he bent his head into the crook of the girls neck and bit. I watched in horror as the girl struggled, then went limp then let out a moan. But this moan was a moan of joy. With me still pulling at Philippe, he stopped.
"You worry too much she will be fine, she will not remember a thing. This truly is a good thing."
With that I am ashamed to say I ran. Without stopping I ran through the yard and into the house, grabbing wood as I came through. Not stopping until all doors and openings were barred, I turned to find Charmaine, maman and Emily looking at me in disbelief.
"Darrell what is happening?" What did I say, sorry sweetheart my brothers a vampire, obviously I didn’t, so I lied.
"There has been some trouble at the castle." We had seen some small revolts at the castle so this wasn’t completely unbelievable. It took a while for me to convince them we were safe, it took longer to convince maman that Philippe was safe. Eventually they settled into bed, I waited knowing he would come.
He did come, knocking at the door; I refused to let him in. When he tried the door and found it barred he sat outside talking to me, he knew I could hear. He asked me to join him, promised me eternal life. I was happy to make the most of the one life I had, I didn’t need eternal life.
We spoke through the door, he refused to tell me who had done this to him, he just wanted me to become like him, he spoke about the wealth he was amassing by pushing people into giving him valuables. When I pointed out that he gained this deceitfully, he pointed out that these people had too much wealth. When he told me about the women, I said I had Emily. When he spoke about the places we could go to, I reminded him of my responsibilities. Eventually he gave up and left.
&nb
sp; That morning when I went to the barn it was again barred, but this time I knew why. As night fell I went back to the barn to try and decide what was to be done with my vampire brother. This time the door was ajar, I hesitantly went inside. As I stepped into the barn the door was thrown shut, I turned to watch Philippe place a wooden plank across it.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Looking back I realise how stupid I was, trying to reason with a vampire. I should never have gone.
"I am sorry Darrell but this needs to be done, the three of us will hold so much power." I was completely confused, the darkness hampering my poor human senses so i was not aware of the barns additional occupant.
"What do you mean the three of us" I felt a knot of dread in my stomach, knowing I would not like what was coming next.
"Hello son!" Turning the other way I could make out my father's shadow "what the….."
And then I felt it as Philippe bent and drew blood from my neck. Initially I tried to fight but only for mere seconds, before I was overcome by good sensations. I remember Philippe laying me to the ground after he had finished, I remember tasting metal in my mouth as he put his wrist to my lips.
When I woke I fought them, but fighting vampires as a human is not easy. Philippe tried to placate me with promises that I would be so much stronger, have so much power. Quite frankly I didn’t care. This time father held me while Philippe bit me again.
"Why?"
As I heard my father's laughter, I tried again to fight "so stupid, the three of us will be so strong, together we can have anything."
"Why make Philippe do this?" by then my voice was a whisper, my energy draining.
"Well son you can't kill the vampire who turned you, if you do then poof you go to. This way Philippe can't kill me and you can't kill Philippe. Nor can Philippe hate me for turning him, how can he when he turned you? I on the other hand can kill you both."
Again when Philippe finished he fed me his blood, the metallic taste was nicer this time.
"Oh my god Darius, your brother, your father, how could they?" Darius looked up from the laptop.
"They could and they did. My father had always been able to influence Philippe. Philippe in turn had never been happy with what he had and wanted more. As for why me, I don’t know Mary" shutting down the laptop, he stood.
"Come on, let's get you into bed."
As they climbed into bed, Mary marvelled at the softness of the mattress, then the lusciousness of the thick quilts and then the sight of Darius' naked body. This time she stopped him from joining her in the bed. Instead she took his hard, magnificent length into her hand and then slowly, tortuously slowly into her mouth. He gasped as she slid him in and out of her mouth again, and again, clutching her shoulders for support, he groaned her name. She loved this, this feeling of power, that she, little meek and mild Mary could bring this man to his knees. Just knowing she held this power over him made her wet and aching for him.
And as Darius stopped her and gently pushed her back onto the bed he climbed up positioning his body in between hers, lowering his head to kiss her, the expression in his eyes told her exactly how much he wanted her. He slowly kissed her while entering her body, kissing his way down her neck, she longed for him in every way. Tonight she wanted everything from him.
"Do it, bite me Darius" Inwardly he groaned, he couldn’t think of anything he wanted more, but he knew that if he did he would long for her, yearn for her even knowing this he couldn’t stop, he needed to see if she tasted as exquisite as he thought she would.
