He took off the burlap and revealed what I’d suspected. It was Joanna’s mother.
The lady’s eyes were wide with terror. “Joanna, what is going on? What is the meaning of—”
Sharra snapped her fingers and the woman stopped talking. “Shut up, old woman!”
“Mother,” Joanna muttered. Pain etched her gaunt face and she closed her eyes.
I understood that it didn’t matter whether Sharra killed her mother, father, or even her little brother Gerard, Joanna would not break, she would not go against what she believed to be right. There was no gray in Joanna’s life, only right and wrong, and she considered what Sharra asked of her to be wrong. In that moment I fell in love with her all the more.
“Will you drink your true love’s blood now or will you watch as I kill your mother first followed by your brother and finally your father?”
Joanna kept her eyes closed. “Wicked creature, as I’ve already explained, I will not. If my family dies, they will go to our Heavenly Father and there find peace.” She paused and faced Sharra. Her eyes burned with determination. “While you will suffer everlasting pain and damnation for shedding innocent blood.”
“I see.” Sharra stuck a finger in the cup and put it to Joanna’s lips. “Drink.”
Joanna’s eyes changed and the air became charged.
Sharra squealed with delight. “Don’t you see? Can’t you feel the power you’ll possess?”
“Oh, yes. I feel it.” Joanna licked her lips, taking the blood in her mouth. For the briefest moment the color returned to her face.
I took a deep breath, unsure whether I was relieved or disappointed.
But then she spat it out and my heart lurched with adoration. She would not give in. Not in the slightest. “But I do not want it, nor do I need it.”
“Foolish girl!” Sharra chugged from the goblet all of my blood. When she finished she threw the cup at the wall next to Joanna’s head leaving a ringing in my ears. “Kill them. Kill them all. I’m finished with the lot,” she said and left.
Five
But Kenmei did not kill us. I would later learn the Hunter didn’t support Sharra the way some of the other vampires did.
Once the vampire queen was gone, he went to Joanna. “Let me get you out of these.” With very little effort he yanked the chains from the wall. Joanna fell to her knees.
“There. There, little bird.” He lifted her and placed her on a throne made of rock. Then he bit into his wrist. Blood immediately came to the surface. “I know you don’t want to drink from Adam, but you’re a revenant now, not quite human and not quite vampire. Blood is all that will keep you alive.” He put his wrist to her mouth.
She resisted, but only for a moment.
“That’s it.”
I worried she would spit it out again, but she didn’t. She drank. Slowly at first, but then her hands came up and she took hold of his wrist. “That’s it. Take your fill.”
Joanna’s mother began to wail. In between cries she shouted, “Démon.”
“Quiet woman!” I fought against the chains wishing I could be free.
Finally, Joanna stopped. Glanced over at me. “Adam.” She looked embarrassed.
Her face was flushed and absolutely gorgeous. “Red.” I tried to sit up, but remembered I was still chained. “It’s okay.”
Kenmei came over, but Joanna stopped him and stepped in front of me. “Mi amour.” She leaned down and pressed her lips to mine. “All is well.” She freed me.
I sat up, surprised by her candid affection and her super human strength.
“Your true love will need you by her side, but she can never drink from you. If she does, she will lose herself to the vampire queen. Understand?”
“Non.” I didn’t understand in the least, but I was relieved Joanna would be all right.
Kenmei took my wrist. “Joanna will remain a revenant as she is because she didn’t drink from you when you were human. But she does need to feed and sometimes humans are too easily killed,” he said glancing at Joanna.
I didn’t interrupt, but he obviously knew nothing about my love if he believed she would ever falter in her convictions. She would die before she took an innocent life.
“The only way to keep Joanna alive is to make you become as I am.”
This world we’d been thrown into made no sense to me, but I would do whatever it took. “Do what you must.”
He bit me and drank. When he finished, I felt woozy. “Now you must drink from Joanna.”
“I will not.”
