by Lumi Laura
CHAPTER 47 Battle of Pivniţă de Vinuri
Alex was afraid to enter alone, to be by herself with wild ravenous vampires. She was afraid to die, mostly because she'd never again see little Andra. Alex realized that what she was about to do was the reason the divine shape had come to her after Velinar bit her, the reason it created her. He gave undead existence to Alex for this one task. She had been a plant all along, a Trojan Horse. Even her initiation now made sense. This was her destiny. She felt depressed and reflected back on the evening at home, her first night alone after Jaklin and Mikhail left, about wanting to die. Now, her baby had been born, and she knew that not only would Catherine take good care of her, but that little Andra now belonged to her. Alex knew nothing about right and wrong. She had to give herself up to exterminating the angel vampires, knowing she would be doing wrong.
Just as she was about to enter, Jaklin and Mikhail came running.
"No," Alex said. "This is my task. I now realize that it's the reason I've been feeding. You both know what I'm taking about. My initiation."
"You turned us. We have to go with you. It's not just your destiny. We're in this together."
"My initiation and yours tell me otherwise." She turned to enter, but they crowded up against her.
She faced them again, braced herself and removed her chain and cross, handed them to Jaklin. "Give this to Mary," she said. "In vampire psychic space, I've been beyond the Garden of Eden. I saw a castle that must be a heavenly version of Peleș. I know what this is about. Alu isn't just attacking the people of Earth. This is an assault on Heaven itself."
"You have to take this with you," said Jaklin, trying to give back the cross. "Remember? It's the most powerful weapon the world has ever seen."
"I don't need a weapon but the powers of seduction. This is... I must be naked. I am the way, the only way to stop him."
When they both protested, Alex pushed them back, closed and locked the door, and descended more stone stairs. With the violence stopped, the angel vampires calmed in her presence, entranced. The chamber was small and lit by candles along recesses in the walls. They were a glorious, beautifully dressed group of royal vampires. What a tragedy.
Not only were the angel vampires attracted to her, but she was attracted to them. Her hands trembled. She had to give them everything. She wanted them, needed them to feed on her. She had locked the door to keep Jaklin and Mikhail out for their own good but also because she didn't want to share these angel vampires with anyone. She wanted them all to herself.
Alu stood among them, regal and sophisticated, a king among royalty. "Don't do this, Alexandra," he pleaded. This was the first time he had used her full first name. He sounded so respectful, kind, even thoughtful. He looked handsome in his new outfit.
She stopped.
"This is what we did together, you and I," said Alu. "Your saliva did this to me. We created these angel vampires, the culmination of three millennia of vampirism. We are so much more than human. Even more than divine. Just a little more time, and we can offer it to the world."
Alex walked on down the stairs, and they gathered to her, both men and women, feeling of her, slow and methodical now that any threat from outside was gone. Alex remembered when she'd first entered the cavern over a year ago, how the normals had clustered about her, touched her. She'd not known it until now, but she'd felt not only accepted, but loved, loved sexually, but loved. She felt that now, but it went even deeper, a cascading, lustful longing. A cold heat emanated from them, a carnal craving. They kissed her, clung to her, licked her, undressed her. They lay her on the narrow tasting table in the center of the wine cellar and gathered about her, their fangs protruding in feeding fashion.
The stone surface was chill next to her bare skin. Alex had never felt such cold hard burning desire, not even in bed with Jaklin and Mikhail. She felt them kissing and groaned with passion and anticipation. Everywhere, she felt mouths and hands.
And then Alu knelt over her. She felt his long dark fingers along the curves of her body, felt the fingers of one hand enter her, the fingers of the other hand on her breasts, lips, into her mouth, along her tongue. His dark face bent over hers, so close that his long black hair covered her face, and then he sank his teeth into her neck.
The smell of her blood instantly filled the chamber, that rich cinnamon aroma with a touch of oriental spice, frankincense and myrrh. Alex wanted him badly, but that was not to be. At his first taste, Alu swallowed and rose from her. Something had happened. He'd changed. He backed away, staggered and vanished into the darkness.
Alex was intoxicated by the affection, the touch of vampires, and it was just starting. The smell of her blood awoke their ravenous nature, and the kisses became bites. Alex's blood was like a drug, an addiction. Those first few gulps were worth the world to a feral.
Alex then saw one she didn't wish to destroy. "Leave, Cosmina. Please don't do this to yourself. Live!"
"I can't. I must have you. You're my one desire." She bit into Alex's throat, sucked, and Alex noticed a tear form. She removed her mouth and stepped away. Yes, her one desire had been her bane. She stepped back and burst into flame.
Alex looked away. The emotional torture of having the weight of the world on her shoulders was now relieved by the physical pain of giving up her body. From head to foot the ferals sank their teeth into Alex and sucked her blood. But no one sucked for long. Just a couple of mouthfuls, and they rose up from her sated, and wandered off, as had Alu. Another took its place. The ferals committed all forms of corruption upon her body, using her blood and all her orifices for unspeakable acts.
Alex saw a flash of light, smelled smoke, and realized that the first vampire after Alu who had drunk of her blood had just sparked, then crashed into a heap of ashes and charred bone. Still the rest were ravenous for her. She felt her body being rolled about, all forms of obscenity committed against it, delicious bites, delicious pain. Her body glowed with arousal, and the fangs dug deeper into her flesh. No part of her body was without penetration. They bit and sucked, then sparked to their deaths even as another took their place, unable to resist the temptation.
Alex got that calm, tranquilized feeling she always had when a vampire's saliva entered her blood stream, but with so many feeding off her, it was an immense, sublime feeling of wellbeing. She lapsed into it, just as had they, knowing that this was her undoing. She felt her life force wane. Alex welcomed the encroaching darkness that multiplied with each new vampire. They left her corpse limp on the tabletop used up of all life and utility. This was her time.
And darkness did come. It came in great clouds of emptiness. She felt her consciousness hover as if at the edge of a cliff and then plunge into the abyss. It felt as if she would fall forever, but she felt a slight tug at first and then a strong steady force stop her, like the pull of a bungee stopping someone who'd jumped from a bridge into a deep gorge. Her thoughts lingered, then turned to stone. Like a tiny flame in immense darkness, her consciousness flickered and extinguished without even a remnant of a glowing coal.
