Vengeance in Blood (Book 2): Tribulations

by Thomas A. Watson

  “I can’t hear what they are talking about,” Tiffany said, adjusting Bonnie’s sweater.

  “Let’s take the dogs outside, and I’ll go and check on him while you let them take care of business and play with them outside. They love playing on the grass,” Besseta said, walking over and grabbing some food for Kenneth.

  “I would love to,” Tiffany said, floating up and extending her legs then put her feet down. The dogs just looked at her in wonder. Seeing the two walking to the front door, Bonnie and Clyde took off, panting.

  “Don’t let them get in the lake; there are some big pike around here,” Besseta warned, seeing the dogs running toward it.

  “I’ll kill every fish in this lake,” Tiffany growled, slowly rising above the ground and darting after the dogs through the air.

  Watching the dogs turn around and charge Tiffany as she floated toward them, Besseta laughed as a game of chase ensued. Turning around, she headed to the dungeon. Opening the door, the man’s thoughts started flooding her mind. “Damn, Kenneth can scare him better than I can,” she mumbled, closing the door.

  She found Kenneth sitting just outside the cell door, taking notes at the small table. “You forgot food,” Besseta said, walking over, and the man in the cell let out a scream when he spotted her. Looking over, Besseta saw Ted shaking as he backed in a corner.

  “You’re still giving me answers, Ted,” Kenneth said, taking the plate. “When you stop or become rude again, she will start biting your fingers off.”

  “Oh, he’s been a bad boy?” Besseta smirked, pulling Kenneth’s chair back and climbing in his lap.

  “When I came down, he tried to threaten me,” Kenneth said, hugging her then diving in the plate of food.

  Besseta just glanced at the cell, but Ted was looking at the floor. She looked over the pages of notes Kenneth had made and started asking questions. “So Ted, do you or the Manu Fortis know of any other immortal creatures?”

  “Werewolves,” he whimpered.

  She listened to his thoughts and smiled. “Tried to catch any?”

  “Only one has ever been recorded caught, and that was in the twenties. It got away,” Ted moaned. Kenneth stopped eating, picked up his pen, and started writing. Besseta grabbed another notebook and jotted down Ted’s thoughts.

  “Have you ever heard of incubi and succubi?” Besseta asked, and Kenneth’s body became tense.

  “Just from horror movies and books,” Ted answered in a soft voice, still looking at the floor.

  Kenneth handed a piece of paper to Besseta. “Are they real?” was written on it. “Later,” Besseta said. “So why isn’t the Manu Fortis still trying to get werewolves?” she asked.

  “We don’t have as much information on them as we do vampires. We don’t know how to control them,” he answered, and she wrote down his thoughts as Kenneth wrote down the answer.

  The weird, three-way interrogation continued until the sun set, then Kenneth and Besseta left Ted still chained to the wall, locked his cell door, and left, grabbing the notebooks. As Kenneth locked the outside door, he turned to Besseta. “We make a good team.”

  “The best,” she smiled, hugging him.

  “Are incubi and succubi real?” Kenneth asked.

  “Oh yes,” Besseta told him with a fearful expression.

  “You’ve met one?” Kenneth asked, stepping back.

  “No,” Besseta said, and Kenneth could see she would be just as happy to never meet one. “I’ve met a few that have though. One is playing with the dogs.”

  “Tiffany?” Kenneth asked, shocked.

  “Yes, that’s how I know she was around for the Crusades. I asked her, and she got away from an incubus in Jerusalem after the knights took the city.”

  “Well what—”

  Besseta held up her hand. “Baby, ask Tiffany. She has studied vampires, werewolves, succubi, and incubi. That’s where I found out most of what I know,” she said. “Except what I found out by accident.”

  Reaching out, Kenneth pulled her close. “I am going to miss you walking around in the shirt,” he admitted.

  Confused, she asked, “Why are you going to miss it?”

  Looking down, he pointed out, “You can’t, like, walk around in that with Tiffany living with us.”

