by Volley, Rue
I could see the silhouette of a woman. She looked tall and thin and it was not until she stepped into my room that I could start to make out her features. I stepped towards her, clutching Jet close to me as I looked her over.
“Halo,” she said as she eyed me and I stumbled, almost falling to the floor.
“Mom?”
****
Dorin stood in the elevator and waited. The doors had closed, but it did not move and then suddenly he held onto the wall as it finally started to descend. “I put a spell on you” started to play from the embedded speakers in the walls and Dorin looked upward at the mirror and saw himself. He looked pale, more so than usual as he had not fed in days. He was starving, but he also knew that the more his hunger grew the stronger he became. Most do not know that vampires are at their weakest when fully satisfied. He avoided drinking blood as often as he could. Not only because it made him stronger, but because for as long as he had been a vampire the idea of needing to drink it sickened him. He never wanted this. He never really wanted to be damned, but Vlad had made it almost impossible for him to deny it. He had loved him, loved him more than any man he had ever taken to his bed. And once Vlad changed, Dorin’s need to be with him became an obsession. Dorin knew he brought the damnation upon himself. Dorin closed his eyes as he thought back to that day with distain and regret.
Dorin rolled over in the bed as Vlad lay there on his back. His skin smooth and porcelain looking as the fire lit up the room. He rested on his pillow and then reached up, letting his fingers gently touch Vlad’s cheek. Suddenly Vlad grabbed his hand and jerked it back, his eyes opening in one quick movement and he rolled on top of Dorin with the speed that no human could possibly see. Dorin smiled as Vlad held his hands above his head and smiled down on him. He leaned in and kissed his lips. Dorin closed his eyes and allowed it. Vlad was his world, everything to him and he would do anything to please him. Love can be that treacherous at times. It really can. You can end up trading in your own soul for it and only hope that it was worth it.
Vlad pushed himself up and then reached down between them as Dorin moaned and Vlad stroked his cock slowly. He watched Dorin’s expression as his own started to become a bit strained. He then quickly shoved his cock into Dorin’s ass as Dorin cried out and Vlad pressed against him, shoving himself as far into him as he possibly could. Dorin’s legs were spread wide and pressed tightly against Vlad’s sides as he started to fuck him as he spoke.
“Look at me,” he said with his thick Romanian accent. Dorin opened his eyes and stared into Vlad’s as suddenly his eyes started to change color, from brown to red. Dorin knew. He knew what Vlad had become and yet his love for him would not allow him to leave as he should.
Vlad smiled and started to fuck him even harder as Dorin then struggled to move. But Vlad’s strength increased to that which he could not possibly fight.
“Stop, STOP!” Dorin said as Vlad started to growl. And as he fucked him with a speed of a vampire, he suddenly bit into Dorin’s neck and tore the flesh wide open, sucking on his blood and draining him to the brink of unconsciousness. Dorin muttered something as his lips moved and his eyes rolled in his head. Vlad sat up and flipped him over, his blood thirst taking over. He grabbed Dorin’s sides and pulled his ass up, sliding his cock deep into him as Dorin moaned with pleasure. The bite making his senses heighten and his cock hardened.
“You are vampire,” Dorin said as Vlad smiled with his blood stained teeth behind him. “Yes,” Vlad whispered as he thrust in and out of him from behind.
“Change me,” Dorin whispered, half out of breath. Vlad then leaned over, his teeth elongated in his mouth as he opened it up wide. He bit into Dorin’s side, Dorin cried out as the second bite came, then the third. A fourth and fifth soon followed as Dorin started to feel a coldness coming over him. He could not tell if it was death or if Vlad was giving him his gift of immortality. The pleasure that came with it made him not even care. Vlad reached in front of him and started to stroke him, continuing to fuck him from behind.
“You do not want what I have. It is a curse and has changed me into an animal.”
Dorin opened his eyes as everything seemed to be going in and out of focus. He opened his mouth as his cock twitched in Vlad’s hand.
“I want you to make me as you are, so that I can be by your side forever.”
Vlad slowed down and then turned him to face him. He reached up and touched his cheek and then bit into his neck as Dorin screamed and felt his pleasure start to turn into pain. Vlad was allowing his own venom to seep into Dorin’s blood stream and as it did, it burned and withered the veins inside of him. He cried out again as Vlad bit harder and released his full venom into Dorin, sending the poison racing through him at the speed of light. He then dropped Dorin back onto the bed as Dorin gasped for air and reached up with one trembling hand to his throat. He touched it and pulled it back as red and black blood now mingled on his fingertips. He looked up at Vlad who stared down on him. Vlad reached over and took the blade at his bedside and raised it up. He stabbed it into his own heart as he cried out and then jerked the blade out and tossed it. The gaping wound oozed black blood as Dorin stared up at it and continued to fight for his next breath. Vlad reached under him as his body remained ridged and pulled him to his chest. He looked down and nodded to him.
