Hunger

by Lillie J. Roberts

  “No need to continue, Master. I know Rafael’s hatred well, and Loupgarin’s. Both need to meet the true death.”

  Master Simons squeezed Luc’s arm. “Goodbye, young one, until we are called together again. I will miss you, Lucius.”

  “And I, you.”

  *

  At the Hierarchy’s suggestion, we left our homeland on a cruiser bound for the Americas. Lucius was anxious to try the new lands to the west, but travel for the vampire is a tricky thing, especially when it comes to crossing an ocean. It means it’s harder to find a meal, difficult to hide from the sun, and our nocturnal existence more noticeable to others. We’d have to exercise greater discretion, more caution, than ever before.

  *

  On a foggy night late in the summer of 1914, we set sail for Brazil. The voyage was to take one month. The Britania was one of the fastest sailing vessels of its time. Isabella arranged for a traveling servant, Mr. Herbert Brown, to take care of any problems that should arise during the daytime. The captain was well paid and informed of our routine as night dwellers, our family’s rare skin condition made the sun’s rays nearly intolerable. We would allow ourselves to feed twice during the thirty day trip, and then hunt fully when port was made. If we were careful, our secret would be safe.

  On our first night, Isabella leaned over the rail, inhaling the sultry scent of sun and salt. “It’s fantastic!” she exclaimed as Lucius’s arm curled around her waist.

  He nuzzled her neck. “This will be our honeymoon.”

  I expected to see little of them during our cruise.

  The weather at the end of August was beautiful for sailing. We spent our evenings on deck, basking in the sensual ocean breezes, the nights warm and humid. The air smelled like sunbaked cotton, leaving a tangy taste on our tongues. The earth’s heart whispered like the gentle beat of a kettle drum. We’d been warned against malaria and were given little vials of pills, but it did not concern our natures. Mosquitoes paid us little attention. September brought fall storms, but the nighttime sea retained the appearance of a dark looking glass, reflecting the world’s wavery starlight.

  Ten days into our trip was to be our first feed. It was never our intention to permanently damage any of our shipmates, but feed we must. The hunger drove the unfed vampire to madness and accidents if left unattended, and mishaps we could not afford. The local vermin would do in a pinch, if not for my hatred of the beastlings. But in difficult times, you do what you must. Our ship stayed surprisingly rat free.

  Luc and Isabella found a charming young couple, Charles and Kate Campbell, Kate, delicate and sweet, and her husband, Charles, sinewy with brawn. An odd couple, but both laughing and pleasing. Isabella invited them back to our cabins for dinner and drinks. Little did the couple know they would be the meal, at least for the vampires in the room. With careful consideration, of course.

  For myself, I chose a stunning young woman with chocolate-brown eyes and bronzed colored skin with a ready laugh on her rich lips. Her curves promised graceful movements to the brass band’s Latin music. Maria traveled alone, back to her childhood home and her husband. I engaged her, drawing her away.

  “Señora Reyes, my name is Ben Draco. May I have the pleasure of a dance?” I breathed into her ear, and she shivered, my pheromones tickling her senses. The dancers flowed onto the outside deck, and we turned around it to the rhythm of the music but also moving further away, deeper into the shadows.

  “Sir, you move with uncommon grace. Does your lovemaking contain the same skill?” She peered between her curly lashes. Her alluring eyes were nearly my unmaking. This wasn’t part of my plan.

  “Thank you, I’d like to think it’s true, but only my partner could answer your question.” My gaze roved over her body as we danced. She captivated my attention. The breeze brought a foreign fragrant scent to me. It swept from her flesh like silk floating on the wind.

  “Ah…well, did you bring a partner with you?” She bit her lower lip, the tender flesh capturing my attention. My beast breathed to sudden life.

  “Not this trip.” My stare lingered on the strawberry swell of her lip, redder than before.

  Her fingers moved up my arms to my shoulders, then around my neck, and she stepped in closer. “I too am alone and in need of company. You could help me, keep me from boredom.” She winked her long, dark lashes at me.

  “To spend too much time together may damage your reputation.” My lips quirked, but my heart surged.