  “The hell I can’t,” Besseta snapped. “I love the way you look at me when I put that on,” she told him, and Kenneth’s jaw fell open. “We won’t be able to just… Well, you know.” She smiled. “We’ll have to run to the bedroom.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Kenneth grinned and let her go as they went up the steps. They walked to the front of the house to see the dogs and Tiffany still playing. Kenneth froze as Besseta giggled. The dogs were running on the water, chasing Tiffany, who was hovering a foot above the surface.

  “Breathe, Kenneth,” Besseta said, feeling his body become rigid. “Now you know why I wanted to make sure Tiffany stayed on our side.”

  Kenneth shook his head. “Just seems unnatural,” he mumbled.

  “Like reading thoughts is common,” Besseta said, moving to his side and putting her arm around him. “Let’s get Aunt Tiffany and the babies and get supper started. You need some sleep.”

  “I’m fine,” Kenneth protested.

  Besseta sighed. “I wanted you to wash my back in the shower before we went to bed.”

  “BONNIE, CLYDE, TIFFANY!” Kenneth shouted. “Let’s eat!” Besseta laughed at him as Tiffany darted off the water with the dogs right behind her.

  Kenneth almost yanked Besseta off her feet as he pulled her into the house, running for the kitchen. Stopping Kenneth, Besseta pointed to the bar. “Park it while I cook,” she said, pulling him down and kissing him.

  Tiffany trotted in wearing a smile that filled her entire face. The dogs ran past her and almost dunked their heads in the water bowl. They would take a break to breathe then dive back down. Tiffany sat down beside them.

  “Tiffany, what are the incubi and succubi?” Kenneth asked.

  The smile fell off her face. “Don’t tell me Manu Fortis is looking for them?”

  “No, they don’t know they exist,” Kenneth told her. “Besseta asked; I just want to know. From what I remember from books, movies, and comic books, they were like vampires but take your life force.”

  Getting off the floor, Tiffany patted the dogs and went to the bar and sat down. “Yes, they drain your life force,” she told him. “Let me start at the beginning,” she said in a sigh.

  “I traced the ed…vampire virus to an island in the Indian Ocean that sank about 7-6,000 B.C. Now the island was very big, not some little thing. From the writings I found, it measured hundreds of square miles. The vampire virus originated from a tribe there. I found as I kept researching that werewolves came from the same island from another tribe. These two tribes fought each other and raided other islands and the mainland for humans to feed on,” she said, looking over to watch Besseta fix supper.

  “There was a ruling class on this island that ruled both tribes,” she said in a low voice. “Incubi and succubi.”

  “Whoa,” Kenneth said and started writing.

  “Indeed,” Tiffany said. “I guess you know incubi are male and succubi are female?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Kenneth nodded but didn’t look up as he wrote.

  Tiffany watched him, impressed with his penmanship. “They are said to be demons like edimmu or vampires and werewolves,” she said, “but since we aren’t demons, I don’t believe they are either, but I’ll come back to this. They take the life force from humans to prolong their life. They do this when they have sex with them,” she said, and Kenneth’s pen froze over the paper. He looked over at her with a dubious look. “I’m serious; they seduce humans and drain their life force. They prefer to drain the life of a human over several days but can do it at once. If they do it fast, they don’t get as much from the human. I personally think they just like tormenting humans. That is where the human legends come from as they seduce them at night.�
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  “Are they dangerous to vampires?”

  “Very,” Tiffany answered. “They like draining us because we can go out and feed, replacing the life-force they took. It’s the same with werewolves.”

  “Hold on before you continue,” Kenneth said, lowering his pen to the paper. “Vampires drink blood to prolong life. What do werewolves do?”

  “They must feed during the change. Like us, they must feed on humans but must also eat. Unlike us, werewolves have to eat a lot,” Tiffany answered.

  “You can’t live off the blood of animals?” Kenneth asked.

  Besseta started laughing. “Oh man, I can’t believe you asked that,” she giggled.