“Drink of me,” he said as Dorin closed his eyes and placed his lips to the poisonous black blood and swallowed it, thick and bitter tasting. He choked as he suddenly fell back and arched his back, black blood staining his teeth and lips. He cried out as the blood rolled from his mouth and down the sides of his cheeks. Vlad slid from the bed and stumbled towards the window as he watched the sun start to rise. The sunlight hit the gaping wound in his chest and his skin sizzled as it pulled itself back together and looked as if nothing had happened at all. The only traces of it being the black blood left behind. He rubbed his hand up his chest and licked his fingers as he opened his eyes and the yellow of the sun lit his pupils up like the fires of hell itself.
****
I watched as my Mom held Jet in her arms. My cheeks were warm with tears, but my ability to ask any questions of her was not even possible yet. I was shocked to see her, shocked at how much Jet had grown and still coming down from what I had to think was hormones associated with giving birth. Mine much more intense as I had come to be pregnant, Jet had grown and been birthed in such a short amount of time. I watched as the door opened and two women walked in, the same who had tried to calm me earlier. Mom turned and handed Jet to one of them and I stepped forward as she turned back to me and held a hand up. I opened my mouth and they left the room quickly, taking Jet from me.
“Move,” I said as I stepped forward and she placed a hand to my arm. I felt her coldness, not so unlike Lucifer’s and I knew she had to be truly damned.
“Halo, you need rest.”
“I need my son.”
“If you continue he will take him from you and you will never see him again.”
“Fuck him. I will kill him first,” I said as she hugged me and I fought her for a moment until something about her calmed me. I could not tell if it was her stroking my hair or a drug to be quite honest. I had never had my anger leave me so quickly before.
“I appreciate your determination to protect your son, I do. It is a quality each Mother possesses, or should anyway,” she said softly to me. I raised my arms and hugged her back as my eyes closed.
“Mom,” I said quietly.
“Halo, I have missed you so much, I do love you,” she said as a tear rolled down my cheek.
“I want to show you something,” she said. I reached up and her hand touched my cheek first as she wiped away my tears.
“You should not be upset love.”
“Mom, you have no idea.”
“I can imagine,” she said as she took my hand and started to walk out of the room pulling me along. We stepped out into the hallway, one I already recognized. I saw all of the doors lining it. She
started to walk along it as I looked up and saw humming and buzzing lights on the ceiling. She stopped in front of a door and grinned. She reached for the doorknob and then stopped to look back at me.
“Your Father is in here.”
“What?” I said as my stomach tightened.
“Oh yes,” she said as she opened the door up and I looked in to see a gray sky with black clouds. The ground looked black and all I could see was one large tree in the distance, the silhouette of it standing out against the horizon. I stared into her green eyes, which matched my own, as she looked back at me and smiled.
“Come,” she said softly and I followed her in as the door closed behind us on its own. We walked as the tree got closer and closer and I looked up in the gray sky and could now see many birds circling overhead, their black silhouettes spotting the gray sky. I kept walking along the black ground and looked down as my bare feet now looked black in the dim light of the sky. It seemed as if we walked for an hour or so, but just as I thought about the time, we stopped. I looked up to see what I did not expect to. My Dad was held to the tree in razor wire with his mouth sewn shut along with his eyes. It was the same thread I had been offered in purgatory, by Gunner. My heart fluttered as Gunner entered my mind and my Mom turned to me and touched my face as the hot wind blew up around us and whipped up my red hair. She looked me over and then glanced up at my Father.
“Halo is here,” she called out to him as his head moved and he moaned. I blinked a few times as the razor wire cut into his bare chest. I could see the blood flowing down from him. I looked down at my feet and realized I was not stained in dirt, but in blood, his blood, that filled this entire place built just for him. I looked up as the black birds started to circle overhead and one by one they descended on him, taking bits of flesh here and there, picking his bones clean as he tried to struggle but still felt it all. I started to back away as my hand fell from my Mom’s and she looked back at him and enjoyed the sight of it all. I felt a sickness rising in the pit of my stomach as I realized she enjoyed this as much as I had enjoyed watching Travis struggle. I held my hands up and saw the blood all over them as the guilt of it started to consume me. Then through blurred eyes I saw him, a small boy the age of maybe 7, come from behind the tree and stop to stare up at it. My Mom held her hand out to him.
“Come Jet. This is your Grandfather. You can visit him as often as you like, he remains here forever.”
I screamed as he turned and looked back at me with a grin on his face, his eyes glowing red and full of pleasure.
Chapter Four
Pride
“Again,” Gunner said as Ari shook his head and swung the long handled axe in his hands.
“We have been doing this for 4 hours my friend.”
“And we can go another 4,” Gunner said as he swung his axe over his head and came at Ari. Ari lifted the axe quickly and sparks flew as metal broke against metal. Both men grunted as they pressed the weapons against one another. They soon relaxed as they heard clapping and looked over to see Finna walking towards them, a large loaf of bread shoved under one arm and a bottle of wine under the other. She stopped clapping and pulled the wine and bread out, wagging it at the two of them.
“Eat, drink…before battle,” she said and they lowered their weapons as their stomachs both growled in unison. Ari grinned and walked away from Gunner as he lowered his axe and stared at the blade. He swung it above his head and Finna whistled, loud enough to make him blink a couple of times.