“Then you will die. Drinking from her is the only way to complete the process.”
Joanna helped me sit and tilted her neck. “Take some, Adam.” I could hear her blood pumping through her veins.
“I—non. I cannot.” My legs wobbled and I fell to the ground.
Joanna climbed on my lap. “You must. I insist.”
Her mother was sobbing. “Devil child. You are no longer my daughter.” She wore a cross around her neck and pulled it from beneath her dress, crossed herself and kissed it.
Joanna’s teeth extended. She touched them timidly. “Am I the devil?”
“No, of course not.” I ran a hand down her face.
“Then neither are you.”
I could smell her blood. It was sweet, like the honeysuckle scent of her hair. I tilted her head. Fangs extended and I bit into her neck. Immediately I felt the power of her blood in my body. It was sensual. More so than kissing had been. I groaned and drank deeper. Joanna grabbed my shoulders and pressed her neck into my mouth. “Adam.”
“You must stop or you’ll kill her. She is still too weak.”
I didn’t want to stop and I sensed Joanna didn’t want me to either. But I suddenly knew that if I kept going she would die. I would drain her dry. I quickly released her. “How are you feeling?”
Joanna took a deep breath. Her eyes burned with a hungry passion I hadn’t seen before. “Good.” She helped me to my feet, lifted me like I was nothing more than a paper sack.”
Six
“Will Sharra come after us,” I asked as we stepped into the sunlight. It burned, but I was grateful to be alive, to be out of the dungeon. Finally free. I realized I hadn’t thought we’d escape. At least not in this life.
Packed horses waited for us. The world was different now. Everything blazed brighter. Sounds I couldn’t yet comprehend filled my ears. It was as though I could taste the very air.
“No, she won’t come after either of you. There’s no point now that you’ve been turned, Adam. You are Joanna’s only true love. Without your blood Joanna can never become the next vessel for the vampire queen.” Kenmei smiled.
“Remember you must drink from Joanna at least once a day, otherwise you’ll die.”
“Why? That makes no sense.”
“A Hunter must feed from the vampire queen or one of her chosen. Joanna is—a chosen. Feed from her.” He clapped me on the back. “Now go.” Kenmei glanced at Joanna. “Take your mother home.”
“Non. I will continue to Chinon. I now understand the changes that have been made to my physical body were part of God’s plan. I can be the strength of France, until I’m no longer needed.”
Joanna’s mother crossed herself and ran away from them.
“Mon dieu,” I said.
“She will not escape here for we are in the land of Sharra, a realm outside the one you’ve known.”
“Oh?” I took in my surroundings and realized the land did look different.
“Yes, but I will see her home.”
Joanna hugged Kenmei. “Thank you for all of your help, Hunter.”
He clasped my arm. “You are a vampire now and can no longer be killed. At least not very easily. Learn your powers. If you ever need my help, simply call my name. I will hear you.”
“Thank you, Kenmei.”
He nodded. “I believe we will meet again, Adam Henry.”
I nodded, even though I hoped not.
“Good-bye.” He
snapped his fingers and the countryside changed. Snow fell from the sky and covered the ground.
“We are back at the place where we stopped the night we were taken,” Joanna said turning in a circle.
I realized after getting my bearings that she was right. “Are you cold?” I held out my hand and let snowflakes fall onto my palm. I could feel the snow touch my skin. It was cool, but didn’t bother me.
“I am filled with desire to accomplish the thing which God has commanded me to do.” Her expression was serious. “Let’s be off.”
Seven
We arrived at Vaucouleurs, a city outside Chinon in record time. There we met a Robert de Baudricourt.
“Do not waste my time,” he said when Joanna requested an audience with the king.
She was not to be deterred. “Your troops will perform a military reversal near Orléans. The strategy will win them the battle they fight.”
He snorted. “Get out of my sight, child.”
“I will take my leave, but when you learn the truthfulness of my words, come and find me. We will remain in Vaucouleurs until we receive word.