  “It’s a good question,” Tiffany said, looking at Besseta, who was holding on to the counter and laughing. “We can drink the blood of animals, but our bodies only use it as food. It does nothing for the thirst. We must drink human blood; we are still similar to humans basically. That’s why we must feed from them, just much more evolved,” Tiffany said. “Before you ask, there are some animals we can feed on like humans: the higher primates you call chimps.”

  Thinking about that, Kenneth nodded, following the reasoning. “So on this island, the incubi and succubi ruled, feeding off the life force of their subjects: vampires and werewolves?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Tiffany smiled. “You follow very well.”

  “Wait till he gets cranked up,” Besseta said, continuing supper.

  Glancing over at the dogs, Tiffany continued. “Now after the island was destroyed, some of the survivors made it to the mainland. I’ve found writings saying a large group of almost fifty arrived in India. This group was composed of all three: vampires, werewolves, with the incubi and succubui ruling class.

  “It was two incubi and two succubi with the werewolves and vampires. With only four of the rulers, the werewolves and vampires started fighting and broke off from the rulers. Now, a few others made it ashore, but none were near the size of this group,” Tiffany said, and Kenneth started writing again.

  “How are werewolves made?” Kenneth asked.

  “They have to survive a werewolf bite and feed from the one that bit them like we do,” Tiffany told him.

  “Shit, the books got that wrong,” Kenneth mumbled. “What about the incubi and succubi? How are they made?” he asked.

  “You must be born one of them,” Tiffany told him. “An incubus and succubus mate to make more of their line.”

  “Does that occur often?” he asked, pausing his writing.

  “Thankfully no,” Tiffany said. “If you think vampires are egotistical and arrogant, we have nothing on them. They don’t get along together very well.”

  “Are they as strong as vampires?” he asked

  “Yes but not as fast as us, and neither are werewolves, but werewolves are much stronger than both of us,” Tiffany said, and a shiver went through Kenneth’s body. “If they catch you asleep, they can make you do what they want, which is have sex or kill you. They take control of your mind, and you are theirs until you die. They just need to touch you. Since werewolves and vampires are somewhat strong, they like catching us asleep, but humans they just touch.”

  Kenneth shook his head. “That’s quite an advantage,” he admitted. “How close do they have to be when you’re asleep?”

  “Like I said, they must touch you. But even we don’t have to be asleep, but touching us can be difficult and dangerous,” Tiffany told him.

  “You’ve met one?” Kenneth asked.

  “Yes,” Tiffany said with a shiver. “An incubus. It was in Jerusalem when the knights took the city.”

  “So you knew right away?” Kenneth asked.

  “No I didn’t,” she said. Kenneth put his pen down and stood up.

  “You didn’t smell him?” he asked, getting worried.

  “Yes I did, but he smelled just like any human. Werewolves and vampires smell different, but not them. He had approached me as I was in a temple, reading some scrolls. I thought he was just a human. If he wouldn’t have tried to follow me, I never would’ve made the connection,” she said, looking away. “Let me clarify. It’s not just a brushing contact; they must hold you as they take over your mind. I’ve read the touch is painful to all. That’s why he just didn’t run over and touch me.

  “I smelled other vampires at times in the city. After losing the incubus, I tracked down one of the vampires I had smelled and found the incubus with it. It was a female vampire,” Tiffany said, closing her eyes. “She was following the incubus like a trained pet. Looking in her eyes, I could see she had no free will of her own.”

  “Hold on,” Kenneth said. “You mean the vampire had no free will?”

  Tiffany looked over at him. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you; when they take your mind, you don’t get it back. That is why they were the rulers.”

  “Shit,” Kenneth said, turning around and throwing up his hands. “Are there any other wild myths out there?”

  “Several,” Tiffany said.

  Shaking his head, Kenneth walked back to his stool and sat down, picking up his pen. “Please continue,” he said as he started writing.

  “Well, since I wasn’t asleep and wasn’t tired, I marched inside the house. I had lost him very easily, so I wasn’t that worried, plus I could do things with my mind,” she admitted. Kenneth nodded.