“Eat or I will kick your ass myself,” she said as she sat down and Ari joined her. Gunner stepped up and then reluctantly sat down. Setting his axe beside him and reached out to grab the bread and break off a piece of it. He took a bite and started to chew as Finna watched him. Ari took the wine bottle and pulled the cork out of the neck of it with his teeth, he spit it aside and took a long drink only to have Finna take it from him and take a drink herself. She then held it out to Gunner and he took it and drank as he should. He lowered the bottle as she looked him over.
“You need to make up with the vampires.”
“What?” he said as he looked up at her and took another bite of his bread.
“The vampires, in fact any creature topside, we need all of them.”
He shook his head as he chewed. “She is right,” Ari added and Gunner stopped and looked at him.
“You would have me align us with sworn enemies.”
“There is only one true enemy,” Tercia said as they all looked towards the door. She stepped in, now dressed in her old gear, the black leather vest she had always worn in battle along with the black leather pants that hugged her small but tight body. She had pulled her hair back into a ponytail and her bangs were just slightly shorter so you could see her bright blue eyes. She truly was a beautiful woman, her skin flawless, lips full and her bone structure matching that of Gunners. You could see the resemblance now, more so than before when she first crawled from the hole in the earth.
“I know who the enemies are. We have many. We always have,” Gunner replied.
“No brother. Lucifer is our one true enemy now and we cannot fight him alone, not him and his legion of demons. We need help and Finna and Ari are right. We need everyone topside to help if we stand a chance of winning.” Gunner dropped his bread and stood up, bringing his axe with him.
“Since when do we need the damned creatures of earth to help us?”
Tercia stopped walking and looked around the atrium.
“Since he birthed a creature far more powerful than anything we have ever faced before.”
Gunner sighed and looked down as the thought of it angered him so much he could barely contain it.
“Lucifer has obtained a weapon we cannot defeat alone Gunner. You need to set your pride and emotions for her aside and be what you have always been, a great leader and warrior. The best the world has ever known.”
Ari cleared his throat and raised his hand. “I dare say I was not too bad in my day.” Finna hit him and he fell over as she laughed at him. “Shut up,” she said as he backed up and took another drink of wine.
Tercia looked all around her. “Why is this garden brown and dying?”
Finna stood up and burped as Ari joined her. “I never had a way with growing things, that was you Tercia.”
She smiled at her and Tercia nodded to both of them. Finna took Ari’s hand and pulled him along as Gunner stood his ground. Tercia watched them go and then turned back to him.
“They are as barbaric as ever, I see.”
“They have softened, as have I.” he said as she looked him over.
“You are in love.”
He looked up at her and she half grinned as she pulled her blade. She held it up and stared at the steel.
“Do you remember when you had this made for me?” she asked him and he looked at it and watched the light play off of the sword.
“That I do, I wanted something to protect you, something strong and unbreakable.”
She lowered it and stared into his eyes.
“I already had that, I had that in you, Marcus.”
He sighed and held his axe up and ran his thumb along the blade. It cut into his flesh and he ignored the small burning pain that came along with it.
“You have always felt a heavy responsibility for those around you.”
He interrupted her. “No, I have not. There was a time that it was all about me and my place in Rome.”
“That time has long since passed. You cannot think that you are still that man. You were not even that man when you eventually fell.”
He lowered the axe and sucked the blood on his finger, the salty taste of it mingling on his tongue.
“Is this your way of telling me that I should not harbor any guilt?”
She smiled and held her sword up again. “You should feel badly that you allowed my garden to wither and die in here.”
He looked around and then back to her. “I have been busy slaying demons.”
“A
lways an excuse with you,” she said as she slowly swung her sword and he grinned, feeling her challenging him.
“If anyone is to blame it should be Cassius,” she added as he stopped and looked her over.
“Sister, Cassius was my friend and my conspirator against Caesar. He stood by my side in the battle of Pharsalia. We were able to get Pompey to join us. Otherwise we would have had no army.”
“You should consider it lucky that Caesar pardoned you as he did.”
“Lucky? He was a rapist and a murderer. You of all people know this.”
“You know nothing of that night.”
“What?” he asked her as she walked to the dying greenery and leaned down to touch it.
“I gave of myself willingly Marcus. I was not forced to do anything.”
He narrowed his eyes and stared at her as she stood up and turned to face him.
“I did it for you, for us. I paid a slave to beat me.”
“Tercia. Why? Why did you let me think that you had been raped and beaten?”
“Why? Because it made you into the warrior you are today. You needed my story to fulfill your own, so I sacrificed myself for you.”
Gunner looked at her in horror. “So everything I did was for a lie? I did it all for you Tercia.” Tercia started to laugh and looked him over.
“You did not do anything for me. You did it for you, for glory, for retribution, for power. You just needed a small nudge in the right direction and now what? You commit suicide once again only this time for her? You took your own life once, you did that after losing to Antony and Octavius in Philippi. That was not for me brother, that was for your own legend to endure, that was your ego and why you are damned. You can pretend all that you want to that you battled in my memory but I sat in Hell and watched you as you destroyed your own house and did it in my name as if it were true.”