“Don’t hold your breath.”
When we were outside, Joanna sighed. “He will not live much longer.” She climbed on her horse.
“How do you know,” I asked, wondering if she intended to drink from him.
“Could you not smell the disease in his body?”
I realized I had smelled a putrid stench, like rotting meat. “I hadn’t realized it was his body I smelled.”
We rode out of town to the place we were staying. It’d been more than twenty-four hours since either she or I fed. I needed more of her blood, but didn’t want to partake until she’d fed.
“I’m hungry.” Her eyes darted around the landscape. “Let’s get ourselves some food. This way.”
I followed Joanna, steering my horse toward the forest. As we neared, her horse reared up and whinnied. She patted the horse and climbed off.
“Come on.”
I swung off mine and tethered both mounts to a tree two hundred feet from the forest edge. Then I went after Joanna. “What do you smell, Red?” It amazed me that she could already utilize her newly enhanced senses. I was still trying to discern which was what.
She glanced back and gave me a dazzling smile. “Wolves. A whole pack of them.”
My first instinct was to react the way the horses had, but then I remembered what we were and returned her grin. “Let’s feast.”
She took my hand and we ran together. Ten feet into the forest the wolves surrounded us. They growled and circled. Joanna and I were back to back. “I’ll take the leader. You take the one next to him.”
Joanna lowered her center of gravity just as the first wolf came in. Fear buzzed through me. But there was nothing to fear. The animals couldn’t harm her and she was much stronger.
Within minutes all seven wolves were dead. Joanna crawled over to the large one, pulled it into her arms and sank her fangs into its neck, her glorious green eyes on me.
I grabbed the one nearest to me and drank. The blood of the animal was warm and tasted tolerable, but it was nothing like drinking from Joanna.
When we finished all seven off, she came over to me and crawled into my lap. I stood and carried her to a nearby stream. We walked into the water clothes and all. For the next several minutes we scrubbed the grime off our clothes and ourselves. Joanna smiled and then dove under the water. I waited for her to reappear, but she didn’t.
“Joanna! Joanna!”
She popped out of the water directly in front of me, splashing the cool water in my face. “I’m here,” she said and giggled. My serious Joanna. It was an unexpected emotion and I studied her face. Her eyes sparkled with happiness.
My body responded to her. I craved her, desired her. Before I realized what I’d done, I grabbed her and pulled her against my chest.
“Oh,” she said and sighed.
I tilted her head and kissed her. Hard. Allowing her to feel all the need I had for her. She wrapped her arms around my neck and her legs around my hips. We stayed like that for a long time. We couldn’t get enough of each other.
Someone cleared their throat.
I reluctantly pulled my lips from Joanna’s. It was one of Robert de Baudricourt’s soldiers. “Sorry to bother you, sir, but he commander wishes to speak with Joan of Arc.”
“It’s Joanna,” I corrected. “We’ll be there straight away.”
“Sorry, sir. Very good.”
He started to leave.
“Soldier?”
“Yes?”
I stepped out of the water. “Please be discreet when speaking of what you’ve seen here. Comprendre?”
He bowed. “Of course, sir.” He jumped on his horse and rode away.
Eight
“How did you know,” Robert de Baudricourt asked when we entered his military post. He stood behind a desk, studying maps of France.
Joanna was dry and clean and exceedingly beautiful. Clearing her throat, she spoke, “I received a vision from God. He told me of the strategy.”
Robert clasped his hands behind his back. “And what would God have you do when you meet the king? Make you his wife? Take you into his bed?”
A growl escaped my lips. Joanna touched my hand briefly before stepping forward. “Nothing of the sort. I am to serve the king. Assist him in winning the battle against the English. France will be free if I am beside the king.”
He studied her a moment. “Very well. I will take you to the king. We leave on the morrow.”
“Mais oui.” She bowed and I followed her outside.