  “Please, Señor Draco, we are both adults. Soon I return to my husband, to the prison of my father’s making. He has his mistresses, and I, my lovers. I take my pleasures where they’re found.” Her delicate shoulders shrugged. Her fingers danced along my pale flesh, her full lips pouted, and her eyes an exotic mixture of need and desire. She leaned in to bring her lush lips to meet mine, leaving their own stain of scarlet.

  “Come, Ben, join me.” She tugged my hand. When I demurred the use of her cabin, she laughed at my supposed provincial ways.

  We continued our dance across the gently undulating deck, and my lips took liberties, drifting first to the full redness of her lips, then dipped lower to her pulsing throat. As we waltzed through the darkening shadows, my fangs slipped into her tender flesh, and I drank to quench my hunger. Maria sighed, moving in closer, almost like a second skin, making my feed easier. To the passersby, we were two young lovers, stealing passion’s kiss.

  As we separated, her gaze caught mine. “Come with me, por favor? Please?” Her eyes begged me. She clung to me with a shivery need, causing my body to awaken and I gave in, letting her lead me to her lonely cabin.

  My shaft pressed against her wandering hands, and she laughed. “Maybe not so provincial after all?” Her long lashes winked at me and a smile graced her alluring lips.

  Without any hesitation, I tore my shirt open, leaving it to hang askew. Her fingers latched onto my trousers’ zipper, sliding it down. The gentle sway of the ocean rocked us, and its playful, lapping waves provided all the music we needed. My desire flared as she planted kisses across my chest. Her gown slipped from her finely shaped shoulders, flowing into a satiny puddle on the floor, her bareness revealed, a rich caramel color.

  My arms encircled her lissome waist, trapping her as I rained kisses on her eyes, nose, cheeks, and lips before they found her ample breasts. Maria looked like the subjects in the paintings of the Old Masters, curvaceous and soft.

  “¡Mi querido amante! My dear lover!” She spoke words of endearment in her native tongue, increasing my desire.

  “By the Gods, Maria, mi amor … my love …” Her spicy flavor enflamed me, and I feared my beast would be seized by its denied need. Hunting was part of the game for the vampire, and Maria was a prize. Peace found its way to me, and my beast was appeased, taking pleasure in this feast.

  She led me across the small cabin to her bed, and we fell back into its plushness. My hands found the tips of her bronzed, ruby nipples growing harder with my touch. My lips traveled the length of her neck, then to her hardened peaks, suckling and tugging as she moaned in heated arousal. The rough fabric of my shirt rubbed her sensitive flesh; friction added to the fire of her enticing flavor. I basked in her heat, desire, and need the same the world over. Her nimble fingers swiftly pushed my shirt away. My trousers followed her dress, and my shaft fell into her hands.

  Heat danced between us as my lips skipped over her body, kissing and licking, then moving lower. My knees nudged her legs further apart as my lips slipped over her wetted folds, caressing the tiny bud found within.

  Her fingers curled in my hair and jerked my head back, bringing her lips to mine, thirstily drinking her fill as she guided my hard length to the center of her body. Entering her tightness made me inhale a sharp, quick breath. I’d been too long without fulfilling this particular hunger.

  She met my every stroke with one of her own, her fingers playful and enticing. She tilted her hips forward to accommodate more of my thick shaft, and a soft sigh escaped her
slender throat. She made love much like she danced, with a spicy flavor that flamed out of control. As her fire threatened to incinerate, release found us, our hearts hammering. My beast claimed one last taste of her sweet nectar, to its great relief, before letting her slip from my fingers. As we lay on her colorful quilts, both heaving harsh breaths, we laughed as only the young could, with excitement, fulfillment, and a desired joining without consequence.

  *

  On the eighteenth day of our trip, upon nightfall, Mr. Brown burst into our cabins. “Madame, sirs! We’ve been boarded! A ship pulled abreast ours only to raise the Black Skull and Crossed Bones. I came straight away, here to you. Pirates, I fear, and holding the crew prisoner. We’re to remain in our cabins. There’s little hope to be had for reaching safe port. Ach, we’re all lost, I feel it’s my duty to tell you. We must prepare for the slaver trade or worse, death. I’m afraid we are doomed.”