  “I did surprise him and told him I knew what he was, and this made him rather mad,” Tiffany said with a small grin. “He finally calmed, and we talked for several days. I found out he was over three thousand years old then and one of the rulers on the island. I studied him closely, and it’s remarkable how much they look and smell like a human.”

  “How do you kill them?” Kenneth asked.

  “Chop off the head, burn the body, and scatter the ashes,” Tiffany answered.

  “What if a vampire or werewolf tried to feed off of one?” he asked.

  “We can’t,” she said. “If we drink from them, we will die.”

  “You’re sure?” Kenneth almost pleaded.

  “Very. He told me after I asked and made the female with him do it,” Tiffany said, closing her eyes. “She didn’t drink much and withered away for hours till she died.”

  “He let her die just to prove you couldn’t feed off him?” Kenneth asked, amazed. “That goes way beyond arrogant.”

  “Now you understand,” Tiffany said, looking down at the dogs. “He wanted me and thought I would stay close when I left, but I was out of the area in one night.”

  “They can smell vampires and werewolves?”

  “Yes but not from very far away,” Tiffany admitted.

  “Besseta told me some vampires like you and her have abilities. Do werewolves, succubi, and incubi?”

  “I only know from what I’ve gathered over the years in writings. Werewolves can have some abilities. I’ve met very few werewolves, and none of them talked to me, and the incubus had the ability to control. They are all born with that,” Tiffany explained.

  “Did you notice before you became a vampire that you had telekinesis?” he asked.

  “No.” She smiled. “I remember when I would get mad stuff would fall around me.”

  Nodding, Kenneth kept writing. Tiffany turned to Besseta, who was putting food on the counter. “You’re right; when he gets going, his mind is moving a thousand miles an hour,” Tiffany said.

  “Yep.” Besseta smiled as Kenneth kept writing.

  Kenneth paused to ask, “You have any idea how many of the ruling class is left?”

  “I’m only guessing, but it’s based off the writings,” Tiffany said, nodding to Besseta and smiling. “It would be no more than a few dozen of each sex. They don’t get along well together and will fight each other at the drop of a hat.”

  As she spoke, Kenneth’s pen flew across the page. “And the only way they can reproduce is with another ruler?”

  “Yes,” Tiffany said. “They take them in combat.”

  Looking up, he
asked, “You mean they beat down another one, tie them up, rape them to make more?”

  Tiffany nodded. “Basically.”

  “They let them go afterwards?” he asked.

  “Oh yes, just so they will know they were beaten and the other has the offspring,” she answered.

  Kenneth shook his head. “That’s some evil shit,” he mumbled and continued writing.

  “Okay,” Besseta said, clapping her hands. “Enough for tonight. Let’s eat.” They all sat at the bar, the two girls nibbling as Kenneth ate.

  After supper, Besseta showed Tiffany her room and asked her to let the dogs stay with her, which Tiffany was only too happy about. When Kenneth followed Besseta into the bedroom, he smiled. “At least you don’t have to throw the dogs out,” he snickered.

  “I have never thrown the babies out,” Besseta snapped.

  “You just don’t like the eyes at the end of the bed; I know,” Kenneth said, pulling her to the shower.

  “It’s unnerving,” Besseta admitted. “We need to talk about what we are going to do.”

  Kenneth paused. “You never wanted to know what I was going to do before. I’m sorry, babe, but I don’t come in the bedroom with a master plan. I just improvise and do what feels good.”

  Besseta giggled. “Not that,” she told him. “What are we going to do in this war?”

  Raising his eyebrows, he offered, “How about we talk about that tomorrow?”

  “Sounds good,” Besseta giggled.

  Chapter 6

  After Kenneth fell asleep, Besseta just laid beside him for several hours then got out of the bed and headed downstairs. She found Tiffany on the couch reading with the dogs asleep beside her. Smiling as she walked past to the kitchen, Besseta grabbed the notebooks and headed back to the couch. She sat down, pulled up her legs carefully to not wake the dogs, and started reading Kenneth’s notes.

  “I’m amazed you haven’t broken Kenneth yet from what I heard,” Tiffany snickered.