"Are you sure?" she nodded as he continued moving in her, she was gasping her, her breath coming fast. As he felt her reach towards her orgasm, he pierced her slender beautiful neck. He felt her tense and then she gave herself over to the pleasure. He had never fed from anyone while making love so he was amazed by the sensation of the act. The intimated act they were sharing heightened his already lost heart, she tasted so wonderful, like rich red wine, and he could taste the delectable essence of her in her blood. As she screamed his name, his orgasm took him hard and fast, it was so powerful he was a little disorientated. As he closed the puncture wounds, he could still feel Mary's rich blood coursing through his body. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he kissed her.
"Oh my god, that was amazing, truly amazing. Does it feel like that for you?"
"Better, I get to taste you and have you flowing through my veins. Gods I never knew it could be like that."
A little while later as Darius drifted to sleep Mary felt her neck, nothing, she felt nothing there. Watching him sleep she moved the lock of hair off of his face. He was truly stunning. She knew she wouldn’t sleep yet, switching on the bedside lamp she continued reading.
Chapter 24
It was time to lie low, god Darius was quick in fact he was still trying to work out how the hell he had arrived, and who the person with him was?
No sooner had he dealt with the 2 humans in the alley he had felt the influx of power. He knew some of it was Darius, but there was an others power as well, someone stronger than him and Darius but he wasn’t sure how much and this concerned him. He hadn’t stayed close enough to find out whom, but he had been in the vicinity when he caught sight of some other vampires, not as strong as him but they were definitely looking for him.
At least the woman was safe; he had sent her inside knowing she would call Darius. When he had seen her get out of the taxi he had already seen the men in the alley, he had every intention of dealing with them, but only when he had seen the woman go inside. The fact that she a woman alone decided to come to someone's rescue told him a lot about the person.
Things were starting to get interesting. Rather than come straight back to the apartment he went back to the Haven. He knew Leila would be asleep, but he left her a gift on the swinging chair, a small cell and charger. He hoped she would be the one to find it, if not it wasn’t a problem, it was untraceable. He just wanted to make sure she could contact him.
Checking his emails, he found a message confirming his next job. This could be interesting, a little diversion giving his friends time to believe he had left. He spent the next three hours doing some research, you didn’t take out a very public millionaire without good reason, and you didn’t get away with taking out a Millionaire without good research.
As the sun rose he checked his alarms, he closed his eyes thinking of Leila, he didn’t know why but she had gotten into his head. He was just about comatose when his spare cell rang, grasping around, he answered with a gruff.
"What?" His eyes instantly opened when he heard her breathing in his ear.
"Leila?"
"Oh thank god it's you." He could hear the relief in her voice.
"Are you okay, what's happened?"
"Nothing, I couldn’t sleep and then I came out here and found this, I wondered if it was from you. But then I was worried it wasn’t. Are you okay, why did you leave this?"
With a weary sigh of reluctance "I have to go away for a few weeks on business but I wanted to make sure you could contact me if you needed to."
He could hear the disappointment in her voice when she spoke, "so this is only for me to ring you if I need you?"
"Yes. No, well you can ring me just if you just want to talk as well" he sounded hopeful, he knew he did.
"Good, now tell me where you are going and what you do for work other than stalk my friend with a plan to kill him." Although he laughed at her response he questioned what to say. So far he hadn’t lied to her and he didn’t want to start but he didn’t want to scare her off. Throughout the centuries he had seen the results of half-truths.
"I am pretty much what you said Leila, I don’t want to scare you away, but I don’t want to lie to you either. I am a gun for hire. You need someone taking out I am the one you come to."
"I figured it was something like that." there was no judgement or anger in her tone.
"How?"
Now it was Leila who laughed, "well when our mutual frien
d…"
"Enemy!"
"Friend, anyway Darius stopped by to tell me Carlos was dead. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise that, the day a strange man talks to me about killing my friend, is the same day my old pimp winds up dead, it is no coincidence."
“You are a smart woman, does it anger you?" He really wanted her to like him for who he was. They spent the next hour talking about him, his life, his kills, but not his past. He wasn’t ready to face that yet. He would only do that when the two of them were together.
As he said goodbye, Leila had said she would ring him every evening. Feeling more relaxed he laid back down and soon drifted off to sleep. In his dreams he saw him, Darius or Darrell as he was known then. The anger in his eyes as he looked at him, and cursed him, he had run knowing he was next on the mad man's list.
The Man Behind the Vampire (The Silver Series) Page 14