  Men had boarded? Imprisoning the captain and crew? Lucius and I glanced at each other and grinned, an adventure in the making to our ears. “Mr. Brown, why don’t you retire? We’ll be fine for the evening.”

  “Are you mad, sir? There are pirates …” Already his eyes were growing heavy.

  Lucius reassured the man. “No worries, we’ll just stay put here in our cabin. I’m sure it will sort itself out by morning. Goodnight, Mr. Brown.”

  He stifled a yawn, the suggestion to sleep wearing on him. “If you’re sure then, sirs, madame.” He found his bed in the adjoining cabin.

  My beast begged for release, anxious for the chase. While not a long cruise, it was hard to keep it imprisoned and what an excellent opportunity to let it rise, the hunt of the unexpected, the best kind. I rubbed my palms together in anticipation, and I glanced from Lucius to Isabella. “Shall we save our shipmates?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “What do you propose, Ben?” Lucius grinned with his reply, twisting around to give me his full attention. We were both ready for a hunt, and while we were at it, an adventure worthy of revisiting in our memories, a pirate attack and rescue.

  “I propose we take our nightly stroll with stealth and deadly intent.”

  *

  It wasn’t time for our second feeding, but we could hardly let this tempting opportunity slip past us. As the night grew deeper, both ships fell dark and we slipped silently through The Britania. The waves lapped quietly against the hull, a soothing sound, lulling and peaceful. Nothing could breach the peace of the gentle sea. We boarded our sister ship, the one tied alongside … the pirates. How powerful and confident they must have felt. No one stood guard.

  With feet as soundless as a feather upon a breeze, we crept throughout the strange vessel, taking note of where the humans were, preparing to feast. Their ship smelled of old blood and other things that I didn’t want to think about, because if I did my beast would roar with ungodly desires. Death had been a frequent visitor here, soaked into the old warped boards to leave a rotting fetor. My beast found it quite appealing.

  The men were gathered in one large room where they must have lived in a communal dwelling. The mingled odors of sour sweat and unclean bodies were thick in the air. Their captain had a private cabin and by mutually agreement, we saved him for last. We expected to find the images in our imaginations, but instead they were the same as all bullies preying upon the weaker, with might and fear. Vampires are one of the few predators who don’t need to look powerful. A merciless strength is always there, ready to be called.

  Isabella made the most beguiling decoy and played her part with enthusiasm. She knew when to pout, when to play, and when to kill.

  “What are you doing outside your cabin?” one of the men growled, pulling a short, wide blade, lunging at her, its sharp tip wedged to her throat.

  Her fingers crept along his filthy hand, knocking the blade away. “I’ve come to see what there is to be had,” she replied as another joined the first. Her eyes offered pleasure, her body beckoned, but her beast promised death.

  They leered insane grins as she lured them to the darkness, her crooked finger led the way. Sometimes we killed them outright, swiftly snapping their necks. And at other times, we let our beasts out to play, draining them dry and emptying their pale bodies onto the ocean’s glassy surface. They appeared like broken toys floating in the murky water, their unseeing eyes gazing into the forever darkness of the night.

  It was feasting as we had never feasted before; we fed without guilt. We were replenished completely, our needs well sated. By the end of the evening, all thirty men had been disposed of, our consciences clear. Only the Pirate Captain remained, and we decided to leave him for our crew. We made our way back to our suite of cabins where our companion waited, sleeping soundly.

  “Mr. Brown, wake up.” Lucius shook his shoulder, rousing the man. “Come now, man, we have a mission for you. Wake up.”

  The man stretched and opened his bleary eyes. “Sorry, sirs, m’lady, I must have dozed off, it won’t happen again,” he said stifling a yawn.

  “No need to worry, Mr. Brown.” He smiled in the man’s direction. “But now you must retrieve the keys from the captain’s cabin to release him and the crew.”

  Mr. Brown’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure, sir?” he questioned, disbelief in his voice, panic hidden in the deep recesses of his eyes, then relaxing as Lucius’s black stare bore into his.