***
That night I sensed a change in her. The giggling girl I’d kissed in the river was gone. As we lay under the stars, she rolled onto her side toward me. “You must promise me two things, Adam.”
“Whatever you want is yours,” I answered, playing with the ends of her hair.
“I’ve seen my destiny and after I go into battle and we win, I will be captured and killed.”
I sat up. “No. I will not let that happen. Besides you heard Kenmei, we cannot be killed easily.”
She took my hands. “It doesn’t matter. If it is God’s will, then I will die. Please, I beg of you, do not interfere. You must let me go.”
“I—” I stood. “What’s the second thing?”
She rose and wrapped her arms around my waist. Even in the moonlight she was breathtaking. “You must return to Sharra. Live a long life.”
My heart shredded. “You cannot comprehend what you are asking of me. Do not make me live without you.” I cupped her face in my hands.
“I do because I know I could not live without you. But you are much stronger than I ever will be. Please, Adam. Please. Live. Promise me.”
I searched her face, looking for a sign she didn’t mean what she was saying. Finally, I sighed, “Very well.”
“Bon.” She lay back down and I lay next to her.
We stayed like that until the dark sky changed into hues of pink and blue and orange. When it was time to go, we stood and she hugged me. “I love you, Adam Henry. Forever and always.”
“Je t’aime, ma coeur.”
THE END of The Professor’s Origin.
_____
Turn the page to read the first chapter of:
ALICE IN DEMONLAND.
Alice in DemonLand
Chapter One
Down the Demon Hole
Everyone had a favorite game. Mine involved slaying underling demons. And I was antsy, ready to start. Our trainer, a Dark Moth warrior by the name of Peter didn’t care. He kept going on and on in his monotone about the demon order in the Underworld. As though where we lived, deep below Wonderland, Arizona was any better. The worst part was we’d heard the same speech at least a dozen times over the years. He needed to shut up already so I could slay me some demons.
“You know of the seven deadly sins?”
“Yes,” we all said in unison.
“Well not only are they scary stories told in Sunday School, they are also living, breathing demon royalty…”
Blah. Blah. Blah.
“The demons you’ll be fighting today are called underlings.” Peter pointed at the cage on the other side of the large instruction room. The cage had been fortified by troll magic. Every time a demon tried to slip between two of the metal bars, they were burned.
A hundred of the little buggers growled, gnashed their teeth, and threw themselves against the rods, making the air reek of burning demon hair and flesh. Not a pleasant scent when they already smelled like rotting eggs mixed with decaying corpse. They didn’t look much better, resembling sewer rats with leprosy. Their skin appeared to be peeling off and oozed snot-looking liquid.
“They’re fast and tricky. Killing them is easy, if you can catch them. Don’t use your weapons unless you’re sure you have a clean shot. Otherwise you’ll wind up sticking the end of a blade into another trainee. Got it?” Peter gave me a direct look. “Alice, what did I just say?”
I forced myself not to roll my eyes. Peter was a great Dark Moth warrior, but his father had been a Pride demon, which meant he had an inordinately high opinion of himself.
“Be careful when using your weapons. The underlings are tricky.” My weapon of choice was a katana, but I also kept a small dagger in my right boot and a 9mm in a holster under my shirt.
“Very good.” Gray eyes that exactly matched the rest of the Dark Moth trainees studied me. I was an oddity in many ways, but the most prominent was my eye color, which was vivid blue.
“Queen of Hearts,” the guy on my right whisper-coughed.
Everyone around him snickered.
“Quiet!” Peter’s angry voice boomed. Even the demons stopped chattering. “There will be no name calling. Use your energy and focus.” The tension in the room shot up. “This isn’t a game…” he began and then trailed off, a giant smile replacing his anger. “What am I saying? Of course it is.”
The half dozen trainees behind me cheered, hooting and hollering excitedly. Because, it was a game. One our parents started thousands of years ago.
Vampire Nights (Vampire Wishes Book 3) Page 18