  “Yes, Mr. Brown, it’s safe now.” The suggestion became a compulsion. He patted the man’s shoulder, sending him on his way.

  *

  Upon the crew’s search of the pirate ship, only the captain remained unharmed. Their justice was swift. He was forced, bound and gagged into the ocean to join his mates and where death would take him, hopefully from the sharks. When a feeding frenzy churned the dark waters, I was satisfied.

  Much to his surprise, Mr. Brown became the hero of the cruise, receiving a thousand pounds sterling. The Britania immediately set sail, swiftly leaving the pirate vessel behind, making port three days early. What bodies weren’t savaged by the sharks would be absorbed in the next storm that happened through the Atlantic.

  Chapter Eight

  It would be our last cruise, though we’d fared nicely on our travels, proving the hunger could be sustained, but pirates couldn’t be found every day. As our ship docked, dusk bloomed, releasing us from our cabin dwelling. I held my face to the warm breeze, wild scents tickled my senses.

  Luc didn’t have the same reaction. “We need a hunt, but …” He glanced around, lifting his face to the wind, inhaling. “Something old has come this way.” He went in search of Isabella as more passengers poured around us.

  “Master Draco!” I heard my name called. “Master Draco!” I turned to find our captain running toward me.

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “Sir,” he panted as he caught his breath.

  I rested my hand on his shoulder, calming him with my presence. He relaxed and continued.

  “A freighter, greater than The Britania made dock a week ago.”

  I lifted my eyebrow, questioning. “And?”

  “There was no crew, save one, and he’s mad!”

  His breath contained the hint of liquors and spirits.

  “Impossible, a massive ship would need …”

  He interrupted, “Sir! The crew was to be twenty. The man that remains is a raving lunatic, sick with sea and sun poisoning. They’re holding him in the jail. Sir, he claims a ghost boarded with them. The crew, taken one by one! He says he made a deal with this ghost for his survival, to bring the vessel here.” He pointed to the dock, then leaned in with a whisper, “The magister believes him to be a murderer!”

  Luc appeared at my elbow.

  “Have you heard, sir?” the captain asked.

  Lucius’s brow furrowed. “I have, Captain.”

  “Do you believe it?” he asked excitedly. “That a ghost inhabited the transport?”

  Luc stared at the man. “Do you?”

  The captain scratched his bearded chin.
“Don’t know what to think. You know the stories, sir, I’ve seen the evidence myself! Of sea monsters, strange happenings, things that feast on the flesh of men …” His words drifted with his thoughts.

  Another passenger walked past, distracting the man. “Madame!” He tottered off after the woman.

  I faced my father. “Could this be … ?”

  He nodded. “Loupgarin.”

  The old master, and Luc’s maker, the ancient vampire sickened with valerian poisoning, the one Lucius escaped all those years ago.

  How could this be? While our trip hadn’t tested our abilities … the ancient vampire differed greatly from humanity. The rumors of death ships on the high seas told from the time men first set sail. Would the existence of Loupgarin, so far from home … Could the vampire prove the truth of the stories?

  Dusk gave away to full blown night. The breeze turned into a wind strong enough to shake the branches, rifling through the growing shadows, the air hot and humid, even at this late hour. It excited me, begging me to explore this new land, a bold and fiery taste of life, along with its mysticism and superstitions.

  There were no buildings’ shadows to hide within, no multitudes of people to drink from. We’d hunt where we could. Luc, Isabella, and I entered the forest, taking the only blood we dared with the rumors swirling. The deer and tapirs made quick and easy meals. It took the three of us to bring down an exceptionally large jaguar.

  Isabella rented rooms in a small inn, the owner a likable family man. Luc and she returned as I surveyed the far reaches of our new home. An old shaman dressed in bedraggled clothing confronted me. She immediately shrank away as I approached.

  “Go home, away from my people! Diablo … Devil!” she cursed. “You bring the one from before, el portador de la muerte, the murderer!” She muttered, wandering closer, “The devil has returned to our land!” She raised her crooked arms into the air, shaking her fists. “Do you hear me? El demonyo … The demon has come to feast upon us, to steal our children! Be gone!” She crossed herself, banishing the sign of evil.